Chad T. Says:
December 1st, 2008 at 7:52 pm

In the five months since my wife and I moved from Philadelphia to the ‘burbs we haven’t found any  restaurants in our new neighborhood that could stand up to comparison with old-favorite BYOBs like Melograno or Matyson. Bottom-line: Sola’s chef uses top-quality ingredients to put together innovative dishes that taste every bit as good as they look First-off, any restaurant that surprises me with an amuse bouche is going to put a smile on my face. Sola served a smoked mussel that a friend of mine described as “covered with goodness, with a little more goodness on top.” It woke up my mouth and provided an interesting contrast to the syrah we were drinking.

I started with the oyster sampler (four oysters paired with complimentary flavors– a Cape May Salt with a fresh diced tomatoes and salsa, a Oregon Kumamoto with sweet uni and blood orange juice, a Connecticut oyster with caviar and a foie gras reduction, and one more that escapes me). While the pairings somewhat overpowered the oysters’ individual characters, the flavor experiment was a lot of fun and each preparation came together nicely. The oysters were each presented on a bed of seaweed salad– nice touch.

My entree was roast New Zealand rack of lamb served over pureed, stewed fennel (mashed potato-like) edged with a diced tomato salsa. The cut was generous with the extraneous fat trimmed so only the moist, tender medallions remained. There was a bed of what appeared to be an apricot preparation that served as an occasionally sweet change from the comfort-food paring of lamb and fennel.

For dessert we shared a mini homemade pumpkin cheesecake that was creamy and perfectly spiced.

Entrees at Sola are priced from the low $20s to the mid $30s, but the quality merits or exceeds the price. Corkage is $2 per bottle and is justified by the restaurant’s nice stemware.

Having already over-indulged in my description, I might as well mention the tableware– it is all beautiful. Whoever is buying the utensils (the butter knives!), the dishware, the wine glasses and even the sugar vessels is spending a lot of money to establish Sola’s ambiance. They’ve done a great job and it really adds to the experience.

I’ve taken a star away because my wife’s duck entree– which was, again, a great cut beautifully presented– was far, far too rare. I would have sent it back, but my wife chose not to. That aside, our weekend house-guests really enjoy their meals, and Sola left us all with full bellies and big smiles on our faces.

We’ll be back!

Alen Says:
December 1st, 2008 at 12:23 pm

An excellent, beautifully presented dinner - excellent ingredients-on each dish the vegetables matched the chosen entrees, with de luxe stemware to augment the byob wines. Have been there before and plan to return often.

Bev Says:
November 6th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

This over the top is not only the best food available on the Main Line (It’s BYOB) but the chef/owner Dave is one of the most gracious people you’ll ever want to meet.  The food each visit surpasses the previous. Be sure to make a reservation as Sola is  no longer a secret. Highly recommend it for choices and price. Try it and you’ll   return again and again.

JoAnn Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Dave - Congrats on the Zagat 27. Bravo to you. It’s well deserved.

Pat & Ed Says:
September 19th, 2008 at 9:37 am
 
Chaine - I love your review.
My husband and I celebrated our 26th anniversary @ Sola.

First, we parked legally, as was recommended when we telephoned for our reservation. (You whiners out there — have you never walked a block or two to dine out? Do you eat in Center City? Get over it!)

What a memorable treat! Each year, it is our rule to select a restaurant new to us. Sola ranks as one if not the best! We were immediately impressed with the attention to detail with the place settings, the bindery work and “slam” of the menu, the lighting, wait staff, and warmth of the restaurant. Our champagne was corked, and a corking fee was no surprise to us. It’s a BYOB. We were served the complementary petite stuffed fig that was an awesome combination of flavors. My husband and I shared an incredible salad appetizer (I cannot remember all of the ingredients - it took us so long to decide between 2, I’m confused!), followed by the Halibut w/swiss chard, pine nuts & lobster & mascarpone polente for me, and a cooked-to-perfection pink rack of lamb for my husband. The presentation of each was a true art masterpiece — my oblong plate, my husband’s square with a hint of mint smeared beautifully. Next we were delivered another beautifully put-together desert menu. We chose the warm chocolate filled cake. To our surprise, Chef Dave delivered it himself, candlelit. Aaaah? Not only is he a talented chef and artist, but he is a very personable, accommodating host! Cheers to Sola. We  are spreading the word like craaaaaazzzzzzy! Thank you for having the passion for excellence with food and detail.

Chaine philadelphia Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

 I’m a member of the Philadelphia chapter of the chaine des rotisseurs. I eat at restaurants all over the region both with the organization and on my own personally. The Chaine is dedicated to great food in all forms, at all venues from chinatown to BYOB’s to La Croix & Le Bec Fin. I’m not usually compelled to write on line reviews…(I have occasionally written a few on zagat), but my recent meal at Sola has prompted me to post this. IMHO Sola is one of the top 3 restaurants in the Philadelphia suburbs. Each and every time I have been there I find something new and unexpected… creative and unusual combinations that are thoughtfully presented. The meal this evening; first course grouper cheeks with a curried tomato jam and pickled onions, crispy softshell crab, kobe beef with yuzu and oysters and hamachi crudo with grapefruit. Entrees; pheasant breast with black lentils and foie gras, provencal style rack of lamb, halibut with lobster and mascarpone polenta, and scallops with very tender calamari stuffed with scallop mousse over black isreali couscous. Dessert; cherry strudel with creme fraiche icecream, pineapple-basil sorbet, passionfruit carmel and a cheese plate with great fruit-nut bread. Everything was just outstanding and cooked to perfection. Service is always seamless… just the right amount of attention without being overbearing. I’ve only had one service issue about a year ago. I was served the wrong entree and it was quickly corrected. I guess my only complaint during this last visit was that the room was a little warm. It was a very hot day and the restaurant was packed. I’ve never had that problem in the past, but I honestly can’t recall if I’ve been there before in July. Even though it’s usually busy when I’ve eaten there, I can’t help but feel that Sola passes under the radar of the general public. I never see any mention of them in local publications or media. I think they’re one of the most underrated restaurants in the area. Just .02 cents.

Dick grossman Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

by the way, any of you fans tried mimosa yet? - on baltimore pike about 2 miles east of route 202 . byob and open sunday night also - french chef [gilles moret] and varied menu…..

Andy Mark Says:
June 28th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

There is no restaurant on the Main Line that even comes CLOSE to Sola. Picture Manhattan calibre dining in a funky little space on the main drag, Lancaster Ave., and that is Sola (and I own part of one of the Main Line’s more popular restaurants!).

CharlesS2029 Says:
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm

JohnZ2453 Says:
May 26th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

Donna ( from Boston) Says:
March 16th, 2008 at 7:14 pm

Dave, I am so happy to see you are getting the praise you deserve! I have been in a number of times on the spur of the moment so did not make a reservation. Yes, I ate anonymously!! Everything was awesome! Everytime we come in my table tries to name their favorite….Lamb, always at the top, your risotto’s, your creme brule, soft shell crab, …the entire menu is excellent! I’m stuck here in Boston for now….can’t wait to come back to SOLA!

Scubaguy Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 7:18 pm

Andy Mark Says:
December 14th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Sola is without question the best restaurant on the Main Line. We went twice in one week it was so good. All BYOB’s or any restaurant for that matter on the Main Line should be this great! Tastefully decorated, fantastic service and food that is off the hook….obviously prepared by someone who really knows their way around the kitchen.Recommended very highly, but call in advance.Once you go, you’ll see why their “regulars” list is growing quickly!

Skip Dechert Says:
September 4th, 2007 at 11:18 am

Barry Says:
September 4th, 2007 at 4:41 am

This was our first time at Sola, but it will certainly not be our last. Friday evening of Labor Day weekend, we had one of the most delightful dining experiences that we have ever had. What a treat! Great food, congenial ambiance, attentive service. We now have a new favorite restaurant!

Cookingwithideasblog Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 5:07 pm

Christopher Says:
August 12th, 2007 at 9:53 am

Dina Goldstein Says:
August 9th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

Robert Baccalieri, Jr. Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 12:14 pm

Once again our experience at Sola was outstanding. From our pleasant and professional hostess to the beautifully presented dishes, Sola is truly unique. Chef Clouser really has taken this restaurant to new heights. Could be the only restaurant I know of that has exactly what is offered on the menu and is rarely, if ever, out of any offerings. That says volumes to the kitchen’s preparation. Thanks again Sola for another exceptional experience.

Jen M. Says:
May 21st, 2007 at 12:12 pm

My husband and I, along with my best friend and her fiance, had the pleasure of dining at Sola this past weekend to celebrate their recent engagement. We had a wonderful time. The staff was warm,friendly,and very helpful and the atmosphere was lovely. I felt very comfortable and welcomed by everyone there. The food was creative, delicious, and had a wonderful presentation. We all shared each others appetizers and entrees and there wasn’t anything we didn’t like. I can’t say enough about our experience at Sola, this is a wonderful restaurant and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Silvia Says:
May 21st, 2007 at 11:43 am

Heather P. Says:
May 14th, 2007 at 5:38 am

Donna Goldstein Says:
May 7th, 2007 at 1:20 pm

Cory Says:
February 28th, 2007 at 10:38 am

My husband and I ate dinner at Sola on February 17 with his brother and our sister-in-law as a celebration for their birthdays. We have eaten there several times previously by ourselves since Chef David Clouser opened. Our food was absolutely wonderful, as we have come to expect each and every time we dine there, and perfect for the special occasion. We tried the foie gras and seafood sampler appetizer, both new to my husband and myself. For entrees, we had the halibut, the tuna, the blue marlin special, and the rack of lamb. Every plate was perfectly prepared. My husband’s brother and our sister-in-law were blown away by the quality and integrity of the food and presentation. We ended our evening with lite desserts, the sorbet (my husband had the creme brulee which is his favorite, but perhaps not that lite), and coffee. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable, and very prompt to fulfill any needs we had, as is customary of all 3 servers working in the restaurant (we have now had each of them several times).

Gina Says:
February 18th, 2007 at 10:51 am

Kathy McCauley Says:
February 17th, 2007 at 3:12 pm

My husband and I had a lovely dinner at Sola on February 10 to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the day we met. The restaurant, the service and the food were completely up to the importance of this event in our lives. The decor is lovely, the waiter was knowledgeable and the service attentive yet not intrusive. The food was superb. My husband is still raving about the escargot. We highly recommend this excellent local BYOB gem. It is so terrific to be able to experience food like this without going into the city and also getting the bargain of bringing our own wine. We totally agree with the 4 spoons rating and we’ll be back soon.

Ann Says:
January 29th, 2007 at 6:56 am

Richard Aprile Says:
January 11th, 2007 at 12:08 pm

Sola: a Main Line gem

Review
(Main Line Times, Suburban and Wayne Times)
September 14, 2006

By BARBARA ALLYN

Even the lushness of the opening bite - a complimentary amuses bouche in a wedge of ripe fig cradling Roquefort and glistening in memorable pomegranate sauce - did not prepare us for the enjoyment to come.  Dinner was at Sola, the little bit of a place in Bryn Mawr.  It first made headlines as Spezia and then as Sola under the local/chef John Wolferth.  Now that title belongs to David Clouser, who has moved here from the kitchen of the chi-chi Krazy Kats in Delaware.  The name Sola has not changed, nor it BYO status ($2 corkage fee).  Much of the somewhat formal setting, bathed in mellow hues and soft lighting, is intact as well.  Yes parking along Lancaster Avenue is still a problem – but definitely worth solving for a dinner here (Beware of towing signs in the area.)

The kitchen oozes fresh quality ingredients, many off your standard shopping list.  There are complex preparations for even the simplest vegetable. And the table appointments!  Spare ‘n’ square white plates are frequent dramatic foils for the food, particularly in the low candlelight.  Over hefty linens, salt shakers are pencil slim little towers.  Tiny footed “silver shells” coddle fresh butter.  The bread basket offers sheer crisps of raisin nut bread rising above yummy, crusty rolls.

Our tasting dinner was in late summer, so the menu and Clousers’s gilding may be changing as you read.  Hopefully, the chef’s prix fixe menu is still operating.  At $32, it’s the gourmet bargain of the Main Line.  The appetizer was a demitasse of elegant heirloom tomato soup, with an absolutely delightful brioche “sandwich” - think paper thin slices of brioche melting with gruyere.  There also was a salad of soup sauced slices of yellow and green tomatoes.  The entrée?  A thick slab of the sweet wild striped bass, crisp skinned and generous to a fault.  On the side?  The fresh taste of perfectly pared baby carrots, with just enough “bite”, and a to-die-for risotto alive with fresh corn kernels and crabmeat in a colorful array of the tiniest greens we’d ever seen - some with yellow flowers smaller than a grain of barley. Having seen the dessert menu, we felt cheated to have the prix fixe dessert, cherry clafouti.  Ho hum, we thought.  And how wrong we were!  It was pure French country delight, a warm, cakey batter alive with the biggest, sweetest cherries ever tasted.  And it was charming to behold.

The dining partner went all the way with the regular menus and hasn’t stopped salivating since.  The selection of openers was ample and sophisticated - Jersey white corn soup with cold Maine lobster salad, spicy Parmesan dusted calamari, the elegant pan seared foie gras in port wine reduction, grilled quail in truffled vinaigrette with black lentil and mache salad, yellowfin tuna in Szechuan peppercorn dusting, seared rare and paired with spicy Chinese eggplant and crispy lotus root chips, more salads and that seasonal joy, soft shell crab.  Thoughtfully sectioned for easier eating, its quick, hot sear brought out the entire flavor and provided a crisp contrast to a marvelous Yukon Gold potato salad with avocado.  Not your average homemade version!  Appetizer prices”:  $8 to $14 (for the foie gras), and readers say they often dine on just appetizers because they are so polished.  Entrees also provided a challenging selection, from butter poached Maine lobster with vegetable sauté and a crepe filled with fire roasted corn and creamed leek ($29) to Clouser’s popular duck “duo” - “Pekin” breast and confit leg sided with vanilla scented sweet potatoes, braised Swiss chard, black mission fig jam and foie gras sauce ($26).  There were brined Birkshire pork loin in pinot noir reduction; wild king salmon; diver scallops, pan roasted and served with nifty Israeli cous-cous; Sola steak frites with filet of rib eye cap; Alaskan halibut, prosciutto wrapped and accompanied by braised escarole;  and a few more, including a grilled venison special, all priced in the $20s.

The tablemate reveled in grilled Australian rack of lamb - four Frenched chops alive with flavor.  A fennel puree, vegetable ratatouille and mango chutney rounded out the superb dish.Next came that dessert we mentioned earlier (from a $7 menu of luxe items): a sampler of crème brulee that had to be seen and tasted to be believed.  Superb ginger, Valrhona chocolate and Tahitian vanilla bean brulees marched in three pristine white cups down their sizable whit rectangular platter, seated on a base of raw sugar.  It was a smooth as a newly raked and brushed beach  -  and as dramatic.

This ambitious Bryn Mawr bistro benefits from refinements made by its new chef-owner. It's fine dining with room to do better.

By Craig LaBan
Inquirer Restaurant Critic

Just as some restaurant spaces seem jinxed, others radiate indisputably good vibes, attracting culinary talent with the gravitational pull of a tiny planet.

That doesn't necessarily always equate to roaring financial success, especially if one considers the revolving-door parade of chefs and owners that has passed through the cozy BYOB at 614 W. Lancaster Ave. over the last several years as it changed its name from Saranac to Spezia to Sola.

But I've always appreciated the lofty ambitions that have consistently tried to buoy this 50-seat box of a room into a fine-dining destination for Bryn Mawr.

Dave Clouser, 34, is the latest tenant and the second chef-owner of Sola, having purchased the business (with partners Michael Kersnick and Donna Mozzone) from chef John Wolferth. His approach has been more to refine the bistro rather than overtly change it, altering the color scheme to butter yellows and blue, adding a few extra inches of needed comfort to the previously tight tabletops, installing glass breakfronts to hold the fine Austrian crystal.

There is no longer a special charge to use the better stemware, as Sola's predecessor, Spezia, had peevishly insisted. But Sola is one of the rare local BYOBs that does charge a corkage fee - $2 per table, no matter how many bottles are opened - which Clouser insists allows him to charge less than $30 for all entrees, some of which include luxury items like lobster or rack of lamb.

Every dollar apparently counts in such a small room, especially when attempting to pull off legitimate fine-dining fare, which brings in lower profit margins than a more modest menu would. But such a small stage also puts a bright spotlight on the cooks behind the scene. And Clouser may just have the talent to turn Sola into the culinary magnet it can be, with an appealing New American menu that pays attention to seasonality and local ingredients, and well-cooked dishes that are clever but not contrived.

When it's all working together with outgoing and personal service, as it was on my second visit, it's easy to see why this comfortable Lancaster Avenue nook should be on every hungry Main Liner's gastronomic speed dial.
We began with huge, intertwined shrimp, grilled with a tangy pomegranate barbecue glaze, over a fresh salad of sweet mango, crunchy jicama, and cucumber tossed with lime and chile spice. Roasted "Spooky" pumpkins were melted into lobster bisque, tinted earthy and exotic with curry, for a stellar first course in Sola's weekday prix-fixe menu, a super three-course bargain at $32.

The butternut squash soup looked similar to the pumpkin bisque, but tasted completely different, sparked with sweet chunks of caramelized Asian pear and crispy plumes of fried sage. A beet salad presented a familiar combination - beet rounds, frisee lettuce, blue cheese, and toasty candied walnuts. But each element was perfect and distinct, adding up to clear harmony.

The entrees were equally fine. Wonderfully tender grilled hanger steak, topped with a melting pat of blue cheese butter, came with a ragout of chanterelles and amazingly crisp fingerling potato "frites" stacked like Lincoln logs. A superbly moist slice of wild king salmon and a butter-soft head-on prawn came perched atop a crisped cake of shredded roast potatoes. A spectacularly tender and well-seasoned rack of lamb arrived standing at attention, each individual chop propped up by mounds of Provençale ratatouille over braised fennel puree and vibrant green smears of pureed mint "paint." 

Full Review:  Philadelphia Inquirer, 2006