Enumclaw, WA 98022-3017
(360) 802-5132
Open 7 days a week
--6/10-- On the goodness scale
The Good: I arrived at the the Cafe Panini at 7:30 on a Friday and it was packed, we had to wait twenty minutes for a table in the dining area. Luckily they have a good magazine selection. Whoever owns Panini must live by the motto that simplicity is king, because all of their menu items, as well as the presentation and the decor tend towards the very simple. None of the paninis offer anything extraordinary, but they all sound appetizing. As a quick note, Panini does offer several delicious sounding vegetarian options. I consider myself to be something of a sandwich connoisseur, and thus have a hard time ordering something from a restaurant when I could just as easily make it at home myself. That said I went ahead and ordered "The Soprano" which Panini describes as a real "killer." It included several Italian meats, a good helping of provolone, and some veggies, mostly olives and onions. The panini was tasty, if not a little lonely on the plate all by itself. This goes back to what I said about simplicity, my dinner came with a sandwich and nothing else. Depending on your mood, this could be seen as a negative or a positive, but I give that Cafe Panini is a cafe, I deemed it appropriate. Our server was knowledgeable about the food, and was very helpful in ordering. She was attentive to any changes, both my parents ordered their salads with light dressing and noted that the chef had prepared them exactly as ordered, and provided pleasant conversation. In addition, the wine pour was large, almost double what seems to be the standard, and the drinks were reasonably priced. They have a few Italian beers that I hadn't tried before and if you are of the mind to try new things I would recommend it. My parents both ordered pasta, again I have a hard time with this, pasta is so easy to prepare that it defeats my purpose for going out, and liked what they had. Unlike some restaurants, Cafe Panini has found a good balance in the sauciness, making sure things don't get soupy but that there is still plenty of flavor to be soaked up. The sausage in the bolognese sauce was quite good, it tasted something like a smoked Italian, a flavor that I hadn't experienced before.
The Bad: Cafe Panini, in addition to being known for its sandwiches, is also reportedly famous for its pies. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to sample such famous baked goods, I ordered a slice of the Jumbleberry, which is a mishmash of several different berries including blue, black, and rasp. Most of the other reviews that I read on Cafe Panini recommended the candy or cookie pies, but I consider those to be in a different sort of category. Our pie arrived with whipped cream instead of ice cream, the menu didn't specifically say that ice cream was included, but I thought that was industry standard for pie serving, and the slice was a little bit small for my taste. The berry filling was excellent, the combination of different berries creating a sour/sweet combination that tantalized the tongue, but the crust was lacking. Instead of a nice flaky crust that breaks apart when you fork it, the crust was rather floppy and limp, almost soggy looking. I don't know if it was a product of sitting out all day or the way the chef chose to prepare it, but it didn't do it for me. Having such delicious filling and then a lackluster crust ruined my pie eating experience and I felt almost as If I had been cheated. Such a reputable pie dealer would certainly have mastered the art of creating a crust that compliments the pie. Instead we were left picking the berries out of the middle. One last complaint, and this is little more then a nit pick, the bill was not itemized so it was very hard to tell what each item cost. We were trying to figure out the price of the pie but were having a hard time. I believe that it was $7, which seems very pricey for a piece of pie that fell short of expectation. Don't expect a whole pie to be much cheaper, many of them are between $25 and $30. I would stay home and make your own if you have a craving.
The Tasty: Good sandwiches, good food, all around a good dining experience. Try the pie if you want, maybe your palette is different than mine, but I would recommend looking elsewhere for dessert. For the money, dinner for three with drinks was around $60, I would say that Cafe Panini is a good place to go if you are someone who loves paninis or someone who loves pasta. Otherwise you may come away feeling a bit underwhelmed.
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