Soho Japanese Bistro

Reviews 4

JA

James Eton

Passing through West Chester yesterday on my way home from work, I decided to try Soho Japanese Bistro for the first time based on its rating here on Google. Sadly, I may not return (more on this later). Its been a while since Ive had good Japanese food and I needed to hunt down a place closer to home. Upon entering Soho, I was cordially greeted by this Asian girl with flowers in her hair... A nice start. The Wait staff was lagging a bit, but I had time to burn. Couldnt help but notice that the Asian girl who greeted me seemed to be rushing around doing a good portion of the work. The food quality was good, and on par with other Japanese-Fusion restaurants Ive been to... , but again the Wait staff was lacking... After asking, It took more than 10 minutes to get a refill on water. Now for the reason I cannot recommend Soho Japanese Bistro to others and its not about the water or lagging service... While I was waiting for a phone call, I overheard the Caucasian hostess ("Courtney") and some Asian guy (who I believe was a supervisor named Ray) having a conversation about customers who had just left the restaurant... It was laced with insults and disparaging remarks... It didnt stop there... They both stood there continuing to make insulting comments about other diners who were still in the restaurant. This went on for about 4-6 minutes. Either they were both oblivious to the fact that I was standing there within an earshot, or they trully dont care about customers. Made me think about what kind of comments they were going to make about me after I left. This is not the kind of treatment I would want to reward in a review... This is NOT the kind of treatment I would want anyone to receive...So to the Owners/Operator of Soho Japanese Bistro, Id fire these two and replace them with people who REALLY want to work. ---------- Additional Experience: December 31, 2014 My coworker and his wife wanted to eat here on New Years Eve even though I recommended another Japanese restaurant not too far away... Even with reservations made, they took almost an hour-and-a-half to seat us after our reservation time... The service was really slow. We all ordered teriyaki steak. We asked our steaks to be cooked medium rare. Only one steak came medium rare... The three other steaks came either rare or well-done...and the vegetables were under cooked to our liking... When we asked to speak to a manager... We were told one wasnt available (or wasnt there on site.)... What kind of restaurant doesnt have on-site management??? This is the most expensive Japanese restaurant in the area, and it does not deserve anyones business from the way its run... Poor food quality, poor service and over priced food...

RA

Ratt Riot

Im not writing this out of spite. The people at soho are very nice people and the wait staff did what they could. How ever, the food is poor. I found foreign objects in my food and the manager never once came to my table. Ive been to Soho a handful of times, and Ive tried something different every time Ive been there. Ive found issues with each dish that Ive tried. The dishes are either bland, or over seasoned. Ive had the hibachi, and it was okay, but I think every other hibachi Ive been to have been better than Soho. If you go specifically for the hibachi I think you will be okay, but dont expect anything extraordinary. The fried rice, is bland, not seasoned and overcooked. Every time Ive had it. The Veggie Tempura, well cooked, the pieces are that come out are too large though, and the sauce that comes with it is bland. Which makes the dish its self lack luster. The Veggie entree, always has too much sauce, its almost like a soup. The sauce is not tasty, and the last time I got the dish, it had so much garlic in it that was all I could taste. The veggies them selves were over cooked limp, and mushy. Between the large amounts of sauce and the over cooked veggies it was hard to eat with chopsticks, everything was just slipping. Also, the last time I was there I found metal shavings in my dish from the cleaning brushes they used. Sushi, the rice is over cooked, they bring it out on this big over sized boat that takes up more than half the table, its really unnecessary and makes it difficult to have room for more dishes. The rolls them selves are just not well executed and not much as far as taste goes. (also they dont have a sweet potato roll, come on REALLY! lol.) The Decor is really nice, but its also very dim. Its good ambiance for a date night, but also hard on the eyes a bit. A personal note as a animal lover, the small koi pond they have. The fish that are in it are way too large for the amount of space that small pond has. They have almost no room to swim and the pond is over populated with large fish. Ive done research on koi fish in the past and spoke with pet care professionals about stocking ponds. The pond that is there is not deep enough for the fish in there, and one of that size could only hold up to 5 large fish that are between 15 and 21 inches. They have about double the mount of fish that size in there, plus many more smaller than that. If you go here, you are paying for the view and entertainment, not for good food. Its no wonder their prices are so high. Avoid if you dont want to pay too much for food that is lackluster at best. I hope that if Soho reads this they take steps to better their food. I probably will not come back at this point.

TR

Tracey Stanton

I went to Soho for a birthday party in the private room. The atmosphere was great and service was a little slow, but there was only one server for our party. So that was expected. Food was good, not great for the price they were charging. The unfortunate thing though was the party room you were not allowed to enter with your shoes on, so shoes were left outside the door. When party was over, my husbands shoes were missing, but were found by the restrooms. His shoes were wet....dont know who did it, but the restaurant Manager Ian didnt feel responsible to do anything. My husband left there barefoot. I have attempted to contact the Ower, but the owner is never available. After 3 days of attempts, Ian the manager finally said that the bartender saw someone from our group take my husbands shoes and pranked him. Of course this is a lie, but Ian stated that they are not going to do anything about this. So, the customer service here is terrrible, plus they are basically calling us liars. Ill never eat there again and I am going to tell everyone that the management really does not care if their customers have a wonderful dining experience. I am really considering contacting Howard Aims and ensure that all of Cincinnati knows about the horrible customer service that this establishment offers.

A

A Private User

On Dec 29, 2008 I went to pickup food for diner which I was told over the phone would take 20 minutes to have ready. Once there, they had no idea what was going on. They offered me twice the wrong food and I had to give it back. Another HOUR and a HALF later, while waiting there with a screaming child our meal was "ready" only to find out that once again it was not what I ordered. It took another 30 minutes ... the manager, or the lady I assume was the manager had no idea what she was doing. She kept apologizing ... they never offered anything to make up for their incompetence. It took over 2 hours to have this ordeal end only to go home and find out that sauces etc. were missing, the food that was made in two batches was cold ... it was pretty much the worse restaurant experience in West Chester!!! I used to go there at least once a month ... I will NEVER go there again!!! The restaurant was only about 1/3 busy on a Monday after the holidays and there seem to be enough staff ... I think the people running it have NO IDEA!!! Well done you lost our business!