Enso Izakaya — Restaurant in Avondale Estates

So I was here for their soft opening. I live near by and have been waiting months for this place to open. I love japanese food and my favorite restaurant for japan is farther away than i would like so i was excited for something closer. I didn't expect it to beat my favorite spot but just to be a good option when i don't want to make the long trip. When i walked in the atmosphere was perfect, beyond perfect! I loved it right away and was ready for this to become my local haunt. I sat down looked over their temporary menu and made my order. I ordered things i have had a probably a dozen other places that have never let me down. I do this a lot with new places i don't like to be disappointed and i love to compare how one chef made a dish i have had many times their own. While i waited they brought some free appetizers (which is normal during a soft open). First was potato salad. I am not a potato salad person but this was really good! I would definitely order as a side with some meat dishes from their menu. Then they brought a corn puff which was so unique and interesting to me. It was corn fried in some sort batter with the center still a litte raw so there was a wonder custard like affect. It was so good! I loved it!...then tge food I actually ordered came. I got takoyaki and tonkatsu ramen. Adter the furst two appetizers i was so excited and dove into it. The squid was sort of hard... The white sauce i sewar was no qpmayo and the takoyaki had a lot of little imperfection i have never seen in any takoyaki. I was confused. Every before this had been so good. The sauce was the main thing that bothered me. It bothered me to the point that i had to stop eating it and push the dish away which i have never done with takoyaki before. Then my ramen came. I also start with a spoon full of broth with my noodle soup based dishes. I took a sip and didn't taste much... I like soups with lighter flavors as well as strong one but this really just didn't taste like much at all to me. The texture of the broth was very nice and i still had the taste of that weird sauce in my mouth so i thought it may be throwing me off so i kept eating. I tried the noodles next they were floury maybe homemade. I wasn't used to the testure bit it wasn't a problem for me either. The broth kept getting in the way though. I tried to have ever bite have something more flavorful with it like the egg, seaweed or pork but in the end i was still face to face with this bland broth. I was done. I couldn't finish any of it. I felt sad i really didn't want this to be my experience. I had to get a soda after my meal to get that sauce flavor out of my mouth because it was haunting me. So you are probably wondering why I didn't rate this lower. 1) still loved the atmosphere. 2) The servers were really nice and added to my experience and positive feel of the place which you don't get at as many restaurants as you should. 3) Because the two appetizers I had first were really good and show the chefs cooking chops and potential in a very postive way for me. I don't know what happened with the rsr of my meal but I want to try this place again later and hopefully change my review. This place showed me enough potential that i believe a second visit is fair and i still think others may like it more than i did. Edit: so it's the next day and I wanted to have one of my friends taste my leftovers to make sure my taste buds weren't just off and found out the my ramen broth was lard.... Like just meat fat. It became solid in my fridge once it cooled and when I heated it back up it just smelled of almost purely meat fat. My friend wouldn't try it. So yeah I can't recommend this...

Odd attitude/atmosphere that doesn't seem too interested in acquiring customers.

I've lived in Avondale for 30 years and have always wished a Japanese restaurant would pop up. So when I discovered through our local newsletter that one would be opening in Olive and Pine, suffice it to say I was very interested.

My wife and I stopped in to place a takeout order and the hostess communicated that the restaurant "encourages" patrons to dine-in so that we could experience the food under ideal conditions. (As though food tasting its best straight from kitchen to table is somehow unique to their menu.) We communicated that dining in wasn't an option for us in that moment, and if it was just a suggestion, we'd love to at least look at the menu and decide if we'd like to place an order. She said sure and handed us the menu, but a few minutes later while we were reading she came back to us and said it was decided they couldn't accommodate takeout orders. The ambiguity of the policy (from "encouraging dine-in" to "takeout forbidden") was bizarre to say the least. Either they offer takeout or they don't. But for such a limited menu comprised of a few appetizers, Yakitori and ramen to be deemed by ownership as so unpalatable through takeout that they would make an impromptu decision to refuse service makes one wonder not only as to the quality of the food, but also the pretentiousness of their business model.

I don't blame the hostess at all, as she was very nice and certainly was just the messenger. And to be fair, they have signs posted saying they are in a soft opening phase but really that shouldn't matter. Either you're an operating restaurant or you're not.

On a side note: a couple months back we were at Olive & Pine and they were putting finishing touches on the place before the official opening and we popped our heads in to ask when they would have their grand opening and their attitude was pretty cold. They showed no interest in even giving us an inkling about when they might open, didn't seem appreciative for our interest in their business and didn't offer any options for resources for us to follow announcements about when they would be ready for customers. They clearly aren't in need of patrons. We shouldn't have to advocate to participate in...

OVERALL (3.5/5) This was a great experience. They are a new restaurant located in a food hall in Avondale, so they are still working out a few kinks, but I have high hopes for this place and strongly recommend.

FOOD (3/5): We ordered the Chef's Choice for $50, plus a couple of appetizers and the Branzino. They didn't have their liquor license yet, so no alcohol.

The chef's special was ok. Lot's of chicken and veggies, which was a little boring. I would suggest at least one exotic/interesting selection or some beef on that. Kind felt like they were cheaping out a little.

The squid balls and the golden hamachi were amazing.

The branzino was good and a very interesting presentation, but a little bland.

Next, time, and there will be a next time, we will order both of the rib dishes.

SERVICE (3/5): We had a reservation and were seated immediately. It was quite busy and many people were turned away, so I recommend a reservation if you plan to go soon.

The service was very friendly and they were most attentive. However, the cadence of plate delivery was a little erratic and the servers did not do a stellar job of setting our expectations. For example, all of our dishes were on the table except the eggplant and we were worried that it was forgotten. It eventually came out, but way after we had finished everything else.

There was also a considerable lag between finishing our meal and receiving the check. This was not a big deal because we weren't in a hurry, but if they are having to turn away tables, they may want to try and turn them faster. Again, this is a new place, so a little grace is deserved.

ATMOSPHERE (4/5): I cannot say enough about the detail that went into the decor. It is a work of art. However, I only gave 4 stars because the music was kind of tinny and distant. I could tell they were trying to create a mighty morphin power ranger/anime vibe, but the sound system was lacking. That being said, you must...