Sonoma Cafe & Bistro

Now J & J Seafood Bar & Grill? The grouper special was delicious. Grilled grouper with shrimp in a lobster cream sauce on top of mashed potatoes and asparagus. The shrimp was the weakling in this dish and brought down the palate. Everything else was great. I wished it hadn’t been a working lunch so that I could have had some wine with it. It was pricey even by my standards. Atmosphere was casual and nice. Bathrooms were immaculate. My server, Orla, was very nice.

As we were eating dinner a waiter walked by singing «why, oh why, do i work here?» Made me think Sonoma isn’t the best place to work, but it sure is a good spot for a delicious dinner.
It seems that you can’t go wrong with any restaurant on Atlantic Avenue and Sonoma is no exception. And one young man dining there last night loved it so much that he proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of their meal!
Our meal started with complimentary baked pita chips and hummus… a nice change from the bread you typically get at restaurants. My dad, his girlfriend, and I shared the pear and goat cheese bruchetta– YUM! Can’t go wrong with anything with both pear and goat cheese on it… this appetizer is pretty large so unless you have more than 4 people just 1 is perfectly sufficient. And then we also shared a spinach salad with strawberries and goat cheese– also quite large (plenty for 3 people) and delicious!
As for our main meal we made it easy for the waitress and all ordered a snapper special (which came in wrapped in paper). It was light, healthy (will besides the fried potatoes that came with mine, but you can also get jasmin rice) and very filling. It actually didn’t taste like snapper (we all decided it must have been grouper), but everyone at Sonoma’s claimed they were serving us snapper… and what do we know?
There wasn’t much room for dessert after that meal, but we made some for apple strudel with came with really good ice cream (can’t recall what kind) and whip cream on the side– the perfect ending to a yummy meal on the avenue.