Gorgeous interior at the Green Center flows into Prelude, with furnishings and lighting that are perfect for a dinner with friends or a romantic evening. Great before a show, but also would be fun as a destination for drinks and a nice meal. University wait staff was well-trained and attentive. Bar tenders - friendly and skilled. Definitely will go back
JeanneM
ugh this was such a disappointment, limited and confusing menu, pre-cooked hamburgers reheated, cold french fries and confused wait staff. Please someone change the management at this beautiful restaurant and raise it to the level of the overall experience on the green center
CharleneS
Lovely restaurant with excellent service. I started with the Israeli cous cous salad, which was delicious. My husband had the soup which was also wonderful. He opted for a second appetizer rather than an entree -- the lobster salad, which was also wonderful. I had the Korean fried chicken. It was nice and crispy, but the marinade was only so so, I thought -- although this might just be a matter of taste. For dessert, he had the sorbets -- good but nothing special. I had the cheese plate. Unfortunately, the Humboldt Fog, one of my favorite cheeses was way over the hill, ammoniated. I ate it -- but should have sent it back. Plate could also have used more of the jelly and it was hard to get at the honey.
RosemaryM
We always eat at Prelude before an event at GMC. However I was shocked when we were charged $18 each for a well vodka tonic. Needless to say we won't be ordering drinks from the bar again
Zlorainey
I hope we were just there on an off night, but service was slow and the food wasn't worth the price. They're lucky that they're the only restaurant near the performance center!
Jackie
Food was excellent and a great way to dine prior to the concert at Weil Hall. We had the pre fix menu which is $47 pp for two courses. My husband enjoyed his duck and I loved the seabass. Attractively presented with lots of flavor.
Fred
We have been regular customers of Preludes We are long time members of the Santa Rosa Symphony and Preludes is located just a few steps to where they perform. Food is always good and the service is great. The food servers are students from Sonoma State University and are very friendly and professional. Preludes is located at the Green Music Center on the campus of the university.
Sparkly
Food was very good, menu is quite small and a 2 or 3 course set menu. Would have been nice to have an ala carte menu like what was shown on website guess maybe that was for the bar. But great pre show dinner and cocktails, and service.
CarolC
Like all restaurants, Prelude has positives and negatives. You cannot beat the location if you are going to a concert at the Green Center! The food was quite tasty and seasonal. However $47 for two courses seems a bit steep and the service was excruciatingly slow. We had 5:45 reservations and had to ask for our check to make the 7:30 curtain. I hope that was an aberration and not the usual pace.
bayareares
Prelude is our go-to place before attending a concert at the Green Music Center. The food is mostly a little above average, though some days are better than others. I had coq au vin this time, and my husband had the flat iron steak, the chicken was somewhat dry but tasty, but the steak seemed to be done just right, though the quality of the meat was only average, somewhat chewy. The other prix fix items were unremarkable this time. What was a little disappointing was the service, it was a busier than usual evening (though I'm not sure why that would have been a surprise for the restaurant mgmt), and they weren't quite staffed for the number of customers. Subsequently, we had a very long wait between the first course and the main course (30 minutes), and then another 15 minutes waiting between the main course and dessert, and the waiter/bus person never removed the main course dishes (i.e. still chicken bones on the plate while I was eating the dessert). Slightly disappointing, but we will probably continue to go, hoping the restaurant management learned from this experience of under-staff.
Amazing food and service. Great prelude to a concert evening. Alison is an awesome manager and at the top of her game. The student waitstaff are an inspiration. Enjoy!
MindilLew
We had family from Colorado with us for a party of 6. We kept having changes to our reservation based on some of the older ones in our family. The restaurant and manager Alison were extremely accommodating and helpful! The ambiance was very lovely, the service was great, our waitress Amanda was very cute, friendly and did a nice job. The food was good. I had the Brussels sprouts salad which was a little dry and average. The chicken entree was really moist and delicious. The mushroom soup was really yummy. My husband had the chocolate tart and it was over the top delicious. We can't wait to go back again.
LucySue
Prelude is a lovely space and so convenient for after-concert dining. We've been there many times and find that the food is good but not outstanding. Our latest experience following the first symphony of the season was pleasant but there was room for improvement in a couple of areas. We ordered the butternut squash soup which was delicious but the portion was so small that it barely covered the bottom of the very large soup dish. Our sweet servers (all students who are very earnest and lovely) brought out small pitchers of the soup to the table which they proceeded to empty into the bowls. A nice touch but the amount of soup left us feeing somewhat cheated. The entree of buttermilk fried chicken was very fresh and had a nice crispy coating but the pieces were undercooked (chicken should not be pink!) and we had to send them back to the kitchen for reheating. The best part of the meal was the dessert - a sublime lemongrass creme brulee. Will we go back? Yes, we always do at least one more time during the season.
NoelNoel
It's a very convenient place to eat before a concert in Weill Hall. It's a lovely setting. One of our entrees was excellent. The student servers were very polite and we didn't mind being patient while they sorted things out.
Maringirl
We were impressed how well service was provided with the entire house filling up at the same time. Servers were efficient yet not acting rushed or harried. Food was very good. Would like a slightly larger menu; but understand with a crowd like that, it may not be efficient.
Gorgeous interior at the Green Center flows into Prelude, with furnishings and lighting that are perfect for a dinner with friends or a romantic evening. Great before a show, but also would be fun as a destination for drinks and a nice meal. University wait staff was well-trained and attentive. Bar tenders - friendly and skilled. Definitely will go back
ugh this was such a disappointment, limited and confusing menu, pre-cooked hamburgers reheated, cold french fries and confused wait staff. Please someone change the management at this beautiful restaurant and raise it to the level of the overall experience on the green center
Lovely restaurant with excellent service. I started with the Israeli cous cous salad, which was delicious. My husband had the soup which was also wonderful. He opted for a second appetizer rather than an entree -- the lobster salad, which was also wonderful. I had the Korean fried chicken. It was nice and crispy, but the marinade was only so so, I thought -- although this might just be a matter of taste. For dessert, he had the sorbets -- good but nothing special. I had the cheese plate. Unfortunately, the Humboldt Fog, one of my favorite cheeses was way over the hill, ammoniated. I ate it -- but should have sent it back. Plate could also have used more of the jelly and it was hard to get at the honey.
We always eat at Prelude before an event at GMC. However I was shocked when we were charged $18 each for a well vodka tonic. Needless to say we won't be ordering drinks from the bar again
I hope we were just there on an off night, but service was slow and the food wasn't worth the price. They're lucky that they're the only restaurant near the performance center!
Food was excellent and a great way to dine prior to the concert at Weil Hall. We had the pre fix menu which is $47 pp for two courses. My husband enjoyed his duck and I loved the seabass. Attractively presented with lots of flavor.
We have been regular customers of Preludes We are long time members of the Santa Rosa Symphony and Preludes is located just a few steps to where they perform. Food is always good and the service is great. The food servers are students from Sonoma State University and are very friendly and professional. Preludes is located at the Green Music Center on the campus of the university.
Food was very good, menu is quite small and a 2 or 3 course set menu. Would have been nice to have an ala carte menu like what was shown on website guess maybe that was for the bar. But great pre show dinner and cocktails, and service.
Like all restaurants, Prelude has positives and negatives. You cannot beat the location if you are going to a concert at the Green Center! The food was quite tasty and seasonal. However $47 for two courses seems a bit steep and the service was excruciatingly slow. We had 5:45 reservations and had to ask for our check to make the 7:30 curtain. I hope that was an aberration and not the usual pace.
Prelude is our go-to place before attending a concert at the Green Music Center. The food is mostly a little above average, though some days are better than others. I had coq au vin this time, and my husband had the flat iron steak, the chicken was somewhat dry but tasty, but the steak seemed to be done just right, though the quality of the meat was only average, somewhat chewy. The other prix fix items were unremarkable this time. What was a little disappointing was the service, it was a busier than usual evening (though I'm not sure why that would have been a surprise for the restaurant mgmt), and they weren't quite staffed for the number of customers. Subsequently, we had a very long wait between the first course and the main course (30 minutes), and then another 15 minutes waiting between the main course and dessert, and the waiter/bus person never removed the main course dishes (i.e. still chicken bones on the plate while I was eating the dessert). Slightly disappointing, but we will probably continue to go, hoping the restaurant management learned from this experience of under-staff.
Restaurantji Recommends
Amazing food and service. Great prelude to a concert evening. Alison is an awesome manager and at the top of her game. The student waitstaff are an inspiration. Enjoy!
We had family from Colorado with us for a party of 6. We kept having changes to our reservation based on some of the older ones in our family. The restaurant and manager Alison were extremely accommodating and helpful! The ambiance was very lovely, the service was great, our waitress Amanda was very cute, friendly and did a nice job. The food was good. I had the Brussels sprouts salad which was a little dry and average. The chicken entree was really moist and delicious. The mushroom soup was really yummy. My husband had the chocolate tart and it was over the top delicious. We can't wait to go back again.
Prelude is a lovely space and so convenient for after-concert dining. We've been there many times and find that the food is good but not outstanding. Our latest experience following the first symphony of the season was pleasant but there was room for improvement in a couple of areas. We ordered the butternut squash soup which was delicious but the portion was so small that it barely covered the bottom of the very large soup dish. Our sweet servers (all students who are very earnest and lovely) brought out small pitchers of the soup to the table which they proceeded to empty into the bowls. A nice touch but the amount of soup left us feeing somewhat cheated. The entree of buttermilk fried chicken was very fresh and had a nice crispy coating but the pieces were undercooked (chicken should not be pink!) and we had to send them back to the kitchen for reheating. The best part of the meal was the dessert - a sublime lemongrass creme brulee. Will we go back? Yes, we always do at least one more time during the season.
It's a very convenient place to eat before a concert in Weill Hall. It's a lovely setting. One of our entrees was excellent. The student servers were very polite and we didn't mind being patient while they sorted things out.
We were impressed how well service was provided with the entire house filling up at the same time. Servers were efficient yet not acting rushed or harried. Food was very good. Would like a slightly larger menu; but understand with a crowd like that, it may not be efficient.