#EveryDayinMay - UnBrunch

Hop on over to Crystal's blog to see
what she is up to today!

Here we are, enjoying another exciting Mother's Day -- a day filled with love and flowers and cards and mom-love flying out all over the place.

And if you're lucky -- brunch.

I have been mad excited about going to brunch on the weekends lately. I seriously heart some giant waffles and mimosas. Does it get any better than that? For Mother's Day, I thought it would be nice to take my sweet mother-in-law out for a special brunch. No, not just because I have a love for all things brunchy. Geez, I'm not that selfish. She happens to love brunch, too. It was a definite win-win situation.

After a little Interwebs searching, I decided on Gloria's in Arlington. Everyone I know loves Gloria's. I'd only been to the Fort Worth location before, and even then, only for salsa dancing at night. However, the website promised $1.00 mimosas and $2.00 mango mimosas, plus a pretty rockin' brunch menu. No waffles, but since The Husband and his mom love Mexican food, Gloria's Latin Cuisine seemed like the perfect choice. I figured I could go a weekend without a waffle. Quite selfless, I think.

Gloria's in Arlington
Photo taken from Gloria's website

I asked The Husband to call them up and make reservations. He told them we were coming for brunch on Mother's Day, and they said they don't take reservations -- which it actually does say on their website. No big deal. We planned to get there when they opened at 11am and hope there wasn't a huge crowd.

You can check out the Brunch Menu at Gloria's here. Unless I'm just missing something, you'll notice on the menu it doesn't indicate that brunch is only served at certain locations. Also, you might think, as I do, that if a person called and told you they were coming for brunch on Mother's Day, you might mention that 1) you don't ever do brunch, and 2) there is a special menu for that day.

Well friends, I am here to tell you that Gloria's only offers brunch at certain locations. I did not find this out because The Husband was told this on the phone. I found this out when I sat down and asked for the brunch menu this morning. I have no idea where those elusive brunch locations are, because I've since gone back and checked the website again by clicking on every location in search of the brunch I did not have this morning. I can't find it. Brunch menu? Yes! Brunch actually served somewhere? No idea. I consider myself pretty adept at understanding how to read websites, and pride myself on being the person in our family that makes stellar plans for parties and other events.

Today I felt like a big, fat disappointment.

Oh, the sadness. I was so looking forward to the Campesino omelette and a couple of mango mimosas! I did end up ordering the mimosa, but at $5.00 each instead of the $2.00 mimosa I read about on their website, one seemed like plenty. Plus, the reaction when we asked if we could get the mango mimosa was less than promising. Apparently this is another brunch only menu item, and I felt like I was really putting them out by asking for it. However, when they brought it out, I was happy to find it was every bit as delicious as I had hoped, and in a huge glass, so that helped me feel a little better about missing out on the brunch I had planned for my mother-in-law.

When it was time to order from their special Mother's Day Menu (this was also not mentioned on the website anywhere that I could find), I asked if it would be possible to get the spinach and chicken quesadilla without the chicken. Our waiter's eyes opened wide. He paused a moment and asked if I only wanted the spinach. Then he said yes. Then he admitted that it might not be a possibility because it was a special menu and they were being pretty strict about it. He promised to go find out and come right back with our chips and queso.

You guys, when he came back, here is what he said: "My manager was in the bathroom, but I made him come out and I asked him about your quesadillas and he said we can make it without the chicken for you!"

Um. Okay, this is great -- I really appreciate the enthusiasm in securing my order, however... I probably don't need to know that he wrangled the manager out of the restroom to find my answer.

He left the chips and queso on the table, but never gave us appetizer plates. Normally I probably wouldn't have even noticed, but I was already unnerved. There was also a spoon on the plate with the queso bowl, suggesting we serve some queso onto a plate -- which I found amusing, as I had no plate. Perhaps I was supposed to spoon my queso onto each chip as I ate it?

UnBrunch was served incredibly quick and was actually quite delicious -- portions were huge and everyone was happy with the menu choices. My spinach quesadilla was amazing and overstuffed with tons of spinach -- not the slight amount that seems typical in most veggie quesadillas I've had.

I kept most of my mumbly grumbly disappointment to myself and enjoyed the time with my family immensely. Our waiter was abundantly enthusiastic and came to the table often to check on us and refill our water glasses. Had I not been expecting brunch, I probably would have been happy with the whole experience.

Moral of the story? Don't trust everything you read online, y'all. Ol' Abe wasn't lying about that.