This place was recommended by a good friend and it did not disappoint the service was great and so was the food I will definitely eat here again.

Friendly staff and expansive Italian menu. Reasonably priced and good for a restaurant in town. Highly recommend the Stromboli!

Great NY pizza & great service.

Great and fresh food.

Our FAVORITE restaurant in Wake Forest! Seriously addicted to their pizza. And everything else on the menu is excellent as well. Best pizza in the area since they opened in 1992. Terrific wait staff. We love Wine Wednesdays!

Had a fabulous lunch here today! Nice atmosphere, good service and great food! Had the stuffed mushrooms, and they were one of the most delicious foods I have EVER put in my mouth. The antipasto salad was different from what I have had, and excellent! The food was fresh and fabulous! I cannot wait to return with my husband!

The food is very delicious. Italian food is one of my favorite and haven grown up in NJ where good Italian fare is easy to come by this place compared very well. The pizza is awesome and huge. The pasta dishes are great too especially the lasagna. My friend had the salmon pesto and she raved about it. Come on in if you want great Italian entrees.

Nice place, short walk from the shopping of historic downtown Wake Forest. It is a good slice of pizza. I would recommend just getting a classic cheese as the quality of the toppings werent great (at least on the meat slice I had). Not much parking but the area around the restaurant is easily walk-able and safe. Lots of interesting shops nearby. Friendly staff. Usually busy but not crowded.

Since I just found out Brunos Italian Bistro has closed. Me and wife were looking for a new Italian spot in Wake Forest. Unfortunately, this was not the place. When we arrived there was tons of space in the dining room, but the hostess informed us that the chef was behind on orders. We said the wait time was fine, but the hostess was strangely reluctant to seat us. I had to ask to be seated and then she had to ask the chef for some reason. We asked for an appetizer, but our food arrived 20-30 minutes later no appetizer. When asked the waiter said that he forgot to put it in. The protein was flavorless, shrimp and chicken. The sauces were nearly all butter. We never received any bread with our meal. Seems like the staff needs a front of the house manager.

Have been here...It was a great experiences. Nice service that is cozy. And provide the best service.Thank you very much for very good food and nice service.The pizza here is awesome...

I have no complaints, food was excellent,staff was excellent. I have been going there for 10+ years and always had a great meal. Prices were very fair. And for those who complain, youve never had a bad day? it happens. Im going tonight, it was my first choice.

Cozy family owned restaurant in Wake Forest! Italian wedding soup warms you on a chilly day! Come in, sit and enjoy! Servers are there to assist but there is no rush!

My family has given LA Foresta many chances but the last time we stopped by to eat there it was terrible. Each of us ordered a salad as a meal and we ended up waiting for 45 minutes before we got our food. The restaurant was close to empty when we arrived and service was unbearably slow. The only redeeming quality that my family has found here is that the pizza is fantastic, however everything else needs work.

Pizza is AMAZING! The service is frustratingly the polar opposite of amazing. Sat for 10 minutes. No server. Owner brought us drinks. Server took order. Pizza took at least 30 minutes. Expect your dine in orders to take a three fold backseat to phone in pickup orders. It was very obvious we tool a back seat to the businesses cash cow which is pick up orders. Likely because of the fact that the pizza is great but the service is lacking... I will likely order theit awesome pizzeria for carry out. But I will never waste my familys time again. Twice in a row with re same results.

I have dined here many times and La Foresta consistently delivers an experience that is worth more than the cost. The service is good and the people are nice. The food is far above average. The sauce is pretty authentic and flavorful. Salads are always very fresh. The ambiance is pleasant and clean.

Had lunch here today and its just as good as I remembered! I had the cold cut Italian and everything about it was fresh and bursting with flavor. The restaurant was very clean and the staff was courteous. The head chef, Sean, talked to us for a bit and the owner, Pam, came out to talk with us and make sure everything was cooked to order. I couldnt have asked for a better lunch experience. I look forward to my next trip!Definitely a gem in Wake Forest.

This place is probably one of the best restaurants in town. Everything on the Menu Is handmade, and just delicious. Everything starts when you walk inside, and smell the fresh bread. Your then greeted by a freindly person, and everyone in there has a smile. There are so many different appetizers and small meals. They range from Salads, to Pasta, and even for dessert, there amazing Cheesecake. It has the best crust in the literal area of Wake Forest, and is even better then the Cheescake Factory (in my opinion). Check this place out if your ever in Wake Forest. I recommend it 10/10

Great pizza! Great pasta! Great salmon! Love the service and the atmosphere. We enjoy driving over to Wake Forest for a fun evening.

I am not sure where some of these other reviews came from and I doubt they are legit. I have been going to La Foresta for years now with my family and have always been thrilled with the food and service. As for the owner, Steve, he treats me and my family like we are his own. Hard to find that these days.Bring your family to La Foresta. You will not be disappointed!

Our favorite place. Authentic NY pizza, the best in the area, and by the area I mean, North Carolina. Really, theres nothing bad on the menu. Service is always great as well. Highly recommend.

I pulled my review after I was givin a explanation about what was going on during our visit. I believe in second chances so we are going to stop by again. The pizza we had was pretty good. So now we will see what happens this time. See your soon.

Not at all authentic Italian, they played jazz music instead of traditional Italian music. I had to leave my table to chase down the waitress for a bowl to put my clam shells in. Young waitress knew nothing about the wine list. When you order linguine, you should get a spoon to help twist it around your fork. She didnt know that. Not her fault, she was untrained. I blame the leadership.

I would not come back. The food wasn’t anything special. I got pasta and sausage. When I got it, it was a big plate of spaghetti...what I expected and knew I was ordering...however, the sausage was in 2 links, not even cut. The service was good though. I do think it was very overpriced for a not so special dish. For what I paid I expected at least for the sausage to be cut. :(

The food at La Foresta is delicious, but the wait staff is poorly trained.Me and some family went and sat in their outside seating. The atmosphere is decent and had a comfortable feel. After sitting down, however, no one came to our table for half an hour. We saw the wait staff point at our table several times before we were asked for drink orders, and there was some serious confusion over a gluten free pizza we ordered.When the food came out it was excellent, and the manager apologized for the issues.

Ive been to La Foresta numerous times over the years, and theyre a genuinely good local restaurant. Friendly servers and good food make this place a solid recommendation. Definitely give their stromboli a try.

Been there twice in the past two weeks. Nothing like it use to be. First time the food came out barely warm. Second time it took 45 minutes to get our food. People that came in after we did had eaten and were leaving when our food finally came. In all that time the waitress only came to our table once. I actually had to go to the waitress across the restaurant to ask about our food. The manager came to the table next to ours at least three times and never came to our table. Once again some of the food came barely warm. Very disappointed and will not return.

I purposely planned my vacation around La Forestas schedule in order to enjoy another meal here. Unbeknownst to me, our waitress informed us that La Foresta was closing their doors probably the following Saturday. Needless to say how surprised and disappointed I was to learn this and that one more favorite restaurant was going the way of the dinosaur. For those who have not dined here, you have missed out on fantastic pizza and my favorite, Alfredo with Pancetta.

Very clean and great food! The tea is made with awesome water and is the best flavor around.

The food was great. Friendly family atmosphere. Cant wait to return for more.

Its New York style, first time we ordered the pizza and we Chicagoans loved it! Staff is always great. Pasta dishes are very good as well!

Excellent food....adjusted on the fly. Server had blinders on to clear table though. I would definitely come back again to give server a second chance.

Excellant Italian dinner. I was with a friend and we shared dinners, eggplant & chicken parmesan. The waitress brought extra plates so we each could help ourselves. We added small green salads and they served yummy hot bread. The coffee cups never got empty, waitress every attentive and friendly ). The aroma when we walked in was so inviting and I look forward to eating here again.

Great place to eat. Great food, wonderful atmosphere as well as staff. I love their pizza!

Food is cold but they say it is made to order NOT!!! The bread is cold. The maranara sauce is cold. There is only like 5 tables and the service is so slow. I am fxxxxx starving!!!! Hurry up. The homemade ginger ale taste like water

Small, quaint, good italian food. Good place to stop in after walking around and shopping on white st. No bar to sit at though. Hostess grabbed me a beer to enjoy on the outside eating patio.

Pizza was good. Toppings should reach closer to edge of the crust and not set so far back. Anyway ... service was okay.

Outstanding pasta dishes (especially the Alfredo pesto sauce), attentive service, and very reasonable prices. Ill be back.

Loved the Italian villa atmosphere. The servers were very friendly, and the stuffed shells are AMAZING!! That was the best restaurant meal Ive had in a while. I will be returning soon, just because I really want to try the shrimp carbonara.

Food was good. Excellent service. Staff was very polite and welcoming

La Foresta has the best pizza in town! Alot of people dont know they have AMAZING AND AFFORDABLE lunch specials too. The pizza slices are huge and the service is great!

A good, local establishment. Prices are fair for the food you get. Its good for a lunch during work hours or a casual dinner.The sandwiches are a good option here.

My favorite place to eat in Wake Forest! I eat here every chance I can when I return to the area. Food is always great, service is quick and the atmosphere pleasant. Food is priced fairly and the desserts are awesome.

The food was tastey, the ambiance & personnel friendly & the price was right.

:: GREAT LUNCH, AFFORDABLE & GOOD ::Overall, the menu is affordable, the food good, and the service prompt.If you love cheese, definitely try their Stuffed Shells.

Food was catered from this restaurant. OMG the flavors were amazing. Havent had true Italian food since I left NJ. Thanks

Best Italian food Ive had in a long time. Nice place with great wait staff.

Despite the slow service, food was delicious and tasty. Great date night spot.

Had a great dinner at La Foresta last week .... our familys favorite place to meet and have dinner! Entree (Eggplant parmigiana) and pizza (Caprese) were excellent ... food was hot and delicious! Our waitress was attentive and extremely friendly .... we have eaten here since they were in the little restaurant! Tonight is take out ... another Caprese pizza!

Short wait on Saturday night and great food. Two of my favorite things 😀

It was our first time and decided to order the caprese pizza. This was the best pizza we have ever had. All three of us were pleasantly surprised. I usually dont expect much from a pizza but this was delicious. I think it ruined me for any other pizza. Where has this pizza been all my life! We plan on returning for sure. Thanks for delighting my tastebuds.

We love this place and frequently order take out, the food speaks for itself. But today, we had a pretty bad experience. I tried calling in our order as I usually do, I was asked to hold and so I did. A minute or so later the girl picked up the phone and we soon realized she meant to pick up the other line, and then she hung up on me. We only live down the street and my kid was dead set on having La Foresta, so we decided we would just go in and dine in. We stood in the front for about 10minutes before we were finally greeted. Then we were sat, it was another 5min before the host came up and took our drink order. We knew what we were ordering so I asked the host if we could order, but she told me she was not the server. We sat and waited, watched other people who came in after us get they order taken, and then sat and waited some more. Finally I saw one of the servers mouth something to the host girl after 20mins past, and the host came up to us and asked if we were ready to order. She took our order, it was one pizza. Weve been sitting here for about 45min now and still no pizza, and not one server has even acknowledged us. My toddler whom is very hungry and anxious had to take a walk with my husband because it has taken so long. As I write this, we are still waiting. The host did come up and apologize for how long its taking just now, and I told her I wanted to make sure she receives our tip as she is the only one who has helped us and is running her butt off. We will stick to take out orders from now on.

The good is delicious and I know the kitchen is clean! So sorry this is being bought but we wish Pam a well-deserved retirement!

Very very slow service. No communication about why it was so slow. Food not that good when it did arrive. Waste of time and money.

Great antipssta, excellent Zupe de Pesce and chk parm

Nice place for a date. Wait staff was friendly, food portions were proper and of very good taste.

Good food. Good atmosphere. They serve big slices of pizza. Salads were good too.

I had a great experience at this Italian Food Place tonight. The people were friendly and the food was really good. I will return again.Thanks,Jay

Great meals; friendly service...bonus you can bring your own bottle with minimal corkage charge.

We enjoyed this restaurant at least once a week for many years, until we started getting a our food barely warm. We still go back every 4 months or so and try again, but to no avail.

We arrived to a half empty restaurant and were told it would be thirty minutes before they could seat us. The reason they gave was the kitchen was backed up. The service was slow. Two out of four meals were uneatable. They offered to bring us something different and it was still bad. We paid full price and left. Very dissatisfied.

Good price and service but nothing special about the food.

We had a fantastic gluten free pasta ... made with lentils ... GF Alfredo sauce ... with steamed fresh veges tossed in. Awesome! Will absolutely come back and order same😊

Locally owned. Good food and service. Reasonable prices.

Love this place. Good food and great atmosphere.

Had excellent and very large pizza take out. Caprese and Supreme.

After our drinks being served, which was done in a timely fashion, we ordered our appetizers, the stuffed mushrooms, which took roughly 20 minutes to get to the table, and about 6 minutes before then we were served our breadsticks. When our appetizer was served, we ordered our entrees, salmon picatta and the seafood alfredo. These were not served for 45 minutes after we ordered them, which wouldn’t necessarily have been a huge deal if the restaurant was crowded. It wasn’t. There were ~5 tables, most with no more than 3 guests. Our waitress even commented to us upon her taking our drink orders that it was dead for a Friday night and asked us if anything was going on downtown.When our entrees we’re finally served, my date and I were extremely let down. The salmon picatta was served over a watered down, flavorless sauce, the pasta was quite over cooked, and the salmon itself was also overdone- dry on top and chewy. My dates seafood alfredo wasn’t quite as bad, but the sauce tasted as if it was from a jar, and had the consistency to match. This normally wouldn’t have been a huge deal had it not been for the $17.99 price tag.We got our waitress’ attention, and informed her of our displeasure, and she very kindly and apologetically took our meals from us and brought them back. Now for the kicker - The owner of the restaurant came to our table to let us know that she tasted our meals and to apologize, although not for the food, but to apologize for the fact, and I quote, that our “tastes did not align with the tastes of the restaurant” and that the food tasted “as great as it always does”Will not be dining at this restaurant again.

Best bruschetta Ive ever tasted. Excellent food.

The owners allowed up to set up and work with the local Wake Forest business owners to make sure they were currently represented on google maps. I applaud them for their commitment to their community but they also made a customer out of me because their pizzas are fantastic AND my husband dropped by and has not stopped talking about how good his meatball sub was.

Great food. Always great service

What an awful restaurant. Slow horrible service. After the long wait food was cold-REALLY??? They did not offer to comp meal and waitress chatted too much and of course had excuses.

Ive been a patron of La Foresta Italian Cafe since the early days in their original location! Steve and Pam created a wonderful place for friends and family, ball teams, groups, parties and more to come together to enjoy food made with love.Without a doubt, my favorite entree is the eggplant rollatini! My daughter really likes the penne alla vodka. Its a great place for a business lunch, or enjoy dinner on the patio.What a delight to know that Pam and the staff of La Foresta Italian Cafe are carrying on Steves legacy, food is love.

I thought the wait staff were very friendly. No discredit to our server at all and we tipped her what she deserved. However, Ive eaten authentic Italian food and what I ate tonight was definitely not authentic. I ordered the chicken marsala. The chicken filet was fried chicken. Italians do not fry their chicken and Ive had this dish at many other Italian restaurants, including some in Bostons Italian North End. Besides the chicken being fried, the marsala sauce had absolutely no flavor. The pasta was dripping with oil and also was flavorless. I was disappointed overall. I didnt finish my entree. If I want fried chicken I will go elsewhere but I expected Italian food. I only ate half of it and we decided to skip the dessert. Italian food is typically noted for its flavors, this was nowhere near that.

This is a quaint Italian restaurant. The food is good, the servers are kind. We come for the atmosphere, not as much for the food which is good but not great

Very good pizza,service attentive and pleasant,definitely will be back.

Good food, great service, family friendly

This place was once great, but due to some shotty management La foresta has crumbled into a dying smelly pizza joint. I would go to bella italia or even dominoes before I came back to la foresta. The food is overpriced and mediocore at best.

Really good! It can be quite crowded on weekends. Thats the reality of being the only Italian place in downtown WF.

Food is excellent but be prepared to wait.

Food was nothing special, service was a bit lacking, and was very hot

Great establishment, great people,great food. Best pizza in the Raleigh area by far!

Quite pricey, good pizza though. Unique sodas

People make or break......... they cannot handle real people, sad to say I give them zero.

Family friendly, delicious food, servers were polite and efficient. They even gave my kids pizza dough to play with, like play-doh

One of our absolute favorite places to eat in the area. Outstanding food and service and always a very friendly family atmosphere!

The food is fantastic, nice setting, great service.

Great Italian food, good service, everything tastes like its made from scratch!

This restaurant is nothing like it used to be. Have ordered there twice in the past 3 weeks. First time was pretty bad the sub roll was burned. I thought well Ill give them the benefit of doubt and ordered Ziti to go. The ziti was mushy like it had been frozen or way over cooked. I work in Wake Forest so have ordered many times from this restaurant but not anymore!

Visited for the first time this weekend at about 7pm on Saturday night. The crowd was moderate and we were seated promptly. Very laid back atmosphere, certainly not a cookie cutter chain. Staff is experienced, friendly and well versed in the menu to make informed recommendations. We all ordered calzones that were big enough to use as flotation devices but so full of delicious ingredients we would have sunk straight to the bottom had we tried. Everything is hand-made and the calzones take 20+ minutes so not the place if you are in a hurry.That leads to the reason for a 4 instead of 5. An error was made on one of the calzones and it took the kitchen another 20 minutes to make its replacement; by the time it was delivered the rest of the party was finished. Fortunately the calzones that were delivered correctly were so huge we could all share with the calzone-less. It would have made the experience better if some bread sticks, salad or other options (cheese cake) were offered to hold them over until delivery. That is my only demerit. To end on a high note, the root beer is fantastic. Miltons youve been replaced as my favorite calzone place in WF.

Excellent Italian food prepared to order. Worth the wait.

A bit pricey for pizza, but it was delicious!

Husband I come here often. Food is always delicious and cooked to perfection.

Awesome service and food.

We LOVE our Italian food. It was my birthday, so I decided to check them out. We read the reviews, and took them with a grain of salt. Everyone has an opinion, so heres mine...The majority of the staff were noticeably inexperienced. Our waitress looked as though she was preoccupied with a young male at another table (sitting on his lap), and the girls up front were texting on phones. The Stuffed mushrooms tasted like they were stuffed with their mashed up stems and not much else. (A good stuffed mushroom is sausage, bread crumbs, cheddar cheese)-none of that. Our entrees were very unimpressive. My husband got the Lasagne which was an inch thick or less. It should be like 3 inches. The homemade noodles were the best part of it. I got the Vodka sauce penne, flavor was bland, and I was crunching on the onions. My kids meals were average, and they didnt seem to mind. We did ask for sweet tea for them. They gave us unsweet tea, when we asked for refills my husband asked for Sweet Tea, and they still brought unsweet tea. I really dislike giving bad reviews for a small business; I hope the Owners read this, and try to improve. I like to see people do good, and sometimes you need some outside views

Unfortunately, the owner was out of town and the kitchen staff was shorthanded. The food was late and poorly prepared. For the $$$, we wont be going back.

Great homemade food and generous portions!

Good selection and pricing

Food was good when it finally arrived. Pizza came out prior to pasta and we were finished eating before pasta came out. Service and management had plenty of excuses but made no attempt to right their wrong. Will not go back!!!

Great food and service...

Food is okay but not great (3 stars). Terrible customer service, hence the 1 star rating. People like this dont succeed in a small town.

Highly recommend Pizza by the slice with a Caesar Salad -Fantastic!