Soto

Perhaps the best japanese restaurant in the States

by jschuchle

Exquisite japanese cuisine, likely will not appeal to those who judge their food by weight, the chef does not suffer fools lightly.The hot dishes prepared in the kitchen are in the same league as the raw fish, in a category of its own, The tempura, as an example, is so light and translucent as to defy description, just as is the shima aji prepared by Soto himself.This is not the place to fill up on sushi rolls - come and be wowed if you're interested to see what's out there beyond Nobu and the like.

• Pros: imaginative, ethereal, visually stunning dishes
• Cons: service can be slow, price reflects the quality

Several top chefs hail Soto as best meal '08

by Foodess

I have had many divine meals at Soto, amazing dishes like Steamed Lobster with uni mousse, Salmon Citrus, miso soup, shima aji, fluke, many more delights, its not cheap and probably not for unrefined palates. I just read an article that asked many chefs their best meal of 2008 , and no less than 3 chefs gave props to Soto:

Jonathan Benno, Executive Chef, Per Se, NY

Meal of the Year ? Soto

Tom Collicchio, Host, Top Chef, Chef/Owner Craft & Damon Wise, Executive Chef, Craft

Meal of the Year ? Soto, NY ?His giant squid with quail egg was the best dish I had this year"

Alex Raij, Chef/Owner Txikito, NY

Most Potential ? Sotohiro Kosugi, Soto, NY

here is the link to the write up: flicker dot com /photos/sifu_renka/3109200379/

go and try it for yourself!

• Pros: chef driven genius
• Cons: a bit pricey, you have to know what to order

STAY AWAY

by bkargs

I'm not sure which is more annoying: the fact that the restaurant doesn't have a sign, the fact that the restaurant only had one waiter, or the fact that the food is ridic expensive and so-so at best. This place will go out of business in the next few months....

• Pros: good location
• Cons: TOO MANY TO LIST

WORST NYC RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE IN 15 YEARS

by CLCNYC

I have lived in Manhattan for 15 years and been to some bad and/or overpriced restaurants in my time, but this one absolutely takes the cake. It was, quite simply put, awful.

The portion sizes are a total joke. I ordered the tempura for

$20 and got about $2 worth of food. My girlfriend ordered tai for $16 and got less than $1 worth of fish. I also ordered two tuna rolls. The seaweed was stale; the tuna pieces were so small they were barely visible. They forgot to give me wasabi with my rolls. Since the portions were so damn small, I asked for a bowl of rice. They told me that they didn't have regular rice, so they gave me sushi rice that was cold and tasted old -- and they had the AUDACITY to charge me $3.

My girlfriend and I were so hungry after spending $65 there that we went to McDonald's just down the street and ate a fillet of fish and a snack wrap for $8. Trust me, the McD's was more satisfying and tasty than Soto.

• Pros: NONE
• Cons: You name it, they have it.

So-So-To

by Hampshire

You would think that on a Tuesday night in May, any NYC restaurant

would feel refreshed after a long weekend and Monday off. Someone

forget to tell the servers at SOTO.

While the restaurant earns its "cool factor" for being cleverly

disguised off of bustling West 4th street, the lack of wine knowledge

(the waiter seemed dumbfounded when I requested one of the four

offered bottles of red wine from their list) and the misfire between

server and the chef (a party which arrived 15 minutes behind us,

neared the end of their meal as our appetizers finally arrived) both

made me wonder if it is better that the nondescript exterior stay

exactly that so as not to lure (and disappoint) future customers.

It's fitting that Mr. Soto, who hails from a place "where there are

more fish than people", paid more attention to his craft that evening

(which he does well) than his clientele. When my date cozied up next

to one of his assistants to inquire how our meal was coming along, the

man looked at us curiously as if we were vagabond travelers in

northern Japan asking when the next bus to Tokyo departs.

• Pros: Wonderful Sushi
• Cons: Terrible Service