Went to Il Fornaio in San Francisco tonight. Arrived with great expectations and found it uninspired. The atmosphere was good: subdued, modern decor, with a touch of elegance.
We had rented out a function room (nice view of the city through walls of windows) and had a fixed menu with a choice of four entrees. But the staff was very junior and didn't seem to know the proper order for dishes.
They served the salad course on top of the menus before asking which entree we each wanted. I'd never seen this before. They expected us to eat the salad as it sat on top of the menu. Very strange.
Later, they tried to pour us more of the dinner wine while we were drinking our post-dessert coffee. Again strange. I've had very good experiences at other Il Fornaios: Palo Alto, San Jose, even Vegas. I've enjoyed the food, had excellent, experienced service, learned interesting tidbits from their regional menus, and been generally impressed. I had high hopes for a sophisticated "big city" experience. Oh well.
And the food was "okay". The salad was uninspired, just cheese dropped on leaves. The risotto was adequate, kind of middle of the road. (Of course, risotto is notoriously hard to do really well.) The sea bass was there -- decently done, but no memorable tastes. And most people didn't even finish the chocolate cake. For an avowed chocaholic, that's telling.
Can anyone out there tell me when the "A Team" is on at Il Fornaio San Francisco? Is, say, Wednesday lunch "to die for"? Should I only go there on even-numbered Saturdays when "Frankie" is in the kitchen? Or should I just write the place off?
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