Trattoria Sofia — Restaurant in Houston

Wife and I wanted to like this place, but it was a big let down. I saw some mixed reviews so tried to temper my expectations a bit. Unfortunately they were not tempered enough.

We had a reservation for 8 pm on a Tuesday, but didn’t get seated till a little after 830. Didn’t bother me much, but didn’t start off on the right foot either. There was at least space at the bar to have a drink while we waited. Got my drink, standard cocktail that I’ll get at a lot of restaurant/bars in the area and it was just sub par. Had better at a dozen other places in Houston.

Finally got seated ordered 1 of the Bruschettas. It was literally a single small piece of bread with too much parmigiano-reggiano and 3 little spots of pesto for $16. We really just paid for the three balls of cheese on top of the bread. I thought for the price it was at least two pieces, but I was mistaken.

The bread basket is probably the best way to go for $8. That bread was actually really tasty and fresh. The bruschetta would have been better if wasn’t soggy by the time we got it. Maybe if they served it deconstructed and let you assemble it yourself…maybe even with two pieces of bread?

Shortly before we got the apps we put in our food orders just before 9 pm, and the food arrived right around 930. My wife’s food came as expected, chicken parmigiana tasted good. Nothing special, but it was at least as advertised. Loads of parmigiana…like seriously.

I ordered the filet that was on special that night. Figured that would be tasty and a nice place like this should know how to cook a filet. Presentation was nice but I cut into it and the center was cool to the touch. I ordered med. rare which should be warm and pink center. Google says 130-140F. This was cool and deep red as if I had ordered a “blue steak”. If was even just rare all the way I would have eaten it happily. I don’t like sending food back, but that’s exactly what I did. It took a little longer than expected, but they remembered to cook it the 2nd time.

Last thing to touch on…Sides. The “patate a limone” were very tasty. Hard to mess up fried potatoes, but they were good. Broccoli Rabe, just DON’T 😝. I would have been embarrassed to serve that broccoli rabe dish to my worst enemy, much less paying customers.

Our waiter was obviously stretched thin and I felt kinda bad about the steak…but not bad enough to stop from sending it back immediately. He was helpful and decently attentive but brief.

I started at 3 stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️, but after writing this I had to drop it down. This was just a bad experience that we paid way too much for.

$220+ for two, and only 1 alcoholic beverage (wife is 🤰). Glad I didn’t buy a...

I was so looking forward to celebrating my 6 year anniversary with my partner at this restaurant. I made a reservation and asked if we can be surprised with a decor/dessert element to help make our night special. We show up and are asked to wait at the bar for our table as they are behind. We wait an HOUR AND A HALF. The hostess told us we apologize for the wait and to leave room for a free dessert to celebrate our anniversary.

I had chosen on the reservation to be seated in the dining room and not the patio but as we were being escorted to our table, we are brought to a table at the PATIO. I let the hostess know that I requested the dining room and she comes back saying they JUST found a table there (it was an open table we had just walked by on our way to the patio so it was already open and ready…)

Once we are seated we are finally ready to start our night, then a hostess comes again and disrupts the waitress explaining the menu to us to tell us that they have a romantically set up table for us on the TERRACE that’s a bit quieter than the dining room. We never complained about the volume and we were actually enjoying the ambience inside, but we got excited since we figured the restaurant was trying to make up for their errors. We go to the “terrace” and it was just a table about 10 feet from the original one they took us to on the PATIO, but they just added some rose petals on the table.

We sit and finish our meal and the waitress asks if we have room for dessert, we figured it might be the one the restaurant was going to provide to celebrate our anniversary, but it wasn’t, she just brings out the dessert menus instead so we did not order anything. After we paid the tab the waitress brought out an envelope that said happy anniversary and we thought it might be a gift card to apologize for the terrible service, but it was just a signed card from the restaurant.

I was really looking forward to trying this place as it seemed like a good option but it was an incredibly terrible to handle someone who made a reservation and wanted to celebrate a special occasion, so I do NOT recommend going there for that.

The food was really tasty but they did have some absurd charges (3% charge if you use credit cards and not cash. Who pays with cash anymore???) and you get charged for adding protein to your pasta dishes since they all come originally vegetarian.

I hope in the future they can improve upon not over booking their restaurant and treating new comers this way, especially those who have an occasion to celebrate. Because I will never be...

If I were to move to Houston, this restaurant alone would be the reason why.

I went to Houston on a business trip and I brought along my boyfriend and his little brother visiting from out of the country to tour Houston while I do my thing.

It was my birthday the weekend we visited, so we had decided to go out for a nice dinner. I looked through many reviews and even more insta pages to find the perfect place for dinner, and that's when I found Trattoria Sofia. From the pictures, the place had a beautiful intimate restaurant that serves Italian. Can it get any better than that?

I visited after making a reservation. I had to change the time of my reservation once and the hostess was very accommodating. When we arrived, the parking was all valet (but only $6 so I didn't mind) so we got out of the car, and one of the managers were at the door greeting us. We immediately felt welcomed and everyone was friendly and I felt right at home even when I was hundreds of miles away.

I ordered the lamb ragu, breaded chicken cutlet and the margherita pizza. I was blown away by the service at the restaurant but even more shocked at the quality of the food they serve. Everything tasted fantastic. My boyfriend loved his pizza, I could not get enough of the ragu, and my boyfriend's brother, a picky eater to say the least, loved his cutlet as well. It was fantastic.

Margherita DOC: 4.8/5 Fantastic flavor. Tastes freshly baked. A little burnt on the sides but we loved it that way.

Ragu D'Agnello: 5/5 Best ragu I've had. Flavorful lamb. Robust tomato sauce. Perfect balance of spices and the freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano was great.

Pollo Alla Parmigiana: 4.7/5 Surprisingly a delicious menu. I typically don't enjoy breaded menu drenched in sauces, but this was fantastic. Amazing tomato sauce. Great balance of spices.

After letting the server know it was my birthday, he brought us a dessert of my choice with Happy Birthday written on the plate. It was a great gesture. I also had a great conversation with the general manager, whom I couldn't catch the name of, and he was one of the best interlocutors I've ever met.

Overall, this experience was definitely a 12/10, and I could not have wished for a better birthday experience.

I will be visiting every time I am in Houston and will be referring friends and family to visit Trattoria Sofia when they...