Yes, it was an expensive weekend, but it was our 7 year 4 month dating monthiversary or 1 year 11 month wedding monthiversary. Plus it was Easter, which turned out to be the most expensive day ever.
Copa Bar and Grill
So for our monthiversary we decided to use a groupon to Copa Bar and Grill. The dinner menu did not seem that veg friendly, but the lunch one did so we figured they could accommodate. While they can accommodate they do not offer items from the lunch menu at dinner. So we had to make something up. Well we made up the most stupendous dish you could imagine. Our initial reaction was, how sad this place is empty on a Saturday night. Then we got out free chips and salsa and they were not good, then we ordered guacamole and it consisted of a few small scoops on a bed of iceberg lettuce. It tasted old and flavorless and so we were a little worried. The drinks were OK to start off with but really expensive. We tried paradise, pisco smash, and a long island, blech. The fact that we were the only people in the restaurant was pretty awkward since everyone took turns checking up on us every 5 minutes. Then magic happened. Miguel ordered the best drink on the face of the Earth, the Spicy Manguito. It was soooo good, it has fresh mint, a lot of limes, mango rum and mango juice with a spicy/sweet rim. Then dinner came out and more magic ensued. We ordered the veggie mole enchiladas, which are not on the menu but we just asked for them with rice and beans and got it. Even better, they did not charge us $13 for the chicken enchiladas and just subtract the chicken, they actually brought down the price to less than $9. Anyway, they were stuffed with sauteed spinach and the corn tortillas were thick and durable and so delectable. The sauce was perfect and even the vegetable filled rice was amazing. We were so happy with our meal we almost got another. Overall, we will be back not only because we have more groupons but because we thoroughly enjoyed the food and would even put it up there with some of the "bests" in Austin, best latin food. They seemed to be Brazilian or something. Next time we will have mods though and order just the spicy manguito and 2 entrees, yum!
Recommended
http://www.copabarandgrill.com/
Gypsy Lounge
This was our first Easter without our families so we were a little lost. Shannon did a google search to find out what Austin vegan's do on Easter and the only thing that came up was a Sunday brunch at the Gypsy Lounge. It was called biscuits and beer, so obviously we thought it was perfect. It was cash only, and $8 bought you 2 vegan biscuits, a vegan sausage patty, loads of vegan gravy, all you can squeeze strawberry preserves and a lone star tall boy. It was an amazing Easter morning, even if we did have to wait until 11AM to eat. The biscuits were fluffy and delicious, they tasted like kfc biscuits but were double the size. Shannon got some bloody mary mix and made a Michelada out of the lone star which was delish. Then we had some poinsettia's, champagne and cranberry to top off the perfect morning. We will definitely be doing this again soon, the cook, Kitty, was so nice, she even gave us more biscuits when we left.
Recommended
http://do512.com/event/2011/04/24/happy-easter-biscuits-n-beer-brunch
Maggiano's
After the perfect brunch we went to meet up with Shannon's aunt and uncle at Maggiano's for an Easter lunch. The place is gorgeous, the decor is intricate and authentic. The service was great, very upscale. The choices for vegans were pretty limited and confusing and this does not seem to be a place that "gets it." Miguel ordered spaghetti with vegetables, they don't have a vegetable medley so you have to choose which veggies you want and they will charge you a couple dollars per vegetable. Shannon tried to order the same thing with white wine sauce, but the server came back and said it had butter in it. So then she switched to stuffed mushrooms and here is where the server went south. He decided, forget what you want to order, the executive chef decided he will prepare a delicious meal. We assumed he would be making some form of the stuffed mushrooms Shannon had ordered but he did not. He literally made the exact same thing Miguel ordered but without any sauce. It was just dry noodles with a few veggies.. what? Obviously that was already an option but not an appealing one, hence we did not order it, so he decides he will "make us something special" and this is it? The best (worst) part is he still charged us for each individual vegetable even though we didn't order it. So even though the base price for spaghetti included meat they would not replace the meat with veggies, we just paid for both. It was insane, 2 plates of spaghetti ended up being $40 and they were not even good. Come on, dry noodles and vegetables? we could make that at home. It was not a good lunch.. very disappointing. Will definitely not be back.
Not recommended
Copa Bar and Grill
So for our monthiversary we decided to use a groupon to Copa Bar and Grill. The dinner menu did not seem that veg friendly, but the lunch one did so we figured they could accommodate. While they can accommodate they do not offer items from the lunch menu at dinner. So we had to make something up. Well we made up the most stupendous dish you could imagine. Our initial reaction was, how sad this place is empty on a Saturday night. Then we got out free chips and salsa and they were not good, then we ordered guacamole and it consisted of a few small scoops on a bed of iceberg lettuce. It tasted old and flavorless and so we were a little worried. The drinks were OK to start off with but really expensive. We tried paradise, pisco smash, and a long island, blech. The fact that we were the only people in the restaurant was pretty awkward since everyone took turns checking up on us every 5 minutes. Then magic happened. Miguel ordered the best drink on the face of the Earth, the Spicy Manguito. It was soooo good, it has fresh mint, a lot of limes, mango rum and mango juice with a spicy/sweet rim. Then dinner came out and more magic ensued. We ordered the veggie mole enchiladas, which are not on the menu but we just asked for them with rice and beans and got it. Even better, they did not charge us $13 for the chicken enchiladas and just subtract the chicken, they actually brought down the price to less than $9. Anyway, they were stuffed with sauteed spinach and the corn tortillas were thick and durable and so delectable. The sauce was perfect and even the vegetable filled rice was amazing. We were so happy with our meal we almost got another. Overall, we will be back not only because we have more groupons but because we thoroughly enjoyed the food and would even put it up there with some of the "bests" in Austin, best latin food. They seemed to be Brazilian or something. Next time we will have mods though and order just the spicy manguito and 2 entrees, yum!
Recommended
http://www.copabarandgrill.com/
Gypsy Lounge
This was our first Easter without our families so we were a little lost. Shannon did a google search to find out what Austin vegan's do on Easter and the only thing that came up was a Sunday brunch at the Gypsy Lounge. It was called biscuits and beer, so obviously we thought it was perfect. It was cash only, and $8 bought you 2 vegan biscuits, a vegan sausage patty, loads of vegan gravy, all you can squeeze strawberry preserves and a lone star tall boy. It was an amazing Easter morning, even if we did have to wait until 11AM to eat. The biscuits were fluffy and delicious, they tasted like kfc biscuits but were double the size. Shannon got some bloody mary mix and made a Michelada out of the lone star which was delish. Then we had some poinsettia's, champagne and cranberry to top off the perfect morning. We will definitely be doing this again soon, the cook, Kitty, was so nice, she even gave us more biscuits when we left.
Recommended
http://do512.com/event/2011/04/24/happy-easter-biscuits-n-beer-brunch
Maggiano's
After the perfect brunch we went to meet up with Shannon's aunt and uncle at Maggiano's for an Easter lunch. The place is gorgeous, the decor is intricate and authentic. The service was great, very upscale. The choices for vegans were pretty limited and confusing and this does not seem to be a place that "gets it." Miguel ordered spaghetti with vegetables, they don't have a vegetable medley so you have to choose which veggies you want and they will charge you a couple dollars per vegetable. Shannon tried to order the same thing with white wine sauce, but the server came back and said it had butter in it. So then she switched to stuffed mushrooms and here is where the server went south. He decided, forget what you want to order, the executive chef decided he will prepare a delicious meal. We assumed he would be making some form of the stuffed mushrooms Shannon had ordered but he did not. He literally made the exact same thing Miguel ordered but without any sauce. It was just dry noodles with a few veggies.. what? Obviously that was already an option but not an appealing one, hence we did not order it, so he decides he will "make us something special" and this is it? The best (worst) part is he still charged us for each individual vegetable even though we didn't order it. So even though the base price for spaghetti included meat they would not replace the meat with veggies, we just paid for both. It was insane, 2 plates of spaghetti ended up being $40 and they were not even good. Come on, dry noodles and vegetables? we could make that at home. It was not a good lunch.. very disappointing. Will definitely not be back.
Not recommended
No comments:
Post a Comment