Weekly Brunch - @ Pink Rose

A few weeks ago T and I decided to meet at Pink Rose for brunch. It's right by his house, and he's super lazy, driving more than a couple blocks might kill him, so we thought it would be a good choice. I used to work nearby and we had a couple work events catered by Pink Rose (their stuffed dates are AMAZING), but I hadn't actually been to the restaurant. I often walk by and hear great old-school hip hop wafting out - that was enough to make me want to give it a try.

It was a nice day so we decided to eat outside on the patio. I wish I had taken a photo of the patio - it's huge, and is an excellent perch, raised up above Lovejoy, from which to people watch. We saw a couple walks of shame, and quite a few people stumbling around, clearly still drunk from the night before.

Let me just start out by saying - the service was AWFUL. When we were seated there were two woman at a table to our left. As we were sitting down a server brought one of them her brunch, and then walked away. We both commented that it was weird that only one of them was eating. It turns out that they had both ordered. She ordered her food well before we arrived, and it didn't arrive until after we had finished our meals. Without so much as an apology from the server. It was bizarre, but a great way to bond with the strangers at the next table.

When we were seated we were each provided with a glass of water. By the time we ordered mine was empty, so I asked if I could please have some more water. T ordered an orange juice with his brunch. He didn't receive his orange juice until he had finished his meal, and my water was never refilled. It killed me to see that the table behind us, who had ordered bottomless mimosas was receiving refills without asking, and even after asking twice I couldn't seem to get more water (this may seem overly picky, but it's a pet peeve of mine - it's so quick and easy to refill a water and keep me happy!).

Chicken & Waffles

 When our food came, we were disappointed. T ordered the chicken and waffles (he is a creature of habit). We hold chicken and waffles to a high standard, set by Irving St Kitchen. These did not compare. The syrup was your normal, run of the mill syrup (not the delicious buttermilk nectar of ISK), the chicken was okay, and the waffle was kind of gummy, and tasted like it was made with Bisquick.

Pork Belly Benedict

My pork belly Benedict looked quite good, but unfortunately was not. What was described on the menu as "crispy confit pork belly" was soggy greasy pork belly. It was like it was cooked the night before and sat in it's own grease in the fridge overnight, negating the "crispy" effect from cooking. I love am obsessed with pork belly, but this was just... gross. The potatoes were dry and cool. I didn't eat them. They may have been edible with salt, or a condiment, but there wasn't a salt or pepper shaker on the table and considering the woman next to us still didn't have her breakfast, I figured it would be asking too much to ask for some ketchup for the poor overcooked dry potatoes. The roasted poblano pepper hiding under the Benedict was the best thing on my plate. It was great.

As we were finishing our last bites, T's orange juice arrived. When it came we asked for our bill - and after waiting 17 minutes for the bill to arrive, T went inside to find someone we could pay so that we could leave. Honestly, the lack of service was laughable, and we left with a feeling of "did that really just happen to us?" I definitely wont ever choose to return to Pink Rose. But if someone wants to go there, I'd give it another try.

We had - Fried Chicken and Waffle- $14.00, Pork Belly Benedict - $12.00

If you'd like to check out Pink Rose for yourself, they're located at 1300 NW Lovejoy St in Portland. They're open Tuesday & Wednesday from 4:00pm - 10:00pm. Thursday 4:00pm - 1:00am. Friday 4:00pm - 2:00am. Saturday 10:00am - 3:00pm and 5:00pm - 2:00am. Sunday 10:00am - 3:00pm.