Il Fornaio

For DineLA Week a couple months back (yes, I am THAT behind on my entries), my buddies and I went to Il Fornaio in Pasadena, CA. We originally had a reservation elsewhere, but there was some kind of mishap, so we walked a few blocks to this place, which was huge and accomodated us immediately.

I had walked by Il Fornaio, which is a chain apparently, many times and wondered when would I be fancy enough to go there. Well, we finally did the night before I ran a nearly 22-miler.

Here's what we had:


Above: The bread here was worth eating/dipping in olive oil. See the infused olives? Yes, I am a woman now because I've learned to actually freely consume olives.

Above: See fanciness in print.

Above: Minestrone. My veggie options were a bit sparse.

Above: Some sort of lentil stew with ham that my friend ordered.

Above: Seared scallops with pesto that my other friend ordered.

Above: My friend ordered veal ravioli, and I (see below) ordered ravioli as well. They gave her order to me by accident, and my first half-bite of this resulted in disgust. I have never found veal to be palatable.

Above: MY ravioli was filled with butternut squash. To be honest, it was bland, perhaps because there wasn't enough dairy to flavor it. Yes, I said it.

Above: My camera was being disappointing, but I think this was a chicken dish of some sort.

Above: Same story as above... all I can see is that it's some meat and potatoes ensemble.

Above: We shared a chocolate cake and tiramisu square for dessert. However, I was so excited by this due to my lackluster meal that this was all I could capture.

All in all, it's not a bad place to try. I thought the dishes could enhance their flavors, but the ambience was nice. Service was a little negligent due to the DineLA crowd, but overall was fine. This is why I don't do fancy dining too often...