Authentic Italian Food at #IlFornaio in Woodland Hills!

Recently my family tried out the new Il Fornaio restaurant in Woodland Hills. It is located inside the Village at Westfield Topanga. I had never been to an Il Fornaio before, but I had heard about its reputation for authentic & delicious Italian food.

As the hostess took us to our table, I noticed right away the neat pizza oven that can be viewed in the open-air kitchen. At Il Fornaio, they make fresh pizza dough daily.

Also their wine wall is amazing. What a great view to impress your date!  🙂

We were greeted by Joel Barajas, the General Manager of Il Fornaio Woodland Hills. He explained that this particular Il Fornaio has more of a casual fine dining experience. The restaurant wanted families to feel welcome, due to the fact that it is part of the amazing Village at Westfield Topanga so Il Fornaio did away with their tablecloths for this restaurant location.

We ordered right away & since both my hubby & I had ordered pasta, we requested that my daughter’s food get sent out immediately. Since fresh pasta takes time to prepare & our daughter’s Pollo Pepita (chicken tenders) could be done faster, our waiter was only too happy to accommodate our request. Our kiddo also got her usual lemonade.

While she was munching on her chicken tenders, we ate an appetizer called Rustichella, which is a flatbread made with goat cheese, mozzarella, tomatoes, red onion & kalamata olives.

We also split a Cesarina, which is a Caesar salad. The croutons are made fresh with a garlic Focaccia bread.

The pasta entree that I had ordered is called Pennoni, which has tube pasta, bacon, vodka-cream-tomato sauce & grana padano (an Italian cheese similar to parmesan). Honestly when I read the description, they had me at “bacon.” 🙂

The most impressive dish at our dinner table was the Mare Chiaro. It’s made with linguine, prawns, scallops, clams, mussels & marinara sauce. If you are a seafood lover, then this is your entree! My husband enjoys eating seafood, so he was very happy to eat the Mare Chiaro. I had a bite as well & it is yummy!

Overall we had a wonderful experience at Il Fornaio! The food is wonderful, the atmosphere is very inviting & the service is great! Check it out the next time you are at The Village! If you do not live near Woodland Hills, don’t forget that Il Fornaio has several locations in California (both NorCal & SoCal), Nevada, Washington & even Colorado!

Thank you Il Fornaio for the awesome meal! For more info on Il Fornaio, check out their website, Twitter & Facebook page.

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post. I received a complimentary meal which helped facilitate this review. All images & opinions are 100% my own.