a brunchtime disappointment. after cruising around harbor east this afternoon, my best friend and i (famished and unsure of what we wanted for brunch) decided upon ten ten. i had eaten here one other time for lunch with a colleague and was pleasantly surprised by the tasty attention to detail that the restaurant offered, despite its moderately hefty price tag.
when we arrived, we were told that they were "very busy" since most people had reservations, but the hostess managed to find us a table immediately despite all of this. as i sat down, i noted that none of the tables around us had food. i wondered if they had all just arrived as well. little did i know that was a sign of things to come.
we spent a few minutes perusing the menu. i settled on the hearty-looking "plow man" plate, which includes 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 sausages or slices of bacon (i went for the homemade sausage), and hash browns. the bff went for an a la carte combination of bacon, poached eggs, toast, and grits. to start, we decided to share a freshly made doughnut (described by our waitress as being "like a funnel cake"); i ordered a lemonade and my friend got a vodka martini with 3 olives (her classic cocktail of choice). the doughnut came out not long after, freshly glazed, still very warm, and steaming with yeasty goodness. we wolfed it down in mere minutes (although i must note that it bore no resemblance to the aforementioned funnel cake).
and then came the wait. the long wait. i mean more than 30 minutes of a wait. for pancakes and eggs. and it's not like they were supremely busy at this point. many other diners had left the place and no one else had come in to dine. i ordered another lemonade (quite tasty) and we chatted about some upcoming creative endeavors we're both pursuing.
after what seemed like forever, thefoodarrived. upon first glance, i noticed that my potatoes looked oil-sodden and pale. one of my eggs (ordered over medium) was cooked hard, but otherwise the pancakes and sausages appeared good. the bff's bacon, however, was burned to a crisp and dry. she sent it back immediately.
i buttered and syruped my pancakes and began to dig in. the potatoes were flavorless, without a hint of salt or pepper. the eggs were also unseasoned. and the sausage i had ordered? completely raw in the middle. as soon as the waitress came back by our table, i, too, sent my meat back into the kitchen.
ten minutes later, some new sausage patties came out of the kitchen. they were dry, flavorless (again, no salt), and tasted like they'd been microwaved. meanwhile, the bacon was nowhere to be found, and the bff had assessed that her grits were watery and not worth eating. she had to remind the waitress about the bacon, which arrived 5 minutes later, again burned and dry. at this point, it wasn't worth pursuing. we were nearly ready to leave.
all the while, the waitress hardly checked on us. i had to motion her over for everything we needed. and from what i could tell, she didn't have more than 3 tables to look after. the ladies dining next to us got theirfoodnot long after we did, and several of their orders seemed incomplete and/or not that great.
here were the redeeming parts of the experience: the lemonade and the doughnut. oh, and our waitress took the breakfast meat and grits off of the menu since those items hadn't come out right the first time. it was, quite literally, the least she could have done. for that much money, thatfoodwas below mediocre.
despite my positive lunch experience several weeks back, i'm not sure that i'm going to darken the door of ten ten again - and if i do, it certainly will not be for brunch. if you're considering a visit, don't waste your hard-earned dollars.