We walked by West 116th Street between Lenox and ACP/7th Avenue this weekend and noticed that Il Forno Pizza was finally opened. The very bespoke wood oven was
being installed about three weeks back but the takeout pizzeria did not open until a couple of days ago. This interior is brand new with great tile work and the pizza comes with the option of special toppings such as prosciutto, sopressata, egg, roasted garlic, gorgonzola, smoked mozzarella and arugula (click on center photo to enlarge). Whole pies can be ordered or folks can just walk in and choose from the slice offering that is available. Many have asked for a decent brick oven pizza joint to open in Harlem and Il Forno appears to be the answer so stop buy and support this new local business. Il Forno is at 135 West 116th Street. Tel: 212.222.3030 for delivery orders.
We ordered a plain pie (the pizza litmus test) omn Friday. Myu picky 4 year old had three slices (and slept very well :)) We give them 6 thumbs up! WELCOME to the neighborhood Il Forno!
ReplyDeleteLove brick oven pizza...will check it out
ReplyDeleteWe've ordered twice. There were problems with both orders but we're not giving up on them yet. The pizzas were tasty. I hope they work the bugs out soon. They have potential to be a great addition to area.
ReplyDeleteGuest, what were the problems?
ReplyDeleteOrder 1: Young lady who answered phone got address wrong and delivery guy couldn't find us. She also neglected to take our number so delivery guy just went back to store. We called to see what was taking so long and gave correct address. Piza finally arrived, but had been dropped or held sideways and was an inedible heap. We called back and they sent a replacement. Order 2: They took down our name and phone number this time and pizza arrived pretty quickly but we were sent a pizza topped with seasoned feta instead of gorgonzola like we ordered. Feta isn't even on their topping list! So, we are going to pick up for the next few orders until they get everything worked out. We liked the food they got right.
DeleteYeah, give 'em time Guest. As long as the pizza tastes good, that's the main thing! The other stuff they will iron out over time.
ReplyDeleteI went by and they have hired from the neighbourhood, I find that when neighbourhood kids are hired it does take time as Chris has pointed out for it to be smooth and seamless.
ReplyDeleteThat they hire from the neighbourhood=the chef doesn't know the difference between feta and Gorgonzola? No one oversees new hires to make sure they take down full info for deliveries? Sorry. Sounds more like poor management than " if you're local you're stupid".
ReplyDeleteSanou, what I am saying is that from my experience the local help is extremely inexperienced and needs to be extremely well trained. Yes it is a failing on both ends.
ReplyDeleteSorry if you too the local comment hard but it has been my experience to this point. I hope one day that it is not.
Yeah, but feta for Gorgonzola? I bet they ran out and then ran to FineFare and bought the feta thinking no one would notice. That's just wrong
DeleteJust had a slice--purely in the interest of research, you understand. . . Using Joe's on Carmine and Bleeker as my benchmark I can say I've had worse. Found it oddly salty but that could be me. I suspect their imgedients are not top of the line.
ReplyDeleteAlso--if you're job is to be taking orders
Also, if your job is greeting customers and taking orders--please don't be listening to music at the same time. I'm sure the job is boring but suck it up.
ReplyDeleteI went into the newish pet supply store on Lenox a few weeks ago and the woman was on her phone the whole time I was asking her questions. I'm not going back
Sanou, I get your points but instead of abandoning these institutions you should either make a comment to the store management or to the person at the time it happened.
ReplyDeleteI have done it more than once and will continue to do so in order to try and help these places be relatively successful.
I for one want these places to survive otherwise you have crappy empty space.
HBBC--done that all my life. Now have neither the time nor inclination. I pass that torch to you.
Deletei had a wonderful experience there on sat. i purchased one slice, which was quite good...so tasty that i turned back mid-block and bought another slice. the staff was courteous and the place was clean. the pizza had good flavor, a relatively thin crust, not overly cheesy, and cwas piping hot. i wish them luck, and am glad that i have a pizza place i can look forward to patronizing in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeletefyi---they also have a salad bar that appeared pretty fresh w/ a decent assortment. if i remember correctly, it was around $5.99/lb
ReplyDeleteHey, Harlem Homme. Was it crowded when you were there? I was surprised when I went at lunchtime and it was empty but I think many aren't aware it's there. I was munchin' my slice outside and one woman stopped, surprised to see it.
ReplyDeleteWe ordered a pizza with prosciutto and mushroom for delivery. It arrived in 15 minutes (we're 2.5 avenues away). And it was an excellent thin crust pizza. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteHad delivery today; fast, friendly and DELICIOUS!
ReplyDelete