Sticker shock

So the Westin was Jason's pick since I'd sorta snacked @ home before we left and wasn't super hungry. But when he indicated where we were headed, I was not jazzed. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I knew this was not going to be a meal we loved. I seemed to remember an uninspiring or not-worth-the price brunch here a couple years ago when they were in the throes of remodeling.

So I voiced my reservations, which Jason nodded at as his stomach rumbled, but then shut my pie hole as we headed to our seat: in for a dime, in for a dollar, right? My resolve to enjoy the view and sip hot water evaporated when Jason returned with the first of two stacked plates: scrambled eggs, bacon, smoked salmon and oysters, peel & eat shrimp, hash browns, and sausage. Well, one small plate couldn't hurt, could it? ;-) Oh but it could, I'd soon discover.

"Do you know how much brunch is?" I asked Jason, as I got up to hit the buffet tables. "No," he mumbled through a mouthful of sausage and seafood as he reached for his mimosa. Oh well. I snagged a plate and loaded up myself: bacon, smoked salmon & oysters, three kinds of melon, rice salad with raisins and curry flavoring of some sort, mozzarella and sliced tomatoes, and shrimp. As J. looked on derisively ("You ragged on this place all the way in!" "I changed my mind."), I grudgingly acknowledged it was pretty tasty and better than the last time. Not quite full from my serving of crow, I munched away as we lingered over our plates, reading the paper and e-mail.

Finally, the servers discretely placed our bill on the table. Okay, let's see, two brunches and a mimosa comes to... $83.37 cdn?! J. blinked and called the server over. "Uh, how much is brunch?" "$34.95?" he answered in that statement-with-question-inflection common to Canadians. Add the $8 mimosa and tax and there you have it: $83.97, plus tip to come. Aaaaargh. "Look at it this way," I said to J. after doing currency conversion on my Treo. "It's only $73.35 USD. " :-) He looked only mildly amused.

"And that's the regular price?" J. asked. "Oh sure," said the server. "They don't really jack it up until the holidays? You know: Christmas day, New Year's Day, Mother's Day? That's when it's $69 or $79 per person?" Oh. Well of course.

As we walked back to the car (quick walk with so much less money weighing us down!), J. admitted, "Well now we know why you had that weird feeling when we walked in." Yeah, and now I knew what it was: a feeling that somehow we were about to be screwed. Oh Canada. :-P