Sol St Pete Bistro — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

This was my partner and I's first dining experience at Sol, and it was quite underwhelming for a $200+ valentine's day dinner. We arrived 10 mins early for our 7 pm reservation and the hostess seated us promptly. We conversed while patiently waiting to be greeted by a server. My partner pointed out twice while talking that we'd been waiting some time. What should've been 5, maybe 8, mins actually was nearly 30 mins. We watched as two couples with 7:30 pm reservations were greeted and served drinks and their first course before us. The only reason we were even greeted was because I stopped a server passing by -- who happened to be the owner. (That was at 7:24 pm, which I only know because I was annoyed and checked my phone shortly after.) I explained our situation and instead of apologizing, she thanked us for our patience and made the excuse that there were more tables to serve inside than usual since the patio was closed. It's a very small, 12-16 table restaurant and we were seated near the bar area where the servers were... I mean, what? Haha. The food unfortunately didn't meet its reputation either as the presentation and flavors were rather ordinary. To top it off, the server-owner made a rather distasteful remark about my character as I was paying. Maybe she meant nothing by it but I didn't take it that way. Sadly, the only positives of the restaurant and our experience were the decor/ambience and the server assistant. Thankfully my partner and I know how to have a great time together because this experience certainly didn't add much to it.

Response to the Owner: Thank you for demonstrating to everyone - publicly - that you still can't hold any real level of accountability; instead making more excuses and responding with an opening remark that - once again - puts your lack of professionalism on display. What was the point of that? I'll tell you, to shift attention and try to make me look bad. It's a rhetorical tactic when you have no position or anything constructive to say. The fact that we confided in you a personal thing that my partner and I bond over, and you twist it around in this Google review with the "murderer" remark to what, shame me? Truly sad and pathetic. Trust me, that's a bad look on you, not me. To be clear, the owner said, "I can see that in you," before saying the remark in their response below; as if to say that I give off those vibes. And yes, my partner and I do use alternate names of characters from our favorite tv shows when ordering takeout or sometimes out dining. Simply a fun thing we do together. People might not get that, but everyone has their quirks so to each their own. I certainly have no shame in it but only wanted to make sure there's context here since this owner - is - trying to twist it around by inserting the "murderer" remark. My review is honest and valid. You're in the wrong business if that's too much to ask when spending $200+ on such a special night for average food and below average service. Fyi: Using "raved" and "loved" is certainly a stretch but whatever you need to do to protect your near...

We had a lovely dinner at Sol St. Pete last night!

After exclusively dining al fresco for the past couple of years, we chose to switch it up and enjoy the moody, intimate dining room. Little touches like the single tea candle at every table, twine bow wrapped around the silverware, soft sounds of bossa nova, and gold colored utensils made the small space feel a lot more romantic than we had expected! A welcome surprise.

Our waitress, Marissa, doubled as hostess and also served every other indoor table with ease and confidence. There appeared to be only one other waiter to service the patio, but he too seemed to have everything perfectly under control.

We were seated the closest to the kitchen and loved hearing the owner and other chef call out how many “nibble boards” (charcuterie) they needed. I made a mental note to include this detail in my review, as they could have just as easily called them “boards”, or something to quicken the pace. But, calling this item by it’s full, adorable name really exemplifies the homey feel of Sol — nothing rushed, just two people cooking together.

Now, on to the food!

Per Marissa’s suggestion, we split the creamy sweet potato bisque to start. It was absolutely delicious, a worthy adversary to the infamous Rococo lobster bisque, if I do say so myself. Next time we won’t be splitting it. 😉

For our entrees, I chose the Turkey lasagna and my partner went with the spaghetti and 100% grass-fed beef meatballs. Both came with a dinner roll and side salad, a miniature version of their Sol salad. Both were exquisite. Despite the generous portion, we cleaned our plates in less than 10 minutes. I loved my Turkey lasagna because it had ricotta AND goat cheese, neither overpowered the other. While small in size, the side salads were delicious and lightly dressed. The crispy rolls revealed a fluffy cloud once broken. Everything tasted undeniably fresh, wholesome, and prepared with care— not a pool of olive oil in the lasagna or a burnt edge of a meatball to be found.

Our experience would have been impressive even if they didn’t open their doors just over a month ago.

Service = professional. Prices = fair. Integrity of ingredients = unmatched.

Make your reservations now! Sol won’t (and shouldn’t 😀) be a...

Let's start off with the size of this amazing Bistro, it's small with good sized tables so you can literally talk to your spouse, friend, family, etc. and you will be able to fully enjoy the conversation without feeling like you're yelling.

Now, the wait staff; wait staff was extremely friendly, kind, caring and informative. I can say, the wait staff is on the same level as Hell's Kitchen in Las Vegas (my wife and I went there in March this year).

On to the food, the food was absolutely delicious with every bite. My wife got the mushrooms on a bruschetta and it was fabulous you could taste every single individual ingredient used and you could tell everything was fresh and delivered today. I got the French Onion Soup and it was delicious, the cheese was crisp, the soup itself was virtually free of any oil and the onions were carmalized to perfection. Now, the entrees, My wife got the scallops and they were cooked to absolute perfection, you could taste every single seasoning used. The sweet potato puree at first I thought was an odd combination however, when I tasted it, it was delicious and it went together beautifully so again compliments to the chef for that. I ordered Chilean Sea Bass and that was also cooked to perfection and beautifully seared on both sides, the sweet potato puree, again was just as delicious. The seasonal veg (not sure what it was, I want to say it was bok choy) was seasoned gracefully, you could taste each individual seasoning in this also and it didn't drown out the taste of the actual bok choy.

For dessert, my wife got Smiling Sol Banana Bread and I got the Caramel Pecan Cheesecake; we did not get a chance to eat it yet because we took it home because we we're both full. However, I can say they both look very appetizing and I can't wait to eat it.

So, overall, I know the stars only go up to 5 but, I will say this place is a 10 out of 10. The plating, the atmosphere, the wait staff all of this makes this place elevated. The only other restaurant I can honestly compare this to, is Hell's Kitchen in Las Vegas. So, again, my compliments to the chef and I definitely will be looking forward to eating here again...