Table 219 – Foodie’s Review

Food type: Semi-creative American

Menu: Brunch

Location: On the Broadway strip on Capitol Hill

Atmosphere: Poorly lit (in spite of the sun outside, but that may be a fluke), simple bar and tables kind of place

In attendance: Older solo males, small groups of gays, larger groups of 30-something friends, my parents, my girlfriend and I

Service: Slightly hard-boiled, inattentive, indifferent

Quality of ingredients: Fair to good (i.e. thick-cut bacon-”good”; OJ-”fair”; apple-”good”; eggs-”fair”; bread (from Macrina)-”good-great”; pancakes-”fair-good”; fruit-”fair”)

Dishes eaten:

• Eggs Benedict with hashbrowns as the muffin and tomato sauce as the hollandaise (this “clever” idea fell flat-lazy and insipid) – “Poor” – Why are we regressing?
• Chocolate chip pancakes (fluffy batter chock full of decent chocolate chips) – “Fairly good” – Nothing mindblowing but pleasant to fill up on
• Breakfast combo (very thick bacon, tasty if a bit dry and workaday eggs) – “Fair” – Make at home
• Omelet with feta (what you’d expect) – “Fair” – Edible but I’m still unconvinced Greek cuisine has legs beyond its “authentic” niche
• French toast with peaches and cream (nice Macrina bread taken down a slight notch by an uninspiring batter and the peaches once again suffer from the musty curse from cooking–even Frog Hollow Farm’s peaches are nearly as offputting) – “Fair” – Appealing idea suffering from both lazy execution and inherent characteristics of the ingredients
• Orange and Apple juices (the orange was slightly acidic with a moderate amount of sweetness, definately fresh-tasting, but overall flat in flavor; the apple was a touch too sweet for my tastes but overall very drinkable) – “Fair” – On par with the decent packaged orange juices at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s

Complaints: poorly conceived menu; inattentive service; dark atmosphere

Plaudits: prices; grilled bread; bacon; pancakes; apple juice

Cost: reasonable entrees (up to $12 or 13 at the most I think); side dishes (up to $6 bucks I think)

Overall rating: 5.5/10

Recommended?: No for brunch; although I’m willing to try dinner

Visited: Spring 2008