We frequent Il Fornello (Richmond Hill location only) quite often. The food is upscale Italian. I'm sure there are fancier Italian restaurants out there (I wouldn't know), but the price is reasonable, as long as you accept the fact of paying $15 or more for pasta (which I still find hard to do).

The wood burning pizza oven makes nice thin crust pizzas. My only problem is that I am (well my waistline is) trying to avoid pasta, pizza, and cheese, so there's not a big variety beyond that. But their salads are yummy and they give a good size portion even for a small salad. Try a different one each time (Mushroom and Arugula is really good).

Last night we were lucky that they had an "additional" menu list which included a roast chicken. It was very good (I didn't get the sage cream sauce). The food is always good, and the portion sizes are good and the service is good. What more can you ask for. They even have a children's meal available.

Once I ordered a minestrone soup for $6.95 and it was awful - like water. They refunded the money with no problem and I won't order a soup again. The chicken parm is only so-so in my opinion, but my wife always likes the Veal Marsala, and the lamb chops are also good. The only negative is that I don't drink alcohol, so I would like to have refillable soft drinks, like many other restaurants. For an $80 meal, if I am already paying $2.50 for a Coke that's already served in a very small glass, I think refills should be complimentary.

PROS:
Lunch buffet available

CONS:
Limited non pasta/pizza choices, soup was not worh the money

COMMENTS ON THIS REVIEW

• By:

  DILLY

  Nice review
  

  Thanks for this review. They have 9 locations - I'm always on the lookout for good Italian. There's one close to the office, I'll have to give them a spin for lunch or dinner one night.

• By:

  VERONICA

  Go for the pizza...
  

  ...sorry Dilly, but Il Fornello pizza could give Mamma's a run for their money - and yours too!

• By:

  MYSTIQUE

  I luv Il Fornello! My best friend & I did a 'best friend's trip' to TO last Jan & both times we went out for dinner, we went here becuz the pizza was out of this world!
  Would Recommend this place to anyone.
  
  Another bonus: My best friend's son can't have gluten due to Celiac's disease. He can actually have pizza becuz of Il Fornello's. We were almost late for our plane becuz she had to stop there, order a pizza & brought it home on the plane for him becuz we have absolutely nothing like this where we live.

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