Sapa – All You Can Drink Brunch Bar

Browsing my archives, I discovered that I never posted about this restaurant before, which disappoints me.  What seems like eons ago but was really only two years ago this month, I was invited to join FC in their adventures of trying restaurants.  This was my debut restaurant choice, which, as I recall, everyone liked.  I’d chosen wisely, and would always intend to return to this restaurant but there were always other places to try first.  And a few months ago, I’d watch happily as the head chef of this restaurant was chosen to be profiled, do a lot of promos and climb steadily in fame… finally battling Iron Chef Morimoto on Iron Chef America.

In any case, a few weeks ago, a friend and I were looking to have brunch one sad Sunday.  We were anti-celebrating something big, and I recalled, luckily, that I’d seen a promo the week before for Sapa’s Live Jazz Sunday brunch… including a special mention of their bar-brunch special.  Sit at the bar, it proclaimed, enjoy all the brunch cocktails you can drink for $20! 

We were there. 

At first, I thought that perhaps the $20 was an add on price- add it on to the price of an entree in order to drink the day away.  I’ve known places to do this, and sometimes this can be a deal.  But to my delight, after a quick phone call, the $20 includes the cost of the entree, happily.  Unfortunately, though Sapa does take reservations for brunch (unlike many other places), the all-you-can-drink brunch bar is first come, first serve.  The hostess suggested arriving early, so we aimed to arrive shortly after they opened.  Of course, it being early Sunday morning, we both overslept a bit and wound up arriving closer to noon.  Luckily, we nabbed the very last two seats at the bar. 

After a quick browse of the menu, our extremely friendly bartender came over to take our drink orders.  I didn’t take pictures of any of our drinks, but the one that stands out in my memory is the pomegranate bellini or mimosa.  It was really yummy- the perfect blend of sweet, tart, and bubbly.  We also tried the regular bellini, mimosa, a passion fruit version, a blackberry one, and both of us agreed that the pomegranate was the best. 

As for our entree, this is where the real heart of the deal comes in.  First, we were given the regular brunch menu (which comes with one brunch cocktail) from which to choose our entree, without restriction.  Both of us chose the crabcake benedict (pictured), which the regular menu listed at $15 normally.  For an extra $5, my friend and I each drank 5 brunch cocktails apiece.  (We did a really good job of anti-celebrating!) 

The crabcake was full of jumbo lump crab chunks, which were delicious, though I felt like my eggs weren’t quite poached all the way through.  The sauce made it hard to distinguish whether that was uncooked egg white or sauce occasionally, which kind of grossed me out.  But, for the purpose of disclosure, I’ve only had eggs benedict a handful of times, so perhaps it is usually like this.  I enjoyed my dish thoroughly.  We will definitely be going back to try other dishes and take full advantage of the bar!  Our bartender, Joseph, also was quick with the drinks and very helpful when we asked him about the drinks and which ones to try.  Overall, a great experience. 

**Since I haven’t reviewed this place before, I should mention that the decor is lovely: spacious, high ceilings, laidback atmosphere inside.

Yvo says:  I will definitely be back sooner than 2 years from now for this great brunch deal.  The food is good, the drinks keep flowing, and I will keep on going.  The convenient location on 24th between 6th Avenue and Broadway didn’t hurt at all, either.  PS Also, I don’t actually like live music while I eat, because I want to be able to hear my companion talk and have conversations with them at normal volumes, but while I did notice the band up front, they were not so loud as to make talking difficult- it was just right.
highly recommended, both for brunch and dinner