Sotano — Restaurant in Town of Fishkill

I have visited this restaurant twice. That is a positive sign by itself. Sotanos is located on Main Street in Fishkill, NY. The area is easy to get to as it it right off of I 84 and Route 9, a major thoroughfare. There is ample parking in the back of this white, quaint, vintage house turned into an eatery. That's a good thing because at peak hours, there is no Street parking to be found. You will be greated immediately upon arrival and seated in one of the dining areas to the left OR at the small bar to your right. We ordered fried calamari and shrimp 🍤 wrapped in bacon 🥓 as appetizers. A universal truth is that bacon makes everything taste better! Both were tasty and devoured so fast that I forgot to take pretty, unmolested pictures of them. You will notice immediately that the portions here are adequate, so you do not feel robbed, but unless you had gastro surgery, there will not be a lot of take out boxes clogging up your refrigerator You get JUST enough with lots of sauce to trick the 👀 eyes into thinking 🤔 the plates 🍽 are loaded. The main courses ordered were a fillet mignon with scallops and a "crispy" duck that was not crispy at all. Reportedly, the duck was delicious, but the crispy description was on the menu. The steak was a good grade, tender, and prepared to my liking. The scallops were some of the best 👌 that I ever had. As you can see in the picture, you don't get many of them. Gelato as a desert is my recommendation. The service was excellent. I like the non rushed eating experience on well spaced tables on beautiful, 100 year old broad plank floors. The bathroom was clean. I can see a pretty good wait for this room if the place is crowded. If memory serves me, it is a single use bathroom. It's a VERY nice place to go for a delicious meal, perhaps for a special occasion. I would and will absolutely visit again unless I can find a comparable restaurant with slightly larger portions for the price. Sotanos is a wonderful experience although not a great value. Your mileage may...

On Saturday Sept 21,2024, my wife & I when to Sotano after attending an Army Football at West Point. Our reservation was for 6:30 pm, we arrived about 5 minutes late & parking was adequate at the location. We were immediately seated with no wait at all & the atmosphere was pleasant but the noise level was somewhat loud & difficult to have a conversation. Our server was named Natalie who provided us the menus & explained the specials for the night. My wife & I each ordered a glass of wine to start off with as well; as our appetizer & dinner entrees I also informed Natalie that I would like to a bottle of red wine for dinner that I ordered from the wine list. We received our appetizer quickly the stuffed mushrooms with spinach & gruyere cheese which was very tasty but kinda of CHEAP with the mushrooms we only got three (3) should have been at least 4 or 5 for a couple sharing. So far so good, until the fire alarm went off about 20 minutes after we arrived & the local fire department arrived at the restaurant to investigate the matter. As we waited for our entrees to arrive at our table server Natalie kept pushing for us to order more glasses of wines in order to pad our bill higher. I told Natalie I order a bottle of wine with our entrees & ask her about the long wait for our entrees she did not provide us explanation at all. Finally, our entrees arrived at our table at 7:45 pm the braised lamb shank which tasted excellent. Natalie our server brought a single glass of red wine with the entrees I told her I ordered a bottle of red wine at the beginning of service when we first order & also ask her for a steak knives for us to carve for our meal she became indignant towards us saying you don't need a knife the meat is fork tender. In long run we did received that bottle of red wine that we order as well; as those steak knives so request. As for Natalie she earned what she deserved a lousy...

We were on our way home to Connecticut and decided to stop along the way for dinner since it was getting late. A quick look on yelp brought us to Sotano, which turned out to be an excellent ending to what was already a Great day! They managed to accommodate us even though they were pretty booked up when we arrived. We are foodies. It is not just the food for us, but the whole dining experience. I usually have at least one negative comment about any dining experience I have, however with this one I do not. The staff was extraordinarily kind, accommodating, and based on the crowd of people who were dining there, the service was excellent. We didn't expect, nor did we want, to have a bread basket, cocktails, and appetizers put on our table within 15 minutes of sitting down. Instead, we had a very relaxing dinner. Between Covid and inflation, most restaurant menus have changed and have become more simplistic and boring. Not this restaurant! We ordered, grilled octopus, tuna tartare, oysters, soft shell crabs, and a tuna entrée, which each was creative and cooked perfectly! I always say that the test of a good Italian restaurant is a meatball. Most don't care and look at meatballs and spaghetti as a kid's meal. Our son's spaghetti and meatballs were made as if they were made at home and with great care. I would have liked to have met the chef and bought him a glass of wine for such a great meal! Our wait staff was a delight. Campana Antica for a Manhattan was perfect. Excellent food. Friendly and attentive staff. Very nice ambiance in a rustic old house with a very nice outdoor patio. Wish Sotano could open up another location in Fairfield County, CT! I guess we will have to take another trip to Fishkill, but it is well...