Soba Dining Sora Review: The Best Soba I’ve Ever Had

All PostsSan Francisco Eats
Written By Amy Suto
Traditional soba noodles like the 100% buckwheat goma zaru at Soba Dining Sora in San Francisco

I have eaten soba in Kyoto and Tokyo. I say that not to flex but to calibrate the sentence that follows: the soba at Soba Dining Sora, right across from the Japan Center in San Francisco’s Japantown, is probably the best I’ve ever had.

This is the soba place we go to the most, and the receipts agree — multiple visits, half the menu tested, zero misses. It’s airy and bright with great service, which makes it especially perfect for an early lunch, when the light through the room is doing its best work.

What to Order at Soba Dining Sora

  • Goma Zaru (cold) — made with 100% Japanese buckwheat flour: real fragrance, real chew, and naturally a gentler gluten situation, which my system appreciates. This is the one that earned the “best I’ve ever had.”
  • Kake (hot) — a clear, golden bonito broth with a Kansai-style finish; the rainy-day answer.
  • Kushi-tempura skewers — the right crunchy counterpoint.
  • The Japanese sodas — our standing side quest: yuzu soda, Calpico, Ramune, a sparkling yuzu peach. We are, per the receipts, incapable of not ordering them.

The Verdict on Soba Dining Sora

  • Best for: Early lunch in Japantown; soba purists; Japanese soda enthusiasts
  • Order: Goma zaru, kushi-tempura, and whichever soda calls to you
  • Damage: $76–$83 for a generous lunch for two
  • Where: 1731 Buchanan St, by the Japan Center (Google Maps)

Sora headlines the Japantown wing of my best restaurants in San Francisco list, alongside SOBAKATSU — and if you’re already in the neighborhood, Maruwu Seicha’s strawberry matcha is inside the Japan Center itself.

For everywhere else worth your appetite in this city, start with the best restaurants in San Francisco — every spot on it has its own receipts-backed review. Subscribe to my newsletter for new ones as the eating continues; my travel guides prove the appetite has range.