We recently visited Sorrento Italian Restaurant, on St. Augustine Road. For those of you not familiar with this restaurant, it has been in the same location for 30 + years with a loyal following. Owner Luciano Russo, the founder of Sorrento, recently turned over ownership to Jacksonville resident Jonathan Eddy. Eddy, a seasoned food industry professional with decades of wholesale seafood and bakery experience, will continue to operate the restaurant as Sorrento with well know Jacksonville chef Nedal Mardini serving as executive chef.
Some of our party are long time patrons and familiar with the staff that stayed on during the transition period. The service was on point as it always has been. The new owner and chef Mardini greeted our table and chatted with us for a moment and shared some of the latest events they will start offering soon.
It was pleasing to see the familiar dishes we love to order still available, plus the evening special Baked Macaroni and Cheese, with shrimp or chicken. We ordered one as an appetizer and one as an entree, that’s how satisfying it was—warm creamy, cheesy goodness, with a side of shrimp.
Along with the Macaroni and Cheese appetizer, we added Caprese Salad.
We 0pted for a mix of items from the menu and passed them around as we do when eating out. One item that I was particularly fond of the Veal Salentmuca. Lovely presentation, assembled with care. Each component in the dish was delicious.
Here is how we feasted
At first bite, we declared Sorrento Italian Restaurant will remain one of the best Italian restaurants in town. We have already set a second visit not only for ourselves but to welcome the new owner Jonathan Eddy and executive chef Nedal Mardini.
