Brunch Review: Metro Bar and Grill
I used to frequent Metro Bar and Grill pretty much every Friday and/or Saturday night. It was a slightly fratty crowd and right on our self-made bar crawl. However, it took probably a year of drinking at Metro before I ever ordered food there. I can’t remember what I ate for dinner either time I went (it was four years ago now at this point), but I remember being impressed with the menu selection and quality.
Fast forward to present times, and Cazey and I live pretty much in the extended front yard of Metro. We’re perhaps three blocks away, and I hadn’t been since we would walk almost a mile to get there. Since that time, Metro has gone through a re-brand and now feature a lot of green instead of red. Bonus points already because green is my favorite color.
Enough was enough, and we decided that we can’t reside this close to Metro and not give their brunch a shot. So last week, Cazey ran the Monument 10K – through the cold and flurries – while I slept. After running over six miles, Cazey wanted some food. I woke up hungry and was semi-ready-to-go by the time Cazey got back. He quickly got ready, and we went on our journey to Metro, both with empty stomachs, ready to be filled.
When we entered, it wasn’t terribly crowded. We grabbed the middle booth and were promptly given a glass of water each and the menus. We quickly downed our water and discussed what we wanted to get. I narrowed it down to the breakfast burrito, southern Bennie or the chicken and waffles. I never made a decision as I knew I wanted to let the waiter pick what would be best.
Cazey settled on the big breakfast to which I promptly talked him out of, because reviews are lame if you order the most basic thing on the menu. With that gentle (or maybe it wasn’t gentle) nudge, he decided on the smoked salmon omelet with a waffle on the side.
Once we decided, we waited for the bartender/waiter to come back to us. He told me to get the burrito and refreshed our water glasses. Since we were both fish, he even upgraded our dainty water glasses to full-sized pint glasses.
As we waited for the food to come out, Cazey and I talked about grown-up things, like my condo (yikes #adulting hardcore right now). Meanwhile, Cazey ran the 10 miler in DC the weekend previous and then the 10K this weekend (#crazy). And since we always circle back to Massey, we talked about how Metro is participating in Richmond Brunch Weekend — and have since our very first year — which makes us love them.
Breakfast Burrito
Soon, my breakfast burrito came out. I got mine with steak, so it was a hearty burrito filled with cheese, eggs, meat and potatoes. Some asparagus was in there too, which I originally thought would be weird, but ended up giving it some good texture — and a serving of veggies.
I ended up only eating half, which was crazy to me as I was emaciated when I left my house that morning. I was expecting the burrito to be shit on the reheat, but it ended up not being as soggy and as I expected. It was actually really good as leftovers.
Salmon Omelet with a Side Waffle
Cazey loved his omelet, as he thinks it's rather hard to go wrong with an omelet as long as there's enough cheese and you don't dehydrate the eggs by over-frying (okay, I guess you can go wrong). He also highly recommends getting a waffle or pancake on the side. When he ordered the omelet, the bartender/waiter asked, "That's all?" So he added the waffle. He's not sure what would come with it otherwise.
If you’re interested in brunching at Metro, come by during Richmond Brunch Weekend on March 21-22. A portion of their sales that weekend will go to VCU Massey Cancer Center, so order an extra side waffle or two!