MenuPages

My husband, two very good friends, and myself were there for dinner last week. The service was very poor. The waiter opened our wine bottles, never poured our wine, never came back to refill our wine glasses and never refilled our water glasses. When our waiter presented us with the check, leaving it on the table, he was back in less than 30 seconds to pick it up. We hadn't had a chance to look at it. We felt very rushed, there was no one waiting to be seated, so I am not sure why the waiter returned in such a hurry to pick up our payment. One of the waiter's also made a comment about how fast we consumed the little tid bit we received "Compliments of The Chef".

We recently had dinner at Sola and had a wonderful meal. This is by far one of the best restaurants on the mainline. The menu is always changing and very creative. They also have beautiful stemware for your wine. We had the tuna appetizer which had both a tuna tartare and seared tuna. We also had the crab appetizer with the softshell crab. Both were delicious. For entrees we had the braised short rib and the sea scallops. The short ribs were by far one of the best short ribs I have had anywhere, very tender and moist and came with a tomato marmalade. The sea scallops were cooked to perfection, moist in the center and came with an amazing lobster and mushroom risotto. I highly recommend Sola to anyone looking for an excellent dining experience. Service was also very attentive throughout our meal.

This over the top is not only the best food available on the Main Line (It’s BYOB) but the chef/owner Dave is one of the most gracious people you’ll ever want to meet. The food each visit surpasses the previous. Be sure to make a reservation as Sola is no longer a secret. Highly recommend it for choices and price. Try it and you’ll return again and again.

My husband and I and another couple went to Sola for Valentine's dinner. It was highly recommended to us, and we were so looking forward to it. I went online to review the menu, and was very excited to see sweetbreads. I love them, but my husband doesn't, so the only time I have them is when we are at a restaurant that serves them. The platter came. On it were four very small- about the circumference of a nickle - pieces of veal, and two heavily breaded and deep fried sweetbread pieces - about 2" long each. Actually I didn't even recognize thm as sweetbreads. Between the breading and the frying, there was so little taste of sweetbread that even my husband would have eaten them! I should have sent it back, but the restaurant was busy considering the holiday. It was a very expensive disappointment, and we will not be going back.

The food here is good, but overpriced. My biggest concern and why I will never return is because the staff is unfriendly and condescending toward its patrons. While the physical atmosphere is pleasing, the human factor cannot be ignored.

On Thuesday night, Jan. 20, 2009, while the world celebrated Pres. Obama, and rabid group of supporters took over Sola for a "mini" inaugural ball. We were 40 strong and enjoyed a wonderful evening of good food, good feeling and good service. We brought a life-size cutout of Barack, so he dined with us and we all agreed that the evening was a huge success, thanks in part to the wonderful food and service. Chef bent over backwards to accommodate us in every possible way. He even pointed out the one Republican waiter so we could razz him with good humor. My usual server was one big smile (usually he's all business) and the feeling that all will be ok filtered to the kitchen too. All in all, I couldn't be happier with the way things went and I thank them for having such a wonderful restaurant that we can go to in our neighborhood. I still say it's one of the very best in Philly and the burbs.

Overall I would not call the experience one I would put in the cherish category. We had a reservation for 6 PM and at 6:10 PM we were being encouraged to order, because as the waiter stated "He did not want us to feel rushed, but that a second seating did come in at 8:30". Throughout the meal our party felt like we were being "moved along". In fact, the waiter took my plate as I was talking to the person next to me, and I was not even done my entree!!! Overall, the food was OK, but the portions were most ideal for those conscious of limiting their calories. The waiter accomplished his goal of having us out of our seats by 8:25, but he also guaranteed that he would not have us visit his establishment again.