Sorrentino’s South

We came here during the garlic festival recently quite late in the evening, however we were seated quickly, were able to gaze upon a substantial menu and each have what we wanted to eat before leaving. The experience was quick, had good ambiance, and the waitstaff were helpful. We thought that the Garlic festival aprons were a little bizarre but all in all the food was delicious and as few restaurants in this area are open as late as we were seeking, this was ideal for us.
I felt that the portion sizes were precisely what I needed, and that the restaurant was wonderfully quiet enough for us to talk. I rather liked that we had a circular booth in which to sit and relax with each other, and enjoyed the short amount of time that we spent here.

Came here for lunch with work the guys from work. We had meatballs and calamari for appetizers. The meatball dish was tough to share, but it had a good cheesy sauce. The calamari was bland. I had lasagna which was a bit small but at least was a real lasgne with layers of noodles, meat, cheese. Other people at the table seemed happy with their food. The meatloaf that I almost had, was order by someone else and the review. was that it was very lean and almost like a sausage.

Last night my coworkers and I had our Christmas party here and it was a fabulous evening! I booked well in advance for a large group and the manager who helped coordinate with me did a thorough job assessing our wants and needs. He kept in touch leading up to the event and was flexible when our group number nearly doubled from my estimate at time of initial booking.
We had a 4 course meal of crisp calamari w/​dipping sauce and bruschetta on crostini for starters. Followed by a pasta course in a tomato sauce. From a selection of entrees from the event group menu — I had a salmon with shrimp in a beurre blanc that was delicious, my boyfriend had a prosciutto and mozzarella stuffed chicken he said was very tasty. Friends at our table opted for the other options of steak or stuffed shells and were very impressed. A dessert of chocolate mousse was rich and creamy. Accommodations for several allergies, including gluten free were made easily. My bruschetta arrived in lettuce cups and a lemon sorbet dessert was cool with a perfect amount of tartness.
Our servers were prompt on drinks/​refills and the staff member in charge of our event was able to attend any question.

Last week I had the opportunity to preview the Mushroom Harvest menu at Sorrentino’s Bistro in south Edmonton. While I’ve always known about the annual Garlic Festival in April, I feel like the Mushroom Festival doesn’t get enough love, as this is the first year I’ve noticed it! For the month of September, the Sorrentino’s Restaurant Group (South/​Downtown/​Little Italy/​West/​St. Albert + Bistecca) will feature the Mushroom Harvest menu in addition to the regular menu at each of their restaurants.
Our first plate of the evening showcased four sample sized courses and a variety of mushrooms. The Zuppa was a sherry infused cream of wild mushroom soup with cream drizzle and a parmesan tuile. The sherry cut through the creamy soup very nicely, and I would happily enjoy a big bowl of this comforting soup on a cold evening! Sorrentino’s is selling this soup base for $ 10 all through September so you can make it at home as the cool weather sets in. Our Insalata course was a mushroom salad comprised of butter leaf lettuce and a warm mix of crimini, button, and yellow chanterelle mushrooms, finished with crisp pancetta, goat cheese and a light lemon vinaigrette. The mix of mushrooms allowed for an appreciation of the different textures and flavours of each ingredient.
Third on the plate was a wild mushroom fritelle with porcini aioli. Similar to a donut of sorts, it was nice and crisp but it was difficult to tell there were mushrooms in there. Last of all was a portobello mushroom stuffed with garlic and goat cheese pesto, topped with pine nuts and a honey balsamic vinaigrette. The meaty texture and flavour of the portobello combined well with the garlicky, creamy cheese! Aside from the soup, this was my other favourite on the plate.
Our next plate brought a sampling of larger fare. The risotto featured creamy Carnaroli rice with a lobster mushroom, grilled shrimp, and Parmigiano-​Reggiano. I personally haven’t had a lobster mushroom before and was surprised to hear that it is actually a fungus that thrives by growing like a parasite on other mushrooms, giving them the characteristic orange hue of a cooked lobster. This mushroom holds it’s firm texture and colour throughout the cooking process and is great for frying. This neat little mushroom also possesses a faint seafood-​like flavour! It paired great with the shrimp, and if the risotto was cooked to a slightly softer consistency this would be a great dish.
The Portabella & Crimini ravioli was another star of the evening for me. Oven-​roasted portabella and crimini mushrooms were enveloped in egg pasta with onions, roasted garlic, mozzarella and Parmigiano. The garlic lemon butter white wine sauce was to die for and brought everything together. If you’re checking out the Mushroom Harvest menu, this is a must-​try!
Our Secondi course was like a surf and turf of sorts, wish fish and veal in sample sized portions. The Veal and Mushrooms was presented as a medallion of veal on a bed of wild mushrooms, all drizzled in salted caramel. The veal was cooked nicely, and contrary to what you may be thinking, the salted caramel added a unique yet tasty dimension of flavour to the meat and mushrooms. The other side of the plate featured Cobia, the catch of the month. The fillet was poached in San Benedetto mineral water and served with sauteed Chanterelles and a thyme and lemon Chardonnay reduction. Chanterelle mushrooms are not grown in Alberta, but can be found in abundance in our neighboring provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Chanterelles are light in flavour which makes them a perfect accompaniment for white fish. The fish was cooked well and flaked easily, but the lingering fishy flavour at the end of each bite was a little strong for my liking.
To my surprise the dessert for the evening also included the use of mushrooms! Candy Cap mushrooms have a flavour similar to that of maple syrup, and are typically used as a flavouring agent. The candy caps in our dessert were poached and sat on a plate with a quenelle of Grand Marnier rice pudding and a streak of Amarone jus. The poached mushrooms were sticky and sweet, with a rubbery texture to them. The flavour complemented the caramel flavours in the rice pudding, but the drastically different textures in each component didn’t quite work for me. This mushroom based dessert is available only at Bistecca, and is worth a try if you want to try these dessert mushrooms out.
For the remainder of the month you can head out to your nearest Sorrentino’s to get a taste of the Mushroom Harvest menu. As a special feature, every Monday is Mushroom Mania Monday at the South, West, and St. Albert locations, you can enjoy a Mushroom Harvest pasta and 3 oz. of the feature wine for $ 20. It’s a great price to be able to eat and participate in the festival! Make sure to also check out the additional events that Sorrentino’s is offering this month — perhaps go foraging, or take in a fun cooking class!

My GF and had a very good Dinner Date!
The waiter was extremely prompt, and attentive.
Our meals and drinks were prompt and done well.
I highly recommend this restaurant before the dinner rush, as they seem to be on the ball with their service and food :)

My partner and I experienced some of the best service ever at this restaurant.
We ordered two pasta dishes, one gluten free
with no mushroom, and when they brought it out I noticed it had mushrooms on it. The girl was genuinely mortified that she brought us the wrong order. She apologized profusely and went to the back to fix it. She promptly returned with the gluten free pasta and explained there was a kitchen mistake. They made three pastas, two of the same but one gluten free no mushroom.
She asked if we would still want the other one, no charge. She could pack it up and we could take it home.
We thought that was very nice. But it wasn’t the end!
The manager came half way through our meal to check up on us, apologize some more, and offer us a free dessert of our choice!
We were blown away at this point. It was such a small silly error but they made up for it LARGE.
Once we ate all our yummy pasta and dessert, the bill came.
Not only did we get 3 pasta dishes for the price of two and a dessert for free, they also took 10 percent off our bill.
For what would have been a 60 dollar bill, we paid 34.
So grateful.
I would definitely suggest going there.
They have quality food, quality staff and quality service.

Was quite disappointed after waiting so long to try sorrentinos on a «special occasion». Our server seemed terribly fake and unfriendly, pasta was bland and the pizza very boring. Sicilian pasta kitchen is much better I won’t be visiting sorrentinos again.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Edmonton. The food is fantastic and the service is great as well. Had the best server I’ve ever experienced at this restaurant about 1.5 years ago. I am not a huge Italian fan, but this place never disappoints!

I just had dinner at Sorrentino’s at the recommendation of a friend and I must say I was very impressed. First of all it was a weeknight so it wasn’t crazy busy which was great because I was going with my husband, 20 month old and 4 month old, which is crazy already. But when we first walked in the hostess was very friendly and shortly after we were seated the manager Mike came by to greet us and let us know he was available in case we needed anything which was very nice. He also stopped by to play with the kids and make them feel welcome.
The ambiance is gorgeous, low lighting, very intimate and romantic, with wine glasses galore. But the nice thing is they have a separate lounge area for sport fans, that want great food and need to make a little noise without interrupting others. I appreciated this considering we wanted a quiet evening.
The food was way more flavorful than many of the other esatblishments I’ve eaten at in Edmonton and I am from NYC so you can imagine how picky I am. I had the Meditteranean pasta dish consisting of pasta, sun dried tomatoes and feta cheese in a wine sauce. It was soooooooooo good. My husband was so jealous although his meal was great too, he had the beef tenderloin. I added pics. The presentation of the food was great. My server was Maria who was extremely knowledgeable about the enitre menu and actually picked our food for us, and her recommendation was spot on. You just tell her what your taste is and she delivers. Even brought out hot water to warm my babys bottle when he started to cry a little, and kept our water glasses full. Definitely will ask for her when I go back.
The warmed bread that you dip in a garlic olive oil dip was a great way to start, not too heavy. For appetizers we had the calamari which was good but I’ve had better, just my personal opinion. I prefer my calamari fried a little deeper. For my toddler she had the pizza from the kids menu which was huge, if you’re going with kids. 1 pizza for 2 kids is plenty unless they’re over the age of 7. We were given free wine samplings to pair with our entrees which was definitely a nice touch. I would recommend for couples, formal dinner parties or special occasions, though they were accomodating to us with kids. Its definitely fine dining and formal. Excellent experience!
All in all it was a great evening. I definitely want to highlight the service of server Maria and Mike (manager on duty) they made our dinner great and we felt like VIP. Will definitely be back.

The ambiance is really nice, and the Bellini I had here was the best I’ve had in the city — that being said, the margerhita calzone I ordered was incredibly bland. They use boccochini cheese instead mozzarella and it has the texture of chewing gum that’s lost it’s flavour. The sauce was bland and the dough was tasty, but again, bland.

Went for our anniversary dinner to sorrentinos south. The service was great but it was after 8pm on a weeknight… the atmosphere is nice. We had a few appetizers which were quite delicious. Our main courses were mediocre. I had pasta which was bland and my husband had veal which he found to be chewy. Overall it was an okay meal but I don’t think we will go back again.

My husband, his siblings and I decided to take my in-​laws to dinner at Sorrentino’s for their 35^th anniversary. We chose this location as it was the easiest for them to get to from Sherwood Park. We made a reservation for seven adults and one baby only a few days before the dinner with no problem.
Me and Dave arrived a bit early and headed to the table. Our server introduced himself and brought as waters right away. He was a pretty chipper guy. Once everyone else arrived he was right there again, bringing water and taking drink orders. He was pretty present throughout the night, and always smiling and polite.
This location (I’ve otherwise only been to the ones downtown and in Little Italy) definitely has more of an Earl’s vibe to it, décor wise. For some reason this made me feel like the food would be more mediocre, but my pasta was delicious. I had the Penne Mediterranie — chicken, feta, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, white wine and garlic ($ 18 for full size). Everybody else ordered pasta and everybody commented on how tasty their meals were.
The one little glitch was that my father-​in-​law was actually brought the wrong appetizer and the wrong main. The waiter wasn’t writing down orders, and my FIL said one main and then changed it, so I guess he just didn’t remember. However, my FIL didn’t ask for the dish to be changed, and I’m sure they would have.
And the one odd thing I noticed was how quiet the restaurant was! There was no background music at all. Of course I don’t like it when restaurants have Top 40 blaring, but there was absolutely no music at all. It was a little bit creepy, especially when everyone was eating (not talking).
As we were saying our goodbyes in the parking lot, the in-​laws decided they wanted a group picture. I went back into the restaurant and asked our waiter if he would be able to come out and take a pic, or if someone else would, and he very happily came out and took a couple of shots for us.
Good experience overall.

For some reason I always thought Sorrentino’s was the pinnacle of Italian food in Edmonton, yet I had never gone. It turns out I had some pretty big misconceptions.
We showed up a little early for lunch, just minutes after they opened, so there was only one other table in the restaurant for most of our meal. Our orders were taken promptly and we were brought bread and some sort of oil dip for the bread. When the waitress walked up with the basket of bread we thought she would leave it on the table for us. We were proven wrong when she carefully rationed out a small piece of bread for each of us and then left. We weren’t sure if we could ask for more, but it wouldn’t have mattered because our food arrived only minutes after the bread — certainly quick out of the kitchen, which wasn’t surprising given how empty the restaurant was so early.
I had the canneloni, my coworker had the lasagne. The canneloni’s stuffing was not very good, the sauce was bland, and the whole mess was disguised with a too-​thick layer of cheese. My coworker’s lasagne was similarly bad — I make better lasagne at home. About the only good thing was the pasta, which seemed fresh.
Despite Italian food being my favorite, this is by far my least favorite Italian restaurant. The décor is nice, the service was decent, and we were in and out in around half an hour (well within our lunch hour), but the food was not worth the price.

I was at the south side sorrentinos on December 9^th and had the worst dining experience of my life.
–I had advised that I don’t eat onions at all and that if they were on my dish I would choose something else. The server came out seconds before our food was about to arrive to tell me that the halibut has an onion sauce on it and asked if I wanted dry fish. I said no but I don’t want onions. She brought me out my dish that was covered in scallions. Which was fine I just picked them off but I did ask for it without. I quickly noticed that there was a foul odor when my halibut came out. I took a bite of my halibut and it tasted really bad. I decided I would try another with the sauce which is when I realized that my fish was bad. The smell at the table was the fish. I waited for the server to come for about 5 minutes then we finally flagged someone down to get her. After a few more minutes she got there and I told her what had gone wrong she advised us that she would get the manager. I have now been waiting over 10 minutes with inedible food in front of me when the manager showed up and offered me something else. I said I didn’t want anything else. He did not appologise or anything he just took it away and took it off the bill. When I got home I was violently ill for several hours vomitting. I have never had an experience that bad ever!
–My boyfriend got his dish which was a steak with he asked for medium well. When the manager was there I pointed out that his steak was not medium well it was very rare. Likely medium rare or rare. The manager said I was correct but did nothing.
–My mom had ordered a side salad instead of the potatoe or pasta option. She recieved wilted lettuce with onions on it in a warm bowl. This is not a salad. When the manager came he couldn’t understand what she wanted. I advised him lettuce in a bowl was not salad and that she wanted oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing. So he brought her out a more acceptable salad but brought a dish of oil and white vinegar. I have never had an issue anywhere ordering oil and vinegar for a salad dressing and I am unsure why the manager had no idea what we were talking about.
There was no appology made to us and I ended up very sick. I emailed them the next day to tell them what had happened and their ‘customer service’ area has yet to respond. I don’t recommend going there and will be reporting them to public health.

The first thing that comes to mind regarding my visit to Sorrentino’s is «meh». It was the epitome of «nothing special».
I ordered the five mushroom fontina and truffle calzone. I did like the idea that all of their pizzas can be served in calzone form. However the additional $ 3 for the switch is a little steep. I suppose it’s to cover the side salad it comes with but I was still a bit skeptical about it. My meal was definitely not worth $ 19. The calzone itself was too doughy for my liking. The crust was way extremely thick and would have been fine as a pizza but I don’t want to eat through a slab of bread before I reach the mushrooms and cheese inside a calzone.
The thing that put me off the most was where we were seated. We arrived at the restaurant for a fairly early meal (around 5pm) and there was only one other couple in the restaurant at the time. Even so, we were seated at the table right beside them and frankly it was awkward. I don’t mind being that close in a crowded restaurant, but since there was no background noise to muffle our conversations, I could clearly hear everything the couple was talking about and it made me paranoid about our own conversation. It was definitely uncomfortable. When a third group came in, again they were going to seat them right beside us but the woman was smart enough to ask if she could have a different table. I was left thinking «I should have done that too».

I always try to like Sorrentino’s because I love Italian food and I like that this chain is local-​ish.
My food was yummy (although to be honest, I’ve had better penne arrabiate at other places) and we were brought fresh bread. The dip for the bread was smooth and tasty as well.
The décor in Sorrentino’s is intimate and trendy, with a hint of classy. I especially like the funky lamps above the bar.
Really, the only problem was the service. The hostess didn’t smile at us, and barely looked at us at all. Our server brought bread and our meals, but water took a really long time, and it was about 10 minutes between our bill being delivered and picked up for change. Not cool!

I actually enjoyed my recent lunch at Sorrentino’s. I had the tagliatelle with herb roasted chicken in a truffles cream sauce and it was delicious! Thank heavens that it comes in a half order as this dish is very rich and satisfying. On the down side, the service became somewhat lacking once our meals arrived. In that respect, there is definitely room for improvement as there as so many good restaurants in Edmonton.

Sorrentino’s is nothing special. Let’s be honest.
They try to pull off the high class look and feel (like Joeys and Earls do) but it doesn’t quite translate they way they want it to.
As far as the pasta goes, it’s nothing compared to Chianti’s. But compared to a regular restaurant, it’s average. There is nothing too special about it but it’s not bad.
Our server was mediocre. He was not very enthused about serving us but he did check up in us, which is getting to be rare these days.
I don’t know what else to really say about Sorrentino’s. I won’t be going back because there are many places in Edmonton that have better food. But it you like average, give it a try!

I despise not only Sorrentino’s but all of the restaurants part of the «Sorrentino’s group». This place tries so hard to be sophisticated and classy but it fails miserably. The décor is bland and the food is almost annoying. I say annoying because they try TOO hard to create a certain type of image with their food. It’s supposed to be authentic and fresh but when my pasta arrives in less than 6 minutes, all that means is that it is freshly microwaved. The other restaurants associated with it (Bristecca, and That’s Aroma) are greatly sub par.