Enigma Cafe - Satellite Beach, FL
Brian LeGros | October 18th, 2007 | foodLast week, my wife and I in our usual willingness to cook, went out for dinner. We ended up, by the suggestion of a colleague, at the Enigma Cafe on A1A in Satellite Beach. Our tipster usually takes his family for nice dinner at what he said are reasonable prices. Since we’re always up for something new, we gave it a shot.
As far as the vibe of the restaurant goes, you notice almost immediately when pulling up to the restaurant that its got a cheesy paint job. It’s painted in sea-foam and pastel colors and has a “by the ocean” vibe (this is probably because it’s across the street from the Atlantic). Despite the paint job, the building looks relatively new and well constructed. From what we could tell, the inside of the restaurant is very clean as well. When we entered, there was a lounge singer performing in the bar, but after 30 minutes or so he was replaced by a jazz band. We were seated almost immediately (it was a Friday night), so that was cool and there seemed to be a healthy mix of people of different ages, which I always find encouraging. During the meal, the server seemed like a nice kid, but the service ending up being average.
We ordered the Shepard’s Pie (~$11) and the Chicken Parmesan (~$12) as well as added the salad bar (~$3 per person) to our meal. The waiter dropped off some really great garlic bread and the salad bar was the cleanest salad bar I’ve ever seen with some amazingly fresh ingredients. I’m usually against salad bars for cleanliness reasons, but I was shocked at how ridiculous they were about wiping everything down and keeping ingredients from being mixed together. I think what was nicest about the salad bar, was that it was just that, a really good, fresh place where you could assemble a salad; I didn’t have to wait behind the hungry guy in front of me grabbing 80 chicken wings to get to the lettuce. Unfortunately, I think the bread and the salad were the best part of the meal. I ordered the Shepard’s Pie, because the majority of other items came over pasta, and I’m not a huge pasta fan (I can boil it at home for less). The mashed potatoes topping the pie were dry and the stuffing was as mixture of beef, carrots, peas, and corn that was definitely over cooked and could have been frozen previously. The meal tasted, and looked, like it had been baked as part of a larger dish and kept under a heat lamp. I didn’t care for the Chicken Parmesan either. The sauce tasted was very thin without a lot of flavor and the cutlet was a cutlet; it kinda felt like a Chef Boyardee style meal. Since I ate literally none of my meal, which is unusual for me, even if I don’t care for it, we ordered dessert. We got the Chocolate Lava Cake (~$5, I think) a cup of coffee (~$2) and a chocolate martini (~$8). The cake was spongy and served with two huge scoops of ice cream and whipped cream. I kinda felt like I was eating a Little Debbie snack cake with hot fudge on it unfortunately.
Overall, I believe Enigma is living up to its name; I’m not sure what to think of it. The portions were large, but the quality wasn’t up to snuff with what I would have preferred, especially for the prices we paid (although I did like the salad and bread). I will admit, it is possible that I’m being unusually harsh. I wasn’t as hungry as I usually am when we went out and my wife, who usually likes similar things, did enjoy her food. That being said, I’m willing to give Enigma Cafe another shot. I am definitely doing so, however, with hesitant taste buds. Here’s to me finding something I like that’s not over pasta.
Enigma Cafe is located at 1024 Highway A1A, Satellite Beach, FL
Tags: american, food, review, satellite beach, seafood
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Discussion
October 18th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Hahaha, a Little Debbie snack cake with hot fudge on it! Priceless!
October 18th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Let me know if you give it another try. I might take my parents there next time I’m in town if you come back with a better review.
October 18th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
@Brian - I’m glad you liked the comment
@Colby - Yeah, I’ll definitely try it again but probably not for a month or so. I’ll give you a call if I discover I’m crazy.
November 5th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I love Enigma, I’m a fan from when they were in the Atlantic shopping center. Try the Veal Parmesaen, I’m sure you can get it with french fries!
November 5th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
@Geraldine - Thanks for stopping by and for the comment. I’m glad to hear others like Enigma; it motivates me to go back and give it another try. I’m a big fan of Veal Parmesan so I will order that, but I think I’ll skip the fries. Thanks for the tip, I’ll let you know how it goes
November 15th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Alright, well I just got done talking to the lady who cuts my hair and she was able to confirm that she and her boyfriend had a terrible experience at Enigma. From what I was told, when Enigma was in the Atlantic plaza it was a lot smaller and had better quality food. Since they have moved into their new building, she and a few others agreed that the quality of Engima’s food has gone downhill. Sorry @Geraldine, I think I had the true experience the first time and won’t be going back.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Enigma has good music occasionally. That’s about all I can say about the place. It is like an overpriced Red Lobster.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
@MelBeachPeeps - Thanks for stopping by. That’s a really good way of putting it. I didn’t hear much of the music however, hopefully they have at least that going for them because it’s not the food.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
We ate at the Enigma this evening with a party of 8. We had a reservation for 7:30. When we arrived at 7:20, they put our name on a list, even though we had a reservation. It seems that having a reservation does not give you priority from walk-ins or save wait time. After standing around in the bar for an hour, our “lobster” pager went off. They tried to seat us at some tables pushed together in the bar, not in the main dining room. We complained, and they had us wait longer. Finally at 8:50 they seated us at 3 tables shoved together by the kitchen door and salad bar. We were not given menus, napkins or silverware. No one came to greet us or take our beverage order. Finally, I got up and asked the hostess for menus. We were brought some cold, dry breadsticks and our drink orders were taken. It was 9:15, and we still did not have silverware or napkins, or any food. Another of our party walked up to the hostess and complained, which seemed to do no good. We finally put in our orders and got our first course at 9:45. Besides the extremely bad service, slow orders and loud noise, the food was uninspired. The greek appitizer platter was very good and had lots of pita, hummus, tabouli, feta and red peppers. The escargots were flavorful and not overcooked and I heard good things about the crab cakes. The salad bar (extra $3) was fine, with two kinds of lettuce and the usual basic stuff. From the promising start, the meal quickly went downhill. I had a veal, mushroom pasta dish which had lots of limp pasta in watery sauce, few mushrooms and shaved veal that was meager and overcooked. The steak salad looked unappealing and my husband barely touched it. The steak was disappointing and they brought the wrong side order and the mussels mediocre. The chicken, mushroom and pepper dish looked interesting but was just the mentioned items stacked on top of one another with the basil garlic salad dressing from the salad bar served on the side. One diner had the shrimp and pasta, which they liked, but then they said they would like anything after drinking enough beer and wine. The house wine was not good either and they only had it by the glass (must come out of a box not a bottle). After ordering a bottle of wine (and glasses because we did not think they would remember to bring some after the silverware incident), we waited, waited and waited. After someone got up and spoke to the hostess again, our bottle was tracked down finally. Everyone was almost done with their meal by then. As it was approaching 11:00, we did not have the patience to order dessert, so I don’t know how that is.
I surveyed my dinner companions to find out how they would rate the meal. On a scale from 1 - 10 (where 10 is highest), the average rating was 2.5. One person thought the best thing about the meal was the water, which was tasty and served in a nice glass with lots of ice and a wedge of lemon.
In conclusion, I was not satisfied with the service or the food. No one seemed to care. I would recommend Carrabas for a much better meal, better service and shorter wait time. Enigma is not a fine dining experience but charges fine dining prices.
February 17th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
@Christine - Thanks for the detailed rundown of your experience. As you can probably tell I didn’t care for my experience at Enigma, but it doesn’t seem to be nearly as bad as yours. Over 3 hours for dinner is pretty ridiculous, even for a party of 8. I usually don’t recommend chain restaurants, so it’s sad when a chain restaurant comes out better than a local place. That being said the Carrabas in Suntree isn’t too bad (for a chain). Thanks for your insight, hopefully you’ll find some better local places to dine at.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:19 am
I think you should definitely give Enigma another shot. My friends, family and I frequent the place and have always had positive experiences there. You said that you’re not a big fan of pasta, and actually I’m not either. Most people don’t know this, but any dish that is served over pasta you can request that it be served over broccoli instead. I agree that every now and then the service takes a little bit longer, but I think they’re getting the hang of it seeing as how before this the owners ran a small cafe with about 4 tables. I think they’re probably still working out some of the kinks.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
@Jessica - Thanks for stopping by. I have to admit, I have been hard on Enigma, but I think it was specifically because I heard so many good things about them from when they were in the old Atlantic shopping center. You bring up the very valid point that they still may be working out the kinks that come with growth. I hate to speak poorly of local establishments, but my experience just didn’t warrant too many positives. I dined there in October, so I’ll give it another 6 months before I try them again, but I will keep an open mind. Thanks for the broccoli tip, that is definitely much more preferable than the pasta.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Very disappointing. Made dinner reservations for a special occaision. Food was average. Service was very good.
• Hardly any field greens under the portabella and field green dish.
• Bread took forever to arrive.
• House wines they offer are crap.
• Decor is tacky. Similar to a Dennys during a power outage.
• Fat guy hogging the mike in the lounge area…very annoying.
Will not go back.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
@The Mystery Diner - Thanks for stopping by and introducing a bit of mystery to the blog. Your experience seems to mimic those of a lot of other people in the area. I doubt anyone from Enigma actually reads my blog, but if they ever stumble upon it, maybe they can overlook some of the sarcasm and act upon some feedback for improvement.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Just got back from our first visit to Enigmas. We are from the area and on vacation and wanted to try some place new. We were impressed with the decor inside and out, especially the wonderful aquarium. We had two veal dishes - saltimbocca and serti? Both were delicious. The breadsticks were moist and flavorful, the salad bar was excellent, and the service was above average as well. We also had an excellent special coctail and a very good and inexpensive chianti. For dessert, we had the orange/white chocolate cake which was a good blend of flavors.
I believe that when you are so opinionated and negative as to begin picking apart a restaurant based upon the fact that the paintjob doesn’t match your tastes, you are going to be in for a bad night regardless of the quality of food and service.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
@Don & Kathy - Thanks for stopping by. It’s good to see a positive review of Enigma. You have a fair point in the fact that decor doesn’t necessarily mean that the food is bad and may set you up for a poor disposition during the evening. That being said, however, I don’t think I’m the only one who had a bad experience since Enigma has moved to their new location (see other comments). Your comments motivate me to maybe give it another shot, but I think I’ll need a few more good ones to work up the courage.
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