Soba Nippon

Three words: don't eat here. The tempura udon was $21 and had ONE small piece of shrimp and two tiny pieces of vegetable in it. In 20 years of NYC living I've never seen anything like it. My wife had the beef sukiyaki, which was not real sukiyaki. My friend had the nabeyaki udon, $26 for the same soup as mine except perhaps one more piece of vegetable. All the broths were way too salty. The sushi rolls were tiny and the fish in them tinier. Absolutely poor service, too. A huge rip-off. You couldn't pay me to eat there again.

I've grown up eating soba - cold/hot/in soup/not in soup. However, I noticed this place tends to attract a lot of first-timer japanese food eaters and/or tourists. Perhaps they can charge $30 for a soba soup or salad which usually should be $10-15 at most. Anyway, flavor is average. Not worth going there unless you just happen to be in the neighborhood. Also manager rushes everyone out the door. I felt bad for the ladies that work there.

Let's face it: $20-$25 ($30 with coke/tip) for a bowl of soba, even if the buckwheat flour used in the noodles was lovingly and delicately milled in Canada by Canadian maidens --- is just plain nuts. I can get Chinese ramen at any Chinese joint --- filled with vegetable (spinach leaves, shaved carrot etc.) for $7.95. And we all know Japanese eat ramen, too. Yeah, yeah, for all you "Chrysanthemum Club" members, I know greasy Chinese can't compare with delicate hand-tended buckwheat soba, but $30? Come on, get real ...

Repeating after many other commentators' opinion, this is not the right place for sushi. This is a place for soba and udon noodles. In fact, it has always been something weird for me that many people around the world tend to EQUAL Japanese food with sushi. However, not every restaurant is a sushi-ya. If you want to enjoy sushi, you need to go to a sushi place; if you like to have soba, you need to go to a soba place. There is not a multi-functional supermarket-like restaurant where they give you everything while maintaining the quality of every food. It's that simple!

It is hard to explain how delicious the soba here is, compared to other places, whether in the soup or in a hot or cold dish. they grow their own in a farm in Canada. Also, their miso soup is so delicious and like none other I've had. It's actually prepared with delicious and unique pieces of hand made tofu creations and delicious vegetables. (Oh, and the sushi is ultra fresh and delicious, but not unique.) The service has always been gracious, prompt and attendtive in my experience. I first went here for a business lunch a few years ago, and have since taken others to both the east and west side restaurants. My friends always thank me for introducing them to this gem and to the soba and miso dishes I describe above.

I have never actually written a review before, but after my experience yesterday I wanted to give diners the details of this restuarant. I went in with two colleagues during a conference. We waited at the door while the host refused to tell us how long a wait would be. We were seated at 12:45 and did not leave until 2:20; not because of our table conversation, but because that was how long it took to get the food. But the service itself was the worst part of this restaurant. After a very long wait for food, they brought out the wrong order for my colleagues (chicken instead of salmon). Then, at the end of the meal, the wait staff actually questioned us when we requested three separate checks. I asked the waitress why that was a problem, and she said that we should have asked for the separate checks before the meal. I was amazed! Bottom Line: I have never received service this poor EVER in over 20 years of dining in NYC! This restaurant is not cheap either, so that added insult to injury. Think twice before you take business people to this restaurant.

It apparently comes as a shock to some people that there are types of Japanese cuisine other than sushi. This place is a soba noodle house. (One might infer this from the name, the menu, the website, the reviews, google, oh, any number of places.) Furthermore, it is a very, very good soba noodle house and reasonably priced considering the midtown location. I definitely recommend trying Soba Nippon, but make sure you're in the mood for noodles, not sashimi.