A bunch of my friends were running a 5K in Tribeca early in the morning so we thought it would be fun to all get together after their race for some post race brunch. I had heard of the Almond in the Flatiron district and didn't know that they opened up a new location downtown, so I was game to try it out.
Jenn, Eric and I got there right at 11AM and it was completely empty. They were nice enough to let us in and seat us while we waited. Since we were the only ones there, the service was very attentive and we split some donut holes and biscuits while we waited for the rest of our 10 person group to join. The donut holes were nice and sugary and the biscuits were warm and buttery - so a good start to the day. The menu was your basic brunch menu with a lot of egg products - multiple types of eggs benedict, omelettes, breakfast burritos, as well as sandwiches, burgers. So it was a pretty solid line up for all your brunch/lunch needs. I opted for the Another Kind of Benedict ($17) which was essentially eggs benedict with smoked salmon and I also got a side of bacon ($6). Since there were so many other people at brunch, I'm not going to list (or remember) what everyone else got but I did see a breakfast burrito, croque monsieur, fried rice and a variety of other benedicts at the table.
While our appetizers had come out quickly, the rest of our dishes took forever to come out. Granted there were 10 of us and the restaurant had definitely filled up by then, but still. The service really started to go downhill at this point. Finally our food comes and it was kind of underwhelming. For $17, the eggs benedict wasn't anything amazing and while the egg was poached well, the entire dish just felt really blah in terms of flavor and presentation. It felt like they skimped on the salmon adn tried to make up for it by having more hollandaise sauce and potatoes on the plate. The bacon was also not fatty or crispy enough and it just felt kind of tough and flavorless as well. Everyone else had made similar comments that their food wasn't all that impressive either and a few friends had mentioned that they weren't huge fans of the food in the other location either.
It was definitely fun to all of us to get together and I know how hard it can be to find a place that takes reservations for 10 people. I guess for the price and location, I was expecting better food and better service. There are definitely other places in the 'hood that are still pricey but serve a better brunch. Total bill: $60/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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