What a great place. Â I was able to grab a nice order of spaghetti with an attempt at a Mozzarella Caprese. Â I think that if you can't do it right you might just want to try something else. Â I'm kind of a Caprese snob and have had some really amazing tomato and mozzarella cheese salads. Â The gravy was thick and robust, and they put it on top of the spaghetti. Â Some places like to throw some sauce in with the noodles, mix it up, then serve it. Â I prefer to do my own mixing and typically find the noodles more al dente in this configuration. Â I was even able to purchase three Peronis and Tiramasu for desert. Â Best thing I liked was that I did it at a drive through. Â I know, I was feeling non-motivated. Â All was warm and tasty when I arrived back at my hotel room.
I noticed there were four different police cars in the sparsely populated parking lot. Â Four officers were sitting at a table eating together. Â That's a recommendation to me anywhere.
I had worse, I've had better...mostly worse though so try it out.
So this adds to my week of pizza. I ate pizza almost 5 days in a row, god knows why, but...I suppose it's comfort food for those of us raised in New York/New Jersey families...and nothing beats good comfort food during cruddy cold weather.
ANYWAY. I've been eating Enzo's for quite sometime - they used to have a shop at the Fashion Mall and they have two locations downtown - on Ilinois and in the City Market. Â I had never been to this location, so I decided to venture just south of downtown and see how it was. It's a free standing location, in a crappy shopping center next to a Taco Bell.
Despite the not-so-sexy location, the building is really well maintained and super clean. I was greeted by friendly staff with plenty of menu options. I ordered two slices of pepperoni and used a coupon from their website which got me a free drink with the purchase of two slices.
The staff was very friendly, and it didn't take long for my slices to be heated and brought to me at my booth. I like heat with my pizza, so I added on some red pepper and prepared to pig out.
I was left with a really disappointing taste in my mouth (no pun intended). There was too much cheese on the slices, giving an almost nauseating feeling when eating it (gagging, perhaps. I'm not one of those types that loves extra cheesy pizza). It also was a bit undercooked, they could have left it in the oven a bit longer. By the time this all processed through my gorging pizza hunger, it was too late to ask them to heat it. I wasn't in the mood (my fault...) to deal with it, I suppose.
I had 1 1/2 slices (And before you think I'm some out of shape junk food addict, I swear I've got a high metab and I keep in shape, heh) and couldn't stomach the last half. The cheese was getting to me and I started to get grossed out by the goo. The heat was also super weak, the red pepper was "stale" so to say, leaving very little pack to the punch.
I trashed my pizza, went back into the rain and headed home feeling disappointed by Enzo South. I usually have a great experience with slices at the Market. I'd consider going back to this location, if they go a bit lighter on the cheese and I have them keep it in the oven a bit longer.
They also need to freshen up their spices!
Overall a clean restaurant with a friendly staff, just a bit too cheesy for my NYC style tastes.
Enzo is a great place for a tasty, affordable lunch or dinner. The staff is friendly and I've never had anything that I didn't like there. Both the regular and stuffed pizzas are good, as well as the lasagna and spaghetti with meatballs. My favorite recommendations: the spinach & cheese calzone and pepperoni stuffed breadsticks. Enzo's marinara sauce is awesome - just the right amount of spiciness with nice chunks of tomato throughout. Enzo is definitely nothing fancy, but I highly recommend if you have a craving for Italian food.
An added tip: I just went to their website for the first time and noticed that they offer a few good coupons on it.