What would you expect a "bottomless brunch" to be?

[ImFree2doasiwant]

Girly weekend away, bottomless brunch suggested, at around £20 per head. All agreed. Ended up being £12 more.

What would you expect from it?

Food (either choose from Brunch menu or some sort of Set Menu) and bottomless whatever booze you're having (usually Prosecco or wine). I've only done it once or twice as I'm not a big drinker at the best of times, so a bit wasted on me, but have seen it offered in plenty of places (in Big Bad London).

But if you think about how much you can actually drink in 90 mins - even one bottle of Prosecco is a lot to get through in that time so if you charge someone £20 for “unlimited” booze for what you’ve bought at £3 cost price that’s a great mark up

Some people can get through quite a lot in 1.5hrs, you might be surprised. I would agree that most don’t though and so they mean that it’s a profitable thing overall for businesses.

I’ve paid £40 for bottomless brunch but in the afternoon - 3 course meal (in the loosest sense of the word!) and Prosecco with entertainment. Was great fun! Going to a slightly posher one in august with my SIL which is slightly more expensive but having looked at the menu, a better quality of food.

Oh god 🤣 I posted this morning then went to work. Clearly I'm not up to speed. Our local nice place dies a bottomless brunch for £17 each. No time limit, no booze included. Croissants, pancakes, yogurt, fruit, cereals, full English. Tea , coffee, fruit juice. All very nice locally sourced. Eat as much as you like!

I don't really drink and definitely can't in the daytime. So it was a very expensive avocado toast with poached egg!

It's an alcoholic's best friend

"bottomless" - no bottom, unlimited, no cap, as many as you like, like a pit, you can't see the bottom can you? Cause it's not there that's why! Just like the drinks; bottom-less, no bottom!

But...... have you noticed the trend of the last decade where businesses use words completely inappropariately?

Yeah, this is one of those times.

I've had a look on various menus and they're not "bottomless", they actually have a bottom.

but why was it £12 more?

I naively thought it was a brunch served by a partially naked waiter

@thevanilla the place where I went tried to add a sneaky service charge on after we’d all paid about a month in advance and it was about £12

oh I hate restaurants that add a service charge!

When I go for bottomless brunch the drinks are bottomless for £20 but you have to pay separately for the food.

When it was suggested, a place was identified fir around £20 and every indication that we could fill up on food then wouldn't need to eat til much later. Given my experience with he local place I've been to, that's what I was expecting.

It was more because a different place was booked which was for one "brunch" item and unlimited cocktails I was somewhat taken aback!

For the alcohol maybe? Often you pay more for the alcohol option in a bottomless brunch.

If you were expecting a buffet, I can imagine you would have been surprised! I’ve never seen a bottomless brunch to mean unlimited food (except abroad).

@yesthatisdrizzle
It doesn't depend on how much you eat and drink, it depends on how much you are prepared to pay.

And if you are prepared to pay just under £100 for it, fine. I wouldn't.

Of course it depends what you will eat and drink as to whether it's good value. Beans on toast and tap water would be a rip off for £32, multiple plates of food and loads of cocktails is pretty reasonable for £32 whether you are prepared to pay it or not

If it's any consolation, your local place sounds fab and I'd have had the same expectation as you.

I have never heard of Bottomless Brunch as a thing. To me, brunch = late breakfast food and bottomless = unlimited. Thus unlimited food and likely a buffet! I would be expecting similar to all-you-can-eat pizza or Chinese restaurants.

I would never associate this with alcohol (although now I'm forewarned!)

Every Bottomless Brunch I've been to has been a breakfast/brunch dish and bottomless cocktails/Prosecco. For about £30-35. 'All you can eat breakfast' is a very different thing to 'Bottomless Brunch' to me.

A meal and unlimited prosecco. Not tea/coffee, definitely alcohol.

Out if nosiness, how long was the unlimited alcohol provided for?

A meal from a menu and unlimited drinks for 2 hours max

It was for 2 hours. I was definitely expecting more food!!

@Tryagain2020 the local place is amazing! I think I've been spoilt!

I would also be of the opinion that brunch = late morning meal with breakfast food items, and a bottomless brunch would be lots of brunch. Spoiling it with booze seems a pity.

Who the hell wants unlimited cocktails at 11am (or indeed, anytime, because alcohol is one of the vilest things on the planet)? I'd have been pissed off too.

Lots of people.
Some people like drinking cocktails. It's not that hard to understand 🤷🏼‍♀️

Amazing isn’t it that all these pubs, bars, licensed restaurants and bottomless brunch places stay open when alcohol is so wildly popular. Who the hell indeed is keeping them in business! Why have they chosen the devil’s path as their business model. Perhaps this conundrum too is bottomless.