In the fall, a unique concept opened in Scottsdale that doles out dishes you might be hard-pressed to find at one spot in the Valley (fresh juices and perogies, anyone?). Sonata’s Restaurant and Restart Bar is already impressing palates with unique plates inspired by Lithuanian, German, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Spanish, French, Irish and other European cuisines. In fact, many of the featured dishes happen to be the personal recipes of Lithuanian-born Sonata Molocajeviene Tuft, the restaurant’s owner.
Before you can even take a bite, the restaurant excited with its good looks. It is a glamorous dining space, with plush booths, high-top tables and beautiful pops of metallic and green. Though the restaurant is quite large, each table feels rather private and comfortable. Next door, early birds can even grab fresh organic juices (which are also found on the main menu), smoothies, Italian coffee, healthy to-go items and a variety of European pastries, muffins and cookies at the casual Restart Bar.
Though the menu is chock-full of hearty crowd favorites, like chicken Kiev and beef stroganoff, we suggest ordering several small plates to share and savor. Each is unique and packs quite a bit of flavor. The potato pancakes is a good–and somewhat light–start. Topped with smoked salmon, each thin, delicious pancake is services with cooling herb Smetana and a sweet-and-spicy veggie chutney called Ljutenica.
The happy hour menu runs from 2 to 5 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday, enjoy reverse happy hour from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Brunch was recently added, as well. Also, Sonata’s Restaurant is introducing a new Russian Nights event the first Saturday of every month beginning on March 11 featuring bottle service, Russian food specialties (like smoked sardines, herring in a blanket salad, herring and hot potatoes) and live entertainment.
