Sociale

What a Great Neighborhood Find a True Gem!. What a fun night we had at this neighborhood restaurant. A hidden gem. Loved the alley way walk to the open air dining area. The freshly prepared meals-try the fried olive salad, the whole fish, the papparedelle duck pasta. To put the cherry on the meal... treat yourself to the Espresso milk shake and doughnuts-to die for yummy!…

Mediocre Food, Major Attitude. "Mediocre Food, Major Attitude. On the recommendation of some friends, my husband and I decided to join another couple for dinner on Saturday night at Sociale. After all the hype, it was a true disappointment --- mostly due to the major 'tude of the hostess and the wait staff. When we arrived, we innocently asked if we could sit outside and were shot down with a glare and quippy retort that was so patronizing we almost checked out at that moment. It didn't get any better -- our server never checked on our table once, our busperson literally threw the steak knife when setting the table for our main course, and kept hovering and hovering to clean the table without ever letting us complete a course. The meal was not better -- I had the chicken, my husband the steak, our friends the fish soup and the pasta. All were lukewarm when served and the plates not well presented. The bright spot was the chocolate chip cookies dessert but the Nepolitan was not even worth one bite. My advice to Sociale -- slow down, think about your clientele, smile, invite them in, and don't think that just because you are one of 2 good restaurants in the neighborhood that you are sustainable. Folks will go elsewhere to spend their dollars, especially in this economy."…

A Chuck E Cheese for Yuppies. Wow, I've been trying to figure out how to describe this place. All that comes to mind is a Chuck E. Cheese for Yuppies. I'm going to give it two separate ratings. One for food and one for the atmosphere. For atmosphere I'm giving it 1 star. I've never dined anywhere in the city where half of the diners were under the age of 3 and took over the patio. It was bedlam. There were kids screaming, running, and overall going crazy while their yuppie parents talked on their cell phones, ate boar meat ravioli and sipped their wines. Not to mention the wonderful aroma of dirty diapers. They might as well have just set up our tables at the Laurel Heights pre-school. Just as the kids started thinning out then came the dogs. One tried to attack a fellow diner as she entered. The poor lady was freaked out. I know you have to book the patio well ahead of time but I can't imagine why. It's hell out there. Dining out is half atmosphere and half food. In this case the atmosphere completely ruined our experience.

The food alone would be 4 stars. We had a very solid meal. The salads were outstanding. I was a little worried when we received the entrees because they were in large bowls and the portions looked small but it turned out to be just the right amount of food. For the price there are still better options in the city but it was good.

Service was good although the hostess was more then a bit cold on arrival.

Definitely not someplace I'll return to but it did give me plenty to talk about at cocktail parties.…