Solera Restaurant and Event Center

07/05/11

3rd time.........it was not a charm

by MNWinters at Citysearch

Ok this is the 3rd time that we’ve eaten at Solera and we won’t be back.

The first time that we eat at Solera the service/food was not good.

After about a year and much prompting by our friends, we again tried Solera. To our delight, the experience was 180 degrees different; good food, atmosphere and service.

Fast forward to last Saturday night. We decided to head out to Solera for dinner.

To start it off, they might as well have seated us out on the street based on the foot traffic by our table all night. Servers and customers were bumping into our chairs the entire night. If I’m going to spend $100 plus on a meal I was like to eat in peace.

Upon the suggestion of the server, we ordered the tasting menu for two. To sum it up in two words, not good. Then if you take a look at the cost of nearly $70 for that tasting menu, it really left a sour taste in your mouth. One dish was simply roasted red & yellow bell peppers with an anchovy sauce. Another was simply flash fried little peppers with salt. Realy, this is it. We ordered an additional tapa and a couple glasses of wine, all in total we walked out of there for nearly $130. You would think we would have had a satisfying meal for that but no. In fact, we stopped on our way back home for dessert and a snack. I understand the idea of tapas, small plates, but this was mini/micro tapas at macro prices and it really wasn’t that good either.

In contrast, we stopped at Nosh in Lake City, MN on Sunday night, outstanding tapas and good service all for about $30.

Solera, you need to wow us, the customer. You don’t need to kiss my feet just do a good job. Show us some respect good food, good service and reasonable prices. We’ve given you a couple opportunities to impress us and but my wife and I will be spending our time and money else where.

02/09/11

No decent Security

by morrowce at Citysearch

We had a great meal. Our car was broken into and we found out afterwards that Valet parking means public parking. Jeff the manager had no idea about their insurance. Insurance does not cover personal items. Good food but I can not believe management ignorance. Won't go back

03/30/10

Nice but they overcharge for wine

by bdmccarthy101 at Citysearch

Atmosphere is nice, server was good but not great in attentiveness. They charge 38$ for a bottle of Juan Gil red wine. This sells for $12-13 at most wine stores and $10 at Costco. A markup is understandable, but tripling the price seems too much. Note they have a $20 corking fee (also above usual for our area) but then at least you could get a $20 bottle for $40 instead of a $12 bottle for $40. Food was pretty good - scallops delicious, veal meatballs very good, chorizo sausage not that great, lamb paella was good.

• Pros: nice atmosphere
• Cons: wine is overpriced

02/02/10

Where's the food?

by bubnae at Citysearch

You have never seen portions so small in your entire life. I spent 60 dollars and walked out very hungry. Big time disappointment...there are lots of better places for the money.

• Pros: Good Food, Nice Ambience
• Cons: Portions WAY to small

03/27/09

Never again

by Melshka at Citysearch

I had been a frequenter of Solera because of their great food and wine selection. I took my family there whie they were visiting from Chicago, a group of 10 people. My dad ordered a bottle of wine, they didn't have it, and so without giving us a menu again the server made a suggestion for somthing similar. That similar bottle happened to be over $100 more than the original. I understand an upsell of $20 but 100??? I was so appalled when my mom told me later what happened, my poor father was too embarrassed to admit he couldn't afford it, but too late! When I tried to get the wine reimbursed later for him, it was hell trying to get a hold of the manager. I will never go back because they didn't try at all to win us back... I am furious and embarrassed that my dad's only experience of Minneapolis was getting ripped off.

• Pros: great place in downtown to get some good apps and wine
• Cons: Upselling wine from a $40 bottle to $150