Kate A.
Yelp
First off: this is primarily a sports bar. There are screens everywhere, and happy hour specials on game nights. Clientele is probably about 75% men, 90% white, and 95% people watching a game. SOHA also hosts weekly trivia, which draws a different crowd for a few hours each Wednesday night. Wait staff and bar staff are super friendly and hard-working.
The beer list is great. Plenty of craft beer, and much of it is local. The list of on-tap and bottled/canned selections is updated weekly. The beer menu is printed and distributed to tables, and also scrolls across a screen at the bar.
We're here often for a regular social gathering, so we've tried many menu items. Starting with appetizers: predictable; fried items are very greasy. The spring rolls are fried; the crispy wonton wrapping overpowers the ingredients inside. Jumbo Pretzel is ordinary; the accompanying cheese sauce is good (it comes with two sauces and we had cheese for both) but such a small amount that we finished it up less than halfway through the pretzel. Fries are very good, served hot and crispy. Wings and other "bar foods" on the appetizer menu are about as to be expected.
Salads are hit and miss. The chef salad is pretty good, with generous amounts of meat and cheese. But the tuna-topped salad is pretty boring: mostly greens and tuna, with little flavor.
Other foods are good on some days, and worse on others. Mac and cheese at SOHA is probably the worst I've ever had. They're pretty up-front about it being made with Velveeta and Doritos, and there's no flavor there. I don't know where the Doritos flavor went; this just tasted like mushy noodles in salty milk. And the "crazy corn" is cheesy and tasty sometimes, but other times is just kernels floating in a greasy mess that seems to have separated after hours on a burner. A tuna ahi dish, billed as tuna and vegetables over rice (I don't remember the name and it's not on the online menu) was just a bowl of bland white rice, a small chunk of fish, and a big pile of battered and fried broccoli and cauliflower. I did not expect the vegetables to be fried; it's really hard to eat healthy here!
Burgers are build-your-own, and the components are all fairly good. They're a bit pricey, especially if you're tempted by the suggested combinations: the Roadhouse - 5oz burger, pulled pork, soft Cheddar, onion ring, bbq sauce - will set you back over $5 just for the toppings on your $5 5oz patty.
Pizza is thin-crust, St. Louis-style. The sauce is tasty, and the cheese is not Provel, so all in all it's a safe bet. Sandwiches are decent as well.
In all, I end up here because this is where my people meet. It wouldn't be my first choice in the neighborhood. If the food coming out of the kitchen was of a more consistent quality, I'd enjoy SOHA lots more.
