Republica

The second floor of Republica, a three-story Dominican restaurant on Dykman, is windowless with purple strobe lights and thumping bachata. It looks like a club, except you can order mofongo and seafood paella. 

As you can imagine, brunch upstairs on the colorful covered rooftop is also a party, aided and abetted by the option of bottomless mimosas or sangria. Yeah, all the tables tend to be taken, and it’s Rooftop Restaurant Loud, but the waitstaff does a pretty good job of keeping things from becoming too chaotic.

For $45 each, you can get two hours of drinks and two brunch entrees per person (which are relatively small portions, so you’ll probably want both). While the food is decent, it definitely has a bigger purpose—and that purpose is to give you enough sustenance to keep pouring mimosas. Try the thick, salty chimi, or start with a tres golpes plate with awesome slabs of fried cheese then move on to the saffron-lime salmon. 

You’re going to see a lot of birthdays, but you'll see just as many people dancing in their seats celebrating Saturday. Maximize the fun by coming with a group. If you don’t, you might feel like you’re missing out on the party.