Chris V.
Yelp
Soho may still be so good, but Sojo is inching toward so-so.
Sojo Ramen is still owned by Chef John Chien Lee, as far as I know, and it's still in the plaza as its older sister restaurant Soho Japanese Restaurant. I figured that it was worth a revisit since ramen is still one of my top food interests and I hadn't been back seemingly in ages.
The dining room appears to be arranged in some sort of 50%-75% capacity spaced-out configuration. I had to wait a bit to get seated even though I'd arrived on an early weekday evening. Fortunately, they had a self-service station by the entrance with complimentary drinks. The lychee tea was too sweet, but the lemonade was nicely balanced. A 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of the two was enjoyable.
Another possible pandemic holdover is that they take orders online via scanned QR codes. They no longer offer the Black on Black ramen, so I went instead with the Black Garlic Tonkotsu ($12.95), which is the closest alternative. It came out very, very quickly and was quite hot.
The thin noodles (note: medium and rice are apparently also available as options) were properly al dente and the meat was tender. The broth was pretty nice but not as rich as I've had before either here or elsewhere. The included boiled egg was flavorful and not too hard, and the bamboo and nori were tasty.
A few side items are complimentary, although they erroneously brought out chili paste at first rather than the garlic paste which I requested. They corrected this after I flagged an employee down. The garlic paste was extremely potent and helped to add garlic flavor which I found to be relatively subtle in the default broth.
My appetizer of Takoyaki ($5.50, 4 pieces) actually came out after the ramen. I guess it's fine because it's piping hot to start and could use a little cooling down (but not too much). The sauces were a bit heavy-handed and the bonito flakes were not as coarsely shredded as I'd like, but the dough wasn't bad and the octopus inside was tender. It was enjoyable overall.
Sojo is a solid ramen option if you're in the immediate neighborhood, but it's no longer my favorite in town. I hope that they tweak the recipes again and reignite the magic or else it might remain an also-ran.