This past Monday I turn another year older. I went in search of free stuff you might get for your birthday. Plenty of offers for 2 for 1 deals, or 25% off. But the two good offers I found (and used) were:
a) Free Denny's Grand Slam
b) Free Red Robin Gourmet Burger.
So as part of my birthday fun day, I went off on my bike to try out these two (and get in a 25km bike ride as well to burn of some of the calories).
Denny's, 3100 Douglas Street
Denny's offer a free Grand Slam breakfast for you on your birthday. You can mix and match four items from their list, so I decided on pancakes, bacon, hash browns and sunny-side up eggs. Coffee is extra, but a three bucks for bottomless coffee, that's not so bad.
It was a very wet and raining Monday morning, so I had the place pretty much to myself. This didn't stop my table having a good speckling of toast crumbs for whoever was their last. The staff were pretty fast attentive all throughout, and the coffee was kept well topped up. Two of my friends joined me, including a big Denny's Breakfast fan ("I love me some Denny's" - true quote). We all got slams.
Mine was fair to good. The pancakes were the size of large side plates, fresh, and cooked beyond the point they taste like paste and before the point they taste like cardboard. There was a whipped scoop of butter on top. Don't think this is a tiny ice cream scoop. It's not.
The hash-browns are the real deal, grated potatoes, fried up and still slightly greasy, yet crispy on the outside. The eggs were done okay... I could have tested them further with scrambled eggs, but as I had a long day ahead of me, bad eggs would have put a damper on things. But based on what I got, I'd try it next time. The bacon was probably mostly water when it was put on the grill.. as it came out as two shriveled rashers, crisped to nothing much at all. Sad loss of a pig to the world.
Everyone seems to have a Denny's horror story, about how there local one is the worst in the city/province/country. I've heard it about Victoria, but it's been there so long, in a town with lots of breakfast joints, it can't be the WORST. It was just breakfast done the way it's done in 2,000 other places. No flair, but the same meal every time, more or less.
Still, it did what it said, it wasn't bad, it filled me up too. It was free. Same time, same place next year?
Red Robin, 800 Tolmie Avenue
I went off from Denny's, avoiding a rainstorm, and headed out toe Cecelia Creek Gorge park. I went down the mountain bike trials course there a couple of times (easy route, I've got a road bike, and bad balance). That was fun. Then I head over to The Pedaler to start a loop of Victoria they've designed and I'm writing a puzzle hunt for. More to come on that, hopefully.
18km later, I was outside the Red Robin, which sits proud above the triple-lane highway into downtown core. It has no bike parking outside, so I strapped my bicycle to one of the concrete posts that hold up the signage.
The building is under renovations, so half the place is torn up, and a lot of the walls and floors are bare, or tarped over. It's not so bad that it's dusty and dirty, just a bit battered while they work on it. I got a seat in the bar area (it might have been called the club lounge, which is a five dollar description of a twenty-five cent place). Found out the free burger deal, which had just gone to an online club I had to join. They have about twenty burgers on the gourmet list, which is the birthday freebie, plus another set of premium sandwiches. And the normal hodge podge of starters.
But I wanted free, but nothing super heavy, so went with the turkey burger. Topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and bacon, it's a super with extra cheese and turkey. I wasn't expecting much, and had the broccoli option as my side. You know, for healthy reasons.
The burger was actually damn fine. Moist, flavourful and the veggies were all crisp. The ciabatta bun soaked up some of the juices, which made it extra tasty. The bacon was far better cooked than the rubbish at Denny's. All over, a good burger.
The broccoli was cooked to the bright green (or a little beyond), not soggy. Covered in butter, I think, so maybe not that healthy, but still, felt better than a bunch of supersized fries. The sides are meant to be bottomless. I would have got more broccoli, but didn't see a server again until checking out to leave, and I really didn't need it. I did quite like the Red Robin special flavouring salt, which has a bunch celery salt, dried tomatoes, garlic and onions in it. This tasted good on the greens.
I would have paid $10.49 for this burger normally. That's a pretty good price. On the flip side, the beer isn't. I paid $8 for a 'jumbo size' Sam Adams. It looked like a normal sized beer to me. And no where did I see the price quoted at such a rip off price. I drank better beers for less at Churchill later on in the evening.
Would go back again for the food. Was very pleasantly surprised by the quality for the price. Would not drink there. Was unpleasantly surprised by the quality for the price.
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