28 responses to “pop-up all you can eat vegan brunch on sunday 10/30!”

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  Lowen October 25th, 2011 at 22:14

  I’ll be there 🙂

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  foodchain October 26th, 2011 at 13:45

  YEAHHHHHHHHHHH PARTY AT MY HOUSE!!!!!! 😉

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  Jenn October 26th, 2011 at 17:03

  Is there any place to view the details aside from FB?
  Is this all ages?

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  trishells October 26th, 2011 at 18:48

  yeah i click on that fb invite to get the details and wants me to log in. not gonna happen, don’t have an account. so i can’t even find out where this thing is.

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  quarrygirl October 26th, 2011 at 19:03

  here is the time and address! the rest of the info is in the post above. @jenn… not sure if it’s all ages…lemme check w/ the organizers. i am assuming that all ages are welcome!

  Time
  Sunday, October 30 · 11:00am – 3:00pm
  Location
  Camberwell Manor
  3341 Descanso Drive
  Los Angeles, CA

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  foodchain October 27th, 2011 at 08:28

  all the details are on quarrygirl’s post and above is our address and the times. 🙂 @jenn, we’re not setting any age restrictions, but parents should know that it may not be the *best* event for children because of the alcohol and probably some music with adult language.

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  Marie October 27th, 2011 at 08:58

  Why can’t I be in LA?

  WHY!?

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  Jenn October 27th, 2011 at 18:51

  Thanks so much for the info 🙂 I am hoping we can make it on out!

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  Tamara October 27th, 2011 at 19:35

  Me and my hubby are planning on attending the vegan Halloween party as well as the vegan brunch;I can’t wait for the weekend to get here so I can take pics of all the vegan fun!

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  Mark October 30th, 2011 at 18:29

  This was a total debacle. We showed at noon; bought advance tix. There were still some muffins out. Neither of us ate before this. Fast forward to almost 1pm and they’d just put out some chips and green salsa. Apparently, there’d be a casserole dish of potatoes out, too, but those were gone. A little while later, there was pico de gallo, but the chips were gone and hadn’t been replenished. At 1:30, food was served. We weren’t that deep in the line but by the time we got to the table, mostly everything was gone or very low, and certainly not hot (sterno burners anyone?). Made several attempts to go back, but no refills. Finally, as we were leaving, around 2pm, they’d refilled the scramble, which, oddly enough, almost 30 mins earlier, I saw/heard someone say “we’re out of scramble” with an “ok” from the kitchen. I know the sausage was refilled at some point, as well.

  There really seemed to be no organization to this, at all. Aside from being, inexcusably late, stuff wasn’t being refilled. Christ, even the water remained empty! We heard them discussing on the way in, the preparation of food; should have been a tip. I’ve done catering, worked in restaurants, had large parties at home before, etc, and this was a total shit-show.

  Not sure if they were unprepared for the number who showed up (which seems odd since they kept harping about “limited space” online”) or if they just didn’t know what they were doing, but this was not only a waste of money (I’d rather have give 10 bucks to the cause) but a waste of 2 hours I could have spent doing any one of a million other things I needed to do on a Sunday afternoon. Not to mention, the fact I could have gone to Home/Local/Mohawk/Tony’s/etc/etc for brunch and actually gotten to eat in a reasonable amount of time. I’m an east coaster, so I specialize in being negative, but even my amazing, always positive girlfriend, who usually tells me I’m being a jerk, was borderline irate and is considering filing a complaint with paypal.

  Regarding the food and drinks, it topped off at “this is ok” with the scramble and was “decent” to “really???” with everything else. What a complete waste of time and money. Total bum out.”

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  Janiece October 30th, 2011 at 20:23

  I COMPLETELY agree with Mark….I pre-ordered my ticket, as well as my husband’s. We arrived around 11:45am and were pleased that there were a couple of seats left outside. There were some muffins and breads on the table inside. We grabbed a lemon poppy seed muffin as well as toast and a sweet bread. Ok. Not bad. I didn’t want to get full from the breads and muffins so we decided to stop at that one plate and a cup of oj until the food came out at noon. Noon? Psssh! Everyone is sitting around, waiting like vultures for the food. We’re all eyeing one another. When one person got up, we all waited to see if they returned with food. No such luck.

  I was getting super pissed and was ready to ask for my money back. This was soooo ridiculous. After the chips and salsa were gone and not refilled, the food finally came out. The food started to come out at about 1:20. Of course there was a long ass line from the table to the door. A guy tells us that all the food will be out in 10 minutes so we can either stay in line and wait or have a seat. Most of us stayed in line. As we waited, all of the organizers “friends” who were gathered by the door and near the table, grabbed food and made their way to the front of the line. Ri-dic-u-lous! So frustrating.

  Anyway, the food FINALLY came out at 1:30. Pissed and hungry, I made my plate. The seitan sausage was missing. I’m sure most of the food was gone about half way through the line. There was no all you can eat because things were not being replaced as they ran out. Needless to say, after waiting an hour and a half for the food, and the food not being replenished, my husband and I were disappointed. The food was not worth waiting an hour and a half for, nor wasting so much of my Sunday! I enjoyed the smoked jackfruit though.

  In conclusion, I will NEVER, ever attend one of this organization’s events again. It was unorganized. There was no apology for the lateness. Done. Done. Done.

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  Veganator October 30th, 2011 at 21:06

  I had a great time at this brunch and I can’t believe the toxicity of these negative comments. So what, the food came out an hour late? These sweet girls invited people into their home and prepared enough food and drink for more than sixty people. Well worth the wait.

  If you have so many better things to do on a Sunday than have a few drinks, enjoy some sunshine and meet new friends in the back yard while the food is being prepared, why are you writing a multi-paragraph Zagat review about how this was the end of the world? And complaining about the ten dollar price (part of which got donated to a non-profit)? Be real, when a friend invites you to their home for a lunch or a dinner, you at least have the courtesy to bring along a decent bottle of wine, which costs at a minimum $15.

  Above phrases like “I’m an east-coaster, so I specialize in being negative” pretty much say it all. If this is all you have to contribute to your community, I encourage you to go back to the east coast and brood with the rest of the professional critics. I saw people double plating food after they had eaten their fill and taking it with them when they left. No, it wasn’t gourmet restaurant cuisine, but it was fantastic nonetheless. Some people’s lack of gratitude is unbelievable.

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  veglvr October 30th, 2011 at 21:54

  While I think this event had good intentions, the execution was disappointing. I agree with Veganator; it was cool of these people to put this together and they deserve credit for that. Ten percent of their sales went to ARME, which is great.I’m guessing they also made a profit for the rest (which is deserved for their hard work).

  However, the poor preparation and communication showed a lack of respect for the paying guests (and would never be tolerated at an actual for-profit restaurant). Unexpected things can cause delays, however it would have been nice for someone to communicate this to the group sitting around wondering if brunch was ever going to be served.

  Like previous poster(s), I would have rather donated my money directly to the cause and gone to a restaurant where I wouldn’t have to wait over 2 hours for a meal (the event started at 11, brunch was supposed to be served at 12, but didn’t appear until around 1:30).

  While relaxing on a Sunday afternoon is nice in theory, not everyone has the time to wait for so long wondering when the food would come out and if there would even be enough for everyone there.

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  Mark October 31st, 2011 at 08:48

  I figured I’d get some responses like Veganator’s.

  Veganator- Let me explain. First off, I’m not complaining about 10 bucks. It’s really nothing. I’m complaining about spending 10 bucks on a certain thing and not getting what I was told. It’s the principle.

  This wasn’t a private party at a friend’s house for most of us. (Judging by your tone, you are a friend of the hosts.) This was “going to brunch” for most of us. And, yes, people do have other commitments. It would be one thing if it was promoted as a multi-course, “expect to spend the whole day here” event. It wasn’t. When you plan a day around something, you expect it to run on schedule. This was an event promoted to the public, open to the public, with a charge, etc. They were offering a product/service for “x dollars” and didn’t deliver upon their end of the implied contract. The fact this was at a private home is completely and totally irrelevant. My opinion wouldn’t be different if it had been at a restaurant or a rented church/VFW hall.

  You saw people double-plating food? That’s pretty remarkable. So those people are either inconsiderate and did so at the very front of the line before most people were served OR they were people who waited until AFTER 2pm, the time we left and the time promoted as the END of the brunch. Unless of course it was plates of rice and beans, which were the only things in abundance, although, rice was gone when we were leaving.

  And, trust me, Veglvr, Janiece, my girlfriend and I were not in the minority. People outside were getting very antsy and agitated after the first hour of waiting. Many people were complaining and/or joking with comments along the lines of “I’m not getting in line, because you know there’s no food.” The 2 people in front of us in line commented, “Wow, we screwed ourselves by getting here late; there’s no food left.” I said, “No, this is the first food that’s been put out.” This was around 1:30. They looked shocked. We saw many people leave early, some it looked like without eating, some after they barely got anything after waiting an hour and a half.

  As for my “time,” it only took me 10 minutes last night, and 10 minutes now to write this. Trust me, I could have written a novel while waiting yesterday. I felt like someone needed to comment on this event. I wanted people to hear what went down and to keep it in mind when these people do future events. If that makes me an asshole, then so be it. I wasn’t alone, and even if I was, I’d still express my opinion on this.

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  veglvr October 31st, 2011 at 09:14

  @ Mark-

  I couldn’t have put it any better!

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  Tony October 31st, 2011 at 13:01

  Thanks for the reviews of the event. Makes me glad I went to the Green Festival at the L.A. Convention Center instead.

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  daggers October 31st, 2011 at 18:02

  While the event was a cute idea, I agree with Mark. It wasn’t acceptable for the food to be hours late.

  I brought my friend here from out of state. I had just done the Rock and Roll Half Marathon downtown. We were both fucking starving. Arriving to see one muffin on the table was not the business. Waiting for an hour after that before a line for food even began was not what we paid for.

  The worst part was that, when the food finally came out, things went really fast… and since we all felt we were not in good hands for having waited so long, people started rationing out their food items. No one wanted to take big portions because everyone was nervous the dishes wouldn’t be refilled for the people behind us in line. I think I was the last person to get the tofu scramble (until it was refilled…oh, an hour later? after most people had left?)

  If the organizers had given out free cocktails or something in lieu of the missing food, that would have been nice. Or if they would have even addressed us, or offered any explanation.

  The food itself was just okay. Had I known the event would be handled like this, I would have DEFINITELY gone to brunch at Flore.

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  Owen October 31st, 2011 at 18:29

  Yes, all the “critical” people above are not being mean, just spot on accurate. And people deserve to know this in case these folks to this again. This event was a wreck and it was rude of the hosts not to tell people what was going on and to call it an “all you can eat event” when it was clear that they couldn’t meet that.

  In addition to the above problems people described, I noticed at least one of the hosts with two plates of food while others were getting the short end of the stick. That’s just wrong.

  Since they didn’t do anything respectful for the guests, I’d recommend they make a nicer donation to ARME since we all wish we spent our $10 that way anyways (if it was between this and spending $20 at a good restaurant and giving $20 to ARME, I’d spend the $40). Sure, it might have been good intentions, but they didn’t help the situation after it was clear they were in over their heads and didn’t show any respect to the guests (most who probably like to support good causes).

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  sendaero October 31st, 2011 at 18:37

  At least there was a super cute dude in red corduroy pants to look at.

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  Pop-Up Vegan Brunch October 31st, 2011 at 21:03

  Hi folks,

  We’re truly sorry you had an unpleasant experience and that this event was not the event you had hoped for.

  There were several things going on that contributed to the fact that the food was over an hour late.

  First and foremost, our ticket sales shot up the day before and the morning of the event. We thought we had successfully shut off the online ticket sales, but somehow that did not work and therefore people were still able to log on and buy tickets past the deadline. This threw off our numbers quite a bit, rendering us much less prepared to feed everyone according to the original plan. Rather than emailing all of the people who signed up online past the deadline and telling them they couldn’t come, we decided to move forward and try the best we could. Mostly, we were concerned that we would not be able to reach these individuals beforehand with such short notice, and didn’t want to have to turn away people at our door. Clearly this did not lead to the best outcome, and for that, we are sorry. We planned for a finite number of guests, which is why we set the online ticket deadline for Friday night. Again, even though we *thought* we shut off the online purchase function, apparently the purchase function did not shut off and so people bought tickets even though it was past the deadline. You can be angry with us for being technologically inept, if you want.

  Secondly, this was not intended to be a restaurant-caliber event. We realize that many people expected things to run consistent with what one would experience at a professionally catered event or public restaurant. We are sorry for not communicating more clearly about our intentions. This was meant to be a small, DIY, bring-your-own-mug (which no one did), community event. We aren’t trying to run a restaurant here, but gather a group of vegan-food-loving people together on a Sunday afternoon, celebrate a special day, and donate to a cause that is close to our hearts. (For those wondering, no, we did not make a profit.)

  To the folks who were disappointed that we didn’t do anything to make up for your disappointment, here is some information that we want you to have:

  1. We want you to know that not only did we apologize to everyone during the event, but we did so at least four times. We are truly sorry if you missed these apologies!
  2. To those saying that we should’ve given out free drinks to make up for the fact that the food wasn’t ready when we said it’d be: in fact, we did walk around with a tray of free shots as well as provide free shots to people coming up to the bar. If you didn’t get a free drink, we are really sorry you somehow got left out!
  3. To *our* disappointment, many people took several plates of food at once and then left. This also threw things off.
  4. While the majority of commenters here are unhappy, there were also many people who were very forgiving of the situation who walked away very happy and stuffed. We know this because they told us themselves. And no, these weren’t people we were already friends with.

  It’s worth repeating – although we did have more than enough food for the number of people for which the event was created, we ended up getting many more people sign up at very last minute, due to a technological error on our parts. It was too late to email these people and tell them not to come, and we didn’t think turning people away was a good solution. We really wanted everyone to be happy and tried the best we could in a less than ideal situation.

  Again, while we’re pleased that some people liked the experience, we know that this sucked for some of you, and for that, we are sorry. We really do hope that the rest of everyone’s weekend was pleasant.

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  Pop-Up Vegan Brunch November 1st, 2011 at 16:53

  We also wanted to reiterate that we don’t have any kind of official affiliation with ARME. To the individuals who were dissatisfied with our brunch, we hope that you do not let that affect your feelings toward ARME. We chose to donate to ARME on our own volition because we believe wholeheartedly in their mission.

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  Mark November 2nd, 2011 at 08:07

  I wasn’t going to post this initially, but the more I read the response, the more I felt I needed to.

  There were still tickets available at the door; if the online presale couldn’t be shut down, you could have NOT sold door tix and said, “Sorry, we’re at capacity.”

  The comment about people not bringing their own mugs: we saw many many people there with their own mugs, and a large group who were camped out by us in the backyard had a full set of flatware!

  Apologizing to people in small groups or one on one isn’t apologizing to everyone. We were sitting right next to the sliding glass doors and no one EVER came out and made any kind of statement or announcement. There were probably as many, if not more, people outside. We were never addressed. It wasn’t even clear who was “in charge” or responsible.

  Regarding the free drinks: again, no one came outside or to the doors with complimentary anything. So, if they were given out, they were given only to people inside. And no one said anything like “please feel free to help yourself to a complimentary shot at the drink window.” I considered going to the “bar” for another drink, but at that point I was so annoyed, I didn’t bother going back up.

  As the organizers, they could have been monitoring how much food people were taking; when they realized a couple had doubled up, they certainly should have, esp considering they’ve admitted they knew they had more people than expected.

  And to back up Owen’s comments, we also saw one of the women who, we presume was one of the organizers, or at least involved, with a plate full of taquitos that she and her friend were snacking on, when there were no taquitos out on the table and most people on the outside hadn’t eaten or were still trying to get food.

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  Pop-Up Vegan Brunch November 2nd, 2011 at 10:07

  Mark –

  None of the organizers were eating a plate full of taquitos. Not only would we simply never do something like that, but none of us had time to eat anything because we were so extremely busy trying to get out more food and drink for everyone.

  We walked around outside and inside with a large tray of free drinks, in addition to giving them out at the bar. If you missed this, again, we’re very sorry, and the same goes for the multiple, group apologies.

  We were providing our own household mugs, plates, flatware to everyone, ’til we ran out and then relied on compostable paper plates made of recycled materials (the same ones people used to double up on food and transport it home with). So that is probably what you saw 🙂

  Mark, there are a lot of statements you are making here that are just patently untrue. If you have any more specific concerns or questions, we ask that you please ask us directly.

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  Sandy November 2nd, 2011 at 18:40

  I went to this brunch as well, and I completely agree with what Mark, Owen, Janice, and others were saying. Apologies for the lateness were NEVER made. It was a complete fiasco. I was sitting with a group of strangers, and we didn’t know each other, so we made conversation about what a disaster the brunch was. What an uncomfortable situation. What little food I got wasn’t amazing either, ok but not great. I left hungry and angry. Waste of an afternoon, and complete lack of consideration to paying customers.

  I can’t believe the audacity of the organizers to come here and say commenters were lying.

  You put on a horrible event. People who attended felt ripped off. Period.

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  daggers November 2nd, 2011 at 19:36

  I was there for an hour before food started, outside, and heard nothing from the organizers as to when food would be out, what the delay was, and certainly nothing about free drinks.

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  Owen November 2nd, 2011 at 20:23

  Ditto to the newest statements (including not at first wanting to get into this more but being bothered by the statements about apologies and drinks). I was at a seat with a good view of both inside and outside and was watching what was going on because I was bored out of my mind. I never heard anyone (unless it was after 2pm) go up to anyone and apologize. I never saw anyone go up to anyone and offer free shots. I was next to a large group of different people who I don’t think knew each other so I’d be surprised if I missed a good chunk of the crowd being apologized to or getting free drinks.

  I did see one person who was working behind the counter go outside with a couple of taquitos well after the plate of them was gone (certainly without everyone getting one). To be fair, I don’t know if she ate them or what she did with them (maybe gave them to friends, I don’t know). But they should have been left at the table for the people who didn’t have a chance to get them.

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  veglvr November 4th, 2011 at 11:14

  Like Sandy, I agree with the other posters. I was one the first people there and maybe I missed all these supposed announcements, apologies, etc. because I was outside, but I think there were certainly more people outside than inside. While the organizers of the event want to make it sound like they did everything within their power to make things go well, they did not.

  And like Mark said, “There were still tickets available at the door; if the online presale couldn’t be shut down, you could have NOT sold door tix and said, “Sorry, we’re at capacity.””

  That just further demonstrates the poor planning and execution of this event.

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  red boots November 7th, 2011 at 18:08

  wait i remember him.. the cute guy with a beard and sun glasses? super hot!