Celebrated my fathers birthday Tuesday night at Forno in Saratoga
Springs. Part of the DZ clan, which includes Chianti and Pasta Pane,
Forno is the mid priced restaurant of the three. I’ve eaten at Forno
numerous times and it has consistently been good, but I must say, this
time was a different experience.
The waitstaff is well trained and knowledgeable, and work very hard
to give the customers what they want. When it comes down to it though,
this particular experience was solely lackluster due to the food that
was put on the table. Now don’t get me wrong, you all saw my post a few
weeks ago about Chianti, where I RAVED about how outstanding my meal and
everyone else’s meals were. Unfortunately, Forno proved to be the
opposite this time around.
From the bread to the salad to the main course, my palate was left
wanting more flavor. For starters, you’re always presented with a warm
basket of italian bread. Generally I’ll eat the equivalence of a what
seems like a whole loaf of this bread before the actual meal even comes
out. This time, however, after the piece of bread, I was all set. I
don’t know what it was, but it just wasn’t the same.
Next, I got the cesaer salad, and mistakenly forgot to have them
leave the anchovies in the kitchen. The salad itself was fine, but
nothing special. Light dressing but lacked that smooth, rich flavor you
normally get from a cesaer salad.
Finally, I ordered the pasta special, which was fusilli pasta with shrimp and tomatoes in a pesto cream sauce:
So the pasta was good, and it was great sauce for dipping, but it was
just missing that extra flavor. If it had just had a little more
garlic, or even just something as simple as salt, it would have been
better.
Like I said before, this is really the first time I’ve been
displeased with Forno, because it’s generally a consistently good
restaurant. Perhaps the issues have to do with the changes in the menu. I
noticed that several types of pastas I’ve had in the past were no
longer on the menu, and new ones had replaced them.
There’s no doubt in my mind I’ll be eating at Forno again in the
future, and I hope for my sake and theirs that they step up their game
and impress like I know they’re capable of!
