About 3 or 4 years ago, Sorriso was a cozy, casually chic bistro. The food was excellent and the service was on par with some of Pasadena's tonier restaurants. The owner then decided to move Sorriso to its current, enormous space and turn the old place into Barcelona, a Spanish-themed tapas joint. Initially, every effort was made to preserve the standards of the old Sorriso. Unfortunately, in about the last year or so, Sorriso has focused on capitalizing on Pasadena's burgeoning, youth-oriented nightlife. Gone are the competent, attentive servers. In their place are neophyte waiters with little regard for their patrons dining experience. The food retains but a dim memory of its former glory. Even the wine list has shrunk to such pedestrian offerings as Blackstone Merlot and no-named "house wine". Around 10pm on Fri and Sat nights, Sorriso clumsily transforms into a twenty-something dance club. Horrified dinners are assaulted with thumping dance music, surly bouncers, and an army of poseurs. People who arrive simply for dinner are slapped with a cover charge upon entry. Unless the owners can retrain the wait staff, figure out where the menu went south, and decide permanently on whether to be a restaurant or a discotheque; I fear Sorriso's glory days are gone forever.
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