Soupa3 Noodle Bar & Soupakase - Orlando FL

By Melanie Courcy | May 31, 2022

For this week's New Restaurant Tuesday, we ventured toward UCF to find some eats. Once again, our initial destination was closed, but this time we had a backup plan. We ended up at Soupa3 Noodle Bar & Soupakase near University and Rouse Rd.

The Digs

As soon as we pulled up, we knew we would need to return with our son and niece, since this place is decorated inside and out with anime! Demon Slayer is displayed by the front door, fabulous murals on the walls greet guests upon entry, and there isn't a space in the place that isn't covered in the likes of Dragon Ball Z, The Last Airbender, and even a little bit of the UCF Knights mixed in!!

There are two large self-service screens to order from that are very easy to use. Once your order is placed, just take a seat and relax as you wait for your food to arrive. I saw 7-8 tables that looked to seat about 4 people each, and one long table - perhaps a community table or for large parties. There was a cooler that had bottled drinks, as well as a soda fountain where you could get soda or water. That same area had plastic utensils, napkins, and to go containers for taking home leftovers.

The Service

With the exception of your meal being delivered, this seemed to be a mostly self-serve restaurant. There was little interaction with the staff, but it seems to work since the place is so well laid out. Everything was easy to find without consulting with anyone.

The Tastebud Delights

The large menu has a wide variety of items to choose from, such as sushi, stir fry, donburi, maki, dumplings, and pho, They even have a create your own section to select your own type of broth, noodles, and toppings. There is also a drink menu with items like Thai Tea, Taro Milk Tea, Ramune (Japanese Soda), and many more options.

At some point, I want to come back and try their Soupakase, which is a dining experience that includes a 12-17 course meal. Reservations are needed for this dining experience. However, for today's meal, we opted for a much smaller variety, including a couple of appetizers and meals.

The appetizers we tried were Krab Rangoons and Shrimp Dumplings. The outside of the Krab Rangoon was light and crispy, while the inside was creamy and warm. The filling was a bit sweet to my taste, but good texture overall.

My favorite of the two was the Shrimp Dumplings. We ordered them fried, and they were just the right consistency with a bit of a crisp to the exterior and soft in the middle. The flavor was slightly sweet (this time to my liking) with a little tang. I would definitely order them again.

The hubby ordered Unagi Don from the Donburi section of the menu. This dish is Unagi (EEL) with cucumber and eel sauce. It's served over a bed of rice with wakame salad, cucumber, and avocado. My husband really enjoyed the combination of flavors in this dish. He thought the eel was good, even though I found it to be a bit fatty.

I went with the make your own soup option with vegetable broth, rice noodles (pho), tofu, vegetables, and fish balls. What's a fish ball you ask?

Good question - I'm still not sure. According to Google, they are rounded meat balls made from fish paste. It was fried on the outside with the consistency of a mushroom on the inside, which made for an interesting bite. They didn't have much flavor, but the texture made them fun to eat. The broth itself was a little bland, but with cilantro and veggies mixed in, I enjoyed the flavor of this dish as a whole. It definitely hit the spot!

The Takeaway

The main attraction of this place is definitely the art filled atmosphere. It seems like a cool place for young adults to hang out, and it definitely tipped a helmet to the UCF theme. Overall, the food was good, but it's the atmosphere that has me wanting to return. It would make for a very long blog if I posted pics of all the amazing things to see here, so you will just have to check it out for yourself!