Il Fornaio Del Mar

Nice Italian restaurant with great views and ambiance (especially outdoor seating)
Food was fresh, well prepared and delicious. Overall enjoyed visiting Delmar location but it’s bit pricey

Authentic Italian cuisine paired with impeccable service in front of an epic ocean view.

Whether you are dining inside in the lux booths or covered patio, or on the expansive open patio at Enoteca del Fornaio across the way, the service and food will be top bar.

Robert reads your mind with his expertise.

The bruscetta is presented 3 ways and the burrata and prociutto pair well together. Of course, you can only go right with one of their signature cocktails like the Amalfi Smash or the wines like the Gavi.

Took my family to dinner and Il Fornaio and in my opinion, this restaurant didn't live up to expectations. The service was slow and we had to flag down a staff member each time to ask for water refills and other items. The temperature inside was muggy, there was no table cloth, and the drinks came to the table without coasters. It was annoying having water drip on you each time you took a sip. The chicken dish I ordered was very ordinary and overpriced. I ordered coffee at the end and was never offered a refill. Then if their prices weren't jacked up enough already, there was a "3% Inflation Charge" added to the bill. When a restaurant charges the kind of prices they do, the restaurant needs to deliver a quality dining experience. This place didn't. The view of the ocean and sunset was nice though.

I've been here more than once this time I had lunch. The food is good it's just they're so short stuff like everywhere else it took forever to get service and I believe the food could have been better had the staffing not been an issue. The views are absolutely beautiful from this restaurant.

A beautiful venue for an intimate dinner or a large group. Creative cocktails and traditional Italian dishes are sure to please. An amazing view of the Pacific Ocean from most tables and booths.

Happy to see this place was open on a Monday later than most of its neighbors. Amazing consistent food with a great view and outdoor patio.

Nice location (if it's close to where you live). Not quite as elegant as the Coronado venue. Good place to watch a sunset (on their covered and heated outdoor patio). Decent -not great but very good - Italian food and several experienced waiters interspersed among the newbies who understand the importance of attentive, competent service. Like with many restaurants, inexperience due to turnover is an issue these days, so identify one of the vets who knows the layout of the land and make you feel special. You will enjoy yourself unless you have Michelin-level expectations. We will be back.

I’m a pretty picky eater so my family and I go here very often also because it’s in a wonderful area. I love the bread here if I was on death row and I had to pick food I would definitely pick some of the bread here. I often order pasta with olive oil and salt and broccolini on the side because as I stated I’m a pretty picky eater. They usually don’t salt the pasta so I have to do that myself and they often drench it in olive oil and give you a small portion of pasta but it’s still really good. It usually takes awhile for the food to come but in the end it’s so worth it. I come here with friends and on birthdays because it’s just really nice. The waiters aren’t exceptional but the food and view makes up for it. Plus your kids can go play ping pong or bean bag toss just outside of the restaurant. If you don’t want your kids to be alone then they have kids menus for them to color on and they provide you with crayons. Also pro tip if you ask them to bring out pizza dough for your kids to play with then they will. They even cooked it for us and we had some cute shaped bread overall it’s a great place just order the right food and be patient

We really enjoyed the Fusilloni Al Pesto E Pollo and the Fradiavola pizza. Highly recommend both dishes! They were both extremely creamy and flavorful. As expected, the view of the beach was stunning as well despite the gloomy weather.

The greeter was super friendly but service fell off a cliff after that. Not a well run restaurant. Had such a bad experience that we had to speak to a manager, only to find he was totally inept. Explains the rest of what we observed…

Took my wife here for her birthday dinner. Amazing food as always the service hasn't quite recovered from Covid, but who's really has.
We were treated quite well as to be expected, they made my wife's birthday wonderful.
I suggest you visit, enjoy.

Ordered the special dish of the day (lamb) asked for it to be cooked medium as well as the Salmon Alla Griglia. Lamb came in RARE, and the vegetable that came in with the salmon was extremely sour and not edible. Informed the waiter of the above, he was apologetic and stated he would talk to the manager and see what he can do. Manager does not come in, waiter comes in with the check for the appetizer removing the entrees and basically telling us that hes sorry and there's else nothing he can do (it almost felt like hes had to deal with this before with other customers).

On the way out, I asked to speak to the manager to give my feedback informing him that this was our anniversary where we come here every year but the manager was extremely rude coming up with excuses in regards to every feedback, stating that the vegetable on the salmon dish is Kale "Thats supposed to be sour" according to him. (On the menu it was broccoli not Kale). Then when I informed him I was expecting him to come and maybe offer alternatives rather than the waiter just hand us the check, he stated he was "too busy with another event happening".

All of the above could have been ignored as Ive never written a bad review before but what truly set me to write this review was on my way out, the manager asked if I "had paid" the $22 check (in which I had already dine so before speaking to him through the pay by phone barcode on the check). Rude, inconsiderate, not being accountable for the dishes served, and unapologetic. With the manager not being able to properly listen to his customers and manage the restaurant properly, it does not surprise me how everything else was mishandled with poor dishes served and almost zero effort to accommodate the situation. Will never go back and would not recommend anyone else to do so

Il Fornaio is one of my favorite places to dine.
The service is excellent and the food is superb. I enjoy the fresh ingredients used in the menu - always something new and innovative.
The view from the patio is spectacular, especially at sunset.

Came here last night for dinner around 730 with my friends and SO, the four of us were seated near the window since the outside wait was about an hour. We had the tall charming gentleman waiter.

I ordered the seafood linguine, my bf got the steak with veg (potato and cauliflower), my friend got the vodka sauce pasta and idk what her bf ordered but it looked good too. She also shared her salad with me, it had apple, strawberry and grape in it and honestly I should have ordered one of those too. Bf also got the caramel and dark chocolate gelato and I got the raspberry sorbet. The raspberry sorbet can get it. My friends got the affogatto gelato and they inhaled it.

Our waiter was awesome and also told us some of the history of the restaurant, we had a great experience and left very satisfied.

Non avere peli sulla lingua but great waiter, great food, grazie

I rarely leave a review but I have to today. We had an amazing experience in this restaurant today. First of all thanks to our waitress Celeste (name according to the check) - the best waitress I’ve ever met. She was super nice, accommodating and went above and beyond for us to have a great time. Food was delicious as well. Zuppa piglia in daily specials was beyond tasty - I wish it was in regular menu. The rest of the food we order was great too. And coffee delicious as always.

Food is good though service is quite terrible. They not only seemed understaffed but the hostess was not very professional. We booked a table on open table and got there on time, and was assigned a table in the middle of the covered patio sitting.

There were several other tables close to the windows that were empty and we asked if we could move. First we were told we could move to any one of them and wait for set up. So we moved to one of our choice but shortly after, the hostess came and asked us to get up saying that particular table was reserved (although there were others adjacent to it with the same view, that were empty.) We didn't want to argue so we got up and waited at the bar. We waited and waited (about 15 mins) and other people would come in and get seated before us. They seemed to have forgotten about us. We had to get up and ask and still had to wait. All this even after reserving a table?

Finally we got a table. Usually at any decent (and pricey) Italian restaurant one expects a round of bread and butter / olive oil, but nothing here.they didn't quite listen while taking the order either - we asked for one water with no ice and one with, and we got both with no ice.

It was also very loud at 7.30 pm on a week night.impossible to have a conversation without yelling.

I don't think I will come back although the food (pesto pasta) was really good and the view is great.

Came here twice in the last 6 months and both times were absolutely terrible. 1st time we waited almost an hour for the food. 2nd time, we waited 30min just for someone to come take our order. The service here is absolutely horrendous.the food is pricey and mediocre. If it wasn't for my friends wanting to go here, I would never visit again.

Definitely not worth it. Everything they have is very generic. They just charge way more because they’re by the beach in Del Mar and have a fancy interior.

Absolutely, BUSSIN. Waiter was pushin P, real G, tough as nails and also cute. Good food, lil cold tho. They do be keepin it real tho.

The service was extremely slow, they do not have enough servers. The food is just OK (their gnocchi, for example, are so bland that I find them repulsive). The bread is OK, brought from somewhere else as I heard from a waiter talking about the company's acquisition. The seating is good. Not worth the prices.