Soho is the product of the lengthy renovation of what was a sequence of Irish bars into a modern singles bar and nightclub, under related ownership with Aqua. The space is opened up to about five dining areas. The menu is enormous and all over the map. Since the core concept is still modern Irish, the safest dishes are probably clam chowder, fish and chips, and shepherd’s pie. But, like a great many such places, there are also burgers, quesadillas, fried seafood, steaks, salads, and Asian-influenced appetizers. Some of these are good, with even a few novel twists, while others fall short. The management has already realized that this menu is too large to be executed well, or even for diners to parse quickly, so they have removed about half the hamburger options and several French dishes, simplified the desserts, and added seafood choices. Even so, there’s a lot to take in, along with 14 distracting TV screens, including one in each bathroom.

One of the good ideas is five-spice calamari ($6.95), which borrows both spice and hot-sweet mustard dip from Chinese-American spareribs. I think associating fried squid with spareribs is a lot of fun. I also liked the "jumbo crab cakes" ($8.95), although they were actually about average in size. The problem with crab cakes is how to preserve the meaty flavor while holding them together. Soho’s answer is to use thick breading, and to press them into a somewhat taller, narrower cylindrical shape. Contrasting the meaty inside with a bready crust is very effective. The side slaw of shredded jicama in a sweet mango sauce is less effective, because the sauce doesn’t mask the cardboard flavor of jicama, a crunchy root typically used in spicy Malaysian or Indonesian sauces.

Seared PEI mussels ($7.95) really aren’t seared at all, but steamed. In fact, my order came under-steamed, and I asked to have it heated up another minute. The good idea here is to put them in a sauce of chopped jalapeño peppers and tomato thickened with, I think, a little coconut milk. The weakness was two mussels that didn’t open and one bad one in a large bowl of small, tasty (if typical of summer mussels) shellfish. It comes topped with a gratuitous piece of garlic toast.

Boston salad ($7.95) is a little pricey, but still a fine platter of Bibb lettuce, with some radicchio and endive, in a truly sweet raspberry vinaigrette. "Rocket 6" ($5.95) is a plentiful arugula salad, with gorgonzola, pecans, and unfortunately pink plum tomatoes, in a white balsamic dressing.

My favorite entrée was seared sea scallops ($14.95), seven nice ones, cooked through as well as seared, with a nice crust. The center of the platter is a mound of terrific green mashed potatoes with perhaps a little chive flavor. The scallops rest in a moat of "corn sauce" that tastes like a buttery corn chowder. Grilled vegetable risotto ($13.95) is a credible try, although it really should be called grilled vegetables on risotto. The risotto part has a little crunch and considerable creaminess. It’s bright yellow, but tastes more like butter and onions than saffron. The veggies are just thin strips of zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, and peppers. A side dish of seasonal vegetables ($2) brought steamed baby carrots, under-steamed broccoli, and green beans. A good buy if you skip the salads.

Two tries at beef entrées suggested that you should under-call doneness when you order. The New York strip steak ($16.95), ordered medium-rare, came medium-well. The steak tips ($12.95), ordered medium-rare, came medium. Both were tasty beef, with some edge to the steak, if only for its accompanying skin-on French fries. The tips were marinated, but probably in something close to a bottled steak sauce, and came with a dull coleslaw and undercooked black beans. We’re now calling undercooked restaurant beans "gringo beans," whether their surroundings are Mediterranean, Latin American, or US regional. Gringo beans are worse than pink tomatoes and easier to avoid; just keep the pot on the stove. The beans were fine in a dish of cassoulet ($13.95), which has since been taken off the menu.

The suitable drinks are draft beers and ales, or Magner’s cider ($3.75), which complement the food. Wines by the glass are large pours in medium glasses. Camelot 2000 sauvignon blanc ($6 glass/$24 bottle) has a good, grassy nose but is poured too cold. Blackstone 2000 merlot ($7/$28), which could use a slight chill, is a somewhat generic soft red. On our second visit, the merlot had gone off a little. As we were early diners, I think we caught the end of an unfinished bottle from the previous night, in a hot spell. Memo to bartenders: you can refrigerate leftover red wine, you can smell it before serving, or you can hope that it gets served to a shy customer who won’t send it back rather than to a restaurant critic. It’s your choice.

Desserts are now all served with ice cream. Either this is a summer dessert menu, or the owners decided that dating-bar desserts are always made of ice cream (as are many of the drinks). The terrine of mango and strawberry sorbets ($5) is a best buy, since you actually get two large slices of sorbet, banded with clearly flavored strawberry and mango. The hot chocolate-fudge cake ($5) is actually an intense hot chocolate cake, not much flour involved, with a scoop of excellent vanilla. The millionaire shortbread ($5) is a couple of shortbread triangles with a lot of caramel, so the flavor is akin to the filling of a pecan pie. They come in a dish of strawberry ice cream.

The room is pleasantly open, and has café windows that open onto Market Street, with a not-especially-grand view of passing traffic. There is some nice modern art on the walls between the TV screens, but the feeling on two early-evening visits was one of eating before disco, as though the tables would be stacked up later. An advantage of coming early is that there isn’t as much noise as one might expect. The sheer size of the room means that food is not always hot at the table, but the servers are friendly and helpful, and this makes Soho a very workable restaurant for families with teenagers. I can imagine large groups of singles showing up later in the evening, and for them the overlong menu will be ideal.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com