У этого соуса слишком резкий вкус.

Russian often expresses possession with the pattern:

у + genitive + something is/exists

So У этого соуса слишком резкий вкус literally works like:

At this sauce, there is too sharp a taste

A more natural English equivalent is This sauce has too sharp a taste.

Russian often prefers this structure instead of using a verb like to have.

Because у requires the genitive case.

• этот соус = nominative
• этого соуса = genitive

Both words change:

• этот → этого
• соус → соуса

So after у, you need у этого соуса.

In this kind of possession sentence, the thing being possessed is usually in the nominative:

• У меня есть книга = I have a book
• У этого соуса слишком резкий вкус = This sauce has too sharp a taste

Here, вкус is the thing that the sauce has, so it stays in the nominative singular.

Резкий has a broad meaning: sharp, harsh, strong, abrupt, depending on context.

With вкус, it usually means something like:

• too sharp
• too harsh
• too strong
• sometimes too pungent

So резкий вкус is not about literal physical sharpness. It describes a taste that feels unpleasantly strong or aggressive.

Слишком means too or excessively.

It modifies the adjective резкий:

• резкий = sharp/harsh
• слишком резкий = too sharp/too harsh

So the sentence is saying the taste is not just sharp, but more sharp than is desirable.

Both are possible, but they sound a little different in emphasis.

• У этого соуса слишком резкий вкус is the neutral, natural order.
• У этого соуса вкус слишком резкий puts a little more focus on too sharp as the comment about the taste.

Russian word order is flexible, but it is not random. It often changes what is being emphasized rather than changing the basic meaning.

Russian usually does not use a present-tense verb meaning has in this structure.

Compare:

• У меня есть книга = I have a book
• У этого соуса слишком резкий вкус = This sauce has too sharp a taste

In present tense, есть is often omitted when the meaning is clear, especially in descriptive statements like this one.

So the sentence without есть is completely normal.

Yes, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• Этот соус слишком резкий = This sauce is too sharp/harsh
• У этого соуса слишком резкий вкус = This sauce has too sharp a taste

The original sentence is a bit more specific because it explicitly talks about the taste.
The shorter version is common too, especially in conversation, if the context makes it obvious you mean flavor.

Yes, that is also natural.

• Этот соус слишком резкий на вкус = This sauce is too sharp in taste
• У этого соуса слишком резкий вкус = This sauce has too sharp a taste

These are close in meaning. The version with вкус sounds slightly more noun-based and descriptive; the version with на вкус sounds a little more like a direct judgment of how it tastes.

It is still the demonstrative this, but in the genitive case.

The base form is:

• masculine nominative: этот

After у, it changes to:

• masculine/neuter genitive: этого

So этого соуса means of this sauce, or more naturally here, this sauce in the у + genitive possession structure.

It is singular.

• соус = sauce
• соуса = of sauce / of the sauce / of this sauce

Here it is genitive singular because of у.

The plural nominative would be соусы, and the plural genitive would be соусов.

The stress is:

У э́того со́уса сли́шком ре́зкий вкус.

A rough pronunciation guide:

oo EH-tə-və SO-u-sa SLEESH-kəm RYES-kee fkoos

A few useful notes:

• этого is pronounced more like э́тава, not exactly as spelled
• слишком has stress on the first syllable
• резкий has stress on ре́-
• вкус is a one-syllable word, so the stress is naturally there

It is quite neutral and natural. You could use it in everyday speech, food reviews, or more careful description.

It is not especially slangy or especially formal.
It sounds like a normal way to comment on a food's flavor.