I live in El Paso, but work takes me to Cruces a couple times a week, and I often try and find someplace interesting to eat while I'm there. The corporate chains, sushi and pho, and taco trucks so prevalent in El Paso get old pretty quick. A Cruces friend who knows my penchant for restaurant originality turned me on to this new place, Nessa's, so I headed there for lunch.
I must say, the parking situation is not ideal. Choices seem to be either the street, or a small gravel lot that, at least on the day of my visit, had construction going on in it. I chose the lot anyway, but felt sorta bad about making the already small lot even smaller with my bigass work truck. Once inside Nessa's though, the grey gravel lot was quickly forgotten.
The Ishihara Test says I'm colorblind, but the walls and tables inside Nessa's say otherwise. The place is anything but drab. Definitely an "artsy" quality to it you're likely to find in similar cafe's, but stops short of gaudy or preschoolish. It's a clean, warm place to be.
It wasn't terribly busy when I was there. Three other tables with people, and a pretty consistent stream of visitors coming in for to-go orders. Nobody lacked for service at any point. In fact during my time there I was consistently visited by two waitresses and a guy with an apron. AND was given a friendly nod from a distance by the guy behind the counter. Outside of the people in the kitchen, I think I was acknowledged by everyone who worked there. Maybe they just felt sorry for the "solo" patron, but whatever the case I felt welcomed.
My iced tea never went below half-full before it was automatically refilled by the waitress, and I waited all of 15 minutes for my food.
I ordered the Bacon and Brie Grilled Cheese with Parsnip and Carrot Fries, and I highly recommend it. I was especially partial to the fries; and the bread for the sandwich was, literally, identical to my mom's own homemade bread. It really sort of tripped me out, as I've never expected to taste my mom's cooking outside of mom's house. So, bonus points to the baker for getting inside my head.
Before I left, I got an iced mocha to-go. In all honesty, I have to say its been a very long time since I had such a great mocha. Good balance, and a thickness to it you'll never get from the likes of Starbuck's.
Portions and price were reasonable in my opinion.
There really wasn't anything in my experience at Nessa's that would even slightly hint at the single star rating some other people have given the place. Personally, I prefer to reserve 1 star ratings for establishments that actively try and murder me. That way the severity of their crime isn't diluted by previous 1 star ratings for things like runny eggs or longish wait times. But to each their own I guess.
All in all, I really like Nessa's so far. 5 stars! With the qualification that, as my final act, I might lower the score if they make an attempt on my life. Barring that, I plan to make it a regular stop on my Cruces visits. So long as I can find someplace to park. read more