The Sophian

Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Features

Although you'll never stumble upon it by accident, SooRa Restaurant has been serving a steady base of customers who have found their way to the Roundhouse Plaza.

Quite frankly, I'm not so sure why. The service is barely existant, there's an odd smell hanging around, the staff doesn't appear all that perky, and most importantly, the food is as memorable as Paris Hilton's credibility. Granted, it's not the worst restaurant experience, but I would hardly recommend SooRa to fellow students.

Having alleviated our homesickness somewhat, my overseas friends and I were craving some Korean food. We heard that a husband-and-wife team ran the Northampton restaurant, and the roughly 10-minute walk seemed appealing. In keeping with the Asian-influenced exterior, the interior was adorned with a Habachi grill, Korean barbecue rooms and chopsticks laid ready on the tables.

Traditionally, Korean restaurants serve you small appetizers called "Banchan" regardless of your order, usually shared at the table. Unfortunately, the small Banchan dishes - the spicy cabbage Kimchi, marinated bean sprouts, cubed potatoes dressed with a sweet glaze, a green seaweed salad with sesame seeds and tiny sweet black beans - were the most impressive part of our meal. SooRa failed to even serve us any Banchan until we had asked, and they were less than generous about providing refills.

Collectively, the seven of us ordered Fried Spicy Baby Octopus, Bibim Bap, a classic Korean mix of rice, beef, vegetables, egg and red chili paste; Al Bap, an assortment of fish, eggs and vegetables on rice; Boo Dae Chi Gae, a Korean stew with noodles, pork, vegetables and red pepper sauce; and Bulgogi, marinated slices of beef and onions. On print, all of these entrees made our mouths water, but by the end of the meal, our tastebuds were left disappointed.

There's no disputing that the food was served promptly, but how the two most common Korean rice recipes lacked freshness and overwhelmed the consumer with a dry, bland taste is still a mystery I long to investigate. The octopus wasn't that fresh-tasting either, leaning towards the overly-salty side. The stew fell short as well, and proved too spicy for most of us. The seared bulgogi was decent, but can you really go wrong with barbecued beef and caramelized onions?

If you find yourself in need of motherly, attentive service that takes care of your every need, this is not the place to go.  During the course of our dinner, the waitress neglected to approach our table even once without having been signaled for assistance. It might as well have been self-serve.  At the end of our unsatisfying Soora encounter, Korean native Anne Kim '13 said, "If I'm really craving Korean food, I'll eat it. But, it doesn't really taste like true Korean food. Half of the menu fails to taste like real, homemade Korean food."

If you're looking to try Korean food and are willing to look past the poor service, strange smell, and less-than-stellar food, SooRa Restaurant is the option for you.

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