Sojibo

Disappointing noodles with slow service.
It is now clear to me why the restaurant was ghostly empty when I came in.

Of all the spots to eat on Sawtelle, somehow, i ended up here, at a relatively empty restaurant, where the host was Japanese, but the cooks… well, they were speaking Spanish!
Lets play it safe and order small. Smart move. Wont be back. The host dude was super chill and very friendly and the prices were fair. I have nothing else to say about this spot! Sweep the floor?!

It’s really 3 ½ stars. My friend and I were craving ramen which we realized poses a challenge since we both don’t eat pork. We stumbled in here because they had signs like «healthy noodles» out front. The restaurant was about half full (all tables but one were full and the bar was completely empty). And unlike the other restaurants on Sawtelle, there was no wait and we were able to sit right away. They had only one server who was very friendly.
We took the remaining table and saw a sign on the table encouraging us to check in on Unilocal,Facebook, etc but then we realized… where were we? There was no signage anywhere, not even a logo on their menu. So the waiter let us know that we were at Sojibo, yay! And then because we checked in on Unilocal we get a free appetizer, yay again!
We each ordered the curry soup with chicken with udon noodles which was delicious. Very flavorful and filling. But we realized… where’s our free appetizer? Our server apologized and then brought out the chicken kaarage but then left it there saying he had to get the dipping sauce. Now fellow Unilocalers, we read here while we waited that we needed to try this dish only with the sauce so we waited… it just didn’t make sense to us to leave the main part of the dish out while waiting for a sauce but so be it. But let me say, it was worth the wait. That was some tasty fried chicken indeed!
So it’s really 4 stars for the food but 3 stars for the poor marketing and service because although he was nice our server was slow.
Would definitely go back though. It was yummy.

The presentation of the food was beautiful, but I was not impressed. I ordered the veggie cold soba but it tasted like something I could have made at home. The broth was good, and my favorite part of the dish was the japanese root (the white and slimy kind) bc I love that stuff. I also tried the free chicken appetizer that came with a check-​in on Unilocal.It was very oily and I didn’t like the mayo sauce it came with. Overall, I think this place is mehhhh. I guess it’s worth a try if you like soba and you’re in the neighorhood…

Solid place for noodles. The curry udon was pretty tasty. I think they use standard frozen udon so it’s not particularly special but it hits the spot. They have hh til 7 which is nice. The free karaage with check in was freshly fried dark meat — yum.

Yummy

I have to admit I’ve been avoiding Sojibo because of the meh reviews on Unilocal,but I finally stopped by for lunch one weekend and it was actually not bad at all! I’d return, especially during their happy hour.
I got the assorted tempura and soba combo — soba was good and the noodles were the right firmness. Tempura was pretty good (they gave some HUGE vegetable slices), but I think the batter could use more seasoning; it was slightly more on the side of bland.
Bf got the curry soba, which he said was pretty good! And we also got the kaarage (fried chicken) appetizer for free with Unilocal check-​in. The kaarage didn’t look so good when it arrived at the table since it came with a mushy-​looking mixture of some grated daikon and sauce in a dish. The fried chicken by itself looked really dry. But! The necessary key is to dip the chicken in the daikon mixture and suddenly it’ll become quite tasty. :)
Parking, as with most of Sawtelle, is street parking only. Residential parking is OK too!

On busy friday night we decided to eat here at Sojibo as this place was not as busy like the other restaurant. There was no waiting.
Orders:
Oden– it was cook so well it soak all the flavor
The Kushiage veg– This dish was okay, i can skip it next time
Hot Kake Soba– The broth was perfect, it was not greasy and flavorable
Katsudon– This dish was okay, The katus was not crunchy, the egg was not too runny and the sauce that was over the rice wasn’t overly sweet so it didn’t over power the whole dish.
service:
the service were quick and very attentive
Will be back to try the cold soba

I really wanted to like this place because I’m all about supporting Japanese business in Little Osaka, but it just totally sucked.
1. They didn’t honor the Unilocal check-​in offer because it was for dinner only, which it didn’t state in the offer.
2. The waitress didn’t even know what karaage was and had to ask the manager in a terrible accent, «They want car-​uh-​gee. What is that.»
3. 15 min after we ordered soba, they tell us that they are out of soba. Really? You run a soba and udon house, and you run out of soba?
Fail

I’ve eaten here twice – once during their opening weekend, and again about a month ago. I feel like I’ve had a variety of the items on their menu both times; I also came to eat here at both dinner and lunch, respectively. I really try to support the restaurants that branch out from Japan to the States… but this restaurant, after both visits, was just okay.
The service was over-​attentive the first time and barely there the second time – and it wasn’t just our table of six, I saw other tables waiting forever for their food as well. Perhaps this is an issue with the kitchen and not with the servers, but I think it would be in good taste for the servers to explain why cold soba noodles have a 20 – 25 minute wait. (Just a suggestion from one former server to current ones.) Maybe it’s because we were sitting outside on the patio? Or there was a shortage of servers? I think the primary reason it frustrated me was because we almost missed our metered time – from start to finish, the lunch took us over an hour and a half. Most of that involved waiting.
I make it a point to not rate a place based on its service and solely on its food, however, and I was left feeling satisfied after eating here – but not impressed. The duck soba was just okay; the duck’s fat had rendered off and the meat was tough, overcooked and cold on top of the soba. The oden was pretty tasty, with some offerings that you wouldn’t find at just any restaurant (looking at you, konnyaku and chicken tendons) – but I think they’re overpriced for the amount that you’re getting. The zaru soba (cold soba with dipping sauce) was up to snuff, but wasn’t markedly better than the zaru soba served at Sanuki Sandou (in the Mitsuwa Marketplace on Venice and Centinela) – and Sanuki Sandou is cheaper, to boot.
The prices for lunch are more reasonable than dinner, and the ambiance inside of the restaurant is standard for Sawtelle Japanese restaurants (open kitchen, noisy but comfortable and well-​kept).
TL;DR: A solid (but not outstanding) restaurant in Little Osaka that serves decent soba, udon, and oden. Maybe eating inside will be better for service than outdoors?

Came in with a friend at 6:30 on a weeknight so the place was empty. We ordered a lot of food, but they were out of almost everything we wanted to order! We were able to get their duck breast which I found was sort of tough, chewy, and very fatty. However, Toro over rice was simple yet delicious. Chicken Kushiage and Veggie Croquette were really good.
I can see potential in this place, but Orris left such a lasting impression on me that I hope it does well…

Meh. Went for dinner with my boyfriend and Sojibo was OK. Since Mishima closed down, we’ve been trying to look for a new casual soba joint to go to… and figured we could make this our new spot. Personally, I thought the soba was tasty, but my boyfriend (the soba aficionado) hated it. The portions were way too small for him, and he left the restaurant practically starving. We walked over to Slicetruck (next door) afterwards, and he bought himself a slice of pizza. But I digress…
The restaurant itself looked pretty empty, and the servers were OK. My waitress spilled some of my Calpico drink on me… which wasn’t smooth, but whatever… sh*t happens. Honestly, I probably won’t be coming to Sojibo again… and it’s unfortunate that we cannot make this our new go-​to soba spot. We were kind of looking forward to this place.

Free appetizer Fridays! Get a free $ 3 appetizer with purchase of alcoholic drink. Yummy
–Revision 4-​29-​2013:
Tonight was my second visit to Sojibo. The first time here, we had a pretty good experience, the food was good and all.
This time, the food was still good but something was going on today that made me a little less enthusiastic about the place. The four of us sat down at the bar as there wasn’t a table available for 4 at the time (the place is quite small and can seat maybe 20 people maximum).
When the waitress came to take our order, she explained that they were «backed up» and that our food might take longer than usual. For a restaurant this small, that’s a bit difficult to comprehend. None of us was particularly starving or in a hurry so we didn’t make a big deal of it.
Someone wanted to add chicken to their hot soba. Or substitute chicken for the pork in the curry soba. No can do, said the waitress. Something about them being franchised. I didn’t understand.
One of us ordered a rice dish. About 10 minutes later, the waitress comes back and apologizes that they couldn’t make the dish because they had run out of rice. I repeat, THEY HAD RUN OUT OF RICE. Now, I can understand if a restaurant runs out of a menu special item due to low inventory of a seasonal or special ingredient that they might not always have, but for a Japanese restaurant to run out of rice? That is just plain ridiculous.
Anyway, maybe the restaurant got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but tonight was not this place’s shining moment. Hopefully things are different the next time I decide to go to Sojibo, because if they’re not, they might lose an enthusiastic customer…

Heard there was a new soba spot in town. Head to deal with the usual Sawtelle parking situation (parking meters). Started off with some appetizers and a chu-​hi. Appetizers are exactly what an appetizer should be, small and tasty. We had the wasabi octopus and (something) squid. The squid appetizer had quite a kick of flavor, prefered it over the wasabi octopus. Through the night I only ordered 2 chu-​his, the calpico and lychee flavor. Didn’t really enjoy the calpico but found the lychee chu-​hi to be addciting. I had the spicy beef cold soba as my entrée. I tried to keep it simple so I could really focus on the home made soba. I really enjoyed my entrée, noodles were excellent.
***AS OF LAST NIGHT 2/​19/​2013*** a check-​in on Unilocal gets you a free soba refill (depending on your soba order) or an order of kara age. Kara age at the venue was probably the best kara age I’ve ever had. The dipping sauce was executed with perfection. So definitely pull those smart phones out and check-​in.

Homemade soba here, lots of sake options too.
I was surprised this place was not busier since it’s a new establishment. I suspect they didn’t do much promoting the grand opening, and I only found out about it as I spotted it while driving by.
Service was excellent.
I ordered the cold soba with pieces of duck in dipping sauce ($ 12). It was tasty, and the duck pieces were very tender and well flavored. However, I liked my friend’s dish better. He got the hot curry soba which is just slightly spicy. I think that was around $ 9. The portions are normal sized, so I would recommend ordering an appetizer if you’re hungry. The chicken karaage $ 5 (5 pieces) was the highlight of the night. The chicken was very tender and juicy. The dipping sauce it came with was phenomenal — ponzu with grated radish.
Next time I’d like to come back and try their tenzaru soba too.
Sawtelle meter/​street parking.

So this place is where Orris used to be.
It was New Years day, most of the restaurants in Sawtelle were closed so we thought we’d give this place a try.
We ordered the Oyakodon with hot noodles. The Oyakodon was tasty but the portion was tiny. The soba portion was more generous but it was very bland. We wanted to add chicken but that was not a possibility. The menu felt very limited.
Service was friendly and the price is very reasonable, specially if you like their soba.
I left most of my soba so I left hungry.

My friend raved about the handmade soba noodles, so we ordered them hot. They were definitely tasty, but I expected a bit more based upon what I had heard. But then again, maybe it was because I was stopping by after already eating a small dinner.
The bowls are your average size and priced reasonably averaging from $ 6 – 8 per bowl. But don’t expect huge portions if you’re hungry!
I’ll have to try it a second time to see if it’s any better!

Let me just start off by saying that I’ve never had soba before eating here. Also I’m vegan so my options here are unfortunately limited but the stuff that i CAN eat have been very tasty. Normally i don’t crazy about the rice but… honestly the rice here is so good i can just eat it all on its own. They said they import the rice straight from japan and its very high quality. I ordered the Zaru Soba, the basic cold soba. It came with seaweed strips that added a nice element to the dish, i couldn’t dip the soba in the cold broth it came w/​since it’s made w/​Bonito (a type of fish) flakes. I also had the Onigiri which are triangular rice cakes that’s wrapped in some sea weed paper and comes w/​kelp, pickled plum and a pickled radish. I really enjoyed that dish as well. I finished off w/​Tofu avocado… by itself it’s whatever but add the wasabi yuzu sauce to it then its bomb.
Overall this place was an enjoyable eat I only wish they had a vegetable broth to accommodate for the vegetarian/​vegan people out there. But since this place is of obvious Japanese orient I don’t suspect that Japan has many vegetarians/​vegans to accommodate. Still i think it would be nice to have those options available. I’d come back anyway since the prices are very fair and stuff is very friendly

Parking on Sawtelle sucks, let’s face it. So once I drove into my parking spot at slightly illegal speeds, I looked out the window and saw Sojibo. Another export of a Japan, so had very high expectations.
Only the 2^nd day open so they are cleary figuring things out. I would say decent but nothing special. The broth is pretty typical, nothing like a Santouka. The Tempura hot soba was poor. The Tempura was waaay under-​cooked, and the tempura was dumped into the broth so completely when it arrived as well.
The Spicy Beef cold soba was much better, really good heat level in the dipping sauce, so try that. There is better on Sawtelle so give Sojibo some time.

Traditional Japanese cuisine, focusing on Soba dishes, with oden and rice dishes as well.
The food: The star of the show, the oden, is good, but not great. We ordered the Kamo Nanban Soba… the broth and buckwheat noodles were both well done, but the toppings were limited to pieces of duck and 2 inch long pieces of green onion. The duck had some fat left to be rendered off.
The oden was fairly simple, with only five items available: daikon, egg, fish sausage, konnyaku, and chicken tendons. These items were slightly overpriced ($ 1 for a disc of daikon radish/​1 egg?).
Finally, the Kushiage (fried skewers) are battered and deep fried veggies and meats and came with a variety of sauces. The wasabi worchester and green tea salt were the experimental ones (they also have ponzu/​mayo/​etc). The wasabi worchester was good with meat, but the green tea salt was a bit too out there for us. Also, after a while the grease from the fried skewers gets a little overwhelming… wish they had more grilled items as well.
Etc: Nice, fast, friendly service. Cozy dining area, made be match the feel of a traditional Japanese restaurant (complete with employees echoing Irasshai! as you walk in).
Overall: Nice traditional Japanese restaurant, standard for Sawtelle blvd. Would go back for some soba later on. The udon has excellent noodles and both but barebones toppings. Definitely could be better if they had more/​cheaper oden items and more toppings for the soba.