Engrained Cafe

For on-​campus food, this place is not bad. I had their seafood gumbo and tootsie sushi roll. The gumbo was decent, but not great. The sushi was mediocre at best and very dry.

4.5 stars for food. The attention to healthy, locally-​sourced food is great. I love that they inform you which allergens are in which meals! And the taste is pretty darn good too!
5 stars for most service. The waitstaff are incredibly nice and the cashiers are always really accommodating when it comes to allergens and stuff. I really appreciate that!
–100 stars for the hostess. I don’t like confrontation, and there aren’t a ton of places I can eat on ASU’s campus, but I shy away from this place because that lady is a difficult, sour, mean mean mean woman. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman (which makes it inappropriate), because I often attend with minority (female) graduate students (which makes it inappropriate), because I and those I attend with are often young (which makes it inappropriate), or if there’s no deport reason whatsoever which makes it inappropriate), but her behavior toward us is nearing harassment — and I don’t take that stance lightly! (Examples: My white male colleagues easily walked past her and into the restaurant after using the bathroom outside the restaurant; when my female colleague and I did, she stepped in front of us and said, «Stop, ladies», indicating we needed to check with her before we could enter or even walk through the restaurant. A white male colleague and a white female colleague each had an opaque water bottle with them; she came over to ensure that the female’s container had water in it and not an outside beverage. A male colleague ate his homemade sandwich with our group during a meeting, all without incident; I ordered a salad without the topping – basically a plate of lettuce, which I guess could have made it look like I was eating food from home – and she came over to tell me that outside food wasn’t allowed.)

This restaurant is really cool, especially for an on-​campus restaurant! I don’t think I’ve ever been to an on-​campus restaurant that actually brings the food to your table. It’s also really cool that they use locally sourced ingredients. I will say that the options on the day I visited didn’t really «speak» to me… but I ordered teriyaki glazed salmon with fried rice and still managed to clean my plate. I think that, for a college campus (where, presumably, students are trying to eat healthy) some nutrition facts about the food would be a good addition. I’ve seen that at other college campuses and it can be helpful. Otherwise, nice job to ASU for a creative spin on campus dining.

Went here on a whim today to try it out and I was pleasantly surprised. The layout is kind of confusing at first, but once you figure it out it’s pretty easy. Their menu has a pretty decent variety of pizza, burgers, sushi and salads/​hummus. I would have liked a little more choice as far as the menu is concerned though. Service was pretty standard. You pay at the counter and then they bring your food out to you, which was done pretty fast.
I ordered the tootsie roll and some fries and my girlfriend got the pepperoni pizza with a side of fries. Drinks/​chips were included but we didn’t try the chips. The roll was somewhat small but it tasted pretty good. My girlfriend’s pizza was really good, I was pretty jealous. We both enjoyed the hand cut fries a lot.
Overall I’d say it was a good experience. Adding a little more to the menu would go a long way I think. I will be back to try their burger. The table next to us got one and it looked really good.

This place is great! Located conveniently on in ASU’s Memorial Union, students and community members alike can enjoy fresh and healthy options right on campus. Engrained has a seasonal rotating menu that always seem to feature new and local food. It’s definitely one of the fanciest restaurants you will find on a college campus, but it’s definitely worth it in my opinion if you are ready to switch things up. For those of you who still have Maroon & Gold dollars, I am happy to report that Engrained will accept M&G!
The menu has everything from freshly made pizza to sushi, and it is focused on fresh ingredients and sustainable sourcing. Come here with an open mind and you will be blown away with some of the adventurous offerings. I love trying new things, and I can always trust Engrained to have some enticing menu options.
If you want a healthy alternative to the other fast food options here on campus, I highly recommend this place. You will sometimes find ASU faculty and staff treating VIP guests to lunch here, and I have been lucky enough to be a part of a couple of those events. If you find yourself on ASU’s campus, you will not regret checking this café out.

I ate here while on a visit to ASU. I was incredibly impressed by the décor and the food at this café. I wish we had something like this where I work!
The food was amazing and fresh. It’s absolutely beautiful to look at. I had the sweet potato soup with a Cesar salad. Engrained has many options for vegetarians and vegans. The soup I ordered was vegan, and one of the employees offered me a sample when they saw me eyeing it. This was great because I wasn’t sure if I would like the soup or not, but I loved it and made sure to get it. If you are unsure about something, be sure to ask for a sample. I’m not sure that it works for everything, but it does for the soup.
When I checked out, the cashier asked me if I wanted chicken in my salad. I said no, I would prefer not to have it. She responded by saying it came that way (I ordered it anyways). Then she did the same thing to the person behind me. What’s the point of asking people if they want chicken if the answer is going to be that the salad comes with it? I prefer not to eat meat so I just worked around the chicken — no big deal.
The food came out in a timely manner and was just delightful. It was very fresh and had lots of flavor. If I worked at ASU I would be in this café as much as possible for lunch. You can get a good meal for a good price (10.00 or so I believe) and get something that is delicious and nutritious.
Employees were very nice and professional.

This is a very fresh and healthy place to eat on campus! Everything is made with fresh local produce and there are numerous gluten free, vegan and organic options. A nice break from all the greasy food on campus! Try the vegetable fried rice or the grilled chicken with the tomato salad. They also have great dessert — organic chocolate cake with strawberries!

The lady at the check in is rude and seems like she doesn’t enjoy her job! I just asked for the menu and she pointed up and kept doing what she was doing. So I was like BYE!

It’s sometimes hit or miss. I enjoy the trio because you get a couple things for a decent price and it’s not super filling. Sometimes its not filling enough though. Other items are good and the options vary. Sushi is pretty good too. Service is ok. They are nice but sometimes a little eager to clean up and have tried taking my plate before I finish. The atmosphere is nice. Even when it’s busy in the middle of lunch it’s still better than dealing with the madness in the MU. 3 stars for food and service but 4 because yes I’ll admit I’m a fan and do look forward to when I get the chance to eat here.

This is my favorite dinning place in the Memorial Union. The food is very fresh and delicious. However, as a student, it’s hard to eat here everyday. Compared with those fast food chains in the MU, Engrained provides good quality food with higer price. Overall, clean environment, friendly staff, i will def. go there again…

It’s my second time eating here and I definitely loved it both times. Being the snobby vegan brat that I am, there’s little to nothing to eat on campus but this place is really delicious and has well prepared and a diverse variety of options.

Wow, wished I found this place earlier before I flushed all my M and G at the decidedly sub par fast food chains in the Memorial Union. This place is a diamond in the rough especially for students like me subsiding mostly on Subway.
My seared Ahi salad was interesting and well executed and had elements of beets, turnips, and quinoa in a romaine salad.
Its a tad pricey but I’m willing to pay for quality when I get free drinks and a restaurant style setting once in a while. (Especially if I’m using Maroon and Gold)
The ambiance is also 10x better then what you see at the other on campus restaurants.
For people complaining about service try Hassy, PV, or even the esteemed Barrett dining halls =/​The service here is golden and lightning fast compared to that.
That said returning as a non-​student in the future is close to nil as I hope to have found better options but for now this is truly an ASU treasure and one I will frequent.

So, I am writing this review as a current graduate student, alumni and university employee. I very much have enjoyed my meals at Engrained. In fact, it is was of our favorite lunch places to have meetings at. They have a good range of options for every palate. Their quinoa options tend to be my favorites. Worth trying if you need a break from all the commercial spots.

I went to an Infant Mental Health training at ASU on Friday. At the lunch break, the instructor suggested Engrained at the Memorial Union. I went to graduate school on the Tempe campus last year, and I’m so bummed that I didn’t know about Engrained then. They really need a higher profile.
The pros: they use locally-​sourced ingredients in a creative manner. The menu offered several entrees built around Maya’s Farm veggies. My quesedilla of grilled asparagus with a cilantro lime cream sause was fantastic. My friend said her panini and salad was really good, too. It’s nice to be able to look at the food before ordering it. The seating is comfortable and the employees were friendly. In spite of the confusing system, our food was delivered to our table very promptly.
The cons: the ordering system is confusing, as others had mentioned. I asked about it at the station where we got our table number, but still made the mistake of trying to order at the wrong place. And it’s on the ASU campus. Parking is a nightmare; I took the light rail the day of my visit. I’ll probably rarely get to eat here, but I enjoyed the experience.

I could spend this review harping on all the others who unfairly compare Engrained to a five-​star restaurant, but I’d rather focus on the fact that Engrained is of such a caliber that people are even able to confuse the two. Keep in mind that this café is essentially a school cafeteria that happens to cater to outside guests.
When Engrained first opened, I was thrilled. I spent almost every spare cent I had enjoying lunch there twice a week. The restaurant is built in the spot where a previous café had burnt down, and follows in the footsteps of Arizona State’s sustainability initiative. At first, it was incredibly slow, but three years later and there are almost never enough tables to seat everyone who shows up for lunch. Yes, the ordering system is a bit archaic, but I like the freedom it affords me to browse (and, also, not to tip). Hint: tell the hostess you’ll be eating outside, place your order at the sushi station to avoid lines and head out onto the beautiful Starlight Terrace to seat yourself.
Although I am not affiliated with the business, I have dined there so often that I have come to be on a first-​name basis with both the original Assistant Chef, Chadwick, and the new one, John, as well as some of the waiters. You will also see the manager and owner here on an almost daily basis. It’s very obvious that the people who work here care about what they’re doing. The food staff has always been kind to me, and are very knowledgeable about the items they’re serving. The other day I had a side salad and was absolutely thrilled to notice fresh, nutty fiddleheads in the mix. When I enquired, the Head Chef, Jerome, told me they had been sourced from Sonoma Valley.
Engrained used to advertise it’s menu as all from within 200 miles of Arizona State. I’m sure their customers caught on that they weren’t locally sourcing ahi tuna, but that doesn’t detract from Engrained’s sustainable and green practices. They use real plates and silverware, recycled napkins, fair trade coffee and the restaurant itself is built out of renewable resources such as bamboo. In addition, they observe sustainable seafood practices, use cage-​free eggs and free-​range beef. Food is sourced locally when possible, from valley locales such as Queen Creek Olives, Shamrock Farms and, most notably, right from the ASU campus. I have personally eaten dishes made with the campus’ Seville oranges, dates and lemonquats.
The menu changes on a rough two-​week schedule, but always includes a few staples such as artisan pizza, paninis, quesadillas and a burger. There are also salads, soups, sushi and dessert to choose from, as well as the «Engrained Trio,» a small sampling of a salad, entreé and dessert for $ 7.
Menu items run the gamut from pork loin with peach chutney paninis to chicken scallopini to eggplant ragout, and everything in between. Prices can be steep (from $ 5 — $ 15), but it’s not too difficult to find something delicious and affordable here.
Overall, Engrained is a restaurant that offers an amazingly healthy and high-​caliber alternative to other campus dining establishments. It has come a long, long way since it first opened it’s doors. The restaurant is always seeking to do better, often holding seminars for staff and students alike, as well as participating in numerous other community events, such as the farmer’s market on campus. On a number of occasions I have written suggestions on the comment cards and later been personally approached by either a chef or the manager, telling me they had appreciated and would be considering my suggestions.
I would recommend that anyone in the area try Engrained at least once, keeping an open mind and remembering what a noble cause this restaurant is striving for on a campus where a Big Mac and Frappuccino qualify as «lunch»

I remember visiting Engrained a few times the first semester it opened, but each experience was so disappointing (incompetent staff, slow service, mediocre overpriced food) that I never went back. Today was my first time back and what a pleasant surprise! The trio was the perfect light lunch with fresh, well prepared ingredients and the service was efficient. And the price point was just right for a regular indulgence in a poor college foodie’s budget.
3 stars because the quality of all the dishes is still spotty. The grilled cheese and soup combo, another inexpensive option, sometimes has burnt sandwiches, or just poorly constructed greasy sandwiches in general.

My boyfriend is a student at ASU and treated me to the delight that is Engrained. He had a bouillabaisse-​type cod dish, and I had the portobellini raviolis with local ricotta. Both dishes were fantastic, but the ravioli was particularly great — the sauce was light and creamy, and the raviolis were perfectly chewy without being mushy.
We also split a dessert, some kind of pear bread pudding with whipped yummy nonsense. Another win.
BONUS: They serve the same «iced passion tea» as Arcadia Farms.

It’s been a while since we ate here (but we’re going back again tomorrow). I think we had the Gazpacho, a Desert Sweet Shrimp Pasta dish and something with butternut squash and gnocchi. The Gazpacho badly needed salt, the shrimp pasta was a little on the bland side (just a little) but the butternut squash dish was phenomenal! We thought it was strange at first that you walk around and look at the food then walk up to the register to order, but it turned out OK because it’s kind of nice to see what your food will look like when it comes out.
The interior of the restaurant is beautiful too. Lots of bamboo paneling and everything is supposed to be sustainable. A side note: they don’t have high chairs or boosters (a big problem for college students, I know, so if you have a little one, bring your own booster seat if you need one). Most people won’t have this problem but I travel with a two year old. That’s just how I roll.

Note: they cut back on hours and now are ONLY open lunch 11 a.m.-1 p.m. M-​F. Closed during semester breaks, they’re opening up next on June 1.
Not at all what you’d expect from on-​campus dining, this space features sustainability in its construction, practices and menu offerings. The way it works is you get a assigned a table number, then you browse the food prepared that day at the various stations – pizza, entrées, sandwiches, etc. – and finally you order at the register.
Since you order first and tips aren’t really part of the set-​up, you won’t get super personal service. But the food is really fresh and healthy/​yummy and you’ll feel good knowing they’re making a conscious effort to not be wasteful. This past semester’s menu featured sustainably harvested desert sweet shrimp and locally harvest citrus and dates. Good value for your price, ranging from $ 6-​$ 20 depending on ingredients. Your meal purchase includes any drink; I recommend the prickly pear iced tea.

I’ve eaten at Engrained twice. We like to call it, lovingly, «the frou-​frou restaurant at the ASU MU.» Any place that has the words Pithivier, Quinoa, Frangipane, Kalamata Tapenade, and Wilcox Flavorina Tomato on their menu, all at the same time, has frou-​frou written all over it. Engrained claims to be a «living-​learning restaurant committed to locally grown food and environmentally friendly practices.» Eh, whatever. So far, it all tastes good, or else I wouldn’t bother Unilocaling…
The first time I ate at Engrained, I partook of the prawn spring rolls with a peanut sauce. I have to assume that someone in Arizona is growing prawn in a vat, but that’s cool. It was really, really good!
Today I enjoyed, and I quote, «Lamb and Feta Patties with Cucumber Tzatziki Parsnip and Potato Purée» for $ 10.95. The meal comes with a drink (soda, tea, coffee), so that’s really not a bad value for what you are getting. The meal consisted of one good-​sized lamb patty with feta cheese mushed into the patty, on top of a yummy mashed potato base with a few string beans and cherry tomatoes. I think there was actually a pesto sauce on the top of the tzatziki, and it sure was delicious! Portion size always seems adequate, without being overwhelming — a nice change from chain restaurants.
I haven’t tried the sushi bar yet… Sushi «grown» in Arizona? Hmmm…
Anyway, do give Engrained a try, and try to guess what part of Arizona your food came from! :)