Sophia’s Grotto

My «gnocchi» pasta dish was amazing, I can’t wait to come back and try it again. Also, my busboy, Owen, was so polite and he was cute too ;-)

I had the strangest experience here, in terms of the server having a too casual + «please leave» vibe. It was almost surreal. Whenever I looked at this place from within Birch Street Bistro, I always thought it had a magical vibe. And the name «Sophia’s Grotto» is somewhat magical. And the owner/​manager guy who checked-​in with us is clearly descended from Leprechauns. So I’m changing my initial 1-​star ‘bad’ review to 2.5 (if I could do that), ‘let’s wait and see’ review. The sandwich I had was very good, but the fries are shoestring style — not so good.

Went for my wife’s birthday with our 2 small children. The food was delicious and the space was small but really cozy and down a beautiful brick alley. The service was great. Our waitress was really friendly and all the servers that came by the table were helpful with the kids. We will be going back.

My wife and I are getting ready to adopt a baby in the coming weeks, so I wanted to do something very special this New Year’s Eve. I made a reservation at Sophia’s because we lived right down the street in Roslindale when we first moved to Boston, and the Grotto has very special memories for us. For our last New Year’s as a twosome, I wanted it to be at this place that we shared so many of our first meals in Boston together.
When I called, I made our reservation for 8 pm, and was told there would be a limited menu. I said that we are both vegetarians, and asked if there would be a selection for us, and was assured there would be «a few options in each course» that were meatless. This afternoon, I was called and asked if we could move our reservation up to 7:30 pm. No problem!
We arrived at the Grotto at 7:30, and had to wait 5 – 10 minutes for a seat at the bar, because our table wasn’t ready yet. One bottle of wine, 2 appetizers, and one hour later, at 8:30, we were able to go to a table. Much to our dismay, there were no meatless entrees available. My wife was able to get the farfalle dish with no chicken (but for the same price), and I had essentially pasta with marinara (gnocchi with red sauce) which was very plain. Our dinners were not nearly as good as what we normally have at Sophia’s.
I had a lot in mind for this evening. I was excited to start our new year, which will bring a new family and far fewer nights out, at Sophia’s Grotto. I was very disappointed that Sophia’s didn’t live up at all to what I have come to expect from it.

Just left the restaurant, Megan was our server (pre med) uva grad. Besides the great service the food was amazing! We started with bread with bean/​hummus dip. We had seconds! Then moved on to app of meatballs and short ribs. That was the reason we needed the second basket of bread to clean the plate. I had a cab for chile with paella, excellent. My son special order of baked ziti while my husband had stuff pork. All plates completely finished. Can’t wait for the next visit in the spring to eat outside. A must place to visit.

Nice courtyard. Good service but the food was not that good.

A true hidden gem as it’s a little hard to find. Tucked away in a back Alley but oh so charming as the patio opens up & is large. Inside is warm & full of ambience. A lively vibe & cool art work high lightening Sophia Loren. The atmosphere was only surpassed by the food & service. Our waitress Rebecca knew we were in a rush & got our food & drinks over ASAP. The Verona pizza on homemade crust was outstanding. The Arugala & Procuitto salad delightful. Next time we will linger as the entire menu read so well. We we sorry we had to rush to a game! Once again Unilocal helped me locate Soohias & weed out places that aren’t worthy of this foodie!

I read so many good reviews that I was excited to try it on my birthday. The bread and dip were good. But the entrees were «okay» My fish was cold. My husband ordered the filet with the mushroom sauce on the side and was so glad he did. The filet was good, but small and the mushroom sauce was soooo sweet with a terrible aftertaste.
If you are in the area, I recommend Birch Street or Delfino’s — both similarly priced but with much better food.
2 star review because the waitress was nice and we liked eating outside

I honestly cannot remember the last time i enjoyed every single bite of a meal. This place was such a perfect little hidden gem to visit on a Tuesday summer night. I had the Mediterranean Chicken. AMAZING! I recommend this place to anyone. The food selection was great.

I’ve been to Sophia’s twice since moving to Roslindale a few months ago. I haven’t eaten outside there yet, but it looks really cute out there. The prices are reasonable for the area (which has prices higher than I’d expect for being so far from downtown, but then again maybe that’s why). I got the stuffed flounder both times because it was so good the first. Everyone raves about it as one of their fave Rozzie spots.

Very nice dinner on a spectacular July evening. Reasonable portions and appropriate prices.

I am surprised that there are so many good reviews of this restaurant. I had a very unenjoyable experience there this evening .
Our server was very, very slow. One would have thought she was avoiding our table at all costs. We ordered drinks and she brought us some bread with a little bean spread. She then didn’t come back for ages. She finally took our orders then disappeared again. Our food took ages to arrive. I was hungry so I ended up gnawing on a bread crust and drinking water. Yummy!
No one was too thrilled with with their food. I ordered the meatball sandwich, which came with fries. Somehow they managed to create completely tasteless meatballs, and the fries were already cold and stale when I got them. I only ate half the sandwich, because why take in calories I am not even enjoying? The server did stop by and ask how everything was, but she just turned right around again and didn’t even wait for an answer !
Then she disappeared for a long time. Finally she came back to see if we wanted dessert. When we ordered the dessert, I also asked for the check so we wouldn’t have to wait another half hour for her to reappear.
In the meantime, it was getting dark and buggy. They finally lit these lamps which must have been kerosene. The smell of the smoke from them was quite unpleasant.
I couldn’t wait to leave.
Normally I tip at least 20% of the total including tax, but this time I only tipped 15% on the total before tax.
Really good food could have made up for the bad service or vice versa, but sadly neither of those things was there.

Pretty spot on food and drink selection, the prices can’t be beat, and the atmosphere is perfect. I would come back in a heartbeat if Iived in Boston. I got the Napoli pizza… Kept it basic but they mastered this simple dish, the cheese was amazing. Tried a bit of short ribs and the bolognese. The bolognese is amazing! Creamy, meaty, hearty and bursting with flavor.
I also the the atmosphere — sitting on a cute brick patio tucked back off the street — really rounded out the meal and made the night.

Outstanding. Cool place. Outside seating in pleasant courtyard in the summer. Nice food and wine. All price points. Must try stuffed artichoke hearts wrapped in prosciutto.

Basically one of our favorite neighborhood places. Awesome staff, great food and wine, and good vibes. Plus, in warm weather they have awesome outside seating! And, I am obsessed with the bathroom décor — vintage album covers that are amazing and kitschy!
If you like pizza get the mushroom one with truffle oil – it is one of the yummiest things ever and perfect if you just want a snack with some beverages. Full bar, but I pretty much always drink wine or Sangria!

So disappointed.
I was looking for something to eat since I was in the area and I haven’t tried Sophia’s grotto yet but I came due to good reviews. I don’t know why I listen to Unilocal,perhaps I can’t help it but Unilocal has been steering me wrong lately.
I tried the scallops and risotto and the short ribs. The scallops were decent but super bland while the short ribs were awful. They put way too much balsamic vinegar on it making it inedible.
For entrees, we tried the paella and ziti bolognese. The paella was pretty good. It has some good flavors and a good amount of seafood in there while the ziti bolognese was… Just. Not good. Their bolognese sauce was super chunky. I thought bolognese was supposed to be ground meat sauce not chunks of meat. It was also incredibly bland. A little bit of season never hurt anybody.
The only reason I gave 2 stars was because the paella and scallops were my saving grace from not starving.

Came here for restaurant week.
It was overcast but we asked to sit outside under an umbrella which took awhile to get ready… odd since we saw a few that were open and it was already nearly 8:30 so it wasn’t like many people were going to show up.
For a starter I had the lobster orzo. Huge chunks of lobster with tiny pieces of orzo was odd. Served under toast was odder, Served on-​top of undressed lettuce was the oddest. My friend had roasted red pepper bruschetta and the red pepper stuck to my mouth. These sat dirty in front of us for awhile, and then our entrees came, without the appetizers ever being cleared.
I had the flounder stuffed with shrimp and scallops which wasn’t on the regular menu. It was cooked perfect and I loved it – even though I’m not sure I ever tasted shrimp or scallops so it could have been stuffed with anything – that’s the problem with grinding things up. Huge portion. I’m not used to having leftovers during restaurant week and I did here.
At some point it started to rain a lot and everyone moved under umbrellas which was uncomfortable as we could hear EVERYTHING everyone else was saying. Staff should have asked people who were not already eating to move inside or get more umbrellas.
I had the sangria which had great flavor but could have used more fruit in it when it was served.

What a nice restaurant! I wandered in here completely blindly (phone battery was dead and I had never heard of the place) one Saturday afternoon while looking for a place to eat a late lunch one Saturday afternoon in Roslindale. In terms of quality of food, service, and atmosphere, it exceeded my modest expectations by leaps and bounds.
My girlfriend and I were greeted by the friendly and attentive wait staff and promptly seated at a table for two in the back of their spacious brick patio. As the patio was nestled in an alleyway between two busy streets I was surprised by how quaint and peaceful it was. The atmosphere had a nice relaxed, yet sophisticated vibe that felt vaguely European (though not to such an extent as to feel gimmicky and contrived).
I ordered the Parma Panini with prosciutto, mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, basil, oregano, and olive oil and suffice it to say that it was one of the best sandwiches (and dare I say «meals») that I have had in a very long while. Every ingredient tasted fresh — especially the mozzarella which was moist and soft (as it always should be, but rarely is!) — and the flavors nicely complemented each other. The fries which accompanied the sandwich were hand-​cut and well seasoned. My girlfriend enjoyed the personal-​sized Margherita pizza she ordered and likewise remarked about the freshness of the ingredients.
The only reason I am docking a star is because I found the lunch options to be a bit sparse (I think the menu only had like 5 – 6 options). However, I would much prefer a restaurant, which made only a few dishes really well than a «jack-​of-​all-​trades-​master-​of-​none» type establishment. Ideally, I would give Sophia’s Grotto 4.5 stars and will likely bump the review to 5 after I return for another meal. I can’t wait to sample their breakfast and dinner menus!

The restaurant is neatly tucked inside a courtyard in Roslindale Village. It has lots of outdoor seating, bar and cute dining room (which doesn’t seat much — maybe 20ppl). The dining room is not very big but the décor is really cute. The kitchen is shaped like a house (off to the middle of the restaurant) with a cutout window for servers to pick up the food. Several booths surround the kitchen/​house.
A runner dropped off some bread with hummus (the hummus was really flavorful-​had to stop before I get full on bread). It was Saturday night, so the place was busy and it took a little while for the server to get to us. By the time she did, we were ready to place our drinks and dinner order. We decided to order a bunch of apps to share as our main course (this way it gives us the opportunity to try as much items without overstuffing ourselves). Food came out relatively quickly.
We ordered the following:
Beef short ribs — okay
Scallop with risotto — nicely cooked cooked scallops served in risotto with asparagus. The quality and ingredients were cooked well but lacked flavored (even the little hints of truffle oil cannot elevate the dish).
Crabcakes — decent amount of blue crab meat but would have preferred them pan seared instead of fried and the sauce was not much flavoring.
Fried calamari — never had calmari coated in cornmeal type of batter but it was not good… crispy texture on the outside and overcooked calamari inside — along with watery aoili sauce — not a great combination.
Torino pizza — 4 types of mushrooms with fontina and mozarella cheese drizzled with truffle oil. They could have a bit more generous with the mushroom toppings (since there are supposedly 4 types) and truffle oil.
Overall, felt the flavoring of all the food lacking — hardly finished any of the dishes because it would be all wasted calories.

With the intimate décor, cute setting, and semi-​hidden entry, this place definitely has «date place» written all over it. But for those that aren’t on a date…
The food and ambiance were rather enjoyable. You feel like you’re in a small Italian restaurant somewhere in Italy. The small plates meatballs is rather nice and sizable. I thought I detected some broccoli rabe in it, but it might’ve just been me. The meatballs were moist and tender.
The ziti boscaiola was pretty good, though I have to say it was too salty for my taste. Yeah, there’s prosciutto, but the pink sauce (mixture of red and cream) was the part that was too salty. I liked the combination of the mushrooms, asparagus and prosciutto though. The pasta itself was perfectly al dente.
The service was unobtrusive but helpful at the same time. The server came enough times and refilled water. Prices are pretty decent for what you get.