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| - Overrated. Completely overrated.
After reading all the rave reviews and hearing about how amazing SOBA was, I went there last night with two companions. We started off with an order of calamari and tuna tartar. What came out even before our appetizers was a complementary cucumber salad (it appeared that every table got it). I found the flavor of the cucumber salad the best part of dinner. The cool cucumbers were complemented with a slightly spicy sauce, which were served with slices of pita bread. Even though our waiter went on about how the calamari was different than other restaurants, it was strikingly similar to the overly breaded calamari at the Cheesecake Factory. It wasn't heavily seasoned, and most of the flavor came from the garlic sauce and freshly squeezed lime juice. I preferred the tuna tartar over the calamari, as the the flavors melded well together with just the right amount of bite from citrus notes. These were served with house made potato chips, which were sliced thin and fried golden with just the right amount of crunch.
For entrees, my companions ordered our server's #1 and #2 recommendations of seared rare tuna and boneless pork chop, and I ordered the wok seared sea scallops, since I've been having a craving for large plump sea scallops for some time. One companion asked a rhetorical question of why everything that is labeled as "Asian fusion" or "exotic" has to be spicy, which we could not answer. His seared rare tuna was a tuna steak cooked rare topped with the Korean "gochujang" mellowed out with some soy and probably sugar (that's where the fusion plays in, instead of kiwi or pear juice). He mentioned that he liked the ginger fried rice, even though the rice was probably one day old (fried rice is traditionally made with leftover rice). My other companion received a 10 oz. thick cut pork chop. Being so thick and also pork, the meat was flavorless and dry. I sampled a piece from the outside edge and one cut from the center; the first piece had the flavor form the char, but the center cut one was so bland I could not finish it. The defining part of the dish was it's spicy chili honey sauce, as it made the pork edible. The grits were OK, not amazing, but not bad. Two five oz. pork chops would've probably done the dish more justice than that 10 oz monstrosity. Meats that need to be cooked through should not be thick cut unless it's well marbled, and we all know how hard it is to find marbled pork nowadays. Last, my dish consisted of around 4 oz. of rice cakes cooked in an overly salty "sauce" with pork and bok choy topped with four seared sea scallops. For some reason, I was expecting my sea scallops to be around 30% larger in diameter, but realistically being in Pittsburgh the only scallops that are available are ones that are shipped from the coast. The scallops were seared perfectly (but honestly now, searing sea scallops is not difficult). The rice cakes were cooked properly, but they were miniscule in size and thickness, and overly salty from the "spicy" sauce, which had maybe quarter of a clove of minced garlic, and half a seeded chili pepper. The bok choy was cooked beyond recognition, and basically became a sponge for the soy sauce. The few strips of julienned pork was probably 2 oz. meat, and did not fit well with the dish as it got lost in the sauce. DISHES THAT ARE SOUPY IN NATURE SHOULD HAVE LARGER PIECES OF MEAT; ONLY DISHES THAT HAVE MORE SOLID FOOD THAN LIQUID SHOULD BE ALLOWS TO USE SMALL PIECES OF MEAT. I was not impressed at all. Yes, I keep switching between soup and sauce; it's labeled as a sauce in the menu, and it was definitely too salty to be a soup, but it's consistency was that of soup, and it was served with one of those soup spoons you get with egg drop soup in Asian restaurants.
For it's price, SOBA should've been much better. I would've given SOBA two stars, but our waiter was attentive and the ambiance was nice.
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