I am typically easy to please so if a brunch doesn’t wow me I feel like it probably won’t satisfy other people either. Now, I’m not saying I’m the super judge – I’m not at all but I do tend to like things that are really good and become sorely disappointed by those things that are not. I went to Common Ground with no expectations and no real idea of what I was getting – they were a blank slate that could swing one way or another. So I risked it.

I was disappointed, they offered a lot of standard fare set up in a brunch buffet style at a totally reasonable price point (6.99 on Saturday and 9.99 on Sunday) but I felt just sort of meh about the food they offered us there. The eggs I found dry, the home fries were lackluster, and the bloody mary woefully unoriginal (one of my biggest pet peeves is a bloody mary that isn’t distinct in some way). Please don’t think Common Ground did everything badly – their homemade meats were stellar there was perfect breakfast sausage which I could have eaten pounds of and corned beef hash that would have made BF weak in the knees. Also, ordering the bananas foster french toast off menu is a brilliant plan. You will want to put that sauce on EVERYTHING, maybe even in your coffee.

Now then, so I went to brunch and found it lackluster but decided to fortify and try again since Common Ground was kind enough to invite me back for a lunch later in the week. I went to lunch with low-ish expectations, I’d been disappointed by brunch so lunch wasn’t going to blow my mind – was it? How wrong I was. Common Ground’s savory menu is superb. I would have given them a glowing recommendation based on just the margarita chicken skewers that I ate, but overall they nailed it with lunch. There were perfectly cooked chickpea and lentil veggie burgers – I usually skip the veggie burger but this one I will be eating again. They doted on my dining companion, Jess’s Bug, bringing him cups of fruit when he wasn’t a fan of anything on the menu (which made them heroes in my eyes).

So it was that Common Ground was able to redeem themselves in my eyes. I will definitely be back soon, probably with BF, and probably for a Geeks Who Drink night for Geek Trivia (total score in my book). I will stick to the savories and skip brunch, but regardless they had fantastic service and a great atmosphere (even when full of rowdy college kids on a graduation bar crawl).

Disclaimer: I was given both of these meals free of charge but all opinions based here are my own.