Sochi Saigonese Kitchen — Restaurant in Lake View Township

TLDR: DEFINITELY WELL DESERVED MICHELIN BIB. It's my new fave.

We came here for dinner on a double date and literally everything was tasty! We ordered 8 or 9 dishes (a combo of starters, salad, and mains) for the 4 of us and it was a little too much food but we still ate it ALL. burp

Definitely get the Slap Yo Mama Crab Fried Rice, the Short Rib Claypot (available on Fridays and Saturdays only), and the Spareribs!! I could've had 4 or 5 of those spareribs it was so good. The lemongrass and fish sauce marinade is finger-licking good! There's some serious umami in the crab fried rice that just makes you wanna keep eating it--and that's exactly what I did. Every bite was nice and crabby. The Short Ribs in the claypot were so tender and flavorful. The toasted baguette they give you for dunking in the broth was the perfect touch.

The egg rolls were solid but most egg rolls are. The Pho was super warming and comforting but not everyone thought it was worth the $25. (Also, Phodega is my go-to joint for copious amounts of yummy pho for less than $20.)

The service was fast and friendly and the ambience is modern minimalist chic. There are a lot of house plants which give...

Please read my experience below. As a Vietnamese person, I'd like to enjoy VietNamese authentic food and it is not easy to find a restaurant like this. Even I have tried a lot of restaurants at Argyle, Chinatown... After over 2years, finally i can find a restaurant, where makes me feel like i actually back to VietNam in a moment. This first impression is the dishes and bowls, all of them are from the most famous ceramic village in VN - BatTrang ceramic and pottery. Its such a surprising for me. I have ordered pho, shortrib claypot and a duck salad. The short rib claypot is definitely amazing. The taste, the color and the smelling, everything is exactly like what i used to have when i was in VN. If you have ever tried it in VN and love it( we call it "bò kho"), you should try it again now at Chicago. The pho is good for me. The soup is really authentic ( haha i dont know how to explain about this). I can rate 8/10 for the pho. As a difficult person, this is a pretty high score for me. Just only 1 small thing the bowl is smaller than another Vietnamese restaurants. But it also depends on how you are felling about the food. We definitely gonna...

Sochi has been wonderful since it opened in Lakeview, but part of me wonders if some of its quality has gone done since I last ate there over a year ago. I went back recently and while the food itself was good like I remembered, its service left a lot to be desired. Specifically my party had a lot to gripe about the Good Morning Vietnam cocktail. While we understood service can slow down during peak hours, we waited over 20 minutes to get this $20 drink, the most expensive on its menu. We were wondering why the drink might take longer to make but when it came out, it was literally just a shot of whiskey, a glass with ice, and a traditional Vietnamese drip coffee. To add insult to injury, we had to wait an additional 5 minutes for the coffee to finish dripping, in which time the ice had melted and left us to mix a diluted, off temperature drink. If the restaurant wants to charge $20 for a single drink, it should at least provide the illusion we are paying for quality instead of a frankly underwhelming drink and a bad taste in our mouths. I highly recommend other diners steer clear of this cocktail and order something...