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Cafe Sofia Restaurant - CLOSED
2 reviews for Cafe Sofia Restaurant
2 reviews in English
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Review from Todd F.
San Francisco, CA
1/19/2007
The story of how I came to find and fall in love with Cafe Sofia and it's owners always brings a smile to my face. I used to do a lot of consulting work at the Winchester Medical Center. This was back in the pre-Y2K glory days when everyone was terrified that the world was going to explode. It was great. My friends and I were consulting and actually had to turn down work and could afford to do so because money was being thrown at us from every which direction. So, I happily worked in this small town on and off for a number of months.
When it came to food, it was slim pickings. We only ever found 2 kinds of establishments: bad chain restaurants & worse chain restaurants. Eating in the pre-yelp era was pretty depressing in retrospect. My friends & I always wanted to try something different while out there but never managed to motivate or find anything worthwhile. Then one day our Croatian friend walks into the data center and starts telling us how he found a Bulgarian restaurant in the yellow pages and thought we should try it out. My other friend and I looked back and forth at each other and simultaneously chuckled imagining what quality of food a Bulgarian restaurant that was 15 miles away from the West Virginia border we could expect. But it wasn't like we had any other alternatives so we went.
The place is a quaint little house. The decor was nice and when we arrived that afternoon it was pretty empty. It is owned by, you guessed it, a Bulgarian couple! The wife came out and gave us a warm greeting and sat us at a table. We later learned her husband is the chef. I'd never had Bulgarian food before, so I made sure to ask questions about the menu and she was kind & patient and very helpful. I ordered a salmon fillet, covered with lemons, tomatoes, & dill before being wrapped in parchment paper and broiled. I also got a salad which had a dill dressing on it. I guess dill is big in Bulgaria.
From the moment we entered we were cautiously optimistic about how the meal would turn out. After the salad our confidence grew stronger. Once the entrees arrived we knew we were hooked for life. The salmon was fresh, cooked to perfection, and bursting with flavor. I was eating around the carrots since I never liked them when one of my friends exclaimed "holy crap, you've got to try these carrots". We debated back and forth for a minute when I uttered "well they had better be sauteed in holy goodness", took a bite, and followed it with "and I see that they are". No lie, these changed my outlook on (cooked) carrots from that day forward. They had turned dark from whatever they were cooked in which had a definite cinnamon kick to it and they just melted in your mouth. I almost asked for seconds. They were like crack.
We returned here for many meals following this epic day. We became regulars. Our interaction with Mama Sofia was more like guests at a dinner party than patrons in a restaurant. She would bring us special things to taste, including a bottle of Bulgarian red wine that was excellent.
Alas the day came when I stopped traveling to Winchester for work which made it very difficult to keep eating there. I tried to go back once while visiting a friend who was in town but they were closed for 6 weeks as they had gone back to Bulgaria to visit family. You may want to check this before going as I think they do it every year or two.
I'd go back here in a heartbeat. It's a decent drive from DC, but totally worth it.
Thanks to Lucy L for keeping me current - depressing to learn this place is gone though since I was looking forward to returning some day. *Sigh* -
Review from Lucy L.
Winchester, VA
1/20/2007
This restaurant is CLOSED. Sona Restaurant is now at this location.
