SOHO Bar and Grill

My fiancé was in Middletown for a business trip so I decided to visit him. We stayed at the Marriott up the street. We were surrounded by chain restaurants but because we do not eat at chains, we decided to give Soho a try.
3 stars for ambiance and 1 star for food. I can’t help but think they have bitten a bit more off than they can chew. This place is large, sexy and entertaining. It brings up your expectations when you walk in then you are sorely disappointed when the food arrives.
I had the drink special. I could barely drink anything from it because the adornments took up majority of the glass LOL! When I would try to sip some of the drink I would get a pulp of pineapple/​orange until I finally gave up. The food was bland. The calamari was soggy and tasted like cardboard. The chicken appetizers were decent. pero chicken wings also taste good when you buy a bag from Costco and pop them in the stove.
Moving on: My fiancé ordered the baked penne dish and he couldn’t get two forks down. There was not any type of seasoning. I had the crabcakes with sweet potato fries. The crabcakes were pretty good actually. My sweet potato fries were undercooked. Nothing more disappointing than expecting to bite into a crispy thing but find yourself biting into a clunk of in-​between cooked sweet potato.

Stopped in while traveling. First noticed a huge menu with way to many choices. Food was okay based on what we ordered and the service was good. Nothing blew me away about it though.

Great food, big portion, very pricey!!! Just bringing my wife alone next time! $$$$$$$$$

Too many options = zero options. Never had bad wings or a bad stir fry until I went here. Two very easy (I thought) options and they were terrible. Wings were soft and rubbery and stir fry tasted bad and shrimp were not fully cooked.
Went here to get away from a chain while traveling, should have left when I saw the all over the place menu.
Only good thing were the staff… they were very nice.

Wife and I stopped for a late lunch as we were passing through. Extensive menu, no clear direction but a wide variety of options to choose from. The staff was nice. Atmosphere is a bit confusing — is it Soho chic or retro diner from the late 50’s? It’s near Christmas so the music was all holiday themed and mostly swing era interpretations of Christmas songs with an occasional modern pop hit that created an audio/​visual identity crisis — again, a bit confusing.
I asked what was on tap at the bar and the bartender told me I’d have to wait at least 15 minutes for the taps to all clear — it was almost 3pm — odd, so I got a bottle. Wife got a dirty martini and enjoyed it.
I had the French onion soup — very good. Almost too much cheese, not a ton of soggy croutons and not too salty, but just rich enough. I also had the coconut green curry steamed muscles with garlic bread. Large portion of muscles. The sauce wasn’t over seasoned and just slightly sweet with a hint of spice. In all, good. Not disappointing, not mind blowing.
Wife ordered the Greek salad. This was the King Kong of Greek salads. It came in a large mound the size of my wife’s head with wedges of pita around the perimeter on the… bowl? Plate? Not sure, hard to tell when the gravitational pull from the salad caused the earth to start rotating around it. She ate it. As I write this she is at her third location, post-​highway exit, to Jackson Pollock the toilet in the most unladylike of ways. Her stomach is a mess and she didn’t wake up this way.
Side note: there was a strange, lonely middle aged man hitting on the barely legal female staff, giving them tips unprovoked, telling each they were his favorite. At any moment I was sure Chris Hanson from Dateline was going to bust in with a camera crew.
Overall the food tasted good, but it was an odd atmosphere and a strange experience. If you are not in a rush to get anywhere for the remainder of the day after your meal — roll the dice. Though Chili’s is across the street if you want to guarantee a change of pants in your near to immediate future.

Great pizza… legit pizza, great calamari… they have great soup that accompany the lunch specials.

I went here last Wednesday, 10÷21÷15 with co-​workers after work. Although the room was a bit too dark for my taste, everything else about this place was amazing from the service to the food. I had a heavy lunch so opted for an appetizer and a Corona. I had the ahi tuna slightly seared with mango-​lime salsa. Both were amazing. Off the chart good! There were only four small ¹⁄₈ inch of tuna so by no means is it filling. My bill was $ 16 for one bear and that appetizer so not cheap. The others ordered nachos which were shared and we so delicious and HUGE. Jenn also got tamales and she said they were good but gritty. Zach had the steak in au jus sauce. Jenny had a hamburger with a cooked egg on it which she said was very good. I can’t wait to go back and try so many of their other yummy meals.

The food was pretty good. Bread-​addictive and wonderful. Service fine.
What was unbearable was the Christian music played at high volume. I would never have entered the door had I known that I would be subjected to Christian rock.
Just no.

Would not recommend.
Despite speaking with the manager months in advance about our wedding after-​party, Soho decided to close early at 1:30. Worst part was the attitude of the main bartender, especially the way he spoke to my wife and myself on our wedding night.
I however would recommend the TGIF across the street, where we had a great time at the following night.

Went there for a party in the private room. We had about 30 people there and had gotten the package where there was family style appetizers. Not only was there barely any food for everyone but the bowls that they did bring out were so small. For a long table seating 10 they’d bring out 1 platter or 1 tiny bowl and place it in the center. By the time one end of the table took meager servings, the other end had none. They should have at least placed 2 bowls of each food on each end. Besides the ridiculous rationing of the food, the room was sweltering with no air circulation whatsoever. The restaurant part was nice and cool but guess they didn’t feel like turning the air on in the party room. Would not recommend this place to ever have a party at!

Place was very accommodating and staff was very friendly and food was great. Soho was very clean both at the table and the bathrooms as well. Our waitress was great and the French onion soup was Amazing along with the skirt steak which was cooked to perfection. I would definitely go back and would recommend it to anyone. If I ever go back to the area I will definitely stop in for another round of food and very well made drinks which were on point. Way to go Soho!!! Keep up the good work!

Fried Calamari is great. Came here with a very large group and was accommodated immediately. Live music was a big plus.

Food was good. Staff horrible I think the waitress was on drugs. Manager was rude saying «you people» a lot and I know what that translation means…

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad customer service. We had reservations for the Father’s Day brunch, we arrived for our seating and we were told there wasn’t room. Ummm, ok. So I asked when we would be seated the next. The hostess told me «Since you didn’t have a reservation, come back at 1:30»
But we had a reservation. At 11am. So I asked to br seated at 1130. She told me that wasn’t going to be possible. Fantastic!
So we left. I gathered from our casual dress and everyone else’s dressy get up we didn’t fit into their restaurant. Sorry, on a Sunday, we only dress up for church. We’re not going out to eat with a toddler in our finest attire.
Definitely won’t be coming back here for anything. We headed over to Nina’s for their brunch with no issues. Soho, your hostess doesn’t have the mostess and she is a terrible person to have up front welcoming customers.

Do not order drinks off the bar menu! We ordered 2 margaritas and they were both completely different. One had to be a tequila sunrise. I think the real bartender must have went home and they had the hostess make our second round of drinks. Also the «martini specials» are $ 12 and they have very Lowe alcohol.

Steak salad was good. Giant portion. I ordered the steak medium rare and it was cooked medium. The steak needs a little seasoning. Service was great. Others has pastrami burger which looked great.

I have eaten here a few times. Every time is a good experience. I live about 10 minutes away. I’ve had fish, steak, steamers. All the food was very good. It was flavored nicely without too much butter or spice and there was a decent amount of vegetables. The martinis are sugary, but I like that. They are not too sweet. The ambience is not small and cozy. The ambience is more open and modern and bright and lively. The staff is attentive. It’s a nice place to go with friends and have a «party atmosphere».

I really like this place. Their menu has a lot of variety. From salads to pasta’s to steaks’to seafood/​sushi. I had some clams and a steak for my dinner and it was good. The inside is very pleasant and clean.

On a locally-​comparative level, this restaurant is decent. On an objective level, it’d probably be a 2.5−3. The chicken noodle soup was like warm water with salt and some fat noodles and celery… unimpressive. My veggie wrap was surprisingly decent with some random assortment of peppers, maybe zucchini, etc., but a bit flimsy. The sweet potato fries were hot and almost crisp enough.
I’d return only because the fare nearby is weaker and Chili’s gets old fast.

So, the SoHo Bar & Grill use to be the Blue Martini. It has open space and duality in décor themes. Nice components & fixtures but they don’t all integrate harmoniously. One section has an Asian inspired look while another has a resort dining room feel. The bar & sushi area work together well but then when you add the other areas and the indoor/​outdoor patio is it a fail. The indoor/​outdoor patios look like a sunroom in someone’s home.
Next, let’s talk about the menu. It’s a laminated glossy, falling a part, marketing/​branding faux pas. It looks & feels like a diner menu. I think the owners of this place wanted to appeal to another clientele but they missed the mark in some respects. They need a more polished, progressive image to cater to the crowd they want to attract.
I had the Hummus Red Pepper & Olive appetizer & and endive salad. Only good things to say. It was filling and I love all things olives. I’m biased. The wheat pita triangles were awesome and delissssh.
After watching lots of Food Network shows, I have to say this restaurant has a confusion in identity. The menu consists of sushi, burgers, pizza, steaks, seafood and pastas. So, I ask what is its specialty. No one restaurant can be great at everything and it’s confusing when you have way too many selections.
The place has potential but it definitely needs to tweak a few things to make it 5 starts.