We love trying new restaurants and supporting small local businesses, so when Urban Element opened?
We were all in.
Do you love me?
Am I supposed to love you?
I just walked in…
Stop trying so hard.
The new trend in restaurant decor in Maine seems to be minimalist rustic. While I’m fine with barn boards and a lack of clutter….
The chairs that are popping up everywhere seriously make me want to scream.
They’re metal, with small seats and side bars that painfully pin you in place. Definitely not for the amply hipped who walk amongst us.
If the plan is to get you in and out quickly?
These rustic torture devices do the trick.
It was Sunday afternoon at 2:00. And a couple of Happy Time Fizz cocktails made me quite happy indeed….
But here’s another trend that continues to tick me off.
Brunch.
I understand, it’s the weekend. You don’t get up early, and you want to eat breakfast late. Fine.
But it’s 2:00pm people! If you just recently rolled out of bed? You’re a teenage stoner sleeping one off and can’t afford these prices anyway.
To me, 2:00pm means lunch…even on Sunday. I had eaten breakfast 7 hours ago and didn’t feel the need to repeat the process.
The specials? All breakfast. The menu? 99% breakfast with one exception. The fried haddock sandwich.
Great.
Bring it…
They brought it..
But damn.
I’ve had thicker fish sandwiches at McDonalds and I wasn’t even sure that was fish.
Mentally tallying up the reasons we weren’t apt to go back to this restaurant, I did what any normal (still rather hungry from lack of fish) girl would do.
I drowned my sorrows in flourless chocolate torte.
That’s my kind of math.
River's world..... 
So . . . it sounds like your first course (alcohol) and your last course (chocolate) were winners. 😀
Brunch menus should have options for both breakfast and lunch. This place sounds skew-y.
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I am right there with you, nrhatch. Get soused, skip the food and head right for the dessert. It is not healthy, it’s not particularly socially acceptable either, but why not?
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Had I known the fish was anorexic…. I would have.
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That’s becoming very common up here. Lots of restaurants only serve brunch on Sundays….
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2pm LUNCH specials should be available. Go to Yelp. Do a review. It may help them understand that….
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I left reviews in 2 places, always do.
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… you can get away with crappy décor if the food is great. Otherwise it is just a dive …
Some of the best Mexican restaurants are hole in the walls … and some of the worst look like a day in Playa del Carmen.
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It wasn’t a dive… but I doubt they’ll go broke from serving those tiny portions.
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As a night person, I have always rebelled against the whole idea of certain foods only available at certain times. When I get off work at 7 AM tired and hungry, sometimes I want a hamburger dammit!
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Agreed. I’m not a huge breakfast fan as a rule…. usually just nibble and wait for lunch.
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“To me, 2:00pm means lunch”–excuse me but we civilized people don’t start their day until 11 AM–2 PM is snack time between breakfast and lunch with the latter being around 4-5 PM–someday the world will get on my schedule and live life right!
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My day is half over by 2:00pm. If you’re just getting up… maybe you really are a teenager.
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Looks like a place in the Texas Hill Country. I’ll take good food (and lots of it) over atmosphere any day.
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That amount of fish wouldn’t have satisfied my cat. ( If we still had a cat. He died last year… so on second thought maybe it would satisfy him)
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Ugh. Such an inappropriate sense of humor. I’m so glad I found you!
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Inappropriate is my middle name. ( It isn’t, I actually don’t have one. But if I did? Inappropriate would be appropriate.)
I’m glad you found me as well. We tribe of weirdos need to stick together.
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I like that minimalistic decor trend. Sadly it seems to be on the way out around here. Now it’s all about historically ‘accurate’ dining rooms and bars. Overwrought and smooshed together.
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The decor is fine. It’s the uncomfortable chairs I hate….
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My pet peeve with restaurants and coffee places is when they’re closed on bank holidays. Christmas and Thanksgiving, I get it. But memorial day? It happens a lot around our area with the “hip and trendy” places downtown. My only guess is that the people who open these establishments are too used to their school schedules and want to continue them on into their pseudo-adulthood.
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Memorial Day is the kick off to the summer tourist season here… everything is open. And open late!
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I suppose we get tourists, but not like you do. Especially since they got rid of the trap shooting here.
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You are regaling me today, River. Those chairs. We hates them. Even Gollum couldn’t sit on that chair. I’m sending a link to your post to my LOLSister. The end.
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Those chairs are the devil’s work…
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Err, I don’t like the chairs, either. My husband insists they’re for short people, but they must also be for short, slight people, as I have the hips and —- aplenty and I do not wish to wear my chair as a belt, thank you.
Not a fan of those low-slung cloth chairs that they set out in the summer, either. I feel like a kid eating at the grown-up table. Can I even reach the salt?!?
Wooden booths are where its at. My bestie and I used to Thursday night drink in a sports bar that is no longer open. We’d slide into the same booth every time, wooden panels well over our heads. They knew what we drank and otherwise never bothered with us. The Overtime Cafe. Damn good times.
Anyway, no thank you on the fish. I’da had the bourbon blossom.
Also, I like to eat brunch at 2. Yep. However, I do agree that at 2:00 lunch should be on the menu, period. Lunch begins at 11.
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Low slung cloth chairs should be outlawed as well. Very hard to rise from when holding a margarita..
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*nods*
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