Sunday, March 20, 2011

Brunch at Ragtime


1345 N. Courthouse Road
Arlington, VA 22201
(703)243-4003

Sunday Brunch

Neighborhood: Court House
Nearest Metro Station: Court House
Brunch Prices: Sunday Waffle & Omelet Bar $12.99
Feature Cocktails: Mimosa and Mimosa Pitchers
                               Bloody Mary 
                               Bellini

Restaurant Website: Ragtime


I must say Ragtime has a new spot in my heart for brunch! It you want a true Sunday brunch experience this is the place to dine. There was a live jazz band and TVs with all of the popular games on. The prices ranged between $9- $15 which is great if you do not want to spend a lot of money.  Especially since many places around Wilson Blvd are becoming more expensive. They do not have a full brunch buffet but they do have a waffle and omelet bar. The bar also had sausage, bacon and home fries on it. Which all tasted delicious!  

To my surprise they have pitchers of Mimosa! ---How can you go wrong with that!? Of course if you want you can also have it by the glass.
Yum!

The regular brunch menu was smaller, but it had diverse choices of breakfast and lunch      ( such as sandwiches or soups) . There are choices such as  Breakfast Burrito with scrambled eggs, bacon, cheddar & Jack cheeses with pico de gallo rolled in a flour tortilla. Served with home fries or Crab Benedict english muffin topped with poached eggs, Maryland crabmeat & hollandaise. Served with home fries. If you want something that is more like lunch they have munchies which range any where from Buffalo Wings with jumbo spicy chicken wings served with your choice of Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing. There are also choices for soups and salads. 

I decided to get the Waffle and Omelet bar which was yummy!  ( Please excuse the not so full plate!!) It was a great choice since I always like making my own omletes and all I really wanted was eggs and waffles. This gave me the choice of making my own omelet and putting everything I wanted on my waffle. 

Ragtime is a great place to start a Sunday Funday. The music really puts you in a good mood. I honestly could have sat there for hours! On a scale from one to ten I would put Ragtime at a nine. It over all was a great experience! Ragtime would be a great place if you would want a more relaxed brunch that is not in a "stuffy" location. 

I cannot wait until the next time I can go there for brunch! Stay tuned for another brunch review!!!

 



Brunch at Witlow's on Wilson Bar and Grill

2850 Wilson Blvd.
Clarendon, VA 22201
(703)276-9693
Brunch served Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00am - 3:00pm ( A La Carte) and 10:00am - 3:00pm (Buffet)
Regular Hours Monday- Friday 11:00am -2:00am Saturday & Sunday 9:00am - 2:00am 

Neighborhood: Clarendon
Nearest Metro Station: Clarendon Station
Brunch Prices: Adult Buffet: $17.95 and Kids 10 & Under: $5.95  A La Carte: Varies
Feature Cocktails: Mimosa 
                               Bloody Mary 

Restaurant Website: Whitlow's on Wilson Bar and Grill 

 So finally I caught a brunch on Saturday!  I have gone to Whitlow's many times to either hang out or hear a band, but never for lunch. I figured that since this past weekend was gorgeous that starting my Saturday off with brunch with my good friends would be a great idea.

I must say I like the option of having a brunch with A La Carte and a buffet. The buffet seemed to be a diverse selection of food ranging from a create your own omelet to crab legs.  Although, it was a good selection I was not that impressed by it.  
The Brunch Buffet



I decided for a la carte since I figured I would not be eating $17.95 worth of food from the buffet. Instead I ordered an egg white omelet with ham, mushroom and onions. It came with toast, sausage and  home fries. It was good but nothing to write home about. The menu is close to what you can get on the buffet which I found interesting.  It defiantly had a lot more breakfast selection on it than other places we have gone to.  

The mimosa was good, but then again it is hard to mess up mimosas. 
My mimoas
I found Witlow's to be great spot to start your Sunday Funday if you are going to have one. There were tons of people there, with different sports games on in the bar. But if you are looking for a classy place to go on a Sunday  or Saturday morning this may not be the best place to choose.

On a scale from one to ten I would give brunch at Witlow's on Wilson Bar and Grill at five. 


Stay tuned for more reviews of brunch in Arlington!!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Brunch at CIRCA in Clarendon

3010 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 522-3010


Brunch Served:  Saturday and Sundays from 10:30am - 4:00pm
Regular Hours: Monday- Thursday 11:00am-12:00am (midnight); Friday 11:30am - 2:00am Saturday 10:30am- 2:00am Sunday 10:30am -11:00pm



Neighborhood: Clarendon
Nearest Metro Station: Clarendon Station
Brunch Price: Varies
Featured Cocktails:Bloody Mary $9.00
                               Mimosa  $5.00
                         Rise and Shine Martini $9.00

                         The Grandest Mimosa $12.00


Restaurant Website:CIRCA at Clarendon



For the past few months I have passed the building site of CIRCA and wondered what was going to go there. Well, now that it is complete I decided I had to investigate whether or not CIRCA at Clarendon had brunch just like the other two locations.  To my liking I found out that they  do! 


When the brunch club got there  we were pleased to see a very trendy looking restaurant, it was easy to get a seat ( but then again it was 2:00 in the afternoon on a miserably rainy day) 


Very trendy!!
Once we got there we immediately noticed that they did not have a brunch buffet.  Not going to lie I was looking forward to a custom made omelet, but alas they did not have it. Maybe next week the brunch club will find it.  The menu was a combination of breakfast and lunch time selection of food.  It was a little disappointing looking for a more traditional breakfast dish, but we found a few. So note if you would like a traditional breakfast CIRCA at Clarendon may not be the best choice for you. 


The food was very good we all got the Circa American Bistro Breakfast which was 12.00.  The food ranged from $5.50  for a Roasted Butternut Squash soup to $20.00 for Bistro Stake and Eggs.  We thought this was a good range for the food, but the drinks were a little expensive, especially if you want to have more than one.  One of the brunch clubbers got the same dish as me, but with chicken sausage.  I have to say that sausage made the dish really pop! So please if you go for brunch to Circa get the chicken sausage. I promise you will not be disappointed!
Yummy food!
Over all we were impressed with the brunch, but I am not sure if I would go back there anytime soon for brunch. So on a scale from 1 to 10 I would give CIRCA at Clarendon a 6.5. 

For those of you who go to brunch looking for a hangover cure depending on what you order this place may cure it. The food is very good and not greasy, but the ingredients are not overly complicated. 

Stay turned for next week as I continue my search for bottomless mimosa and another buffet brunch!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sunday Brunch at Liberty Tavern



3195 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 465-9360



Brunch Served Sundays from 9:30am - 2:00pm
Regular Hours: Monday- Saturday 11:30am; Sunday 9:30am - 2:00am
Neighborhood: Clarendon
Nearest Metro Station: Clarendon Station
Brunch Price: Adults $19 Children $8
Featured Cocktails:Fresh Fruit Bellini $8 
                               Mimosa made with fresh OJ $4 
                          The Grapefruit Buck with Absolute Ruby Red $6
                          Breakfast Bloody Mary with Brooklyn Lager chaser $5


Restaurant Website: The Liberty Tavern


I have always thought of The Liberty Tavern as a great place to have drinks with friends and grab a snack or dinner at but I never realized that they served brunch on Sundays. Once I found this out I had to investigate what this brunch was like. Would there be mimosas? Would it be expensive? Well here is what I found out...


The price of the brunch was a good price. $19 for all you can eat buffet or A La Carte menu.  The buffet included food such as fruit salad, scrambled eggs, North Country Applewood Smoked Bacon, rice, salmon with lemon caper sauce... you will have to either visit the website or go to brunch to know what the rest are.  Here is a picture of the brunch set-up upstairs. 
The Buffet 
What I loved about this brunch is that every person that gets a buffet brunch gets three pancakes with it. I did not realize this when I was getting my food and a very nice server found me and brought me my pancakes :)  Here  is a picture of my plate... not the usual brunch combination you would see but you can see some of the food they offered from that. 


My very interesting combination for brunch
The one thing that I was a little disappointed about was that they did not have a create your own omelet station. You can get an omelet off the A La Carte menu, but then you would have to pay for the buffet and the omelet. 


The A La Carte menu looked tasty. One of the brunch clubbers decided to get order from the brunch menu. The combinations looked tasty, but not the best if you are hungover like I was. The menu follows Liberty Taverns unique but great combination of food. An example of this would be Maine Lobster Roll, housemade split top roll, cucumber mayonnaise, tarragon, scallion which is $15.  Sounds amazing right?


The drinks prices seemed to be good, but when there are places that included bottomless mimosa for brunch.  If you are looking for a place to start your "Sunday Funday" this may not be the best place to start. The prices are good for drinks, but if you would like to have tons of "fun" there are places in Arlington that have I have heard have bottomless Mimosas.  


*Note Liberty Tavern may not be the best place to get brunch if you are hungover. Let's be honest, when you are hungover you want something fried and potentially unhealthy. Everything at  The Liberty Tavern is healthy and may not help cure your hang over.  


The Arlington Brunch Club rates this brunch a 8 out of 10.  Look job Liberty Tavern!


Stay tuned for next weeks review. Will I find bottomless mimosas in Arlington for brunch??  We shall see...