Sonoma Casual Dining

Never a great place. Too expensive, smelly. Food was passable, but not «fresh», as advertised. Never experienced the dinner theater madness, but I haven’t heard great things.
Walked by this morning, on my way to work, only to discover that it’s gone out of business. Not a big surprise, but still a bit sad that yet another restaurant has gone under. My sympathies to the owners, and wish them luck on the next venture. I suspect a smaller location would have done them well, allowing for more focus on quality.

My husband took me to the murder mystery dinner for my birthday and I was incredibly excited… what a let down! The acting was pretty good but show itself was just okay, not as «mysterious» as I had anticipated. I thought that the audience interaction would be a bit more applicable to the plot line, but, alas, they would have random dance competitions, and cheesy jokes and come-​ons/​sexual innuendo interrupting any true mystery. The whole murder aspect seemed like an afterthought added to the end. I am all about a good drag queen but during our show, it was clear that the character in drag was making a man in the audience incredibly uncomfortable… she straddled and humped him and made him motorboat her «girls.» This went on for a few minutes too long. Awkward.
The food was cafeteria-​esque (okay) but the service was quite possibly, the worst we have ever had. There was a waitress taking drink orders and the food and drinks were supposed to be served by the actors throughout the show. Our table received water after the 1^st intermission and NEVER received our drink orders (we asked/​politely reminded 3 – 4 times with no avail). We also never got bread, which they ran out of, in addition to the cake we were supposed to be served. This was odd, as we had to reserve our seats ahead of time. You would think that they plan accordingly. The actors were clearly too busy with the show to serve the food. I wish they had charged $ 5 more per person and hired on another person for the wait staff.
We should have known that the somewhat low price for dinner and a show would speak volumes about its quality.

Ok, I did not go here by choice, but because my former company decided this would be a classy place for a Christmas party, I can at least maybe spare others! The show was funny and entertaining, yes. And yes, I did get pulled up on stage-​I had to can can kick like a Vegas dancer. It was the food and the service that left the «bad taste» in my mouth. Now maybe a diner on Van Buren should not raise anyone’s expectations, Orrrrrr… maybe you could try that much harder because you’re a diner on Van Buren! They didn’t. Food was about as good as what I remember of hospital food. The servers were wrong, confused, unprofessional and didn’t seem to have the simple concept of «service» down, but again, show was kind of cool. Skip this place if you can! There are too many other places in the area to even waste on meal!

So sad I have to give this local establishment 1 star; but after 3 attempts to enjoy a meal there, I JUST CAN’T DO IT CAPTAIN! We arrived for a late lunch at 3:30pm and were pleasantly surprised at Happy Hour in the middle of the day!
First off… it smells like you just walked into the men’s room in mexico, when you first enter from the Central Avenue entrance; then it lingers making its way to the bar, thinning out with each step, until you get to a point where you just get used to it arriving at the bar. My sister wanted to leave immediately but it was the only place big enough downtown Phoenix to bring my bike inside, so we toughed it out-​again. I torture myself only because I really want to give the downtown establishments a chance!
However the food killed it for me this time. We ordered appetizers for 3. The homemade salsa with chips and a side of sour cream shouldn’t be that hard to do. They won me half way with this because turns out the chips are homemade-​and delicious! but the salsa is pace picante. If i’d a known that I would have ordered something else. The potato skins came out looking as if they were made previously, then left sitting around for 5 hours, then re-​cooked bacon and all! They were dry and crumbly as heck and the ranch dressing was straight out of the bottle (the horribly tasting one). The Salad was ok, but the ranch made it worse.
My friend who was visiting from Texas enjoyed her French Toast, so therein lies the 1 star=breakfast at lunch time yay. It looked okay. Nothing to rave about though.
Since it had been almost 2 years since we all seen each other=a shot was in order! 3 raspberry kamikazi’s please… What? You don’t know how to make a Rasp Kami? What a waste of a full bar. Luckily I knew the ingredients and the measurements; but funny thing is the bartender, who said she didn’t know how to make the drink, kept insisting there was soda water. Even after explaining the recipe she added soda water=WTF?
I have seen crowds waiting to see the Murder Mystery Theater productions held there, but i’m not sure if I could stand the smell that long! I have to regrettably say this will be my last attempt @_@

Sonoma is Rad! Great Food and Service!
Breakfast All Day right downtown! Hit this place up yo!

I had been to Sonoma in the past and always thought it was ok. But I recently gave them another try for lunch last week and was pleasantly surprised.
I ordered a California Turkey Wrap which I loved because it was actually on a wheat wrap not a boring flour tortilla with all those carbs! lol. I also had soup and that was delish as well :)
The food was good, the staff was friendly and I will most definitely be back

If you are a vegetarian, or like interesting food, avoid this place at all costs. You may be tempted to meet someone for lunch– business purposes. dont do it. find another place downtown. Its not worth the loss of $ 10. when I went… the service was slow, the atmosphere was stiffingly stuffy, and my salad was basically iceberg and some fruit.

I regrettably took my little one to Sonoma for lunch. Their advertising suggests the use of fresh ingredients, but much to my and my kid’s dismay, this was not the case. We ordered the penne alfredo off the kid’s menu and it was not edible. There was so much garlic powder in the sauce that you could not taste anything else and it burned our mouths. I love garlic, but this was terrible. Needless to say, once we got our food, the waiter ignored us, despite the fact that the restaurant was empty at the time. When I finally got his attention, asked for the check and mentioned the problem, there were no apologies, just, «Yeah I can smell the garlic.» I was charged for the uneaten meal.
BTW, since when is garlic powder a fresh ingredient?

Newly added to the Copper Square restaurant scene is Sonoma Casual Dining. While the name leaves as much to be desired as «Snakes On A Plane» the menu plays out in much the same fashion. On possibly the most up-​and-​coming corner along the lightrail, Sonoma has opened on the corner of 1^st Ave and Van Buren, directly across from Central Station. This prime location should provide ample foot traffic once the lightrail hub begins to buzz.
It is unfortunate because those passengers will not find much at Sonoma. The place is usually packed with an after-​work crowd drinking and listening to the live music on the weekends. They seem to be lacking diners however, after 2pm. While this Order/​Take Number/​Wait style may work well for the on-​the-​go lunch crowd, it translates poorly for the dinner bunch. Casual is one thing, sloppy is another.
A ridiculous abundance of chicken on their menu begins to make me feel like I am back at Lo Lo’s. The problem is, this chicken is over cooked (a-​la Zoe’s). Featuring a «rotisserie» along with a menu of fake Italian dishes and something called a «Cowboy Steak» one needs to worry if the owners have ever been to Sonoma.
They are clearly trying too hard and have lost their direction; recently opening up an espresso stand and smoothie bar. «Inexpensive Excellence» is the motto at Sonoma but at $ 8 a plate the price seems high for lunch and the quality seems dismal for a place striving for excellence.
Sonoma also serves breakfast and has a full wine list. By the time you’ve read this review, there will probably be a kid-​play area and they will serve bagels & cream cheese too.

I found myself here last night during the pub crawl. I did not get to try out any food as they were not serving any. They had cleared out tables for a dance floor and had a DJ. The DJ was spinning popular hip hop that you hear on the radio. We walked up to the bar and got our drinks (they were honoring the posted specials for the pub crawl) and were served them in plastic cups. This bothered me– isn’t this supposed to be a nice place? Plastic cups make me feel like they do not trust their patrons to not get totally hammered and break glass. My margarita was pretty heavy on mix, and therefore too sweet.
I also happened to get into a heated debate with the door guy about how he thinks Obama is a socialist, which led me to believe that he is not a very smart guy. I know he’s a door guy and I shouldn’t expect intelligent conversation from him, but I was waiting for a cab. They did call me a cab, which was nice.
I doubt I’d come back to Sonoma for a night out– it doesn’t offer anything special and I like to think that I can hang out in CenPho without hearing the usual Republican idiocy that I was regularly subjected to when I would go out in Westgate.

Like that 1980s Wendy’s commercial, I was thinking «Where’s the Chicken?» the whole time I was here. While their pasta dishes were ordinary, the lingering thought throughout the dinner was where’s their signature dish — the rotisserie chicken? Granted, the penne with red sauce and sausage was my favorite of the two, it wasn’t exactly stellar or distinctive.
I’ll preface this by writing that my experience here wasn’t exactly typical. I appreciated the comped pre-​theater dinner buffet from Sonoma for the Unilocal event at the Arizona Theatre Company, but I wasn’t all that impressed. I was looking forward to this place for the fact that it seems like a laid-​back downtown lunch spot that actually stays open for dinner and given its reputation in California. If they were looking to impress their guests, they should have
a) served their rotisserie chicken, at the very least, small samples and
b) made sure we were the only comped buffet party there.
There were two comped parties there, btw, so if there was any hint of making guests feel special it was drowned by a «We comp parties such as yourselves all the time» message. There was some confusion upon entering as there was no host.
I thought the Caesar salad was probably the best food of the several dishes served, and while others at my table seemed to like it, I’m not exactly eager to give it a second shot.
Four stars for effort and potential, two stars for delivery.

This is a fun causal place with good food and friendly service.
I just came back from a Unilocal event, a buffet dinner before a play at the Hergberger.
The menu was simple, two kinds of penne, two kinds of salad, all very nice. The dessert buffet included the tastiest little brownie (nuts & icing!).
When I arrived, close to the 6 PM timing indicated, the (manager, owner?) greeted us, directed us toward the buffet and the drink station.
The food was tasty and plentiful, the hosts were friendly, albeit a little overextended. There was a boy about 10 years old (manager/owner’s son?) who first went around checking on the table settings, then alternated between sitting with a little girl and playing junior host. When I went up to check out the desserts, he graciously came over to see if I needed something, then told me «take as MUCH as you want.» Very sweet.
All in all, the dinner was quite nice. I sat off with my friend at a table alone as I had never been to one of these events and wasn’t sure what to expect. I wish I had asked to join the big table, but live and learn.
I have eaten lunch here in the past with a big crowd of my coworkers (12). We could walk in off the street and they could handle us, which was terrific. Between the whole table, we tried a great variety of their menu, and each person liked what they had.
Good place for lunch, large, fast service, good prices and good food.

Last night I enjoyed a tasty meal at Sonoma with a bunch of other Unilocalers. We were teated to a nice spread including vegetarian pasta primavera (spicy!), buttery rolls, salads, cookies, brownies and strawberries! YUM! Good eats!
The place had a nice layout that could accommodate our large group with no problems. The staff was attentive and the manager took the time to chat with our group. The place was very clean and well lit too.
Next time I’m downtown I would not hesitate to stop there again.

It’s kinda comfy setting… For the Non-(official), Unilocal event, they had penne pasta… but Sonoma’s specialty is rotisserie chicken… Nice but I sure would have liked to taste what the place raves about — Chicken! Oh well, the pasta was ok for what it was. What I truly enjoyed about Sonoma was the layout. You can easily entertain a fairly large crowd and not be on top of each other. I need to come back and try their chicken then re-​write this review.
The parking upstairs for the event was nice also, but later on at night, it seems a bit spooky to be walking up in the parking area alone and in the middle of city center where there are some pretty curious characters about~~~I would prefer coming with more than one person if parking at night in the upper garage (personal preference).
The Unilocal folks! — Way too cool! I am so glad to have discovered Unilocal!Best thing I’ve done in ages. — Cheers Unilocalers!

Great place downtown for lunch! The inside is very simple, but the menu is really good. You order at the counter and they call your number and you pick up the food. Prices are very reasonable… I believe my caesar salad and soft drink run about $ 7. I would be interested in checking it out after work for happy hour sometime.
Plus, how can I not love a place owned by an Ohio State alumnus? :)