text: Note I went with a group of people One is a fellow Yelper and I very much got the impression that he would give SOTE a if not So take what I say with that grain of well saltnnThe menu was difficult The menu was DIFFICULT TO READsitting on a large chalkboard on a corner of the room The menu was DIFFICULT TO DECODEthe menu items were pared down so greatly that you could have no concept of what a dish was actually like until you asked about it or ordered it Further sometimes the menu left off parts that were important to some of us like the hanger aka steak be loaded with bacon The menu was DIFFICULT TO GET INSPIRED BYeach dish had something bleh sounding in it The menu was DIFFICULT TO WORK WITHCan I get the hanger without the bacon No Can I get the halibut without the shellfish No So they do not seem to do substitutionsnnAs a result there was only one main dish on the entire list of six or seven dishes that I could eat and it did not appeal to me But that is what I got And indeed I did not love it Tofu pan fried very briefly it seemed with a dusting of something unrecognizable on top on a bed of meh sauerkraut with a few potatoes simple and good a few dollops of wholegrain mustard standard stuff and a few gherkins severely out of place Not one of the better meals I have eatenjust warm and dull with notes of sournessnnI did taste a bit of the steak part of the baconfilled hanger steak and thought it was incredible too bad I do not eat bacon I also tasted a small bite of the seitan and thought it was incredible as well too bad I did not want to eat fried glutennnThe appetizers were interestingsalmon with caviar on a bed of gelified celery and then lamb and steak tartare with something crunchypoppy in therennThe desserts like everything else here were trying a little too hard Gelified rhubarb shaved cheese over bitter marmalade etcnnThe drinks again like everything else here were trying a little too hardnnThe atmosphere was okay There are two floorsdownstairs has big benchstyle tables I never like these Upstairs has private tables We were a group of and so were put upstairs where we indeed had privacy For a while Because soon another big group came in and they were sat next to us Big groups are loud so it felt lame to put the two groups in the same room and so affect our good time their conversation drowning out ours Especially because we were there for a celebration and the other group looked to be there for the samennSo overall I just was not wowed The whole thing was trying a bit hard and it felt like often the presentation was more important to SOTE than the taste or price when most diners want good taste and price over presentation