Soul

Marv has been wanting to try out this place for months now, but each time he goes, it’s closed!  So we decided to give it another attempt, this time with Marvs sister and it was open!  I think she brings good luck lol  🙂  I actually very much enjoy it when she joins us, now if only she would join us more often lol 🙂

Soul Robata & Izakaya
8580 Alexandra Rd #1015, Richmond BC
Tel#:  (604) 279-8580

Parking in the lot is terrible once it gets busy.  There doesn’t seem to be enough parking for all the restaurants in the plaza.  There was no one else in the place we were dining at, so I wonder which restaurant everyone flocked to??  Anyways, onto our dinner!

The interior is quite dimly lit, so the pictures are a tad on the darker side.  I find that it resembles a Guu-like feel to it.  I guess all izakayas/tapas places are similar in this aspect.

We decided to start off with the Kakisu – raw oysters.  Marvs sister found that it was fresh and dressed nicely with a hint of shallot & red sauce.  Marv found it to be awesomely fresh! lol 🙂  As good as any of the $3.50/pc that he had at Joe Fortes!  Wow, must’ve been good!

We also ordered the Spider Roll.  This was very tasty!  The pieces were quite big and had a nice amount of good quality crab.  We all thoroughly enjoyed this yummy dish.  Great choice! 🙂   I also wanted to try out the Tako Yaki. This was really well presented(although you can’t really tell from the picture lol)  It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  It did get a bit soggy once we let it sit for awhile, so it’s best to eat this right away 🙂

Above left is the Lamb Sashi. This was hands down d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.  Marvs sister will never go back to beef sashimi! heehee!  I think this phrase is catching on! 🙂  Marv found it to have a tangy sauce.  Above right was the Kinmedai.  We were a bit disappointed in this one.  Originally we had wanted toro like usual, but they only had a small list of fish available for the day.  I wonder which day has Toro.

Marv decided to order the Cheesy Crab Roll shown on the above left.  This was delicious!  There was just the right amount of cheese proportioned to the crab.  Marvs sister and I agreed that it didn’t make you feel sick after eating a couple of these, like it normally would had there been an abundance of cheese.  The above right is the Nankotsu Karaage – Deep Fried Cartilages.  This was given a thumbs down from Marvs sis and I’d have to agree!  This was crunchy but just ok.

The picture of the Agedashi Tofu made us want to order it.  As soon as it hit the table, they were both quick to save the bottom pieces from becoming soggy in the sauce.  I had actually never even thought of that, learned something new! 🙂  This was the softest tofu we’ve ever tasted with a bit of a crunch.   The above right is the Creamy Mentaiko Udon.  This was fried udon with spicy cod roe.  This was a bit of a miss.  We found it to be too dry/no sauce.

Once the food was gone, Marv and his sister decided to have some more raw oysters.  We could hear them crushing the ice each time we ordered a round of these, it’s nice to know they don’t just reuse it 🙂  Overall, I’d say this place would rank well with other izakayas.  Of course there were some thumbs down dishes, but I think you’d hardly notice the difference after a few rounds of sake 😉

Post by Colleen