So its mother's day and the whole lot of us decide, hey, lets head out for 'your typical mother's day' brunch at a good restaurant. Ajitha googled websites after websites and finally ended up at Enso's in East Lansing. Problem was, it was over an hour drive. But hey, mothers day right? The reviews sounded great and the ratings seemed pretty high. We got excited.The four women and a man (Ajitha's husband), head out on Sunday morning to this hyped place..
The outside, as you can see in the picture on the left with Susan, was part of a mediocre strip mall. But from what we've learnt with experience, don't ever judge the food by its exterior.
As we entered, the ambience was welcoming, they had a little waterfall wall as their feature and even had a wall of newspaper clippings framed to show their local recognition.
Did I mention that this is Monisha writing? Well, this is what I thought of the place. Great ambience, the waiters were all good looking (so ladies, if not the food, get there for the men). I think that was such a plus - its always great to watch something pleasing while eating haha!
The buffet display didn't look very elaborate but I thought, maybe the limited food would taste better. The asparagus soup was over-cooked and too salty. I liked the salad and the pasta station. The desserts were disappointing with their dry cakes and did not taste like they were made at the restaurant itself.
I'm not judging the a la carte but the buffet was definitely not worth an hour drive.
Ahh! A week of indulgence - shopping, food, fun and camaraderie - and birth of this blog. Thank you guys for all the hungama. Well, now that it is quiet :)) time to reflect.
Enso's - Good reviews prompted the visit. Loved the ambiance which can probably be best described as cosy and comfortably contemporary. Our server got off to a shaky start forgetting spoons for coffee, Monisha got served third of a glass of water.............but he slowly got it together (did we intimidate him? Could it have been the B^lgari??) Food, not a huge spread, good enough selection for vegetarians, the Chi salad with raspberry vinaigrette was very nice, omelet - ngehh!, potatoes - the cooked pieces were good, unfortunately not all was cooked, pasta was good, unfortunately nothing, at least on the vegetarian side warranted pigging out. Desserts disappointingly obvious that they were not made in-house. I did like the little raspberry tarts and the lemon raspberry cake and of course did manage to nibble through the pecan pie, chocolate cake etc - just cannot seem to resist anything sweet, even if it is mediocre :(
Will I go again? YES never for a buffet but would like to try their signature dishes. - AK aka Ajitha
I was so excited to eat at Enso's and I even starved in advance to be ready for the hyped up buffet. The drive was 1 and half hours and after eating there I don't think it was worth it at all! Like everyone else said, the ambiance of the restaurant was fantastic but in my opinion the food did not live up to my expectations. I did enjoy their stuffed chicken (I am not sure of the exact name). The chicken was stuffed with some kind of cheese and it was really quite delicious! The deserts on the other hand were VERY disappointing because you could tell that their deserts were definitely not made in house. Most of the cakes were dry and the only desert I semi-liked was their chocolate cake. On the service side of things, I thought our waiter was quite accommodating and overall his friendliness canceled out his forgetting to bring us spoons for our coffee. Will I go there again?? No, I don't think the food matches the quality it needed to be especially since the buffet was 28 dollars. - Megha
Yes, it was indeed an exciting day! Four different women with completely different background brought together by one common passion, “Food”. :) All it took was, grapes, montasio, brie, lavender infused goat cheese, hummus, tabbouleh, butter crackers, to convert cold gloomy day into warm, happy and super exciting day. It is so amazing how food can bring people together and there is no better example than us. :)))
ReplyDeleteNow Lets Talk Food!!
ENSO (Energy Nourishment Style Opportunity)
I am not really sure if the restaurant provides all of what it represents. It does have a Style. Food is pretty average and ordinary when you think of it from fine dining perspective. I did enjoy Salads very much and seafood selections (Shrimp cocktail, Oysters and smoked salmon) were pretty fresh. However, hot entry choices such as baked salmon was dry and baked potatoes were undercooked. Dessert was disappointment. I thought services was nice, wait staff seemed to be little stressed (it was busy) but had very nice attitude and was very receptive.
So, will I go to ENSO again?!! Yes, may be one more time, just to check out their regular menu. :))But I wouldn't go out of my way for brunch.