Sweet Sunday Brunch @ Serranos UYE

I love brunch. I like half price brunch even better. I’ve never had Mexican brunch with bottomless mimosas before, but I’m a fan.

I can go on and on about the food provided on the sweet Sunday Brunch at Café Serranos — Symphony Square. But I don’t really need to, after everyone else’s reviews.
Sure, the centerpiece is a Chef Adam Gonzales’ Lobster Seafood Paella. But there’s so much more, including trays of breads, bagels, and normal pastries, served with cream cheese, blueberry butter, and strawberry jam. Then there’s selections of fresh fruit, cheese, a few salads (including a pasta). Eggs a couple ways, bacon, and jalapeño sausage round out the usual breakfast suspects. Then a selection of Tex-​Mex fare, including beans, potatoes poblano gratin, «Mayan» roast ham, a Mexican stew, an array of desserts…
Don’t forget the made-​to-​order items available just by asking your server, like the blueberry pancakes, Eggs «Ranchero Style» or American, made Sunny-​side-​up, over easy, medium, or well, Huevos Motuleno, an omelet loaded with grilled veggies, a Mexican play on Eggs Benedict, or a potato hash topped with jalapeño sausage and an over-​easy egg.
But yeah, I don’t need to mention the food.
Or even the service. I never had an empty glass, and (almost) turned down a «$ 4 bottomless mimosa» refill twice. Our used plates disappeared as if by magic. Even with a party of 20+ of the most awesome folks I’ve shared 5-​tables-​pushed-​together with, including my wife ordering off the menu, everything was handled smoothly (and best I can tell, correctly) by the staff.
So, I don’t even need to mention that.
I *will* mention that, if you don’t make a habit of it, hop on over to the «Events» page, and look for a UYE (Unofficial Unilocal Event), or any other event near you. You’ll surely find something coming up that interests you, and it’s a great way to share new (or old) experiences with your fellow Unilocalers. Sure, we pay our own way for most of those, but it’s always a great time.
Beth D.
Thanks for a good time, Café Serranos.

I got the bottomless mimosas and I never did find that bottom. Serranos: 1 My sobriety: 0
Beth D. arranged a fantastic event and I had a blast. I saw so many lovely faces, became acquainted with new people, and Serranos did a wonderful job of handling our large party. They kept the drinks flowing and the food coming and they never missed a beat, even when splitting up checks. Consider me impressed.
Errol challenged me to an eating contest, so of course I stuffed my face with all of the paella, fruit, cheese, sausage, asparagus, beans, and pasta I could find. Can you really lose an eating contest? Don’t you win just by virtue of the fact that you ate so much food your body will be sustaining itself for the next four or five days? (I think we all learned a valuable lesson — I can put away some food.)
Other valuable lessons:
— It’s never a Unilocal get together unless there is also a ridiculously fun after party, especially one involving Cards Against Humanity jokes with Joe C., Courtney B., and Mike L.
— Joe C. will show everyone that one time you sang Call Me, Maybe at karaōke and danced like a total dork. (Totally rocked that song, though.)
— Brunch is amazing. Count me fully in the «I need brunch all the time» camp.
— Amanda M. is adorable and I’m really glad to have met her.
— Sitting in the middle of the table was the best idea because I got the best of both ends.
— Women who walk in heels never cease to amaze me. I should probably learn this skill someday.
Unilocal is full of a lot of really lovely people and I’m so glad I get to tag along sometimes.

I just want you all to know:
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo

Fantastic job setting up this event, Beth! You are a wonderful hostess! What a treat it was to mingle and meet more awesome elites. Lovely to meet Amanda face to face, laugh with Errol, Joe C, Courtney W and meet Blair, Stella and her husband!
First time visiting Serranos. Loved the bottomless mimosas & sangria for only $ 4. Their blueberry pancakes were delicious. The spread of food on their buffet was impressive. Lobster paella, fajitas, chilaquiles, smoked sausage, green chile grits, carne guisada, croissants, eggs, migas, fresh fruit, chocolate cake, bread pudding & more! Oh my the selections to choose from!
The servers were accommodating and attentive. They were eager to clear our plates and make sure our mimosas/​sangria glasses were always filled to the rim.
5 stars for a well organized, yummy, fun event with wonderful service and awesome company!

Around my house growing up, an oft used phrase was «don’t get too famous.» As in, don’t be the best dishwasher, or mopper, or laundry doer because then that will be your permanent job. I would caution Beth D. to avoid the same, but I think it’s too late. She’s the best brunch UYE thrower and this will forever be her job. Much like Keri B.‘s WWW&D, Beth’s Brunch UYEs are sure to become a much loved and anticipated routine event. She’s locked in now, no turning back.
For her first installment, a super awesome deal at Serranos. As someone very familiar with the brand, my first thought was, «Serranos? okay… I’ll go for Beth.»
Don’t you just love eating your own words when those words are things like salad, fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes au gravy, brisket carne guisada, pork roast, fajitas, and lobster paella washed down with (mostly) bottomless mimosas? I sure do love be wrong about the right things and our trip to Serranos falls squarely in that category. I shall never doubt again.
Service was pretty impeccable given our large crowd and it was a good mix of Unilocalers and (gasp!) non-​Yelpers and some in-​betweens. And, the waitstaff spilt out all our checks and didn’t even add grat, which I would have over-​tipped anyway, but it is nice that they trusted us not to be idiots. Actually really nice.
One warning, look out for the treacherous limestone terrace, in heels, it was a little hard to navigate around the uneven surface. It was even harder after hours of mimosa-​swilling.

There were more people at this event than my last wedding, which is a total tribute to Beth D. I was also more conscious at this event than my last divorce, which is a total tribute to Beth D. But enough about me and more about Beth D’s Sweet Sunday Brunch @ Serrano’s UYE:
Brunch appears to be something new for this Serrano’s, and they seem to be going for a hybrid of Moonshine and Jack Allen, along with presenting their own specialties like fajitas. I was actually impressed with the enormous pan of paella, and was merrily scraping away all the socarrat at the bottom. For $ 17.95 it’s a pretty good deal, but for the half-​priced BOGO arrangement Beth made for us, it was a pretty great deal. We also took advantage of the $ 4 bottomless mimosa package, and apparently cleared Serrano’s out of four cases of champagne.
Courtney W had no problem matching me plate-​for-​plate at the buffet line, and I made a note not to make that stupid bet again. But my favorite moment was trying to compose an artful three-​dessert plate for Amanda M, and discovering they had run out of the individual cups of peach cobbler. But when the front-​end hostess Erica noticed my sad face, she went back to the kitchen and returned three minutes later, with a freshly baked triple cobbler serving, with bright green mint leaves scattered lightly over a white sugary frost, atop a small cascading mountain of whipped cream. Nothing impresses me more than smart and intuitive customer service.
The advantage of Sunday brunch at Serrano’s right now is no one appears to know about it, there’s lots of free parking, and you don’t have to wait an hour to be seated. I’m curious how long it will be before that changes, and if they’ll tweak the menu a lot. In the meantime, if the lovely Beth D is going around setting up Sweet Sunday Brunches like this one at Serrano’s, then seriously Playuh, hold that twerking — we’ve got to raise our sights and sign up.

I don’t brunch nearly as often as I should or would like to…
Can I use brunch as a verb?
This very special gathering was the brainchild of our stellar hostess, the incomparable Beth D.
The brunch buffet had a myriad of selections…
Migas
Chilaquiles
Bacon
Smoked sausage
Fresh fruit
Pastries
Carne guisada
Lobster paella
Green chile grits
…and other items.
Let us not forget the $ 4 bottomless mimosas.
I opted for the Bloody Mary. It was above average, but not one of my favorites.
The food was ok. The lobster paella had decent flavor, but it’s not really a dish that should sit on a hot line. The rice had overcooked to mush and the lobster had overcooked. Other buffet items were pretty standard… nothing to really rave over.
What makes this a five star review is the level of service they gave our over sized group. Dealing with a bunch of separate checks and other patrons… making sure mimosas were topped off and other drinks filled was no easy task. The kitchen even gave us a few sharable dishes of other items to taste. So complete props to the staff!
Of course the other factor was the group of people. This was a great group of folks to spend a lazy Sunday with… and I would gladly do it again.
Thanks Beth… for a great way to kill a few hours and some brain cells.