Sorrento's — Restaurant in Alaska

I decided to try Sorrento’s based on the Google reviews I read. As a guy who grew up eating Nonna and Nonno’s cooking, Italians who came to NY from Napoli in the 1950s, I like to think I have an idea of how Italian food should taste. I accept I may have some bias, because no one cooks like your Nonna did.

My friends and I arrived at the restaurant on a Saturday evening and asked for a table for four. I considered this in advance and thought to call ahead a few hours for a reservation, but I was told over the phone that this place is “first come first serve”. Fair enough, we show up at 7:30 and the place is packed, usually a good sign. They take the name of our party and we begin to wait. We weren’t given a wait time or anything and so we stood around for a while until one of us finally asked after about 15 minutes what the wait time would be. We were told it’s going to be 20 minutes.

We sit down at the counter at the front and 45 minutes go by before we finally get seated at a table. By this time most of the restaurant is beginning to clear out, and so we thought ey no problem we’ll be eating in no time. We place our orders and it took another 35-40 minutes to actually get some food to the table.

8:55~9:00 the apps start getting to the table. We got a couple orders of Bruschetta, some soup, and some salads. I was surprised the bruschetta was served with feta on it instead of mozarella, a strange choice, but maybe I should’ve read the menu a little better. I’ve never eaten bruschetta that didn’t have mozarella. The minestrone soup was okay nothing to rave about really, but I wish they would’ve had some pasta e fagoli.

I ordered the veal parmesan for my main course which came out a while later after the apps, and marone there was a handful of spaghetti noodles with a few tablespoons of sauce. The veal parmesan on the plate was decent but the sauce and spaghetti were a bit of a let down, both in portion and quality for the price. The sauce lacked depth and character and the portion of noodles was meant for a child. I could’ve simply ordered the wrong item from the menu who knows their specialty, but I wanted something classic. These entrees are to come with garlic bread per the menu and that didn’t show up until we were half way through the main course, nonetheless it was squishy, mild, and fairly flavorless. With the lack of sauce on the plate there wasn’t much point in eating save for the fact that we were all ravenous by the time we had gotten our food.

I wanted to order dessert but by this time it was close to 9:30pm and I didn’t want to wait for the place to close to have a piece of Tiramisu.

I understand Alaska pricing must meet the cost of supply and everyone has a living to make, but $27-28 dollars for the entree alone was egregious for such a portion. The food was of an Italian style but really lacked that authentic feel that was raved about in other reviews. I could be spoiled by my upbringing or the fact that Italian food is so well done on the East Coast.

It’s not the worst Italian food I’ve had, but for the price, portions, quality, and service I won’t be coming back. I had high hopes...

Update Review: I got off work and decided to spoil myself and went here again to try some new things. First time in years since I ate a full 3 course meal this large, which is a testament to their food!

Appetizer: I had myself once again the Escargo Champignon, very delicious and hot in the first couple bites. Buttery garlic and the mushroom with snail fitted in was a wonderful juicy treat to have a spoonful of! Escargot dishes of various have always been my favorite when it comes to snacks or appetizers, and it paired wonderfully with the glass of Schooler Nolan Merlot. Rich fruity sweet full-bodied wine.

Entree: I got myself the Four Cheese Penne al Forno as the main course. It was really cheesy for sure and delicious with different textures and flavors in the mix, but you could tell the distinct differences in every bite. It went really well with the Kendall Jackson Merlot this time. A much more tannins type wine that complimented the meal. In all honesty, I could've switched the wine choices with each other for the appetizer and entree for a much more balanced pairing.

Dessert: I decided to treat myself with the Turtle Cheesecakes paired with Riunite Lambrusco wine. It did not disappoint at all, especially since I first wanted Port wine but they were out of it for a while so I was reccomend this alternative. Nice little chilled, fizzy, sweet, and tangy-ish wine with such a sweet, creamy, velvety cheesecake with some fudge layer, caramel top, and the pecan at the last bites was a bonus!

Over my previous review, this is still a must go to Italian restaurant. My waiter was amazing of the wonderful service provided, inviting atmosphere even when solo dining, and a peaceful fulfilling dinner.

Old Review: Wonderful place with delicious Italian cuisine! Fast seating with short wait if you have 4 people or less during packed days. If you're ever curious, I'd recommend the Escargot. It's an odd dish for most people, but I'm one of those who eats various escargot dishes, and they are delicious. If you do have a party of 5+, then you'll have to wait a lot longer since this isn't a large restaurant and very few large group tables available, mostly...

Our server Jimmy was great. He was attentive, understanding and resourceful. He wasn't quite sure how prevalant the lemon would be in the chicken in the sample I had, but related he thought it was pretty mild. I don't really care for citrus on meat but decided to go with Jimmy's recommendation. Score! The chicken was beyond fantastic. I am a bit of a "redneck foodie" (I like well prepared unpretentious food), and I don't enjoy when one strong ingredient isn't balanced. The chicken was amazing. You have to indulge - you just do.

I had the sampler. It also included linguini alfredo. The sauce was delightful - unadulterated, simple, elegant and delucious. The sampler also had lasgna my reason for four stars on the food. It was served at I would guess about 90 degrees, maybe a little less. It certainly has the potential of being at the same level as the chicken and the pasta, but an error in the kitchen didn't allow it to achieve its full wonderfulness in my single experience there.

My son had the veal parmesean. He talked about it for two days. It is a comfort food for him and it was so well prepared that he reminicesed about his childhood and enjoying that dish back in Detroit.

My house in the lower 48 is between Portland and Seattle. I rarely go for Italian there because "the best place to eat in Portland is my house". I didn't think anyone make Italian much west of Chicago. Now, I know better. Anchorage is a couple hours for me when I'm in Alaska, but if i I'm feeling a little lazy but "the consigliere" is hungry or has to feed the crew, I know how to get that job done in Anchorage.

Oh, and the cold lasgna? Jimmy and I worked it out that a small pizza for later would make it right. He brought a large when dropped off tge check. It's that kind a place.

Do yourself a favor and go to Sorrento's. You sure as hell ain't...