After avoiding the weekend lines for years we decided to check out The Bongo Room on a Monday. My fiancé and I showed up just before noon and even though the place was packed we had no trouble getting a table for two. We were able to get our coffee and place our order very quickly. Which was great because I was pretty hungry. But then the wait began. The waitress never came back to see how we were doing or to see if we needed more coffee or anything else. 30 minutes after we ordered, the food showed up. I know the place was busy but we both ordered sandwiches, those aren’t that complicated to make. Our waitress was just bad because the people behind us had a different waitress and she apologized to them for the wait. The service might of soured me a tad on the food but overall I wasn’t blown away. The apple club was tasty but really heavy and the crab club was just so so. After we were done I guess our waitress figured we didn’t need or want anything else because she just brought the check over and didn’t even ask how everything was or if we needed anything else.

The place was a bit over hyped for me. There are plenty of other great places in the area with less of wait and better service. I’d love to give The Bongo Room another try sometime but I’m not waiting two hours on the weekend. Maybe another Monday in the future…

We kick off another week with a meeting out at a restaurant. This week we check out Jam on Damen Ave. in Chicago. When we got there the place was pretty empty just a few other people. Some were eating inside and couple were eating outside. We ended up sitting inside but really should of ate outside on their great patio and enjoyed the early summer weather. Was glad to see they served Metropolis coffee. It’s always great to see local businesses supporting other local businesses. Jam starts you off with a complimentary mini muffin which is very tasty and goes great with the coffee. As far as the menu goes, it felt a little limited on classic breakfast fare. I went with the egg sandwich, it came with pork and rhubarb. Really this was more of a pork sandwich with an egg on it. Much more of alunch dish then a breakfast item. But it was basically lunch when I was there so I wasn’t complaining. The sandwich was excellent and there wasn’t a bite left on my plate when it was taken away. Maeve ordered the veggie panini and she also enjoyed it but didn’t love it. Glad I got to check it out but I don’t think I would have waited in the typical weekend brunch line for it. Be sure to bring cash. Its cash only but there is an ATM inside.

We are planning to kick off each Monday with a planning meeting. This is something many businesses do in order to make sure everyone on the team knows what’s happening in the company. But these kind of meetings can sometimes be a waste of time, right? So the twist to our Monday morning meetings is they are going to be over brunch at a different place each week. Not only does this make the idea of Mondays a little better but it allows us to explore the city as a team and makes sure we get out of the office. The hope is to keep the idea of work fun as well as keeping the company excited about the projects we are working on. As an extra bonus for everyone that is keeping tabs on what we are up to we will be posting short review and photos from each place. Here’s to making meetings more fun! Our first brunch meeting will be Monday, May 2nd. Any ideas on where we should go?