Dining Review: Il Forno Bello

Jess HarterSeptember 2, 2026

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Left to right: Il Lacho, Arizona and Finocchio pizzas

A Pizzeria Bianco veteran hangs his shingle in Mesa – and sets a new bar
with destination-level wood-fired pies.

by Jess Harter | Photography by Digeshwar Vasava

For two decades, Horacio “Lacho” Hernandez served as Chris Bianco’s right hand at Pizzeria Bianco, helping the legendary chef put Arizona pizza on the map. Later, Hernandez was hired to launch the acclaimed pizza program at Old Town Scottsdale’s Craft 64, which also keeps winning awards.

Finally, after years helping build other people’s legacies, Hernandez opened his own pizzeria last March: Il Forno Bello, tucked into a compact hacienda-style building adjacent to family-Mex favorite Rancho de Tia Rosa in East Mesa.

With its unadorned adobe walls, heavy wood beams, iron chandeliers and cement floors, it shouldn’t work as an Italian pizzeria. Somehow, it does. There’s a rustic, old-world quality to the space that feels less like a mismatch and more like a happy accident of aesthetics.

The menu is refreshingly small, encompassing a half-dozen specialty pizzas, two antipasti, one salad and two desserts, most sourced from Italian and local purveyors. Nothing feels like filler – starting with a small loaf of table bread billed as “fresh house-baked,” though it shows no trace of having passed through the wood-fired oven anchoring the open kitchen. Even cold, it’s excellent, served with good olive oil and Il Forno Bello’s signature balsamic, a thick, glossy vinegar that leans sweeter than sour.

The pizzas are the real draw: roughly 14 inches, thin-crusted, charred at the edges that puff up light and airy. Most arrive sauceless by default, with tomato sauce available for a small upcharge. The standout is Il Lacho, the owner’s namesake pie: mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano topped with candied pancetta, sliced jalapeños and hot honey. Given the components, you’d expect a sugar-and-spice bomb, but it’s remarkably balanced, each element checking the others. Another selection, the Finocchio, piles on thick-cut fennel sausage and caramelized onions for a hearty, savory pie. Meanwhile, the Arizona takes a bigger swing with red onion, rosemary, and ground pistachios – an odd-sounding combination that somehow lands.

Save room for gelato. The choices are simple – chocolate, vanilla, pistachio – but the pistachio surprises, a light brownish scoop whose nuttiness reads closer to peanut butter, served with a Biscoff cookie.

Il Forno Bello doesn’t try to reinvent the pizzeria. It doesn’t need to. With a streamlined menu, quality ingredients and two decades of Pizzeria Bianco know-how, Hernandez has built a place worth the drive to East Mesa.