I don't get it either... I don't understand why so many of my friends love this restaurant (the snob in me wants to say it's because they come from redneck backgrounds and don't know food.... But I don't think so...) ... This restaurant isn't TERRIBLE... It doesn't kill me to go there.. But I have NEVER been impressed. I'm a pasta eater. That's what italian cuisine is... If you go to an italian eatery and all you do every time is order meat&potatoes.... well.... you are NOT looking for italian. ... The pasta (despite their much touted claim of being "fresh made") is always "over cooked"... It's always mushy.... Fresh pasta cooked properly does NOT mean mush!!!... The garlic bread is overkill on garlic... (and I LIKE garlic).. the atmosphere is nice enough and the polenta is excellent.... But the rest??? MEH!!!!
Review Source:Just simply awful. If Robert Irvine from restaurant impossible passes by he would tell this people that garlic bread does not meant cover the bread with garlic like a tablecloth. The food took forever to come out. My spaghetti was old and stuck in a ball under my fish which they say was grouper. Don't waste your time or money.
Review Source:I'm pretty obsessed with this place. Â The endless garlic rolls (emphasis on garlic) are amazing. Â The food is great quality and tasty. The prices are good. Good portion size. I like the Farfalle Naturale -- get it light oil with whole wheat pasta. Delicious! One of my favorite Italian restaurants!
Review Source:This place is in a great location, right off Sunrise Blvd in Fort Lauderdale. Â They give you these Garlic rolls while your waiting for your food. Â Their garlic bread is really really good, but be aware that they are loaded with garlic and you really have to like garlic to like them! Â There were of us and we shared 2 large pizzas, plus had the rolls and that was plenty of food. Â Don't listen to the waiters and she told us, that 1 large pizza is per person.....def can't eat a whole pizza! Â The seafood pizza is really good but it's creamy! Â We also got the vegetarian pizza which was good, but they put way too many veggies on the pizza and it made the pizza soft and chewy. Â I'm not sure if I'd go here again.
Review Source:Had dinner here last year and was impressed that the food could be so good with the amount of people they served, so when we were driving by a few days ago, we decided to have lunch. It was mid afternoonish, so we were seated immediately. Of course we were offered the garlic rolls, which I can never resist, diet or no diet. I ordered the pasta fagioli soup which was very good, but benefitted from mixing in a little of the garlic sauce from the rolls. Â For entrees, my husband had the gnocchi in tomato sauce, which was a little too mild for me, but he loved it. I had the arugula salad with slivers of parm and a lemon vinaigrette which was excellent, huge.
Review Source:My favorite Italian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. I've been eating here on and off for (i believe) 14 years and am generally more than happy with the food and service.
The garlic rolls are awesome... and the food is always well prepared. In 14 years I don't think i've ever had a bad meal. Whenever there have been (minor) issues, the staff is always quick to fix it. The staff is generally attentive and provide excellent service. Now, in 14 years there have been a few oddball employees who have been lame... but for the most part I have never seen them on a return trip. They seem to do a good job of weeding out people that don't do a good job.
The price is fine... it's not the cheapest, but its also not expensive... and for the quality of food, I've never had an issue with menu prices.
There can be a wait to get seated during busy prime-times like Friday and Saturday night. I've seen people complain about that, which is ridiculous. Good restaurants are going to have a strong customer base. I've never encountered a ridiculous wait... and I don't want to be rushed when i'm eating, so I don't expect them to rush anyone else out the door.
Parking is easy... there's a lot behind the restaurant. If that's full, there's a little bit of metered street parking, and the bigger lot for the movie theatre just behind the Il Mulino lot. They don't care if you park there. If all that is full, there's another lot behind the theatre across the street that works for overflow... but I haven't had to park back there in years.
Thanks Il Mulino! For over a decade of great food and service :)
The four of us had dinner here last night....it was as follows:
The wait time for a table went  35 minutes to 15 minutes to 10 minutes to no track of time after that.  I think we waited a little over 45 minutes. Â
The three of us had the chicken parm with a Caesar salad in place of the pasta. Â Curt had to be different, so he had the chicken piccata with a Caesar. Â I thought my chicken parm was good, but I found it to be a little salty. Â Curt's chicken piccata was on point.
The food was ok. Â It was good, but I could have had that anywhere. Â The service was ok. Â I just think the annoying wait for seating compounded by the poor parking made this a not so hot of a place. Â If the food was amazing then maybe I would have overlooked it, but it was nothing really special. Â
The parking was painful and difficult to find. Â Nothing but signs stating your car will be towed. Â Great attraction for visitors to see who are willing to spend money in these local establishments. Â I will not be returning.
This was the worst experience eating out EVER. And I eat out A LOT. Nobody paid any attention to us when we walked in. The girl at the front had her back to me for 5 minutes while we just stood there. As soon as we finally got seated it took another 5 minutes just to get a water. In fact we had to get up and leave without even eating because no one came back to the table. I'VE NEVER DONE THAT. if any managers are hearing this please take action and get your front of the house service in order. I will not ever recommend this place to anybody Because of the lack of service. Horrible horrible horrible. STAY AWAY!!!!
Review Source:Best eggplant parm ever! Ate here with local friends while I was visiting the area. The eggplant parm was crunchy, yet soft and so tasty.
I really did not keep track of what everyone else had as I was in parm
heaven and only paying attention to my food but everyone left very happy.
Thanks to Hil and Chris for taking me here.
I had eaten at Il Mulino with friends at least 5 or 6x and loved it. Â However, about 5 years ago, I took my parents out for dinner there after raving about the place. Â Well, the food was not up to par on that particular night and we were all dissappointed. Â I lost my taste to come back. Â My friend and I decided to see a movie at the Gateway, and I suggested Il Mulino as I felt I would try it again all these years later. Â I am sorry I did. When we walked in, i noiticed a mildew smell.We were asked if we wanted garlic rolls or regular to which we said garlic. Â We were given regular rolls with a plate of minced garlic to smear on them. My friend ordered the baked penne, which had a nice appearance but she said it was just ok; 7 out of 10. Â I ordered my ususal at Il Mulino and everywhere else; eggplant parm with a side of broccoli instead of pasta. Â What I got was an ok portion of eggplant three dried out deeply fried layers with a little cheese and sauce on top. Â It probably was reheated; didn't seem like it was just made. Â I felt like what I got tasted like it came from a cheap restaurant or diner; not the fine cusine this restaurant was yesteryear. Â Because the waitress was attentive, I gave it 2 stars; otherwise it would have been 1. Â Not going back.
Review Source:If it is inexpensive good Italian food this is the place. Forget everything else.
Atmosphere   70  Next to a movie house in land on Sunrise
Service        75  They really try, but it is always so crowded.
Food          80  Very good Italian food
Value         85  Good not fancy food with environment shortcomings
If you are hungray, crave Italian food and do not want to spend too much this is the place. It is more of a eatery than a restaurant but with lots of noise and an almost adiner atmosphere.
Your typical Italian restaurant that serves you food hot and a lot of it. I find that the garlic rolls are only good when there hot. Please tell waitress to do that as there helpful . The dishes always seem to come out with too much sauce so tell your waitress don't et the pasta swim in the sauce.
Pizza seems greasy but again when you go there you are getting a portion that can be shared .
3 stars for me
I went there after I heard raving reviews from my co-worker. I still don't understand why this restaurant is rated so high on review. The service was great. Very lively. The waitress was very helpful and friendly. However, the food was greasy and salty. It was nothing more than a typical Americanized Italian food. If you go to Casa de angelo, cafe vico ,etc for your Italian meal, I highly recommend not to go to this restaurant.
Review Source:I was craving Italian, checked the yelp reviews and off we went. As one other yelper mentioned, the menu notes that items are made to order and there is no microwave on the premises. Love that.
The waiter also referenced pasta is homemade, etc. We ordered Caeser salad to start and low and behold - they use purchased croutons. 1 - this is a huge pet peeve of mine, esp in Italian restaurant. Dude there is so much extra bread floating around and croutons are easier than getting out of bed in the morning to make. I would normally never say anything, except that the waiter was boasting about everything being homemade - and he admitted it. We laughed about it.
Anywho - husband got the rigatoni, mushrooms & italian sausage and was raving. I tried a bite and thought it was pretty slammin' as well. I got the gnocchi in pink sauce and asked them to add peas. God I love peas in a cream sauce. Don't judge me. Mine was also very good.
Couple that with a great bottle of Chianti and it makes for a fantastic 4 star meal. I can't wait to return on our next trip down.
My family loves Il Mulino and chose it for a going away lunch on 8/4. This time I avoided the avoided bread and red wine. I had the lasagna and also tried my sister's chicken parm. The lasagna was just okay but I wished I had ordered the chicken parm because it's delicious.Service got the extra star.
Review Source:Full disclosure--I worked as a server at Big Louie's down the street and it is one of the very few restaurants I worked in that I went back to eat after I left--more about that later.
I have been coming to il Mulino once or twice a year since they opened in 1988. Coming from a movie and having a groupon we decided to have a late lunch there. The room(s) are a rich, deep brown with wine bottles being the main decor. I had the Lasgna ($9.95) and Allen the Penne with meatballs ($9.75) and we were served 4 garlic rolls, Coffee and Iced Tea ($2.25 each) plus tax and tip the check came to $27.07 I had paid $10 for the groupon so the total came to $17.07, basically $9 each which is about average for lunch but below average for a full service restaurant. At dinner these 2 items are $12. 95 each.
I enjoyed the lasagna and Allen liked the penne and meatballs. The service could have been a bit better--I had to ask for a refill of coffee while Allen never got offered a refill of his drink. We were given the garlic rolls, which weren't served warm and had a clump of garlic in the middle of the plate, which were gone by the time we got our main course, and it would have been nice if the server had offered us one more roll each--if nothing else than to sop the sauce up. Having been a server these are the little things I look for to tip more than the standard 20% (before the coupon deduction.)
il Mulino was good but all things being even (no coupon) I would choose to go to Big Louie's--food is about the same and Big Louie's has more of a neighborhood and intimate feel even though they tried to go a little more high scale when they remodeled. Their prices are a bit higher at lunch and a bit lower at dinner than the prices at il Mulino's  while Big Louie's includes a salad at both servings.
In the past 6 months I discovered another restaurant in the neighborhood called Cafe Vico which has become my first choice for the best Italian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.
We decided 2 try this place cuz we were going 2 c a movie@gateway. What a mistake the girl@the desk was on the phone and didn't acknowledge us and had her back 2 us the entire time we stood there waiting 2 b seated. All of a sudden there was a line behind us that went out the door and she STILL didnt turn around. Suddenly a girl comes out of nowhere and seats us. We sat 4 quite awhile b4 a waitress came 4 our drink orders. Already rubbed the wrong way I decided 2 simultaneously read reviews 4 this place and check out the menu. Let's see...bad service bad service bad service,excellent garlic rolls,soggy pasta,check. Waitress brings water. I askd 4 a few more mins,she gave us an hour. She didn't come back! Lol! I suggested we go somewhere else. red lobster! The man has been wanting 2 go, so we left. I wasn't impressesd w the menu anyway. Won't go back. Thanks 4 reading
Review Source:After living in the Fort Lauderdale area for 2 1/2 years, my husband and I finally made it to Il Mulino thanks to a LivingSocial deal. Â It was completely worth the wait! Â We were worried that there would not be tables available on a Friday night, but we had no trouble getting seated. Â
Everything we ate was delicious. Â We split the antipasto appetizer - a generous serving of meats, cheeses, artichoke hearts, black olives and beefsteak tomato slices over some romaine. Â I'm glad we shared it as it was definitely enough for two. Â For my entree, I had the fish special - stuffed snapper over risotto. Â The snapper was stuffed with some kind of onion mixture and topped with red peppers. Â The risotto had peas in it and there was a light pesto sauce on the plate - I couldn't stop eating it! Â My husband had the seafood anelli. Â He liked it, but the portion was huge to begin with and it came with cheese tortellini, so a little bit overkill there!
Our waiter was very nice and never rushed us, although we had to keep refreshing our own wine glasses throughout the meal. Â I will say that the garlic rolls were unnecessary and very overloaded with garlic. Â Overall, we had a really great meal at Il Mulino and will definitely be back!
This place is amazing, five star food with three star prices! Always great service, nice atmosphere and delicious food. If you go get the Polenta with mushrooms appetizer, and also must have the almond basket for dessert! Must go!!! Cheap at lunch time and seafood risotto not in the menu always but they will make it upon request! GO
Review Source:We were going to another restaurant on a beach resort on a Friday night because we had a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> coupon, and apparently if they aren't pulling enough business they just shut the doors even before closing time. Unthinkable. So on our way there, I saw an Italian restaurant that caught my eye that wasn't sandwiched in a strip mall, or didn't have a stupid name like 'Big Fat Paulie's' or 'Mafia Mike's'. I hate that.
We stopped in a it was everything we wanted. The top of the menu states clearly that they don't have any microwaves and that everything they serve is freshly made on premises, even the pasta. Excellent food, neat and clean appearance, and modestly priced.
I was going to go with something else that caught my eye, but once i saw that EVERYTHING from this place is freshly made I decided to go back to the basics and get the spaghetti and meatballs, excellent. My girlfriend had the sausage and broccoli penne which was also simple and refreshingly good.
All told: 2 entrees, 2 glasses of wine, plus a generous tip was around $50. Well worth it to me.
awesome prices, and great food. they had burrata which i have been seeking in NYC for a while. So happy to have it. portions were awesome, the garlic bread was so good, and the service was nice (we sat at the bar and Chelsea did a phenomenal job even though she was super busy).
Would definitely come here again when i'm in town.
$84 for dinner for 3 with wine after tip (20+%) and tax.
I've come here too often hoping for a decent meal for a cheap pricey wife had a salad -- not bad.
I had Fettuccine with chicken, the Fettuccine was the opposite of al dente.  It  was al flabby.
My wife's sister had an over-salted chicken Marcela.
Why didn't I read my own past review?
Harry A Â Moody
Great service; great server. Fresh pasta all around and if you want to scare off your date, order those damn tasty garlic rolls. Eat them while they're hot but try not to eat too many so you have room for the huge pasta meals!
Super kid friendly, too, which bumps them up a star in my books. I never realized how tough it is to eat out with kids until you bring a one year old and five year old along. The washrooms were clean which was a blessing for tiny hands, too.
You can bring your own wine for a $15 corkage fee. And if they opt to take the fee off, do give that extra money to the server instead! The red wine there was great, tho, and I'm not even a red wine drinker.
I'd recommend every pasta, but I think the ravioli and the penne alla vodka was the best. Clam linguini was a bit too clammy for my liking but was certainly plentiful. The red sauce was great, too. The portions were huge, but so good that take home isn't really an option.
You can also bring your own cake for a bday, but since they serve Tiramisu, it's a tough call.
Remember that both lots are used for parking.
Overall, it's my favourite dining experience with kids in Fll that isn't on the water. The food is even as good as Canyon which is one of the top restaurants in the city! This is where the real Italians dine, so what does that tell you?
Go here with the fam, come early, and you won't be disappointed where Italian is concerned!
Mediocre is probably the best word to describe Il Molino.
I don't like most Italian Restaurants because I can't justify paying $15 for a plate of pasta that often tastes the same, if not better at home. No exception here. I'm assuming they are not lying on the menu when they say they make their own pasta. However, I really could not tell any difference between this pasta and my Barilla at home. The selection of dishes is the same as every other Italian Restaurant, while the ingredients in my simple sauce were fresh, they were not worth the more than 30 minute wait. Our waiter came by the table a few times, apologizing for the delay, but when I went to the restroom and passed the kitchen, I saw multiple people just standing around.
My husband had pizza, which looked and tasted like pizza we have tasted 100x, not bad, not great, just generic restaurant pizza.
One positive was the full bar, which many Italian Restaurants don't have, unfortunately the drink prices almost made me choke on my penne. Overall I'd say, buy a box of your favorite pasta, toss it with tomato and basil and enjoy at home.
The SHORT of it:
FOOD: Â decent - for NYC Pizzeria that is...
SERVICE: somewhere between absolute suckiness and atrocious!
ATMOSPHERE: causal, easy, clean, uninspired Ikea- Spartan
TIP: Â Get take-out and run. Â Best off eating this in front of Netflix at home
"A Friendly attractive staff who EVENTUALLY delivers decent food." That should be their pitch.
If you go to this joint bring your chiropractor because you'll get whiplash looking for your server! Â SERVICE SUCKS - no table attention, nor maintenance WHATSOEVER! Â Not by our server, nor did I see a manager cruise around once for an overview - and the manager should - with a WHIP!.
The wine racks runs along the wall up near the ceiling on the inside of most booths. Â A waitress who needed a bottle without hesitation, jumped up on the booth cushion, two stepped over, grabbed her bottle, traipsed her dirty feet back across, and hopped down and off. Â She didn't even take the time to brush the dirt off the cushion but left it there for whatever customer to sit on! Â But then if she didn't lay down a napkin to step on, what should I have expected - rubber biscuit?
BIG MANAGEMENT PROBLEM THERE - If a server feels free to do that in front of customers, it makes one wonder what goes on in the kitchen when it comes to cleanliness? Â Only the Shadow knows - and that's why he's probably not eating here.
Naturally I'm a New Yorker so we'll have to discount my expectations, and then further discount for how the game drops outside of the Apple  - but girlfriend please.
Our waitress was a sweetie, maybe she thought her beauty was satisfying enough for our hunger  - it's not,  it's a restaurant, not a go-go bar. However, she was so sweet I couldn't drop the bomb on her, but figured I'd YELP it out later.  She disappeared forever so often, who knows, maybe she was dancing somewhere between courses and rushing back - times are tough!
Once whatever course was promptly delivered late she was impossible to find. Â And this was 5pm so it wasn't busy time yet.
They serve decent garlic rolls that are supposed to come right after you order - Â after too patient a time I had to ask another server if we could get a few, eventually our server delivered them with our apps.
We had the antipasto which was good. Very fresh moist mozzeralla, the meats were nice, on a fresh bed of green salad, perfect amount for two.
Back to the bad service - When the bus boy delivered our entrees our table was still full of dirty empty app dishes. Â We had to move them for him and then he was only going to take half away until I called him back and handed the rest over. Â
I HAD TO GET UP and walk to the hostess stand to ask for a knife other than our butter knives for my father's veal parmiana. Â Â I had to ask ANOTHER server for more garlic rolls. When I needed a second glass of water I didn't even bother, but just split my father's full glass.
The portions are HUGE and moderately priced.  My father's veal parm was the size of a flounder nearly!  It was thankfully untough - that's the kindest I can say, it was a decent veal, not disappointing.  The  red sauce on it and the linguini it came with was nice, sweet, with a distant tanginess.
I had the shrimp scampi and garlic linguini.  The shrimp was delicious, meaty babies, with a nice crisp bread crumbed oregano atop and the pasta was good.  BTW very generous pasta portions,  TOO generous, like nearly a  1/2 pound each plate - too much to finish. Â
We thought we'd further torture ourselves and order desert and we  got what we expected - the sweet and sour of it.  Naturally, the coffee couldn't be delivered before our warm chocolate cake.  It came all together sometime before forever.  The coffee was luke warm and slightly better than you'd get at I-hop.  Dunkin and McDonalds coffee is starbucks above theirs.  The warm chocolate cake was good, large and warm melty center, yum, the ice cream along side was ah...so so.
Oh and she must have vision problems because for some reason she left our dirty empty wine glasses, crumpled up napkin balls and entrée silverware on the table for us to ENJOY with our desert - how thoughtful.
Thank God when I ordered desert  I handed her my credit card or I'd probably still be there waiting for the check. Â
Yeah I'm the guy with his father who sat in the front left most corner booth in the window that Saturday Feb afternoon after a winning day at Gulfstream. Â The horses didn't let us down, but the nags in this joint did.
Pony past this place if you're looking for a total restaurant experience.
Mediocre at best.
It was a wednesday afternoon so the place was pretty empty.
We were a group of 12. The service was fantastic, i can't complain about that. All my relatives only speak spanish and the waitress waited patiently until they each figured out what they wanted to eat.
The food was nothing special. Very plain. I had the risotto with the crab-baked shrimp. Eh. The risotto was tasteless and the shrimp had not been de-vained.
my little cousin had the bacon-wraped chicken with asparagus and salad, that was okay, the best dish actually but it was pretty simple. The burrata was cut open instead of serving it whole in it's glorious little package ($16), it was good.
By dessert time, we had the flowerless cake and the nuteletta, but they weren't out of this world. they were both pretty heavy but good if you have a very sweet tooth.
Definitely not quality food, but all right for the price. $250 total.
I will not be back, but my parents seemed to like it.
There is absolutely nothing special about this place. The pasta (we had 4 cheese ravioli $12 and baked penne $13) was on par with stuff I've made at home (and I'm not a chef by any measure) and the sauces were boring, as though they were out of a jar.
The service was awful, though polite about it. I'm still not sure we actually had a specific server, we would ask for something from one person and another person would (eventually) bring it to us. We had to request to order after waiting patiently for a few long minutes (it felt like 15 but the clock swore it was only 5). It was just a weird unorganized mess as though no one was assigned tables.
The restaurant itself is nice, really just an update on the traditional Italian restaurant. The only pleasant part of the evening was dessert. The Nutellina made everything else melt away. It's essentially a calazone filled with nutella (hazelnut chocolate butter, similar to peanut butter but with chocolate). It came with vanilla ice cream (forgive me, gelato) and was definitely big enough to share. And though it was delicious, I'm pretty sure I could make it with enough nutella and a pizza crust.
So, if you're in the mood for basic pasta but don't wanna get your kitchen dirty, this is the place for you.
Il Mulino is a simple dining option that delivers consistent quality food in large portions. Â It is very casual, but more upscale then your local pizza shop. Â This is not to be confused with the Il Mulino of New York, with another location in Miami Beach. Â This Il Mulino restaurant is on the larger size, has boothes and tables made of granite. Â Often times, the wait here is the biggest downfall as its convenient location to the Gateway Theater increases traffic, especially on the weekends. Â Other times, it is just the quality food coupled with the reasonable price that causes the long wait. Â Accordingly, due to the thriving business, service can sometimes be a little spotty, but the majority of the time it is right on.
My meals here have been relatively simple and strightforward. Â Caesar salad, bruschetta, parmigiana (veal and chicken), lasgana, pasta, and their "Anelli", which is basically a calzone, cut into three separate sections and served with a side of pasta. Â All dishes in this place pass muster, and after eating here numerous times, I have come to appreciate the consistent taste of the food.
The prices are reasonable for the food that is delivered. Â Is the marinara sauce the best I have had? Â No. Â Is the veal chop bone in perfection? Â No. Â Is the lasagna the best in Broward? No. Â However, the marinara sauce is better than most restaurants on an equal playing field, the parmigiana is very good and cheesey with a nice breading, the lasagna is good, and the rest of the food, including the aforementioned Anelli is above average. Â The only dish I have not been impressed with was a balsamic pasta dish which was a bit too acidic and repetitive. Â The portions are also large so you can often walk away with lunch for the next day too.
Il Mulino is a good option for an easy (and sometimes quick, depending on the wait) Italian dinner and better than a lot of their competitors in Fort Lauderdale. Â Be warned though, if you eat here, and especially have the rolls served with garlic, you will be experiencing some serious garlic breath. Â I want to give this place 3 1/2 starts but alas once again am limited to full stars.
Sam A, no way is this food from a food service. First of all, you can tell the pasta is fresh. It's not from a box. They make it on the premises. Everything is made on the premises. Especially those amazing garlic rolls.
I love this place. I grew up coming here. It's one of the places that when I'm in town, I have to visit at least once. First of all, those garlic rolls are great. Ask for some grated parmesan and put it on top for an amazing treat. I really love their fried mozzarella. Unlike most restaurants, it's not frozen from a box. This is made fresh and served with their fabulous marinara sauce. Unbelievable. I am stuck in a couple of ruts in regards to entrees...either the chicken francese with whole wheat pasta (amazing, and it doesn't feel like you're eating whole wheat) or the fiorentino anelli. Both are amazing.
I really like their cannolis for dessert. They have an interesting take on them...not your usual floury, crunchy shell. It's basically made of these almond pieces and sugar. Fabulous.