SOJU - Sushi Bar & Asian Bistro
Reviews
Yes, I had to explain to the manager that Wifi is expected in an ostensibly up-scale restaurant like Soju. That said, I've had good luck with the wait staff and I've found all the food (that I've tried) to be excellent. I've not had the sushi or sashimi yet but all the rolls are great! The sesame chicken is delicious real chicken in a wonderful sticky sauce. The tempura is great. The real wasabi is too salty but still better than the horseradish blob. Overall I think it's one of the better restaurants in Tyler.
I ate at Soju in Tyler and had a terrible experience. I love sushi and I frequent Yamato's, but Soju was a different story. I loved the atmosphere of Soju's at first, but the management is terrible. The one guy manager they had got onto and cussed at his employees loud enough that my family could hear it. I felt that it was disrespectful to me, my wife, my children, and the employees. When my food arrived, the kitchen had forgotten to put sriracha sauce on my sushi roll, even though the menu said it would come on it. The sushi roll was bland and flavorless. The waiter forgot to bring some when I asked, and the bartender took 25 minutes to get our glass of wine out. When it finally came out, it tasted sour. He was more concerned with his tables than about actually tending to the bar. I will not be eating at this restaurant anymore.
this place is by far the worst place I've experienced in a while the managers are very unprofessional and completely rude. I never see them come out and talk to the costumers and make sure everything is alright. wait staff are kind but I feel bad that they have to deal with managers treating them like crap ad talking to them inappropriately. The host are amazing and the food is alright if you happened to have it prepared properly but the wait to get the food is outrageous. if this place had a remodel on the manager staff this place could become a nice place but I doubt they ever will
The management is laughable, im surprised this place is still in business. Other than the fact of a child runing around the kitchen playing with food, the owner is less than professional when speaking to her employees. She habitually treats them as servants and down talks them as if she ownes them. My last visit was a complete bust as my sushi was warm and the beer tasted like bleach. This place may look nice, but I asure you its just the cover of the book that you see. Spare yourself tue disappointment.
I tend to try to avoid Asian restaurants in Tyler, I spent 5 years in various parts of Asia for my job. I wanted Mexican, but my wife wanted Asian and to try Soju since we had never been there. On the upside I love Korean Food and with a name like Soju (Soju is to Korea, What Saki is to Japan) that they would have some Korean dishes. No such luck. The night started off fine, the place is nice, cool, dim I had high hopes of a wonderful experience. This is when things start to go downhill, first we are approached by two waiters, one in training. We ordered drinks, since I wanted Mexican I ordered a margarita and my wife had the same. For such a small place it took forever for them to arrive and the place only had a few tables seated. Horrible margaritas, tasted like it was straight simple syrup with a hint of lime. Ordering was straight forward, I ordered Pad Thai and my wife ordered Jalapeno Lovers Chicken. As well as some sushi, egg roles, and crab wonton. The Egg roles were pretty good, the Crab wonton was on par with any Chinese buffet, The sushi was very bland, could not taste the fish, easily the worst I have had in Tyler. Time for another round of drinks, I complained about the Margarita and was told they would make me a better one, my wife ordered a long island ice tea. The margarita was a little better but still way to sweet and my wifes long island ice tea was horrible you can get a better one at chiles. The wait staff even though they were not buys were very slow and did not get things right. They would check on us after bringing something to the table, but not when we needed them, such as water and drink sitting empty on the table. As for the main course, my Pad Thai was very bland. The noodles we so stuck together you had to cut it like lasagna. I understand people taking down the heat level of Thai food for East Texas consumers, but when I say bland I mean like eating noodles straight off a boil. My Wife's Jalapeno Lovers was ordered with no Mushrooms, which my wife loathes. It came loaded with huge mushrooms. It too was very bland only a few of the jalapeno bits in it had any heat. Overall: Nice Atmosphere Sub-par wait staff for this price point of an establishment (I rarely tip just 10% often I tip 20 or more, I tipped just 10%) Bland Food Horrible Drinks Cost versus quality was way off. My recommendation is to avoid, we won't be going back.