Places to eat out on a Sunday in Tijuana are limited. It's either curing your hangover with some good ol' birria or going to the three or four regularly visited family restaurants. Which is why when we heard about Alma Verde opening its doors in La Cacho, we got excited, in part because of their brunch menu, a somewhat new concept to people south of the border.

[rating]3[/rating]

The restaurant is pretty appealing, with an outdoor dining room decorated with untreated bare wood. We went to check out the place on a Sunday, expecting a pretty long wait, surprisingly we were seated in about 10 minutes, which is something uncommon for a breakfast restaurant.

We ordered coffee and the house special: the juices. They're served on plastic bottles which is odd, making us doubt its freshness. You would think that a "juice bar" would have freshly-made juices. It could be that they're made en masse early that same morning. Still, its flavor didn't make us question its freshness.

The coffee was of higher quality compared to most breakfast restaurants, something that they take much pride on as seen on their menu and restaurant ads, especially the pistachio flavored ones.

We followed that with a parfait which, for better or for worse, was the highlight of our outing. The Greek yogurt had agave nectar on it, which added to its already bitter flavor, the granola and surprising addition of quinoa balanced it out. The blackberries were fresh and juicy.

Alma Verde started to lose some points once we were subjected to its slow service and its disappointing food portion sizes and quality. We began with the house chilaquiles and French bread with the intention of following up with the quinoa hash brown if necessary. The chilaquiles were short of spectacular, since we didn't quite notice the "house" contribution to the meal. The French bread with mascarpone and blackberries was a much appreciated breath of fresh air, telling us that this restaurant's strong suit is their fruit combinations since they fell short everywhere else.

They took so long with the meals that we decided to skip the hash browns and pay the bill. A pretty moderate and proportional one regarding what we ate. Nothing more, nothing less.

Getting to the point, our conclusion?

Alma Verde isn't breaking any culinary boundaries but they're not more of the same. Now we must wait and see if any other new restaurants open up, now that this one started a trend in town. In a nutshell, it's nice to see that the city restaurants are moving away from your typical pancakes and huevos rancheros.

You can find them on Facebook here and they're located on Brasil 8930, Col. Francisco I. Madero (La Cacho).

Phone number: 664 634 1716

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Translated by: edgar.martinez@sandiegored.com