Sona Creamery & Wine Bar

Sad night at Sona. My wife and I have been meaning to come here for months. It’s in our neighborhood and we asked about a Happy Hour. Walked in at 6, 3 customers, 5 staff. Bartender nice but insecure. So EXPENSIVE. $ 10 beer. $ 14 cocktails. $ 18 for cheese. Some happy hour. With a big restaurant 90% empty they should consider a real Happy Hour. No more for us. Cocktails aren’t even part of Happy Hour ($ 1 off beer, 2 off wine and Mead). No wonder it’s empty.

I was excited to try this place after walking by it a few times. I can’t speak for the food, but the wine was pretty tasty, and the atmosphere was pleasant. The two star rating is for the terrible service. It was at least thirty minutes before I received my $ 13 glass of wine, and a server attempted to deliver the same two plates of food (that we didn’t order) twice! I may return as it’s in my neighborhood, but it has definitely made a very poor first impression.

Sona quickly has become one of my favorite places in DC. Everything about it is wonderful: the décor is inviting; the bartenders (Collin and Doug) are helpful, friendly, and unobtrusive; and the wine and cheese are fantastic. I’ve tried the Sangue de Giuda (sparkling sweet red), rose cava, dry Muscat, and Barnard Griffin Chardonnay, and they were all terrific. I’m not usually a chardonnay person, but true to Collin’s word, the chard was buttery and fresh, and not oaky at all. They offer $ 2 off wine during happy hour, which runs from 4 – 8 (meaning that people with jobs actually can go and take advantage of the deal).
You also can’t go wrong with the cheeses. The house-​made truffle goat cheese has been my favorite so far, and the Stilton with the Sangue de Giuda was out of this world. Can’t wait to come back and try some of their other dishes!

A nice local spot for delicious cheeses and well-​chosen wines. A local favorite of ours, with pleasant staff. A little pricey, but fun to try new cheeses, meats and wines. A good spot for a casual date.

It’s a favorite and in DC with so much to choose from that’s saying a lot. The staff is knowledgeable without making you feel stupid. The cheese plates are a must and the bread and butter, yum! Lemon ricotta pancakes, mac and cheese, oh my!

Housemade chevre is fiiiiiiiiiiiire.

Portion sizes really vary by item, so for instance I find the salads small-​ish, but the fantastic turkey burger is huge! The Mac & cheese options are very rich so while they don’t look large they’re extremely filling. I think the only real disappointment is the flatbread pizza. It’s definitely not the place to order pizza with 7 and H around the corner (pizza only).
I love how involved in the neighborhood this restaurant is! They change up the menu and do tastings for neighbors to gain feedback. That, I love!

I decided to eat there for the first time last weekend.
Service was pretty good, if not a bit slow and maybe a bit «fake» — by that, I mean they were nice, but in a small way, did come across as a bit «snobby”/cold. I hope that made sense, and no offense meant to anyone.
The food was really good — I had a grilled cheese sandwich with fries and a fried egg. While a bit on the expensive side, it was pretty tasty, if not a bit on the small side. I left still feeling hungry.
Overall, a good experience. Would I go again? I don’t know, but I definitely would recommend this restaurant/​creamery to friends who love cheese. :)

Sona is cool/​hip little spot located in South East DC near the Eastern Market area. It’s located conveniently near the metro and has an intimate, soft atmosphere that suits couples or smaller groups, but I can see being difficult for a larger party. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable about everything they serve and sell (we had Taylor, and he was phenomenal!).
It has a nice selection of wine, but the real star of the show there is their creamery and vast selection of local and import cheeses (the boucheron goat cheese is awesome!); indulge in the cheese or charcuterie, the bread that accompanies is tatsy. The brussel sprouts are a MUST. Don’t bother with the dates, they are way too sweet and overwhelm the plate’s other ingredients… not balanced with enough prosciutto or bleu.
All in all a great place to treat yourself and/​or a friend to a tasty pairing night. Pricing is on the moderate to high end; with dinner and a few glasses of wine expect to spend $ 50+ per person. The other cool thing is that if you try a cheese during your meal that you love you can simply ask them to wrap up a half pound to go home with you!

Big ol grill cheese to go– gluten free! Taylor was again, very helpful– this time taking me take away order from behind the bar.
Chef, please note: GF bread is hella dense. Let’s throw some more butter on that situation or slice it a little thinner or both. The (admittedly delicious!) bread overpowered the cheese.
Also, with bread like that, you could totally offer (what I believe would be) the only gluten free croque monsieur in DC! It would hold up beautifully to a dipping of egg!
Pretty please, with lots of your yummy cheeses on top?

Wasn’t expecting much after reading a few dismal reviews, but was pleasantly surprised! I can’t wait to go back to Sona for a few reasons:
1.Everything on their menu is carefully selected. Yes there aren’t many inexpensive beers or wines, but that is because you can’t order wrong. Everything is above average… do not come here if you are looking to order a glass of wine from a $ 5 bottle.
2.The service is impeccable. Every waiter or waitress understands the whole menu, knows off hand if they are out of something (including the lengthy beverage list) and are very friendly.
3.The atmosphere is fun, yet relaxing. You come here for a round of drinks, or you could comfortably stay for a 3 hour dinner.
4.The food is ballin… like so good that you will try and figure out your schedule to go back here as soon as possible. We had the mac and cheese grilled cheese, and even if I weren’t hungry I could have scarfed down 3 of these (even though its a generous size). We also had the turkey burgers, that didn’t look amazing… but tasted delicious. They are cooked perfectly, well-​sized and come with a delicious blue cheese.
I highly recommend Sona for either just drinks and appetizers or for a full lengthy dinner.
I would be surprised if you don’t want to go back!

Sona Creamery has a great selection of artisan cheeses and wines. I loved their sparkly red rose – not too sweet and just right. Our server was very attentive and wine savvy so she was able to explain the great variety they have to offer. Even though their wines are a bit in the pricey side ($ 12-​$ 20) we were all happy we got the perfect wine to pair with our meals.
The place is very conveniently located by the Eastern Market metro so it’s easily accessible. They have outside seating but unfortunately not for groups. Because it’s technically on the sidewalk, they can only accommodate small tables for two. Their mac and cheese is delicious as are their burgers. Definitely a fan, Sona Creamery is part of my list of tasty brunches in town.

I really like what Sona Creamery is doing. Artisan cheese, a healthy well chosen wine list, craft beers on tap, and good service. We dined here for Sunday brunch, and my only complaint was that all of the outside patio tables were taken. We inquired with the hostess how long the wait was and she said that all of the parties had just sat down (they have 4 – 5 patio tables), so she asked us to sit inside. It was a beautiful spring day outside, but we obliged (although in hindsight I wish we had waited because 2 tables opened up only 15 minutes later).
I started off with an IPA on tap, which surprisingly was served very warm. The server did mention that the keg had run out recently and they had to swap it out, but if the beer was going to be served warm, she should have warned me.
We ordered a three cheese board, and picked a light, med/​heavy, and heavy cheese. All of the cheeses were very good, and offered a unique element that distinguished it. The cheese board came beautifully arranged (see photo) with a delicious pop rock butter, a superb olive tapenade, and a generous serving of beer stout mustard. They also provided s a few candied walnuts, dried fruit, and a bowl of break. We loved the cheeses, and my favorite was probably the light selection, which was a cow’s milk brie with a stinking, and grassy flavor.
We also tried the roasted cauliflower, which was great, although I thought there was bit too much dill on it. The mustard, and caraway vinaigrette dressing was excellent however.
Overall, we enjoyed our meal despite not getting to sit on the patio and my warm beer (I subtracted a star from the 4 I was going to give for those infractions). I would definitely go back, especially for happy hour, and hopefully I can upgrade my review to 4 or even more stars next time!

Cyndy’s Bottom Line: A delightful cheese experience!
Loved the presentation of the cheese platter and appreciated the description and the knowledge of all the cheeses which were recited by our server. Superb!
We enjoyed the vibe and the enthusiastic appreciation of the cheeses and of the first creamery in DC to produce cheese in the city. Bravo!

I have been wanting to go to Sona for the longest time and I finally did. The wait for a table was about 20 minutes. Their dining area is very small and there were several tables that had cashed out but they were just sitting and talking. (Can you say annoying and discourteous?). So if you want to go for happy hour get there early. Happy hour is from 4pm-​8pm.
Once we got a table everything was great! I got a glass of Cabernet and a 3 cheese plate. My friend got the Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese. Katie, our waitress, was great. She was very helpful in suggesting cheeses to go with our wine and explained everything to us. The cheese plate was amazing — can you say Pop Rocks butter?
All in all Sona is a bit pricey but well worth it. What can I say wine, cheese and good fun? Cannot go wrong at Sona.

I had always thought that the north side of Pennsylvania Ave on Capitol Hill was lacking in decent eateries, but the addition of Sona Creamery not only remedies that, it also gives us a cheese centric restaurant, a two-​fer that I can support wholeheartedly!
Due to permitting issues, the cheese production facility was still not up and running during my visit (a problem since rectified), but the glass enclosed aging room/​showcase contained a full 100 different varieties! Of course they do cheese flights, with the cheeses divided into four categories: light, medium medium/​heavy, and heavy. I went with a Sona Cheese Trio (not as robust as a full board/​flight) but supplemented that with sausage with Indonesian spices. The accompanying bread came with lava-​salt butter wand poprocks; talk about a party in your mouth!
The 28 wines by the glass lean heavily towards the Pacific Northwest and the «other» Washington, but because cheese does not necessarily mean wine (just ask the Belgians, Dutch, and Germans about that), they also had six draft beers including Monk’s Flemish Sour and Williamsburg Alewerks Pumpkin. In a nod to locals, the chalk art mural in the back had people walking around in Bad Brains and Fugazi t-​shirts.
Incidentally, Sona means happiness in Gaelic, the state that I was in when I left.

Apparently (according to our waitress), this is the only creamery in the DC-​area /​only place that makes its own cheese. My friend and I were intrigued and decided to give it a try. We visited for an afternoon drink and a snack and decided to go with a cheese tasting, as well as glasses of wine. I ordered a fruity white wine and my friend ordered a rich red (don’t remember the exact types we ordered, sadly). We checked out the creamery area up front and saw that their specialty appeared to be goat cheese. Now, normally I don’t like and don’t eat goat cheese, but I will make special exceptions on occasion. The cheese tasting we got was a goat cheese one (the Sona Goat Cheese Trio), which came with original, chipotle-​aleppo, and truffle goat cheese, as well as baguette slices. My favorite was definitely the truffle goat cheese one, since the truffle masked the fact that I was eating goat cheese. And truffled anything is great. But I did also like the chipotle-​aleppo, as I generally am a big fan of spiced cheeses, even if it’s a cheese I don’t ordinarily love.
Overall, great experience. Our wines went perfectly with the cheese and the service was nice. Not my favorite cheese-​tasting experience (still love Cheesetique in Shirlington), but it was certainly a nice way to spend a couple hours on a chilly afternoon.
And it’s conveniently located right across the street from the Eastern Market metro station and on the same street as Eastern Market’s outdoor (and indoor) market.

After months of meaning to try out Sona, my husband and I joined a group of friends for a last minute dinner.
The space is small & cozy, although they really struggle with the winter breeze. They have a huge curtain at the entrance which is meant to block the cold, but unfortunately, we were seated at the table right next to the breeze. Luckily, I didn’t notice it, but my husband was right in the path.
They had a nice selection of beers, which only my husband partook in– they had his favorite chocolate peanut butter porter (sweet baby jesus– that’s literally the name).
We ordered tons of food to share for the table & they did a pretty good job accommodating us, although they weren’t always on point in terms of the amount of food we’d need for the number of people that we had.
We ordered:
−2×5 dip samplers (pickled veggies, feta dip, parsnip/​garlic dip, cauliflower, lentils)
–11 cheese plate
–2x cauliflower sauté
–1x beet salad
— 2x fries
— 1x lamb burger
— 2x mac & cheese
— 1x grilled cheese
— 1x lentil curry soup
— 3x ice cream of the day (rye bread, chocolate malt & white chocolate– made in house)
As one of the other dinner guests said, they use the same 6 ingredients over & over again in their dishes– there was lentil salad, lentils beneath the cauliflower sauté and lentil soup. That’s not a bad thing, it was just a very insightful point.
Overall, most of the menu was just fine, with a few that were misses. The lentil curry soup could be skipped.
The dishes to try would be the cheese (obviously) the parsnip/​garlic dip and the feta dip, and the fries. Some of the cheeses were fantastic, while others were just alright. We got all the cheeses on sample for the day (we liked the water buffalo cheese and the manchego-​like spanish cheese)
The lamb burger was cooked well and they respected our request to not have a bun.
The ice creams were universally believed to be overly sweet, although the chocolate malt received some praise.
Overall, it was a lovely place to have dinner. The food was fine, but the company was excellent. In the words of my husband, I’d give them four stars, but one of the stars would be for the people we ate with.

Sona,
How I love thee. Let me count the ways. (Seriously, in real life!)
Two friends and I met here on Friday night to catch up after having dinner at a different spot. It was the perfect setting.
We were happy to find out when we arrived that Sona has a happy hour from 4 – 8 pm, every day, which includes $ 2 off all wines by the glass & $ 1 off all beer.
With regard to our dining experience, our server was friendly and knowledgeable. She answered all the questions I had about the best wines to drink and how to properly pair them with appropriate cheeses. One of my friends ordered an old fashioned while my other friend ordered a white wine. I was able to taste a couple of red wines before I settled on the Tempranillo Medievo Rioja-​crianza, which I LOVED.
I can’t really speak about the food, beyond the cheese plates, which were delicious, but the drinks were delectable. I’ll be back to try the grilled cheese and other wines!

I tried out Sona Creamery and Wine Bar with a friend for their happy hour, and overall, it seemed like a casual place to grab a bite of eat food.
The vibe is very much like a café, and you can seat yourself wherever you want. The place was not busy, even though it was happy hour. And really, the happy hour isn’t much except a few wines half off or something like that.
The wine list that we were given was on the back of the sheet of paper, and I assume that was the totality of the wine on offer. That’s a bit surprising, since this place bills itself as a «wine bar,» but there are basically only 30 wines from which to choose.
We ordered five cheeses, and we let the cheesemonger pick for us. They were very good, and the accompaniments were also delicious. We also tried one of their appetizers: the cornmeal and blue cheese gougere. It was tasty, but an odd number of pieces always makes it harder to share. They charge extra for bread, which is surprising considering that they only give you three or four pieces in the first place.
Overall, Sona Creamery and Wine Bar wasn’t a bad place to eat, and we enjoyed our time.