Soonta Rolls

I don’t come for the rolls. I come for the bit healthier lunch of the salad.
I always go the Cabbage Salad. it has more of the stuff I like. but there are three other options to choose from as well as the usual Banh Mi.
Go the ‘traditional’ salad dressing in the little pot, it’s the best one.
There’s a few choices of Protien as well MMM Meat.
Pretty good for a work lunch I must admid

Since I started working on Flinders Street in the CBD a few weeks ago, I’m more and more frequently making the trip to Soonta in James Place for lunch.
For starters, it’s always packed. The small amount of seating is almost always full and the line is constantly out the door. Whenever I have been to grab a quick lunch, or just walked past, I’ve never seen it quiet. This is impressive by itself, but when you consider that there is another Vietnamese joint next-​door, and one less than 50 metres down the lane, they must be doing something right.
They serve a variety of different quick lunch dishes — cold rolls, veggie salads, noodle salads, wonton soup, rice bowls and the famous bahn mi all make an appearance. With the exception of the bahn mi, all these options come semi-​pre-​made. The salad ingredients are pre-​packed into takeaway containers, ready to be picked up by customers and have a ‘protein’ added to them. The bahn mi and rice bowls, however, are made in a Subway-​like fashion, with ingredients pre-​prepared and simply added according to the customer’s instructions.
I tend to get the rice bowl. It ticks all the boxes. Big, filling, tasty, great value for money and meets the requirements of the $ 10 eftpos minimum. I’ve only ever had it with the roast pork, but other options include katsu (crumbed) chicken, lemongrass marinaded chicken, soy/​ginger chicken and Vietnamese meatballs. Aside from this, a cup of rice, Asian greens, slaw, fried shallots, fried wonton wrappers, boiled egg, spring onion and chilli get thrown in along with either a soy or traditional Vietnamese dressing. I’ve never had a rice bowl from here that has been bad, the serving of meat is generous and the crackling has always been crunchy (which, let’s face it, is what you order roast pork for).
The food is great — a little indulgent (especially if you pick the roast pork option) but the veggies make you feel like you’re being somewhat healthy/​less guilty about never bringing your own lunch to work. Soonta is great for a quick lunch to take back to work and make everyone else feel a bit jealous.

A line out the door is always a good sign! Stumbled across Soonta today at lunch and wondering why I didn’t try this gem earlier.
I had the Wonton Noodle Soup, which was great. Egg noodles (which honestly didn’t have much flavour, but was very filling), bok choy, poached chicken, delicious chicken dumplings (these were the standout) in a lovely chicken broth, topped with fried shallots. It was a generous size and made for a lovely lunch.
Other options available were bahn mi, soonta bowls, salad bowls and rolls. All the ingredients looked lively and fresh. The crispy pork belly in particular caught my eye. The lady was cutting it up in front of me and it looked and smelled amazing, plus had the perfect loud «crunch» with eat cut. I’ll definitely be getting that one next time!

Feeling very unimaginative and ready to be inspired, I decided to try Soonta in James Place for a Banh Mi lunch hit (Twice in three days… I think I’ve got a problem!)
If you venture here between 1 and 2pm you will come across a decent sized lineup. It took me 10 minutes to get through the line and out with my banh mi in tow. If you’ve got ten minutes to spare, it might be worth your wait.
In the line I kept fluctuating between thoughts of ‘oh, this is gonna be AWESOME!’ to ‘oh, they’ve disappointed me in the past, how bad is it gonna be this time!?’ but ultimately I went in glass half full.
A banh mi at Soonta will set you back $ 6.50 for most flavours (pork, soy ginger/​katsu/​grilled chicken/​meatball). They have wonton soups, rice bowls and salads available. Smart business move keeping the options down, and using mostly the same spread of ingredients. That’s how you maximise your profit margins!
Soonta like to pre-​prepare the banh mi rolls with salads — again, a smart-​ish move… I say ish because some customers do prefer different levels of ingredients. But I digress… I was happy to take whatever they dished up.
The roast pork roll was fairly tasty. The meat was warm, well distributed and in good serving portion. The meat (and the roll to a certain extent) had a good crunch to it too. The salad was a little on the light side, and no way near enough chilli (that was probably my fault, I was daydreaming and forgot to jam it in there!)
The Katsu chicken roll comes with chilli and mayo (unless you opt not to) and is a different style banh mi than is typically offered. It’s pretty good if you feel like something a bit different.
My personal challenge to find the CBD’s best banh mi is certainly heating up, but I fear that Soonta didn’t quite smash it out the park.
I only expect that I will find somewhere that kills it because it is well-​known that a few bakeries in the Adelaide Suburbs can floor you with how good their banh mis are, and at a fraction of the cost of a CBD banh mi.
A decent effort Soonta, I might see you again in the distant future!

I often have major cravings from Vietnamese food. It is really one of my favourite cuisines. Mostly because it is simple and fresh. Also, as it is always really flavoursome and comfy to eat. It generally appeals to most palates and I think that is why so many Vietnamese restaurants and take-​away stores are popping up everywhere.
It was lunch and I needed a Vietnamese salad. Now, when I say needed, my cravings for types of food must be satisfied. Otherwise I will spend the rest of my day daydreaming about Vietnamese salad. It’s true and I know all of you have times like this.
Lucky I was in the CBD and there are lots of choices. Of course, as I love to try out different restaurants, I decided to stop in and try Soonta. I ordered a Bun Bowl with lemongrass chicken. Kind of a noodle salad with amazing marinated meat. It was great! Chicken was really flavoursome with lemongrass and soy, the noodles where fresh and seasoning sauce was not too salty. Perfect!
This store get’s super busy during lunch time, so be sure to hop and skip from work earlier to get into the line. It is busy because it is good. People don’t mind waiting when you have quality well priced food!
Also, the Bahn mi and other salads in the fridge look great! I will return to try them!

Have been a fan of Soonta and their katsu chicken rolls for some years now but haven’t been back to the O. G establishment for a while.
The store has had a «make-​under», renovating their clean, white hole in the wall into a rustic, reclaimed haven befitting the other establishments along the increasingly cool James Place (Jimmy P to its mates*)
I went along today accompanied by fellow Unilocalist Bridie W who had talked up the wonton soup so I gave that a crack and was not disappointed. Yummy wontons, a nice clear broth with good quality chicken swimming amongst the occasional piece of bok choy and some shallots on top.
We had snared one of the two-​seater crates out front by the door and spent a pleasant lunchtime slurping down noodles and watching the world go by. In this particular spot, you will have people constantly lined up alongside so be aware you may have other people’s business in your face as you eat.
The price is right and the food is good. You’ve probably already been here.
$ 10 minimum for EFTPOS.
* trying to get it to take off, you heard it here first

Speedy production line service. The salads are fresh with juicy meat and all the siracha or chilli you might need to burn away your lunchtime hunger.
Good value for money, Soonta provides you with a filling lunch, often for under $ 10. The wonton soup appears to be a seasonal winter dish — it is poached chicken, wontons, noodles and spicy goodness in a clear chicken broth.
I’m a Soonta regular, for the easy, tasty and healthy options at a good price.

Love Soonta! Come on a week day lunchtime and expect to wait. But the line moves quickly and it’s worth the wait. Not the cheapest Vietnamese Roll you will find in the city but very very tasty. I love the wholemeal roll option as opposed to the white bread offered in most other Vietnamese Roll establishments.

For over a year now I have bought my lunch at Soonta. Reasonable prices, quick service (stand in that really long queue, it actually moves deceptively fast) and really fresh healthy food. I was on a low carb diet for a time and had variations of their salads (three without noodles/​carbs to choose from) and lost lots of kgs. Mix up the salad types, meat types and condiments and you get lots of variety. If you don’t care about carbs etc, their rolls and pork are to die for! No plans to change my takeaway lunch spot.

**This is for the Soonta Rolls on Waymouth Street.**
Went to Soonta for lunch today with a friend and upon entering, was treated to an array of fresh vegetables, salads, sauces and meats, and, of course, the rolls. It was hard to decide, but I settled on the grilled chicken banh mih, and it was *delicious*. I’d like to try the other offerings.
Prices were very reasonable, service very quick and efficient. This place is enormously popular, we were lucky to beat the lunch rush by about 60 seconds. The queue was forming up and was down the street as we left with our food. And well deserved patronage too, as it really was very good food.

I always wanted to try Banh Mi so I went to Soonta using a Unilocal recommendation. It’s only two blocks away from work as well. I went to the one on Waymouth, and was trying to find it when I saw the line up of people outside. I didn’t realise it was that popular. Usually I hate lines up but I thought I would wait and see what the fuss is about. They have a choice of banh mi, bun bowls, salad bowls, cold rolls and soup. The first time I tried the roast pork banh mi with crackling. The crackling was perfect and the pork was so tender. I asked for chilli but shouldn’t have as it was a bit hot for me. The salad and mayonnaise was nice. Only $ 6.30 as well, which is awesome. Next time I ordered the bun bowl with katsu chicken and soy $ 8.30. No chilli this time :) It was quite filling and tasty. The staff seem to know how to process the queue of people which is good. They didn’t have one person on at a time, which is annoying. This looks like a daily occurrence. I’ve been here twice, and would probably come back again.

Never been here before till yesterday. Tried the Chicken Katsu bun, it was extremely delicious and filling. :) Was told that the Roast Pork (Crackling) is to die for!

A friend took me to Soonta for the first time about a year ago, and I still go there for lunch nearly weekly. It’s hands-​down my favourite place for fresh, delicious food whether time is of the essence (that line may be long but it moves fast!) or not — in which case I love to grab my lunch from the James Place store and take it next door to Teasel for an accompanying iced green tea.
I highly recommend everything on the menu, although I can’t help but order their prawn cold rolls (stuffed with fresh mint — YUM!) again and again. They’re sizeable and at $ 4 for 2 ridiculously cheap. If they sell out (as they often do after the lunch rush hour) or I’m really hungry, a Vietnamese roll with salad and one of the delicious fillings, topped with chilli and soy, does me very nicely. The different fillings vary in price but are all under $ 6 — bargain.
Heads up — there’s a store on Waymouth St as well.

You’ll be soon tah eat at Soonta Rolls after you read this review.
And for the sake of a lackluster pun, I’ve potentially made myself a liar. See, you might NOT eat at Soonta Rolls after you read this review. But you ‘should’. You ‘ought’ to.
This place is cheaper than a nest of newly born bird babies. (Another pun. They’re getting worse.) For around the price of five dollars, you can have yourself enough lunch to fill up and take some home with you to boot. Although, why you’d go kicking around your leftovers is beyond me. (I’ll stop. I promise.)
And the place is healthy. I don’t know ‘how’ healthy, and I’d hate for you to enter into a state of death and decay, but if you want to avoid entering any states, the answer’s simple: don’t travel. (The last one demands a little reaching, but it’s there.)

Ohhh boy. 5 buck lunches. Coriander, ginger and lime.
Sometimes (often) we run out of stuff to talk about at work. When that happens you switch to the ol’ standbys. Weather. Kids. Lunch! We end up talking about Soonta a lot. Is the bbq pork sketch? How fattening is the wasabi mayo?

One thing is for sure: when you’re hungry (and cheap) nothing satisfies like a big, fresh, healthy (for the most part) Soonta Roll. It’s da bomb B!
It’s as if a Vietnamese Steve Jobs with a passion for street food created Soonta, using his magic to turn inexpensive ingredients (carrots, cucumber, bread) into tasty treats.
Counting carbs? Try the salads. Last time I had a Soonta salad, the pieces of chicken were so big they were like meatballs. Almost too much chicken.
Be aware: They close up early. There will be a line.

A pretty busy little place that sell lots of different foods, With lots of loyal customers, Soonta Rolls is a great option for lunch or a quick snack.
They offer a range of Asian inspired foods, from spring rolls, to curry filled rolls, salads and more (lemongrass chicken roll anyone??)
Service is fast and efficient, though done without much of a smile, and the prices are pretty cheap.

Very nice food, ranging from rolls to salads and spring rolls. Good prices but cramped shop front. Still, always a line up and very popular.