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Greek salad
And here’s where I have a quibble. The menu offers Greek Salad ($9 ***) and describes it as tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, kalamata olives, feta cheese and vinaigrette. Yes, that’s a real Greek salad, but when it arrives, it also contains lettuce, which doesn’t belong in a real Greek salad. I asked about the lettuce and was told that her American customers kept asking, “Where’s the lettuce?” So Sofia added some to keep her customers happy. The salad is wonderfully fresh and delicious, even with the lettuce.
The wine list contains a dozen bottles. Have fun and try one of the Greek wines. The white wine from the island of Santorini for $36 is especially crisp and food-friendly. The best part of the service is when Sofia stops by your table to see how you like the food.
While seafood is a big part of the diet in Greece, the restaurant so far is sticking with lamb, beef, pork and chicken. In the kitchen is the vertical revolving cylinder of lamb and beef from which meat is shaved and stuffed into warm pita along with tomatoes, onions and tzatziki, a sandwich that the Greeks call Gyro ($14 ***½), pronounced hee-row, and that’s worth every penny.
Baklava
Moussaka ($14 ****) is not to be missed. Eggplant is grilled and layered in a baking dish with spiced ground beef, peppers, onions, tomatoes, béchamel sauce and kefalograviera, a tangy, salty Greek sheep’s-milk cheese. For dessert, of course there’s good house-made Baklava ($5 ***) that’s sweetened with restraint.
To sum up: You’ll hardly be able to wait to get back for more of this delectable Greek food.
Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review column for the Sonoma Living section. You can reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net.
TAVERNA SOFIA
Where: 244 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg
When: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Tuesdays. Closed Wednesdays
Reservations and take-out: Call 431-1982
Price range: Moderate, with entrees from $14 to $17
Website: www.tavernasofia.com
Wine list: **
Ambiance: **½
Service: *½
Food: ***½
Overall: ***
**** Extraordinary
*** Very good
** Good
* Not very good
0 Terrible
I hope this means they have changed some things. We were so excited to go and went for lunch one day. We waited forever for our food and finally received the Dolmas – they were fine but we thought overpriced for the tiny appetizer that arrived. We also ordered the greek salad and that fell flat. The dressing was near tasteless. It was a very boring salad to say the least. Also, the Gyro was ok, not great at all and we think way overpriced. If you are charging $14 for a sandwich (at lunch time)… it better be off the hook – not like something you could find at a food court in a mall. The service really needs to polish up quickly and the prices need to come down if you want the local support.
Sorry, I had to respond as it sounds like 2 different restaurants here.
Not sure what restaurant Cox went to, but it sure was not the one I tried a couple weeks ago.
They must’ve known you were coming! I was very excited to try them but sadly disappointed!
Service took forever even though there were only 2 other tables outside.
The greek salad was just ok, tzatziki ok, gyro nothing to get excited about, I asked for my lamb souvlaki med-rare, it came very well done, they forgot my pita. My food sat in the window while I watched to see how long it would take to be brought to me. The service really needs attention!
Based on this review I will try again and repost.
Must have been a different restaurant. But the one with the same name unfortunately provided 3-4 dolmas for 8 bucks that were dry. A spa greek salad in a small soup bowl9no feta?). Including some other items that did not leave a lasting impression. The portions were more like rations! I now know the meaning of quantity control. Hope they can adjust as setting is very nice with great patio. Well meaning responses by the owner must be validated by quality not rationalizations …………………………
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Been here a few times and it’s always great. Where else can you go where the owner is always there are talks to nearly every customer? Too expensive? I’ve paid at least that or more at any number of Healdsburg eateries for a basic sandwich or hot dog, most of the time of a lesser quality. We’re locals and we’ll be back.
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