Soho City Center — Attraction in Bella Vista

Soho Mall was originally set-up as an upscale shopping and dining center. This, my first visit there, wasn't for shopping; instead, it was to participate in a Japanese gastronomic festival. Having spent a cumulative of six months in Japan on business trips, I had become an avid lover of Japanese food.

First, the Mall: I was stunned by the low level of people-traffic for a Saturday afternoon; then, I noticed that there was a low occupancy rate of rented space. Also, although the interior was built with expensive materials, the interior ambience was more akin to that of a mausoleum than to a commercial center bent on attracting potential shoppers. All of this did force me to recollect about the Mall's owner's problems with the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) which forced the owner to rollover the Mall's administration into a fiduciary administered by a local bank; this rollover allowed OFAC to lift its restriction of US citizens and US based companies from doing business with the Mall and its owner. NOTE: Presently, a legal suit for more than US$1 billion, filed by the owner against that fiduciary bank, is making its way through Panama's fragile and chaotic judiciary system.

Second, these are my assessments of the Japanese gastronomic festival: a) Very limited offer of main dishes; thus, I settled for two types of ramen soups accompanied with a dry white wine which was chilled at home and preserved at 60°F in a lunch kit with a loaded "therapeutic" ice bag. 😊 b) A wide and interesting assortment of desserts; however, I am not a big dessert person. c) Tables were not provided for eating; thus, along with other participants, I sat on the floor of a passage way that connects two sections of the Mall. d) I was hoping to buy a few bags of high-quality Japanese green tea but none was on sale. e) The planning for people-flow within the food-sale and sake-beer area was disorganized and even dangerous (only one 10-foot entering and leaving section for an area that handled a substantial number of people during the course of the Festival).

In summary, having traveled over 60 miles from Colon City, for me this was a wasted day. Nevertheless, I invite you to enjoy a few of my images that were captured at...

This was one of the best sushi places that I have been to. The rolls were very large, one of the largest I have had. The fish was GREAT quality which is always a plus and there was a variety of different food. The menu was cool to look through. It was in the form of a magazine. I didn't expect that much just because it was in a mall which was very empty at the time we arrived but I was happily surprised.

We had the salmon sushi pizza, then two large rolls, Pad Thai, and a soup. It was plenty of food and all of the rolls were fantastic. The food was all really good and we were able to sit in the section outside. The weather was perfect and the views of the city were fantastic. We went Sunday night so it felt like we were the only ones there beside another table that was far away. They had seats at the bar, indoors, outdoors, and had lounge chairs to suit anyones needs.

The place was a little tough to find in the mall as its located on the 2nd floor and it was slightly tough to find from the car park. There was parking located downstairs and I'm assuming you have to pay to park, however the machines were broken when we came so we didn't...

The place looks nice and the sushi is quite good. However pad Thai is not good at all. Good prices.

Update: Recently, I went to a salsa event supposedly, at the Venue which is like a room for musical activities inside the mall. I was disappointed to see that the life music that was going to start at 8:00p.m. didn't happen. I left passed midnight and not orquesta music at all. Hopefully they had finally played on the 14th but the ad didn't say it. Another disappointing thing was that my friend and I asked for a table. One of the waiters said that it was $10. We said fine and asked for two drinks. When he came with the drinks and the bill, we paid for the drinks with card. Then the waiter said that the table had to be paid through yappy or with cash. My friend said that he could only pay with card and that he wanted the receipt. The waiter said he would come back with a machine so we could pay for it (he already had a device to make the payment) but he never went back to us. Why didn't he include the table in the bill with the drinks? I don't know but to me it was like an...