Brooks & Browns

We went to Easter Brunch and I'm kicking myself for not leaving upon our first confused and bad impression.  I genuinely want to love this place, but they missed the mark entirely on what could have been one of the biggest brunching days of the year.  If Chef Rebecca made the pastries....whoa.  More training is in order because they had the crunch, texture, and taste of a spoonful of plain granulated sugar. More likely, they were purchased from a less than respectable outfit, as witnessed by the fountain of Bearclaws that looked hatched from a Hostess Outlet egg.  And if that's the case, Shame even worse. Easter brunch should not be comprised of wholesale-bought high fructose corn syrup crap.  The only reasonable breakfast option was the omlette bar which was the WORST $25 omlette I have ever been pigeon-holed into eating.  As a pescatarian, the veggie options were less than predictable and the bland, cold, salmon turned out to be the star.  My friends, heavy meat eaters, were so disappointed about the lack of bacon, sausage, anything, and even asked the staff, 'Where's the bacon?', only to hear from the cheap ham carver/attendant, 'There's no bacon?!?', as if completely incomprehensible even to the service staff.  As a person who hates pork, I was so turned off by that red-lit, chunk of unappetizing mass, which I had optimistically thought was prime rib and even told people that it was prime rib because I'd assumed that indistinguishable center of the show had to be something special. Nope, cheap ham that needed mustard.

Part of my decision to go to B & B's  in the first place stemmed from wanting a Bloody Mary. We were offered a shot of vodka and the Bloody Mary Bar, which was hugely intimadating, for $6.  I am creative and saavy, but know to leave a Bloody to the professionals.  Not a single person went to that Bloody Bar in the two hours we sat there.  The service was terrible. No water, no mustard,  no hot sauce, no courtesy check-ins, no more coffee, no cream,  no ketchup (which was needed because Chef Rebecca's cheesy hash was so swimmingly yucky), no service period.

I support local downtown restaurants, but they should never take us for granted with the approach of, 'if I cook something and put it out, they will come.'.  I will never have anything but drinks at Brooks and Browns ever again.  Terrible. And please, don't ask me to pay you a lot of money, then direct me to the drink making table.

Convenient if you are staying in the hotel but if you have a choice, skip it.  The prices were ridiculous for a very less than average breakfast.  It was like our server had better things to do then help us in a less than half full place too.  If I stay at the Best Western I think I would rather venture  out to a more local and fulfilling breakfast spot.  I don't remember much about what I had because it was last May when we were there but all I remember is that neither one of us finished our plates and we were hungry and looking for a good meal.  We received neither as we were just looking for a filling breakfast before hitting the road as we were passing through town.

The bar itself is very classy and not very crowded, at least at the times when I've been here. The service can be a tad slow though. The food and drink selections are pretty good and quite affordable. They are always having special events every night it seems like and the happy hour isn't too shabby. If I remember right, $6 pitchers of microbrew! Can't beat that.