The Lounge 22

This place has potential and I hope it stays around long enough to realize it.

We went for a Sunday brunch for our first meal at Lounge 22 and were pleasantly surprised by the well thought out décor and friendly and attentive wait staff. The bottomless mimosas were awesome.

The brunch menu looked too good to be true - so many delicious choices. The two of us settled for the Hash Brown Fennel Sausage, the Seafood Benedict and the French Toast. Unfortunately all the food was quite disappointing. The poached eggs for both the hash and the benedict were way undercooked, in some places the egg white had barely turned white and it seemed like we were eating raw eggs.  The toast of the French toast was not fresh and equally undercooked, tasting either stale, or cold and soggy. Since the recipes seemed very well designed we wondered whether the chef had left the cooking to short order cooks in charge for this brunch (a big no-no if you just opened a restaurant) - or why else would the execution be so dismal?

On the positive side, the wait staff was very attentive and friendly, knowing how to balance great service with allowing for privacy and conversation. I hope that this place can refine its faults and stay open because it surely would be a great addition to the Redlands food scene.

We will be back one more time in hopes that the cooking fiasco of today won't repeat itself tomorrow.

I am always hesitant to try a restaurant that seems to add truffle oil to a majority of their food. It seems to be the "it" ingredient in cuisine right now... Kinda like the Justin Bieber of food.

I decided to try the place for lunch after reading the menu that was posted outside. Was I ever disappointed to learn that many of the items on the outside menu were no longer available. When I mentioned this to the waiter, he said the owners left it up as a piece of nostalgia- it was their first menu when they opened. I totally get that... If the restaurant had not opened less than three months ago.

The wait staff was phenomenal! They knew the menu and made the wonderful suggestion of the Roasted Brussels Sprouts. This dish would be on my menu for my last meal. It was delicious.

For our main meal, we had the fried chicken sandwich and the seafood club. The fried chicken sandwich was okay. The bun was too big for sandwich, but good. The seafood club was served on huge piece of soggy bread. It made it hard to enjoy the sandwich.  I did appreciate that both dishes came with a fresh salad instead of fries. The waitress even took the time to explain that the radishes were called watermelon radishes. It was a nice touch.

Lounge 22 works closely with local farms and businesses. i think that is great. On the chalkboard, Lounge 22 even lists which local businesses products they are using that day. Love that!

I do not know if Lounge 22 will make. I would like to try it for dinner.

A friend and I met for a drink and appetizers. It was fantastic! The staff is super knowledgable, attentive and warm. Made us feel very welcome. No snobbiness about this place!! We had the brussel sprouts, a cheese plate (most amazing date purée!) and desert. Everything was perfect! I can't wait to take my friends and family here!