First Visit:
My co-worker wanted to come to Enerje Cafe for their All-You-Can-Eat Wings. So we gather as many co-workers, significant others, and friends as possible, bought advance tickets, and headed over there. This was Enerje's third AYCE wings night in as many months. I was hesitant to go at first because I heard that they were totally disorganized. However, after much thinking and telling everyone this, we decided that maybe third time is the charm, and everything will go smoothly. I called for reservations and got the low-down on how the AYCE will work. Basically, the nice girl on the phone told me that we reserve in one hour increments and we are suppose to order everything within the one hour limit but we can stay there as long as we want. Somehow, this didn't sound organize to me.
So, the Friday came and I reserved for 7pm. The AYCE event was from 6-11pm. Advance tickets are $15 and $20 at the door. In addition to the wings, you get two bubble tea drinks as well. There were six bubble tea flavours to choose from. So all of us made it to the restaurant before 7pm. I entered first to tell the person that our whole party was here. I was met by a girl sitting by the front door with the reservation sheets. She told us that the place was full, and we would need to wait. She kept saying that it was her fault for letting walk-ins in at 6:30 and that the kitchen was a bit slow. This did not instill confidence in me. So we ended up waiting for about 30 minutes. During this time, I could see all the people with 7pm reservations were getting angry and impatient. Finally, they opened up the little room on the side, and two parties got to sit in there. My party was one of them. Once we got settled and got in our bubble tea and wings order, there was quite a wait. There were lots of people standing around waiting for a table, and I keep hearing the girl at the table say that there were no refunds for the tickets. So people would either lose money or wait.
Pic: Our first round of wings.
The two bubble tea flavours I ordered were milk tea and mango. The milk tea was okay and really sweet. The mango was very good and tasty. They use fresh mango in it. I heard the avocado was good as well. For wings, there were 14 different flavours on their menu. We can order anything but the lemongrass flavour, as they didn't have any. So as a group, we just ordered one of each kind. At this place, you don't order per wing, you order per basket which is 1 lb. Each basket comes with 8 or 9 wings. By the time the wings came, we were starving. I don't think we got one of each flavour, and I don't think anyone cared. I didn't try all the wings as about half of them were spicy. The ones that I did try were very good, and the wings were big. Our second round, we ordered the same thing, one of each kind.
Overall, the AYCE was very disorganized. We finished at around 9:30 with two rounds of wing orders. We didn't order everything within the hour limit. The server was very busy. When she did get back to us we were ready to order our second rounds of drinks and wings When we left, there were still a couple people waiting. I think they need to set a two hour time limit for each reservation like they do for AYCE sushi. They also need to either limit their advance tickets so they can include walk-ins or not have walk-ins at all. I hope if they continue to have this event, they will learn to organize better. If anyone does want to do this event, I recommend the first seating unless you don't mind waiting.
Second Visit:
I came back here last Sunday at around 4pm for late lunch/early dinner since I was near the area visiting my friends and their new baby. Naturally, at this time, it was not busy. There was only one other table that was occupied. I got to sit anywhere I like. The service was good since the server only had two tables. There were some people that had come in and ordered bubble tea to go. I came here with the intention to try their Filipino items. To my disappointment, they didn't have a lot of stuff on the menu available as they were out of pork belly, oxtail, lemongrass wings, Enerje fried rice. They had ramen there - spicy miso - but I didn't want to try it.
Mango Bubble Tea $5
Since I like their mango bubble tea so much last time, I decide to order it again. I didn't order any 'toppings' since I'm not a big fan of them and they cost $0.50 extra. I was delighted to find that the bubble tea was the same as before. They use fresh mango, and I watch the bartender put it in. However, I don't know if it is me, but the bubble tea was a little overly sweet. I got my drink in a to-go cup since I know I wouldn't be able to finish it. If you dine-in, the bubble tea usually comes in a cute little carafe.
Japizza $7
This is dish is on the Large Plate section of the menu. The dish is good for sharing as it was sliced into 8 pieces. The based of the 'pizza' is sushi rice patted flat and deep fried. On the pizza they added a teriyaki/masago mayo sauce, spam, bonito flakes, and masago. The menu said that there was suppose to have nori (seaweed) as well, but they didn't put any on this pizza. This was a little disappointing that they forgot to put on an item that was listed. Every slice had a piece of spam on it with a little masago. The base had a wonderful crunch. The sauce was unique and messy as they over-sauced the pizza. The bonito flakes gave the pizza a little fishy taste, and the spam was fried and salty as usually. If you let the pizza sit for long, the base does get a little soggy.
Sticky Rice $7
This dish is also on the Large Plate section of the menu, and this is certainly not a large plate. This is enough for one person. I was a bit disappointed since I saw the other Zomato picture of this dish, it looked big. I really hope that they did not adjust portion size according to people eating the dish and charge the same price. This dish was really good, and I like the sauce. It does remind me of the sticky rice dumpling they serve at dim sum. This dish is sticky rice topped with shiitake mushroom, chicken, Chinese sausage, and supposedly green onions. I didn't get any green onions :(. Also, the menu said this dish has roti sauce. I don't know what or where the roti sauce was.
All in all, this place is confusing to me. I don't know if I can recommend it to people since not all the items on their menu are available at all time. However, if you are in the area, I would recommend coming here for their bubble tea. For me personally, I would come here again to try their Filipino dishes but I will call them first to see if they have it. So far, this place isn't high on my list for my go-to bubble tea/hang-out place.
Enerje Cafe
1075 Falconridge Drive NE
403-454-4744
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