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!

Restaurant Review: Bonbon Pastry & Cafe

How many shopping days are left until Christmas...because I haven't really bought anything.  But that's actually ok because I generally don't buy many (or any) gifts this time of year.  Call me a Scrooge if you will, but I'd rather buy a thoughtful gift for someone on a Thursday in July and surprise them with it than give them a meaningless gift on December 25.

The one exception to my Scrooge-like rule is for a group of my lady friends. We're a bunch of ladies who lunch every so often and when time allows, we're able to make it to brunch, too.  We make a point of having a nice little holiday get together every year, and to be honest, it's probably my favorite part of the holidays.  This year I went the homemade route and gave out cookies and candy (and a couple ornaments I'd picked up at The Urban Orchid) and my treats were a big hit.  It felt nice to be able to give away something I'd actually made myself. 

Our venue for our brunch/gift exchange was Bonbon Pastry & Cafe in Ohio City.  As an avid Yelper, I'd seen that Bonbon had gotten some great reviews and some truly awful ones, but I like to be my own judge.  I'd say my experience was something in between.

Review: Market in Rocky River - Great Atmosphere, Not So Great Service

 Have you ever gone to a restaurant and really wanted to like it but you just couldn't?  That was my experience at Market in Rocky River.  The atmosphere is amazing!  Big tvs everywhere.  Huge patio.  Exposed brick.  Clean lines.  But all of that was negated by our snippy server and less than stellar grub.

I stopped by on a sunny Sunday afternoon to enjoy lunch with my boyfriend and his parents. We were seated on the patio and then were forgotten about. It was hot out, so getting drinks in a timely manner would have been appreciated. My boyfriend's parents are nice but do ask servers a lot of questions, and I think that turned our server off. He was pretty much absent throughout our entire meal and got an attitude if we dared ask for anything extra. (Was getting me more water really all that difficult, dude?)

We started out with the fried pickle appetizer. It was ok. Not sure I was a fan of the pretzel crust or the onion dip that came along with them, but...they were alright. My boyfriend's Moscow mule was almost undrinkable because it was so sweet and gingery. I ordered pretty much the only vegetarian item on the brunch menu - a fried goat cheese salad. I like goat cheese, but wow! I got a hockey puck sized piece of it. I think that would be a bit much for anyone to stomach.

My boyfriend and his parents all enjoyed the French Dip sandwich they ordered. His mother enjoyed hers a bit less because she's lactose intolerant and had asked for no cheese on her sandwich. If our waiter had asked us if our meals had come our alright, we might have been able to tell him.

Overall, a very disappointing experience. I'd been to Market for a special event last fall and had enjoyed my brunch (what's up Hermes awards?) but the poor service and snippy attitude of our server coupled with my less than awesome food gives me no reason to want to go back.