Sonata Restaurant — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

First time visit and for the prices they charge we expected to get a good experience. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Our waitress started to tell us that the Char grilled Octopus and Lobster Bris was not available. We ordered the Char Calimari which took approx 35 min until we were informed that “it was dropped”. We thought dropped meant they forgot to place the order but a waiter bringing it from the downstairs kitchen up the elevator really dropped it so a new one was prepared. The dinning area is upstairs and the kitchen downstairs. The bathrooms are reserved in the area of the restaurant for dinning guest and the hallway leading up to the restrooms looks like the cleaning area with dirty trays and plates. Not very professional and it looks like you are part of the kitchen cleaning staff. Not an high end restaurant as they charge high prices compared to Parkshore etc. After approx 45 min we got an overcooked Calamari that was like chewing gum. The Caymus wine at $18 a glass was not available either and a cheaper Caymus was served with some extra free left over from the bottle as we were told. When we wanted to order the Tomahawk ribeye for 2 people at $120 we were told sorry it is not an available. (Our dinner reservation was for 6 pm). The waitress then took my partners order and started to walk away and forgot to ask for my order as he had placed the Tomahawk order. He called her back so I could order a 14 oz Pork Tomahawk. Since I barely can eat 6-7 oz steak a 14 oz Tomahawk sounds enormous but I doubt with the bone this was even close to 9 oz. The bone was so light it didn’t weigh that much. The manager came by the table and we gave a honest review. I asked if I could get some more water and he told me he would get us more water. Sadly, after he left our table he forgot about the water and 10 min later we had to ask again for water as we had empty glasses. The black table cloth was upside down on the table which is of course not a big issue but in the scope of poor service, food that is overcooked and prices that do not reflect the qualify and/or service and half of the food not available this restaurant is not worth to go back to. Maybe for the $25 burger but not for $75 steaks or $120 Tomahawk as they don’t even have much in stock to serve. The service is as expected at a chain restaurant with lower end prices where often the service is much better than here. On a positive note…the pianist played very well and the view over the Bay during daylight time is very nice. Sadly this $170 meal was not worth half of what they charged us. We are very disappointed as we are seasonal ticket holders for Mahaffey and loved to had a good experience to use this restaurant prior to shows. We will go to other restaurants as we have done over the past years and get a more...

Mothers Day brunch was a "serve yourself buffet" which was not disclosed on their website. When making the reservation on their site, I had reviewed their standard menu and standard pricing and expected a sit down service experience - it was far from it.

The buffet was serve yourself stations - which honestly was so unsanitary. The tongs and ladles were not switched out frequently, if at all, so there were over 100 hands touching these same serving tools and there was food dried and crusted on them from hours of sitting out. The food basic eggs, sausage homefries and french toast, were cold in the serving trays. The carving station was a ham and roast beef - both of which were fatty and chewy. I would give the food quality a D rating at best.

Though they advertise their "panoramic waterfront view" our table was in the far dark corner of the room blocked by a massive structural column so that dampened the experience as well.

But despite the terrible food, and less than appealing seating arrangement, it was the price that got me. Not disclosed upfront, the brunch was $60 a person - not including drinks. On top of that, they enforced a "20% auto-gratuity" for the server who was pleasant, but honestly dropped off a round of drinks and picked up the plates that we had served ourselves. The bill was $400 with a $70 tip automatically applied for a family of 4 and the entire experience was over in 45 minutes. I was so disappointed in the outcome of the special brunch I had planned for my mother.

I called after we left, because I really felt the experience was a terrible one and the business took advantage of patrons on a memorable and special day. I have yet to receive a call back from management. The lack of care they have for their patrons experience is speaking volumes. Will never go back to...

Made reservations for Mother’s Day. Terrible experience had by all 6 in our party. The arrangement of food and tables felt like we were at a cheap wedding. However, even the cheapest wedding I’ve attended had better food and service. The food was extremely lacking. The food was either, empty or dried up and old. The serving utensils were caked with old food and every time you picked one up it was dirty to the touch(that’s right, we served ourselves). Half of our party were not brave or adventurous enough to try more than just the charcuterie. They had no supply at all of crab leg utensils and when asking for towelettes to clean our crab soaked hands, we were given folded up buser rags. At one point a manager was standing by a patron as he was getting a biscuit. While I waited for my turn, when the patron was done, the manager walked over and closed it on me as I tried to reach in. I was a bit confused, but figured par for this whole twilight zone course. The dressings for the salad were a mess and none, including the toppings, were kept on ice. The server was nice, but could not seem to stay long enough to actually hear what we wanted to order for drinks. It is hard to make an order when the waiter is walking away as you speak. When making reservations on the website, no mention of Buffet only. We expected the full menu as an option. Needless to say we spent almost $500 for a crappy experience. Would never even consider trying Sonata for their regular service. Anyone who takes advantage of Mother’s Day to make a quick buck by overcharging for such paultry value doesn’t deserve to be in business. At best, maybe I wouldn’t be so upset if the price were $20 per person, but $60!!??...