There are plenty of places to get a great brunch in Denver, Snooze isn’t one of them. Snooze has some great things going for it. Snooze also has some problems. Unfortunately, in this case, the bad outweigh the good.

My party arrived as a group of six. This may be more than Snooze is accustomed to but is by no means an outrageously sized group, particularly for brunch, which is often a friends and family affair. Sorry Snooze, I’m not letting you use that as an excuse. Despite being both seated and served quickly, our service was poor. Each of us had to ask for at least one of our drinks multiple times. We each had water and at least one more drink like a coffee, mimosa or bloody mary, but this is common for brunch too. A large party ordering multiple drinks is no reason not to bring us our order. We had a conversation that went very similar to this:

Wait staff: Can I get you anything else?
Me: Yeah, you could get me a water and him a coffee (pointing to my dad who ordered the coffee when we sat down).
Friend: I’d like a water too, please.
Waitstaff: Okay a water and a coffee then.
Friend: No, I’d like a water too.
Waitstaff: *stares into space*
Me: That’s two waters and a coffee.
Waitstaff: Okay, two waters and two coffees.
Me & Friend simultaneously: Sure.

The way our waitress was acting she must have been on the opening 1:30 A.M. shift. No excuse when you are competing with the 24 hour diners on Colfax who have waitresses sharper than Manolo four-inch heel. The best part was when she came over asking, “How is everything?” when we were still waiting on two of our orders to come out of the kitchen.

When the meals came out of the kitchen they were less than stellar. First off, choices were minimal. There are 11 breakfast choices and 7 lunch choices. This includes two types of pancakes, one item that is basically a bowl of hash browns, and the regular-old, way-too-big, breakfast burrito that everyone in town makes. All of it is simply mediocre.

Snooze is trying to make a name for itself in the imbibing department. True, they have a breakfast wine list and this is very cool and unique. Also true that my bloody mary was pink for some reason. Too much hoarse-radish I suspect. It still tasted pretty decent though.

To top it all off, Snooze is expensive. We ended up spending $170 (tip not included) for the six of us, only half of us drinking alcohol. That’s nearly $30 a person! For brunch! Yikes!

Now for the good parts of Snooze. The saving grace on the menu is the chocolate & peanut butter pancakes with chocolate chips, and the pineapple upside down pancakes. Without these two items Snooze would be sound asleep. Snooze has an incredible location in the ballpark neighborhood and is the only brunch spot in the neighborhood that I know of. Snooze’s operating schedule is of benefit as well. Opening at 1:30 AM on Saturday and Sunday make it a prime location for an after-party gorge. The best thing Snooze has going for it though, is the atmosphere. The place is so hip it almost hurts. This is thanks to the incredible work by the people over at Xan. Kudos to Xan, you did a wonderful job. Despite the food menu being weak, the drink menu is superb and the pomegranate mimosas are utterly delish.

Hopefully Snooze can fine-tune itself. Its menu needs tweaking and the wait staff need no-doze but the outfit has a lot of potential. Don’t take my word for it, go eat there and tell them what you think.

Last Friday was date night. What do you do on date night? Go to the movies and then come home and make out, of course. Or miniature golf and heavy petting. We opted for the movies.

Saturday I went and visited my Grandma. She seemed to be doing better than usual. Which is scary because I know it can change on a dime and will ultimately make me more sad. But it’s great when I’m there and she seems to be alright (despite knowing the truth). So it was an enjoyable visit. Saturday night was sushi with my bro and his girl at The Sushi Boat (cool river, lame atmosphere, good sushi).

Sunday we tried out the over-hyped Snooze. Then we headed to the Rockies vs. the Cubbies game where I was torn with whom to cheer for.

In the traditional sense, I’m not very romantic. Much to my girlfriends chagrin, I’m sure. I don’t see romance in the conventional means of chocolate, flowers, large glasses of red wine (though the wine can definitely help things along), and Marvin Gaye songs. This is not to say that I find romance silly, or “the hard way to get what I want”. It is just that the objects that are commonly found romantic, I find quite horrid. And maybe it’s because they are just that - common (and horrible). I find most of my romance in humor, and music, and nostalgia, and words, and sometimes in tragedy. For instance, L.A. Hunter would drive me absolutely nuts, but the story of Abelard and Heloise (the dude gets his balls chopped off) is romantic in my eyes. Despite my somewhat uncharacteristic beliefs in where romance is found, this has to be one of the most sentimental, adoring, affectionate and… lets face it… romantic, ideas I have heard in a while.

One of the Eternal City’s oldest bridges has this summer become the focus a grand romantic ritual that has seized the imagination of hundreds of couples from Rome and abroad. Lovers testify to their everlasting love by attaching a chain and a small padlock to a lamp-post on the northern end of the Ponte Milvio Bridge. They write their names on the lock in felt-tip pen and then throw the keys into the River Tiber.

I found out about this in Italy Magazine and can’t wait to do this with my true love. Have you ever carved your lovers initials in a tree?

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