We arrived at Sophia's on a Friday night and asked for a table for two. Even though the restaurant was only half full, we were brought to a table for four that already had a couple (that we obviously didn't know) sitting at it. After a few moments of speechless confusion we insisted on being seated at a table of our own, rather than sharing one with complete strangers.
Within 30 seconds of us being re-seated we were asked by three separate waitresses if we were ready to order - we had not even had a chance to look at the menu! For the duration of our experience at Sophia's we constantly felt as thought we were being rushed. The whole restaurant has a "Just shove it in your gob, pay and get out" aura about it. When we had decided on what to eat we waited for 15 minutes before we finally had to call over a waitress so we could order.
We were rather mystified by the fact that all mains are served with vegetables, but if you wanted them served instead with chips and salad, it would cost you an extra $2.50. Could this be because everyone orders chips and salad, rather than veggies? When I asked the waitress the reason behind this, she tried telling me that it was because chips cost more to buy..... right.......
We ordered an entree, and were surprised to have it arrive within 10 minutes or ordering. We were even more surprised, however, when our mains arrived less than 2 minutes after that. We were not even a quarter of the way through the entree. The waitress could see quite clearly that we were still eating, but this did not stop her from bustling up to our table with two over-filled plates of slop and looking at us and our entree expectantly. I explained that we were still eating, and could she please take our mains back to the kitchen & put them under a warmer, but she refused and we were forced to balance our entree on the balustrade of the stairway we were seated next to in order to make room for the mains.
The meals were absolutely enormous but entirely without taste, which may be fine if you are livestock, but I am afraid that I am not. Either way, I suspect that most cattle experience better dining conditions than we did on Friday night...
Of course, it was entirely impossible to eat the amount of food that was served us (had we even wanted to consume more than a few mouthfuls of chewy, dry steak and soggy cold chips drenched in some manner of indistinguishable sauce that we could in no way connect to the meals we had actually ordered). I asked the waitress for a doggy bag, so that I could take the otherwise wasted food home to my dog who is slightly less choosy than an average human being. The waitress returned with a handful of take-away containers and instructed me to load them myself. I promptly told her that I was not quite that desperate to hold on to their particular brand of 'cuisine' so she could take back the containers, barely touched mains, and entree (which we had intended to continue eating, until the overall Sophia's experience decimated our appetite completely) to the kitchen and put them in the bin where they belonged, and probably originated.
The only wine available by the glass was house wine - otherwise you had to order a full bottle, and the waiter mistakenly charged my credit card for $7.93 (which, ironically, was probably the actual value of our meal) instead of $79.30, then realised his mistake and had to try again.
Rather than cause a scene & embarrass the restaurant I decided to go home, then phone and complain. I asked to be put through to the manager (who refused to tell me what his name was) and politely made my complaint. There was a brief pause and then the manager asked me "...is that everything?" I replied that yes that was all. He replied with "Well, good - we don't need your business anyway." and hung up on me.