If this is the only line of this review you read, I want to preface with this: Don't come to brunch here. There are so many better restaurants in this neighborhood - heck, even on this block.
THE BAD
If you're intrigued, I've numbered my grievances below:
1. First - the water glasses are literal shot glasses. For a place with a drink called the Bloody Hangover, they clearly understand the general brunch state of their target audience. Why hate hydration so very, very much? It wouldn't be as big a deal, but it also proved impossible to locate our waiter for the majority of the meal so refills were a distant fantasy.
2. The truffle mac and cheese was a sorry excuse for a meal. It was bland, greasy noodles topped with what looked like a melted Kraft cheese slice and a faint aroma of something vaguely truffle-esque. Some things (like the burger) looked like the might be better, but good god, why even tease about truffle mac and then serve something so overpriced and truly awful? I feel the same way about cheese that I assume most people feel about their firstborn children, and I took this as a personal affront.
3. The waiter forgot an entire entree, even after he wrote down all the orders and read them back to us. He didn't appear to notice when he delivered all the meals but one and then promptly disappeared, so we had hunt down someone else to alert the kitchen.
4. When they did finally bring the missing entree, it turned out to be a watery omelet accompanied by some greens that were DRENCHED in table salt. Completely inedible, and I love salt way more than any person who wants to live past 65 ever should.
5. Not that big a deal, but we went on one of the first warm days of Spring and the heat lamps were sweltering. I wouldn't advise sitting directly below one unless it's freezing outside and/or you are a reptile.
6. Again not a big deal by itself, but the drink and meal receipts were separate and delivered at separate times. I get it, but we were pretty fed up at this point (in fact, already mentally writing this Yelp review) so this was just one added inconvenience.
7. This isn't brunch-related, but I've been by here a number of times at night and they often charge cover (full disclosure - this was last summer so maybe they got wise and stopped that bullshit). There are cooler parties and better bars all over the area. A cover is crap (unless there's a show).
THE GOOD
Nothing was really great at this place. Here are some things that didn't completely suck.
1. The venue is cool and the location is great - a lot of potential here if the staff weren't terrible and the food was even mildly palatable. I've heard it's better at night, so if your heart is set on wasting your money on this joint, maybe come only for drinks.
2. One person's kale salad was ok. Though if you want kale salad go to Tandem, just a few blocks down Troutman - their kale salad is killer and brunch is way better in general.
3. They did take the missing entree off the bill and gave us nutella toast on the house at the end of the meal (Ironically, that was the best-tasting part of the experience - way more palatable than anything we actually ordered). That was really nice, but at that point in the experience it was definitely too little too late.
4. The Bloody Hangover (Bloody Mary + chicken wing or oyster) was pretty. I've had better bloodies, but it gave me a great Instagram photo which I feel has to at least be publicly acknowledged.
TL; DR: Don't waste your time or money here. There are a million great brunch spots in neighborhood - go somewhere else for better food and service. read more