Sol y Sombra

I just ate there tonight and I will definitely be back very soon! I had the shrimp in garlic sauce and my friend had the arroz con pollo(chicken and rice). We started with an artichoke heart appetizer and a white asparagus appetizer. Two friends of mine ate there last night and thought the food was so good that they recommended it to us. The food was fresh and delicious and the service was phenomenal. They even said good night at the door when leaving.

This visit wasn't my first here, and I don't remember it being this poor last time. Did it take some kind of a very sharp down turn? Service was very pushy (no need to keep asking us if we're not selecting from today's special), but that wasn't even the main issue. The seafood in the Paella Marinera was clearly very old. Before the waiter even set it down on the table, I was hit with the fishy, passing-by-China Town-fish-monger-in-summer odor. I managed to put some in my mouth, and they had the distinctive freezer smell. So did the peas. And what kind of paella has so much liquid the bottom was completely covered in soup? It's supposed to be crisp on the bottom! The whole thing tasted so stale, I felt like even the rice tasted like cardboard. Argh. I left more than half of my dish, and the bus boy was stunned when I didn't want the rest to go. I was already feeling sick in my stomach by then. I do love good food and can be picky, but I haven't had such food in a very long time. I will never go back - and we live in the neighborhood! So glad we went with a coupon... Otherwise I would have definitely complained to the manager. Now I have to go back to Socarrat to erase this memory of disappointing paella.

I don't think in my decades of restaurant eating, I have ever before had a menu thrown at the table and been treated as sullenly. If anyone has associated with this restaurant has ever been near Spain, I will eat my sombrero! The food was edible, but that was it. The croquetas were terrible, tiny and therefore way too much crust and oil for what was supposed to inside. The pulpo and alcachofas at least bore some resemblance to the real thing. Stay away.

I ordered some stuff from here to go. The dishes were all seafood-shrimp, mussels, calamari, clams, scallops, and lobster-6 dishes altogether. The scallops and lobster were really really overcooked...enough to make me want to write this review. The calamari and mussels also overcooked but not as much. The flavors on the dishes in the seasoning and sauces were really good but the poor cooking of the seafood totally ruined the dish. If they were cooked well, like the shrimp and clams pretty much were, the dishes would have been really, really good. I was actually pretty upset at how overcooked it was because of how good the flavors were. I haven't eaten there, so it might only be a take out thing, but it was so overcooked that I doubt it. Anyway, seems like a cool place with an upbeat, but relaxed vibe. I just hope they work on the cooking temps a bit...

to the previous reviewer...you need to lighten up when you go out to eat. as you said yourself, there was nothing wrong with the dish, it just wasn't what you liked. if they cooked it right and you ordered something you never had or knew if you liked you are in the wrong. stay home because you drive everyone you're out to eat with and everyone in the restaurant mad. learn how to at least pretend you have class, please, for the sake of us all

This place is one of the most incredible tapas restaurants I have ever been to. The wait staff is always eager to please, the manager is wonderful and the experience is unbeatable. Anything you order on this menu will statisfy you..the price is extremely resasonable for what you get. Remember to always get the Toreja desert at the end..you will not be disappointed! I love it here and anyone who has a negative thing to say obviously has no idea what they are talking about and has no taste in good food. I dated a 4 star chef from Alain Ducasse and even he has sampled this cuisine and thinks its tremendous. Please go! You will not regret it!

I went here with some friends Saturday night. I didn't care for one of the 3 tapas that I ordered (it was quail and salad w/some other stuf..it just tasted like lettuce and chicken, for $9. My other dish was very good, the first one so-so), so I told the waiter I wanted to send it back. He politely told me that "they" ( I guess meaning management) was going to insist I order something as a replacement, rather than just taking this item off the menu. This was unacceptible to me so he said he'd get the manager. The manager came out...WITH my 1/4 eaten plate in his hands...and said "what's wrong with this food?" I said there was nothing wrong with it but that I didn't care for it. He said (and I hope you're sitting...) "There is nothing wrong with this food. This is a good dish. Everyone likes this dish! People come from all over..." I said this was ridiculous, and my friend reminded him that one doesn't argue with a customer. He didn't listen. He went on w/the good dish speech, said he'd take it off the bill, but then had to get in "you could go to restaurants all over the place and still not find something you like!" In case I didn't make it clear, he made it sound like there was something wrong w/me for not liking the dish, as if everyone in the world enjoys the same thing. I will never, EVER, go back there. Other aspects of the service were lousy too, the waiter never came back to ask how food was, my friend who came late was handed a menu and then never asked what she wanted, we weren't told about the specials, and our drinks weren't refreshed.