Trattoria Sorrento — Restaurant in Bethesda

WOW. What can I say about this lovely, family owned restaurant: IT FEELS LIKE HOME. So much so that whether my mom and I feel like celebrating or in need of a mood boost, THIS is where we go. The energy is awesome. You feel the love of a traditional, home-made experience, but with a garnish of elegance and a flare for gourmet excellence.

THE OWNERS AND FOUNDERS ARE STILL IN THE KITCHEN COOKING EACH MEAL, to this day.

Most recently, we had LITERALLY the best meal we have had in a while.

Very Covid conscious, we felt well protected and very comfortable with the sanitization practices.

BUT THE FOOD....OH THE FOOD. So I think we ordered literally almost 2 items per section on the menu - yep it was our 2nd meal out since March so...

We started with the grilled pumpkin salad made my the lady of the house: Incroyable! (French for incredible).

Then the most amazing pasta dish I have had in years I believe (since I visited Italy in 2008): THE PUMPKIN RAVIOLI. I literally had everyone looking at me - I think my sounds of appreciation were a bit disturbing - ha! We both had the same entree: The red snapper fillet with sauteed veggies in a white wine and caper sauce - magnificent and enough for 2 meals.

The wine was an incredible Italian made from organic grapes, this was after the negronis from the bar, the drink was perfect - I drank it way too fast. To show their appreciation for our visit, the kitchen sent us a dessert sample platter made fresh by the chef himself - I have to tell you at this point I was lost in some sort of food trance - I just couldn't believe how delicious every SINGLE dish was. Here we had a flan (yes, flan - but not sweet and sugary, the perfect balance of ingredients), and a freshly made almond cake.

WELL THEN. This experience stayed with me for weeks on end.

This made up for all the COVID misery off not being able to enjoy a delectable meal once in a...

This place was really weird. The food wasn’t bad at all, I’ll say that. If the service had been good I would have enjoyed the food. That said, WOW, it was like they went out of their way to provide the worst service possible. I have been a server and am very forgiving of someone doing their best. We were a fairly large party and we came on a busy night. Everyone ordered wine. Most people ordered glasses of wine, but the section of the table where I was sitting ordered a bottle of wine. When the server came she began giving everyone individual cups of wine. We told her we had ordered a bottle and she said that was how they serve their bottles of wine. She gave one of the glasses to a member of our party who had ordered an individual glass of wine. We told her she had only given us three glasses of wine (that was supposed to be the equivalent of a bottle) and she came back and started lecturing us about how we couldn’t keep asking for more things. When I told her we were asking for what we’d ordered (and not even that!) she said it had been a really busy night walked off in a huff. Then the pizza that I had ordered for my daughter (half cheese, half pepperoni) came out wrong, and the server told me that they had done me a favor by ordering it in the first place, because they didn’t usually split pizzas. Great, I appreciate the favor, now can we get my kid the food she ordered?

There were so many other issues with the meal but the running theme was every issue was met with a nasty attitude and we were treated as though we were doing something wrong for asking for what we ordered. You couldn’t pay me to come back here. These servers will run this place...

Only giving this review 2 stars for the food. Service alone would be negative stars if I was able to. I'm not one to complain but this evening just compounded on itself. I picked this restaurant based off of the reviews. We had a reservation for 7 people for 6 pm. Our food didn't come out until 8:45. Completely unacceptable. The waitress eagerly took the drink and food order, but then that's when all customer service stopped from this waitress who had evidently been working there for over 30 years. The salad came out promptly and was tasty. Stay clear of the bruschetta; it's topped with an overload of melted cheese and soggy texas toast. A table of 8 people came in 30 minutes after us and received their food 30 minutes before us, and they ordered the same dishes as we did so nothing special. After 2 hours of waiting, we began to get impatient and asked about the food. Our waitress assured us it would be out any second. It got to the point that she starter to ignore us completely when we asked for more water. Once we eventually got the food, it was bland. The spaghetti tasted like it legit came out of a can. One person added shrimp to their alfredo for an upcharge and only had 4 small shrimp. Heck, even Old Bay would have been more flavor. To add to it all, the dishes came out 2 at a time with a 15 minute gap between the first 2 dishes and the last 2. A simple apology would have been nice. You're better off...