The Turf Club

Today I had a lovely brunch with some friends at The Turf Club, another Saratoga restaurant I had never been to before. As anyone who lives in town knows, finding a place for brunch can be difficult. There are a few favorites in town that always have lines around the block and by the time you sit down everyone is too hungry to do anything but shove food in their face. Not that I don't love those Saratoga classics, but sometimes I am just too hungry to wait. Keeping those experiences in mind, I was overjoyed when we we walked in and had our choice of tables.

The Turf Club is certainly a classy establishment. We chose a table near a window, though if we had seen it earlier we would have chosen a seat next to the cozy fireplace. There were beautiful decorations everywhere and calming music in the background - this was definitely not your paper tablecloth with crayons kind of brunch place.

After delivering our coffees our waitress informed us that they were out of quiche and hash. Definitely a little unusual to have so few customers and to already be out of food, but I suppose that happens sometimes. I ordered one of my favorites, eggs benedict with smoke salmon and hash browns. One of my friends ordered chocolate chip pancakes while the other ordered bacon filled waffles with strawberries. After checking with the kitchen, our waitress found out that they were also out of strawberries...seriously? For a place that prides itself in brunch, you really should be stocked up on your fresh fruit. In the end, my friend ended up picking raspberries to go with his waffles instead.

I was so excited when our food came! My eggs benedict came with a crispy potato pancake that had the perfect amount of spice to it, delicious! Unfortunately, I was the only one who was totally satisfied with their meal. My friend who ordered the chocolate chip pancakes saw as soon as she got her plate that two of her three pancakes were burnt, covered by the one pancake that was not. Honestly, if there are not that many people in the restaurant to begin with - take the time to do it right. If you burn a couple pancakes, throw them out and make a few more, it's not like there's a huge rush. And apparently they were out of raspberries as well. Instead of getting fresh fruit on his waffles, my friend got a raspberry jam topping. Not that it didn't taste good, it just wasn't what he had asked for.

I would say that overall The Turf Club had good food, they just did not necessarily take the time to make sure that it was great food. Despite my experiences today, I would like to give The Turf Club a chance to really shine, it definitely has the potential. I would also highly recommend bringing one of these super cool coupons with you when you go. Have you guys all bought your local coupons yet? We saved $8 off of our total bill, which makes a difference! I love these coupons, they make it possible for me to fully enjoy everything that Saratoga has to offer - even on my unemployed graduate student budget.