Sensi
Last night I had my second dinner at Sensei, located on East Cary Street in Richmond, VA.
Sensei has changed a bit from my initial visit. The music is softer, and thus made me feel it was less of a “New York style”, hip restaurant. This change in music was the first thing I noted. Service was better, but still had some rough edges (appetizer dishes sitting dirty on the table for far too long). On a Friday night, I expected to see more customers. The menu was new too, some of the same items, but also some new.
We ordered two appetizers: the calamari fritti and the portabello mushroom crostini. The calamari was done right, a nice coating and not rubbery. One diner complained it needed more salt. It was served with both a creamy and a tomato sauce. The portabello appetizer was less successful in execution. The “bread” portion was more like some avant-garde sculpture which dominated the vertical space above the plate. It was not palatable. The mushrooms and the prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella portion were good, the mushrooms, grilled, with balsamic vinegar on the plate, the highlight. It was great flavor, but I would have preferred a “better” bread crouton.
Entrées ordered included swordfish (excellent, lots of flavor), seafood risotto (not bad, but bettered by their seafood pasta), and the porcini/truffle gnocci (sublime). I ordered the gnocci, and indeed, it was an excellent dish I admired. Throughout the dinner, that smell of truffle perfumed by dining space, the porcini mushrooms fresh (not dried) and oh so good. Each one was like a royal treat. The gnocci were unusual, and large: they wrapped a mushroom stuffing. The dish was the right size (not too much), and the addition of vegetables (from asparagus to broccolini) was excellent. I asked for salt, which was missing on the vegetables.
The order of profiteroles (cream puffs) made an appropriate dessert when shared… just a few bites of delicious mocha flavor. I was annoyed that the waiter drowned each one in chocolate sauce, which made sharing messy and inconvenient. I could have well doused each one on my own plate with the sauce, thank you very much.
Sensei offers (still) a dynamic, different dining environment in Richmond, and offers some tasty twists on Italian fare. I continue to be impressed and would recommend it!
April 21st, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Nice review… I will go there again myself…. I look forward to trying something special one night or two in Atlanta.
Popularity 3 %…. seems a bit low… or don’t I understand… 3 out of 100 is pretty lousy popularity.
The one $ sign is certainly good.
Tom
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:54 am
The “popularity” rating is not reflective of the restaurant. It’s a “rating” of the popularity of the post. A low popularity means not too many people have read this particular review, in light of all reviews at the site. I have removed this popularity.
I also need to re-evaluate the $ ratings. Sensei got a $$ (medium expensive) rating. I use larger dollar-signs and this is likely not a great way to reflect price. I ought to follow the same idea as the stars… mroe dollar-signs is more expensive.
May 8th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Not to criticize, but the correct spelling is Sensi. We got there about once a month (which will probably increase as our daughter is getting ready to move to Tobacco Row). We love the food and the service. If you have a party of 6 or more (I think that’s the right number) they will bring an assortment of appetizers. My fav is the rare tuna. My husband likes the eggplant dish. I recommend the seafood pasta, the bolognese and the seafood ravioli highly.
July 26th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
My husband and I need to go back to Sensi. We did love the food the first time we went. Paolo Randazzo is an amazing chef. He has taught a couple of classes at Sur la Table and he was not selfish at all about his knowledge. He even shared the recipe of his famous signature budino.
June 26th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Would the Messy Chef recommend Sensi for a business dinner to a great client? I did some digging and found they love Sensi, but don’t go often. Or is it too on the intimate side?