Brown Bag Cafe

*Restaurant is permanently closed*

Staying at 2 different hotels on 2 consecutive nights sounds like an unnecessary inconvenience especially with kiddies involved.  However, the Asian in me prompted me to do so.  Why?  Well, Marriott has this deal where after 2 stays, you get a free night.  However, that means staying at the same hotel for 2 days only counts as one.  Now you see the method to my madness...  That meant we had to find eats near the second hotel that led us to the Brown Bag Cafe.  After circling around for an eternity, we found a parking spot.  With all the people coming out with takeout containers, I should've figured out the portions sizes.

Ah yes, the portions sizes...  Look at the picture of the Farmer's Skillet consisting of 4 large eggs, crispy bacon pieces, diced tomato, button mushrooms and a tonne of cheddar atop a generous helping of fresh hash browns, that was meant for more than one person (well, a regular sized person that is, not an NFL linebacker!).  I liked the soft slices of potato underneath that were only lightly crisped up (it got wet from the ingredients though).  I thought the top was a bit too crispy and brown, but it wasn't difficult to eat.  The bacon was meaty and plentiful as well as the mushrooms.  For Viv, she had the BBQ Beef Sandwich which was, you guessed it, large.  A huge mound of fairly tender beef (albeit a bit dry) was smothered in tangy, yet overly sweet BBQ sauce.  There was a nice kick to it though.

For the kiddies, my daughter had the Fish n' Chips which featured house-cut fries.  As much as we appreciated the non-generic fries, they were not crisp at all being soggy.  The 2 pieces of fish were fried crispy with mostly flaky fish in the middle except for the ends.  We really liked the tartar sauce as it was clean-tasting while being creamy with a slight tartness.  My son went for his standby being the Chicken Strips and Fries.  The strips were textbook Sysco, hence they were predictable.  They were crispy though, but the meat was a touch dry. If you didn't already guess it, there was some doggy bagging going on at the end.  I wouldn't classify the food as memorable, but the portions are very good for the price.

The Good:
- Large portions
- Reasonable pricing
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Food is alright...
- That is not a sufficient parking lot