This past Saturday, Lauren, me, and our better halves went to the new Cedar Grove on Cedar Springs in Uptown. It opened just a little over a month ago, and is within walking distance of where we live... perfect! What's better than brunch you can walk to?
When we walked in, we were instantly greeted by a strong cedar aroma. Lauren loves the smell, but for those of you who did not grow up in the hill country and do not enjoy that smell, don't worry because it is only present in the front entryway. While the wood doesn't carry into the rest of the restaurant, the tree theme does. Probably what is most unique about Cedar Grove is their seating. The vast majority of the restaurant is filled with long, modern white tables, with parties separated by tall, metal, white trees. This almost creates an ikea cafeteria feel, but we didn't end up having people sit on either side of us (lucky for them!).
Alright, enough about the ambience, let's get down to the good stuff-- drinks. Lauren always gets a mimosa to start, and our favorite thing about the mimosas is they bring you champagne in the glass and then the juice separately - so you are in control of how much juice gets added. Also it's served in a regular sized wine glass, not a skinny champagne flute, so you get a nice pour for your money. A regular mimosa is $4 and the Fruit Forward Mimosa, which is served with a fruit puree of the week is $5, and we believe the extra $1 is worth it - especially if it's something yummy! This week just happened to be hibiscus, and it was more juice than puree, but no complaints here! They also have a Grove Skinny Mule which is on draft (awesome!) and we also got that - it was a little heavy on the ginger beer, but if you like ginger (like Lauren) then it's perfect. We also ordered the Bad Ass Bloody, and while it was good, I felt it was a little small compared to what some other concepts offer, so I finished off my meal with a regular mimosa. Last, but not least, we purchased the Spiced Apple, which my husband, who is a huge old fashioned fan, was really excited about. It has Larceny Bourbon, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, Nassau Royale liqeour, & Bishop Cider Nectar with a lime. It ended up being a tall skinny iced beverage with spiraled granny smith apples, i.e. not what he was expecting and what he described as "interesting".
When we walked in, we were instantly greeted by a strong cedar aroma. Lauren loves the smell, but for those of you who did not grow up in the hill country and do not enjoy that smell, don't worry because it is only present in the front entryway. While the wood doesn't carry into the rest of the restaurant, the tree theme does. Probably what is most unique about Cedar Grove is their seating. The vast majority of the restaurant is filled with long, modern white tables, with parties separated by tall, metal, white trees. This almost creates an ikea cafeteria feel, but we didn't end up having people sit on either side of us (lucky for them!).
Alright, enough about the ambience, let's get down to the good stuff-- drinks. Lauren always gets a mimosa to start, and our favorite thing about the mimosas is they bring you champagne in the glass and then the juice separately - so you are in control of how much juice gets added. Also it's served in a regular sized wine glass, not a skinny champagne flute, so you get a nice pour for your money. A regular mimosa is $4 and the Fruit Forward Mimosa, which is served with a fruit puree of the week is $5, and we believe the extra $1 is worth it - especially if it's something yummy! This week just happened to be hibiscus, and it was more juice than puree, but no complaints here! They also have a Grove Skinny Mule which is on draft (awesome!) and we also got that - it was a little heavy on the ginger beer, but if you like ginger (like Lauren) then it's perfect. We also ordered the Bad Ass Bloody, and while it was good, I felt it was a little small compared to what some other concepts offer, so I finished off my meal with a regular mimosa. Last, but not least, we purchased the Spiced Apple, which my husband, who is a huge old fashioned fan, was really excited about. It has Larceny Bourbon, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, Nassau Royale liqeour, & Bishop Cider Nectar with a lime. It ended up being a tall skinny iced beverage with spiraled granny smith apples, i.e. not what he was expecting and what he described as "interesting".
Next up is the food. We had a hard time deciding so we got two of the Chicken & Waffle Sliders for the table to start, and they did not disappoint! There was even a surprise fried egg on top (my kind of surprise)! Again, they brought out the syrup in a separate container, so you could control how much you wanted on the sliders. I would definitely get these again, probably for my entire meal! Another good thing is these were a la carte - each slider was only $6, so very easy to purchase a few as a meal, or one or two for the table to split.
We also ordered the Steak & Eggs which was good, but I wouldn't get it again. It was filling which was nice, but I had order envy once everyone got their food. The Nutella Belgian Waffle was also ordered, and my husband was delighted: it had strawberries, whipped cream, & little chocolate crunchies that he loved. Next up was the Smoked Sausage Scramble, which was very good, and was so. much. food. The guys were definitely envious of this order as it consists of their favorite things: a mountain of sausage, eggs (with hollandaise), and potatoes. One of the guys was especially envious of the Sausage Scramble, when he received his meal-- the omelette. Now, it must be said that this was ordered with too high of expectations: he is a self-proclaimed omelette expert, and it was only $10, the cheapest "meal" item on the menu. You pick a meat, a cheese, and two veggies, but the presentation was not nearly as impressive as the other dishes. We actually ended up getting it for free as the kitchen forgot to include the meat (we ordered bacon). We even got an additional side of bacon for free too!
Which brings me to our waitress, who was awesome! She was so friendly, and definitely did not need to give us the omelette for free, but did. Talk about great customer service!
Which brings me to our waitress, who was awesome! She was so friendly, and definitely did not need to give us the omelette for free, but did. Talk about great customer service!
Until next time, cheers!
Lauren & Sara
Lauren & Sara