10601 San Jose Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32257
(904) 268-4458
I’m Italian and I’m from New York. So, if I’m giving a 5-star rating to an Italian restaurant, you know this is the place to be! We had heard great things about Enza’s and have been meaning to try it out for months. We finally got around to it a couple of weeks ago and are still kicking ourselves for waiting so long!
Enza and her husband are from Italy and have been in the restaurant business their entire lives. They are hands-on both in the kitchen and in the dining room, greeting customers and making sure their dining experience is as good as it can possibly be. Their daughters cheerfully work as servers and make recommendations on the wine and food. One review we read warned that it can sometimes be difficult to get seated quickly without a reservation and we now see why!
There is nothing on the menu that is not absolutely outstanding. You seriously cannot go wrong here! We ordered 2 appetizers, the carpaccio and the fried ravioli. Both were superb. In fact, my husband has often been frustrated with how carpaccio is served in other restaurants, but was super excited about how Enza’s got it so right. The ravioli portion was huge for an appetizer, so I was lucky enough to bring half of it home for the next day’s lunch! For the entree, I ordered a grouper almondine special served over sauteed spinach and asked for a side of fettucini alfredo. The flavors perfectly complimented each other, the fish was absolutely perfectly cooked, and the alfredo sauce was, quite literally, the best I have ever tasted. My husband ordered the rigatoni bolognese, where he was given a choice between the two bolognese sauces on the menu. There’s the “ordinary” sauce, and then there’s the special sauce made with beef, veal, and lamb and simmered for 5 hours: the house special. His report was that it was exceptional in meatiness and complex flavor.
We will probably make Enza’s a monthly tradition and hope to try everything on the menu! Since so many of us transplanted Yankees complain that the South doesn’t seem to get Italian right, I’m going to call this a “must-do” restaurant.
They’re closed Mondays and don’t open until 4:00 p.m. other days. Reservations can be made by leaving a voice mail or on their website.
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