Enso's Rolls & Bowls
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  05/16/15            http://www.myenso.com

Weren’t sure what this was going to be like. Sounds like an Italian dude who set up a Chipotle style storefront to serve Japanese food. Are we getting a tuna burrito with marinara? Was thinking 50/50 this is going to be terrible. It’s pretty slick inside, strip malls have really upped their attention to interior over the past few years. The service requires a little more effort than Chipotle, since it takes about a minute they will bring your roll or bowl to the table. Everyone seems to be welcoming folks in and happy to be serving them. They are also set up for zippy online ordering and take out if you are providing your own ambiance. Oh, Enso is the Westernized spelling of a Japanese word, not a maker of Ferraris.
 

It Does Have A Familiar Feel
 

It is very Chipotle inside with ingredients laid out behind glass and a couple of folks scooping out your individualized or prearranged ingredients. The departure comes when they hand it off to the guys in the back tossing everything in woks. I don’t know how they do the rolls, we both had bowls. Your chow gets tossed while you check out and get beverages or sides. We tried a couple of the sides, edamame and that Japanese classic, chips and hummus.

The edamame were the resting in a garlic and teriyaki glaze, which was tasty. The edamame however, were my least favorite part of the visit, to make them quick they have to sacrifice a lot of quality, which is way too noticeable in such a simple product. The chips and hummus do have Japanese notes…the chips are wonton and the hummus is flavored with wasabi. Crispy chips, check. The wasabi actually adds a nice round flavor with just enough spice to keep you digging into the bag until everything is empty.

 

Steph ordered the big tuna bowl with brown rice. She nixed the onions but went along with the red & green peppers, carrot, broccoli, sweet soy, and a crunchy topping. It was good, sweet & salty, lots of attention to varied textures, the veggies work really well. I wish the tuna had been done a great deal less than it was but overall it was so much better than I had expected. Steph preferred it of the two, I went the other way.

The Cleveland Club usually comes with white rice but I went with brown. It comes with ingredients not so much associated with sushi…beef brisket, shredded pork, chicken, Cremini mushrooms, snow peas, asparagus, broccoli, scallions, a teriyaki glaze, and the same crunchy sprinkle on top. Where the tuna moved towards the canned flavor from the heat, the beef, pork and chicken improved from it. Nice veg, tangy sauce, bottles of sriracha and soy happiness on the table to tune everything to your liking and you have a quick, customizable and potentially healthy meal with mostly excellent flavors and an attention to textures hard to find outside of an actual Japanese restaurant. They don’t plate with any of the precision and visual impact or adhere to the strict laws of sushi…but they do a lot of things very well. When are we getting a French, Nepali, or Brazilian quick-service but still darn tasty restaurant. Maybe pretty soon.