Address: | 11066 Pecan Park Blvd #402, Cedar Park, TX 78613, USA |
Phone: | +1 512-257-0788 |
Site: | sotoaustin.com |
Rating: | 4.5 |
Working: | 11AM–3PM 11AM–3PM 11AM–3PM 11AM–3PM 11AM–3PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–9PM |
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Chris Butler
The minute I walked into Soto, it was dejávu. The long, sleek sushi bar, the dimly-lit atmosphere, the chef uniforms, and most of all, the dishes I saw as I walked past customers to get seated. I had seen this all before, and halfway through my meal, it hit me. I pulled up my Yelp app, and started searching for a Sushi restaurant in Boston, Mass. The restaurant is named Oishii. I had dined there a couple of times when I lived on the east coast, and it always stuck out in my mind because the restaurant concept was so fresh, trendy, and beautifully presented. This is a place where most people will shamelessly take pictures of their food. The most photographed item on the Oishii menu is easily the Salmon on Fire. There are long slivers of salmon, draped over a lemongrass rod, slowly being cooked from a small fire pit of alcohol and coffee beans. It looks, smells and tastes amazing. And guess what? Soto offers the EXACT same thing, although the name has been changed to Fire Salmon. Another heavily photographed entree was Oishiis lunch Kaiseki. This was very memorable for me the first time I ordered it for lunch in Boston. A large array of tiny plates form a beautiful lunch combination that offers small bites, everything from Rock Shrimp to a small bed of sashimi to a plump cucumber handroll. Its a fantastic offering at $20, and Ive ordered it multiple times. Soto has the EXACT same plate setup. There seemed to be a slight difference in some of the small bites, but the main sushi and sashimi plates were identical. I was so perplexed that I walked over to the sushi bar after I finished my meal. There, I met Kenji-San, the owner and Head Chef of Soto. I did not blantantly ask him about Oishii, instead I complimented him on a great meal, the variety offered in the menu, and specifically, his choice in plates for his "Kawasaki" lunch combination. I expected him to pay credit to Oishii, saying that it was a sister restaurant or a small franchise, however, he took FULL credit for everything, and even went on to tell me how much the plates cost him. I had looked through all of the pictures that I could find of both restaurants, so when I asked him about the other, pricier options in the menu (the Toro Tartar, Uni Pasta, and the White Salmon Truffle), I was surprised to hear Chef Kenji claim them all as his creations. I had done my research, and my understanding was that Oishii was the older restaurant, and was headed by Chef Ting. I do not know the relationship between Oishii and Soto, but I do know that everything is identical. The plates, entrees, rug color, wall design, sushi bar glass case, tables/chairs, lighting...A majority of the sushi rolls are plated and sauced EXACTLY the same way. Further more, after only a couple minutes of chatting with Chef Kenji, I came to realize a couple more things. One is that the sushi chefs in both restaurants are dressed in the same chef whites and black hats. The other thing that struck me was that despite his Japanese name, the owner/head chef was in fact Chinese. This is easy to notice as the main language spoken behind the sushi bar is Chinese. Also, a careful eye can spot the differences in Asians, and he does not look like a Japanese person. Another oddity in an increasingly bizarre environment. I have no authority to stick my nose in the business of other people. Run your establishment the way you want, and best of luck to you. However, there is an ethical line that is crossed when you plagiarize the work of someone else and credit it fully to your own creativity. The people of Austin and Cedar Park have the right to know. So next time you have a chance, sit down at the sushi bar in front of the Chinese chef named Kenji, and ask him about the restaurant in Boston named Oishii. And report back with a Yelp reply or private message. I am genuinely curious what is going on, and would love to get some answers.
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Christian Davis
It was kind of terrible. Every roll and every nigiri was clumsily overly complicated with too-strong flavors that didnt blend. Even my wifes cocktail (pear and st Germaine) was over the top - she swears they used minute maid lemonade in it. All nigiri and sashimi had what I think was sriracha-infused wasabi on top. It was "fancy" like a twelve year old girl playing dress-up is "fancy" ... just ham-handed. On the other hand they had madeye (sea breem if I spelled it right) nigiri and that was very fresh. How rare that? Incredible! But it, too, has the sriracha-wasabi, which is terrible on such a delicate flavor. Also they cut the slices two-times as thick as they should, again conflicting with its delicacy. To top it off, it was pricey. We could have had a blowout at Uchiko happy hour, or a full dinner at Mushishino. LEDs, man. There was a second one like that, the madeye. It was blue. I felt like a tourist. The craziest part? The decor was restrained and sophisticated, as was the soundtrack. Seriously: refined and subtle. Its like one person wanted an uber-classy establishment and someone else wanted a taste-a-rama for rubes, and a third person wanted a tropical-themed bar on dirty sixth (the LEDs) and they opened a restaurant together. So, ummm, probably not worth your time. If you want fresh fish with interesting flavor and texture combinations that are artfully prepared, go to Uchi or Uchiko. If you want the frshest possible traditional sushi, go to Musashino. If you want utterly un-subtle mashups of conflicting flavors, I guess Soto is your place. I had no qualms with the freshness, just the tackiness in presentation and in the recipes.
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Jack McCauley
OMG WTF. Im seriously confused right now. Somehow, my friends convinced me to make the trek up to the barren wasteland of Cedar Park. Theres good sushi, they said. I went to be polite. Youll love it, they said. I know the good sushi places in town. They are not in Cedar Park. They are not in a dumpy strip mall thats seen better days. Bad sushi is really awful, and there was only one way I saw this ending: awful. "Why are we here?" my girlfriend asked. I didnt have an answer. Meeting friends didnt seem adequate, but here we are. "Lets make the best of it, and well eat something else later" was the ultimate answer. I saw the standard "paper and pencil" sushi/sashimi ordering system and I knew we were totally boned. This was maybe acceptable at best. Still, the waiter said they had fresh wasabi, which is usually the differentiator between good sushi and great sushi. Odd. The first dish I thought was a little showy and extravagant, with fish suspended over bamboo and heated by a dish of alcohol and coffee beans, but the presentation had nothing on the flavor. Could this really be? By the time the rolls and sushi arrived, I was a believer. Somehow, this strange little sushi place out in the older part of chain store suburbia manages to put it together and become one of the best sushi places in Austin. Er, the Austin area. Im not quite sure its the best, but its definitely in the top three. Ive also got a reason to visit Cedar Park, though I have no idea how Ill convince my friends to join me. Theyll never believe me. Maybe I should just tie them up and throw them in the back of the van. Theyll thank me later.