Restaurant Week - Sorellina

For restaurant week a friend and I decided to try Sorellina, located in the Back Bay of Boston. I've been wanting to try this place because it is owned by the same people as MOOO... and Mistral, both of which I've heard good things about. We decided to go on a Wednesday, and the only reservation we could get was 6 pm - I saw this as another good sign.  I think that restaurant week has its pros and cons. One of the biggest pros is that a lot of people get to try restaurants that they normally wouldn't be able to afford, or wouldn't think to spend their money on. One of the cons is that I feel due to the increased pressure of restaurant week, the quality of the food suffers, as well as the service. Restaurant week is such a great opportunity for restaurants to gain new customers, but it can sometimes backfire if the food is not up to the quality that it normally would be. That being said, my review of Sorellina will be slightly mixed.

For starters, the bread and the service were both AMAZING. Our waiter was extremely friendly and playful, and he really made our dinner an enjoyable experience. We had several different servers throughout the night, and each was very professional which has a calming effect on someone's dining experience. 

For a first course my friend and I both got the tomato with whipped ricotta. The tomatoes were extremely fresh, and paired nicely with the ricotta. I personally wish that I could have tasted more of the ricotta flavor but a lot of it was mellowed out through the whipping process. That being said, the contrasting textures of the tomato with the ricotta was very enjoyable. 

Tomatoes with whipped ricotta, EVOO, and sea salt

As a second course we ordered the sirloin. I had it prepared medium-rare, and it was supposed to be served with "roasted new potatoes, oyster mushrooms, and bone marrow butter." Now, I might be imagining this, but it looks like there's only one potato on my plate - regardless, the entire presentation of the plate was also very off for me. The piece of meat was way to big, and the potato looked like someone stepped on it. The butter was very tasty, but the entire dish lacked in flavor, and the potato was very underwhelming. To be honest, I would have been much more satisfied with a simple mashed potato. The steak was cooked nicely, I just wish that either the steak or the potato had more flavor. 

The highlight of the dinner course was when the hostess escorted our cab driver over to the table, and he proceeded to ask us if one of us had left our cell phone in the back of his cab.... most random act of kindness ever? Yup. I have literally never heard of a cab driver doing that, and although it wasn't one of our phones, the whole gesture was both slightly embarrassing, and completely heartwarming. Anyway...

For dessert, we each ordered something different. I ordered the Cioccolato, which was dark chocolate fudge cake, vanilla gelato, and spiced raspberry sciroppo. My friend ordered the Prugna, which was summer plums on a buttermilk biscuit with mascarpone. 

My chocolate fudge cake was fairly generic, and very rich. The overall flavor of it was nice, but I felt like I've had it before - there was nothing really special about it. It was also presented like a brownie, not a cake. It truly seemed like a lot of the dishes weren't exactly matching up with how they were being described on the menu. However, I really enjoyed the gelato, and wish there was more of that on the plate!

My friend's dessert was, well, it was bad. There was very little taste of "summer plums" and the biscuit was gingerbread flavored, which completely overwhelmed any of the other flavors - I think gingerbread is a love-it-or-hate-it taste, and that being said, it should be mentioned on the menu (in my opinion).

Overall my experience at Sorellina was underwhelming. Part of me wants to go back after restaurant week is over and give it another shot, and the other part of me doesn't want to ever go back there OR try their other restaurants. 

Mango

After dinner we headed to Basho for a quick drink, and I would highly recommend the martinis there. I've had the lychee and the cucumber which are both delicious. The other night we ordered the mango martini, and then some other martini that tasted like a strawberry daquiri and was super yummy. I'd recommend any of them!

To conclude... Basho, YES, (by the way, my Basho post is coming soon), Sorellina, go at your own risk. And stay tuned for my sister's 21st birthday anniversary dinner report!