We love discovering new places, eats, and things, but strongly dislike paying a lot of money only to discover “we hated it” … my In Living Color fans will totally get that reference. I know, I could look at it as the experience we shared together … blah, blah, blah … those memories don’t bring my hard earned money back after I feel like I’ve wasted it on gross food, a snotty attitude, or bad service. That’s when we started having discount dates using Groupon and LivingSocial.
I feel like some people would totally knock the idea of discount dates, but jokes on them because there are some awesome finds on there and if you do it right, you can make a day of it. Our first crack at it was in discovering Plaza Midwood, a trendy neighborhood of Charlotte beaming with restaurant gems like our brunch spot, Pure Pizza
PURE PIZZA
I know what you’re thinking, “Why would you ever go to a pizza place and eat brunch?” Under normal circumstances, you would be correct, but Pure Pizza isn’t just another “normal” pizza spot.
I remember when they first opened in 7th Street Station Uptown, only serving pizza as their main dish, and I fell in love with their Slap Yo Mama Lasagna pizza … with a name like that, how could you not. To take your experience up a notch, they give you various honey flavors to choose from for dipping your crust in … it’s heaven, but back to brunch.
We arrived around 12:30 pm and we’re surprisingly sat pretty quickly in the jam-packed restaurant. Seating is pretty tight, but it’s one of those fun neighborhood type places where you don’t mind and may even know the person sitting so close up on your chair or table.
Our deal came with a mimosa, bloody mary, or beer per person, so we got the obvious choices of a bloody mary for Nathan and a mimosa for me; she also brought out a carafe of water and little mason jars for it. The deal also came with one brunch entree per person and there were a lot of pretty yummy sounding things to choose from, but we ultimately decided upon The Central, bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, and the Sweet and Savory Waffle.
The mimosa was perfect for my sweet drink loving palate and not filled with an overwhelmingly dry champagne taste. Nathan enjoyed his sandwich and was unable to eat it all, so we got a piece of “to go” foil for it … can I just say how convenient this was when he warmed it up in the oven later. I didn’t have that same leftover situation and managed to gobble down my entire waffle before we ventured off … enough said.
Total for Groupon deal: $16
BREWED CLUES
We left brunch and went straight to our 2 pm Brewed Clues reservation a quick 3-minute drive down the street. If you know me, you know I don’t drink beer. It’s an acquired taste I have never been able to acquire, but Nathan is a fan, especially of craft beer and I thought this would be an awesome date activity we would both enjoy for the investigative aspect. Designated drivers are free, so we only needed to pay for him.
You start out meeting at a local bar, where your mission begins with you following clues to figure out who done it … a definite mixture of Blues Clues for adults and Clue, but the 80s movie version, not the game board version no one can ever solve because someone has lost most of the murder weapons.
I can’t go into much more detail without giving away all the answers, so I’ll leave you with the knowledge that whether you enjoy beer or not, this is a really cool activity that will take you on a walking tour of Plaza Midwood and I’m excited to try it out in the other cities that are available.
Total for Groupon deal: $15.20
FUMANCHU
This was not a Groupon deal, just a yummy find along the way that I’ve been wanting to try forever. FuManChu’s alcoholic infused cupcakes are everything you’ve been wanting and didn’t realize. We tried the Irish Cream and Old Fashion cupcakes and mmm, they were like a shot and a cupcake in one. All the perks of a drink without the eventual watered down result that happens when I’m attempting to drink slow.
Who else does discount dates as a way to try new places without the full monetary commitment? Tell me about it in the comments.
