Border Grill - Melancholy Hour
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 17:05Border Grill used to be one of my favorite Happy Hour spots. I say “used to” because when we went there on Friday evening, we were surprised to see that the menu and prices had changed, in some cases pretty drastically.
In the old days, there were two menu sections, the $3 section and the $5 section. For the most part, we would stick to the $3 section, filling our bellies with plantain empanadas, chicken panuchos, tamales, quesadillas, etc. Drinks were $3.
Now, most of the $3 items have either been eliminated or moved to the $5 menu. Drinks are now $4. A new $7 section has been added and the biggest travesty of all, the plantain empanadas have been moved to the appetizer section, at a price of $7.95!
OK, we thought, don’t panic. I’m sure that for more than two and a half times the price, they must just give you a double order of empanadas. We always order at least two plates, so no big deal. If they used to serve three per order, surely now there are six per order. Wrong! There are only four per order. So you get one more empanada for the extra $4.95 they tacked on the price. We still ordered them and they were still awesome, but not quite the deal that they used to be. This Happy Hour was making me feel melancholy.
Now, there was one shining star. A new item was added to the $5 section - Cayenne Duck Wings. Think buffallo wings, but with plump duck drumettes covered in a flavorful, medium spice level sauce. The dish came with a healthy portion of six wings and a creamy sauce. The wings were filling and were a great addition to the menu.
Two of us had a glass of sangria each and enough food to be full before a movie for $30 before tip. A deal? Probably. Happy hour rates? I don’t think so. We will probably go back, but when we’re thinking of happy hour places, I don’t think Border Gril will top our list. From the lack of the usual crowded communal table and bar, it looks like others are taking the same stance.
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
Maribeth says:
January 24th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I think lunchtime is the best time for Border Grill–it’s the only time you can actually hear what your dining companions are saying!
Suzy says:
January 24th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
There were even some “happy hour” items on the menu for $9.95 per dish- definitely not a “happy hour” price if you ask me
John Trosko says:
January 25th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Border Grill has a PR company… why don’t you send them an e-mail asking for an explanation on the price increase?
- John
Jonah says:
January 25th, 2007 at 11:27 am
John-
As it happens, I did email their PR person (I get plenty of emails from her). Here is the response:
“Thanks so much for sharing your article with us. I’m happy you are a fan of Border Grill, but sorry to hear that you are disappointed about the Plantain Empanadas. We recently decided to take them off the happy hour menu and add some new items into the mix, including the Cayenne Duck Wings. Because the empanadas are still a favorite, we included them in a “Border Classics” section of the menu separate from the happy hour “Bocaditos/Little Bites”, thus they are listed at their normal dinner time price of $7.50.”
I’m still disappointed, that’s a big price jump for one little empanada. Of coure, it’s up to them to set their prices, and it’s up to me to decide where to spend my money.
Cliff Stepp says:
January 26th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Gee, I thought someone was copying one of my old promotions for a brewpub, “Unhappy Hour with Live Blues.” We really did do it for 18 months every Wednesday with live blues and half price brew.
Mike says:
February 1st, 2007 at 1:34 am
Something similar occurred at Ciudad as well. I went there for happy hour and I was told that their old menu was nixed. No cheap eats. Bummer.