Trattoria Sogno — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

I won't go so far as to call Sogno as one of the best kept secrets in Taka Töölö, many people know about it and they keep coming back again and again for the fantastic food as well as the honest, attentive service.

An Italian restaurant which is figurative and literal miles away from it's culinary roots, but also from the horrible caricature of the buzzing tourist's stereotypical "Italian Restaurant". Not found here are the greasy, overcooked pizza and pasta which beckon salt-laden palates from North American under cleverly crafted marketing arcs. Visit most cities which count tourism as a part of their economic engine and you will find an Italian-looking eatery trying very hard to convince you. In the land of unfamiliar foods, a disingenuous oasis tempts to end arguments and uncertainty with red and white checker tablecloths and the promise of home-cooked comfort food because hey, everybody loves Italian, right?

This is not that restaurant.

Imported Italian ingredients are stacked high on shelves in the center of the dining space, for all to see. The menu has three languages, one for the locals, one universal for people like myself and one for the land of it's culinary inspiration. The dishes follow a variation of Italian meal structure with antipasti, secondi, contorni, insalate, pasta & risotto, pizze and dolci all available. Choose wisely as the dishes vary in size and pairing a dish from the secondi with a side from the contorni can easily overwhelm a diner occupying the table for roughly an hour.

The complimentary bread served with a little bit of balsamic vinegar and a lot of olive oil are good. Really good. It's spooky how good that bread tastes. You can buy half a loaf to take home for 10€ but at your caloric peril!

Lunch is a wonder all it's own. Choose one of the deliciously thin and crispy pizzas whose generous size will shock you when it is delivered on a wooden serving board or a selection of items from the buffet / salad bar (it's not quite either) including dessert, again for only 10€.

Though I have not tried them, a selection of beers and wines exists to offer you something new or old but delicious in either case.

Reservations are recommended unless you visit particularly early or particularly late. Worth the trip. Worth the wait. Worth every penny.

Dogs and cats are also welcome...

Käyty toukokuussa 2023 perjantai-iltana illallisella pitkän kaavan mukaan. Alkuun palvelu hyvää, nopeaa ja ystävällistä. Alkupalaksi valittu molemmille lohi-ceviche: oikein maukas ja myös viini toimi hyvin. Pääruokaa (pihvi, päivän kala) joutui kuitenkin odottamaan poikkeuksellisen pitkän aikaa ilman mitään selitystä tai että tarjoilija olisi käynyt edes katsomassa, onko kaikki Ok. Ruoka lopulta saadessa, kysyttäessä sanottiin vain, että pihvissä menee aina hieman aikaa. Pääruoka omasi paljon potentiaalia: pihvi hyvä ja murea mutta jo hieman haalea! Päivän kala oli hyvä. Tilattiin kahdestaan kolme lisuketta jaettavaksi: parmesaaniperunat, risotto ja tomaatit. Perunat tulivat hieman myöhässä (jo viivästyneestä pääruoasta!) ja olivat hieman vetisiä. Risotto oli oikein maukas (olisi voinut syödä enemmänkin!) ja tomaatit myös Ok. Alkuruokien jälkeen palvelu kuitenkin tahmasi, vaikka ravintolassa oli asiakkaita vain neljässä muussa pöydässä perjantai-illan parhaaseen aikaan (19-21)! Jälkiruoaksi valittiin toscapiirakka sekä kaverille appelsiini-sorbetti. Sorbetissa hyvin makua ja toscapiirakka todella maukas paksulla mantelikuorella ja jätti lopulta, muista puutteista huolimatta, aterialle hyvän maun.

Ruoan puolesta voisi käydä toistekin, vaikka pääruoka olikin vähän hieman epätasalaatuinen (pihvi haalea, perunat vetiset) - lähinnä varmaan viivästyksistä johtuen, mutta kokonaisuutena alkuruokien jälkeen hidastuneen toiminnan johdosta kokeillaan ehkä ensi kerralla eri ravintolaa.

-- Had a full dinner on a Friday evening in May 2023. At first very good, friendly and attentive service. For appetisers, both selected salmon ceviche: very tasty and the wine matched the dish well. However, then had to wait exceptionally long for the main course with no explanation or staff even coming by to see if everything was Ok. Finally arriving, when asked was just told that a steak just takes a bit longer to cook. Main course had a lot of potential: the steak was of good quality and tender but a bit lukewarm. Fish of the day was good. Between the two we ordered three sides to share: parmesan potatoes, risotto and roasted tomatoes. Potatoes were further delayed and were a bit mushy. Risotto was very tasty (could have had more of it!) and the tomatoes were fine. After the appetisers service went downhill with only four other tables occupied at a Friday evening prime time (7-9 pm)! For dessert, picked the tosca cake and orange sherbet for the companion. Sherbet was very tasty and the cake was rich with a thick almond crust and--despite the shortcomings--left a good taste for the meal.

For the food could visit again despite the varying quality of the main course (lukewarm steak, mushy potatoes) - probably mainly due to the delays but with the service overall twindling down after the appetisers, will probably pick another...

The food here wasn't that great, everything lacked flavour and was undersalted. my starter moose carpaccio felt like it was just brought straight from a pirkka parhaat and styled with other elements, lacked flavour and the components didn't enhance each other. The main dish (that took ages to be served) horse steak lacked salt and barely tasted anything. Had it with some parmesan potatoes but I feel like anyone could do better potatoes at home as these weren't special in any way. Dessert wine that the clerk suggested wasn't anything that I could vouch for.

The room was really loud so it was hard to communicate in a larger table with people as the regulars caused alot of noise.

The clerks didn't come and ask if everything was fine, we would have ordered more wine but no clerk was proactive with us so we just had less wine.

Not sure if I had just really bad luck with my selections or that this place is...