Sofi Restaurant — Restaurant in Chicago

I need to share what happened to my partner and me at this supposedly prestigious restaurant, because I'm still trying to process how a two-star establishment could fail so spectacularly at basic human decency.

We arrived excited for a lovely evening. The server who seated us? Absolutely wonderful—warm, professional, everything you'd hope for. We settled in at the bar with our cocktails, and when they brought us bread, we did what anyone would do: drizzled some olive oil on it.

That's when things took a turn for the surreal.

A staff member approached us—not rudely at first—and asked us to please put the bread on the plate. Okay, sure! Every restaurant has its quirks, right? We immediately moved the bread to the plate, no problem at all.

But then the manager arrived - the same person we found out!

"No, you don't do it like that," he announced, as if we'd committed some grave offense against the very fabric of fine dining. I tried to smooth things over: "Oh, ok! Sorry, I didn't realize you wanted it a different way." Just trying to be accommodating, you know?

What happened next still feels like a fever dream. This man—this MANAGER of the restaurant—became absolutely unhinged. He actually said, and I quote: "I'm gonna call the police."

The police. Over bread placement.

And then, as if threatening law enforcement over our apparent bread crimes wasn't enough, he grabbed our drinks and threw them away! Just... disposed of our cocktails like we were common criminals who needed to be expelled from his precious establishment.

I've been fortunate enough to dine at genuinely world-class restaurants—places with three Michelin stars, historic establishments in Paris and Tokyo, hidden gems that food critics rave about. And you know what? In every single one of those places, if you somehow used the bread "wrong," they'd either graciously show you their preferred way or simply let it go because they understand that hospitality means making guests feel welcome, not policing their carbohydrate consumption.

But here? At this beacon of "bread elegance"? The response to a minor bread-related misunderstanding was to threaten police involvement and destroy our drinks in some kind of bizarre power display.

The sheer inelegance of it all! Here's a place that presumably prides itself on sophistication, yet their manager behaves like a petulant child having a meltdown in a sandbox. The disconnect between what they claim to be and how they actually conduct themselves is simply staggering.

To anyone considering dining here: know that you're entering an establishment where eating bread incorrectly is apparently a criminal offense, where the management's conflict resolution skills peaked somewhere around kindergarten, and where your drinks can be confiscated at any moment for violations of their secret bread protocols.

Two stars? The only stars I saw were th e ones spinning around my head as I tried to comprehend how a restaurant could fail so monumentally at the most basic principle of hospitality: treating your guests...

We were recommended this restaurant by a friend that said it was the best near the Loop. Unfortunately, our experience tonight made it one of the most horrific restaurant experiences we've ever had. I'd highly recommend anyone in the South Loop take their business to Tuscany instead; they're at least kind to their customers.

To summarize what happened tonight and why we'll never return: We expected to be 10 minutes late on a 430pm reservation, so we called ahead to let them know. The hostess responded by saying that they prioritize being on time and that they can't guarantee a table. Ok, a bit harsh, but fine. Fair enough. Our train was late but they've got to keep things moving.

On arrival, the waiter reminded us that we were 10 minutes late and the restaurant was very busy before briskly walking away. We would've ordered drinks if he'd paused to ask. It was a very unkind reception to the restaurant entirely.

Since they seemed to be in a big hurry, we got our food orders ready within a minute, and during that time we watched our waiter become extremely upset with an 11-top next to us that couldn't remember who ordered which dish. The waiter slammed a plate of pesto down on an empty table when no one at that table could determine who ordered it. Real weird and stressful energy there

Here's the worst part: when we finally DID receive our food, it was hot on the outside and cold in the middle. (I ordered the lobster ravioli). Seems like their obsession over turning over tables quickly came at the expense of anything resembling a quality meal

I immediately asked for the check after the disastrous meal. I communicated the aforementioned issues to the waiter who was then upset that I hadn't told him about them earlier. Well, he never checked in on the table after dropping the cold food, so how could I?

All in all, this is a restaurant of terrible service that doesn't deserve your money. Take it to another Italian restaurant that does. I mentioned Tuscany earlier, and just for comparison: the head chef of Tuscany came up to my table last time and asked how we were doing. That's the opposite of what I saw at Sofi. They couldn't care less about us beyond how quickly we could get in, get out, and pay our bill.

EDIT: Since I can't actually respond to the owner's response, let me append my response here. No, I absolutely did not have an "argument with my pregnant wife." She was crying because she was so upset with how rude you were and how awful the experience was.

Since the time I wrote this review the owner has continued to respond in increasingly petty ways, one of which was notifying OpenTable that we did not show up to our reservation. Now this...

Nothing can be more disappointing than selecting a restaurant for a dinner and having it turn into one of the worst culinary affairs ever. Waiter came by finally, said bread was coming and we had water. He returned and took wine order, no bread. Still no bread this is now fifteen minutes plus, finally wine arrived as did bread. Ahh it was not worth the wait for the bread, insipid would be kind, but needed some sustenance. He returns and we give order, he goes away, comes back and does not remember order, repeat it Salads arrive, and are decent. Wait at least 30 minutes for food and it comes out cold. Oh wait two of them come out cold and one of the four was wrong. One eaten, an entre that had no veggies or starch side, others wait... Two cold ones return and seemed to be recooked and/or had hot water run over them. One was actually good. We mentioned to our waiter that this was unacceptable, he disavowed any responsibility for it. Blaming front of house, and kitchen. He did give us a bottle of wine and not charge us for one we ordered. Also took one of the cold entrees off bill. He was apologetic and asked what could make it right, we replied nothing at this point. Let it be known that other sections had turned over tables twice, but he said it wasn't his fault. See prior comments. We really wanted this to be a great dinner but it failed so badly that we might grab some Dunkin Donuts or Subway to ease the pain. Very sad, very disappointing,...