Soba Nippon

Ugh. Soba Nippon, you've completely failed.

I was hankering for Japanese food and tired of walking so I dragged the boyfriend inside...oh the regret, I still feel it. Soba Nippon really takes the cake for the worst Japanese restaurant I've ever dined at.

I got their Tororo Soba, which is basically just soba served with puréed yam on the side. The soba noodles were starchy and stuck together, which made for a tangled mess, and it felt like I was battling a slimy octopus with tentacles. They were also al dente and not cooked the way they should be. The consistency of the tororo was way too thin and reminded me of paper mache. Even worse, the scallions served with the soba were frozen (Really? If you can't even provide fresh scallions please just close already).

I will say that the staff here are friendly and polite and the decor is quite nice. However, the food is subpar and prices are high. To say that I'm underwhelmed is a major understatement. Would not return!

Limited vegetarian options. On a whim, I ordered the parmesan soba noodles. (Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either.) For the $16 price tag, it was a pretty small portion. Worse, the noodles were served on a skillet tray, and the bottom layer of noodles were greasy and had a distinct fishy taste to them. Given that my order didn't contain any seafood, I have to assume they aren't fully cleaning the skillets between use. Or, perhaps if they can't get that seasoning out, they should use separate skillets for meat / seafood and vegetarian dishes.

We also ordered the blistered shishito peppers with sea salt, which were WAY too spicy for me. My friend loved them though.

Service was ok, they were overly aggressive and explanatory about the dishes, which is fine since they're located in Midtown and probably get a lot of tourists who are unfamiliar with their cuisine.

What a pleasant surprise!

I've walked by here countless times, but never felt obliged to come in for one reason or another. However, after eating a mad greasy meal at Totto Ramen for lunch, the thought of a refreshing cold soba meal on a hot evening really appealed to me.

The place is sort of like a time warp back into the 80's. This joint reminds me of an old Japanese restaurant I used to frequent 20-30 years ago. The place is clean, the service is decent and the restaurant has a relaxing vibe. The only drawback is the overall decor simply feels dated and the bathrooms (while clean) are also old.

In terms of the food, I was pleased with my order. I decided to get the Tenzaru Soba (essentially it's cold soba with a side of tempura) and it was a solid choice. The noodles were fresh and the texture was just right. The tempura was fluffy and not particularly greasy, which is what I expected from a place that charges you $24 bucks for the aforementioned dish. My only compliant would be that the portions are fairly small relatively to the price you pay. However, since this place has its own buckwheat farm in Canada, I guess we're paying a premium for that.

All in all I'd come back here again, even if the price is a bit hefty. The food is good and I felt very relaxed dining in this Japanese time capsule of a restaurant. Just be warned, if you're coming here hungry - plan on ordering more than less.

Great hot soba noodles. Not salty at all! The chicken is very high quality too. The seaweed salad comes with a few different kinds of seaweed, all very different, but very yummy!

Highly recommend this spot!

Our experience here was mixed - through it was no fault of the restaurant. Based on the reviews we thought this would be the perfect restaurant for our group with varied dietary needs.

But when I asked our server about sashimi he said, "I'm sorry, we don't serve sashimi here. When another diner asked about fresh tofu he said, "I'm sorry, the only tofu we have is the fried tofu in our soba salad.

Those issues aside the soba was quite good - both cold (Tenzaru & Nameko) and hot in soup. The salmon teriyaki came with carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and bean sprouts and was fine - nothing special but nothing wrong either.

Stopped in for lunch with clients and ordered the sashimi.

Came with possibly the best miso soup I have had in a very long time. The soup was flavorful and rich with just the right amount of scallions, seaweed and tofu.

The salad was also very good as it was obviously a homemade sesame dressing and not the usual bottled ginger dressing.

The sashimi was fresh and came with a nice assortment; tuna, salmon, yellow tail, sea scallops, octopus, squid and fluke. All were perfectly cut and very tasty.

Service was attentive and accommodating.

Only drawback is they are very expensive for what you get. I understand it is midtown but the prices did not see in line with other sushi restaurants in the area.

Nothing says summer quite like tenzaru soba.

However, paying $26 for it seems a little excessive, even if the buckwheat for the noodles is grown on an especially fantastic farm in Canada (I figure it has to be given the photos featuring it all over the restaurant.) Don't get me wrong, these noodles were good just not sure if they were $26 good.

And the decor? Not particularly inviting.

I will always be a fan of Soba Nippon, as was the late Michael Jackson.*

The story of this is typed up by the owner of the restaurant like a 4th grade book report, complete with a picture of the couple who own the place with the King of Pop circa the aviators and drum major get up, his hey day.

So thats gives you some insight into how long this place has been around. And no they have not really upped the decor in any ways since the early 90s. I like it that way honestly.

Right off the bat, DO NOT COME HERE FOR SUSHI.

Its overpriced and not of competitive quality. I come here for one thing, S O B A !!!

I am in love with Soba. I am in love with the story of how this place acquires their Soba. I am a bit sad that the story is not on the menu but merely framed on a wall near the bathroom.

Here goes it: Once long ago in 1980 something.... two magical things were happening simultaneously. The first, I was being born, the second, in a far away land a grain of buckwheat was being graded at the national expo in Japan. This buckwheat strain won top prize that year! It was purchased in a bulk lot and brought to a serene farm in eastern Canada. Happy in its new home this buckwheat grain flourished and grew tall and sun drenched in the sweet crisp Canadian air. Next the buckwheat was brought to the big city of NYC where it was made into the finest soba noodles. Crispy ones, cold ones, hot ones in broth! You name it this soba was trying it out in the big apple.

That is the story of the Soba Nippon buckwheat in my own words.

Get the Beef Soba Salad! It is amazing. Multi-textural, savory, cold, crunchy, chewy, slurpy, salty, sea-weedy, thinly shaved beefy goodness.

Dropping in today for a healthy fix, post holiday gorging, I was pleased to discover that they have more affordable lunch specials of their soba salads. They offered their lunch specials in both (S) and (L) sizes as well as with or without meats starting as low as $8.00. Just finished up the Chicken Soba Salad small for $11 ish. Happy to report that I feel full but not gross. Cannot wait to try them all

The extra dressing is the love that brings it all together (make sure to mix it well through your salad and soba noodles).... yummo.

Wish I could give them one last star but alas the prices are sky high.

* Billy Jean may not be my lover, but that prize winning buckwheat grain sure is.

Everyone's a critic - and so am I
---------
So I was entertaining some out-of-town friends on fifth avenue, and one was hungry. This place was close enough, and the reviews were mezza mezza, so I figured, can't be that bad, right?

WRONG.

Summary of dishes ordered:
Sushi 7 piece - average. Nothing spectacular. Completely overpriced ($25)

Curry soba - MSG laden. The chicken breast was very dry. The noodles were clearly not hand drawn.

Chicken teriyaki soba - slightly better (ie, the chicken was not leather consistency)

"Beef lovers" shabu shabu. $26 for 4 paper thin slices of prime rib (less than 1/4 of an average thickness steak). The broth was Heavily sweetened.

This cost a c note.

Will not be back. And I should have known better, Yelp or no Yelp.

I wish I could give 0 stars.

The owner or manager here is a complete asshole. Extremely bad attitude, no sense of customer service.

The food also taste really bland. There are much better places where you get better soba and Japanese food in NY.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE.