Sonoma Restaurant

I use to love this place. I celebrated many occasions here. My last experience was totally unacceptable. It was for my birthday December 2021. First my sister surprised me by paying for my meal. However, as I was finishing my wine waiting for the waitress to clarify the payment I glanced over and seen a mouse scurry right by me. I was mortified. My husband had to tell the waitress about the surprise payment because the Manager never communicated that to her. When she returned we told her about the mouse and she said she would get the Manager. No one ever came, we waited 15 minutes. I am so disappointed. Nothing was done about this and I will never celebrate there again.

Went to celebrate our 51st anniversary…was pleased when the online reservation asked if we were celebrating anything…thought that it would be nice if they mentioned it to us. Nope not a word. They were out of two items we wanted on the menu (even though the restaurant was less than 1/4 filled). I ordered a margarita with sugar vs salt on rim…drink came with salt! I ordered a Filet, my husband Rigatoni…and a half bottle of wine. My steak arrived sans steak knife. It took at least 10 minutes before my steak knife arrived. Meanwhile, my husband had eaten most of his meal…and we had not been served our wine. We were both basically finished with our meals before the dinner wine arrived. The server quickly poured the wine without letting us taste it and left. The wine (a Cabernet) was undrinkable…had a strong metallic acid taste/bouquet. Bottom line: food was good but over-priced, service was woefully inadequate…they did not charge us for the wine.

Ruined Mother's Day. Sonoma is a sad, embarrassing shell of its former self. We made a reservation for breakfast to celebrate Mother's Day but a reservation was not necessary since we were told we could sit at any of the available dirty, unbussed tables. After ten minutes we were "greeted" by an annoyed waitress who told us that we had to wait for her to take orders from two other tables then walked away. Didn't give us menus or offer coffee. We decided to leave. What was once an amazing restaurant is now a second-rate hotel restaurant better suited for a Holiday Inn Express than the Beechwood Hotel.

My family and I enjoyed a fabulous Easter dinner at Sonoma! The food was perfectly prepared by Chef Jose and Ruben could not have been more inviting. We were treated like family from start to finish! And a special thank you to Mr Saleh, thank you for having us! Looking forward to our next meal soon! Oh, and the sticky toffee pudding is a must!

Save your money. This restaurant is an overpriced embarrassment. Once upon a time, this location had a fantastic restaurant called Ceres where the high prices felt justified. Then Ceres closed and the famed Sonoma of Princeton, MA moved in. And things went steadily downhill. We’ve now visited twice and I doubt we ever will again. The first time the menu itself was underwhelming but we chalked that up to pandemic times, as the food was well prepared and nicely plated. The second time the menu was even less exciting and the food not remotely worth the prices. To start, we ordered a Sonoma salad. For $12, we were served three cucumber slices, one and a half cherry tomatoes, a few slivers of red onion, and a pathetically small handful of spring mix, much of which was wilted and unappetizing. For entrees, my husband had swordfish and I had halibut. All the fish was over cooked and the accompanying sides stingy. At over $30 a plate, we were appalled by the poor preparation and skimpy portions. The best thing on either of our plate was the quinoa with my fish, which was fluffy and pleasant in texture and although totally void of any seasoning whatsoever. Nonetheless, it being a special occasion, we ordered dessert: a decaf cappuccino and a crème brule. The coffee with delightful. The dessert was awful. The top wasn’t a crisp brûlée crust, more of a soggy skin, and the custard was lumpy. It was topped with sad wilted blueberries and—I do not kid—cool whip. And it cost $11. All told, with some wine, our meal cost nearly $150 before tip. If it cost half, I’d say, oh well, that wasn’t great. But at $150, I felt like I’d been scammed. There are dozens of better places in Worcester. Skip this one.

This was bad. Calamari was tough. Crab cakes were awful. Nice shrimp cocktail though. Duck and scallops were flavorless. Chicken picatta was not chicken picatta. No lemon, no butter. Staff was OK. Only 2 tables on a Sunday night when half of everything else in Worcester is closed. Not a good sign. Worst part was the mice though. My friend stopped mid sentence to point out the cute little guest right next to our table. The waitress saw it. The manager felt bad and I felt bad for him. He said he has a plan though. After that, my appetite was gone. Couldn't eat anything else. In reality, places like the North End and Chinatown have huge problems with rodents. Sometimes you can't avoid it, but you should never see them on the dinning room floor. If you see mice out in the open.....well you know how the saying goes. $300 out the door. It was my besties birthday to boot.