Il Foro

We went for Happy Hour, they have good drink and appetizer specials. The bartender and server were awesome, attentive without being overbearing. Lastly I love the interior going back to 1930’s Art Deco.

I haven’t written a Unilocal review before, but I ate here last night and felt the need to share how excellent it was!
First, the bf and I split the broccoli bruschetta antipasti. It was super tasty and unique but definitely only for 1 or 2 people. Then, I had paccheri and he had spaghetti & clams. Both were complex and so so so delicious. The spag/​clams was SPIIIIICY and bf loves that, but wowza it was intense. Would recommend the waitstaff give a heads-​up on that. We shared the chocolate torta for dessert, which wasn’t the best part of our meal, but still awesome.
Of course the décor and ambiance is stellar. The art deco theme isn’t something I’ve seen in Mpls before, so extra props for that. $ 70 for app, 2 entrée, and dessert was legit, imo. Will definitely recommend and be back again!

We came here on a Saturday night. They ran out of meatballs. How does an Italian restaurant run out of meatballs!
After our food was delivered, there was no check-​in. They didn’t even offer fresh Parmesan or black pepper.
The food served was good, but offerings and service was not great.

Décor is amazing… but I would prefer listening to some jazz or swing music versus disco. Just didn’t seem to match the rest of the place. Cocktails were our favorite! I got the butternut squash tortellini and while it was tasty it was insanely overpriced — I got 6 small pieces, yes 6 in a giant bowl for $ 24… I wanted to ask the waiter if they forgot half my meal. It would have been better priced around $ 17/​$ 18. My friend had the salmon and said it was good. Another friend had the carbonara (an entire bowl full mind you) and she said it was great. We ordered brocolli bruschetta for an app — we literally got ONE for 3 people. We got 4 small breadsticks with our meal as well. Overall we enjoyed it but don’t come starving…

The interior of (the old Forum) the restaurant is beautiful and well worth the visit. I’d
recommend drinks and appetizers at the bar.
None of us enjoyed our food and were disappointed in the service. Our waiter lacked
a sense of humor! However, there is a fellow running around filling water glasses, bringing our drinks, etc… not sure who he was but he kept saying «I’ll take care of you». He was a comedian of sorts. He made our visit pleasant and fun.
My husband and I shared the spaghetti with meatball. Unappealing presentation and lacked flavor. The romaine salad was the same.
I hope the food improves over time as it’s a beautiful venue.

The décor and vibe of this place is great, and they have maintained/​restored the art-​deco like no other place I have seen outside of New York or Miami. It is definitely one-​of-​a-​kind and it is a treasure for Minneapolis to have this. It was a great place for dinner but would also be fun to have cocktails for happy hour here.
Our food was fantastic. My husband had the rabbit cacciatore and I had the rainbow trout. We shared bites, and loved every bit of the entrees. We also had a side of sautéed mushrooms which was arguably the best side of mushrooms I’ve ever had.
Our server was not very helpful or attentive. He basically dropped off our drinks and walked away until we were ready to order — didn’t tell us of specials, had no explanation of his recommendations, etc. Also, we weren’t really happy with our table. It was very small and we would rather sit next to each other. When we asked the server if we could move to the next table which was bigger, he told us that no it was reserved for someone else. The restaurant was only about half full, so I went up to the host stand and asked if we could move. Both of the women at the host stand were VERY nice and accommodating and were more than happy to move us to the next table without hesitation. So our server wasn’t representative of the other staff that we encountered.
Overall, great food and a totally unique atmosphere. Just ask if you aren’t getting the service you deserve. We will go back to try other entrees and certainly won’t forget about those mushrooms!

We arrived at 5 PM without a reservation hoping to get in, and were seated right away by a happy host. Our server was smiley and pleasant, yet tripped over the descriptions of the food. We started with a few glasses of wine and the Charred Broccoli Bruschetta, which had white cheddar, pumpkin seed and honeycrisp apple. It was beautifully presented, but not something you could just pick up and bite into. A bit one-​dimensional in flavor — just OK.
Our main course of Macaroni Carbonara (pancetta, brussels sprouts, black pepper, egg yolk) was really good and the Cider Glazed Salmon (cabbage, celery root, smoked salmon mousse) was specTACular. Service throughout the meal was a bit swift, meaning just calm the heck down a bit and leave us be. At one point a dude swiped my wife’s plate just after she finished her last bite and was still chewing.
The recommended pannacotta dessert was delicious. And our decaf coffee’s were paired with some yummy biscotti.
You’ll find the 1930s Art Deco atmosphere very warm and classy. Crowd is mostly 60+ hoity-​toity (the couple next to us whined incessantly that the door was letting in too much cold air). Only other thing I’d comment on is that the 3-​disc changer of Steely Dan, Dean Martin, and Top 80’s Hits needs a bit more variety. All in all though, very good job!