Sophia's Grotto — Restaurant in Boston

We visited the restaurant for our 4th visit for a wedding celebration with friends and family. We were greatly disappointed by the experience. The food was the worst tasting food we had had in Boston and took over an hour to be brought out. It gave one of our members food poisoning as well. The service was also non existence with the waitress never checking in on us the entire time. We were shocked by how bad everything was as we had had such a good experience 2 years before. I'm not sure what changed but given how bad it was, we and our friends and family will not be going back.

I will keep my original review in hopes the the restaurant does better. This was our experience 2 years ago: We visited this restaurant about 1 month ago and it was a great experience. The food was all delicious and the staff was kind. All the food came out in a reasonable amount of time and the presentation looked great! We ordered the an appetizer with tomatoes and cheese and it was such a fun surprise because it came with an ice-cream scoop size of fresh mozzarella. The ingredients were all very fresh to the point where they were either made in house or made locally. There are lots of different flavor options for people so this restaurant is great for everyone. It is a very cozy environment and perfect for either a date or for a family dinner. There are also lots of wine options to pair with your meal and enhance your experience. I would definitely visit this...

I have heard so many great things about this place from friends and it’s always been on my list to visit. Finally got around to going yesterday, as I took my daughter and her friends for a late lunch. Unfortunately, meeting the owner who was manning the bar (staff called him Joe) left a bad taste in my mouth. I think had it not been for that, the experience would have been a little better. For someone whose business relies on customer service, he absolutely did not deliver. We walked in at the front to ask for a seat preference and he was very rude. He asked if we had a reservation (confused by this because the inside dining space looked pretty much empty), and when we said no, he says “well, then go outside and wait.” To be fair, our waitress who ended up seating us was very pleasant, so at least there was that. However, upon seating, there was a used table napkin at our table (which is already gross at any other time, never mind during a pandemic). I ordered the paella, and there were some bites where the rice was crispy, and the dish was over spiced and salty. All in all, I gave 2 stars just for the pleasant wait staff, but it would have been zero stars for everything else. Needless to say, despite the “ambiance” of the place, I will probably never set foot in this place, never mind spend my...

Came here for restaurant week.

It was overcast but we asked to sit outside under an umbrella which took awhile to get ready...odd since we saw a few that were open and it was already nearly 8:30 so it wasn't like many people were going to show up.

For a starter I had the lobster orzo. Huge chunks of lobster with tiny pieces of orzo was odd. Served under toast was odder, Served on-top of undressed lettuce was the oddest. My friend had roasted red pepper bruschetta and the red pepper stuck to my mouth. These sat dirty in front of us for awhile, and then our entrees came, without the appetizers ever being cleared.

I had the flounder stuffed with shrimp and scallops which wasn't on the regular menu. It was cooked perfect and I loved it--even though I'm not sure I ever tasted shrimp or scallops so it could have been stuffed with anything--that's the problem with grinding things up. Huge portion. I'm not used to having leftovers during restaurant week and I did here.

At some point it started to rain a lot and everyone moved under umbrellas which was uncomfortable as we could hear EVERYTHING everyone else was saying. Staff should have asked people who were not already eating to move inside or get more umbrellas.

I had the sangria which had great flavor but could have used more fruit in it when...