Parish: A Cocktail Brunch for Two for Under $30

Long Story Short

Pulsd is an awesome site for finding great meal deals as well as free events in NYC, and the $29 deal for two brunch entrees and carafe of drinks at Parish was a solid find. The New Orleans inspired Lower East Side joint serves up Cajun food in a relaxed setting with quick, attentive service. The Bloody Mary was nothing more than tomato juice with a splash of vodka, but the shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles were both well cooked and quite tasty. While we wouldn’t go back and pay full price, a boozy brunch for two under $30 in New York City is a pretty big deal!

The Full Story:

Ambiance: 5/10

The décor of Parish is intended to mimic the French Quarter of New Orleans with classy black leather booths, light purple walls, a wood bar, and copious amounts of green plants. Neither of us have been to New Orleans, so we can’t quite say “It’s like we were swept right back to good old N’awlins”, but we can say the ambiance was perfectly average. The details were clean, classy, and fairly boring. We suspect the atmosphere is completely different at night, with a packed, lively bar revealed behind the closed velvet curtains as oppose to the sparse Sunday brunch crowd.

Service: 10/10

While it may have been a Southern styled restaurant, the pace of the service of Parish was New York quality. Our waiter was attentive, relaxed, and friendly. The Pulsd deal included a carafe of a brunch cocktail, and in our mimosa vs. Bloody Mary debate, he offered the option of giving us one of each. Often when using an online deal, the waiters fight you are every microscopic detail, making this experience refreshing.

Food: 6/10

To start, the Bloody Mary was mostly tomato juice and it needed a shot of tabasco with a celery garnish. For food, we shared the shrimp and grits and the chicken and waffles. The cornbread waffle was a perfect level of sweet with a bready texture that soaked up the syrup nicely, but it was missing a golden crunch. The ample quantity of fried chicken was moist and juicy, allowing for the perfect bite of sweet and savory.

The grits were creamy and smooth, serving as an ideal base for the shrimp and andouille sausage. The dish was tied together with a sweet BBQ sauce that we enhanced with some requested hot sauce. Americans are afraid of spice. In our South East Asia travels, just about everything had a kick to it with hot chilis, fresh curry paste, and whatever other mystery herbs the 4’ 9”, 80 year old ladies could dig up. Bring spice to North America! It offers a whole new culinary and tasting experience that is quite delicious and nothing to fear.

Price: 8/10

The Pulsd deal was two entrees with a carafe of a brunch cocktail for $29, which ended up being 50% off what the bill would have been. BOGO brunch? How could the wallet be mad about that! We were both satisfied with the quantity of food and left full and a bit buzzed.