Sophon — Restaurant in Seattle

First time last Saturday evening. Walked in to a great ambiance and very cool little spot. Service is outstanding, all the staff we interacted with were fabulous all evening. Ordered one cocktail for the two of us, which was great.

I'll get right to it, the food. Starter was their mushroom/veggie. The mushroom/veggie itself was AMAZING, great flavor and really delicious. There's something about the way they garnish the veggies around the plate. I don't know what else could be done, it just seemed to lack creativity maybe? Basic cut veggies in a circle just seemed off a bit.

Then came the mains, oh my goodness what a shame. We ordered the Eggplant dish and the Pork Belly dish. I'll start with the bad and get to the really bad.

The Eggplant dish is this gigantic mound of "stuff" on top of some eggplant in the middle. We love eggplant of all sorts but this missed the mark. The way it was cooked didn't seem to showcase the eggplant for us nor did we really enjoy the flavor profile of the dish overall. I'd give it a 5 out of 10. Quantity over quality for sure.

The Pork Belly, wow what a terrible dish, at least mine was. When it showed up I noticed it was probably 99% fat with a tiny skimming of meat at the top. I'm not kidding about the 99% fat. My take on food at any restaurant, let alone one being given such accolades with recent writings, is OK they know what they're doing so therefore I should eat what they serve. My first thought was, dude you can't and shouldn't eat this huge amount of fat but that's what you were given so you need to try it. After all, as stated, they're the experts. The flavor was really fantastic, all the while I'm saying to myself, what in the world are you doing dummy, you shouldn't be eating this much fat. Not only fat but really gelatinous fat, really-really terrible fat.

If this was a pound of Pork-Belly (for instance) I bet there was an ounce of meat on the two Pork-Belly pieces I was given. That meat was amazing but I started getting ill after eating half of the first belly-fat. My stomach started telling me what my brain had been telling me for the last 20 minutes.

I just couldn't take anymore and left a huge glob of fat on the plate. Even though I said server and staff was great, there was no acknowledgement of the large deposit left on the plate. I'm always surprised (not really I guess) that when large portions of dinners are left on plates, servers don't ask about that. They just take the plate back and leave it at that.

Sure, I could've discussed this with our server and mentioned this but it was so obvious to me when the plate was served (the huge globs of fat) I knew the only option would be to remake it and bring a new one. That's not an option for me, at that point you've let me down and I don't want to risk another bad plate along with the time it takes. I'm not willing to sit around waiting for your replacement if you can't see what you're serving the first time isn't great quality.

We couldn't even consider a desert after that. I was feeling queasy in my stomach and my wife wasn't feeling hunky-dory either.

Now to the better part. Sure enough, I was up most of the night in the bathroom (and shower) thank you very much. Actually all of the night. And while not nearly as bad, my wife made her way also. I did give her some of my Pork-Belly.

We wanted to love this place and walking in wanted to make it one of our new go-to places. We really love the ambiance there and the staff. But this food is really not only expensive for what you get, but the quality is not what we'd expect. Especially based on the writings it's been given recently. Which by the way based on other reviews I will never trust again. You all know who you are.

Please go to Sophon but be very aware that you just have to understand the food situation. Also, had I paid more attention to the reviews I may have skipped anyway. Too many great places in this area to risk a bad experience.

By the way, the crack sauce is some of the best food I've ever eaten. I would eat a gallon of...

Update- I can’t reply to the owner here so maybe they will se my update. I will admit that my strong words might not be the best for starting a conversation, but it was an honest review of very underwhelming service and food while seeing all the positive reviews. I am also saddened that the restaurant owner is so wrapped up in their dream and mission (which everyone should have and work to defend) that they fail to acknowledge that the experience didn’t deliver. Would be great if you spent more time reviewing your own process and service quality than writing a lengthy response that accuses the customer for having poor taste. My life is great thanks for your concern. Yikes! I feel very bamboozled by the good reviews. I think the restaurant really haven't figured out if it wants to be fine dining (if so elevate your food and experience) or a mom and pop eatery (if so lower the price and increase your serving portion). By no means is morning glory, mango salad or fried chicken considered rare delicacies on their own. I would especially highlight the 15 dollar morning glory dish, the serving size of this dish was just pathetic! (the amount of vegetable they served probably cost 30 cents) Despite the menu only mentioning morning glory, the waiter served and mentioned it is a blend of baby broccoli and morning glory. It was like 6 strands of vegetables only to begin with. Upon further investigation, we are not sure there was any morning glory in the dish at all. Are they running out of inventory and making this as an after thought? Same with the mango salad, it really is very much a thai papaya salad with a little splash of mango shred on it. Completely unoriginal and could easily get the same thing if not better at somewhere much cheaper. And the fried chicken itself was very much a Japanese kara-age done mediocre (not juicy, not crispy, very salty), with a nice dipping sauce. The dipping sauce was the only remotely refreshing thing of this meal. The service was very lukewarm and awkward, with the server not remembering the menu well (despite the menu only have 8 things on it), and serving us baby broccoli we never ordered and making us be ok with it. There was no sincerity in their offering throughout the layout, the food and the service. My partner and I both stayed pretty silent through the meal not wanting to accidentally blow the other person's mood by saying something negative, but walked out and eventually looked at each other like 'did that really just happen?' I saw the restaurant's idea and story, and very much want to support a business that's paying homage to their roots and family. But they've got to do your family proud and step up their game. Otherwise a nice story will sound like nothing more than a...

It was my first time trying Cambodian cuisine. I'm a huge fan of Vietnamese food. However, I've never tried Cambodian food before. While they are very similar, there are some very distinct differences. We found Cambodian food has more of a Thai influence like the spiciness, fermented and sour flavors, the wide use of coconut milk, to name a few.

When I first read about Sophon and it's elevated Cambodian cuisine, I immediately made a reservation and the earliest available date was 2 weeks out. They just opened and are in the soft opening phase. They have plans to open for brunch and happy hour soon.

Ambience - Dark and cozy, perfect for casual date nights. A bar area and tables around it, a huge Buddha wall art and the lounge music gives it the zen vibes. They have an outdoor patio that could get really busy in Summer!

Food & Drinks - Phenomenal! We got Brapeinei (Tradition) - a mezcal and bourbon drink and Chnner (Beach) - a more tropical flavored drink. Both were strong and nicely done and complemented the spicy food. We ordered their most popular Mushroom Khmeraage that's both vegan and GF. It was simply outstanding. So crispy and tender at the same time. The chili oil it came with was absolutely the best! The mango salad was a let down. Well, I ordered it just for the mangoes but what we got was more like a refreshing coleslaw. When the owner came by asking for feedback since they are still in the soft opening phase (which i appreciate!), we mentioned we couldn't taste the mangoes in the mango salad. That's when we learnt they are still trying to source the sour mangoes, so the salad had no mangoes in it. Hmmmmmm, knowing this at the time of ordering would have helped us try the cauliflower steak instead. For the main, we ordered the Stuffed Eggplant with a bowl of rice, Vegan & GF again! This was soooooo GOOD!! Never has anything like this before. Perfectly grilled chinese eggplants topped with soy curls, caulifower, crispy shallots, fresno chilies and all things yummy. While we were stuffed, like the eggplants, and ready to call for the check, the waitress wooed us with "Would you like mochi balls soaked in coconut milk, topped with sesame seeds and toasted coconut and drizzled with a ginger syrup?" Oh, bring it over, we said. And it was perfectly petit sized, very light, not too sweet but packed with flavors.

Service - Wonderful staff, take great pride in their food and are open to feedback.

Overall, we enjoyed our night out, loved every bite of what we ate and cannot wait to see what the brunch menu...