Sona

I can't sufficiently extol the virtues of Sona. If you like great Indian food and service that is quite possibly the best service I have ever had, go to Sona. The owner (Shiv) makes everyone feel as if they are dining in his home and treats everyone like family. No, that's not true... I've got too many relatives I wouldn't treat nearly as well as he treats his customers.

The food at Sona is authentic Indian food. Shiv tweaks each dish to suit the individual customer's needs. Indian food is usually spicy by design, but Shiv allows you to control the level of heat that you want on a scale of one (mild) to ten (oh my god I can't see! I'm blind from the pain!). I usually like my food spicy... and by spicy, I mean I like my hot wings to cook themselves under the heat of their own spices and I prefer my jalapenos with hot sauce. At Sona, I usually only order a 4 or 5 on the 1-10 heat scale. If you order higher than that and actually enjoy it, you are probably a frequent recreational visitor to dominatrices and dentists. If you make the grave miscalculation of overestimating your pain threshold, Shiv will tweak your meal down for you. If you under estimate, he'll add some curry or napalm or whatever it is that he adds to get that perfect mix of pleasure and pain.

As I said, the service here is beyond reproach. I won't comment beyond that except to say that I highly doubt that you will find any better in the Shenandoah Valley. The only place that compares so far is the one reviewed below... but I've only been there once since it came under new management so I will hold off on rating these two on par with each other. So far, Sona noses ahead.

Drinks. I love good beer and wine. Hell, I make my own beer so I know what is good and what is, um, crap. Sona has a fair selection of your usual American mass produced lagers (Bud, et al) but what makes them different is their selection of Indian beer. Big flavor, big bottles. I like these beers because they have a unique, Indian flare added to the traditional beer profile. I can almost imagine the British troops in India back in the day sitting back and enjoying one of these monster brews while fending off malaria and tigers and insurrections... eh, forget them and just enjoy the beer. If you don't like beer, their wine selection is small but nice... but the cocktail is where it's at. The Sona cocktail is a mix of god knows what that looks like a sunset, tastes like Heaven, and is dangerous as hell. The sweet taste belies an alcohol content intended for wooing ladies with the same built-up alcohol resistance of WC Fields. The wife likes this cocktail. I love the wife liking this cocktail. Enough said.

Overall, Sona is a monster. Great food, great service, and a homey atmosphere combine to make this the perfect "great first impression" first date restaurant... especially at prices that won't make you get second mortgage.

Sona

2900 Valley Ave

Winchester, VA

22601

(540) 662-9299

Food quality: 5

Price: $$$ (good value, reasonable price)

Ambiance: 5

Health Factor: 4 (tons of veggie dishes but a some of them fried... painfully hot dishes that clear the sinuses when you're sick... no kidding)

Fun factor: 3

Beer and wine selection: pretty good (limited domestic beer, unique imported beer, cocktails)

Overall rating: 4.5 stars (out of five)