Inside of Downtown Frankfort’s Senso The Xavierite
Roughly 20 miles from campus, Sensō is Downtown Frankfort’s latest addition to its pool of original restaurants. The modern sushi establishment opened its doors on Nov. 5, 2024.
I first heard about Sensō from my friend, Isabelle, who stumbled upon their account on Instagram, @sensofrankfort. Their page consists of reels demonstrating the process of building Sensō as well as the process of creating some of their special menu items.
After looking into the restaurant, I was sold on visiting. Not only was the place appealing aesthetically, but they had a menu unlike anything I had ever seen before.
Isabelle made a reservation online, and we decided to go one evening for dinner.
When we walked in, the place was packed with groups of friends and families enjoying a night out. I was overcome with a wave of excitement as the decorations brought a contemporary city feel that was promising.
With that being said, I would recommend anyone who does plan on visiting to make a reservation ahead of time. They had a lot of people there, but not a lot of room to sit and wait without a specific time arranged.
As soon as we were seated, we started to glance over the menu. It had several different categories: small bites, sashimi, Sensō Creations, signature rolls, classic rolls, vegetarian rolls, and more.
We first decided to try an appetizer. They have an interesting variety, going from Miso Garlic Edamame to Vegetable Tempura.
Isabelle wanted to get the Crab Rangoons, which consist of crab-mix, cream cheese, and a sweet chili sauce on the side.
While I have heard of crab rangoons before, this was my first time trying them. I have not always been the biggest seafood eater, but I went into Sensō hoping to expand my palate and try some new foods.
The Crab Rangoons were incredible, and the sweet chili sauce they gave with them was mouthwatering. What I would say about these is that one should only order them if they like cream cheese; the cream cheese did overpower the crab-mix, but I felt it was a perfect ratio.
After the appetizer, we were faced with an even more difficult decision: what our main dishes were going to be.
I found myself going back and forth, but I had my mind set on getting something from the Sensō Creations category. With the goal of trying something new, I also wanted to make sure to order something that was special to this restaurant.
The menu offered a variety of options from steak to lettuce wraps to Korean Fried Chicken. From my past experience, I am someone who typically orders Philadelphia Rolls, which come with salmon, cream cheese, and avocado. So despite all of the options, I was leaning towards something with salmon so that I had a little bit of familiarity.
That’s when I made my decision. I decided to order the Salmon Guru, which came with crab-mix and cucumber rolled into salmon. It had truffle oil, citrus ponzu, ikura, and pico de gallo sprinkled over the top.
The Salmon Guru came with three rolls. I ended up eating them with soy sauce and some failed, but eventually half-decent, chopstick attempts.
It was the most interesting meal I had ordered in a restaurant to date. It went way out of my comfort zone, but I realized I really enjoyed it.
I felt like the salmon was what I tasted the most, and it was exceptional. I could not really taste the pico de gallo, but I did try the ikura on its own. Ikura can also be considered a ‘red caviar,’ and it has a salty, fishy taste with a texture resembling popping boba.
Isabelle ended up ordering California Rolls, which include crab-mix, avocado, and cucumber. She had two rolls left, so I got to try these as well. They were also really good; everything was something I can see myself ordering again.
Lastly, we decided we had room for dessert and that we had to try the Mochi, which is ice cream inside of a rice dough. Sensō offered coffee, green tea, mango, and strawberry flavors. We got to choose three; we went with coffee, green tea, and mango.
The Xavierite
This was probably the best Mochi I have ever had, and I have tried a lot. It was really creamy, with a good ratio of rice dough and ice cream. I have found that some places do not use enough dough, which makes it very thin and lacking the same flavor.
I liked Green Tea the most, then Coffee, then Mango. They were all flavors I would order again.
All in all, our experience at Sensō was one I was excited to share. This is a restaurant that I will rave about forever; I cannot wait for my next visit.
Even though Sensō is a bit of a drive from campus, it is definitely worth it. With everything Downtown Frankfort has to offer, it is a place that makes day trips easy and far from boring. Be sure to check out everything else they have to offer when you stop by!
You can find Sensō at 3 N White St in Frankfort, Illinois.