SOMI Vietnamese Bistro

Outstanding!!! Very authentic Vietnamese food and delicious! It’s definitely worth checking out! Located in the heart of Sugar House and easy to find. I’ll go back… That’s for sure!

I am not a huge fan of Phở, but this place definitely has a variety of options of you are someone like myself that isn’t a big fan of soup. The SOMI rice dish is recommended which includes grilled pork and chicken. Prices are reasonable and the service was top notch. I also enjoyed the location being walking distance to so many other places in Sugar House.

Didn’t expect to run into such a good phở place in SLC. It’s as good as the good ones in L.A.

I grabbed dinner here with friends the other night and had an overall good experience. It wasn’t at all busy when we walked in, and we got fast service.
The décor is nice and modern, although it was too brightly lit for a nice dinner. The vibe was more fast food than decadence.
We ate:
— The somi wings were truly spectacular, and even though they were tiny wings 8 pieces were served instead of the advertised 6.
— The skinless shrimp rolls were tasty but the portion was tiny — 2 small lettuce leaves. Maybe this is good if you’re on a diet, but it didn’t bode well for sharing.
— The somi vermicelli was mostly good, but the chicken in the dish tasted really off to me.
— The peking duck was tasty, but overly salted. It took a really long time for it to be carved after it was presented even though there weren’t a ton of other people in the restaurant. I wouldn’t order it again.
There are still some kinks being worked out.
— The waiter couldn’t recommend a wine because he didn’t drink. If you’re charging $ 10 – 12 for a glass, that’s unacceptable.
— The peking duck was presented before being carved. The freshly fried duck was put on a bare plate and almost got DROPPED multiple times on it’s way to and from the kitchen.
I may try this place again for lunch but I’m not clamoring to go back for dinner. In summary, it seems like this place is trying to be fancier than the location and clientele are expecting. If they dropped their prices a bit, and worked on different plating/​portions I’m sure they’d be better off in the long term.

It is really hard for me to write a review for Vietnamese restaurants because I always compare the food to my mom’s home cooking and what I grew up on. Because of this I have a pretty bad bias to Vietnamese food.
The restaurant is a cute one. It is nicely decorated and is a welcoming environment. The service was fine; everyone was nice. The food was not as flavorful as I thought it would be. I ordered the spicy lemongrass beef noodle soup and it was pretty bland. This soup is supposed to be full of flavor and spicy! Neither of those points were hit on this dish. My sister ordered crabmeat noodle soup, and this one was better, but again (in comparison to my mom’s) still was lacking some flavor.
Prices were too high here. I can go to another Vietnamese restaurant where the prices wouldn’t be as high. Maybe I have to try other things on the menu, but I have a hard time paying some of these prices. For convenience (because I live in the Sugarhouse area) I may be back, but not my favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Our service from walking in the door to leaving the restaurant was sub-​par. The hostess was flustered because there were no open tables. The wait for a table was not long, but once we were seated, it took 10 minutes before we were approached by a server. Our drinks took another 20 minutes to arrive (long enough that we thought they had forgotten to submit our order).
I am giving 3 stars because once the drinks and food arrived, it was delicious! I ordered the Thai One On – a cocktail of rum and Thai iced tea. Genius and delightful. The beef carpaccio was amazing, and so were our entrees.
I would have ordered a second drink, but because the server was mostly absent and because it took so long to get the first one, I didn’t want to bother. When we finished eating, it took another 15 minutes for our table to be bussed, and another several minutes after that before our server appeared so that we could request our check. Normally, we’d look at a dessert menu, but it was nearly 9pm by the time we requested our check. We arrived just after 7!
I want this restaurant to be successful, as the food was great, and it is close to my house. However, if the service remains poor, it will be difficult for me to return and for me to recommend to friends. Please figure out your staffing and flow so that you can capitalize on increased sales per table and turn tables over efficiently.

I had really been looking forward to trying this place out and to be honest, I left feeling pretty underwhelmed. Our services was really friendly but pretty slow. The group I went with got a couple of appetizers to share and we each got a vermicelli noodle bowl. The flavor and quality was good, but for the price and the wait time, there are other places that are just as good. Fun vibe, and we got right in on a Friday night without a reservation (also not sure if they take reservations?).

I had the phở and wing appetizer. The phở broth was decent but not the best available in SLC. The meat was very tender and good quality, however for the price it was lacking in amount of meat. They barely gave any bean sprouts too, and bean sprouts are dirt cheap, so why be so stingy?
The wings were good and tasty. I’m glad I tried this place but will never return. It’s too expensive for what it is. The trendy atmosphere doesn’t justify the high prices. The service was good and friendly.

The pork was lean and char grilled the way I like it, and the rice had great texture and flavor. The veggies were crisp and fresh. The egg rolls were light and well fried. I didn’t like the nuac mam though, too sour. I have not tried any other their other dishes. It’s definitely not the same as my favorite hole in the wall authentic Viet restaurants, but as a contemporary bistro it left me satisfied.

It’s expensive than other phở restaurant; The restaurant phở price is usually 9~10, But the restaurant’s price is 10~12.
Taste is ok, not bad, but I can not say it’s very good, because some other phở restaurants taste better with lower price.
Inside of the restaurant, looks very good and clean.

We came here for a date night last week and loved it! When we came in the owner, Michael, was super friendly, welcoming, and eager to please.
The décor was great and, quite frankly, felt like the kind of chic artsy décor not often spotted in Salt Lake.
The food itself was also really yummy. We had the bao sliders and the short rib over rice, both great. I had the Somi Cosmo to drink and was quite pleased.
As for the price, it hits a great middle ground that has been missing in Salt Lake – somewhere between casual and expensive. For people that are saying that this place is on the pricy side, I have to disagree. For one, much of the menu hovers around $ 10 – 15 (I’m talking about the phở, vermicelli, and rice plates), which is about the same as many other places around town. They do have some plates that are in the $ 20 – 30 range, which we didn’t try; these are dishes like oxtail, rack of lamb, and duck, not unreasonable for what you are ordering.
We really enjoyed it and will definitely be coming back!

Ooh the hype of an upscale Vietnamese bistro. so why 3 stars? I’m being generous. I should give you two and a half but that’s not an option.
Help me understand why this place charges 3x more than other establishments that make the same quality of food if not BETTER?
Skinless spring rolls– where is the dipping sauce? Peanut sauce? Fish sauce? The rolls need that extra flavor and all you can give me is a confused look when I ask for sauce and then end up giving me chili sauce? Hmm. Not a fan.
Crispy spring rolls– why must you come with a puddle of oil? If I need to pat down my food before I eat it, it’s not a good sign.
Phở– yo! Why do you have to be stingy with the condiments? Phở restaurants will have the hoisen sauce and sriracha out so you can garnish your bowl with the amount you’d like but that’s not the case here. They give you a teeny tiny dipping bowl which is so small it wouldn’t make a difference in flavor if you put the entire thing in your phở. The veggies for the phở are also small portioned. If you ask for more chili sauce or any other condiment they look at you like you just ran over their dog, and laughed.
I get that you are trying to be «fancy» SOMI so maybe to you, leaving condiments on the table doesn’t fit your taste but don’t be stingy with ingredients, after all– you are over charging people so if I want an extra squeeze of hoisen sauce or side of dipping sauce with my food– that shouldn’t be an issue.
Look Unilocalers, it’s modern décor, new and trendy so come if you feel so inclined but at any other Vietnamese restaurant you will get the SAME if not BETTER quality for half the price. 2 spring rolls for 8 bucks? Are you kidding me? You get 4 spring rolls for 5 bucks at Asia palace, phở Saigon and Thai this. AND they actually give you endless condiments ;)
Will I come here again? Probably not. Your mediocre ingredients, stingy staff and longgggg wait times for food to be prepared even when we’re the only ones in there just isn’t worth my money or time. I don’t mind spending money on food but if you’re going to charge me that much then your food needs to make me orgasm and make my pallet sing.
If I can make it at home and buy ingredients at the Asian market for 10 bucks and you are charging me 30 bucks for an entrée… Houston we have a problem!

We came here on a Friday night after yoga.
Somi smells great when you first walk inside. It’s not over-​powering like a Korean BBQ place, not that there’s anything wrong with that either. If a place is cooking food, then it should smell like that food, that’s actually a good thing.
The décor is clean, simple & modern. I didn’t notice any Vietnamese art on the walls. It would be nice if they had practical coat hangers near diners’ seats. I love the way Tsunami’s booths have coat hangers on the booth partitions.
Fancy chopsticks = Pro Level Only. That’s probably the first thing you’ll notice when you sit down. While they look great & have a good weight to them, the crux of all fancy chopsticks is that they’re slippery. No bueno for beginners. Ironically, the cheap balsa wood chopsticks are better for beginners because they don’t have a slick, plastic finish.
Our server was very genuine & friendly, almost on par with cruise ship servers. Except, he did screw up our bill & charged us $ 2 for a soda we didn’t order. We didn’t want to waste time dealing with it, so we let it go this time. Plus, we were there past closing time.
They have a good menu selection with common Vietnamese dishes as well as a few uncommon ones. In particular, I was excited to see that they served Bun Bo Hue!
Our group also tried their phở, chicken wings, eggrolls, pork belly bun, Vietnamese savory crêpe & Thai tea. I didn’t try the phở but heard it was good. Chicken wings were cooked well, no pink meat on the inside & the sauce was good. The eggrolls were good as well & made with rice paper, so it should be «gluten friendly» but I don’t remember it being labeled on the menu as Gluten-​Free. I didn’t try the pork belly bun but heard that was good.
The Vietnamese savory crepes were disappointing. The crêpe itself was too thick & subsequently, soggy & not crispy. The plate it’s served in is pretty but not functional. It’s too small to pour the nuoc mam over to eat from, works better in a big bowl or plate. The other option is to lettuce wrap chunks of crêpe but there’s not enough lettuce for that & the nuoc mam container is too small to dip in. The presentation just doesn’t make sense?
Their Thai Tea is artificial Thai Tea. Natural, organic Thai Tea DOES NOT turn orange when you mix in the half & half. The orange color comes from cheap, artificial Thai Tea that contains food coloring. Natural, organic Thai Tea has a natural brown color. Feel free to google that.
My Bun Bo Hue looked good but not authentic, which is actually a good thing. Authentic Bun Bo Hue is served with a boiled pig’s foot as the main meat attraction. I’m not a fan of boiled pig or chicken feet because they’re mostly cartilage, fat & no flavor. The flavor usually comes from a sauce. While some people are into that I can’t imagine many in Utah are.
The Bun Bo Hue itself was rather bland & I couldn’t detect the signature flavor & aroma of Bun Bo Hue: Fermented shrimp paste.
I talked to the owner about this & he said that he dials back the main ingredient because mainstream palates here prefer bland ethnic food. He’s probably right. But, he said that the next time I come in, to ask for extra fermented shrimp paste.
Bathroom are clean, modern & not smelly. They have 2 unisex bathrooms but girls watch out for rude guys that pee on the toilet seat. What kind of adult male does this at a fancy restaurant?
Somi charges a 25−30% premium over other Vietnamese restaurants here but they are on par with Café Trang prices. What do you get for that? Top tier service, professional staff that are genuine, attentive & very friendly! We’ve only been here once, so we’ll see how consistent their service becomes.
What else do you get? Better ingredients. I can’t attest to the quality of all their ingredients but here’s what I can say:
— Bean sprouts. They meticulously trim the tan root off of every bean sprout by hand. That’s laborious & doesn’t really serve any nutritional benefit but it is attention to detail.
— Oily greasy broths. They cold skim their meat based broths to remove fat. What this means is that after they spend many hours creating a broth, they put the broth in the fridge for many more hours until all the fat rises to the top & solidifies. Then, they skim it off. The next time you have phở, check out how much fat is in the broth.
— Their vanilla bean ice cream is organic. At least, that’s what our server said. If it’s true, then their price is a good deal. We tried making our own organic ice cream & it costed us about $ 12 a pint!
Overall, Somi has a lot going for it. I wouldn’t call them the best Vietnamese in Salt Lake. I can completely understand the owner trying to play it safe & dial back the exotic ethnic flavors but that blandness can hurt you as well. Just read the other reviews on here. We’ll come back & give them another chance. If you meet the owner, then you’ll understand why.

Beautiful restaurant but the food was very disappointing.
My friend and I walked into the restaurant a little before 5PM on a Monday evening. We were immediately seated in a booth and water glasses were delivered. We ordered a pot of oolong tea to split while we decided what to order. My friend is vegetarian and the options were slim, so we asked the waiter about possible substitutes. He quickly offered the vegetarian crispy spring rolls for her and I ordered the skinless shrimp rolls.
The food was not good from beginning to end and the presentation needed work; very amateur. The vegetarian crispy spring rolls were freshly fried but arrived in a puddle of oil and without a dipping sauce. When we asked for sauce, there was none that was designated for the dish and my friend settled for some chili sauce. The two small crispy spring rolls was $ 8; very expensive for what we got. The concept of skinless shrimp rolls is poor and one bite causes the entire leaf to come apart. $ 6 is also expensive for this minimal appetizer.
I ordered the Somi Noodle Soup AKA the phở. $ 11 is definitely on the high end for a bowl of phở but can be justified through quality and quantity. The bowl was large but quality was lacking. The broth was very bland and a bit sweet; the only dominant flavor was cardamom. I had to request additional thai basil, sriracha, and hoisin because the amount that was provided was not adequate. My friend ordered the Vegetarian Vermicelli dish and left ill to her stomach. The dish looked so appealing but the taste was not on point. No sauce came with the dish, so it was pretty dry and lacking flavor. When we were wrapping up on meals, we overheard the waitress at the next table offering an appetizer special of steamed dumplings that was not offered to us; this included a vegetarian option. We felt snubbed.
The whole experience was just disappointing but I’m hopeful that the restaurant will overcome the opening struggle and focus on delivering good food at fair prices.

Somi’s food isn’t exceptional (not yet, at least), but their eager to please staff is! You can tell that they put a lot of attention into their restaurant — from the décor and high-​end table settings, to the detailed menu and how each item is prepared. They use high-​quality ingredients, do things the right way (which you can see from their open-​kitchen scheme) and take pride in the relationships they’re building with their customers.
I dined here with friends recently and we each ordered something different. The standout items were the Somi Beef Phở (came highly recommended by our server, explaining that they make their own bone broth in house) and the crispy spring rolls (I love the light-​as-​air, crisp wrappers). The chicken wings were also good, but since I prefer a crisp, crunchy skin, I will order with sauce on the side next time (as opposed to tossed in the sauce prior to plating). This might not be important to most people, but I was beyond-​impressed that they meticulously clean the bean sprouts served with their noodle soups. 99.9% of restaurants over look this, and it’s a painstaking effort that guarantees that I’ll be back to Somi again!
As a side note, we also had a delightful conversation with the proprietor of Somi during our dinner and you can tell by the way he describes their cooking processes and how he hand-​selects each ingredient for optimal results, that this is truly a labor of love.

Too long to quickly peruse? Too Long; Didn’t Read below.
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Despite being in an up-​and-​coming part of Salt Lake, in a modern gorgeous building with a very nice interior and great atmosphere… SOMI’s food is nothing special. It seems to me that they are trying to make an upscale Vietnamese restaurant, with food that doesn’t match the price nor the scene they are setting.
First off, their menu doesn’t hold a lot to desire for vegetarians. There was a total of 1 vegetarian entrée on the menu I was handed when visiting with my friend Hai-​Yen on a Monday at 430pm. Absolutely ravenous, I asked our waiter it were possible to make the spring rolls a pure veggie experience, and was told «Definitely!» I ordered veggie spring rolls as an appetizer, and Hai-​Yen went with the skinless shrimp rolls (can you think of a less desirable name for what you’re about to eat???).
For $ 8, I got two spring rolls that were cut in half to make it seem like there were more. They were EXTREMELY greasy. I actually took the damn things and wrapped them in the paper napkin that was on our table to try and reduce the amount of pure oil I was going to consume. I had to ask the waiter for something to dip the spring rolls in and went with a chili oil. After the consumption of the rolls had taken place, I looked down into the lake of oil left behind and shuttered.
Entrée wise, I ordered the only menu item I could: the Vegetarian Vermacelli noodles. Hai-​Yen went with the Somi Noodle Soup. We seemed unanimous in our decision that our entrees were not special in the least. My entrée had bland noodles, bland tofu (but at least it wasn’t greasy), and bland veggies — does a sauce NOT come with this? This should be rectified so there’s some — ANY — flavor… I ended up putting some of the chili oil from the spring rolls, as well as some soy sauce. Not ideal, but it needed some flavor. $ 10 for this bland meal is a little ridiculous as it’s something I feel I could easily make for a cheaper price. Hai-​Yen also agreed that her soup was not the best, they were stingy on the soup toppings (sprouts, lime, basil, jalapenos and sauce), it had a weird sweet flavor, and just tasted off in regards to a Vietnamese soup.
Sadly, I’d say the tea was my favorite part of the meal. We started with the Oolong, and after the first pot was finished, I asked for a refill on hot water. Our server was awesome and filled it with a new tea for us to try (the Jasmine) as the Oolong leaves were spent. The Jasmine tea was full of amazing flavor.
After we were done eating and sitting discussing our meal, as well as all of our life trials, I felt my stomach turn south, and had to run to the bathroom. It seemed my body quickly rejected what I ate. I spent the next morning after our meal contemplating if I was going to make it into work or not, because I felt just as ill.
After my stomach debacle, as we were getting ready to leave, we heard from a different waiter at the table next to ours, that there was a special of the day of vegetarian dumplings that could be STEAMED. This was something our server did not tell us about, especially after I feel I made it painfully obvious I am a meat-​less human. I’m sure he just forgot to mention it, but had I had the option, the consumption of steamed dumplings, as opposed to horribly deep-​fried and extremely greasy spring rolls, would have been ideal.
I left spending around $ 25 for my entire bill, and was very unsatisfied. The food did not wow me, and my stomach made itself clear that it did not enjoy what I put in it. I can’t imagine coming here and spending the amount of money asked for any of their «Main Dishes» ranging anywhere from $ 15-​$ 38. No way. No how.
Having recently visited other Vietnamese restaurants, and then stopping in here… there’s no way I’d return to Somi before others. Maybe they need to get their footing after a fairly recently opening… but at this point, I see better options that have not left me feeling sick afterwards.
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TL;DR:
ForMi, SoMi is more like a NoMi. Greasy and overpriced spring rolls, bland and tasteless Vegetarian Vermacelli Noodles. Stomach quickly rejected what I had consumed. All of this leads to a less than sub-​par dining experience. Gorgeous building, ambiance and interior design, but at this point in time, the food doesn’t match what the scene is setting it up to be. Tea is delish though. Make your spring rolls and entrees at home, but stop in for cute little pot of Jasmine tea… yummy!

Appetizers (somi sliders and wings) were excellent and my seafood and crispy noodles were very good. Vermicelli Noodles dishes were ok, but way better in salt lake if you look around. Service prompt and add attentive.
I would order off the main dishes next time as they were unique and good.

SoMi is SoPretty
— pretty location
— pretty décor
— pretty plates and utensils
— pretty food presentations
— pretty servers
— pretty service
SoMi is notSoYummy
— bun rieu (crabmeat noodle soup) was bland. There was no crabmeat nor there was crabmeat flavor in the broth. Traditional bun rieu has either crab or shrimp cakes, this dish had neither but instead had whole pieces of shrimp and tofu.
— banh xeo (Vietnamese savory crepes) was unusually sweet. The accompanying fish sauce was also too sweet.
— vegetarian vermicelli was okay, not much to say about this dish.
Overall impression? Upscaling Vietnamese food by charging a premium price is not a problem but having traditional Vietnamese food items that are subpar with that price tag is. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t try the other dinner main dishes but SoMi did not do SoGreat in my books.
P. s. Why are the chopsticks and soup spoons SoHeavy? Does heavy utensils make a restaurant more upscale? I feel like I’m lifting weights while eating (either that or I am just a really weak person).

Came back on Christmas eve in the evening and it looked like they were closed. We checked and they said they would serve us. A few minutes later others had came too.
We were excited to try the dinner items, and glad we did. Not too fond of their Phở from our last visit.
The good:
Rack of Lamb
Pork vermicelli noodles
Pan seared duck breast
Shaking beef
Halibut with garlic sauce
Somi sliders
Egg rolls
Chicken wings
Fried bananas with organic vanilla bean ice cream
The bad:
nothing this time around
Service was excellent as before, the server was super funny and we had a good time.
Can’t wait to return and try some other items.

Wonderful service and personal attention. Clean and sleek interior. Phở was delicious. Starters were great and fun to share. They were very accommodating for children. What’s not to love?
SOMI NOODLE SOUP ($ 11)
Chock full of high quality ribeye steak, beef flank, brisket, fall off the bone tender oxtail, and tasty meatballs. Sure there were no tendon bits but… the soup was outstanding. Possibly the best I have had in SLC. The aromatics in the broth were heavenly with top notes of anise, ginger and cinnamon. The meat in the soup was very good quality, which is a rarity in the SLC Phở scene.
CRISPY SPRING ROLLS ($ 8)
Ground pork, onions, mushrooms, taro, carrots combined together for a flavor profile reminiscent of a pâté-​like filing. No cheap fillers here. Perfectly fried crisp, but not greasy.
SKINLESS SHRIMP ROLLS ($ 6)
Shrimp, crispy pork bacon, romaine lettuce, vermicelli noodles, and chives were served «open faced» and were not really a roll. They were a little difficult to eat and fell apart during handling. They were ok but definitely not my favorite of the bunch.
SOMI SLIDERS ($ 9)
Bao bun, crispy pork bacon (think delicious pork belly not smokey breakfast bacon), scallions, and hoisin sauce are very similar to a peking duck pancake. They were delicious and easy to eat.
FRIED BANANAS AND ICE CREAM ($ 6)
Solid dessert fare of fried bannanas. The vanilla ice cream was of very high quality as well. Big hit with the kid.