Soban

Love the originality of an everchanging menu, looking forward to next visit at soban, friendly chef too

Oo la la (spoken with a French tone). That was what first crossed my mind after the first bite of the Soban (bulgogi roll). I believe their specialty are the various burrito-​like sushi rolls or their fried rice bowl. The sushi-​rito are large and easy to eat on the go especially when driving (not that I endorse eating and driving). It’s not messy at all and it feels healthier than a normal burrito. Please please please try it when you have a chance. There’s a Sweet and Seoul which is another favorite with eel in addition to the Dancing Shrimp which consist of tempura. I tried the gogi rice burger using only my hands but gave up after 2 bites. What you need is a bowl and a fork to eat it since the rice bun falls apart almost immediately.
Overall, a nice gem in the Pinole /​East Bay area. We don’t have enough nice places and thi
Items ordered. Stars are the one I really recommend.
2 Gogi Rice Burger
5 Sweet and Seoul (eel, tobiko, unagi CaliKorean Roll)
6 Dancing Shrimp (Shrimp tempura, spicy crab CaliKorean Roll)
7 Soban (Bulgogi CaliKorean Roll) ***
19 Bulgogi Kimchi Fried Rice ***

I’m really surprised that this place has 4 stars.
I’ve called this place once before hoping to to get «pickup»
and oddly I called an hour and half before they close (bc I’m one of those ppl that hate those last minute customers so I try to never be one) AND they didn’t answer. I called twice, checked their hours and called back and zilch — didn’t pick up.
I let that slide bc who knows? Maybe they need a day off. Everyone needs a day off.
Tonight I called again, also around 7pm and someone picked up. I was excited bc I wanted to try some of their dishes since I live so close.
This is what I wanted to order —
Disco rice with chicken. They had that
Bulgogi sandwich — nope they don’t have that anymore
Gogi rice burgers– nope they don’t have that anymore
Tofu beef soup– no they didn’t have that anymore.
FUCKIN really?? REALLY?! HOW ARE YOU STILL IN BUSINESS lol stupid
The dude who answered the phone call seemed to find it funny. I didn’t appreciate the snickering when all he kept saying «we’re out of that, and that, and that»
So I just canceled bc literally It seems like all they had to serve was the disco rice?
Their Unilocal page had hella pictures of the same 5 items .
So that didn’t help much.
It’s seemingly necessary to say that I prob won’t ever try to order from here ever again and I’ll let it be known for my peeps to beware.
It’s a disappointment bc it probably has a lot of potential BUT one thing I know about running an establishment is that if you ever want your business to be successful NEVER HIRE STUDENTS OR YOUNGINS– they don’t give a fuck about your business. They’ll only make it go down hill.
I’ll stick to koja kitchen in Berkeley. Worth the drive .
This business is NOT the one.

Great fusion Korean! The dancing shrimp is awesome! Their burritos are basically giant sushi rolls! Yum! Food is around $ 10.

Pretty much my favorite food in the Bay Area. That’s saying a lot, I know. I dream of the Dancing Shrimp roll. Affordable, healthy, and obviously made with great care. It’s a little out of my way, which is probably for the best… I might go broke eating there otherwise.

First time going there and I had the dancing shrimp. BEST DECISION EVER! I’m so happy I’ve found something other than the usual burger/​fast food chains that are all over the area.

Got my roll, cant wait to dig in! Great customer service, it was and older man and a younger guy. Very sweet Love Soban !

The food was great! It was clean, the price was affordable.
I love love love the shrimp burrito.
I am a big fan of this place. Everyone should give it a try!

I can’t think of anything like this in the immediate area. Order the Dancing Shrimp sushirito (sushi-​burrito) and just revel in its goodness. My only minor gripe is that it has imitation instead of real crab. Still tastes amazing though, and it’s big enough to share if you don’t have a huge appetite. I’m not willing to share, but I’m uncomfortably stuffed when I finish an entire one on my own.
I know the place isn’t big enough to have more seating for dining in, but it would be so nice if it did.

Two words, dancing shrimp! This Calikorean roll just got me hooked! The staff was so helpful and kind and food came out quick! This food is so good I am eating and Unilocaling at the same time! Spicy, sweet and savory all in one! I’ll be back next week!

This is one of my favorite spots. The food is great and the prices are very reasonable. The Kim Chi rice is definitely filling. As a fast food alternative this definitely beats the burger options.

Second time here. Very solid Asian fusion food.
Tried the seaweed wrapped burritos, very pleasant tasting, not really mind blowing but very solid burrito ⁷⁄₁₀
We got 2 rice bowls: the beef bulgogi with
Disco rice and the pop chicken rice bowl. Both were about 10 dollars. The beef bulgogi was well worth the price; the serving since was more than enough and was topped with a plethora amount of sauces and toppings. ⁹⁄₁₀
The spicy pop chicken bowl was a bit of a disappoint, although the chicken was very delicious, it was just served with white rice. This would be a very pleasing bowl at 6 dollars, but 9 dollars? I don’t think so.
⁹⁄₁₀ for flavor ⁵⁄₁₀ for price.
They revamped their menu, they were limited to just seaweed wrapped burrito’s but now they have included tortilla wrapped burritos. The seaweed wrapped burritos are basically large sushi rolls and the tortilla wrapped burritos are more of your traditional burrito just infused with Asian inspired protein and sauces.
The prices are pretty steep, mostly everything is 8 or more, but very satisfying and possibly the only Asian fusion in Pinole.

I like Soban. I think it’s a great addition to the Pinole area since there’s not that many Korean/​Fusion type places in the area. I’ve been here twice, I’ve dined in and an did take out. I would recommend take out just because there’s limited seating.
It seems like their menu changes quite a bit. They used to have sandwiches but not anymore. Now it seems that they have some sort of sushi burrito wrapped in a tortilla? It would be nice if they had a website with an official menu. Thankfully a fellow Unilocaler posted a picture of recent menu.
On my first visit here I dined in and ordered two of their sushi rolls. This was my first experience having a sushi burrito type thing and I liked it. I got the sweet and seoul and the dancing shrimp. Pretty pricey, totaled to over $ 20. That’s one of my major issues with Soban, it’s pricey for alright tasting food. I enjoyed my sushi burrito but halfway through, it just seemed boring to me. I think some spicy mayo would have made it more flavorful. I preferred the dancing shrimp over the sweet and seoul burrito.
For my recent take out order I got the disco rice with bulgogi beef and spicy chicken both over rice. I called in to place my order and said it would be about 10 – 15 minute. Went in after 15 minutes and the food was ready and still warm when I got home. It was nicely packaged and the food looked great. My disco rice fell over in the car so it wasn’t as pretty as some other pictures. I liked the disco rice, it was really tasty and the carrots and daikon added a nice touch to it. The beef was super flavorful. I didn’t mind paying $ 10 for this because it was delicious. I was disappointed with my spicy chicken over rice, again because it was pricey for something that was pretty boring. I liked the flavors of the spicy chicken, it was definitely spicy but $ 9 for just chicken and rice? No thanks.
The food is good, it’s a great place to try. The price is just what kills me for okay type of food. I’ll probably be back in the future to try out their rice burgers and to get their disco rice again.

Soban is a little restaurant in Pinole with unique korean fusion items centered around rice burgers and kimbap (similar to sushi rolls). First of all, it smells fantastic. My friends and I were extremely tempted to devour our food in the car before arriving back home because it smelled sooo good.
At first bite, the gogi rice burger doesn’t taste bad. Mixed with sweet and tangy sauce mixed bulgogi marinade, the flavor was good. I devoured the entire burger. The wings were cooked well and had enough flavor to satisfy me. What I didn’t like was that the rice buns were not strong enough to remain intact when I tried to pick it up like a regular burger. The rice pellets would break and the bun got destroyed. I ate the whole «burger» with a fork… Might as well call it a bulgogi with rice.
Also, the price is a little high for such a plain dish. It is literally just bulgogi (marinated beef) with rice shaped like buns (without it actually functioning like it). Charging $ 10 for this simple meal is absurd in my opinion.
Maybe I wasn’t amazed by the «rice burger» because I’ve seen it before in korea… 15 years ago. Lower the price and actually make it so I can eat it like a burger.

I really wanted to like this place because of the unique concept, but unfortunately this place falls short :(
Came in at 5PM and this tiny location was filled with 5 students who seems to be friends with the cashier. Wouldn’t have been a problem at all, but their backpacks took up the available seatings when they weren’t even using it and none of the employees said anything. It was very uncomfortable when I was standing their waiting for my food, it was as if I was intruding. I was planning to eat in but that wasn’t going to be the case.
The rice burger was broken, and the meat was dry and flavorless. Utterly disappointed by the service and food. :(

I’m stuff, the shrimp burrito hit the spot. And OMG the size of that burrito for $ 9. I’m coming back tomorrow.
I also bought the beef rice bowl. To die for. Recommend it no doubt!!!

I’m Korean, so my review is completely raw and unbiased toward Korean food
Was eager to try it out when it first opened. Ordered the dancing shrimp burrito and rice cake burger… Was dissapointed.
Food itself didn’t taste bad, however the quality of food was lacking. The rice buns were disorderly and couldn’t hold up together, and the rice to topping ratio for the sushi burrito was completely off!!! Also, did not like that every little thing has a charge — kimchi, extra side dishes?
Portion is little, quality is lackluster, staff isn’t friendly…

Ordered the Gogi burger but saw so many other yummy dishes it was hard for me to choose. My boyfriend loved every bit of it.
Only downside to the burger was the sauce on top because I’m not a fan of soy sauce and it tasted like soy sauce to me. I think if the sauce was a bit sweeter it would have tasted better to me. BUT that’s just my personal taste bud preference.
I would definitely return to try some other things!

Cali Korean food!
Small business with only about 5 seats inside so we ordered our food to go. Bulgogi kimchi fried rice was a lot spicier than expected but the flavor was good. I just it was not as salty. Spicy chicken pop came in a small container but was stuffed to the brim and was actually shareable with my family. I expected this one to be more spicy then the bulgogi kimchi fried rice but was actually not spicy at all. We also got the bulgogi rice burger. It was good but I will probably not get this again as the bulgogi kimchi fried rice was a better deal.

Sister told me they had ramen burgers here, so took a drive to fulfill that craving to no avail… No ramen burgers here, but I’m hungry and will give the rice burgers a try so I proceeded to order the Goji burger (bulgogi, pepper jack cheese, and pickled daikon radish).
Limited seating is available but they advertise themselves as a to-​go spot so I guess that makes sense. There is 1 family table good for 4 and a ledge/​bar table with 3 seats facing the window. We came just around opening so we secured a seat.
Now the reason for the 3 stars is that I was not impressed by their rice burger. Although aesthetically pleasing, there’s no way you can really eat it like a burger unless you want to get sloppy… So what’s the point? Also, ratio of meat to rice was barely enough. Might as well have ordered a rice bowl at this point. Flavor was ok, but I must give major kudos to the kimchi, which was fantastic! It really made the meal.
In retrospect, I bet my review would have been better if I had ordered the kimchi fried rice or something because the kimchi really is on point. But that didn’t happen, so maybe if I come back and try something else I’ll add a star. But until then, for $ 7, I’ll take my rice burger cravings to Koja Kitchen. #sorrynotsorry.