Sonora Steak — Restaurant in Maple Valley

Living in Maple Valley for the past 3 years, me and my wife have come to notice that good date night restaurants are few and far between in the general area. Unless you want to drive to Seattle, Bellevue, or even Tacoma you are left with only a handful of options that get repetitive quickly. As you might have guessed, we were very excited to hear that Senora Steak was opening in the heart of MV. We made reservations a week in advance and as the days grew closer our anticipation grew even stronger.

As we pulled up to the restaurant (we had 4pm reservations) there were a few couples waiting at the front door as the doors didn't open until 4pm. Once opened we were all invited in by the serving staff and checked in for our tables.

The atmosphere was elegant, friendly, and clean. Lighting was dim but not too dark, just perfect. The dining room was (at first) smokey. For a split second I thought maybe it was a bit too smokey in the dining room, but as the evening went on the smoke quickly diminished and wasn't a bother for anyone I was dining with.

Serving staff was exceptionally great! Everyone was friendly, plates were cleared in a timely manner, and water was replenished when needed.

Now the food... what everyone wants to hear about. The menu was beautifully presented and designed nicely. The menu prices were better than I expected, being a steak house.

I was in a group of 4 people and each one of us enjoyed everything we ordered. We ordered the Toritos for appetizers which are their play on jalapeño poppers. This was my least favorite bite of the evening. They were not bad by any means, just not my favorite. The wife ordered the Tacos del Patron and she loved them. The other couple we were with ordered the American Wagyu Porterhouse and another order of the Taco, which they absolutely loved.

Now, I ordered the A5 Japanese Wagyu table side Ribeye. I never order steak at a restaurant because I have been working in kitchens myself (currently a sous chef) for the past two decades and typically can cook a steak just as well and cheaper at home. However, the quality of beef available at Senora is just something special. My plate was presented beautifully with the raw A5 ribeye and a searing slate for the cook with a house seasoning for the steak. Our server instructed me to season the ribeye, cut into one inch pieces and sear.

When I took my first bite of steak, something magical happened. The A5 wagyu is so marbled and fatty that it just melts in your mouth. It's unlike any beef like you have ever had before. The house seasoning does not over power the beef in anyway and only complements the rich, fatty, delicious bites of steak. 100% would recommend every time!

Overall, our experience was probably the best restaurant experience me and my wife have had in a long while. Now we cannot wait for our next experience at...

If you like warm water and unseasoned meat, this is the place for you. The website claims a “full sensory dining experience reimagined for the whole family” and I would have to kindly disagree. We had ordered tacos for all the kids (chicken and carne asado) and what do you know, the tacos come out with just a corn tortilla and meat inside. Pardon me for assuming a taco would come with any sort of veggies, rice, beans or ANYTHING. We ended up asking for sour cream, rice and beans but at that point none of the children wanted to eat the tacos. After trying their food, I couldn’t even blame them. The carne tasted like glorified dog food. I was looking around and noticed at some point every other tables water was cold (the glass jar had a film of “sweat” on their bottle) We asked for paper napkins twice and finally on the third time were brought them. My husband said his food was good so I’ll have to give them kudos for that but my burger was tasteless, broccolini and potato wedges were stiff and undercooked.

I wanted to also address the fact that we had come to dine out with our whole family, I’m sure the server can attest to this but the kids were NOT rowdy, they were respectful and did not cause any extra “noise” and as soon as the baby got fussy, I had sent my husband out to the car with all of them while I took care of the bill so imagine my surprise when my bill had a large party automatic gratuity attached to it. Upon asking what was considered large party, the hostess said 7. We had a party of 6 (including a small baby) so our ticket was actually only quoted as having 5 guests as only 5 of us were eating. She quickly corrected herself “actually it’s 6 and it’s at the bottom of your receipt”, not one of my receipts had that written on it. It goes without saying, we would have tipped but I felt targeted that as soon as the server or hostess saw we had 4 children total with us, they automatically added their gratuity thinking we would be a difficult table.

On top of all of that, the bathroom…. Oh the bathroom. When I went to help my child in there, the toilet paper was coming out one square at a time. It was just the cherry on top. I guess one positive? We were sat at 5:05 and rung up at 5:49… in and out in under 50 minutes but I’m not sure that’s something to be proud of.

Save yourself 150 bucks and don’t go to a steakhouse in...

Google categorizes Sonora Steak as a "Mexican" restaurant. It's not. Sonora Steak is a first-class steakhouse - in Maple Valley! We were more than pleasantly surprised last night, New Year's Eve, to find the Australian Wagyu 8-ounce filet we shared to be among the most tender we've ever eaten. The first treat brought to the table, and for which we were not charged, was a delightful combo of little fried tortillas with refried beans and cheese with a pottery container of a salsa with great flavors including lots of garlic. The salsa is not for the faint of heart, so be prepared for that initial spicy first bite. The filet was served on a heated stone that was blazing hot, so our steak was sizzling when placed in front of us. The stone stayed hot throughout our dinner. I placed a few of the mushrooms we'd ordered on that stone and ate them while they were hot enough that you had to wait a few seconds before you could pop them into your mouth. So, good! Watch out, though, for the rock salt on the stone, it stays very hot for a long time while on the stone. The baked potato was well loaded with sour cream, bacon and other yummy things, but oh, the steak was definitely the star of the show, so tender and cooked to perfection with their unique seasonings that you can detect in the air as you're seated in their fine restaurant. That alone will beguile you into ordering one of their Wagyu steaks and the choices of those are Japanese, Australian and hybrid-American. We think their menu would be hard to top in the most expensive restaurants in our area. Hats off to the staff who did a great job and especially to the owner, who took a chance of opening a high-end eating place in Maple Valley! We are told that Sonora Steak has sister restaurants, known as Asadero, in Kent and Ballard, and another sister restaurant, name unknown, in Tacoma. Our friends will certainly be hearing about this unique spot with...