The Soup Spoon

Wonderful hand crafted food of Cambodian tradition. They’re a welcome addition to ROC’s culinary diversity. The staff is warm & welcoming and is more than happy to help you make choices suited to your palate.
Great tea assorrment offering too, along with other regional drinks
I have been there several times and haven’t experienced any of the issues with the wait staff that other people have described. Anyway, just for the sheer difference of their menu you should give Soup Spoon a try!
It can be a bit hard to find it the first time as it sits back off the road a little bit. It’s on the opposite side of the street fromTexas de Brazil.& on the same side as Starbucks.

I am a faithful patron of Soup Spoon, but I must say– they struggle with good service people. I was in today at 4:30p and the waitress was kind; however the two fellows in the back cooking were absolutely immature and obnoxious. Being loud and demeaning/​picking on the waitress. I will stop attending this restaurant if I experience one more lousy staff member. Still love the food though!

Overall, my visit to The Soup Spoon was uninspiring. The restaurant is located in Collegetown between Supercuts and Yotality. The waitress was nice and seated me fairly quickly. I got their Beef Mee Ke Tang (one of their more popular dishes with the other being their ginger fish), a flat rice noodle dish similar to Beef Chow Fun (Ho Fun Rice Noddle), much too salty for my taste. The price was reasonable but definitely more expensive than a comparable order or Chow Fun. Overall, not a bad place to get food around College town but there are certainly better places in Rochester to eat.

A local treasure in a sea of chain restaurants. The menu is simple but there’s a veg option in each of the 4 or 5 food categories. The signage says they are vegan friendly so presumably lots of dishes acn be made vegan by witholding eggs. They do an amazing job with their tofu — perfectly fried cubes.
I had the veggie sandwich, which is like a portabello bahn mi. Delicious. So many flavors — sweet, spicky, pickle-​y, salty. I also sampled a noodle dish and the fried rice with tofu and pineapple. Sandwich was small but the rice and noodle dishes were huge.

The food is great if you feel like waiting hours for it. The servers are not attentive and it takes forever to get a check or a refill. I tried calling in orders for pick up thinking that would be faster but each time I went to pick up my order it wasn’t any where near close to ready and I gave them 15 minutes over the ETA the restaurant gave me… which was 25 minutes.

As a food blogger, I have never experienced such poor customer service before coming to the Soup Spoon. Five minutes after we were served our food, we were asked if we wanted boxes. I politely told our waiter, Patrick, that we were still eating and that we would like some more time to enjoy our meal. He left and then came back a few minutes later and proceeded to slam the check and boxes on our table, and tell my friend and I how «rude» we were, and to never come back to the Soup Spoon.
This is extremely unfortunate because the food here is great, but the poor service is enough to make me never come back. Sadly, I was a loyal customer who has many friends who enjoy the Soup Spoon– who will never be returning as well. You guys should really reevaluate your wait staff if you’d like to stay in business.

It’s a small restaurant hidden in the back of chipotle. The food was delicious and fresh. I like their Cambodian loco moco. It’s a twist from the Hawaiian loco moco. Their hot sauce replaces the gravy was very good. The rice cook just right. I would come back to try other dishes.

Today was my 10^th visit in about 2 months for lunch and 1 for dinner. My partner works nearby and it has been a quick and delicious place for some Cambodia Kuy Teav (noodle soup). The food has been lovely, but the past 3 times they’ve been out of the Vegetarian Broth. The last time we were there, the server came back appx 15 min after we placed our lunch order, and told us they were out of Veggie Broth, what else would we like to order (15 min of our hour lunch has passed) We order something else. 45 min after we sat down, our food comes, and the manager brings us boxes, knowing we had to leave. The server, when our original order was not available, put our replacement order at the bottom of the orders, as if we had just gotten there. After complaint to the manager, we were offered a few bucks off the bill. Today, we arrived upon opening, and were the only people there. 10 min after we place our order, the server comes back: No Veggie Broth again. We order something else. 35 mins after we sat down, still the ONLY people in the entire place, our food comes. Our server has left the building (same guy as last time) and we ate a few bites and put the rest in To-​Go boxes. No discount today.
Why have lunch specials if you can’t get them out in time for people to get back to work in an hour’s time? Today was probably our last visit.
Too bad. The food has always been yummy.

The soup spoon has a nice atmosphere they can cater to vegetarians and gluten-​free people. The service was great and a good first date place.
I would recommend their teas and specialty soups.
Especially if you like hot food that is spicy they have a special hot oil which will leave remembering this place the next day.

I’ve been to this place a handful of times and for the most part the food/​service has been good.
The last two times I’ve been there the service has been lack luster and the wait time to get our food has been ridiculous!

The last time we stopped in. The place was empty but we were told we had to wait for seating. Another customer came in after us and was seated right away.
No mention of reservations being needed either. Disappointing, especially after our earlier experiences here.

The service was excellent (adorable young trendy dark haired man with long painted fingernails waited on us).
The ambiance was pleasant and comfortable.
The ginger lime tea was positively the best tea I have ever had. Luscious steamy goodness.
The prices seemed reasonable.
We were excited to see the plethora of vegetarian and gluten free options — good job, guys!
However, the food fell flat and we longed for flavor.
For appetizer we had the Veggie Spring Rolls and they came out almost immediately. With one bite however it was obvious they were not freshly made. Likely from the day before and refrigerated, and the texture left us no doubt. They were not bad, and that sauces they were pared with were very pleasant. But if I wanted fresh spring rolls make the day before and poorly refrigerated, I’d get them at the airport kiosk.
Then we both had the Ginger Fish. It was fine, but nothing to write home about. There was some good flavor there that was far too subtle and the sear wasn’t crispy, it was kind of soggy.
There is enough good stuff going on here where we will return and simply order differently.

Nice place, not big but not too small with nice atmosphere. I was really excited when the softly played music was, The Ramones, Cure, the Police and Blind Melon… for someone who loves 70s-​90s alt music I was kinda digging this place.
Service started out ok, they got us drinks. They have a good selection of loose leaf teas. I got the Blueberry Rooibus, My wife got a Olong and our friend got the Jasmin Olong, we were all very happy with our choices. Our other friend just had water.
They took our order for appetizers and main dishes. For appetizers my wife ordered shrimp spring rolls, and edamame, I ordered the Veggie spring rolls and our friends ordered the Cambodian Fried Chicken to share. We shall start with the best and work our way down. The Cambodian Fried Chicken was battered chicken wings that was served with a side of siracha. They were $!#!ing awesome! The batter was light and had a great seasoning that was so good I felt slightly guilty adding the siracha. If there is anything you have to order it’s this. The Edamame that mife wife ordered, im her words spicy pods of delicousness. My veggie spring rolls were served with a spicy orange sauce and a peanut sauce. They were good, veggies were fresh and crisp. Not a whole lot of flavor without the sauces though. My wife echoed this sentiment with her shrimp spring rolls.
Now this is the one part that dropped this place from a 5 star to a 4 for me. The server walked by our table more than 4 times without asking if we wanted any more water and they didn’t even think about clearing plates for our appetizers. They finally took some… less than half of them. It was to the point we had to move some plates so he could place our main dishes and even left a few after we started our main dishes (picked them up about 10 min later).
Ok to the main event, three of us ordered variations of Cambodian soup. Our other friend ordered Chicken curry with rice. The cambodian soup is a close cousin Phõ served with sides of lemon, bean sprouts, Jalapeño and cilantro. I got mine with beef broth (other option is veggie) and steak. I added the sides and tossed in a few squirts of siracha after tasting the broth without them. The broth and noodles were very flavorful and didn’t need any of the sides but they added some complexity to it. I was was very pleased.
Our friend who ordered the Chicken Curry is from India and he said it was very good. So I’m thinking if someone from India thinks it’s good… it’s good.
Again the dishes sat there while we talked for a good amount of time even after our bill was put on the table. Not once were we asked if we needed water and I had to go the bar to get a box for my Wife’s leftover edamame… which she forgot on the table… Doh!
So the music and the food saved the day from mediocre service.

This is a really cute, inexpensive place to get lunch or dinner. The menu is pretty small, with mostly noodle soups and rice dishes. The service was a little slow, but the food was delicious.

I enjoy the feel and menu offerings at this restaurant but the flavors and execution of dishes is lacking. I do wonder how the other location ranks in comparison and my be into the idea of trying it out.
I remember enjoying the bahn mi and the tea selections the most and would recommend this place for that reason.
I have tried other dishes but they were not memorable and I wouldn’t go back for them.
I love that this is one of the few locally owned shops that came into college town and ideally would like to support their family owned business. But in practice, despite my proximity to it I do not find myself going back.

This place seems to be a perfect combination of flavours you find familiar and tastes that are adventurous and unknown. For example, I had the special Coconut Pineapple Pork Basil Fried Rice. It was gorgeous and a delightful combination of a crunchy fried rice but with accents of different spices. The selection is very inspired. A fun place for those looking to explore or those looking for tried and true favourites.

Whoa, that edamame! I’ve eaten at The Soup Spoon a few times and have overall enjoyed the food and experience there. Wait staff is attentive and friendly and the space feels nice, though it is on the small side. They have a very large selection of teas to choose from and you can get them either hot or iced, nice on a hot summer day. I’ve had the Lok Lak (beef entrée) and Num pang steak (sandwich), both of which were good, though nothing really special. The edamame that started the meal both times was excellent with a sauce (kind of like teriyaki) that was really great. Prices are pretty good here and there’s never a wait (though that always makes me worry that they might not be doing well!). It’s nice to have a less traditional place in the college town area, I’ll definitely be enjoying The Soup Spoon again!

Glad I finally tried this place.
Wouldn’t return solely for the food, as there are not many vegetarian-​friendly options. Of the 3 sandwiches on the menu, only 1 is veggie– and it’s kind of small for $ 6.50. There are more veggie options in the appetizers section, but I’m not coming here for edamame. Veggie rolls, maybe.
Their selection of teas, however, definitely warrants a return visit! I tried the peppermint roobios and it was delicious. Totally worth the $ 3.
Very quiet on a Saturday afternoon at 12pm– I quickly sat myself, perused the menu, ordered, ate, and paid in under 40 minutes (sat at the bar).
Staff is GREAT– very professional and accommodating (they knew I was on a time limit) and made every effort to help me. Space is very clean. Brightly lit (lots of window light).
Solid 3 stars.

A drunk server can make the evening that much more enjoyable.
One late night, my family decided to pop in for a quick bite at the Soup Spoon. A relative had shared the story about the restaurant during my last trip home and the chilly weather proved perfect for some brothy noms.
It was a little closer to closing time and the one server there apparently had a little to drink before the last hour and provided entertainment throughout, including hilarious descriptions of the dishes with pseudo-​interpretative dance. We wanted to try a bit of everything and ordered the Ginger Fish, Cambodian Loko Moko, Somlar Machou Sachko, Somlar Machou Yune, and plain broth with noodles.
Starting with the soups, the noodle and broth reminded me of a milder phở. The beef flavor was tasty, although I prefer its stronger-​flavored cousin. The Somlar Machou Yune was oddly my favorite. The sourness paired with light seafood and pineapple made it a great pairing with rice. I pour spoon after spoon onto my rice and let it soak it up. The Somlar Machou Sachko was a little more basic and a stark contrast to the Yune.
The ginger fish was pretty mediocre. I understand the value of the dish, but I didn’t think the flavors were mind blowing. The fish was also a little tough because of the breading. The Cambodian Loko Moko was the biggest disappointment. The description was a little confusing (ground beef AND hamburger?), and the dish was just as heavy as we had predicted. The lack of exciting flavors and denseness made it hard to finish.
All in all, I kinda wish Soup Spoon was near my office, as a helping of their soups on a cold wintery day would be exactly what I would crave.

I really wanted to like Soup Spoon, but I just couldn’t get over the dish I ordered. Maybe it’s too traditional of a Cambodian dish for me. I ordered the Lok Lak which consists of marinated beef cubes over a bed of Romaine lettuce, sliced cucumber and tomatoes served with a lime pepper dressing.
I expected some veggies, but not that much. The Lok Lak being more of a salad wasn’t the real issue though. I enjoy a light and healthy meal once in a while. It’s just that the beef cubes were rather bland. I tasted some pepper and onion in the gravy, but not much else. To be honest, it reminded me of a frozen dinner beef.
The lemon pepper sauce was the saving grace. It served as a good accompaniment to the greens and the beef. The sourness takes some getting used to, but it really adds that missing element to the beef. Overall, not a bad dish, just not my favorite. I feel the beef should be the shining star of the dish. However, the focus is on the lemon pepper sauce and greens in this Lok Lak.
Judging by the stellar reviews and restaurant traffic, I feel like I just ordered incorrectly. The service and ambiance were pleasant. I’ll definitely be back to try their other dishes. The ginger fish and their spin on the Hawaiian loco moco sound delicious!