For years, we have been somewhat mystified in reading of accolades for Sonya’s – the fine dining restaurant at Disney’s resort in Wabasso. Florida Trend Magazine for years has listed it as one of the two best restaurants in Vero Beach, and one of the top eight on the Treasure Coast.

Sure, Sonya’s for the most part serves food that is competently prepared. But one of the top two restaurants in Vero? That was never our view. However, maybe we missed something. So in the interest of fairness, we decided to make one more visit.

When we booked on a recent Thursday, we tried to make a reservation for 7 pm. We were told nothing was available until 7:40, but if we came a few minutes early, they would try to seat us. So we actually arrived at 7:35 pm, and found ourselves looking out at a two-thirds empty dining room.

Only four of the 13 tables had diners; yet, the hostess, after pondering the seating chart for a couple of minutes, led our party of three to a table for six. Fortunately, a waitress came scurrying over and proposed putting together two tables for two, obviating the need to dine at a table that would have required microphones and speakers.

The dining room at Sonya’s has always had a clubby feel, but is a bit on the dark side, and the décor struck us on this occasion as a little tired. The hostess had earlier seated parents with two young children (this is, after all, Disney) in the precise center of the room, to ensure that all the surrounding tables got to enjoy a quite loud family conversation.

Our very nice waitress quickly presented a basket of warm, homemade sourdough bread, as well as the chef’s amuse of the day – a curried piece of cauliflower on a lentil pancake , served with a lentil relish. A light, interesting start.

For appetizers, I had a bowl of the coconut curried “she crab” soup ($7), a creamy, extremely well prepared version of this dish. My husband had a white frisee salad ($9), red delicious apples, blue cheese, cashews, all served in a Vermont maple vinaigrette. Very tasty. Our companion had the hearts of romaine salad ($8), served in a Caesar dressing with garlic croutons and a cheese crisp. So far so good.

For a main course, my husband ordered the pan seared jumbo scallops ($33), our companion ordered the wood grilled “cowboy” steak ($34), and I tried the local day-boat catch ($28).

The four, nicely seared scallops were served on a tasty bed of lobster mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach, in a sherry lobster beurre blanc. A very successful dish.

The char crusted rib eye stake was cooked exactly as ordered, and served with a shitake-laced, dauphinois potato and grilled asparagus in a red-wine jus. We were told the steak is the most popular dish at Sonya’s, and it was easy to see why.

The local day-boat catch, however, was another matter. On this evening, the catch was dolphin (which Sonya’s calls mahi), and my question would have been ‘Which day?’ The fish, overcooked and dry, was topped with a pink paste described as a sofrito emulsion, and served with rubbery clams and mussels atop something described as shellfish paella but which more closely resembled a seafood risotto.

The good news was that when the waitress detected toward the end of our meal that I was not very happy with my dinner, she summoned a manager, who immediately insisted (over my disclaimers) on taking the dish off our check. This is how a quality restaurant handles this type of problem, which does occur from time to time in even the finest establishments.

For dessert, two of us shared a sinfully rich chocolate plate ($12), a “symphony” that included chocolate cake, chocolate sorbet, a large chocolate covered strawberry and chocolate truffles, while the third member of our party more judiciously had a very light pineapple sorbet ($4).

This is a well-run restaurant serving good (but far from inexpensive) food. Dinner for two (with a modestly priced bottle of wine) will easily run $120 before tip.

Management estimates that about two-thirds of the diners at Sonya’s are guests at the resort, and would like to see more “locals” dining there. Is it worth a try? Probably, if you are looking for a change from Vero’s many other excellent restaurants. But as for it being one of the two best in Vero Beach, we say: ‘Ridiculous.’

I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com .

The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.

Hours: Thurs-Sun, 6 pm

Bar: Full bar

Address: Sonya’s at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, North A1A just south of SR 512

Telephone: 772-234-2180

Review first published: February 19, 2009