Sonflour — Restaurant in Cork

On our second full day in Ireland, we ventured to the town of Cork, the 2nd largest city in the Republic of Ireland. We had a lot of options to choose from in deciding where to eat as Cork has an absolute wealth of amazing vegan friendly places. While it was difficult to choose, we opted for Sonflour, a completely vegetarian and mostly vegan Italian restaurant in the main shopping area about halfway between the North Channel and the South Channel of the River Lee.

We were blown away with our whole experience there. The ambiance is just so far removed from that which we've encountered locally in the states, it was quaint, charming, rustic and all things in-between. Italian food is one of those cuisines that can be challenging to find vegan options so we were intrigued with the idea of a whole restaurant dedicated to vegetarian/vegan food Italian fare.

For starters, we ordered what I believe to be Focaccia Bread but I forget the ,specific menu name. Being a big fan of seaweed, I had to order their "Better Call Saul..ad" (get it? saul..ad .. salad ... lol :) ) "A small fresh salad, made with local Seaweed, Rocket, Carrots, Cherry Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar, Seeds, Truffle oil and Vegan Mayonnaise. Both were absolutely a divine treat on the palate, bursting with flavor, true story!

For our main dish, we both ordered Ravioli, Sandi having ordered the "Vintage sauce - Our Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce made with Fresh Vegetables and Mediterranean, Herbs, Basil Leaves and Evoo" and for me, the "Sunflower’s soul sauce - Homemade Fresh Vegan Pesto, Baked Roasted Potatoes, Cherry Tomatoes and Evoo, Pine Nuts and Edible Flowers". Words cannot hope to do these dishes justice so I'll simply say, the dish melted in our mouths!

For dessert, we chose "Affogato Italian coffee-based dessert. 2 scoops of Vegan Local Vanilla Ice Cream drowned with a shot of our hot Organic Espresso Giuliano". You need simply look at the attached picture to know everything you need to know about how good this was.

We simply could not be happier with our choice of cuisine while in Cork. While we would have loved if we had more time to try other options, Sonflour left an incredibly...

Food is absolutely amazing. However the experience let us down… We booked dinner on a Thursday night and we were there on time. But we were not made aware by the staff that we need to return the table in 2 hours. So the whole meal we felt really rushed by the staff. Ordered cocktails,starter, main and dessert. Starter plate came with water on it… had to wipe it away with napkin; while we were having the starter, the staff already brought our main and apologized that their main was cooked too quickly - at that point, we already felt rushed by the staff. When eating main, staff checked if she could take our plates away once. But I didn’t finish my food and still have my fork in my hand… later we were told we have to give the table back within 20min.. if we want to order dessert.. this is the first time we were made aware of the 2 hour rule and understood the why staff kept rushing us… the staff served one of the dessert with chocolate stain on it 🫠🫠🫠 disgusting 🫠 no time to bother, we finished it very quickly and of course receipt came in super quickly without asking.. cuz staff is in a rush to get us out…(deleted the service fee part- thankfully we weren’t charged service fee for the service)

Food is amazing- but the experience was not nice.. if you could kindly made your customer aware of the 2 hour table rule before they order, I am sure every customer would understand and plan their order and time for eating accordingly…apologies if some of your customers do not read your online notice properly and expect your in-store staff to take a few seconds to give...

I sincerely apologize for adding a spoonful of criticism to all the glowing reviews, but this was my second visit to the restaurant, and sadly, the last. The first time, I didn’t like the food at all, but my husband enjoyed it. Today was the second visit: when making the reservation, I specifically mentioned that it was my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday. I had hoped for at least a minimal personalization of our experience, but there was none.

I ordered the linguine pasta with the “Sunflower’s Soul” sauce. The ingredient description listed: Homemade Fresh Vegan Pesto, Baked Roasted Potatoes, Cherry Tomatoes and Evoo, Pine Nuts and Edible Flower. I have a sensitive stomach and absolutely cannot eat anything spicy. The description didn’t mention a word about spiciness, so I did not expect the pasta to be extremely hot. Moreover, there were absolutely no pine nuts. I asked the waitress, and she said that pine nuts were not actually included, and were only listed because they are in the pesto sauce. Seriously? Really? Black pepper was indeed added.

To be fair, the Affogato dessert was exquisite. The staff decided not to charge me €16.10 for this strange and completely unpalatable dish, but that wasn’t really the point. Yes, perhaps my expectations were too high, but I will not be...