I've had many great nights at Solera. They put on great parties, have the physical space (how about that rooftop deck) that could make any restaurant jealous, and have big-time investment money sunk into the building. It should succeed.
The problem with the place is that I can't tell what they're trying to do. If you compare it to La Bodega, obviously, the food is better. But how much better? I think they won some international best-restaurant award a while back (probably "sponsored" it or something), but is the food deserving of it? Maybe tapas don't allow a chef to really show off his stuff. I'm not a chef, so I admit my ignorance there.
But their banquets appear to be such a big money maker that I worry their food isn't exciting because of it. Imagine having to serve 250 plates at once -- how much time are you going to spend making each plate truly special.
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