Restaurant St. Sofija — Restaurant in Municipality of Ohrid

This was the best meal out we had in Ohrid! It is a lovely restaurant with amazing atmosphere (including live musicians), a varied and tasty menu (very reasonably priced) and lovely attentive staff. We thoroughly recommend a visit!

We are two young girls travelling alone in North Macedonia and have unfortunately not always had the best experiences while out and about (e.g. being ignored, dismissed, or made to feel uncomfortable). But the staff at St. Sofija were lovely and kind and looked after us very well. We were seated on a table outside to wait until one came free inside the restaurant and ordered drinks. We could see how busy the restaurant was through the window, but despite this, the waiters communicated clearly with us and checked up on us, making sure we knew we weren’t forgotten.

When a table was ready, we were shown there quickly and our order was taken. The food arrived and it was all delicious - the fried zucchini was a huge portion and really crispy, the French fries (or chips!) were so crispy and warm, the tuna salad was fresh and lovely, and the bean stew I had was warming and tasty. The waiter who looked after us was very charming, making jokes with us and checking up everything was okay despite clearly being very busy. He also said goodbye to us before he left, which we really appreciated. We came away from the restaurant feeling very happy and well-fed. Thank you to all the staff at St. Sofija for making us feel very welcome and...

We were really excited to visit this place, given the amazing atmosphere and singing we'd experienced the previous day. Unfortunately, our lunchtime trip was pretty diabolical. It started badly when a particularly grumpy waiter gave us a disparaging look when we asked if we could sit inside, given the rain. Sadly, the experience only continued to worsen. We then helped ourselves to menus, as it seemed nobody was planning to give us one. Our order was reluctantly taken - and completely changed, as many items on the menu were unavailable - and after an awkward experience of asking for it, we were given some stale white bread. Butter, apparently, was an absurd request. At this point we were probably down to a 3-star review. Then, the food came. Our moussaka was uninspiring, and cold - probably not helped by the fact the waiter took a phone call whilst bringing it to the table - down to two stars. In a bid to end the experience, we asked for the bill. We were then charged for two separate salads, when we had only ordered one, and when challenged the (different) waiter mumbled something about his colleague but didn't offer to rectify it. We were swiftly down to one star. Terrible service, overpriced, underwhelming food. Go somewhere...

Restaurant St Sofija was the second place I had dinner during my first visit to Ohrid. The outside dining space is in a lovely setting and the inside dining area is impressive. I opted for outdoors as I saw a few small tables were available.

My entry was obstructed by a waiter, unimpressed I was dining alone, though he eventually took me to a small table. The waiter who took my order and served the food was great.

I had three excellent fillet steaks in three different restaurants during my stay and all were excellent. But if I had to pick one out, it would be the eponymous "St Julija" steak, which had "pickles" within the sauce. Delicious..

The mix of diners was impressive. Locals plus tourists from several nations. A very enjoyable experience overall. I will be back within a couple of weeks and look forward to getting past the gatekeeper.

UPDATE

After I left my review, I did return a couple of weeks later but it was not a happy experience. I managed to get into the outside dining area but after being totally ignored by the waiting staff, I left without...