Earls (on Main)

...but not on your own.

When I started on this blog, I decided that I wasn't going to review chain restaurants because it didn't make sense to me (Solo in Winnipeg should be restaurants exclusive to Winnipeg, I figure). But also, when I started this blog, I decided I was going to post twice a week. Sometimes we have good reason to break our own rules. Sometimes we don't. Reviewing Earls on Main is the former. I think. I'd received a gift card and saw they had a pretty cool happy hour menu, so I took myself there after work, and eating there alone brought on all the clichés that people assume you'd experience when going out alone that I hadn't experienced until now.

Didn't try these, but I appreciate that there are
options for people who want to be Happy but
don't imbibe.

I sat in the lounge, because that's where the Happy Hour menu is served. The server set a second place at my table without asking and then kind of ignored me  since she probably assumed I was meeting with something. She came by and asked if I'd like a drink... Which she set down at my imaginary friend's place instead of at mine. I didn't get the chance to put in a food order then because she was a big fan of kind of dropping off my order and then walking away really quickly. I cut her some slack for about four seconds, thinking she was the only server, but then saw that there were two others working the lounge with her. I don't know if this is a reasonable number of staff for the lounge at this time, but the others seemed to have the time for their tables so... Maybe I pissed my waitress off by not bringing a date when she so clearly set a place for him? Who knows. I was a little worried I'd sit there until Happy Hour was over and/or starve to death waiting for a date who would never arrive that I assume was the signal my server was waiting for, but I was able to use my laser eyes to get her attention before either of these things happened.

The drink that couldn't save the day.

The Happy Hour menu includes both food and drinks and is as reasonably priced as you'd expect it to be. The Margherita pizza was good enough, but the avocado toast was definitely not worth forgoing a mortgage for. If you want that level of good, you have to take yourself to Forth. My Moscow Mule was somehow indistinguishable from my Mojito... I don't know if that's because my server had decided to not listen to me since I'm clearly crazy, eating alone in a lounge after work, or because the bar is just 'meh.' In any case, for the price, it's hard to complain; the drinks had booze in them and the food was palatable. It's hard to ask for more than that.

The lounge is a cool enough place to sit alone, as long as you are okay with your waitress largely ignoring you. My solo date lasted about 45 minutes longer that I wanted, but fortunately there were enough TVs with sports on them to distract me from the person who wasn't taking my orders. Since the speedy service took me past Happy Hour, I got myself a fancy tiki drink at the end that wasn't on that menu. It was nicely spiced with ginger and possibly clove in with all the fruit flavour. It was a nice drink but not nice enough to save the experience.

Rating: * 

Price: $ (Happy Hour Menu)

The Palm Lounge

Oooooh, ahhhh.

I've been relatively recently renovicted from my Osborne/Corydon area apartment and thus find myself downtown a lot more these days. It's a bit a of a re-adjust since a lot of my go-to's for after-work dinner dates were along Osborne or Corydon. But then, I remembered the place I usually stop after getting my hair did because it's just down the street, which is also downtown and also super convenient for one.

If you're out alone and want to blend in while having a schmancy meal, a hotel bar is actually a really good place to do it. The Palm Lounge is one of the classier places that I've sat at a bar; the live music thing happens most evenings and makes it feel like you're doing something more significant than just drinking alone, although here that's a really normal thing to be doing since you're essentially in a hotel lobby. If you dress nice, maybe people will think you're successful or something and on a business trip. That's what I tell myself and it makes me feel important. The bartender also recognized me even though I haven't been by in a few months, so that definitely worked with my sense of self-importance.

The appetizers here are too pricey to really do more that one, but the entrées are a little more reasonable. In any case, I appreciate a good cheese board, so that's what I did.It was a nice mild to medium selection with both hard and soft cheeses that came with fresh figs, strawberries, dried berries  and apricots, grapes, and nuts. Everything went together really well, unlike some accoutrements out there.

Yes, this is now irrelevant, but I
was just excited that I'm not the only
freak who likes to mix iced tea with
her gin.

Now, I took down notes for this in the summer (yes, I put off writing this one for way too long) so I had the summeriest cocktail (cucumber, elderflower, and prosecco) but really wine is the thing you're supposed to do with cheese, otherwise they kill you. I think. Anyway, my bartender did a mini wine-tasting for me which was SUPER awesome. Not just because, cool, free wine, but she was busy AF because a couple wedding parties had stumbled in. She still somehow found the time to chat with me about cheese (they were from Quebec <3 For some reason, I have really enjoyed Quebecois cheese whenever it comes up), recommend wines (New Zealand Sauvingnon Blanc  makes me happier than any other Sauvingnon Blanc, it seems), and have a quick discussion about how diversity in the workplace cuts down on employee harassment in the hospitality industry sometimes (at least, that's the conclusion we came to about both The Palm Lounge and the restaurant that I work at on the weekends).

If you aren't super into eating whole chunks of dairy fat like me, the shrimp dumplings are steamed and will make you look healthier and worldlier since they come with chopsticks, and you can show off your skills (or lack thereof) with alternate eating utensils.

Anyway, if you find yourself downtown and want to go out alone, this one is definitely a prime spot, being in a hotel. They are probably super used to serving single guests as well as people who are in a rush. So if you don't want to spend too much time sitting alone, you don't have to. But, for the same reason, you can kind of chill as long as you like and just pretend you have nothing better to do for the rest of the night than hang out listening to lounge music. Classic.

Price: $$$

Rating **