Sono Portside Wharf Review

I have no idea why T suggested going to Sono Portside Wharf Restaurant as he'd been there about half a year ago with his friend and said it wasn't that great. I guess he wanted to give it another chance and having never been before, I decided to give it a go. The word 'posh' springs tomind when I try to describe the ambience and decor of this japanese restaurant. We were seated immediately and the good thing was that there didn't seem to be a shortage of waitstaff like alot of other restaurants nowadays. T noted that there were waitstaff coming at us at all angles providing us with food and water haha! He had no intention of having more than one beer at dinner as we had a movie to see right after but upon seeing 'Sancere' on the wine list, he pounced and proceeded to get intoxicated glass by glass.

The menu was VERY extensive and again, this worried us a little. We settled on Ebi Tempura ($26), Yakitori ($15) and a large Sashimi Moriawase ($48) to share and a California hand roll ($12) and Prawn Tempura large sushi roll ($15) for me. I'll cut a long, repetitive story short - EVERYTHING was pretty mediocre. Nothing that we couldn't get from Ginga Restaurant in Southbank and for half the price too! We felt that the sashimi was B grade and not that fresh. I had to stop after a few slices. The ebi tempura and yakitori were similar to what we've had at cheaper restaurants and the sushi didn't even match up to those that are found in sushi trains!

Oh, and I almost forgot.. T ordered the Scampi Springrolls ($18) as an afterthought and they, too fit the theme of the evening of blandness, mediocrity and poor value for money (2 measly pieces!!).

For dessert, I just HAD to order the Chocolate Terrine ($17.50) to see what a japanese restaurant would come up with and also a hot chocolate, while T ordered a macchiato to try to sober up for the movie. I waited in nervous anticipation and the hot chocolate was surprisingly very good! It was very rich and chocolatey, yum.. The chocolate terrine, however.. was ghastly. Just looking at it, you knew it was going to be bad. It was poorly put together and crumbled into dry chunks of chocolate when we tried to cut into it with our spoons. It also had a bit of a weird taste.. made me wonder what kind of chocolate they used. Needless to say, we couldn't finish it. I guess it's our fault for daring to order a dessert like that in a japanese restaurant, we should've stuck with the green tea ice cream, yes?

Soo.. the verdict is: DON'T BOTHER. It's all the way out at Portside (for West-side locals like me), it's waaaaaaaaay overpriced for below-average food AND the desserts are crap. The only good things about this restaurant are the decor, the ambience and the great, ample service and let's face it, you can do better than Sono - you know it.


Rating: 4.5/10

Sono Japanese Restaurant, Portside
Level 1, Building 7, Portside Wharf
39 Hercules Street, Hamilton
Brisbane

Phone: 07 3268 7765
Website: http://www.sonorestaurant.com.au/

Closed on Mondays