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| - As a "hot and new" restaurant in the heart of Uptown, Essex garners a solid 4 stars for: hip ambiance (4.5 stars); mediocre service (3 stars); delicious food (4.5 stars); and disappointing desserts (2.5 stars). Overall, we really enjoyed the dining experience and due to its close proximity to where we live, we will definitely be back. The small plates style cuisine is described as "world food," meaning they have a little something from every country.
TIP: parking can be an issue and if you want to sit on the patio, I recommend making reservations.
Hip and trendy ambiance. Essex is located on the corner of Tryon and Trade. We came on a Thursday evening at 7 pm and it seemed that the seats were bountiful inside but the patio was at near capacity, which is where we sat. The general vibe is hip and trendy with modernesque decor. They don't have fans or heat lamps on the patios yet but they have only been open for 2 weeks.
Mediocre service. Overall, the service was good but there is definitely room for improvement (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt since they are still in their nascent stage). The staff is polite, courteous, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu items. However, they can improve in the following areas:
__ wait time. After our server dropped off our drinks, we waited an additional 5-7 minutes with our menus closed before he came back to take our food order.
__ spilled drink. Our server spilled our drink on his hand, onto my BFs plate and went to wipe off his hands but did not replace the plate. If it were my plate, I would have said something, but my BF is much more forgiving.
__ water refill. Our server left the water pitcher on our table for a few minutes (leading us to believe this was our own refill pitcher, which is frequently done in other restaurants) but came back to retrieve it and used it to refill water on other tables. For sanitary purposes, I would prefer only the waitstaff to handle or have access to the food and drinks that I'm going to be served.
__ food delivery. After we ordered, our food arrived extremely quickly -- all of it. Granted, this is a small plates, tapas-style restaurant and the food is meant for sharing but we did order several items and they barely fit on our small two-top table. Plus, it made us feel rushed to consume all of it because we didn't want the food to get cold.
Satiating drinks. Kudos to the bartender for preparing delicious drinks, leaning heavy on the alcohol side.
Delicious food. The food is delicious, complex and although small plates, filling. We had:
---------DELICIOUS (must try):
++ kale and apple salad. The creamy semi-sweet vinaigrette dressing is thoroughly mixed into every bite of the salad, which had cranberries for sweetness, nuts for crunch, apples for tartness, cabbage for texture and little bits of bacon for smokiness. The portion is pretty large, enough for 4 to sample two spoonfuls. This was my BFs favorite item (and he doesn't usually like kale).
++ ceviche. I LOVE ceviche and the only disappointing thing was that the portion was very small. It had the right blend of saltiness, onions, tomatoes, fish and cilantro with the perfect amount of lemon so that every bite had the same consistency and flavor. I didn't want to share this.
----------VERY GOOD (tasty but I'd try something different next time):
++ rock shrimp. I would personally put this in the must try category, but my BF didn't like it as much. The shrimp are marinated in a lemon-based, garlic, butter and herb sauce, served with yummy garlic bread. The sauce is much more tangy than your standard shrimp scampi, with chili peppers scattered throughout.
++ short rib ravioli. The ravioli is freshly made (soft texture) with a sauce that reminded me of beef stew, all served on top of mashed cauliflower (which gave it a sweetness unlike mashed potatoes). Mixing all of it together melted in your mouth; a great comfort food presented in an unconventional way.
++ lobster tacos. The lobster was a little on the tough side but had a nice blend of avocado, cabbage garnish and semi sweet and spicy aioli, served on a corn soft shell. I would have liked it to be served with a lime garnish to add a little kick to it, to compliment the lobster.
Disappointing desserts. We would usually only order 1 but wanted to try 2 different items. We had the:
++ Baked Alaska, which was supposed to have layers of mango and strawberry gelato with cake, around a mousse. The whole thing was too rich and tasted like cake that had been sitting in the freezer for too long.
++ creme brûlée. We love creme brûlée, but this one had fruit infused into the vanilla custard, which detracted from and added a weird flavor to it.
Essex is definitely a hot new place to try, even if at least once. It takes traditional cuisine and successfully adds a modern, unconventional yet complex spin to it so that you embark on a culinary journey.
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