Kathryne B.
Yelp
This is going to be a long review, as this is my first review and I feel obligated to share the experience I had.
First, the positive:
The ambiance is really nice! I enjoyed sitting inside but still being in eye-view of the balcony. There's an upstairs and cellar bar as well. While we did not order alcohol, the wine selection seemed very diverse. The food itself was very good! I got the Linguini Bolognese and my partner got the Crab and Bay Scallop Linguine. I enjoyed my dish, but I was absolutely floored by my partner's meal. While I didn't taste the rest of my family's dinner, they all agreed it was very well-made. The portions are huge too, we almost all had to take home a box each.
The best part of the meal was the house-made tiramisu they brought out for my birthday. It can be substituted with chocolate cake I believe, but I'm so glad we had the chance to try the tiramisu. We all agree, as tiramisu fanatics, that this is the best one yet. The ladyfingers were dense, and the liquid from the rum mixture didn't even pool at the bottom of the plate. That's how well-structured it was. Despite my overall negative experience, I would kill some time in Poulsbo to just get another slice.
Unfortunately, I have a lot to say about the service and coordination. Making reservations was confusing, although I will give them the benefit of the doubt as I originally called first about 30 minutes after opening and left a voicemail, but my MIL also ended up calling as well. She called a few hours later but no one picked up the phone. She didn't leave a message. Another hour or so later she called again, and apparently the woman who responded said the day-of at 6:30 PM was not available to reserve, but 6:45 PM was. We went ahead and reserved that slot and received a text confirmation, only for it to be on the wrong day. My MIL had to call back and change the reservation to the correct date. Later that evening around 5:30 PM, I received a call back from the restaurant about my original inquiry from the morning and told them the situation. They mentioned 6:30 PM was now available, which I found odd.
Additionally, my MIL told me the woman had asked if we were celebrating a special occasion. When my MIL said yes, she apparently just hung up with no follow-up?
This goes into my main issues with this dining experience: lack of front-end staff training/duties. We arrived on time and were immediately seated.
But I could not believe it took an hour and 15 minutes to receive our food.
We only ordered entrees too. This is an absurdly long time, but I acknowledge this could be a kitchen issue.
The free bread that was served was thrown on our table by another waitress with zero acknowledgment after an hour in of waiting. It was cold. When we ate most of the bread, I asked for another serving but it too was cold.
While our original waitress did check in on us and said she'd look into what's taking the food so long, that was about 40 minutes into waiting.
Normally, I would understand this when a restaurant is busy, but I just couldn't help but notice how many tables were empty. There were about 5 seated parties and at least 4 waiters. Which made me even more confused about how they handled reservations earlier. It just really seems that the owner needs to organize the staff to be more efficient with their time and responsibilities.
It's hard to say if I would recommend Sogno Di Vino, as I really enjoyed the food but just did not receive the greatest service even during a slow time. I definitely think if you're willing to wait or buy take-out in advance, it would be worth it.
I'm rooting for this restaurant, but I really can't give it any higher than a 2.5 star rating.
