enRich Bistro — Restaurant in Florida

Never knew this place existed until recently. Upon first glance the restaurant appears to be well planned, high end, and tastefully decorated and most important to me as a professional Chef...spotlessly clean. High end to the eye, but that's where it stops. The menu is somewhat intriguing with it's offerings but when you really look at the items....it lacks any creativity although it sounds good to the untrained eye. It was suggested to me by one of my group to have the Calamari salad with Andouille "cracklings", whatever that would actually be since Andouille is a sausage. Would it be over cooked to a stage of crisp? I ordered it. Sadly, I was extremely disappointed. It came out with shredded, not even leafy, lettuce or romaine straight from a bag without the consideration of being washed. Despite what the bag says it should be washed before serving because it has a bitter chemical taste which repeated on me until early evening as most bagged ready to eat greens do . The salad also had no Andouille anything, crisp or otherwise. The calamari was straight from a box pulled out of the freezer. Basically it was shredded greens and fried ,frozen calamari, period. Wasabi vinaigrette was served but certainly not enough to dress the salad or hide the chemical taste of the base salad. Wasabi vinaigrette sounds exotic but actually tasted awful, maybe if it was made as a creamy dressing it would have been better. Wasabi and vinegar doesn't work. Another person had the "Kicked Up Pastrami" that too didn't deliver much of anything and was a weak excuse for a Ruben sandwich on Sysco marble rye. The only thing that all the food at the table represented was Sysco Foods. A few of us at the table know and use some of these products but we use them as an addition to what we actually cook and prepare. This restaurant merely takes Sysco food and combines them so the plates come to the table screaming Sysco. No additional effort or creativity seems to be involved from the kitchen staff, (I hesitate to use the word "Chef") except opening bags. Sorry Rich.....but you need to have your staff actually cook and prepare food not just opening bags and boxes and reheating food for your restaurant, it's too nice of a looking place to serve this...

It was Valentine’s Day and this was our first visit to enRich since they moved to this site from their former location further west on Manatee Ave. Our prior enRich dinners were always 5-star events and a real treat for us. They dropped the ball this time. We had wagyu beef for an appetizer and also as part of a surf and turf main course. In both cases the beef had an ok taste but was not very tender. That was unlike our experiences with wagyu at other restaurants where it seemed like it almost melted in your mouth. It made us wonder if it was indeed actual wagyu beef. The main issue was the temperature of our main courses. When the surf and turf was served, the lobster tail was beautifully cooked, nice and warm. However, the beef and vegetables were almost at room temperature. That is a strong indication that the kitchen plated the beef and vegetables, and then waited until the lobster tail was done thus allowing the beef and vegetables to cool down. A manager at another restaurant told me that, if that happens, it is a sign of a poorly run and undisciplined kitchen. Another indication of that was our desserts. We each had a scoop of ice cream. They both came out a good bit melted. Obviously, they plated the ice cream and then put it on the side and it waited there for some time until a server came along to pick it up and bring it to us. Nobody came around to ask us how we were doing which was unlike our prior enRich visits. It was very busy that night, but that is no excuse. Otherwise, it would be saying that, if a restaurant is busy, it is ok for them to have subpar food and service. We will return to enRich but maybe not for some time. Hopefully, they will eventually get their house in order at this...

Decided to try this place out tonight. I sat at the bar and the ambience was nice. The bartender was definitely not on point. I ordered my drink then had a question about the menu. He said can I make your drink first before I answer your questions in a sarcastic manner. The drink came out and he put his fingers over the top of my straw. When he served me my appetizer he had food on his bare hand . The appetizer was very small but good. I asked for my check. He said you could have asked sooner if you liked. Finally I got my bill and he charged me for the appetizer and only charged me .12 cents for the $12 drink. I tried to let him know he charged me the wrong price for my drink to help him out. He then said this is too difficult so I said charge me separately . He said ok then casually cashed another person out then totally forgot to cash me out and worked on other things. I then said I want to pay my bill and he said are you auditing me. I said I helped you fix your mistake and I need to go. So he said yes you paid. I said the money is right there. He said would you like tip me more. I said no. Finally I got my money back and left. Bartender has no etiquette and needs to be retrained on how to serve customers food and drinks and how to interact with people. I suggest going to Taverna Tuscana down the street. Bartenders and servers are on point. Bigger portions and better food..I will never go back to enrich bistro. Classic example on how a bad employee can ruin a...