Naomi W.
Yelp
Cute new brunch spot that I decided to try with my boyfriend on a Sunday after watching football at Bus Stop nearby. Looks like a very good place for taking photos and posting on social media if you're into that kind of thing. I was really excited to try it since it looked new and had good reviews!
We got there around 1:30 PM, and there were two other parties of two ahead of us. The hostess is nowhere to be seen, and no one acknowledged us for about 10 minutes until I flagged down the waitress serving the tables outside on the curb, who then told me to wait for the hostess. We waited about another 5 mins before the hostess got to us, and during this wait time, a guy came in, waited impatiently (like about 5 mins) and left since no one acknowledged him either.
The two parties before us are finally seated because two or three tables left. During this whole time though, there were about 4-6 open bar/countertop seats... We didn't have a reservation, and the hostess had to call each missed reservation individually to ask them if they were still coming. I know this place is relatively new, but this doesn't seem like a good use of time. Would probably be easier to just have a blanket understanding that if you don't show up in 15 mins your table is gone, like most other places. I kept taking a peek at her iPad screen to see all these missed reservations she was calling up. While I have 20/20 vision, I couldn't quite see everything perfectly from my angle, but it looked like there were reservations for between 1-1:30 that didn't show who she was still calling when it was already nearly 2 PM. About halfway through our nearly 30 min wait, another party of two lined up behind us, waited for nearly 5 mins, then also left because no one ever greeted them.
I would say food options here are a bit more unique than most other brunch places around the city, but the prices here are ridiculous ($9 for a regular latte I remember seeing listed on their menu for example). I ordered the matcha drink which is basically the same as what you can get from Komeya no Bento nearby but slightly different flavors, and it cost nearly double the price. It also wasn't even as flavorful; I could not taste the rose or beet flavors. I did enjoy my Sri Lankan, but I was confused how to eat it even after the waitress explained it (English didn't seem to be her first language so I didn't want to ask her to repeat the long instructions). My boyfriend got the crab omelette and that was alright, although the crab flavors reminded me of something out of a can. Still don't think it's worth nearly $30 for a freaking omelette. The fruit sides were also pretty sad (like 1 whole grape sliced up, not even half a strawberry sliced up, and two blueberries; see photo). Our food took kind of long to come out, and I was getting hangry when I saw the couple next to us get their food first when we had ordered about 10 mins before they did.
Overall, I think there are better brunch places in the city where the prices are much more reasonable for the service, ambiance and food you're paying for. The servers are nice and friendly, but that doesn't make up for the ridiculous seating time when there are clearly multiple open tables/spots or lack of greeting when customers enter the establishment. Just left me in a bad mood to start the meal off with in general. This place just seems to have a premium for how *pretty* it looks inside, and I have no desire to waste another $120+ on brunch for two here.