Soho Cafe

The Best hk café in bay area!!! I reli like this place and all of their food r reli good!! especially their bake pork chop rice!!! This is the best place that i found in bay area!!!

‘I am sorry I have to say this place is so bad. I am now sitting in here and signed up for Unilocal to tell you guys. Everything taste like mop.

I was surprised how terrible the food was. I’d like to think that we simply ordered the wrong stuff from the menus, but that’s not an excuse. The curry had a sour taste, the Singapore style chili shrimp were soaked in a soup-​like liquid that had some reddish coloration, but I did not taste the chili, and the short ribs were identifiable only by their bones covered with batter.

It provides the best services and fastest services also. That’s why I always go there!!!

Finally stopped by with cash this time to try their Mongolian Beef lunch. It was listed as spicy… well I don’t know what the cook thinks is spicy but this was anything but. It was bland and pretty tasteless. The worker who greeted me was much nice than the first time I stopped in (see previous review). Overall it was a great disappointment. When I order Mongolian beef, I like to have some flavor… when it’s supposed to be spicy… I want spicy. They only had 8 tables occupied with less than 20 patrons so it had nothing to do with being crunched. Also I phoned in the order and was told it would be ready in 10 minutes. I arrived just at the 10 minute mark and had to wait another 10 minutes to get my food.
Not really good for time consideration of their patrons.
Well I will say it again I tried it. I wasn’t impressed. I will go to the Basil Thai place a couple of doors down from this location as they have good food and are always packed with customers. Or maybe try the Yakatori West. Just won’t be back to Soho. So sad.

This is probably my favorite HK style café. The service is good and the waiters are so nice!

I stopped here on a few occasions since I first reviewed this place. Today I stopped for lunch and had their House Special fish soup rice noodle which was quite good. What I like now even more about this place is the staff. Today the young lady in glasses that served me very nice and attentive which I very much liked. She made a point of filling my glass of water multiple times. This is quite in contrast to the service I usually experience at the HK-​style cafes back home in SF, the majority of which are known for bad service. If this place in SF, especially if in my neighborhood, I would definitely be a regular.

baked pork chop over rice — pretty good
baked pork chop over spaghetti — pretty good
beef teriyaki with mushrooms in a rice bucket — pretty good
hk milk tea for a $ 1 as part of the lunch special
service is pretty good

Serviceable Hong Kong style café in the Tri-​Valley area.
Yesterday was a beautiful day and what better way to spend it than some physical labor? After an afternoon of yard work, including chopping down a 12-​foot apricot tree, my family and I were exhausted by dinner time. None of us wanted to go far for food so we decided to head over to Ulferts Center in Dublin in search of dinner. Once we got there, we decided on Soho Café since we all wanted some Hong Kong style comfort food.
We arrived a little after 7:00pm and the restaurant was relatively quiet. There were only two other parties eating. The interior looked clean. Menu items written in Chinese were all over the walls. The flat screen TVs were showing different news programs. We were seated by one of the servers and she gave us menus and hot tea/​water. Since we were all hungry, it didn’t take us long to order the following items:
* Deep Fried Pork Cutlet ($ 3.25)
* Curry Beef Brisket with Rice ($ 8.95)
* Baked Tomato Pork Chop Rice ($ 8.95)
* Mapo Tofu with Minced Pork Bucket Rice ($ 8.95)
It took about 10 minutes for all the food to arrive. The single pork cutlet was served with on a bed of shredded lettuce and some tartar sauce. It was fried to perfection. The panko exterior was crunchy while the pork remained juicy. For the price, the size was decent. It was perfect for the three of us to share it.
My curry beef brisket dish was quiet good. They were nice enough to ask if I wanted the rice on the side (which I did). The taste of the curry reminded me of the ones I had in Hong Kong. It wasn’t overly spicy. The beef brisket chunks were tender (I also liked the brisket membrane). The only knock on the dish was the potato chunks. They did not fry them prior to incorporating them to the dish (which the authentic version calls for).
My brother’s baked tomato pork chop rice, which I tried, was average in my opinion. To give you a visualization of the dish, it was a baking dish of egg fried rice and two thinly sliced pork cutlets topped with tomato gravy with a sunny side up egg on top. I liked the fact that they put a sunny side up egg on top of the dish (yes, eggs do make everything better!!). Unfortunately, they did not marinate the pork and the tomato gravy (it was pretty thick) lacked balance (more sweet than tangy). Also, they did not bake the dish long enough.
My mom’s Mapo tofu bucket rice was pretty good. The dish was presented nicely in a small wooden bucket. The Mapo tofu, or more like spicy tofu, had a real kick in it. They used Chinese chili bean sauce AND small Thai green chili to cook the tofu. The portion was substantial, definitely enough to feed two people.
The service was pretty good. The entire staff, including the boss lady, was very friendly. Not bad for a Chinese establishment! As for parking, I was surprised that was not an issue for us last night. Overall, I think our experience there last night is worth four stars based on the food and service. I will go back there again.

I really hate giving low stars… but after dinner there i have been drinking tons of water… I understand some restaurants and the msg is a must. But it was way too much msg and its been 6 hours since I left there, my throat still dry and thirsty.

FISH SKIN & MANCHON CHICKEN
The last two times I went to a Hong Kong style café I thought the food of both places were okay but nothing exceptional. I went to dinner with my friend last night. We were thinking about going to a Chinese eatery or a steakhouse. Since he lives in Dublin we went to a plaza were there several Asian eateries. We looked and stumbled into this eatery.
He asked if we should order appetizers, but I wasn’t going to order them until I saw an item — fish skin. We ordered that because it was something different. Then I suggested that we order items that were unfamiliar to us. We ended up ordering three more items: 1) manchon chicken with rice 2) minced beef baked rice 3) seafood curry spaghetti.
The fish skin was an intriguing item. When I took a bite of the fish skin it was like chips. In fact the fish skin was the best dish of the night. Most Americans don’t like fish skin because of the slimy texture. However that slimy texture when fried is similar to chicken or pork skin. When I go to Ranch 99 I get a whole catfish deep fried with the skin. The texture of the crispy catfish skin is similar to the breading of fish and chips. At restaurants when catfish is fried it’s without the skin. I don’t get it. Anthony Bourdain would say eating eating fish skin is an another example why the rest of the world is eating better than the Americans. I agree. So I recommend order the fish skin here.
The manchon chicken rekindles memories of eating a Chinese dish I like growing up — steamed chicken with the ginger sauce. I always thought the steamed chicken when I order at Chinese food is steamed. But as my palate matured I feel that the chicken isn’t steamed but poached. Poaching meat not only keeps the meat moist, but also locks in the flavor. That could explain why my friend commented that the manchon chicken tasted like duck. What goes great with this chicken is the minced ginger sauce. As a teenager I used to make this sauce when I had steamed chicken. You make the sauce by mincing the ginger and placing it in a bowl. Then you heat the oil in a pan until it becomes hot. Pour the hot oil over the minced ginger. This method cooks the ginger without burning it. Eating the manchon chicken made me what to make this ginger sauce in the future when I have steamed chicken.
The last two items were the baked rice minced beef and the curry seafood spaghetti. I didn’t like the baked rice dish as it was the worst dish of the night. I expected more meat. The seafood curry in the other hand was a pleasant surprise. When I think of curry it has to be with rice. I thought this dish would be the equivalent of the Filipino spaghetti, which uses Jufran banana sauce instead of marinara sauce. As a Pinoy I hate Filipino spaghetti but this curry with spaghetti works. What makes a great pasta dish how the noodle interacts with the sauce. In addition the spaghetti was al dente. The curry spaghetti isn’t the greatest pasta I ever had but one of the greatest surprises I ever had because I initially thought this would be the worst dish of the night.
I definitely will come back at Soho Café again. When I do I’ll try other items but definitely order the fish skin and manchon chicken. Thinking about it the fish skin and a whole manchon chicken is all you need for a satisfying meal at Soho Café.

Likes: lamb hot pot, beef hot pot soup, salty fish chicken fried rice. baked pork chop platter with broccoli and rice was ok. sauteed string beans was great. waitress and waiter were both very nice. prices are decent. overall better than i expected.
Dislikes: their daily special that was a salt and pepper fried rock cod fish. it’s suppose to be fried but when it came out it wasn’t crispy and the breading was very thick. I took it home as leftovers and re-​stir fried it with some sweet and spicy sauce and veggies — yum!

I have been to Soho café a couple of times. I usually order the baked pork chop over rice which tastes quite good. The portion size is not huge but it still fills you up. They have a variety of other dishes, including some sandwiches and western food. I have also tried the teriyaki beef bowl, which was quite good over rice. The sauce is more on the sweet side and the beef is tender .
The drinks are Hong Kong style and are not as sweet. Overall, this place is good for a quick and decent meal, but not someplace spectacular.

I ate at this place last week after being in Concord earlier in the day and since this place is one of the only Chinese place to have happy hour special.
I ordered their mini pork chop with rice. $ 5.50. What a deal! You can’t get that anywhere else. Yes, it was excellent. As excellent as what you would get at a café back in Hong Kong. Also excellent was the iced lemon tea. Also as excellent as what you would get at a café back in Hong Kong.
I will certainly return to this lovely café, if I am ever in the area.

I’ve never actually stepped foot into Soho, but I do have someone who occasionally picks up takeout orders for me. I am also quite familiar with this plaza, with the constant turnover many of the storefronts experience.
As I have mentioned in previous reviews, I am quite fond of HK cafés in general, and my favorite staple dish used as a measuring stick is baked pork chop over rice. This is one of the most popular items for this type of cuisine, so it is essential that is done properly. If a restaurant cannot manage to get it right, it is a huge red flag, and chances are anything else on the menu is also not up to snuff.
I have given Soho a handful of chances already, and although not horrible by any means, the baked pork chop has been rather mediocre at best. Most egregious of all is that while other places like Cousin (
) and Fairwood (
) serve up absolutely gargantuan slabs of meat, the portions at Soho are TINY.
Seriously, the two pieces of pork chop are about the circumference of hockey pucks, half of which are bone. The taste is passable, but I get so annoyed at the underwhelming serving size that the flavor is almost a completely moot point.
Sad to say, but the next time I get offered takeout from Soho, I will have to respectfully decline. With the aforementioned high turnover at this shopping center, it might be tall order for them to survive at this rate.

Looking for a place to eat past 9:15pm on a Sunday?
Well there are other options in this complex but most will turn you away because they close at 9:30pm. So this is a great place to try if you are standard with no where to eat.
I stopped by this place with my girlfriend for a late-​night bite. Didn’t want something too heavy, so we ordered: Chicken Chow Mein and Spicy Tofu Minced Pork Rice Pot
Chicken Chow Mein ($ 9.95) — score: 2.5÷5 — This dish was a disappointment. Chicken was dry and the noodles tasted heavy with the oil it was cooked in. Had to throw in some hot sauce to «spice» things up a bit. After eating this — my throat and stomach could feel the heaviness of the grease that it had just been coated with.
Spicy Tofu Minced Pork Rice Pot ($ 8.95) — well this is hard to rate. Mostly because they had given us this dish with beef rather than pork — it was delicious though! rating: ⁴⁄₅. The dish was served in a barrel-​like pot that kept the rice hot throughout our whole meal. It was a perfect temperature with plenty of flavor. The spice I would rate as mild. But keep in mind — I like spicy food so this might be enough for someone not as experienced.
Great to see SOHO Café doing their part in the drought. Water and tea was served on request as they are trying to part-​take in conserving their waste. Prop to them!
TL&DR: Would order the Spicy Minced Pork Rice Pot again. Wouldn’t order the Chicken Chow Mein.

Wanted Snowflake but it was closed. Had my kid with me, so needed something standard that she can eat. Came here, sat down promptly. Menus in hand in less than 2 minutes. Gave us plenty of time to peruse menu. We got the fish ball noodle soup and the chicken and mushroom rice bucket. The noodle soup was your standard soup, nothing out of this world but the kid want adamant about noodles and fish ball. The rice bucket was OK, lots of rice that definitely fills you up. I also ordered the beef chow fun and the short rib hot stone rice to go. I tasted the short rib it was very good and full of flavor. Service was prompt and courteous. It was a meal that definitely filled you up.

This is a pretty small restaurant, and waiters all seem to be overwhelmed or inefficient. I even overheard the family next to me make similar comments, so the slow service was not just noticed by me.
My husband and I shared two dishes. The Braised Eggplant and Seafood was pretty good — but it took forever to get the bowl of rice that I asked to go with it. The pork chop with noodle soup was the worst that I’ve ever had. The broth was as plain as can be, the noodles look like something straight out of the package from Ranch 99, and the pork chop was no better.
This is probably one of those places where you have to know exactly what is good to order to be happy with your meal. I am sure the good dishes are there — I did really like the eggplant dish. But the noodle soup was a big miss.

This place is one of the few restaurants in the plaza that stays open late. It can get quite crowded, yet I’ve never had to wait for a seat. The food definitely tasted much better this time, compared to my first visit here — the dishes actually had taste this time!
The Pan Fried Beef Ho Fun is delicious! The noodles are covered with a Chinese vegetable (don’t ask me to translate the name!), beef, and some type of gravy, making the noodles nice and moist. It’s not an overwhelming amount of sauce, but it’s just enough to mix with all the noodles. The entire dish is $ 9.95.
XO Seafood Pan Fried Noodle — this is a classic Chinese dish. It’s crispy pan fried noodle (you can request thick or thin noodles) with shrimp, mushrooms, carrots, bok choy, fish, and squid, $ 12.95. I would have liked more shrimp though.
Baked Ox Tongue Rice with Tomato Sauce — very tender tongue. Tomato sauce is orange, not red. Whatever they put in it, can’t be good for you because it tastes great! Creamy, not too thick, but not runny. The combo goes very well with the rice, all for $ 9.95. It’s not something that’s typically seen on a Chinese menu. If you like eating tongue, this is the dish for you!
House Special Beef Fried Rice — this dish doesn’t look very special, but don’t let that deceive you! It’s not your ordinary beef with egg and fried rice. There’s a unique flavoring to it that makes it the «house special.» I was surprised when I had my first few bites. The beef is prepared well, and so is the rice.

Came here for a late dinner — around 730pm on a Saturday night. No wait and service was pretty fast. It still seemed pretty busy though. 3.5 stars overall but I will bump to 4 due to speed of service and responsiveness.
I ordered their XO seafood stir-​fried rice noodles. Very tasty — mild spicy and saltiness but they gave good amounts of shrimp, fish, squid, and even a few pieces of scallops. With the sautéed onions it added some nice crunch. 4-​stars for this dish.
Wife ordered basil seafood eggplant in stone bowl with rice on the side. Eggplant is capitalized but seafood is silent — only a handful of shrimp, fish, and a few eraser-​sized scallops. Eggplant cut in strips to look like fish. The good news is that the eggplant was cooked really well — slightly firm and the sauce was really good — essentially a Thai dish. The scarcity of seafood makes this a bit overpriced though — 3-​star dish.