Pinks Cantina Bottomless Brunch for $15 a Person: An Honest Review

Long Story Short:

Pinks Cantina is a dive-bar Mexican joint in the lower east side with a $32 bottomless brunch that includes an entrée and unlimited mimosas, bloody marys, or beer. However, being a frugal foodie, I got 50% off by scoring a Pulsd 2 for $29 deal.  (Click HERE for my review of Pulsd.)While our waitress wasn’t what you’d call a ray of sunshine, the drinks came by the carafe and the texmex fare was decent enough.  The point of brunch is to see good friends and have mimosa induced conversations about life and, in our case, the concept of alternate relatives in the space time continuum (my brain still hurts).  It was a great bargain, and the perfect Sunday Funday.

The Full Run Down:

Brunch is the ultimate millennial meal.   The point isn’t the avocado toast and waffles. It’s the chance to offload the week with friends to get reassurance that everyone is in the same “what am I doing with my life”, “my roommate did THIS again”, “I can’t believe my boyfriend say that” boat.  

I have my brunch bunch of friends I see every few months for a bottomless sundayfunday outing. This past weekend we went to Pinks on the Lower East Side.  We opted for this dive-bar cantina because I found a Pulsd 2 for $29 deal that included 2 entrees and 2 hours of unlimited mimosas, bloody marys, or beer.  How can you ever be mad at $15 per person for brunch?  Usually, that’s the price of one entrée alone!  

The Venue and Service:

Pinks Cantina is laid back and intimate with retro beach vibes.  The décor was nice, but the service left something to be desired.  Our tired waitress surely was going through something because she seemed to be in quite a sour mood and was far from welcoming. You see, the dilemma at hand was that we had 3 people, and 2 pulsd deals, meaning we paid for a 4^th entrée.  Apparently, her manager really didn’t like it when she let people do that. 

Amber said, “but what if I eat for two?”

She responded, “it doesn’t work that way.”

I said, “but we paid for the deal, and we wanted to get the breakfast nachos as an appetizer…”

She begrudgingly huffed “I’m really not supposed to do this, but I’ll get a small serving of the nachos for you.”

How often does someone come in with a Pulsd deal and not someone to share it with?  My bets are she has never actually seen it, and for some reason she opted to be difficult.  We are all in this big world together, and I’m of the mindset that we need to help each other out.  There’s nothing to be gained from purposelessly making things hard for someone.  

We all got the mixed juice mimosa, and were happy to find it was delivered in a carafe.  Often, the issue with bottomless brunch is that you are at the mercy of the waiter for refills. Resulting in bottomless actually meaning 4 watered down drinks.  

The Food:

First came the chips and queso Katelyn ordered. It was immediately apparent that the bright orange cheese came from a jar. Nachos were next. The dish consisted of warm chips topped with chicken, cheese, beans, and pico with some egg and guac on the side.  The chicken was quite tasty, but the cheese wasn’t melted and the random egg on the side didn’t make sense.  By this point we had drained carafe one and she placed down carafe two.

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Our entrees were served soon after.  Amber got the breakfast burrito, Katelyn got the breakfast quesadilla, and I got the huevos rancheros.  Mine was surprisingly good!  A bed of chips was topped with two eggs that had beautifully runny yolks, cheese, and some beans with an odd chopped up hash brown concoction to the side.  As a whole, the food was fairly uninspired and screamed “texmex diner” with a “anything tastes good with enough cheese” approach.  

The Experience:

We ate slowly, enjoying the drinks and company to milk out the 2 hours of continual mimosas.  We talked about our lives, what was next, a little bit of politics, and alternate realties in the space time continuum.  I love putting the phones away and having quality time with quality people.  Sure, the food was fine, but that’s not what Sunday funday should be about.   

Two hours, 4 entrees, and 5 carafes of mimosas left us giggly and happy.  After tax and tip, it ended up being around $30 each which I’d say is a solid #frugalfind.  

Will I seek out Pinks Cantaina and pay full price?  Nope!  But I’d recommend the Pusld to anyone, and I’m already excited for my next Sunday funday.  

As always, stay frugal.