Forchetta Bastoni

I wasn’t familiar with Sebastopol and found Forchetta Bastoni while walking by. They had an odd menu of both Italian and Vietnamese. My kids thought Italian would be great. Unfortunately, they weren’t serving any of their Italian dishes. They were also out of 3 of the items that we tried to order.
We eventually ordered Ramen, Curry Chicken and Chicken and Rice. The Chicken and rice was pretty good. The Curry Chicken was good but there was a whole lot more curry broth than chicken. The Ramen did NOT taste like any Ramen I’ve ever had. Sadly, 3 teenagers (yes, teenagers) decided to have only a few bites. Fortunately the Sebastopol Deli and Liquor Store was up the street and their food hit the spot for the kids and they were extremely nice people running the store.
The Service at Forchetta Bastoni was really not the best. The waiter was really nice but didn’t know anything about the wine menu, mis-​heard our selection and then couldn’t suggest an alternative.
The whole experience seemed like we went into a restaurant that some college kids just opened up and were making a living from their friends coming to visit.

I dig this place. Big servings, suuuper fresh ingredients, open kitchen for all to watch, eclectic music/​décor/​staff.
I’ve had the noodles, bahn mi, brunch, and more. I highly recommend the Dungeness Crab Spicy Noodles when it’s around and — if u ask nicely — the Pork Belly Bahn Mi.
Stupid good stuff.
The Orange Chicken Curry is a solid menu fixture, too. Can’t go wrong.
Want spicy? They can do that. And well.
Did I say full bar w/​local Spirit Works Gin? Yup!
If you dig Thai then get in here. You’ll enjoy it!
–JQC

This was undoubtedly the most noxious green papaya salad that I have ever attempted to eat. Overpowered by miso paste, not a bright flavor on the palate and som tom is all about bright and fresh. This was like asphalt. The bowl of ramen was flavored similarly.
The fact is we had intended to visit the ramen place that shares the same space but were confused when coming in the back door. We had no idea there were two restaurants under one roof. After consuming a gruesome amount of our lunch (we were very hungry) we noticed our mistake and happily moved to the other side of the building and enjoyed a good bowl of ramen.

I am in love with the Thai dishes here but need to say that the estimated pick up time for to go items is almost always off! It’s pretty frustrating but I will endure for kick-​ass curry and banh-​mi. The wings are delicious as well. The staff is usually friendly (especially if I am). There is an awesome seating area upstairs with cozy cushions and art to gaze upon.

One of my favorite restaurants in sebastopol. idno where these negative reviews came from Unilocal is weird like that. the meatball bahn mi is so on point. i have a heavy craving for it once a week. the service has always been great especially the usual bartender (the dude with the hppytree hat) and the lady with short dark hair. checked out the ramen section last night and was blown away. one of my most highly recommended spots in north bay.

We were very disappointed with the service. We were made to feel like we were inconveniencing the wait-​person. When we arrived nobody greeted us or showed us to a table. The wait-​person took the drink order of one member of our party then quickly walked away without inquiring what the others in our group wanted.
After finally ordering we waited a considerable amount of time before our appetizers arrived, and then considerably longer for our mains. We again had to wait an extended period of time before receiving the cheque.
We had heard much about this establishment beforehand, and the food itself was decent, but the fare by no means lived up to the reputation that preceded it. Furthermore, it was our understanding that this was an Asian-​Italian fusion restaurant, but we were hard-​pressed to locate any Italian influence.
The bowls and cups were dirty, and worst of all we found a few hairs in our appetizers and main courses. No effort was made on the part of the establishment to rectify any of these problems.
We do hope management takes to heart the numerous complaints that have been presented in this review and others, and addresses them promptly.
We will certainly not be returning and discourage you from doing so.

Food is great, and that is the only reason I continue to go there. Service is consistently terrible. The wait staff is really nice but soooo slow and not on top of it at all. Be prepared to wait at least 10 min for a drink, food takes forever, and the servers don’t know much about their menu. If you have allergies, they will not know the ingredients. Be prepared for that.

Oh look, another restaurant that thinks it’s trendy to serve ramen when in actuality it is a bowl of crap. This is not to say that I think ramen is trashy or gross. True ramen is delicious. Restaurants that cannot take ramen seriously and just slap some things into a bowl and call it as such are truly irritating. Restaurant fail.

Our overall impression of this place is mixed. The bahn mi with steak is excellent, in large part due to the steak. I don’t know what other versions are like. The ramen bowl was great, flavourful with nice meatballs. The wet noodles with chicken broth was mediocre, bland with a stale chicken flavour. The bastoni salad is excellent. The place itself has a nice look and vibe downstairs with nice décor overall and a neat stairwell with chandelier, but it’s a bit cramped and there’s not much seating. Upstairs feels forgotten and a bit dreary. We had excellent service here and as we were in a hurry, our waiter told us which things would be quicker and did what he could to speed things along but he told us that a lot of the things have a long time, 45 minutes or so, which is a bit long for a place like this and would be tedious when stuck upstairs. The front Italian portion of the restaurant is now a separate place and they do not have any Italian food anymore, a bit of a surprise since the website still says they have «Italian comfort food.» They seem like they have some good cocktails, and big plus since Asian food is great with cocktails and one does not often see that anymore (although it has been changing again in the last couple years). However, we have not had any cocktails. Overall, we do like this place and it’s a good place to eat dinner when in Sebastopol but it’s definitely hit and miss. Fortunately, the things that are good are very good.

I do not usually rate establishments that do not get 4 or 5 stars but I had heard this was a place to go in Sebastopol. First of all there is no Italian food it is now all Asian/​fusion the Italian half has become a Ramen bar which is fine as Ramen bars are very trendy.
We had drinks and appetizers. I was not impressed with the quality of what we were served or the service. One of us ordered a Martini and it came with a dose of simple syrup by mistake. The server gave us another drink but made no apology or attempt to fix it by offering to comp the drink etc. Poor customer service to say the least.
The Go Balls are bland, the Lao Boy was too sweet and came on a mushy white flour bun. Best appetizer was the Famous meatballs but you get only three tiny slightly overcooked meatballs. The tempura green beans were tasty but the servings were very small and the fish sauce based Nouc Cham was watery with not enough lime juice or fish sauce. Overall very disappointing for such a popular location.
One final point the men’s toilet was closed downstairs and the women’s toilet was not very clean. We probably will return for the Ramen bar and see how that goes.

We purchased a LivingSocial deal for bottomless mimosas and brunch at Forchetta Bastoni– When we walked in Sunday around 11:30 AM, to our delight, the restaurant/​bar DJ was already spinning dope Reggae Dub beats, which complemented our mimosas and meal. We had the «Jok» pork belly bowl, and shared some «Korean breakfast tacos». Both meals were to die for, but personally, I will go for the breakfast tacos again as they were simply amazing. I would not hesitate to lick every last drop of sauce off my plate (or the floor if need be). The mimosas were indeed bottomless– our accommodating bartender/​server kept our mimosas flowing. The coffee we had after was also truly outstanding! In addition, we dug the tables/​seating/​ambiance in the establishment. All around a deliciously successful experience!

A reliably yummy spot in Sebastopol.
The food is pretty good. They serve a fusion of Asian style foods.
So far we’ve tried the bastoni salad with tofu, chicken curry, dry noodle, and shoyu ramen.
I’ve liked everything BUT the shoyu ramen. I have never had so much fish sauce in a ramen. I’m not certain if this is in fact an ingredient in this dish, but it definitely tasted like someone had poured too much fish sauce. Shoyu broth is soy sauce based.
The happy hour menu is pretty rad. This is a great spot to try with friends if you’re looking to sample the entire menu.

My first visit here for lunch. Fast friendly service. At the noodle bar you can see the walk-​in and kitchen which I always like, as you can see your food being prepared. Space has a bar and small tables up front, then a long marble noodle bar, then another open kitchen surrounded by a steel bar with larger tables in back. Would be a great space to deck out and take over for a special event or cooking class.
I had papaya salad and meatball bahn mi sandwich. Salad was fresh and had a nice balance of flavors. Sandwich was all you expect — crunchy carrot, fresh cilantro, yummy pork and great sauce. I would prefer it on a French roll vs ciabatta but otherwise pretty perfect. The surprise was the pickled veggies on the side that were so well made, loved them.
Great experience — I’ll be back!

Unfortunately I did not have a good experience here.
Service was poor:
Long wait for server to come take our order, server entirely forgot to bring one of the dishes we ordered, did not get the other order correct, and told us that an item was gluten free when it was not. We had to ask for a spoon three times before we got one.
Manager agreed to refund money (which has not actually posted on account) after determining an error was made regarding gluten free advice, but quickly got frustrated after I explained that I would be very sick due to gluten exposure — said she was «done with me» and «done talking to me» and «oh my god, stand away from me.» She tried to blame me for not sticking with her advice because I had gotten some information from her about gluten free items but thought it was safe to rely on the servers recommendation. I guess not…
It was a shocking experience, to be honest. The worst I have ever had in a restaurant.
The food was mediocre at best (the items that we did get) and the presentation was lacking.
If you are gluten free please be advised that there appears to be a lack of training for the servers regarding the menu.

I went in to order some takeout. I was told it would take twenty minutes. Finally got my food forty-​five minutes later. There were between five and eight people in the restaurant eating while I was there. I was also shocked to witness the server repeatedly hang up the phone when it rang. At one point, another employee from the back answered the phone when it rang and took an order. That employee then disappeared, and the server continued to ignore or hang up the phone. With that said, the food was really good. I order a bahn-​mi and it was delicious. Also ordered some ramen soup and it was pretty good, although too heavy with fish sauce for my taste. It’s just too bad about the service. Even though the food was good, I’m not interested in returning.

Forchetta Bastoni is a restaurant in search of an identity. They have no fucking clue here. We came in and sat at the junky bar on the Asian side. Looked nothing like the website and we couldn’t sit on the pretty Italian side because we wanted Asian. Our food literally took forever. Like almost an hour and the restaurant was DEAD. Our bartender awkwardly apologized and then disappeared never to be seen again… didn’t even buy us a beer. The food was actually really good. There is talent here. But they do the worst plating ever. They like to serve everything with a lot of salad and huge cucumber slices for garnish. I can’t explain it but it is not pretty. Very amateurish. The staff was kind of aloof. Forchetta Bastoni… where they’ll never know your name or be glad you came.

Whoa — I went there last night and got takeout and it was like a new restaurant! Different cook and servers and I was very happy. Food was different in a great way and service was excellent and efficient: so much more satisfying!
Wet noodles, one w meatballs and one w chicken and everything was so much more flavorful and delicious!
The meatballs were tender, not hard. The chicken was flavorful, not bland and dry. The broth was rich in flavors, and I loved how the vegetables were changed, they were deliciously edible!
I used to just go there as the best choice because there are not many options in Sebastopol, but if this keeps happening I will go there because it’s awesome!
Also– it was great to look into the open kitchen and see a smiling chef, artfully preparing a meal. The other cook always looked sour and I would have to wait for him to finish preparing my food always– it was never done when it was suggested. A great improvement! Let’s hope it lasts!

Instead of writing ten paragraphs on this very dumb restaurant I’ll just say the food is uninspired and the way they handle the split menu is epically moronic.

I wanted to like it, but just didn’t. Came in for lunch, and the place was dead, and the staff seemed indifferent. I had the wet noodles, and the aftertaste from the meatballs was unappealing – it ruined the whole dish for me. The waiter offered to put the leftovers in a container, but I just couldn’t eat any more of that gross dish. Their menu seemed so appealing, but it just wasn’t.

Hmmmm, it’s odd. Came at 1pm, walked in, nobody said «hi, sit here, welcome.» Chairs were still up on tables. We walked up to somebody I assume worked there because she was wearing an apron and I asked if they were open. She said we could sit outside or in a space with weird little stool seats. Since there was a DJ playing really loud music in that space we went out, despite it being 100 degrees. At least the DJ turned down the music when I walked by with my baby in my arms.
Lunch was ok. Service was fine. The menu had American and Asian influenced dishes. Portions are small. My friend liked her ahi tacos and my baked eggs with brussel sprouts were fine. The silverware doesn’t have knives and the food isn’t cut small enough to eat without cutting.
The DJ thing is off putting. It’s so loud it’s hard to converse even outside, and forget sitting inside, even though it was so hot we would have been more comfortable inside. The food was pricey and small but well made. I likely won’t go back because it was such an unpleasant environment for dining.