Review: Vegan Brunch at Beachland Ballroom

At times, my social life is a little ridiculous. In between work travel and running and a million other things I like to do, it can be hard to make time to do all of the things I want to do. Like go to brunch.

My boyfriend and I share a Google calendar to assist with plan making. Otherwise, I think we'd be quadruple booked instead of just double booked some weekends. Months ago, we'd talked about going to Beachland Ballroom for brunch. But it just finally happened.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Around 12:45. We pulled up to the restaurant and easily got parking on the street. We walked up to the restaurant and opened the door. Inside, the lobby area and the restaurant was jam packed with people. And all different kinds of people. Tattooed hipsters. Suburbanites. Older women in sweater sets. Bikers. It was neat to see so many different kinds of people intermingling.

We told the hostess we were starving so she seated us at the bar. A 10 top had just been seated before us in the dining room and she said it would have taken forever for us to get our food. I appreciated her honesty.

We sat down at the bar and Barb the bartender took good care of us. Got us water right away. Quickly took our orders. While we waited for our food, we enjoyed some people watching. The guy sitting next to me was ridiculously hung over...but still drinking. The guys on the other side of my boyfriend were old, grizzly biker looking dudes who orders shots for breakfast. But what really kept my attention were the delicious looking plates of food that kept coming out of the kitchen.

The Vegan Special

I ordered a vegan special - a combo of potatoes, scrambled tofu, veggies, and greens. (one of many vegan and vegetarian items on the menu) The tofu needed a little something so I added some sriracha. (Isn't everything better with a little sriracha?)As I was gobbling down my breakfast Barb the bartender stopped by to check on us. She asked me how I liked my vegan meal and I told her I liked it. She proceeded to tell me that she loves her meat but really thinks that Beachland Ballroom serves up some good vegan food. It was kind of a cool moment. I wouldn't have expected Barb the bartender to be down with vegan food. 

The only bad part of brunch was when the AC kicked off. Based on the looks of the inside of Beachland Ballroom, you might not even expect them to have AC, so I wasn't all that surprised when it stopped working. But what's a little sweat among friends and strangers eating brunch?

I think my boyfriend was a little skeptical about how our meal was going to be based on the location, interior, etc., but he absolutely loved his sausage biscuit and pancakes. He said the coffee was also pretty good, too. 

I really need to start making more time in my schedule for brunch. Especially if I can find more vegan and vegetarian friendly brunch spots!