You Should Probably Stop Ordering Mimosas
Going out to brunch this weekend? Oh my gosh me too! Since we’ve got so much in common, I’m going to share a little brunch-time tip a.k.a. the best thing I learned in 2010.
Next time you’re about to order a mimosa off the menu, stop and ask yourself: “Is this delicious treat really worth $9 a pop?” Probably not. Especially when you could just get a bottle of champagne and a carafe of OJ and make your own cocktails at half the price.
Let’s crunch some numbers:
1 Bottle of Champagne ($34) + 1 Carafe of OJ ($6) = 10 mimosas for $40
10 mimosas off the menu = $90
I’m no mathematician, and this is a simple approximation based on my two favorite spots in San Francisco (ones that now hate me), but making your own mimosas seems like a no-brainer.
Just be prepared to make your case.
Your server will, understandably, be a little confused. “Umm, you do know we have mimosas on the menu,” he might say. And here’s where you’ll have to be really cool and calm and sweet and act like this is perfectly normal and that everyone does it, because they really should.
You’ll look at him and say, “Oh no, I know, but some of us want just Champagne, and others of us want mimosas, and some of us like them really strong [point to yourself and wink], while others of us like them weak, so we just prefer to save you the trouble and make our own.”
Say it with confidence because you know he secretly thinks you’re smarter and thriftier than his other patrons. Later he might notice that you’re also drunker than his other patrons, but isn’t that kind of the point?
Cheers and you’re welcome!
Tania Khadder is a writer and editor living in San Francisco. Give her a reason to update her blog.
Photo via Flickr
or, you know, order a bloody mary because champagne is gross.
I like champagne quite a bit – though I strongly agree with the Bloody Mary recommendation. The best part is that is essentially a meal in a glass, so you save money by not having to order food!
"Before you drink ten mimosas, could you sign this safety certificate?"
Or make them at home: $7 for a bottle of Trader Joe's prosecco and $1.99 for a thing of OJ concentrate. The best.
Or, bring champagne in a perrier bottle in your purse, order oj and spike it! Social + uber cheap = Bill Gates bank account someday.
doing this.
AGREED
Get the $6 Cristallino from Trader Joe's, and just put tape over the "lino" part, and you've got yourself a bottle of Chrystal! Cost: $6, plus tape.
I go to a brunch place with $20 all you can drink mimosas!! Solved.
WHERE IS THIS PLACE? I must know.
A bottle of vodka and a container of tang.
Stop, silly, the tang is for your hangover. Use it to wash down the advil.
I avoid all brunch places that don't offer bottomless mimosas.
I don't think I've ever been to a place offering $9 mimosas that also had Champagne (or even "champagne") on the menu for $34. In fact, I don't think I've ever been to any restaurant that sold bottles that cheaply!
What kind of pansy mimosas you guys makin' that you can get ten (TEN!!) out of one bottle of champers?!?!! 8 tops, and even then only when you feel you haven't been getting enough vitamin C.
OBVIOUSLY A MAGNUM, DUH
In my experience, one bottle of champagne does not make 10 mimosas! More like 4-6. However, as has been pointed out, you really don't need a $34 bottle for a mimoso. Some cava or prosecco should be fine.
maaaaaaaaaagnuuuuuuuum
I'll never pay $9 for another mimosa again! I'm also going to start carrying around a flask. Thanks for the tip and I'll see you all at brunch this weekend!
If money's a concern, just nurse a bottle of Everclear? Get an off brand from a chemical supply catalog! It's cheaper and they're all having their post-holiday sales until the end of the month.
(But no, yeah, mimosas are a shakedown. I only have them on vacation, and even then I just make them myself in the glasses in my hotel room. By which I mean my kitchen, and when I say "on vacation" I mean "all the time." I don't know what I mean.)
Woman, there are eleventy hundred brunch places in SF that serve bottomless mimosas.
Guys. She is OBVIOUSLY talking about a magnum, which is WAY more awesome that bottomless mimosas that you still pay up the ass for. Also, then you have to WAIT for the slow ass servers to fill 'er up and that's just inefficient.
T-Khain, I have to respectfully disagree. The best alcohol-to-money ratio can be found within a delicious, refreshing Bloody Mary.
I do love a good Bloody Mary, at brunch or otherwise.
Did I share with you that there's a restaurant in Austin that makes a Bloody with a) bacon vodka, b) a strip of bacon as a garnish, and c) a cube of cheddar cheese on the pickled vegetable toothpick? Oh yes.
ingenius! how come i didn't think of this?! i love getting mimosas at brunch with my girlfriends. we don't usually want more than 2 each so this is perfect for us to share for an obviously great price. gonna try this out this weekend!
for the Angelenos: BoHo (next to Hollywood Archlight) does bottomless mimosa, sunrise, OR bloody mary. You can mix and match! only 14 bucks!!
Oh my god, there is literally no where in Canada (where I live at least) that serves bottomless alcohol anything. I am seething with jealousy.
I can support this. "Bottomless alcohol" almost made me fall over.
If you aren't getting a mimosa with your brunch, where I'm from a caesar has always been an acceptable replacement.
i totally made my own mimosas at cracker barrel over breakfast on new years day. i am pretty thrifty and bad-ass too.