Esco - Sushi, Noodles & Cocktails — Restaurant in Hart

Well priced, delightfully themed and polite and helpful staff.

We went on a Wednesday so it was very quiet. Not even half capacity. I’m sure its very different at peak times but the quiet ambience really suited this place. Their front doors all open up so we could make the most of the early summer air. The decor is a nice green and gold theme while also not being too eclectic. The resin in the wood tables was a lovely touch.

This place is a sushi and cocktails place so I had high hopes for both.

We got two cocktails. Butterfly effect and a Mojito. Butterfly effect is a gin cocktail. That takes of some neat chemistry. Butterfly pea flowers can create a lovely blue sugar syrup. When this syrup encounters acid it changed colour. So the drink is gin and this syrup over ice and you are given a separate container of lemonade to pour in which changes the colour to purple.

A neat cocktail. Unfortunately as a huge Bombay Sapphire fan its a recipe I make myself alot and I was underwhelmed by the flavours. It was just too mild. The acidity wasn’t present and botanical gins flavours were too watered down. An amazing idea but just not perfect yet. That said. Probably a great choice for less picky drinkers.

The mojito was nice. Hard to fault a classic. But it was similarly just a bit underwhelming.

The sushi. We had 3 different rolls and a sashimi.

The sushi was clearly made completely from scratch. The rice was even still warm in our first roll! Not sure if this can be expected on busier nights but great to see. We had the spider roll which was soft shell crab. My absolute favourite of the evening. Topped with bright orange roe and perfectly wrapped this was gorgeous to look at and by far the tastiest thing we had all evening

the Bream sashimi was brilliant. The rice was delicately seasoned and complimented the raw fish without overpowering it. The edible flowers it was served were a sweet touch.

The vegan roll was good. A simple roll but nicely done.

The California roll was great. Perfect batter as it was crunchy but didn’t overpower the fish or veg.

Unfortunately the sushi was let down by their wasabi. As a huge sushi buff I am picky about wasabi. It simple didn’t have enough kick. Again this is mostly my personal taste. I mentioned this to i believe the (duty?) manager who was really considerate and easy to talk to.

We had vegetable tempura for a starter. It was absolutely perfect expect one teeny little thing let it down. It wasn’t salted. A scattering of salt from the table corrected this easily enough.

I loved their rather unique choice to add asparagus to their sushi. Not something I encounter alot in UK sushi. Added rhe perfect crunch to the California roll and was equally good in the tempura.

The service was polite and helpful. They replaced our soy sauce dish which has a teeny speck of a stain in it that hadn’t been removed in the last wash. While the wait for the food was slower but in a very pleasant way. Obviously they would have more staff on their busy nights so if you dont want a slow evening then dont come on a Wednesday. As servers they couldn’t have done anything better they were great.

Really considerate and when I gave compliments and the criticisms mentioned above I really felt they were listening to me. They also allowed me to change my reservation last minute via the phone.

We had a whiskey and a Korean soju to finish. If you haven’t tried Soju: please correct that immediately.

The price was very reasonable considering the amount of sushi and alcohol we had.

All the ingredients were fresh and well selected so I think the price was a steal. Our bill came around £80.

A lovely...

WHAT. A. PLACE!

I’m almost reluctant to tell people about it and keep it my little secret 😂

I went in with my critical glasses on given that this is £10-£15 more expensive than a lot of other bottomless brunches I’ve been too. It is well worth every penny though.

We went for bottomless brunch yesterday afternoon and we had the best time. Our waitress Sonny couldn’t have been more accommodating.

There was a huge selection of dishes to choose from I went for the prawn and avocado hand roll for starter, the duck and cucumber sushi with sesame seeds on top (can’t remember the actual name of it) for main and also the mochi for pudding. Honestly I want to eat it all over again. I was so pleased I went for something a bit different to what I’d normally eat! My friends all had the honey and chilli? Chicken wings to start which were yummy. And then teriyaki chicken, sweet and sour chicken and chicken katsu for main and then we all had mochi for dessert. The food was absolutely sensational and beautifully presented.

The drinks were great and free flowing, sonny kept us well watered all afternoon! The only thing I would say is that it would be so much better if drinks are served in nicer glasses, most cocktails are just served in tall tumblers which aren’t exactly photo worthy (I’m just being picky but this was one of my observations).

After our bottomless brunch we moved tables and had some cocktails from the main menu. I asked for one that I had seen on Instagram that had dry ice. Can’t remember the name of it but it was lovely. If they had some theatrics for the bottomless brunch, that would make it extra special. Even if it was just for your first drink or a sparkler or something for the birthday girl.

Something else that who’ve been nice is to have been able to make use of happy hour after the bottomless brunch. We would’ve happily stayed there all evening if there was some cocktail deals on!

The decor is lovely. The toilets need a bit of TLC but again, I’m just being picky.

It would also be cool to have a DJ on for bottomless brunch!

Overall a brilliant experience and a little hidden gem of fleet. Thank you so much for an amazing day. We...

It was the first time I had lunch at Esco with two girl friends. There is much room between each table. I like the environment at once. This makes it easy and comfortable to chat with each other.

The staff are very friendly and helpful. If you are new to the restaurant like us, they can surely give you the best tips on what to order.

There are a lot of drinks to choose. I got a virgin mojito. It’s very refreshing. If you want to try something interesting, go for the mango tango. It’s a really special drink with mango and some spices.

We were hungry and we ordered quite a lot. I enjoyed all of them and I recommend my two favourites. One of them is salmon avocado hot crunchy rolls. I’ve never tasted a dish like that. The crispy surface and the soft filling form a perfect match.

The other one is chicken karage. The chicken tasted so fresh and juicy that I couldn’t stop eating one after another. I ate so much and I was glad that there was enough for me to share some chicken karage with my friends.

The highlight of the meal should be mountain rolls. It landed on our table with stylish dry ice smoke. The scene was amazing. We were all busy taking photos from all angles. It was fun.

When we left, we couldn’t believe how full we were. We had a wonderful time at Esco. If you want to explore a good restaurant in Fleet during weekends, try Esco....