3 /5
Reseña
★
★
★
It 's been a while since I 'd been here--given that I no longer live in the area--but my parents mentioned a reasonable prix fixe menu, so off we went. When we arrived, there was one couple dining, but it was quite early and eventually it filled up. The room is pleasant, with some well-chosen art and cool lighting fixtures. The owner was doing service on his own initially, and so it took a few moments before he came out to seat and greet us. Another server arrived a little bit later. On that note, service was very friendly, but it didn 't seem as polished/skilled as I remembered. Despite constantly checking on us (almost too much so), water glasses were never refilled, and the first three courses came out at lightning speed--for a little while I was worried we 'd be done our four-course meal in an hour. The first course was a Shrimp Mary, which was a pair of large shrimp arranged like a shrimp cocktail over a non-alcoholic version of a Bloody Mary. To be honest, this was my least favorite dish and just felt ill-conceived. While the shrimp were plump and tender (except for the fact that my mother and I both got veins in one of ours), it wasn 't really clear what you were supposed to do. Even if you dipped them, the drink wasn 't really thick enough to cling to the shrimp, and so the flavor didn 't carry over, and who really wants to dip shrimp in your drink and then drink it. It just didn 't work for me. Next came the lobster with a corn-cucumber risotto. This could have been a very good dish, but unfortunately mine was a bit oversalted--not quite enough to send it back (and the problem is that you hesitate to send it back after a bite or two, and after a few more bites, it 's too late), but it needed to be pulled back to be fully enjoyable. Right on the heels of the lobster came a petit filet mignon with truffle mashed potatoes, haricot verts and an onion fritter. Again, verging on too salty (the steak in particular), could have been hotter, and the other problem which only seemed to affect my particular piece is that my steak was quite rare in places (instead of medium rare). My father very kindly traded a piece of his with me (his was cooked nicely), but he ended up leaving most of what I gave him, as it was too tough. Dessert was the best course of the night, largely for the cookies 'n cream ice cream, which was original (it 's usually a white ice cream with Oreo, but this was a slightly different spin) and delicious. I also had a coffee ice cream (solid) and a cheesecake ice cream (the weakest of the three--didn 't have much flavor to me). I realize that Sola has had some chef changes in recent months, so maybe they 're working some things out, and maybe the a la carte menu is better. But it just didn 't feel like it was quite at the same level as before. Still A-OK, but it wasn 't the really great--at least not this night--that I remembered.