Espresso Portuguese American Grill Meal Overly Seasoned for Salt

Name: 

Cuisines: Portuguese,seafood,steaks

Payment: Cash only

Alcohol:  Full Bar

Price: $$

Address: 9002 Centreville Rd., Manassas, VA 20110

Hours of Operation: Daily, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Salt Says:

It's easy to miss Espresso grill because it's next to a car dealership. Even if it's not crowded, the eatery's small parking lot blends right in with the cars for sale. The front door to the restaurant looks like the side door to the fitness center beside it. And when you go in, there's no hostess table;you seat yourself. Aside from six or seven small tables in an awkwardly placed game room; the equally awkward bar takes up most of the space.

That being said, Espresso definitely has a communal feeling to it. Despite the lack of decoration (it was minimal, aside from flags draped from the rafters spanning the bar and a nameless skyline picture beside an open sink.) When you come in this restaurant, you feel like you've walked out of Manassas and into a small town eatery.  And if the televisions are turned to Central-American soap operas or Portuguese soccer,which they were when I visited, you might even feel like you're in a different country—just maybe.

After looking at the seafood-rich menu, I was excited to see one of my favorites:Sopa de Marisco or, seafood soup. I've had it at dozens of Spanish and Latin American eateries, but I've never had the Portuguese take on it.

When my portion arrived, I was excited to see the familiar sea scallops, shrimp, mussels and clams in a tomato-based sauce. The seafood was delicately cooked until it was perfectly tender. The sauce was thick enough to be a base for a stew and was peppered with okra and cilantro.

It would have been a perfect complement for the seafood. I say, 'would,' because it was so heavily salted, the only thing I could think of with every cringingly, horrible, spoonful was the Morton's Umbrella Girl. It was so salty, it made the seafood taste bland. If it weren't for the overly-anxious manager watching me eat, and an enormous glass of water at my reach, I would have stopped eating after the first bite!

The staff was friendly, the restaurant was clean, but I don't see myself eating here again any time soon. If I do, I will probably play it safe and order a steamed or grilled seafood dish. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Pepper Says:

When I googled the location of Espresso Grill, I saw that it was in area that I used to pass daily and I wondered why I’d never noticed this place. When I got there, I realized why. It is nestled so closely to all the surrounding merchants, that it never stood out as a restaurant.

When I arrived, there were absolutely no empty parking spaces, so I not-so-legally parked on the corner. To avoid a ticket, I figured I should opt for take out this one time.

When I walked in, the man at the grill instructed me to place my order at the front. When I got there, both waitresses blatantly ignored me. After two minutes of standing there, I asked if I could place an order.  It was very loud by the bar and I worried she didn’t get my order. I decided I’d better go back out and peek at my car. Before I walked out, I asked her how long my food would take to prepare. She replied, “Yes, 10 minutes”.

So about 8-9 minutes later, I walked back in to pay for my food and was once again ignored by the women. I walked over to the grill, where the cook told me it would be a few more minutes. No worries, that’s fine. But then he informed me that my order, the frango assado (grilled chicken) took at least 30 minutes. Great.  If I'd known it would be that long, I would have ordered something else.

Not only did I feel incredibly awkward that the other patrons kept staring at me like I'm the outsider in their restaurant, but I had to stay much longer than expected and kept running out to make sure my car wasn't being ticketed or towed.

Finally, the food was ready! I ran out to the car and drove away at full speed. Of course, I was starving and incredibly curious about the food, so I pulled out a drumstick to eat on the way. The chicken was nice and tender but I'm wasn't overly impressed with the grilling technique. It tasted the same as any backyard barbecue chicken. The dressing had a good flavor, but was too oily for me to taste the flavor in each bite. I also ordered shoestring fries which were pretty ordinary and the 10-minute drive home made them soggy.

While I wasn’t overly impressed by the food or service, I will say they had some very generous portions. And,  if over time, you are welcomed into the resturant's "inner circle;" I’m sure it would be a great place to enjoy a meal with friends. I definitely do not see myself returning there.