As you can imagine, one of my favorite things to do on Sunday mornings is to go out to brunch followed by the rest of the day full of football. There are numerous brunch classics in my neighborhood, South End/Back Bay, – Aquitaine, Tremont647, Metropolis, Toro, Trident, Stephanie’s, etc. Needless to say, it isn’t hard to find a place to eat, you may have a bit of a wait, but 90% of the time it’ll be worth it.
So when another brunch spot becomes available, some would think oh well just add it to the list, it’ll be just like all the others. But I like to think that from the experience I had at The Brahmin‘s second ever brunch service, they might be trying to tackle the brunch space differently.
My group of 6 arrived for our 11:30 reservation to find the restaurant empty. Well the wait staff, DJ and bartenders were in sight, but no other diners. To cut them slack, the brunch service itself opens at 11:30, and I’m assuming a lot of people were moving slowly that Sunday morning.
Our waitress came over and was very thankful that we arrived on time. We went on to order their very cheap beverage options – $3 mimosas, $5 bloody marys, etc. I had the bloody mary and it was extremely tasty, though it seemed like it was missing horseradish. My friends who ordered the mimosa were pleased with the outcome as well. Can’t go wrong with $3, but to have it taste good, it’s quite a deal.
There was a decent selection on the brunch menu, there were omelette options, french toast, biscuits and gravy, various sides and a myriad of sandwiches.
Since it was only the second weekend they served brunch, the manager came over to us to check in early on and take our picture. He was very excited for the brunch service to begin and was so happy that we had heard about it. The answer, Facebook. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Facebook is a great way for restaurants to get the word out there especially for something brand new like this. People love to feel like they are in the know and Facebook is similar to having a friend tell you the inside scoop. The Brahmin has also been utilizing other local event sites to get the word out. Looks like the next brunch service is on the 29th!
The vibe of the brunch service was more like a continuation of the party you had the night before. There was a DJ mixing beats at a high volume, there were people sporting Snooki like sunglasses, and the bartenders were churning out beverages.
I think this approach has a great deal of potential. During our meal we experienced some of the growing pains of a new service wave being added to a new restaurants offering. The speed of the service initially was great, but as the dining room filled up, the service came to a screeching halt. We ordered various elements on the menu – omelettes, french toast, burgers and biscuits and gravy. The food was great! The main issue was that the details of the order were missed amidst the hubbub that the brunch service became. One of my fellow diners wasn’t able to eat wheat or cheese and they brought out his omelette meal twice over a very long period of time and both times it had bread and cheese on it. When he received his meal, we had already all finished our dishes and we had to specifically ask if the home fries contained bread.
At the end of the day, this inconvenience was muted slightly by the cheap drinks that we had flowing and the football game that was on right in front of our table on the flat screen TV that looked as though it was built into the wall.
I ordered the biscuits and gravy and was very pleased with the outcome. I sopped up every last drop of gravy with my biscuits and was very sad when my plate was clean. The biscuits came with bacon and I ordered home fries. The home fries resembled the flavors of stuffing (which I love) so that was a nice little treat! I will definitely go back to try that again or perhaps try something a little different depending on my mood and beverage selection.
My friends that ordered the omelettes loved them. Even after the long wait, my new found friend was very pleased with the final product. The kitchen definitely redeemed itself.
I will be going back to try the other offerings on the menu and to sample some more of their discounted beverages. Who wants to join me?
God, the service was awful. I’m giving it another shot though.
Posted by Alyssa Patrice | January 19, 2012, 11:37 am