Enso Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar

I consider this place the best sushi spot in Charlotte and it’s right in the middle of the epicenter which has a lot of things to do after you’re done with dinner. They also have a lunch during the week if you work in the uptown area and the prices are not bad. The sushi roll cost is a bit high however they’ve got a great variety and usually don’t treat you wrong. Two days ago I had to sushi rolls one was the tom-​tom and the other was this to be Cherrelle both of which were very good at a lot of flavor a little bit of spice and a good variety of fish. I also had and seaweed salad and a miso soup for an appetizer the green tea was also very good. I’ve been in this place many times I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Charlotte especially if you’re in the uptown area.

I have eaten here twice now. The first time with a bachelorette party of six women on a Saturday night in April and the second time with my hubby on a weekend afternoon during off hours. Both times the server and bartender were really nice and were able to offer recommendations on foods that I loved. The miso soup is delicious. I don’t eat sushi very often, but I enjoyed what I ate here. I also tried their Kung Pao shrimp which was really tasty. I have tried their potatoes, which are not bad, but I would prefer to eat their rice instead. One of my girl friends had their lo mein and it was also really good as well. The second time I ate here, it did take awhile for the entrees to come out even though we were two of three total people in the restaurant at the time. Overall, I would visit here again and would recommend this place to a friend :)

Overpriced and subpar sushi. Pretentious employees. There are MUCH better sushi options in Charlotte.
Agree with the other reviewer that I’d rather get sushi from Whole Foods than come back to this place.
Only reason for two stars instead of one is that the sushi is not bad, it’s just WAY overpriced for what it is.

Tourist trap?
Looks great. It’s busy. Great location. But not worth it. I’d rather have sushi from whole foods.
Won’t eat here ever again.

Wandered in on a whim while on vacay and were not disappointed. We sat at the bar; nice vibe with good house music playing in the background. The cocktails were delicious, particularly the House of Zen. The Rock Shrimp appetizer was delicious and so was the 007 speciality roll.

We didn’t have much of an expectation for Enso as we wanted some decent sushi before we started our day around town but definitely wanted something «decent». The prices for the food on the menu seems appropriate for the location (EpiCentre) and set up it had. Sadly however, the sushi did not meet up to the prices. For the price it was worth, it was badly plated and flavour was below average. I had what I remember to be the Red Dragon roll. The main ingredient was the unagi (eel) but was rather disappointed when there were only thin slices of the eel on the top of it. The flavour was masked by thick layer of sweet sauce and thick cuts of cream cheese. It was basically eating glazed cream cheese with rice. Service wasn’t too great too as I waited forever to get my card back. We might have ordered rolls that were not a customer’s hit but it should never be this bad. Do not recommend this place unless you know something in particular that is worth going there for.

I came in on a Sunday night not expecting much, but the food was amazing and the service was just as great. Sushi chefs Justin and Stephen provided a nice touch, but the servers Amanda and Lee really kept my not so easy group very happy. I was quite impressed and can’t wait to return.

I was initially going to only give 4 stars, but the service put Enso over the top. My server, Hayley, was the right amount of everything; friendly, fast, persuaaive, attentive, and just plain good. The food is darn good. It’s not enough to make my toes curl, but it’s good enough. However, the service is fantastic. If you are in town and craving some sushi, you will be fine. It’s not cheap, but, what the heck, YOLO.

Stay away from this place. Way too over priced for the quality, quantity and service. I’m a Chicago native and have no problem shelling out $ 15−20+ per roll. However you have a level of expectation at that point and this place disappointed on all accounts. I could get into everything that went wrong with our meal, but that would require a lot of typing when the message is very simple. Avoid this place.

Everything about this place was awesome! The yellowtail hamachi was excellent as well as the wagyu beef appetizers and the short ribs. I’ll go here whenever I’m in Charlotte. Even the waiting staff was beyond expectations.

The atmosphere is great! Friendly staff, band and beautiful décor and set up. Celebrating with some girlfriends and was served Fred’s glasses of champagne. The sushi however was simply average for price but a wide variety of sushi to
Choose from.

This place was great! Went to epicenter with husband for our anniversary and wound up here around 7pm-​ish, so the crowd wasn’t bad at all. The food came out super quick and was delicious. One sushi roll, beef & rice, and a cocktail were all cheaper than going to olive garden, so I’m not sure where «overpriced» comes from in some reviews. Although not fancy, I definitely recommend the beef & rice — it was very yummy and came served on a hige beef bone, which our waitress doggybagged for us to give our dog later!

This was my second time visiting Enso. The first time was very good but this time so so. I think the food wasn’t as fresh as the first time. I ordered the seafood lo mein. The mussels were really dry this time. We visited on a sturdy at about 6. The restaurant wasn’t crowded at all.

Exactly what you’d expect a sushi place in the epicenter to be: overpriced and sub par. The atmosphere is fun, clean and allows big groups
The food is ok but expect to pay 15 – 18 per roll. The best part is the people watching. That’s amazing. But I guess you could get that just by posting up in the epicenter anywhere.

Everything was fantastic. Our server was friendly and attentive. I had a White Tiger sushi roll as an appetizer and the pan seared scallops for main course — both phenomenal.
The place has a very cool vibe but isn’t overly snobby.
Definitely one of the best Asian/​sushi places I’ve eaten at in a while.

Food was overpriced, music was SO LOUD we could barely hear each other. Waitress was slow. Not a great experience

Convenient location, nice aesthetics /​well designed atmosphere. Clean bathrooms and nice outdoor seating area.
However, to be honest, my friend and I didn’t even make it through to ordering.
First of all, the hostess was wearing a crop top (about 8−12″ of belly exposed). Working in the restaurant industry for 7+ years, I’m pretty sure this is not in compliance with the health board. Furthermore, the vibe of the restaurant was classy — a place you would expect there to be some sort of uniform policy, perhaps button down shirts, or at the very least, have a dress code — I mean this wasn’t a sports bar.
Secondly: what appeared to be nice, hard-​back menus, when opened, were disgusting and had obviously not been cleaned nor paper pages replaced. One of the pages had a huge «x» sharpie (why the page wasn’t just removed idk?).
The tipping point: while my friend was Flipping through his menu (chuckling at the X page), he came to a page with crusty, dried up food. Sure, gross, you should probably check that your staff are looking through menus before handing them out, or at the very least, at the beginning of every shift. To make it better? There was a long hair stuck into the crusty food. Disgusting. Stood up and left.

My experience was okay. My husband and I went to Enso on Saturday night before a movie. I like the energy of the place, and the location is great and very convenient. Our server was friendly but slammed. While our food came out quickly, drink «checks”/refills took a while. But that’s to be expected on a Saturday night. The manager also popped by our table to check on us, which is always a nice, personal touch.
I had the Maryland crab sushi roll — I forget the actual name of it, but «Maryland» was in it — because I read good reviews about it here. It was okay. I didn’t finish it. It had basically crab cake on top, and I just wasn’t really crazy about it even though I love crab AND crab cakes. It lived up to its description, I guess, but it just didn’t do it for me for some reason. At $ 22 for the roll, it hurt to not finish it. But oh well. Win some, lose some. I also ordered the octopus nigiri, which was good. (Not that I’m an expert in octopus, but I’ve had it a few times, and — considering my limited exposure to it — it was good here.) My husband ordered something similar to pepper steak, and he said it wasn’t worth the money.
That’s pretty much the nut of my review: It’s not bad. But not really worth the cost.
By the way, totally changing the subject, but: I almost lost myself in the bathroom. For real. Holy endless mirrors! NOT the place a person with poor directional skills like me wants to find themselves alone. I looked like a complete dork, I know. Lost. The bathroom, for me, was more exciting than the food. (No offense to the chefs. The food wasn’t BAD. It just wasn’t Enso-*bathroom*-thrilling. Know what I mean?)
Unfortunately, I doubt we will be back. But I have decent memories of my visit here. :)

Yes is how you start off a review for a place that you want someone to definitely try.
The food here was AWESOME, we started with appetizers (Rock Shrimp and Veggie Spring Rolls) which were both full of flavor and very mouth watering to say the least.
We followed up with having two rolls Tom Tom Roll and White Tiger Roll and our teenager had Chicken Fried Rice. She is as hard to please as her parents and don’t like chicken fried rice anywhere except P. F Changs.
Enso got her vote for goodness which is RARE and now it’s not like pulling teeth to get her to eat at Enso with us while in the Epic Center.
Our rolls were extremely FRESH and tasty. We could taste all of the ingredients and the only pitfall was the large upcharge to have REAL CRAB in the roll. I haven’t ate a roll with fake CRAB or LOBSTER EVER because I’ve been spoiled in my life with REAL seafood in my rolls (10 years and counting) so I can’t revert to eating FAKE so Up Charge it is :-)
I even enjoy the bar scene here for Happy Hour, the drinks are good and the bar is a happening space for networking and a good time. There is sometimes a dj in the bar area pumping some cool sounds to groove to while eating and drinking at a discounted rate = SCORE.
Great location and I always make a reservation regardless of what time we go because I am not fond of waiting for a table with I have my teenager. If it’s me and the hubby I also make a reservation but if it’s just a sporadic visit it’s okay to wait in the bar and have a glass of wine.

One of the best restaurants here in Charlotte,.
Now, I’m Asian. So I know Asian food. I also know that a lot of Asians disagree with me because some food do not taste authentic. It’s true; but only because they serve Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, all types of Asian. They have chefs from Korea, Japan etc. but they don’t get on shift ²⁴⁄₇. So if a Japanese is on shift, Galbi might not be the best. But even still, it tastes good. Say Pad Thai doesn’t taste exactly like the ones they sell in Thailand, would you complain? No. I actually think people won’t like it so much if it tastes exactly like the ones they sell in Bangkok. My favorite Asian beign Korean, of course, if I wanted to get Korean, I go to a Korean place.
Enso is an ‘Asian’ Bistro. You will get good ‘Asian’ food. And it has an awesome bar with DJ’s on the weekend. No one cares if you dance and yell out your name either drunk. Go, have fun!