Internet media, feedback, and advertising

So, we have been very busy at Sol Restaurant, and I haven't had much of a chance to get on here and do any blogging. But, there is quite a bit I'd like to discuss, and so I am going to try to do a few entries over the next day. I wanted to share some statistics regarding the blog, here is the latest:



As you can see, interest in the blog has remained steady, with over 7500 views (the majority of them in the last month and a half since we posted a menu.) Even with very little activity on the blog, interest has remained. I hope that the activity increases as more customers come in, and I continue to add entries. There is interest in several parts of the world, I have had friends that live in other countries tell their parents who still live in Athens about it and they've come in to dine. I think that's pretty cool, information traveling around the world and making it back, turning into an actual customer. I mention all of this not as a pat on the back, but simply to share what other people are thinking and looking at with regards to Sol, and to segue into my next topic, our patrons.

We have with the exception of the Visitor's Guide done no advertising. We have no sign in the alley, no sign over the sidewalk, no lighting, we have not even had a chance to finish the trim above the door and a (what was supposed to be temporary) piece of plywood still hangs above it, the finish nails I temporarily tacked it up with rusting in place. All of these will be addressed in the next few weeks. Yet with all of this, we pack the house consistently Thursday - Saturday and have done the same M-W of this week. Lunch is picking up and following suit. Again, not back-patting...I'll get there...

Sol's concept is different than most other restaurant's, especially the chains. We want to do more than serve a meal, kick out the customer, add the dollar to the ledger and move on. We are trying to create an entire experience, and it sincerely matters to us. We take it personally. We want it to be a personal experience. I feel that the majority of our customers are having this experience. I believe that most of our customers are leaving happy, and I see repeat customers, so I know they are enjoying themselves. The point I am getting to, is that Sol is not advertising, it is not numbers, it is not corporate or packaged, or an exact formula, it is people, it is community, it is an idea, and it is a success, and it is because of the people that have come in, enjoyed themselves, talked with us, and talked with other people. We sincerely appreciate everyone's kind words and support, their feedback, their positive criticism, and we will continue to work hard to offer the best, most enjoyable experience we can. Thanks!

Regarding Reservations

We have had several issues regarding reservations. I just wanted to address those here, and try to explain some things so that everyone has the best experience possible. We are trying to offer the service of reservations, because so few restaurants in the area do so, while allowing for a certain amount of walkins. We feel this is a service to our patrons and they appreciate having the option. It is a very hard thing to balance though, especially with a restaurant as small as ours.

>Our hours of operation are as follows:
Lunch - Monday through Friday 11AM-2PM. We are closed from 2PM-5PM to prepare for dinner service, reservations are not necessary for lunch.
Dinner - Monday through Wednesday 5PM-9PM, Thursday-Saturday 5PM-10PM. Reservations and walkins accepted.

>Several people have come in saying they have reservations and we were not able to find them in the book. Some, I feel, have left voicemails and thought this confirmed their reservation, though it does not. We simply can't get back to everyone's voicemails, there are too many, so unless you speak to someone directly who can confirm your date and time, your reservation is not confirmed.

>Any size party can make a reservation, from one and up, though parties over eight are more difficult to acommodate, so if you are interested in making a reservation for a very large party, the earlier the better. We have had reservations for parties of twelve and fifteen.

>If you do have a reservation, you will most likely be seated almost as soon as you arrive. Our goal is to seat you within 10-15 minutes. However, many people are staying a very long time (in excess of two hours) we are finding, as they are really enjoying themselves, and we are very happy that they are enjoying the food, service and intimate nature of the space. This has on occasion, however, caused a few bottlenecks and with our limited number of tables, sometimes causes a delay. We will do our best to inform you of any delays and get you seated within that 10-15 minutes. Please keep in mind that without your reservation, there is the chance we would not be able to seat you at all, so the reservation is still of great value.

>If your reservation is for a party of 2,4,8, etc and you arrive with an extra person, making it an odd numbered party of 3,5,9, respectively, there is the chance this will delay us seating you according to your original reservation. It usually means reassigning a non-allocated table in order to accomodate the odd numbered person and there may not be a table available.

>If you call the day of, and especially the night of the date you want a reservation, there is a good chance we are already in the thick of trying to prepare for that day's service and may not be able to get to the phone quick enough, especially to listen through all of the voicemails, make notes and call everyone back. Our recommendation is that you call M-F between the hours of 10AM-4PM and at least one day prior to the date of your reservation. This not to say that you are not welcome to call anytime you like and leave a voicemail, just that this is the best time to reach us.

>We recommend that if a particular time of day and not so much a particular date is important for you, that you make reservations Monday-Wednesday, as these are our less busy days. This goes for walkins as well. We welcome you to come by without a reservation, but Thursday through Saturday (and especially Friday and Saturday are very busy) and there is a good chance that your wait will be anywhere from 20-60 minutes, if there is any availability at all.

>There are no regular reservations for lunch, only walkins. However, if you have a special event for a large group of people, call us in advance and we will try to accommodate you

>If you need to cancel your reservation for any reason, especially for a larger party, please let us know as soon as possible, preferably at least two hours prior. If you do not show up within fifteen minutes of your reservation, we may seat someone else at the table. We will still prioritize your seating to walkins when you arrive, but you will likely experience further delay.

Again, we are just trying to make sure everyone has the best experience possible, from the process of making reservations through the receipt of their bill, and that they leave happy with their experience at Sol.

Thanks for your patience and support,
Todd and Tuti Wilson
Sol Restaurant

Lunch is coming...

We have had dozens of people try to come to SOl for lunch this last week. In an interview with the A-News I said or tentative opening date for lunch was Feb 6th, but that we needed to get dinner operations 100% before that could happen. We felt we needed more time and we did not want the quality of either lunch or dinner service to suffer by trying to do too much too soon. Given the physical restraints of our facility, their are logistical issues with even bringing in enough food to supply service all day, and so the processes must be timed perfectly. Also, the training of an additional set of staff was not possible while trying to perfect the performance of the dinner service. There is still plenty to learn and the dinner staff is doing a great job, they will continue to improve their skills.

Lunch WILL begin Monday, Feb 13th, and will be from 11-2. Sol will then close from 2-5 to prepare for dinner service. Weekly lunch hours will be M-F 11-2. At this time, there will be no lunch on Saturday or Sunday, but we see breakfast and brunches in Sol's future and have already come up with lots of yummy menu items we are excited to share with everyone.

We are finalizing the lunch menu now and rushing to get them printed for Monday, as soon as we have the text finalized, you will be able to find it here. I am estimating that will be tomorrow or Sunday.

Thanks again for your patronage and we look forward to seeing you for a delicious lunch at Sol!

Voicemail, Valentine's Day and more...

I'd like to start off by thanking everyone for their support for making our Grand Opening weekend last week such a success. We were packed every night Thursday through Saturday and I think we were able to accomodate nearly everyone, both reservations and walkins, with only some minor bumps. Thanks to everyone for being patient. One thing somehow that got missed was the large number of voicemails which piled up in our voicemail box. We didn't realize that so many calls got missed on Thursday and Friday, and actually caused our voicemailbox for this week to be full. I have been going through the voicemails and will be returning the calls of everyone who is still needing a reservation for a later date. I think in the heat of the battle we were not able to answer the phone very much as we were very busy making sure everything went smoothly. We did answer the phone a lot and took many reservations, so I hope everyone can understand that the volume of calls was simply more than we could answer and/or return. We do take walkins so don't think that just because you don't get through for a reservation that you will not be able to come to Sol!

Managing a blend of reservations and walkins is difficult, but we are trying very hard as we feel that offering reservations is something many people appreciate.

We will be offering a special Valentine's Day package that includes choice of entrees, appetizer, salad, dessert and a glass of champagne. It is tailored to couples, and will be priced between $60-75 a couple. As soon as we finalize the details we will post it here. We are taking reservations for Valentines Day now.

Last night was another smooth night and we'd like to put a special thanks out to Tony from Tony's bar for his encouraging words and to Jess and Jason from Fluff Bakery for the yummy donuts they brought over to us after their meal. They were thankfully gobbled up by all of the staff.

Hope to see you all soon at Sol!

The Dinner Menu

Ok, you've beem asking for a while now, and here it is. I finally got Tuti to let me post it. (She wanted to make sure it was as final as possible.)

As far as content, it should be very close to what you see at the restaurant when you come in next week for dinner (hint hint!) The lunch menu will follow shortly, we are not opening for lunch until the next week. Of course, we have to format and print the menus, how they will actually look has yet to be determined. We will also have a mixed drink menu, but it looks like the liquor license details will not be finalized at opening, so for now, it is on hold.

There are many vegetarian options on this menu (I've marked them with asterisks), and there will likely be more, we are experimenting with ways to make some of them vegetarian that are not currently.

ENJOY!

Appetizers

Empanadas (pastry pocket)
3 Beef Empanadas- filled with traditional Cuban Picadillo
or
3 Vegetarian Empanadas- filled with rice, beans, tofu and cheese *
6.5

Chips and Salsa *
Shagbark tortilla chips served with a flight of freshly made fire roasted salsa, black bean salsa and cucumber avocado salsa
6.5

Tostones *
Twice fried plantains served with garlic mojo dipping sauce
5

Flatbreads
The Cuban - topped with mustard, swiss cheese, dill pickle and shredded pork
6
The Ropa- topped with house made avocado spread, shredded seasoned beef, gouda cheese and sliced red onion
6
La Italiana- sliced, ripened tomatoes, crushed garlic, fresh mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and topped with fresh basil and cracked pepper *
5

Florida Fish Spread
A creamy smoked fish served with lemon wedges, crackers and hot sauce
7.5

Soups and Salads
(served with bread)

Sopa de Falda - Simmered with shredded beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, with a hint of lime and angel hair pasta
5

Creamy Plantain Soup garnished with wedge of lime and cilantro
4

Red Bean Soup - Made with Shagbark Adzuki Beans, ham, chorizo, potatoes and carrots garnished with cilantro and sour cream
5

Black Bean Soup - made with Shagbark black turtle beans *
4


Sol Salad- mixed greens, dried cranberries, candied nuts, feta, grape tomatoes, cucumbers and julienned carrots
6.50, with chicken 9

Chicken Salad- Mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, croutons
8

Avocado Salad - avocado, red onion, tomatoes served on a bed of mixed greens dressed with olive oil and vinegar, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper *
6

House Salad- Mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots *
3.5



Dinner Entrees
(all served with house salad and bread)

Picadillo- A true Cuban comfort food - choice of seasoned ground beef or tofu served on a bed of white rice *
9.5
make it "a caballo" (fried egg on top) for one dollar more

Chicken Fricasse- Chicken stewed with potatoes in a tomato and wine sauce served with white rice
12

Arroz con Pollo - Traditionally served on special occasions or birthdays but served everyday for you at Sol - Chicken breast sautéed in olive oil, then cooked with chicken broth, white wine, beer, tomato sauce, sofrito and yellow arborio rice, garnished with peas and pimientos
(this dish requires special made to order preparations, so please allow for just a bit more time)
14

Lechon Asado- Pork roast, marinated in a sour orange mojo and slow cooked, served with white rice, black beans and plantains
15

Shrimp Pasta "Al Ajillo"- Garlic Shrimp served over linguini and cream sauce
15
with Chicken
13
Pasta Only *
11

Ropa Vieja - said to have been introduced to Cuba by Spanish sailors - Flank Steak simmered until the meat is so tender it falls apart to resemble "old clothes", seasoned with tomato sauce, white wine, onions, green peppers and garlic served with white rice and black beans
16

Carne Asada - Eye of Round Roast stuffed with Spanish chorizo, Ham, carrots, olives, braised with white wine and a gravy made from onions, green peppers and garlic
Served with white rice, black beans
18

Sol Steak with Chimichurri - Our version of an Argentinean steakhouse classic
served with a side of chimichurri sauce, white rice, Shagbark Adzuki beans, and plantains
20



Dessert Menu
(featuring Snowville Creamery dairy products)

Flan de Queso - A traditional Cuban custard, cooked in and topped with its own delicious caramel sauce
5

Arroz con Leche - Creamy, rich and sweet, our Cuban rice pudding made with milk, cinnamon and a hint of citrus
5

Tres Leches - Our version of this classic features an already moist cake drenched in three kinds of milk (regular, evaporated and sweetened condensed milk) topped with whipped cream and seasonal fruit
6

World's Best Chocolate Cake
We simply didn't know how else to describe it! Our three layer chocolate cake has just a hint of our Cuban espresso in it and comes on a warm puddle of chocolate sauce. Perfect for sharing
7
add a side of vanilla ice cream
1.5



Beverages

Soda - We feature Pepsi products with free refills
1.5

Coffee - All of our coffee is handcrafted using Cuban espresso which is a dark roasted finely ground arabica bean, sweetened with sugar, and features Snowville Creamery where milk is used

Un Cafecito - Cuban Espresso served in a demitasse cup
2.5

Cortadito - half milk/half coffee served in a demitasse cup
2.5

Cafe con Leche - Hot milk with coffee
3

Iced Coffee - Generous portion of cuban coffee mixed with milk and poured over ice
4

More Food Experimentation

You would think its all figured out by now, the food, but we are fine tuning it til the end. Here are some pictures of some of the things we've been working on:

Experimenting with making Cuban bread:



Experimenting with our flatbreads (trying to use our bread dough)





The flatbread crust perfected! (We have to make a special recipe from scratch)



Perfecting our shrimp pasta:

Interior of Restaurant

Here are some more shots of the interior of the restaurant. We still have some patching and painting to do, but we are almost there, and we have our tablecloths and napkins now, so you can get a pretty good idea of how its all going to look. We played with different presentations of the napkins, but ultimately I think we are going with the one from the last post where the napkins are under the plates. Its a clean, modern look, and that fits in nicely with the look of the restaurant.