Help the dramatic food critic complete his restaurant review by choosing the correct phrase.

The soup was terribly cold, and the main course was ___ disaster that I almost cried into my napkin.

The correct answer is such a.

We use such a (or such an) before a singular countable noun (like "disaster"), even when there is an adjective in front of it.

• So is used directly before adjectives or adverbs without a noun (e.g., "The soup was so cold").

• Such (without "a") is used before plural or uncountable nouns.