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Food: *****
Service: *
I own a restaurant so I am overly sympathetic and empathetic when I am not getting top notch service- maybe it was a slammed lunch and our server is worn out, whatever. But when the offenses start piling up my empathy dries up. That's what happened with my highly anticipated, partially disappointing visit to Cold Springs Tavern.
As an out of towner with a love of barbecue I was on a mission to try California-style barbecue. I had only read about CA's tri-tip beef contribution to the food genre and I was stoked to learn about the secluded Cold Springs Tavern from a local gal pouring wine in a tasting room in Los Olivos. So my wife and I made plans to eat a late lunch there the following day (yesterday, a Saturday).
We found it, parked and were seated in the back room at about 2:20, the last turn before the 3pm close of lunch service. The room was quiet and tucked back but full of a group at a six top and two other couples at the only other two tops. The room was right next to the server stand and the kitchen entrance.
A young lady took our drink orders (water and wine for my wife, a beer for me) after cleaning the floor of some dipping sauce that she spilled on the floor. She brought my wife's wine and left, returning to bring something to the table where she had spilled the sauce. That couple asked her to clean the sauce that was still on their table cloth and dripping down the side. She probably didn't see it, no sweat. A guy server took our food order after answering our questions and steering us toward what we wanted- awesome.
Our cup of wild game chili came out. But my beer was nowhere to be seen- nor the water. After a couple minutes and went out to find her and see what was up. She said they're out of it. Okay, would have been nice to know that. She offered an alternative but I could get it at home so I walked to the bar to see my options- the bartender mentioned another CA beer that I didn't remember from the menu that I wanted so I got it and went back to my seat. The chili was amazing.
A different guy server brought our sandwiches- the tri-tip in sauce and the tri tip option with sauce on the side as well as apple horseradish and salsa. They were awesome. I preferred the undressed option with sauces on the side. I ended up not using much sauce and much preferred the salsa with some of the horseradish. My side of potato salad was not with mine- forgotten by the kitchen or our server or both. Good- I wanted to change to the regular chili. Our girl server had been in the server stand area texting on her phone but she was not in sight- I saw the bartender and asked her, so she brought the chili. It was also very good.
My wife needed another glass of wine- and the water, it was a hot day. Eventually my wife got up and tracked down our drink server and asked for another glass of wine and the water. Things are starting to turn sour at this point. The girl brings the wine and water, sets it down and walks off, no "Here you go!" or "How is everything?"
We wrap up, ask one of the guys at the server stand if we can get a to go box and our check. The room is empty at this point. It's quiet, no music, an unwelcome feeling from the drink server, and we are now talking not about how good the food is but how jacked up our service has been. The fella who took our food order brings the box and the check, asks how everything was. We said food was awesome but our girl server "needs some work". He said the servers don't have sections and everyone kind of works all tables.
While we're boxing up the leftovers our drink server comes into the room to go through a closed door in the corner behind my wife's chair. She kicks the leg of my wife's chair and again doesn't say a thing. We are definitely getting bad energy from her now. I leave a ~10% tip on the credit card slip and take it to the bar so I can explain the low tip. The bartender is not around and our salty drink girl is behind the bar so I leave the slip on the bar and we leave.
I'm writing all this for two reasons. First, to defend my low tip. My wife and I run two food service businesses, a lunch spot and a dinner restaurant. The servers were undoubtedly talking about us and the low tip when we left and this is my only way of explaining to them what went down. I am a 20%+ tipper- unless the train really goes off the tracks, which it did.
Second, hopefully management reads Yelp reviews. I sure do. Maybe the no section thing usually works but for us it didn't. If our girl servers function is drinks, then she needs some training. She smiled- initially- but her communication was non-existent (except for whoever she was texting with). It was a downer of an experience and it colored my mood for the next few hours. | 0negative
| 922 |
Overall, I'm a little disappointed with my recent trip to Giorgio a few days ago. We went on a Friday night around 630 with the goals of carb loading before a race the next day. The restaurant was crowded but we were seated right away without a reservation. However, our table was so cramped that it was hard to even sit and we were completely backed up against other customers' chairs, so it was pretty uncomfortable. Probably a sign that the whole experience was going to be just so-so.
Food: The bread basket we got for some reason was not very good. The bread was sooo tough to chew, almost stale. Maybe we got a bad batch, but it just tasted weird. We ordered the pasta fagioli soup, which was a special. It had a decent amount of beans and veggies in it, but a little lacking on the pasta part. I wasn't super impressed with it, but it was a fine starter to the meal. For meals, we got the gnocchi with beef ragout and one of the specials, which was fettuccine with a vodka sauce, calamari, and shrimp. The gnocchi was just okay, they were a little dense, but overall the dish was decent. The fettuccine special was actually very good. The pasta tasted homemade and was cooked perfectly. The vodka sauce was flavorful. I was a little disappointed in the lack of seafood in the dish though. I think we got about 4 pieces of calamari and 2 little shrimp in the whole dish! Portion sizes in general are very generous and we were full at the end of the meal. Overall, the food was fine but nothing special. I've had much better Italian in Philly, even at other BYOs.
Service: Our server was attentive for the first half of the meal, but I think as it got busier, it fell off a little. We waited for about 10 minutes after we were finished our meals to even see a server to get the check. Also, when the table next to us got sat, it was impossible for the staff to get next to our table and they had to pass our food and drinks over the heads of the customers sitting next to us. It wasn't that big of a deal, but kind of annoying to have to reach up and grab our hot plates and continuously hand our water glasses to the staff. It was just a little bit disruptive to our meal.
Price: I think this is what were were most disappointed about with the meal. While it is true that the main menu is very reasonably priced, the same cannot be said of their specials. Actually, I was appalled at how ridiculous the special prices were. Unfortunately, we had not asked how much the specials cost and we found this out the hard way when we got the check. The one bowl of soup we got (pasta fagioli) was TEN DOLLARS. I couldn't believe it. This soup literally has a few pieces of pasta, some beans, and some veggies in it. You could absolutely make an entire vat of it for less than 10 dollars. It seems criminal to charge the same price for a bowl of soup as an entire appetizer of mussels with sausage, or proscuitto and mozzarella, or calamari. I really do not understand the pricing there at all. How can all of the appetizers in the entire restaurant be the same price, no matter how expensive or inexpensive the ingredients are? We were kicking ourselves for getting it, as we felt it was worth about 4-5 dollars which is what most soups at most restaurants cost. Ugh, I'm still mad about it.
The other special was got was also overpriced. The fettuccine dish was 24 dollars, which is actually more expensive than their ribeye, salmon, and all of their dishes on the whole menu. Since every other pasta is 15-16 bucks, we figured this would be similarly priced, maybe a few dollars more. As I said above, it had barely any seafood in it, so I'm not sure how they get 24 dollars as a fair price.
I am totally fine paying these prices for quality food in a restaurant that is at this higher price point. However, I think the reason we were so annoyed is that we felt that we were duped, since Giorgio's menu is very reasonably priced otherwise. Lesson learned to swallow my pride and ask the cost of their specials if we return for another meal. However, I think it will be quite some time before we come back.. our wounds still need to heal from being burned by the most expensive bowl of soup I think I've ever had. | 0negative
| 796 |
I was walking around the water front and saw this place. It is practically surrounded by the commercial fishing fleet with boats unloading their catch right in front of the restaurant.
Unfortunately Brophy Bros is seeming unable to tap into the fresh caught local fish market.
It is a cool looking place with a nice deck overlooking the ocean and the waterfront.
While looking over the menu I asked the hostess what type of fish they used in their fish and chips. I knew it was going to bad when she didn't , and had to go ask someone. (Come on people teach your staff to know the menu)
When she did figure it out, I was expecting to her to say "fresh Halibut" or "rockfish". Instead they told me it was SWAI. WTF???
How can a restaurant on the water actually use an imported catfish from the (heavily polluted) Mekong River Delta. I was disgusted that a restaurant on the water in rock throwing distance of the fishing fleet and the Pacific ocean would serve imported trash fish.
I thanked them and turned around to leave. As I did, the hostess and the server both bid me farewell in a mocking tone. Awesome.
Maybe they have some other good food but I won't be finding out any time soon.
in case your not familiar with Swai, please continue to read on:
Swai is a type of freshwater catfish that is farmed in south east Asia, and there are two species that kind of all get lumped together.
Swai is being marketed in the United State as Basa, Pangasius and Iridescent Shark, and most of the farmed fish come from the Mekong River Delta.
"The Mekong River is one of the most polluted waterways in the world. Numerous factories get rid of the chemical byproducts, dumping them into the streams. While pangasius fish can survive in such an extreme environment, they absorb all these contaminants. As omnivores, they eat whatever is available in the environment. Some breeders feed the fish trash and rotting matter to cut down the cost of the Swai aquaculture. Pangasius fish bred in such circumstances, indeed, contain the toxic chemicals."
"Injecting the fish with hormones helps to stimulate their growth. Certain breeders are able to make their fish grow four times as fast as they do in the natural habitat. Frequent use of antibiotics serves to control disease but can lead to the contamination of meat and development of antibiotic resistant pathogens.
However, reliable farms utilize the clean areas of the rivers or breed the fish in artificial ponds. Frequent water changes and filtration maintain the quality of water, so that the fish avoid absorbing the pollutants. Trustworthy breeders feed the fish food scraps, dedicated fish pellets and rice bran. The carefully selected diet leads to healthier fish and improves the quality of their meat. Limited use of the antibiotics allows them to break down, instead of accumulating in the bodies of Pangasius Catfish."
To choose the safe, healthy fillets, look for the fish imported from any known, reliable commercial aquaculture. If the farm is not mentioned on the packages, check if the meat has been tested for the presence of the antibiotics and contaminants. Try to avoid panga fillets of unknown origin, as there's a good chance that they are imported from these shady farms. The responsible shopping habits serve to reinforce the correct commercial breeding techniques. They protect the consumers from ingesting the toxic ingredients.
How do the commercial fisheries impact the natural habitat? There are a few risks of the negative influence of the Pangasius farms. Excessive use of the land areas and water supply can divert them from the ecosystem or the needs of the local communities. Organized planning regarding the placement and density of the Swai farms can minimize the negative influence of fish breeding on the natural habitat.
The Swai aquaculture requires many frequent water changes to maintain the health of the fish population in the ponds. This can mean releasing dirty water into the environment, with the results similar to the effects of the pollution with fertilizers. However, efficient water filtration systems can protect the water supply from getting contaminated by the excessive fish waste.
When the Swai Fish multiply in the non-native rivers, there's the risk of the runaway specimen starting to breed on their own and disturbing the balance of the local ecosystems. Pangasius fish often out-compete native species of animals, as these fish are wide ranging and able to handle extremes in environment. That's why farming Swai in fish ponds is safer for the environment than utilizing cages placed in the rivers.
Pond cultivation prevents the fish diseases from transferring to the local wild populations as well. While commercial farming of the Swai Fish can negatively impact the environment, ecological breeding methods neutralize the potential problems. Supporting the sustainable farms promotes the local economy of the developing areas, while protecting the environment. | 0negative
| 826 |
Easily one of the best meals we've ever had. EVER.
My fiance and I were looking to spoil ourselves with a nice dinner on our last night in Philadelphia. Barbuzzo sparked our interest because of a three-day special prix-fixe menu we saw advertised in some of the windows on 13th street (even though we ended up ordering off of the regular menu). We made our reservation for that same night through Yelp/OpenTable.
The ambiance is sexy, dark, & intimate. I felt like there were several other couples on dates around us, but there were also a few tables of 3-4 guests (I would imagine that it's difficult to get a reservation greater than 4 people in here). We ordered two glasses of Vinho Verde white wine & got down to business. Our server recommended that we order 3-4 plates to share between the two of us. Each small plate comes out when it's ready, so we ordered 4 plates & left the experience up to the chefs. Here's what we ordered, in the order that they came out:
1) Burrata & La Quercia Proscuitto
2) Caciocavallo Stuffed Meatballs
3) Grilled Bronzino
4) Pan Seared Gnocchi
5) La Colombe Espresso Tiramisu
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The Burrata & La Quercia Prosciutto turned out to be my absolute favorite plate of the night. I didn't really know what to expect in a dish of grilled peaches, hazelnuts, basil, & balsamic vinegar. But one bite and I was blown away! The saltiness of the prosciutto, the silky cheese, the sweetness of the grilled peaches, the crunch of the hazelnuts ... I think that if I've ever had a perfect, complete bite of food, it was in this dish. Just amazing. Do not pass this one up!
My fiance insisted on the Caciocavallo Stuffed Meatballs. Made with a mixture of shortrib & pork, with just a little kick, and served in a pair with a nice tomato sauce. I thought that they were really flavorful, and a great dish overall, but not much different than normal meatballs (I'm Italian, so I'm biased that my family's meatballs are the best ever. Always). My fiance LOVED them though! I probably wouldn't order them right away, but I wouldn't be disappointed if someone else at my table did :)
Grilled Bronzino was my second favorite dish (and my fiance's #1). It has everything I love: potatoes, lemon, shaved veggies, & one perfectly cooked piece of fish. This dish is so fresh & light, but still so flavorful! It was almost like a refreshing intermezzo between dishes hahah. Even the beans -- which I don't usually like -- were tasty! The bronzino flaked nicely, the asparagus & zucchini was light & slightly acidic, & the salt-roasted potatoes were soft on the inside with a slight crunch on the outside. So good, and definitely recommended. I could probably eat this every day.
Our last dinner dish was the Pan Seared Gnocchi. This was, by far, the richest plate we tried. It's almost a shame that it came at the end of the meal, because we couldn't finish it! The gnocchi was large, soft, and incredibly tasty. The gnocchi was served with a mixture of roasted tomatoes & corn. The tomatoes were a surprise hit -- who knew that a "garnish" would be given so much attention? My fiance stole almost all the tomatoes, but I didn't mind because I loved the corn hahah. The dish was very, very good and I would order it again, but only if I was very hungry (or I ordered less dishes overall). We really wanted dessert, so we had to leave about 1/3 of the gnocchi on the plate. So sad :(
The Tiramisu was everything I hoped it would be. I'm so glad that we saved room for dessert! The fresh whipped cream was light & creamy, and the crushed amaretti cookies were absolutely perfect. For a late night dessert, it was the perfect amount of coffee flavor without knowing I'd be awake for the next 4 hours. The tiramisu was just the perfect ending to an amazing dinner.
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Like I said before, our meal at Barbuzzo was easily one of the best meals my fiance & I have ever shared. The food was amazing & it felt like we were having a real dining experience! We were amazed at the creativity of the dishes & the combinations of flavors. I would recommend making a reservation at Barbuzzo the next time you're in Philly -- you won't be disappointed! | 2positive
| 755 |
How do I put this experience in a way people and most of all a business owner (the business owner) might accept a critique and maybe realize businesses live and die by reviews and word of mouth. Especially in South Tampa. I will try my best.
So with the above stated let me first say I am not unreasonable or lacking compassion. I understand we are ALL human and we ALL make mistakes. I accept that a restaurant may have had an off delivery/execution. I would even be happy to come back to such a place and have a go at it again. No problem. I've done so many times. The thing is, how does the business make up for or own up to its mistake. That's the make or break for me. No this does not mean I want to be the squeaky wheel to get something free or something in excess of what I originally paid. I actually kind of loath people who are predatory in that aspect. I just want accountability and reasonable resolution. Emphasis on "reasonable". So now verbatim I will share my experience and why Guac (no guac) n' Cheese failed miserably.
So....I'm headed down South MacDill Ave and remember one of the places I have been salivating at the idea of trying out. Guac n' Cheese. Local, small business and cuisine I adore. Win, win and win. I pull up to the quaint little strip of storefronts and am stoked to give this place a go. Heck one of my favorite ingredients ever is in the name. "Guac(amole)". Game on!! I walk in and was greeted pleasantly enough. Look around and the restaurant looks quaint and clean. So far so good. I find a menu item that is appealing "Flautas ~ Three deep fried corn tortillas stuffed with shredded chicken or ground beef served with guacamole salad". Fantastic, I'm all in. I inquire if I could do one chicken and two ground beef flautas. They were very accommodating and said yes. Perfect! I was definitely looking for something that included guacamole. I mean the name told me I would probably find that were I a betting man. I inquire as to what exactly a guacamole salad was and was given a description that I was definitely ready to try. I order my meal. Was quoted a wait time and they beat that wait time. Man I am impressed. Why is this the first time I've been here? I am also asking myself I wonder why there are no patrons in the building. Maybe its just a Monday and 6PM may be a little early still. I pay and shortly after was handed my package. Off to destroy some food I happily went.
So I then get home, I'm ravishingly hungry and open up the box. Smells heavenly. Grab one of the flautas and destroy it standing at the stove. It was delicious I'm not going to lie. So I prepare myself and my food to settle in and not eat like a complete Neanderthal. I Unpack and undid everything and something is missing. One of the things I most was looking forward to. No guac in sight. Uh oh, problem. I grab my iPhone and a quick google search I find the number. I call thinking maybe I misunderstood something or maybe the guac was inside or under something packed in to my dinner. I call... ring, ring, ring, ring x 20 and then am disconnected. I thought, they are open for sure and nobody is in the dining room surely someone would answer a business phone. Business 101, answer your phone right? I call again. Again many rings and finally an answer. Great. I inquire about the guacamole and was told it would be one of the containers accompanying several of the others. I told the lady it wasn't there. I told her this was the first time I tried the place out and for me (in light of the phone not being answered) this visit and experience was a "fail". Now here is where the rubber meets the road. This is the critical moment. Are they going to care? Are they going to say sorry about that? Are they going to maybe say come on back and we will make sure you get the ITEM YOU PAID FOR? Nope....none of that. I told her this experience is a fail and her reply was and I quote "Over guacamole?". For me and I did not say this but damn right over some guacamole. I let some dead air hang for a moment just wondering if she would care enough to offer a REASONABLE solution and nothing.... I told her don't worry, it will be my last visit and I will be posting a Yelp review. She somewhat flippantly said "okay" and the rest is this story. The food was good despite no guac. I would have been back and recommended highly the food. However for me I don't care if you're serving 24kt gold duster caviar flautas. If the service sucks it's one and done. Also you can put money on the fact I will put you and your business on blast. It's more a matter of principal than how egregious the error. Recommendation for new business name "Maybe Guac n' Cheese". I can help with the logo if need be!
Maybe one of the 15 spots just down the street will do a little better... | 0negative
| 913 |
Complete scam. I made the mistake of taking my dad here for Father's Day because i'd been a couple times and the food was pretty good. Karen was our server. We were a party of 8 and 6 of is wanted margaritas. We asked for 1 pitcher of house margaritas ($22) and she she said that wouldn't be enough for 6. Fair enough, we ordered 2. 20 minutes later, the two different size pitchers arrive. She fills all six glasses while spilling liberally with out using a drop from the other pitcher. Fair enough again, it won't go to waste.
It took over 40 minutes from when we sat until we got our order in. Then another 30 for the food the come. Karen never checked in. Our guest that got iced tea never received a refill. But luckily(?) we were were delivered and charged for two iced teas, so that helped tide him over at double the price.
When the food came, several of the items were wrong. Namely, one guest ordered fajitas and never got her side plate or tortillas. Due to the length of the ordeal, we ordered another pitcher; we were here to celebrate Father's Day after all.
Two hours after we had arrived, we finally were brought the bill. Karen had up-sold us to $40 margaritas with out saying anything. We confronted her about the mistake and she claimed that that she had confirmed that we wanted top shelf. This was a bold faced lie. This is the first time Karen lied directly to our faces.
When confronted with her scam; she said that she confirmed that we wanted some elaborate margarita she described. Nobody remembers her saying any of the words she claims she used to describe this decadent drink. We maintain that she is lying and ask to talk to a manager. She says that she will go talk to them and come back to us.
During this time a man named Baldo in a different type of shirt (manager?) come by to do a table tap and asks how everything is going. We responded bad, we were having a bad time. He laughed and offered us shots(?). He had offered no other tables shots, was he throwing in our face that they were overcharging us for goods we didn't order? We said no. We started to tell him about the issues we had; and Baldo just WALKED AWAY. We were talking, and he just quit the conversation.
Now Karen is back. She is saying that maybe we didn't understand and she would pay $30 out of her own pocket to cover half of the fraudulent charge. No restaurant ever makes their staff may for ringing an order in wrong. If this is Chihuahua's policy, nobody should go there because mistakes happen and is hostile to a staff of people who depend on tips.
When told that this wasn't acceptable and confronted with how she never even brought the side plate and tortillas for the fajitas... she said yes I did. Another time Karen lied to our face. We enforced no, some one else had to share with her. She said she would look at the bill again.
So we sit waiting long after our 2 hour meal. A random server tries to drop a flan. Everyone at the table is fuming because the general service was terrible, Baldo blew us off while possibly calling us alcoholics, Karen was trying to scam us, plus she just came out and accused us of not understanding how to order a drink. So the flan was denied unilaterally. Anyway, Karen was probably going to add it to the bill anyway.
After several more minutes, somebody from our group finally gets up to hopefully talk to a manager and just get past Karen and her dishonest business practices. He was told there was nothing that could be done, we had to pay the bill as is. We handed them the cards, because we just wanted to go home, they had broken us. When they handed back the copies to sign, they kept the itemized copy.
As we signed to authorize our bills, the topic of auto-gratuity came up. We stopped a different server to ask what the policy for auto-grat is, and she refused to say. She said any questions had to go through Karen. We asked the host counter for the policy about auto-grat and they said we would have to ask... you guessed it Karen. Karen must have just so happened to be on a break, because suddenly she was nowhere to be found. So Chihuahua's has a secret policy for automatically including gratuity that is all determined by one of their servers (owner?), Karen.
Never ever go to this place. The food is actually fine, but the service is always awful. This is my third trip and I knew the service was gonna be slow but, I wanted to share the food with my family. Karen is a complete scam artist and totally derelict in her duty. The management are complete cowards and wouldn't speak with us about the issue and just let Karen run roughshod unabated. Also according to Karen, Chihuahua's has an openly hostile policy toward their employees where they charge their staff out of their own pockets for ringing in food or drinks incorrectly, it just sounds like a nightmare | 0negative
| 899 |
Come, let me talk you on a journey through Pips Pass. Hands down this is an experience like no other in Reno. There is careful planning and meticulous attention to detail is apparent through and through. Executive Chef Jacob Burton, Chef de Cuisine Sean Munshaw and Majordomo Eric Nulte make you feel not only welcome but appreciated highly. I've been eyeballing this place for a looooong time. I felt like I needed an excuse for a good night out. After visiting this place I feel like I've missed out on some seriously amazing meals. We made a deal to at least make this a bi-annual experience at the very least after this.
We showed up a little bit early just in case there was any formalities we had to take care of prior to the meal. They ushered us over to the bar where we could get a peek at them setting up our dining experience. Our welcoming treat was a vibrant glass of sangria adorned with fresh fruit that was perfectly balanced between the fruit and wine. After being seated the chef team greeted us and told us about them and why they conjured this idea of Pips Pass. They explained the central theme for this seasons courses was a tour of Mexico which was super exciting. I love Mexican cuisine! And then the real fun began. We all watched as they began whipping up the amuse-bouche.
The amuse-bouche was a classed up spinoff of their ever popular chalupa from Taco Bell. Ours was made with a handmade tortilla adorned with tender duck carnitas witch a pineapple pico de Gallo and Marita chili oil and pickled mustard seeds. This thing was an absolute flavor explosion once I got a hold of it. I probably looked like an uncultured Savage the way I inhaled it. (I skipped lunch that day so I was famished by the time dinner rolled around) After everyone was fished out a plate they would always tell us about each dish and how it was inspired or the notes and pairings they were aiming for. We also indulged in the wine pairing option in which the majordomo also came by and explained his mindset on why he paired each wine with its dish. This team was dynamite!
On to course two which was a seared scallop aguachile served up with a squid ink tortilla, osetra caviar and an avocado/lime concentrate to balance everything. This was a flurry of flavors that melded together super well.
I think the third course might have been my favorite flavor combo. Next up was the Mexico City BBQ which consisted of charred octopus, salsa negra, pickled radish, micro cilantro, nasturtium and a chocolate infused mole. Everything just melted together isn't a beautiful harmony of flavors. Props to the team for this one.
The next dish is my pick for the most interesting dish. It was frog legs that were basically turned inside out and stuffed with blue corn masa, charred corn, cotija cheese and salsa. They were called "tastes like chicken tamales". The name was very fitting, I devoured them in seconds.
Our last course before dessert was the pork cheek pozole, I got to eat double the goodness on this one since it was a little too porky for Autumns taste. We got a dish with pork cheek, house made hominy and a thyme-tortilla on the side to soak up some of the soup.
Then we got a palette cleanser of mango sorbet drizzled with morita Chile sauce and topped with takin. The sweet and spicy combo was blended very well and provided a nice preparation for the dessert course.
The dessert was a showstopper for those who love Mexican inspired desserts it was a dulce de leche served inside a churro lava cake topped with ice cream. It was a bit of a sweetness overload but it was so good I shamelessly inhaled it before anyone else had gotten started on it.
Just when we thought we had finally defeated the onslaught of deliciousness they brought us a tray with a couple of Mexican cookies and a small cup of champurrado which is a thick Mexican hot chocolate. I think most of us had tapped out at this point but it was a nice touch and we wrapped our cookies up in napkins for later.
The Majordormo Eric Nulte paired each dish with an optional wine (at additional cost). With each wine he brought out he explained the wine, where it hails from and why he chose to pair it with each course. He even offered some pro tips of saving a good swig for the next course to see how it plays with the courses differently.
I can't wait to go back, this was a great experience and I'm excited to try another men | 2positive
| 806 |
Full Disclosure: I am so excited that a Mex place has opened in STL that serves food & drink LATE (Midnight on Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays) IN THE SUBURBS that they could be serving crap on a stick and I would likely roll with it! And this isn't one of those all-too-typical places in STL whose hours are POSTED as Midnight but really you are going to get the "eye roll" and "bums rush" (who are these bums & why are they rushing me) if you come in anytime after 8:30. Nope Not Fuzzy's. I arrived at 11:15 on Friday and the place was in full swing and they seemed happy to have me. I will say that while the staff IS friendly, it seems to be somewhat disingenuous friendly as in, THEY WERE TOLD TO BE UBER FRIENDLY IN TRAINING so this is their IMITATION of friendly. Or maybe, I arrived late on their first full Grand Opening Day and they were just TIRED OF BEING FRIENDLY for the past 18 hours so there were cracks in their friendly veneer. Who knows? The place is staffed with a very young crowd (older people tend to avoid jobs with late hours & loud, blaring dance music) and this could be problematic in the future. Any place that let's 18-28 year olds have any amount of autonomy (ex. Taco Bell after Midnight) without much older adult supervision goes rapidly to hell. So, Mr. Owner/Manager who looks like he is preparing to bolt once the Grand Opening is over and be a hands-off owner/manager, I beseech you - DON'T DO IT! Stay on premises and hire more older folks who will possess the maturity and wisdom to help you make Fuzzys a huge success here in The Lou. The young kids are pretty to look at but don't have the attention span necessary to pull this off as was evidenced by the 2 people ahead of me complaining their takeout orders were WRONG as was mine when I got home. Also, if you are going with the whole "open & transparent kitchen" thing - do NOT have your customers wait for their food where the employees are TALKING ABOUT the customers' orders right in front of them. Example overheard: "This is TO-GO because the customer changed their mind last minute about dining in"
Uh THAT CUSTOMER would be ME right here in front of you and I didn't change my mind last minute as much as the cashier girl never asked me if it was for here or to go and obviously wasn't listening when I said "To Go" three times. This is a petty observation, I know, but since you are already putting shills on Yelp I figured you might welcome the constructive criticism, Fuzzy's.
ATMOSPHERE: Bright lights, loud music, margaritas flowing with a "hipster in the burbs" kind of vibe. At 630 pm the place is filled with breeders. At 11:30 pm it had college kids and a huge table of middle aged fat guys trying to get their cool on. Good for them!
Food: I ordered the soft fish taco & the crunchy chicken taco with chips & salsa & a large soda. $8 and some change which seemed really reasonable to me especially after getting robbed of $17 from Qdoba for a similar meal earlier in the week, but I digress. I had the same concerns about the feta cheese on a taco as the other reviewer did but it was needless worry. The fixings on the tacos were delicious and generous and you don't even notice the funky feta which tells me they must be using a mild and actually GOOD feta cheese. What you do notice is the cilantro so if you hate cilantro (I love it) be forewarned. Now, the fish taco which is their signature item is good but I think the fish is smothered with the liberal toppings for a reason. When picked out of the taco & cut open the fish is grey in color (think McDonald's filet o fish) and is very "fishy" tasting. Now I have repeatedly been told that fish is supposed to be fishy by many a foodie and if true, well that's where me & fish part because I hate fishy anything. So, if you don't mind a little fishy with your fish you will likely love Fuzzy's fish tacos. The chicken taco (which was supposed to be crunchy but also came soft) was ok. Again, I think the bevy of delicious toppings is covering a multitude of sins in cheap cuts of chicken. But what do you want for $8? The chips and salsa (my test of any Mexican restaurant) were a definite hit. The chips were still warm (and sufficiently salty) when I got them home & the salsa was definitely good. The soda was the perfect balance of CO2 and syrup (you would be surprised how often it is NOT the proper balance at places I frequent) and I'm so glad that it is because I like me some sodie bubbles with my Mexican food.
In Short: A fresh, solid new addition to the stale Mexican food lineup in St. Louis. I will go back to eat my way through the rest of their interesting and innovative menu. For sure! | 1neutral
| 886 |
Our group of 13 visited Tompkins by the Rack House on a Saturday evening. A mixture of positives and negatives, but more negatives. However, the management seems to be actively looking for ways to improve. Based on this impression, I'll make it a point to return in a year and hopefully update this review.
After looking at the menu, 5 of our group decided there was nothing on the menu that sounded appealing, so they left. This is a personal decision and can't be held against the restaurant, but it does point out that the menu of this restaurant is not like other restaurants in the area and more needs to be done to highlight this.
A number of the group that stayed ordered the roasted pumpkin soup. Everyone said it was DELICIOUS!!
Another friend ordered the Autumn Chopped Salad. She enjoyed the salad, except it didn't have any apples in it as described on the menu.
A friend and I had coffee. It was extremely good! Except she had to ask for a refill 3 different times. I asked at the same time each time, but never got a refill. $2.50 for one cup of coffee, no matter how good, is outrageous.
Another friend ordered the Wagyu Meatballs. He said there wasn't anything wrong with them, but in his opinion, they weren't any better than any others he'd had. $12 for 3 average meatballs. He didn't feel the meatballs he ate were worth $4 each.
We received sourdough bread and butter. The friend who had the meatballs said it was the best bread he'd ever had!!
Then we were on to the main course. Two friends had the butter basted scallops. They both loved it. One described it as a "party in her mouth."
I had the Roasted Buttonwood Farms Chicken. The menu described it as a smoked chicken leg. It was 2 small chicken breasts. The menu described it as having chicken jus. None of that. I don't normally eat white meat because it's too dry for me. However, this chicken was very moist. Unfortunately, that's the only positive I can say. There was NO taste unless I ate the skin. And, after spending $25 for the meal, I was hungry again several hours later.
I got 2 to-go orders of their dessert Death by Chocolate. I love anything chocolate, so I didn't read the entire description. Never had anything chocolate that I disliked. It was boxed up and brought out to me neatly in a bag. I noticed there were 2 small containers in the bag. Didn't think anything of it. Thought it was probably some kind of sauce. After waiting another 10 minutes or so for the checks, I mingled with the parts of my group that I hadn't sat with at dinner. About 15 minutes later I left. After the 10 minute drive home, I opened the to-go bag to put my take-home in the refrigerator. Do you know what was in those 2 small containers???? Ice cream. That of course is now completely melted. The cake portion was AWESOME!!!! As I said, never had anything chocolate that I didn't like. Probably would have really enjoyed their house-made chocolate ice cream, too. But of course I wasn't given that opportunity. I just paid for it.
All in all: Tompkins by the Rack House wants to bill themselves as fine dining. I enjoy fine dining experiences from time to time. But I have certain expectations. And those expectations are much more than high prices, fancy dishes, small servings, and unique cooking techniques. All these can be found at TbtRH, but that doesn't make it a fine dining establishment.
No matter where I eat out, I expect value. In a fine dining establishment, that value isn't usually in portion size. That value is found elsewhere. One place that value is found is in the taste of the food. It's not good enough to use unusual cooking methods or use only farm-to-table food (or high quality products) if it still just tastes average at best. A major part of the fine dining experience is getting food that is so good, tastes so unique from anything you could find anywhere else, that it's unforgettable. Like the scallops my friends talked about. But NOT like forgetting to put a major ingredient in the salad and NOT like chicken with no taste.
The other place I expect to get value in a fine dining establishment is service. At a casual restaurant, I expect to sometimes have to ask for things multiple times. I expect that the server might sometimes be too busy to get everything I need. At a fine dining establishment though, I expect the server to anticipate my every need. I not only shouldn't have to ask for anything multiple times, I shouldn't even have to ask. The server should anticipate that water glasses will need to be refilled. That other drinks will need to be refilled. Not just once during dinner. Without being obtrusive, the server should be by the table every 10-15 minutes. The server MOST DEFINITELY should consider what will happen when someone takes home ice cream as part of a to-go order.
Either drop your prices and be like everyone else or significantly up your game. | 0negative
| 881 |
I was compelled to create this review because I was "called out" for not reviewing them on their Facebook page. Since I'm a big Yelp user I'll start here first. I clearly am not a "fake" account, you can tell if you do a little researching.
This review will solely be on the management of this "group/organizers/business", or whatever they want to call themselves. I've never had an issue with their events. I probably would have never even recognized them until this recent "blow up" of unprofessional replies back and forth off of their event's review page "The World's Largest Food Truck Festival 3".
I'll start with the positive first. I think that running a festival is of course, hard work. They did the best they could do and I think overall the new (The World's Largest Food Truck Festival 3) event went well. I have no major complaints and had a good few hours wasted on a Saturday afternoon.
I, myself as well as some others did find it a little disappointing or not as great as the previous food truck rallies (last year). The high expectation is only due to how great the last year's event turned out, with the diversity and interesting food trucks. I don't think there was the claimed 75 food trucks and I do not consider any stands or stall to be a "truck". There was not that many interesting/unique trucks I was dying to try this year, it was the same similar food from truck to truck.
This is where it all went down one day as I got pulled into the "drama" that was happening between GFT and the attendee's rating and review system on Facebook for "The World's Largest Food Truck Festival". A bubble of unprofessionalism from GFT created a "war" as comments were sent back and forth. Of course, you may not find them now because they have been scrubbed off the website, but sadly once it enters the internet world it's never lost. Tons of screen shots have been taken from people in and on the sideline. I myself have witnessed from start to... well.. (it's not finished yet).
With all that put aside. I have only started to put in my 2 cents as I saw how unprofessional GFT have been towards others (rude and hurtful comments). I have never offended GFT or anyone else on that page on a personally level, but would like GFT to recognize that their way in representing themselves as a "group/organizer/business" should be corrected. As I have honestly and bluntly put in my words I was then called out for it and was questioned if I attended this event and that I shouldn't have a say since I haven't reviewed them on FB (I did review the event on my own website). That should have not been any of their business if I attended or if I needed to put in a review for them or not.
I'm really trying to keep this short, but there's way too much detail going on. I truly believe that as a "group/organization/business" please keep your professionalism game on. You'll get great 5 star reviews and not so good 1 star reviews, but I don't believe that they should call out people saying they are "fake" accounts nor call them out if they were at the event or not. (just because your Facebook says you're in a different state doesn't mean you weren't in Tampa for the event). You can't just say "You were not at this event. This is an event page. How do you review an event that you did not attend?" - GFT (How do you know if he or she did or did not attend?) Not just that, but the name calling was truly disrespectful. I read words from "pedophile, pervert, little girl, etc" towards Facebook users.
With all this going on, sadly it has turned me off to any future events with Generation Food Truck. I myself will certainly support the individual trucks themselves, but think that due to the unravel of GFT's true face I cannot support them as a company...
**Because of my rating, I am not a "fake" account. GFT has claimed that any 1 star reviews are made from fake accounts. I also believe that you should not review your own account with a 5 star to "counteract" the low star rating you received.
I am here to review the company itself and it's management and my experience with them. I did not personally attack GFT and believe they should not attack others either.
BTW I am not a troll nor harassing them. They have never said anything to me about harassment because I never harassed them. I have done my best to be professional with GFT. I do not agree at all how they are taking this situation. | 0negative
| 812 |
I was more than a little stressed out when I ventured into Fountain Square's Red Lion Grog House, an establishment that has been in the G.C. Murphy building since 2009 and yet still feels like one of Indy's hidden gems. I spent my day hanging out at the Indiana Author's Corner of Art Squared, a delightful event organized by the Fountain Square Arts Council. I had a blast, but for a natural introvert the combination of being surrounded by people, loud music, and a next door neighbor teaching a 20-minute painting class just about every 45 minutes was enough to rattle my nerves and have me ready for a break when a friend who was volunteering for the event stopped by and offered to give me time to grab lunch.
So, at their suggestion I entered the nearby Red Lion Grog House ready for a few minutes of relative quiet and a little sustenance to calm my body down. If you're aware of the classic Grogs, you're aware that they were seedy watering holes for the more unkempt. After a few hours out in the sun, I definitely qualified.
However, Red Lion Grog House isn't seedy despite being smack dab in the middle of a wonderfully retro G.C. Murphy building that had been originally established in the late 19th century. It's definitely a weathered building, but as soon as you get inside Red Lion the warmth envelopes you. The decor definitely carries the 'Ole English vibe along with hints of a sports pub with seven widescreen televisions that broadcast all major sporting events. They also are known to have entertainment.
While I'd contemplated getting a meal "to go," as soon as I entered the place I knew I wasn't going anywhere. While it wasn't necessarily quiet, it was definitely restful and warm and friendly with a wood decor and warm lighting that makes you feel like you have some space and time to yourself. I didn't really have that much time, but I went ahead and sat down at one of the end tables and was quickly greeted by Sarah, a personable server whose very presence made me feel better than when I'd entered the place. While I'm watching what I eat, I'd heard their burgers were good and a friend had recommended their tater tots. So, I figured I'd go with it as I was definitely in the space for comfort food.
While I usually order my burger, well done, I'd been reading some feedback from friend Dick Davis over at the blog "Great Burger Quest" and decided to tone it down a bit and go for medium well and made it a cheeseburger with American cheese. I ordered some tater tots, which I thought was a side item but I later learned actually came with the burger. Of course, I had my usual iced tea.
The cheeseburger was ordered as delivered. I can't quite give it a 5-star rating, because it lacked that certain "wow" factor that the greatest burgers have. The bun itself was also rather plain, though certainly not disappointing. The patty was meaty. Every bite of the sandwich was incredibly tasty to the point that I looked at that last bite and thought to myself "I don't want it to end." The tater tots were incredibly good, an unusual choice but a choice that made me incredibly happy. The iced tea had a nice full flavor it.
Sarah was personable and attentive throughout the meal, but never hovered. She had a natural relaxed quality that made me smile and definitely had me relaxed enough that I was ready to return to my booth by meal's end. The only modest flaw, and it was a service issue, was not getting offered an iced tea refill. I was eating rather quickly and definitely not lingering, but for me when a meal hits the moderate range in pricing ($12+ for this meal) I do expect that little extra touch. That said, the issue was minor and I also didn't actually ask for a refill.
I often forget just how closely I live to Fountain Square and, for whatever reason, I always have it in my mind that parking is an issue in what is a rather confined neighborhood. Having spent nearly all day in the area today, I can assure you that I won't soon forget that such an artsy, vibrant neighborhood is just a short drive and parking isn't nearly the issue I believed it to be.
Red Lion Grog House ended up being an oasis of peace and calm and yet another perfect touch on a wonderful day spent in Fountain Square. | 2positive
| 776 |
Gosh, it has been tough trying pick out what places to eat in NOLA. With so many great options, how do you really choose? This place was easy to decide upon though; from the online article, best new restaurant awards, and all the compliments it got from friends and colleagues--it seemed like a no brainer. Located about 3 miles outside of the French quarter, Shaya is in a wonderful neighborhood. Get here early, walk around, grab another drink and then settle into all that is Shaya.
We were really sold on Shaya when we heard it was quite vegetarian friendly. So when I took a look at the menu we were really happy with all the variety. But I was also quite surprised about the price of each dish. Whew....you will not walk away under $40 a person, which I guess for a good meal out is do able, but definitely save this place for a special occasion and don't set your expectations too high. It's hard to review this place because honestly... Shaya didn't do anything wrong. Great service, ambiance, good food, but nowhere near the best that I've had, so here's the breakdown of what we got.
* Mint tea press: AMAZING--like one of my favorite drinks. It was honestly like a warm mojito in the best possible way. I got really excited when I ordered this because it was just too good. Super simple too with Lemon juice, some sugar, mint tea, fresh mint... that's all... and it was a great start.
* Lamb Skewers: Much less skewers that it was just skewered when cooked and then put on a plate. These were good. The meat wasn't too warm...which was a little unsettling but the flavor was there. I've had better at a little hole in the wall restaurant, but the garnishing of tomato and basil was the best flavor combination on the plate. It was good, a bit, small but not great.
* Halvata: Basically fried cheese, which you really can't go wrong with in any means. They did a good job with this dish by matching the sweet and savory flavors, think how apple and Gouda or brie and jam goes well. This was the fried cheese version with a very nice compote below.
* 5 of the small dips
--Baba ganouch: I like a really eggplanty baba ganouch that spreads well and is filled with garlic and flavor when you eat it. This was a little colder than I'm used to, and sub par on the garlic flavor. on top of that the consistency was more like really chunky baby food, so it was just okay.
--Labneh: I love labneh so I was very excited to try theirs. It was a little more bland than I like but it served as a good base for all the other dips and mixed well with the Persian rice.
--Brussel sprouts: cold. Really cold. And I love Brussel sprouts and I feel like there could have been a lot more to it than what came out. I would pass on this and really try the next two
--Ikra: like of a creamy tuna dip in the best way possible then think of how a nice piece of fish can melt perfectly on your mouth. This spread somehow does that and was one of the best dips here
--Lutenitsa: this dip did a great job at bringing a bright and fresh flavor to all the dips. It was the most fruity...well as fruity as a tomato could be but compared to the other spreads it was light rather than thick. I enjoyed it and enjoyed mixing it with some of the other spreads
* Persian Rice: If you're looking for some really good Persian rice, which I find that just being plain with some saffron on top, this is the wrong place to look. While the basmati rice is the base they mix it with some red spices, fry it, and throw some nuts and cherries on top. Not my cup of tea and I feel like the preparation of it made it seem as though it lost a lot of its flavor.
* Salmon: Perfectly cooked. It was crispy on the outside, super moist, soft, melty, almost like sashimi but better. This was a great dish. The potatoes that came with it were cold though, which threw me off and looked really flavorful in this green sauce but just came up tasting bland. The feta cheese with the salmon spread nicely with it and was a great way to end the meal.
TL;DR- this place is good. There are some really wonderful items on the menu--mint pressed tea, ikra, lutenitsa, and salmon. But overall, it put a dent in my pocket and didn't really satisfy my needs for some good Persian fusion food. I don't have to come back, but I can see the appeal of it, it would probably be more of a 3.5 on my scale but alas no half stars can be given.
Happy Eating! | 2positive
| 841 |
Why is this place dead? The outside looks so shady, next door is a sketchy motel, you enter through the back and that's where things start to look a bit better. It almost felt familiar like a home up north where you walk in on a different level. Inside the door there are stairs to go up or down and the restaurant is down stairs, up is event space for banquets.
We were in Nashville for a game and NYE and there were 13 of us. Calling around trying to get reservations somewhere for 13, 2 of which are vegetarian and another that I'd very pick is tough! Luckily everyone eats Italian and so I started searching Yelp. At the time this place only had 39 reviews but I think all except a few were 5 star. I called ahead and asked if we could get in on short notice with 13 and they said they could accommodate us.
So we get there and the passengers with me are unsure judging the place from the outside. Once we got in they started to feel a little better but we walk in and the place is dead. No one in there but the bartender and the owner. We come to find out that the bartender, Luigi, is the son of the owner/chef.
They welcomed us in and we started talking with them at the bar as the rest of our party showed up and we were all checking the place out. They have a couple pool tables, a small stage and dance floor, a juke box with mostly older country hits, a nice sized bar, and a pretty large area with tables and chairs for dining.
The decor is old Nashville and since it was the day before NYE they still had Christmas decorations up. So looking like old Nashville you would expect it to be dirty and dusty but this place is pretty clean. The bathrooms were probably the cleanest I've seen in Nashville and way better than we are expecting so a bug A+ there from us all, especially the women.
So being so clean and having all these amenities we were thinking there has to be a problem with the food. We were having such a great time already with the place to ourselves and we figured you can't really mess up pasta, cheese, and sauce. Our expectations were blown away. The owner/chef cooked all our food himself while we kept Luigi busy with drinks and when it started coming out he went to help. I got the lasagna and it's not traditional, it has pieces of pasta instead of layers and it's baked in a ceramic bowl. It was delicious and I got to taste the eggplant parmesan and the raviolis. We had a few different dishes and everyone only had great things to say. They brought out extra garlic bread and spaghetti just to be sure we are all full. What a treat, excellent meal!
The highlight of the experience, however, was our hosts. Luigi and his father, I cannot remember how to say has name for the life of me, were fantastic! The father has a really thick Italian accent. He told us stories of the old days when Madison, the area, was the actual center for music in Nashville. Elvis had a house right down the street and legends like Johnny Cash and George Jones frequented the place. He says he always kept their presence low key and they appreciated that. They've had this place for 36 years and it shows how proud they are.
The owner was telling us how the place used to be an upscale plantation style steak house and took all 13 of us on a tour of the building. He took us up to the foyer where the guests enter through these beautiful double doors and then up to the banquet rooms that are separated by a giant double sided fireplace where he says the guests used to smash their empty glasses into the fire like in the movies. He then took us back to the kitchen where he showed us his workspace and where he is curing his own meat! He also has a secret spice recipe he uses and let us smell a sample and it smelled great. When we were leaving for the night he gave all the ladies a small "to go" container of it to cook at home with!
So we had a unique experience and I was the hero for finding the place but we really want to thank Smeraldos for having us. I wouldn't expect everyone to have this same experience if it's busy but they really took care of us and we talked about it for days. Check it out for some great Italian food and clean restaurant. | 2positive
| 807 |
We live in Santa Barbara and have been coming to this old place for years. I read all the reviews and people are correct. It really depends on the day or night you come for your experience. It can be uninviting, it can be charming, the staff can be nice and they can be rude. I suppose like anyone we all have bad days. This is normally a place we come to celebrate our birthdays and try to at least come once a month. My son's favorite is the Filet Mignon and mine is the chicken. He only eats his meat and the bread with the beans and salsa. If he orders onion rings he eats those and that is it. For a long time we were not getting his salad or baked potato which we are and have been entitled to. Finally it dawned on me to get his sides that he doesn't eat and that are to be included in our meals, to go. I asked the server who said OF COURSE! He/she would bring me a to-go container and I would go to the salad bar and make the EXACT SAME salad I make for myself, only to-go. THE EXACT SAME! The salad bar IS tired. I have to admit I like the bread, salsa, beans and sour cream myself and when I do eat that I fill up a little too much on bread then I don't have room for my meal and end up getting a to go container for what I had on my plate. Last night I didn't feel like GORGING myself so packed up what I didn't eat. Its easy for me to take my salads because I NEVER get any dressing on it - they don't have any healthy choices. I asked for to go containers for the left over salsa and beans that we already had on our table and he brought 2 small containers. I filled them and closed them up. My son didn't eat all his steak so I wrapped that in foil. Keep in mind, the sides are all you can eat but we don't eat many baked potatoes. We eat what I consider less than the average person and way less than the average person that goes to the Palms.We don't take MULTIPLE trips to the salad bar nor do we take multiple trips to the sides bar area. I do, however, get up for my whole table and serve us. I am generally the one that cooks our meats. I always get a coffee and my son always gets a Sprite. Nothing out of the ordinary. Because we live in Santa Barbara, we too were affected by the Thomas Fire and the Montecito Mudslides. My son's birthday was in December and my birthday was in January. Between the bad air quality (his school was closed til Jan 2nd) and the fact the freeway was closed from the 9th through the 22nd it made it impossible to go out and for sure go out of town. We told them it was his birthday in December and mine in January and were told OF COURSE we would be able to celebrate it with cheesecake and frozen blueberries. Our server came to the Table and told us the Manager said we were taking TOO MUCH FOOD to go. I was so devastated. I was in shock and disbelief. I realize, as our server told us earlier, they had trouble but made it through the 2 horrific events and were hopeful things would get better, but SERIOUSLY? I packed up the items that would have been thrown away AND what we were entitled to - a salad bar and our potatoes that we didn't eat. I wanted to save room for the cheesecake and so did my son. NOT TO MENTION, we weren't all that hungry as we had late snacks. We got our check and waited for the server to bring our cheesecakes that we had been looking forward to for the past 2 months. A SMALL pleasure! Our server said he would speak to the manager. I had no idea our birthday celebratory cheesecakes were hanging in the balance. He came back to the table and said the manager said no. I was like, no to what? He said again, we were taking too much food with us! I am apparently slow, Our dinner was $53.00. We must have waited several minutes dumbfounded. I said to my son this was horrifying reiterating we only take what we are entitled to. The waiter never looked at us again. He would go by us and look the other way. I was unable to get his attention. I thought of waiting them out. Even the manager came PAST our table but looked the opposite direction each time. I decided in light of the circumstances to remove the servers tip and leave. So that is what we did. The odd thing was when I had gone to the area to ask our server for a bag he actually had the cheesecake on a plate. Like an idiot, I hugged him and said thank you! well that was the closest we got to our cheesecake. There are just too many OTHER good restaurants out there that do treat us well. We don't need to go back to this one. The reviews ARE correct, the decor is from what looks like the TURN of the Century, 2 centuries ago. The bands are good for the most part but when you are eating, they can get so loud you can't have a conversation at your own table. Because you really serve yourself, the servers are only good to bring drinks. your plate of raw meat and to clean up the table. I was so emotionally traumatized by the experience I HONESTLY don't think I can ever go back without thinking of how awful we were treated. DISAPPOINTED! | 0negative
| 993 |
My 61st birthday is this weekend. To celebrate such events, My Beloved and I usually dine at a nice steakhouse - Cowboy Star is a favorite - or we enjoy excellent Italian food at Solare at Liberty Station.
But I've been dieting, limiting myself to 1000 calories per day, which is to say, I can have a stick or a rock, but not both. So, when my bride asked where I'd like to have my special dinner, I thought not about the experience, but about the calories that our favorite places serve up. Then I decided that we ought to try something different.
I'm a longtime fan of Gulf Coast-style boiled seafood - crawfish, shrimp and crab - especially as it's prepared in southern Louisiana. I often crave the spices used there, and I'm knocked out by the way that boiling works the spice in under the shell and bathes the meat with flavor.
I am chiefly fond of blue crab. Not monstrous, tough king crab. Not Dungeness, which I find too dense to take spice well. Definitely not salty, mushy, scrawny snow crab, which is offered on all-you-can-eat buffets for a reason.
Nope. I'm a blue crab man, born and bred, immoderately addicted to the hunt for small bites of firm, slightly briny and buttery meat, a crab at a time, all day long.
At about 30 calories per ounce, blue crab has little fat and no carbs, and while it's true that crab boiled the way I like it is high in cholesterol and sodium, those aren't problems for me.
In San Diego, I can buy live blue crab at the local Asian markets, in season, for about $5 per pound, which is double what one pays at the docks in St. Bernard Parish or at the seafood market in Westwego.
Despite the price, I'd be happy to buy and cook my own crabs (I own an 80-quart pot with a basket for just that purpose), but the live blue crabs available in San Diego are tiny fellers, suitable only for flavoring a gumbo or soup. They're heartbreaking, if your heart is set on a substantial meal.
An alternative is to have live crabs shipped from the Gulf Coast or the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. I've done so, and find I lose 15% to 20% of the product, which raises my cost per crab and worse, leaves me short when it's time to cook.
Of course, there are Asian-Cajun boil-in-a-bag seafood restaurants, but I think they're for people who've never had crawfish, shrimp or crab cooked properly. I eat that food, but as I do, I always feel a bit sorry for the shellfish; they deserve to die a more respectable death.
Another choice, the one I made for this birthday weekend, is to buy crabs already cooked and have them delivered. This makes the price unreasonable, mostly due to shipping charges, but it gets me what I want.
I'd stopped in at Today's Ketch a few times over the years, on my way back from fishing out of Shell Beach or Hopedale, so I knew their boil was good, and I'd read about their catering operation, but until last week, I didn't know that they ship out of state. After talking with similar operations in Kenner, Houma and Belle Chasse, I gave Today's Ketch a call.
While I ordered over the phone, an exchange of just a couple of calls, I was struck by how patient the staff were. I'm not sure that they should have been so tolerant of my monkeying around with shipping arrangements, as I tried to bring down the cost of my birthday dinner.
But the real surprise was that although they could have sent me small, scruffy crabs that were missing claws and were cracked along the back - you know, the ugly ones at the bottom of the pot - Today's Ketch boxed up 18 heavy and intact #1 Jimmy's, truly "pretty" ones, then laid in eight or so ice packs, strapped the box shut, and got them to my house less than 24 hours after they were cooked.
It may surprise the uninitiated to hear that not all seafood boils taste the same, but it's true; the quality of the food itself matters, of course, but so does timing: time in the boiling pot, time spent cooling down and hold time after the boil. Too much or too little of one of these, and your shellfish will stick to its shell, or be tough to chew, or taste washed out or overly spicy, or something else disappointing to the people you're trying to feed.
Quality is also found in the boiling spices: in the region, from one town to the next, even from one boil to the next, there can be variations in the flavors underlying the first hit of cayenne in the spice mix. Today's Ketch makes, uses and sells their own private blend of boiling spices, which I enthusiastically recommend.
Finally, and not for nothing, the gorgeous crabs they sent were delicious, but my recent experience with Today's Ketch was more than just a meal or a financial transaction.
The folks that helped me - especially June (my first contact) and Mandy (who handled my order) - treated me like a good, regular customer, a friend, reminding me why I enjoy the time I spend around Chalmette, and locking me in as a customer when I'm in da parish and as a customer by phone, every birthday or so. | 2positive
| 922 |
I am so happy that I have finally stayed at this resort after years of intending to do so. Other than being on the premises a few times over the years, I knew of the Tucson National as the place my parents held their wedding reception back in 1988. I turned out to have a fantastic five night stay. There's a lot to unpack here, so I'm going to get started all while my suitcase will sit in the corner of my bedroom nearly untouched for the next week.
Let's start with the overall location and common areas. The homes right next to the resort, as well as all the grounds and buildings are a sight for sore eyes let me tell you; the property is an absolute beaut. It's one of the only local resorts that don't heavily play up the rustic, desert theme. As an AZ native, the rustic AZ stuff starts to feel cliche after awhile. There are a few cacti and native plants around , Mexican tile in the restrooms, and an awesome mountain view to remind you that you're in Tucson, but it's mostly palm trees, flowers and grass outside the Spanish-style buildings. I did not get to try the pool or spa services but it all looked very nice. The lobby was probably last remodeled in the early 90s like others have complained about ad nauseum, but the marble floors, dramatic staircase, plants, and very cool detailing made up for that. Plus, despite the age, nothing was rundown or in disrepair in that area.
I really liked the staff, which is atypical as that is in area in which I usually find fault in these resort hotels. They were friendly as can be--even the guard gate operators. They are responsive too--there was a fire department Christmas party one night, where several got drunk and thought it would be a good idea to strip into their underpants at 11 pm and dive into the pool in 43 degree weather. Security was on it promptly, and nipped that in the bud before it got out of hand.
Now on to the room--I was EXTREMELY impressed with the size and features for the price. It was right on the golf course, and offered a great view of that, as well as the Santa Catalina Mountans. The rooms have definitely been touched renovation-wise within the last decade, and everything was in great shape; I encountered none of the severe maintenance problems that others did, but those seem to be isolated to the casita rooms which indeed have not had any meaningful update since the 90s, and are not being rented out at this time. There is storage galore in these rooms: tons of drawers, and a very large (for a standard hotel room), walk-in closet. Most of the lights had dimmer switches, and the room has plenty of places to sit: a sofa, and two club chairs in addition to the desk chair, and beds. The television was just the right size for adequate viewing from anywhere. The bathroom was really nice too. The beds succeeded at being everything to everyone. The beds had just the right amount of firmness and softness with a nice, springy feel.
As for COVID protocols, they had the usual room service menu that has to be accessed with a QR code, and they were a bit skimpy on bath products, towels, writing utensils, and coffee/tea; being the second time I've stayed in a hotel since COVID hit the fan, this has become the norm. We did ask for more, and they delivered. They had stickers on the hotel lobby entry door that they're AZ clean certified and not to enter if you feel ill, and tons of hand sanitizer, but mask usage throughout the property was next to non-existent. Because I believe opinions on COVID protocols tend to be politically-driven, I am declining to state my opinion, and instead will be giving you, the reader, the opportunity to construct your own opinion on the matter based on the info that I am providing.
As far as complaints, there are only a few. The first one is about television programming--it isn't fantastic. They have one HBO channel, but no pay-per-view in theater movies, ability to use streaming services, or ability to view the bill, TV listings, or in-room dining menu on the TV--most hotels of this caliber have something like this. The channels seem geared towards news and sports with some channels not having any audio at all. These rooms could also benefit from a mini bar or very small fridge--none of which were present, and that was surprising in an otherwise feature-filled room.
I did not dine at Bob's this trip, or have room service but did dine at Legends, and thfood8i was very good. Refer to that restaurant's page for my review.
To say that I was bummed to have to go back home is a gross understatement. I could definitely see myself in the future, and I do recommend it to anyone who appreciates a very nice setting. | 2positive
| 848 |
Ok, this is the first time I have ever been compelled to write a review for a business. I am a New Orleans native and I often stay in hotels downtown as a convenient and safe way to enjoy myself. I have never stayed at the Le Pavillon but have always admired the great architecture from the outside. From the beginning it did not start off very well. I just need professionalism and niceness. Check in went smoothly and the young man who checked me in did so professionally. The bellman, brought me up to my room and placed my bags in the room. I unfortunately did not have cash (I usually carry very little cash except for tipping). I had not had a chance to go to the ATM therefore, I only had $2 in cash, so I apologized to him as I gave him the money. I wanted to give him at least $5. I have no clue what the going rate is for the tip of a bellman who only had to take off one carryon size suitcase and a travel bag off a cart and put in the closet but I felt like he was offended that I did not have cash. He immediately left with no thank you, no that's ok I understand, no it's ok, he just left.
Now, once in the room it only went downhill. I was in a corner room which was fine and I expected it to be quaint because the hotel is an older building. The decor in the room was nice. The plumbing on the other hand needs a serious overhaul. I had to hold the toilet handle down for it to flush the toilet. The room was hot so I decided to decrease the AC temperature. I was leaving right out and planned on having a nice cool room upon my return. However, when I returned to my room with my nieces (who are grown) to have drinks, my room was still warm. I decided I would place the thermostat on high and put the temperature down more. I thought while the room is getting cool I would go to get ice for the drinks and noticed a nice little card on the entertainment center that gave directions to call the front desk for ice. Ok, I attempted to call the front desk for the ice but the phone had no dial tone (sigh). I went down to report these issues to the front desk. I received my ice and a young lady was sent up to fix the AC and phone problems. The AC issue was resolved but not the phone. Fast forward to
the next morning when my sink stopper was broken and I had to dig into my mouth rinse water to unstop the sink (ugh). As I was leaving, I reported that the phone that was switched doesn't work either. I was then told by the front desk representative Jade (once she looked up from the computer to respond to my good morning) that "it must be an IT issue and that it wasn't going to get fixed. She informed me that she could move me to another room but none were available (sigh).
Finally, day to checkout. I am awakened at 0750 to slamming doors. I thought maybe it was someone leaving so, I turned over to attempt to fall off to sleep. No, going back to sleep because the doors continued to slam. I looked out my door to see that it was housekeeping going in and out of the rooms next door and across the hall. It was almost as if they were trying to make sure everyone was awake. This was the 1st time I experienced this during the stay of 4 nights. Then at about 0955 housekeeping knocked on my door even though I had a do not disturb sign on my door. Once I answered yes through the door she said "oh I thought you were gone". As I said earlier I have stayed in many hotels in New Orleans but also other cities and countries and most of them have some sort of system to let housekeeping know which guests have checked out.
Lastly, checkout time. I go to the front desk where Jade is once again doing her work on the computer and looks up a little quicker this time when I say hello. I asked to speak to the manager and I was asked "manager of which department"? So, of course the "general manager" wasn't available and the other manager wasn't at work today. Jade did ask if I wanted to leave a message with her to relay to them. I declined since she was the person who I reported my sink and telephone issues to and I also told her about the AC issues and she apparently did not relay that information to them. Or maybe she did relay it to them and they just did not reach out to apologize for all the inconveniences and problems that I had already experienced. Sorry, for the essay review but I like to be thorough so that readers have clear view of my experience and unfortunately, 3 sentences would not suffice. | 0negative
| 876 |
Copied and pasted from Google reviews, because I would really, really like it if someone in a position of authority saw this and tried to improve some of the problem areas. Wishful thinking, almost definitely, but I can dream.
Let me preface this by saying that I've worked (and continue to work) in the service industry, including retail, for the overwhelming majority of my adult life. I know that long hours, low pay, no benefits, and rude customers can make some shifts almost unbearable. However, I can say with confidence that I have never seen a lazier, ruder, more apathetic group of employees than those at this grocery store. Just today I saw the attendant at the self-checkout stands roll his eyes and yell at a customer and her small child for having the absolute gall to ask for help with a specific self-checkout prompt that they weren't familiar with. Nevermind that it is undoubtedly in the job description of said attendant to help customers with the self-checkout stands, it would have taken all of 5 seconds to do his job and help this lady, as opposed to the ~20 this guy spent treating her like an idiot.
While this is the most recent example of problems with this store that one would likely consider unacceptable, and the one that ultimately spurred me to write a review, it's far, far from the only one. Just off the top of my head:
-Produce is frequently overripe, moldy, and/or smashed (both the loose produce, and the boxed fruit). Have tried mentioning the mold to employees, none seem to care.
-Stock is clearly not rotated. Once made the mistake of grabbing a bottle of buttermilk without checking the date, only to get home and find that it had expired a month and a half prior.
-Mediocre, inconsistent selection. Brands and items seem to change frequently and without warning. The most popular brands of many items simply aren't carried (seriously, what kind of store doesn't have *any* Jif peanut butter?). Those that are carried will frequently be out of stock for no apparent reason. This applies to staple foods, too, even something as simple as 80/20 ground beef can be hard to find here.
-On more than one occasion I've walked up to the alcohol register, only to have to wait for the cashier to finish conversation they're having *on speakerphone*. In an unrelated instance, I spent a full 5 minutes trying to flag down someone to sell me a pack of lighters from behind the counter. When I finally did get someone, she glared at me the entire time she was ringing me up because I had interrupted their bull session. It's so bad, that the one and only time that an employee said something mildly polite to me (some guy in a polo, maybe a manager or corporate rep wished me a nice day) I almost dropped my bags out of shock.
-Unless there during the very slowest time of day, the extremely limited number of cashiers (all scanning items at a snail's pace) means that there will likely be a line 4-5 people deep. This is almost par for the course, and I wouldn't really hold it against Fresh Grocer, if only they kept their self-checkout stands operable. I probably shop there 3-4 times a week, but I can count the number of times I've seen all 6 self-checkout stands in working order on one hand, and will often go in to find that half of the machines are down. As a result, the self-checkout line will frequently reach all the way down one of the aisles, sometimes around the corner and into the produce section, blocking traffic and moving at a crawl.
-Employees don't know how to handle customers' groceries, smashing bread and putting chemicals in with food items. Retail-101 stuff, that even a modicum of common sense should make obvious.
That's not to say that the Fresh Grocer doesn't have redeeming qualities, but the general environment is one that I could only describe as shameful. Frankly, the fact that I have had all of these experiences by myself, and all over the last year, should be enough to scare anyone away. Of course, it won't. Plenty of people, myself included, will probably continue to shop here at least some, opting to simply deal with the litany of problems because location, price, or any number of other factors makes it the most convenient (or only convenient) option for groceries in the area. And you know, maybe that's exactly why it is as bad as it is. Maybe I've come to loathe trips to the store because I've continued to patronize a store that is loathsome.
But god, would it be nice if someone at least *pretended* to care. | 0negative
| 798 |
Full review in the Blog.
plenty of time to get to my plane I just couldn't justify making reservations for one at Lacroix's luxurious Sunday Brunch. Try as I might I've never been enamored by buffets and relying on public transport to get me to the airport I simply couldn't go against my instincts. With that fact noted, however, I had heard some fantastic things about new Chef Jason Cichonski's menu approach and I given the setting and menu I knew I owed it to myself to give Lacroix a try-with dinner's already booked I figured a lunch would suffice.
Arriving at Rittenhouse Square dressed casually around 11:15 and making my way into the lavish hotel I was treated as a valued guest - doors held, all "sir, please, and thank you," a liaison even offering to walk me to the restaurant. Chatting as we walked up a single flight of stairs I was told a little bit about the hotel and restaurant and assured it was "one of the best in town." Arriving at the entrance to Lacroix I was introduced to the Maitre D' and led to a lovely table along the lower rim of the dining area. Floor to ceiling windows, marble pillars, white tablecloths and plush velvet chairs I was next presented with a menu and asked if I'd like the drapes up or down - opting for up the room was flooded with fresh sunshine and water was filled.
Greeted next by my server, a pleasant young man with great knowledge of the cuisine and the local area, I was told lunch was just starting while breakfast was just ending and I was asked which menu I wanted to see. Jokingly I stated "how about both - and dinner too..." little did I know he would say "certainly" and return with all three menus in a matter of minutes. Making sure that all three menus could be prepared I received an "absolutely" and was left to decide as if this request was somehow normal or expected. Thrilled I took to browsing the options and identified no less than 10 things that sounded wonderful.
Arriving first amongst my ordered courses would be a dish my waiter described as "The best Foie Gras I've ever had." While I can't say I felt quite so strongly, Foie Gras Torchon with Warm Banana Bread, Shaved Carrot Salad, Peanuts did deliver a fantastic impact for its $14 price tag. A ~3oz torchon, thick and unctuous (as opposed to airy and creamy like that of Keller) served atop piping hot moist banana bread the liver literally melted in the mouth. Adding texture would be a lightly vinegar seasoned salad of carrots and spiced peanuts - the whole dish worked very nicely and had a pleasant degree of East meets West that seemed to highlight much of Cichonski's repertoire.
My main course, ordered from the dinner menu, would be Hudson Valley Duck Pastrami with Swiss Chard and Grilled Brulee Peaches. Ample in portion and rippled with a gratuitous layer of fat and crispy skin the flavor of the bird itself was superb. Not overly salted but instead accented with hints of paprika, coriander, sugar, and garlic the "pastrami" influence was certainly notable and an excellent juxtaposition to the acidity of the lightly seasoned salad and grilled peach with a crackling layer of sugar. My reigning favorite form of protein the duck was exemplary - on par with the best I've had.
Having heard that Lacroix makes an excellent soufflé from a local Philadelphia epicure I inquired about it when I was originally offered the various menus. Given the time it takes to prepare a proper soufflé my waiter had to inquire with the kitchen - thankfully they said it would be no problem and they'd start it early so as not to delay my departure for the game. Described as an "Angel Souffle" and adorned with swirls of silver and gold the dish would arrive piping hot and standing tall and proud. A Peppermint Dark Chocolate Souffle with Coconut Anglaise and milk chocolate tapioca I first pierced the cloud of chocolate and was met by a gush of aromatic chocolate. Taking a bite the hints of mint were appreciable but not overwhelming as the creamy dish melted in the mouth. Adding the shot glass of Coconut Anglaise and creamy chocolate tapioca I was delighted as the soufflé remained standing tall - no deflation at all and maintaining its composure throughout consumption.
With my meal completed and plenty of time to catch the SEPTA to the stadium I sat and chatted with my server for a while about the Rittenhouse area and my other dining plans for the trip - a Philadelphia native he was friendly and informative despite his young age. Declining coffee I was brought the bill along with a plate of candied orange peel, dried cranberries, and candied almonds as well as a box of two house-made chocolates that I would save for the game - chocolate ganache and caramel, both attractive and tasty.
A beautiful setting, fantastic food, and friendly professional service is something that all restaurants should aspire to - and something that LaCroix pulls off seemingly effortlessly. Next time I'm getting brunch! | 2positive
| 875 |
Let me start off by saying that this place is not your average neighborhood, made for American-tastes, type of Chinese restaurant, with roots back to the 50's McCarthy area. So if you expect your General Tso's, Sesame, and Orange Chicken dishes to be prepared with enough sugar to put you into a diabetic shock, then you might not be pleased here.
The family that owns and runs Szechwan Garden are from China, and prepare their cuisine the only way they know how, authentic. The dishes have much more complex and palate pleasing flavor combinations and textures. I'm originally from NYC, and the only places to get authentic Chinese cuisine there are from expensive Manhattan restaurants. There is also a small movement of authentic Szechuan going on as well in NYC, but these are mostly mom and pop types in out of the way locations, known by only a few. While the local take-out places near our home here in Indy are mostly as good as the ones back in NY, I had thought that my days of great Chinese food were done when we moved out here. However, God bless my wife, she found Szechwan Garden here on Yelp, and after looking at the food pics and menu on their website, we were highly anxious to give it a try. It is a surprisingly large and unassuming place, but the food is the center-piece here; that and, after a couple of visits, the nearly-always beaming and charming wife half of the dynamic owner duo.
Our first couple of visits were for their Dim Sum brunch, offered on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 AM to 4 PM, which did not disappoint at all. So many choices! This was also the start of my wife's continuing love affair with their iced Jasmine tea. All that we tried (we went very crazy these first couple of visits) was delicious; some of our favorites are the juicy Har Gow (shrimp dumplings), plump Siu Mai (pork and shrimp pouches), comforting Sticky Rice with Chicken and Lop Cheung (sausage) wrapped in Lotus Leaf, savory Potstickers, tender Braised Chicken Feet (yes we did, and loved them), crunchy Fried Shrimp Balls, smooth Rice Noodle Rolls (variously filled), soft Steamed BBQ Pork Buns and sweet Egg Yolk Buns (two of my wife's favorites), succulent Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings), crispy Spring Rolls, crumbly Fried Taro Puffs, steamed Cai Lan (Chinese broccoli) with salty Oyster Sauce, as I said, we went crazy. We made friends with the wife of the chef (a real sweetheart named Koko) almost immediately, and clearly this restaurant is a labor of love for them. All of the items offered for the weekend Dim Sum are scratch-made by them and their family/workers, all of whom are there in full-force for this very popular offering. Koko said they start preparing the Dim Sum items as early as 7 AM; it's a very long day for them, but you can see the pride and joy on their faces as they go to each table with carts loaded with the small plate treasures. There are so many Chinese families and college students indulging (so you know you're eating authentic), as well as others like my wife and myself, who relish the opportunity to enjoy this great part of Chinese cuisine culture. The crowning part of this is Koko's young son, who has always presented us with the check, quite the charming little man.
Other visits were during the week for dinner, after my wife got out of work. Here is where we were able to try the Szechuan and Cantonese appetizer and main dish specialties. Some appetizers we've had are the tangy Dan Dan Noodles, sesame spicy Chengdu Wontons or Chilled Chengdu Noodles (definite favorites! Love this sauce.), and chewy Scallion Pancakes. Some entrees we've had include the unctuous Chengdu Twice-cooked Pork Belly, numbingly spicy Mapo Tofu, soft Stir-fried Vegetable E-fu Noodles, zesty General Tso's Chicken, crispy Orange Beef, mouthwatering Yangzhou Fried Rice, rich Cantonese Roast Duck, succulent Mao's Braised Pork Belly, luscious Beef Chow Fun, peanutty Kung Pao Chicken, tasty Pork Lo Mein, crunchy Fried Shrimp with Szechuan Sauce, savory Fried Beef with Cumin Sauce, golden Egg Fried Rice, and delicate Chicken Chow Mei Fun. Honestly, we aren't able to say which of these dishes that we've had are favorites, we love all of them.
Koko told us on our last visit that they were planning on renovating, so it's going to get even better.
Is it worth it to give Szechwan Garden a try? We travel roughly 50 miles round-trip to eat here, and we've eaten here about seven times in the space of two months. The answer is a resounding yes. | 2positive
| 785 |
Wow.Never thought I would write such a glowing review of a grocery store. I dread shopping for groceries.However,due to my own towns lack of good offerings, I will sometimes trek to Wegmans in Mt Laurel and make a shopping trip out of it with DW.
(You know hit Target/Bed & Beyond/grab lunch and a $5 Starbucks).As I was in the area by happenstance,and the `blizzard` was coming I figured we should get ready to make alot of french toast by stocking up on bread and milk as one does in advance of a storm. Well,we had opted to drop into Wegmans ,but I had to get to Lowes which shares ShopRites annex. I had run into this ShopRite a few yrs back and wasn`t impressed by anything.Then one day with a co worker a few wks ago, I had to run in to get a holiday essential in my travels.I was impressed with the feel & vibe and didn`t really think much about it. After my Lowes jaunt, I planned on getting some storm essentials in SR and ended up doing a whole shopping.
I believe thy must`ve set this up to compete with Wegmans.When you walk in the lobby is pretty large & wide & full of carts,just like a Wegmans.When you arrive at the produce upon entry, you see a nice display of produce with wood style floors and bright lights. The DW and I were so impressed that we sauntered past the Asian take out/Sushi (smelled good but didn`t try), and b-lined to the deli.
The deli had a really good look to it (think granite displays to sit house made roast bf and turkey on), and ample staff. .(However actually, while efficient, my young deli counter guy was lacking in personality and I felt like he was acting like doing me a favor).In fact, this young man took them down from 5* to 4* in my eyes b/c he is part of the experience.
The deli- We tried the potato/mac & coleslaw.We ordered small containers b/c we wanted to try.By the time we dipped a fork in each at home we regretted we didn`t order more. Each salad reminded us of old fashioned bring to a picnic salad. then we were pleased to see them making things fresh in the open kitchen, that big tubs of Helmanns were being used. (While Helmanns formula may have changed due to Unilever corp buyout and greed it still ranks as the mayo standard.). These salads to me,are worth a drive to get for that summer picnic or an anytime get together when you wish to save time.Excellent salads,decent sale prices on cold cuts.
The area around the deli has ALOT of prepared foods to heat & eat. Dinner for 2 9.99, fried chicken hot and cold,rotisserie chix etc.Then We picked up some produce from a wide good looking selection and turned toward the bakery. Picked up the best SR pudding cake we ever had.On sale for 2.50. Traversed the rest of the store-wide aisles good selections.(The ethnic aisle for rice,other international foods was a little tight to navigate though once another few carts were around,it seems narrower than the other aisles).
In each dept from dairy to meat the selection was HUGE. Modern late model coolers and freezers with selections around every turn.
In keeping with their SR affiliation,prices were good to excellent especially the sale items. Someone here spent the time,money and effort (and I am thinking they went to a few competitors and trade shows to get ideas on marketing and technologies) to make this a top notch store.I think probably to cut into Wegmans action or to combat Wegmans.
As it was busy for a storm I can`t tell you if the large amount of registers they had open was normal.They all were pumping (and they have self serve too).
Their conveyors at ea register seem short to me but they seem to pull people to bag (looked like the shop at home crews 2nd duty),which I guess lessens the need tow orry about a short conveyor..By the time we reached the register, the bagger was gone.Thats ok though, I like bagging my own for several reasons,primarily b/c I try to do it according to how I need to store things at home such as hitting the bsmt freezer or coming in to the pantry etc.
In all, my short essentials trip turned into a `hey while we are here` shopping trip.
Very pleased with this location and will in fact put it on my route as my `go to` SR in the future even though its 45mins from my house.I guess I can `triple dip` now and Hit Aldi and Wegmans for certain things and do the large part at SR
Also-they had a special glossy coupon page wrapping around the current flyer. You don`t usually see SR having flyer coupons in the store version of the flyer b/c I guess they feel they have you in already why sell at a loss? This one had a great wrap of coupons around the sale flyer.
Also,it has a `gas` Wawa with usually one of the cheapest gas prices on the Rt38 corridor thats a plus as we filled up as well. Note- puling into/out of Wawa is a bit disjointed and the SR parking is pretty tight.for the size of the store (large) it seems like parking was an afterthought. | 2positive
| 905 |
I'm giving this review 4 stars because I know this place has great potential. My wife and I lived in Hawaii for 8 years, and were lucky enough to have a Guy-Kaku within walking distance. We would eat there at least once a week, and sometimes even more often. When we found out there was a location in Philly, we were excited to go have dinner here to celebrate our anniversary. The location is very easy to get to. And, like previous reviews stated, we were able to park just across the street for $9.00 all night after 5 pm. We were seated quickly, and started our routine of pouring our favorite dipping sauces in our sauce dishes. After sitting the bottles on the table and then moving them around, I realized they had left a sticky mess all over the table. I was disappointed to see that some of the sauces had ran down the sides of the bottle and into the bottom of the dish that they normally sit in at the side of the table, so all 3 bottles had been sitting in a pool of sticky sauce, instead of being cleaned when the tables was flipped for the next guest. Next we pulled out the menu and started decided what we wanted. I expected the menu to be different from what we had in Hawaii, since these are franchise stores they all have different menu items (if anyone at this location is reading this, I highly recommend the Brussels fries appetizer). They did have a garlic fries item on them menu, which was one of our go to items from before. I also decided to give the pork chips a try. For our entrees we had harami miso hangar steak, garlic shrimp bi bim bap, smoked pork belly, and a new item the lamb chops with garlic. For vegetables we went with garlic button mushrooms and corn (recommend adding cheese option to the broccoli side item) We also both ordered a bowl of miso soup. I had a glass of water, and my wife had the Fresh Orange Chu-Hi (I also recommend offering the traditional chu-hi flavors like grape, green apple, and lychee). While we were waiting for our appetizers to arrive, my wife went to the restroom and came back disgusted. Apparently only one stall had actual toilet paper in it, the others just offered feminine hygiene items, and the seats were all covered with fluids. This scared me from even looking in the men's room. Our drinks came our, shorty followed by our bowls of miso soup. The soup was very condensed and overly salty. Surprisingly after the soup, came our Garlic Shrimp Bi Bim Bap and Miso Skirt Steak. Both dishes were very good, and being the entree's, they were definitely the stars of the show. The reason this was a surprise was because typically the vegetables come first, since they take the longest to cook. Next we received our Garlic Lamp Chops and pork belly. I was disappointed with the pork belly, as I am used to receiving very thick cuts of meat. What I received on my plate was really just thick sliced bacon, and no spicy mustard to dip it in after cooking. The lamb chops seemed like they were just coated in chopped garlic straight out of a jar. Finally after we had received all of our entrees, our appetizer plates arrived. The garlic fries were just generic steak cut french fries, again with garlic straight from a jar sprinkled sparsely on them. No furukake to be found. The pork chips were mediocre. Basically just deep fried pork belly (thin again), with some spicy dipping sauce. And finally, after all the meats had arrived and were almost done cooking, the vegetable arrived. The corn was great, the mushrooms were just mushrooms in butter with more of the garlic from a jar. After getting our fill, we chose to get some desert. Since my wife recently discovered her love for mochi, we ordered 4 pieces, 2 mango and 2 red bean. The mango was delicious, however the red bean was the worst I have ever had. I think maybe it was old or something. The texture of the rice flour was very dry and flakey. I thought maybe they used a different type of coating, however the mango was consistent with other mochi we have had. All and all, we weren't upset with our dinner, just very disappointed. As I stated before, I know this place has great potential. I am just unsure where it has all gone. I am hopeful that they can turn this place into a regular destination again for us, soon. If anyone from this location is reading this, I encourage you to get in touch with the locations out in Hawaii, they were always great and always PACKED! If you have any questions or want more information, please feel free to reach out to me. Domo Arigato | 2positive
| 832 |
The room itself was fine -- clean, quiet, comfy, etc. (However, the cheap clock radio barely worked as a radio, and not at all as an alarm clock, making me late on the second day of the convention I was there for.) The service was excellent (except the housekeeping staff not collecting the filled-in comment card from the previous occupant), with the check-in guy very accommodating of my early arrival. (The checkin line was long, but that shouldn't be a problem unless you're there for a large convention. We had over 2000 people.) The staff in the Reno Ballroom, which was the convention's hospitality suite, cooked the meals to perfection, served efficiently, and cleared the tables quite promptly, running out of food once in a while only because the convention organizers underestimated the number of people. (I'm not sure whether we or they were to blame for the pitiful selection of snacks in Hospitality.) The convention's conference rooms were nice and quiet...
BUT...
Those conference rooms, which is where many of us spent the majority of our waking hours, were on the mezzanine overlooking the casino pit.
What do you find in a casino pit? Gamblers of course. What else do gamblers do? Some friends who are in various recovery programs tell me that addictions travel in packs. So, no big surprise, gamblers often also *smoke*.
What does smoke do? It rises. For a little bit, at least. Meanwhile it also spreads out. Then it settles. So what does that mean for said mezzanine level?
IT STINKS ALL OVER, AS THE SMOKE GETS ALL OVER EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE, AND CLINGS, AND GIVES ME A PERPETUAL POUNDING HEADACHE, PLUS BURNING EYES, SINUSES, AND THROAT!
Worse yet, the smoke seemed to be getting pulled INTO some of the conference rooms, specifically the numbered Silver Baron rooms (versus the lettered ones, directly facing the mezzanine).
After one day (the conference was Wednesday to Sunday), I went up the street to Walgreen's to get some saline spray to wash my sinuses out with at every opportunity, plus a bottle of Tylenol, and a tube of Airborne. I washed my face at every opportunity as well, to get rid of the smoke clinging to my beard and moustache. I made sure to take a shower before bed to get it out of my hair too. I took two pre-emptive Tylenol every four hours. I took Airborne three times a day, as I knew all this mess, plus the dry air, would certainly overtax my immune system. All to little avail.
Maybe whoever designed their HVAC system was under some bizarre delusion that smoke stays put, or is simply Not A Problem. Maybe it was having mechanical problems. More likely, they're cheaping out and not using as good filters as prescribed, not changing them as often as prescribed, and/or not running the intake fans as hard as prescribed (to avoid having to condition the incoming air).
It's now been a WEEK since I left, and I have only MOSTLY recovered. I am still chowing down on cough drops, and coughing enough to keep my wife from sleeping well (never mind myself).
So... if you're a smoker, go for it, stay there, go gamble there, attend a convention there, you'll love it. Or if you can avoid being anywhere near the casino area (good luck with that!), maybe you can tolerate it. Other than that? Consider it a hazardous waste zone.
This very same convention was in Las Vegas several years ago. The smoke was NOT a problem there. Sure, I caught an occasional bit of it while being forcibly routed through the casino area (as expected in any facility with a casino). But not enough to cause a big problem... and nary a whiff of it in the conference rooms... because the Paris Hotel had the good sense to keep the conference rooms and casino area SEPARATED by more than a mere few feet of air.
Someone told me that Silver Legacy has in fact the best reputation for decent air handling, of all of Reno's casino hotels. If that's anywhere near true, I will do my level best not to set foot anywhere in the entire city of Reno ever again.
Also, the free WiFi is for one device per room, and you must enter a ten-digit code (which changes daily) every time you want to reconnect to the network. WTF? Practically everywhere else, it takes a username and password, usually your last name and room number, and remembers those every time you come back. But noooo, SL has to be not only a pack of skinflints (also reflected in the horribly slow speed of their network), but make it a pain in the proverbial posterior to use. To top off that aspect, the network did NOT extend to said conference rooms, let alone the Reno Ballroom (which is across the street and a small lot), so not only was it not useful there, it made for all the more times I had to reconnect, i.e., had to punch in the ten digit code. They could EASILY make it more convenient. They could extend it to the other areas with a little investment in a bit more equipment... but that won't happen, as they are on the verge of bankruptcy. | 0negative
| 885 |
From the time we moved to the Nashville area three months ago, we have heard nothing but how amazing Slim & Husky's Pizza Beeria is. My fiancé and I are huge foodies and we prefer local places to a chain restaurant any day. Everyone we asked had rave reviews for this place, so I was beyond excited when we finally had a night free and decided to order for home delivery. For starters, the idea behind this place is fantastic. You pick a size of pizza, either a Slim or a Husky, and get to add the most amazing and mouthwatering sounding options, especially when it comes to their specialty sauces. We both ordered a Husky each, with our choice of toppings and sauces, and decided to treat ourselves to two of their specialty cinnamon roles. Our first mistake apparently, was that we chose to order on a Friday night. We figured we were safe because we thought we ordered long before the dinner rush set in. Apparently we were very, very wrong. We kept an eye on it through the ordering company and it just kept saying the order was in the kitchen and being prepared. 30 minutes passed, then an hour, and then I started getting annoyed. By the time we reached an hour and 15 minutes, I started trying to call the restaurant to see what was going on. Did you know you can't actually speak to ANYONE there? They don't answer their phones, let it ring repeatedly, and finally send it to a never ending voicemail loop where you are forced to a leave a message and told someone will absolutely return your call within 48 hours. 48 hours! And just to be clear, I left two messages over a number of days and was never given a call back. So once we got to a little over 2 hours, our delivery driver took pity on us and contacted us via text to let us know it was a "busy night", and he had been told the food was in the kitchen and would be on its way out soon. Just shy of the three hour mark, we received our cold, completely incorrect order, of food. We were missing the sauces on both of our pizzas, the toppings were "sparse" and that is putting it generously, and the pizzas were completely cold. Now before you think that maybe it was the heat "escaping in transfer" situation, we literally live less than 3 miles from the restaurant location we ordered from. We tried to call the restaurant yet again regarding our order, but it was just a repeat of all of our previous calls, and had to leave a voicemail. The only redeeming quality of the meal were the cinnamon roles, and to be honest, while they were quite tasty (I had the lemon blueberry and it was the perfect combination of tart and sweet), the size and the price are not comparable. I am so disappointed that this restaurant that was so very highly recommended by so many, was such a complete and utter disappointment. I'm even more disappointed that the staff could not be bothered to return two voicemails that were left over a period of a week, to discuss the situation, before a review was left. What happened to customer satisfaction? And before you go and accuse me of being too harsh on this place (everyone gets busy, right), my fiancé is a certified Executive Chef who has worked in six countries, opened multiple restaurants, and was the Executive Chef for even more restaurants, so we know what we're talking about when it comes to food and service. This would never, ever have happened in one of his establishments. Especially the complete lack of customer service follow through and making it right! Maybe the moral of this story is that you don't go to or order from this location on a Friday night? Well, unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case, as we were told by our delivery driver that the same, almost exact situation happened to him and his delivery clients the night before on a Thursday, and that this was unfortunately, a common place occurrence with this restaurant. Should the owners read this, I am so sorry to have to be so harsh and direct in this review. I had such high hopes and was so excited to try your establishment. Should we ever be in a situation where we have $70 or so dollars that is completely disposable and can be wasted on disappointment, and an afternoon or evening where we are not at all hungry and have hours where we have nothing to do...we will absolutely consider trying your restaurant again. I truly hope you read this and make some changes to your customer service practices, your policy of NOT answering the phone (even when it says to hold to make a reservation or to speak with someone), and your policy of NOT returning calls, needs to be reviewed. Also you should consider hiring more staff to help around the clock because it sounds like you are always busy. It's a good problem to have, as the owner. It's a crappy problem to have when you're the customer and wait 3 HOURS for your food to arrive from less than 3 miles away! | 0negative
| 894 |
My wife and I have been trying to like this place since the first week that it opened with results I would call 2 or 3 star at best. Tonight, the night before Thanksgiving we had some choices and thought lets give it one more try. Well thank you Social Gastro Pub for making our future decision simple. We will not return!
Here it the recap:
We arrive to a 3/4 empty dinning room at approximately 6:45 PM with only three servers on staff (see day before Thanksgiving!).
Our server was nice enough to let us know he would be right with us which is great, we understand the industry. This turned bad when he didn't return for 10 minutes. However their was a glimmer of hope that this was just a momentary glitch when the host stopped by to see if we had been greeted. We explained the situation and she happily took our drink order. Then prior to the drinks being delivered our server finally returned to take our drink order and we shared with him that the host had taken it so all was good. He immediately jumped to asking if we were ready to order our dinner and while we declined to order our entree prior to our adult beverages we did opt for the Bleu Chips. They took 20 plus minutes to get to the table but were worth the wait, delicious. When our server delivered the appetizer he again asked about our ordering of entrees. My wife ordered the Stuffed Peppers ($13.50) and I ordered the Andria's Filet Med Rare ($32). Unfortunately this is when bad went to worse. Our entrees took 45 to 50 minutes to reach the table. Let's cover the Stuffed Pepper first. It was slightly undercooked and a little charred on one of the ends. My wife has had it several times in the past and it has never been the same so not the end of the world. The stuffing was good, pepper undercooked. Now the reason for 1 Star for service and the Andria's Filet.
I was surprised/disappointed to find the Filet was bacon wrapped, which for anyone that knows anything about butchering, it bacon wrapped for a reason and I would not have ordered it. However I peeled off the bacon and gave it a shot. My first taste was that of something burnt. I figured this was from the bacon and gave it another shot and boom, more burnt! I flipped the steak and guess what? The cook burnt the steak and tried to hide it. Sorry, you can hide the look of a burnt steak but not the taste. About this time the server came back and to inquire into how we were enjoying our meal. I showed him the burnt steak which he strangely tried to evaluate whether I was correct in my assessment by looking at it from different angles. After a moment he offered to take it back to the Sous Chef that shared had just arrived. I'm not sure what time they close but a Sous Chef arriving for his shift after 7:00 PM seems a little strange but I digress. Anyway, back to the point, after several minutes, enough for me to get through some of the sides, he offered to take my plate away and that the steak would be taken off my bill. Fare enough. Own up to the failure and all is good, mistakes happen and they were obviously not prepared so we will move on, right? Unfortunately the management of the of Social Gastro Pub's operational philosophy lacks even the basic levels of hospitality.
The server comes back to the table to share with me that the Sous Chef wanted to explain to me that steaks are cooked on an open flame and can char. No kidding, an open flame can char a steak, news flash! Nothing like a server trying to educate a guest as to why they were wrong in not liking there meal. That is the kind of arrogance that just makes you want to give them your money, right! They, the icing on the preverbal cake. The manager (who was quick to make sure that we knew she was the owners "significant other" when I asked for his contact information) brings the check with a 50% discount for the steak! She, with a straight face mind you, explains that I had eaten half of the steak and most of the sides. I'm not making this up folks. I had three bad bites of a burnt filet, some green beans and some mash potatoes for $16! Insult to injury!
I want to be clear, it is not about the money. My wife and I are fortunate. What motivates this review is the blatant lack of hospitality and the insulting continuous attempt to educate a dissatisfied guest why they should not be. I have never spoken to the owner, I'm sure he is a sound businessman. However, I would offer this bit of advise from someone that wanted to be a fan, who has spent allot of money in your establishment and will never again. I encourage your to require all of your employees to read Danny Meyers book, "Setting the Table" and learn something about hospitality. | 0negative
| 883 |
My parents - who live in the area - brought me and my family and friends here the day after Mardi Gras because they said it had great food. 3 of our party ordered Jambalaya and it came to the table cold. My mom asked the manager? Owner? The guy behind the bar? His name is Mike. To get our waitress because our food was cold. The manager told her "calm down, honey." She's 67 and he is much younger than her. The manager followed her and proceeded to scold her for talking disrespectfully to HIM. My mother is wasn't looking at him and couldn't even hear him. But my brother, sitting right next to him, did.
My brother told him not to talk to his mother that way. And to step away from her. Then Mike started in on my brother and kicked him out of the restaurant. At no time was ANYONE rude or disrespectful. No one other than Mike ever even raised their voices.
I then attempted to talk to Mike because everyone - including two children - was trying to eat and he kicked one of our party out for what I have no idea. I wish we had a video of this because it was so outrageous. I explained to him that calling any woman, let alone an older woman, was disrespectful. I have no idea what else he said to her but In the year 2019 you don't call a customer honey unless you're married to her or she's your daughter. Then he told me he was from Philly and he doesn't let anyone tell him how to talk to anyone. And he wasn't going to let any woman tell him he was intentionally disrespecting someone. I told him he was now being rude to me for no reason and at this point, he was yelling at me and aggressively chopping his arm at me. There was a bar full of witnesses. Based on his behavior, I think he was drunk. I've never seen anyone who wasn't either drunk or mentally ill be that belligerent. And I'm a lawyer! I've seen a lot of belligerent people.
In short, if someone had acted like that oMy parents - who live in the area - brought me and my family and friends here the day after Mardi Gras because they said it had great food. 3 of our party ordered Jambalaya and it came to the table cold. My mom asked the manager? Owner? The guy behind the bar? His name is Mike. To get our waitress because our food was cold. The manager told her "calm down, honey." She's 67 and he is much younger than her. The manager followed her and proceeded to scold her for talking disrespectfully to HIM. My mother is wasn't looking at him and couldn't even hear him. But my brother, sitting right next to him, did.
My brother told him not to talk to his mother that way. And to step away from her. Then Mike started in on my brother and kicked him out of the restaurant. At no time was ANYONE rude or disrespectful. No one other than Mike ever even raised their voices.
I then attempted to talk to Mike because everyone - including two children - was trying to eat and he kicked one of our party out for what I have no idea. I wish we had a video of this because it was so outrageous. I explained to him that calling any woman, let alone an older woman, was disrespectful. I have no idea what else he said to her but In the year 2019 you don't call a customer honey unless you're married to her or she's your daughter. Then he told me he was from Philly and he doesn't let anyone tell him how to talk to anyone. And he wasn't going to let any woman tell him he was intentionally disrespecting someone. I told him he was now being rude to me for no reason and at this point, he was yelling at me and aggressively chopping his arm at me. There was a bar full of witnesses.
In short, if someone had acted like that on the street, I would call the police. He was rude, threatening, and disrespectful to 2 women, both of whom were older than him and much smaller than him. He was a jerk. Based on his behavior, I think he might have been drunk. I've never seen anyone who wasn't drunk or mentally ill be that belligerent. And I'm a lawyer! I've seen a lot of belligerent people.
Setting aside the cold food, this place has lost 2 loyal customers and Mike scared the hell out of my kids and absolutely appalled my entire family. He made a 67 year old woman cry. Bravo.
Also, the jambalaya was bland. Mine is better. And so is my mom's. | 0negative
| 823 |
Sadly, we were very disappointed by today's visit. We've been customers of Addiction previously and very much enjoyed both the coffee and the customer service. We went there this morning for our much needed first caffeine fix of the day. My husband knew he wanted a regular drip coffee, but I was interested in perhaps ordering one of their specialty coffee drinks. However, there were no descriptions of the drinks on the very large chalkboard menu (we're talking 5-6 foot square) and I didn't see any printed menus around. Yes, I could have asked the barista, but I'm not great at human communication sans caffeine - and, in my opinion, I shouldn't have to ask! (I did later find printed menus while paying... a very small stack, maybe 5-10 menus at best, on the payment portion of the counter, tucked into a corner on the barista's side, underneath a large cell phone).
So I decided to just go ahead and get the same as my husband. Thus, we ordered two large medium roast coffees - $2.50 each, according to the menu. Well, they only had one strength of coffee available... ok, fine, just give us our coffee. We were a bit surprised when the barista asked us if we wanted sugar... she explained she was using simple syrup... ok, whatever... we're half awake. Also saw her steaming milk and putting it in our coffees... again, half asleep, figured maybe she was just giving us some lagniappe. We were then each handed two go cups of coffee that seemed very small for larges. And were rung up for $8.72. Which I stupidly paid without questioning (and left a $1 tip!).
Went outside to have a smoke with our coffee, and as the caffeine started to take effect, what just happened started sinking in. How did two $2.50 coffees ring up for over $8.00? That weren't even larges (see the accompanying photo)? My husband went back in to see what the deal was. The barista insisted we had ordered cafe au lait's. Um, no! I definitely heard my husband order two large drip coffees, no idea how she got cafe au lait out of that - granted, English obviously wasn't her first language, but still! So to us it looks like she basically jacked up our order so she could charge us more... not cool!
She did agree to give us refills... not cafe au last refills, just plain ol' coffee... which, get this - she started pouring the first cup and ran out of coffee! How on earth does a coffee house run out of coffee in the morning (they were hardly busy). So we got new, freshly brewed coffee - ok, you'd think that would be good - but no, it meant that the coffee was barely lukewarm - and as she wasn't dishing out the steamed milk this time, after adding cold milk the coffee was... yes, cold.
What happened to the customer is always right? The barista argued with my husband, and continued to insist we'd ordered cafe au lait's. Would it really have been such a big deal for her to make it right for us? We're talking a few cents worth of coffee here. For us, tho, as members of the service industry, it's been a slow week due to the cold snap, and so, we could really use those two dollars.
In summary - No menu descriptions, wrong drinks that cost more than what we ordered, small cups when we ordered larges (the first cup and the refill together would barely make one large coffee - and typically you get a free refill on the regular coffee, so basically we only got half of what we paid for, 'scuse me, what we paid $2 more than we should have for), only one type of regular coffee available, ran out of coffee, argued with us over what we ordered, barely lukewarm refills... and the coffee wasn't strong at all, not like the guys that were there are the other times we've gotten coffee there. It's been a few months since we'd been there before, don't know what happened to those guys, but I hope they still work there and we just encountered an off day! Will probably try them again at some point as there's not a lot of options for coffee at that end of the corner (and we'd previously been quite happy with the coffee and the barista's), hopefully they will improve!
(OK, can't figure out where to post a photo with my review... so if I don't find it, as far as the cup size I mentioned, we got what appears to be an 8oz cup, as next to a pint glass it's about half as tall. 8oz is hardly a large!) | 0negative
| 799 |
I recently visited Cafe Tiramisu as a group of 6 on a lunch break from work.
I didn't have my iPhone on me so I wasn't able to immediately upload pics of the meal but I did have a girlfriend snap a few and will haver her text them to me ASAP and I'll upload them here.
Let's get to the meat and the potatoes:
We came to Cafe Tiramisu by chance - We had meant to go to the Clever Rabbit but they were closed. As we were on lunch break we couldn't run around so we decided to try Cafe Tiramisu as it didn't involve getting back into our vehicles to hunt down a new spot to eat.
As a group of 6, I really got to see a wide variety of meals and even sampled a few of my coworkers entrees.
To start - the service was really subpar. It's not that the server wasn't friendly but the service itself was not good.
For one - my carpooled party of 2 arrived only 2 minutes after the carpooled party of 4 yet our order was taken more than 10 minutes after the first group - who had informed the server our work group was pressed for time.
Upon reviewing the menu, I personally thought it was all a bit too eclectic - likely an over thought over stretched creation - a little of this - a little of that - rather than a focused menu where one could easily determine a Chef's passion.
I digress.
I ordered Panini al Pollo consisting of grilled chicken, tomatoes, and spicy havarti with house made fig spread.
My meal arrived nearly 15 minutes later than our group - our counterparts which arrived 2 minutes prior to us had already received and FINISHED their meals by the time ours arrived.
In that time span I sampled someone's Roasted Red Pepper Soup - meh, kinda bland. I sampled the special of the day - a salmon and cheese calzone which was OVERLY salted and truly unbearable (and as a side that was not what she ordered - they brought the WRONG item... but I'll get to that) and another coworker ordered the Salmon Wrap but it was "so bad" that she didn't want to subject my palette to it's distastefulness.
So my panini arrives and it's blah - WAY too much bread for so little filling and as excited as I had been about the homemade fig jam and spicy havarti - it was anything but. There were no fresh greens - not even a basil leaf - the bread was super dry - no trace of olive oil in sight. The chicken was bland as well - it was a real let down.
I had the house salad as a side which had a ridiculously sweet raspberry vinegarette served on it - and don't get me wrong - I LOVE love LOVE raspberry! Did I mention I like raspberries? But this was WAY to sweet and not a good pairing to go with every sandwich served on their menu - like my coworker's salmon wrap.
My eating companion ordered the 4 Cheese Pizza which was, by far, the best thing I tasted at the table - but still not as good as Famoso or DeCapo.
Anyway, back to my digress earlier... Not only was the service not timed well together - they actually brought one of the WRONG entrees to one of my counterparts. By the time the server came back around she had already had two bites and isn't the type to complain so she told the server it was okay and that she would keep the special of the day - a salmon and cheese calzone. However, upon having a few more bites she said she didn't care for it. She offered me a bite and sure enough - it was a terrible pairing. The dough itself was incredibly over salted which added to the salmon and cheese left for a most unsavoury experience. She got up to go see the server at the counter to let her know that she didn't care for the entree and when she returned to our table she told us that they had already given her other entree away.
SERIOUSLY?!? Completely unacceptable - she should have, in my opinion, been allowed to have her original entree remade or been offered an alternative.
And my coworker who received the wrong meal, that she didn't like, was charged for it. At the very least, her wrong item that she only ate a few bites of should have been removed from her bill.
The only upside and the reason I am giving a 2 star instead of a 1 star is that the decor was absolutely gorgeous! We were seated right outside the men's washroom and had repeated glimpses inside of what looked quite chic. So naturally, I travelled over to the women's upon completion of our meal to take a sneak peak and it was hip, modern, and chic! But it did have a YUCKY smell... Not sure if it was musty or moldy from a water leak but it made me want to ralph up my meal on the spot.
We also checked out the "Kids play area" and um... Let me just say it is not baby or toddler friendly. Yes, there is a long and low to the ground picnic style table great for a 6 year old to eat and sit and color but a Mom and baby friendly place needs a soft spot for babies to sit and play or crawl and not bonk your noggin or toddler over on and split your chin.
When all was said and done the prices were high and if I were to write home about it - I'd say don't bother. | 0negative
| 977 |
I have been a fan of food trucks since they started in St. Louis and have tried almost all of them. Most of them come to my work - Barnes/WashU Med School - so I often run outside and grab a quick bite for lunch.
I have to be honest that I'm not the biggest fan of gyros. It's not that I don't like the meat or the pita but I don't like tomatoes or raw onions so if I order a gyro I have to get it without those two things and then ask for light sauce and then I usually get weird looks from the server as if they were saying, "So you don't want a gyro, you want meat and pita." Which is exactly what I want. But more often than not I don't like to deal with the look of confusion so I don't order gyros.
All of that being said, I was VERY happy to see that My Big Fat Greek Truck had other things to offer besides gyros! The first time I had them I got a skewer of grilled chicken and some grilled pita triangles. It was love at first bite. The chicken had a great charcoal-grilled taste and the pita was perfectly seasoned and warm and soft. I can't remember how much I paid for it but I remember being stoked that I could get a cheap, healthy, simple lunch from a food truck. My husband, who also works at WashU, got their gyro and he really, really liked it. Other reviewers have said it isn't worth $8 but my husband and I both agreed it was a lot of food for $8. I've seen that boy eat a lot of food in one sitting and he struggles to finish their gyro (but he does because it's that good!).
The next time I went I tried their spanakopita. I am a HUGE spinach and feta fan and I love getting spanakopita at restaurants but I always make a huge mess and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle eating that at my desk at work. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they roll theirs in a spiral/pinwheel shape. I loved it! Not only did it eliminate most of the mess (I never expect perfectly clean eating when phyllo is involved) but I thought it added extra crispiness. And the flavor - delicious! I could tell it was fresh spinach because I could actually see the stems of the leaves. It wasn't some frozen, pre-made mash that they simply defrosted in the microwave and tossed with feta. There's no comparison between fresh and frozen spinach. Another reviewer said it was "dripping with oil" and to him/her I say 1) try it again. I've had it multiple times and one time it was a little more oily than the others but that was only one time. Maybe we got it on the same day and 2) WHO DOESN'T LIKE BUTTER? I'm sorry but if you are eating spinach and cheese wrapped in phyllo dough you aren't looking for light eating. That reviewer is probably not a cook or baker or he/she would know that you have to butter each piece of phyllo dough individually and layer them (very quickly) to get that buttery, crispy, flaky texture. So to complain that it was too buttery is like complaining that your cupcake was too sweet or your soda too carbonated.
Oh, and I haven't mentioned their fries yet. If there were such a thing as a french fry connoisseur I would be it. They call them "patates" but you can call them delicious. They are fresh-cut and fried and then tossed in a hearty dose of salt, pepper and oregano. Don't shy away because of the oregano. It's a great addition. And one order is a HUGE portion. Like I said, I'm a french fry nut and I'm not ashamed to admit that when I'm splurging and blowing my diet I will make a meal out of their french fries.
I'm writing this review after visiting the truck for lunch today so forgive me if this portion of the review is over the top but today was the first time I got to try their baklava and I am in HEAVEN! I love baklava so when I saw it on the menu today I knew it was on. And they did not disappoint. Just as I love their twist on spanakopita (pun intended) by making it a spiral pinwheel instead of the layered square I love their twist on baklava. To me, the best part of baklava is the sweet honey syrup that oozes between the layers of phyllo dough. But in the past all the baklava I've had is made in a pan and then cut into squares and when it's done this way all that delicious golden syrup drips out into the pan. Don't get me wrong, I still eat it with a spoon but I can't help but wonder how good my little square of baklava would be if that syrup was still INSIDE it. Well, My Big Fat Greek Truck rolls their baklava! My guess is they make a big roll (like cinnamon rolls) then cut it into individual rolls. It was so delicious and all that sticky syrup stayed inside making it very moist and flavorful. And each roll had a clove stuck in the top making it extra cute!
Seriously, if you get a chance, try this truck! Don't even waste your time at the "other" Greek truck. This one is the real deal. If you don't believe me, take a look inside sometime and you might catch a glimpse of the 70-80 year old lil' Greek grandma in the back cooking the pita. | 2positive
| 967 |
First Idaho appearance of a small (4) chain of steakhouse meets seafood restaurants started by a Sacramento couple, their marketing collateral uses the adjective "swanky" as introduction: "...a modern steakhouse with a swanky vibe". Based on our introductory meal we'd choose uncomfortable as adjective to describe the entire dining experience.
VIBE: Decor seems as if imagined what would be "swanky" for a Reno Casino restaurant circa 2000 with interior (revamped in the awkward old Pinnacles Bar and Grill location) of elevated upholstered horseshoe shaped banquettes. It makes service and dining difficult and trying to hear the server across the banquette with the LOUD pop music on sound system is a challenge. (The tune titled "Impossible" being played at HIGH volume struck me as perfect fit for the service layout here as we were trying to order.) The big banquettes also create impossible reach ranges for servers delivering food or picking up empty plates. The lighting seems to cast a sort of odd orangey glow and it makes menus (printed on darker paper and laminated) difficult to see.
SERVICE: The young service staff (mostly college student age) were all as as nice as can be. Good for the manager for hiring people with helpful personas. But clearly more training is needed for coordination with kitchen if they owners want to pass this off as "swanky" fine dining. We said we'd start with the cocktails and we had to ask about them 3 times until finally receiving them after the food arrived when we asked that third time. This was with maybe 15 total people in the place and each nice server saying the bartender was 'on it'. As we could see the bartender wandering about behind the bar. Our salad and main arrived together although we had asked for salad course first. The main was tepid in temperature. Something is amiss for coordination with kitchen. And then, this is the best part, as we were waiting on the dessert course the bartender happened by our table and said, "I'll have your cocktails in a minute." Ummm...no...we're on coffee and dessert.
LIBATIONS: Cocktails ($10 each) are currently from a can and "mixologist enhanced" as they describe it on menu. (See photo posted.) There are about a dozen options and the two we selected were not half bad considering the can origin! About 60+ options on wine list by bottle ($30 ex: Kung Fu Girl Reisling to $140 Corliss Estates Cab - bottle only) and glasses ($8 to $18). Riedel glassware. About a dozen craft beer choices around $6. Good coffee.
MENU & EATS: The salad was unremarkable for a classic format (wedge) for the "modern steakhouse" they tout themselves to be. The shellfish dish we chose for main which would have been good had it not been served barely tepid. Extra lemon requested for main arrived as bar slices not wedges. No bowl for shells so we improvised to pile on bread plate. Pumpkin cheesecake and steaming mug of coffee at end of meal were the best part.
Brunch served on weekends. We didn't look at that menu. Using the same menu for lunch and dinner with:
*A dozen'ish starters ranging rom $9 to 17, examples: bacon mac n cheese $9, blue cheese dip w/chips $12, prawn cocktail $17
*Three main course sized salads from $17 to $19
*Nine burgers and sandwiches from $14 (BLTA) to $19 (Prime rib dip)
*Ten entrees ranging from $14 (Fish n Chips) to $32 (Filet Mignon - 6 oz)
*Soup of day ($8 bowl) and 3 side salads @ $10 each (Caesar, wedge, tossed)
*Desserts numbered half a dozen and all $9.50is in classics like creme brulee and apple crisp and cheesecake
BOTTOM LINE IMHO: One and done here for us which seemed as if Longhorn Steakhouse meets Ruth Chris wannabe with Anthony's and Reno Casino touching in. Yet, they will have an audience in this general Meridian area because there is a demographic that will find this "awesome". Different strokes for different diners. They have been in soft opening and that is a smart tactic to get service protocols and kitchen systems up to speed with limited crowds. But they plan advertising "big time" come Monday 12/6/21 and they really are not ready for prime time crowds that might follow.
ACCESSIBILITY: Major ADA violation that is hard to believe from a CA company given awareness in that state is high for rules of the 32 year old Civil Rights law. That is no accessible seating, not a single seat, in the bar area where it is all raised booths thereby segregating mobility disabled people from being in the bar. Even though a ramp was installed to get there. A few standard tables on the restaurant level. Accessible parking outside in lot. Loo are accessible.
PARKING: A plus for this highly visible right on Eagle Road location is that it has a parking lot.
EXTRAS: Small outdoor seating area parallels parking lot. Private glass enclosed dining area looks as if it would seat 20'ish. | 1neutral
| 838 |
Ok, so went here this past Sunday for the Hoots VDay show...Serrano and Tin Angel have been doing this for 9 years now, and my friends and I have been to 8 of the 9 (my one buddy and his wife have been to all 9)...anyway, in the past 8 years of doing this night, the food has steadily gone downhill, and this past Sunday night was its worst...
So upon walking in with our reservation for 10, Serrano in itself had a nice unpleasant haze of smoke throughout the entire place...it was annoying, it stunk, and it led you to believe that no one who worked there gave a $hit to remedy the problem...at times it was making our eyes water and I even asked one of the waitresses "what is on fire?" This is how the night began...
Move onto our table and our reservation of 10 was split, they made 6 of us sit at one table and my remaining 4 friends were behind us...this made no sense because it was not at all that crowded and we could have easily all been together, ESPECIALLY being that my boy who makes the reservation every year has been to all 9 of these shows and always brings a reservation of no less then 10 people with him...restaurant 101 would tell you to take care of a customer like this, even if it is only once a year, but such is not the case for Serrano...
Once seated the menus were already on the table (special menu for VDay) so we all started to view the menu and see what was up...menu was SUUUUUUUPER small, about 4 appetizer selections and I wanna say 5 entree selections (give or take 1 on either)...once our waiter came over we started with the debacle of ordering...my wife and I wanted to split the mussel appetizer and as luck would have it, the waiter told us "we're out of that"...why not tell us that immediately, or even get a stupid pen and cross it off of the already small selections you were offering? Made no sense, so no appetizer for us...my other buddies got the beet salad appetizer and both said it was "nasty"...their words, not mine...so I placed my order for dinner and got the burger, which wasn't what I was dying for, but after the past 8 years of coming I knew to not set the bar high here at Serrano...the burger actually sounded good, was presented on the menu as having capers, a pickle, this and that and what sounded best was the "truffle oil aioli"...I also asked for burger to be medium well...now, I was at the table of 6 and after we ordered the waiter went onto my remaining 4 friends behind us and began taking their order, and the best was when 2 of my friends went for the gnocchi entree, the waiter sat down next to them to explain some bull$hit of how there were only 9 of those left for the entire restaurant and 4 were already ordered and who would want the 1 left they could give away, blah blah blah...listen, you know months in advance you're offering a special VDay menu you stock up and have the necessary ingredients so the people dining at 8pm can enjoy what you have...not like we were ordering at 11pm, we were ordering at 8pm...it gets better...so in the time of the ordering fiasco, my 4 friends behind us got their meals and ate before my 6 top was even served, and we ordered first?! Not to mention when our dinner finally came my burger was dog$hit (specifically hope the cook and owner read this cause I'd do circles around either one of you in the kitchen and you both should be ashamed of what you were serving and calling a burger)...the bun was day old at best, the burger itself was charred, not a tad overcooked, not medium well like I ordered, but black...the red onions on it were wilted and not fresh, there were a few pieces of old baby spinach thrown on it, fries were saturated in oil and sucked, and the "truffle oil aioli" was mother-funking Hellman's...worst part wasn't even eating it cause I was starving, the worst part of it was having to pay for it...I've eaten better MRE's then this burger...
Finally after we pay and begin to go upstairs to see Hoots, I went to the bar to get my wife and myself a drink for the show...there was 1 gentleman at the bar and the restaurant was pretty much empty since the 10pm Hoots show was about to begin and the bartender (taller woman with blonde hair half shaved) made me feel like I was on her last nerve for waiting to get a drink...when she finally decided to make eye contact (cause she was on the phone with the upstairs bar and was doing anything to not serve me) she a had a touch of that Philly bartender attitude with the "what do you want?"...I've been in the service industry for a long time and still bartend, and aside from being able to do circles around her and ANY other bartender on staff, she didn't have to act how she did...she did try and somewhat extend an olive branch when she knew I had been more then patiently waiting and backed everything up with a please and thank you, and then after getting 2 drinks I left a good tip...
All in all this place blows...food is god awful and the owner(s) need to call Jon Taffer... | 0negative
| 939 |
My wife and I went here for our anniversary dinner. We were seated right away, which was great. The main, and biggest, part of the Fork seems to be the bar area. It looked like there was a dining area off to the side, but I did not get a chance to look at it.
It was very cold outside and we were just thrilled to get seated right away. The last thing we wanted to have to do was to be told the wait was too long and to have to go back outside. So we took what was offered to us, which was in the bar area.
But it was very shortly after we were seated that the problems began. Though its hard to say for sure, both my wife and I came to the conclusion that our waitress discriminated against us because we didnt want wine and just asked for water.
This seems to happen a lot at restaurants these days. If you dont order big ticket items, the wait person thinks they wont get a good tip so they give you poor service.
We did tip poorly, but that was because of the very poor service we had.In fact, I wanted to give our wait person a big fat zero tip. I felt like that was all she had earned. But I felt sorry for her because my wife also works for tips. My wife is an Esthitician doing waxes, facials and such.
So I understand the need for tipping well. But I believe firmly that a server, or other service type person, must earn their tip. If they do well, I tip well. If they do poorly, they get a poor tip.
This place is not that big. It was very busy, but there were tons of wait staff running around. I have been to a lot or restaurant in my life. In fact, going to new ones and writing reviews is one of my favorite past times.
In all the restaurants that I have been too, I have never seen so many wait staff, and what I assumed were managers, for such a smallish place. It really made me wonder how they can afford to stay open paying for so much help.
I told my wife that it was like a bee hive. All the staff were constantly running back and forth. They all seemed to be very busy. Doing what I am not sure, because it took a long long time to get service.
After we were seated, the waitress came over expecting us to order drinks. We told her that we did not drink, and only wanted water. I think this made her mad. We told her that we were not ready to order just yet, so she left us. We looked over the menu and selected what we wanted. Then we waited, and waited, and waited
We saw our waitress walk right past our table at least 12 times during this long period of waiting. Each time, we expected her to stop and ask us for our order, but she didnt. The even odder thing was that each time she passed by, she looked right at us.
It was as if she was saying; "I have control here and I will take your order when I am good and ready."
After about 10 minutes, we were ready to get up and walk out. It was just then that she came and took our order. Then the real wait began. Fortunately, it was our anniversary, and as such were celebrating our marriage and our love. So we talked and talked and did not mind so much how long we were waiting.
It was 30 to 40 minutes before our food finally came out. We could tell by the temperature of the food that it had been ready for a while and had been left to sit.
The food was ok. I had the burger. The odd part about this was that when it came out, there were juices that had blood on them on the board itself. (They use what look like cutting boards as service platters).
When meat is allowed to rest, the juices are sucked back into the meat. This is why meat is allowed to rest a short while before it is served. So that it comes out juicy.
The only way that these juices can leak out like this is if the meat was was poked or cut while resting. So here is our thoughts on what happened.
The burger came off the grill medium, or perhaps a bit this side of medium, which is how I ordered it. The patty was left to rest of the cutting board. It was probably cut to insure that it had been cooked properly. When it was cut, that allowed all the juices to flow out instead of in.
The meat rested so long, that it continued to cook, as meat does, until it went from a medium to well-done. This effect would be even worse if it was put under a heat lamp.
It was cooked on a flat top, so no good smoky flavor or char. Just an old fashioned burger. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would probably give it a 6.
The description on the menu made this burger sound unique and good. It said something about them using a blend of cuts, one of which was brisket. I could not taste any brisket in the beef.
The fries were just ok as well. Nothing special at all. My wife had the French dip. It was a lot smaller than I expected. The taste of it was fine as long as you used the Aujius. Without it, it was dry and tasteless.
I think as long as you spend lots of money here, you will find this place warm and friendly. But if like us, you dont drink and need to keep costs down, you might be in trouble. At least we were | 0negative
| 1,008 |
As much as I wanted to like this place....it was difficult. It's basically more of a tourist attraction than an actual tea room. Doesn't mean it's bad just not for me. :(
Heard about it on Yelp app and also saw it driving by a few times. I wanted to go on a Sunday for tea but discovered they are closed on Sundays....oh man, that should have been the first warning sign that this place is NOT a true "tea room." :-(
Went in today (Saturday) for lunch at around noon ish. It was definitely busy but not packed. Wanted to sit outside because it was a nice day but Sean preferred indoors so we went inside. It smelled like....a nursing home which was kind of unappetizing to me. Maybe they use the same floor cleaners as the one my grandparents had lived in? Either way it smelled weird. We were seated in a corner which didn't really bother me. The room only had one other table filled and it was...you guessed it...senior citizens. LOL. Sean opted for a classic BLT (he had to ask for it that way, the one on the menu had other stuff on it he didn't want like beets and cucumbers or something.) I ordered half a chicken salad sandwich and half mac n cheese. The waitress was very friendly and polite by the way. When I asked her for the tea menu she looked confused and said they didn't have one. Whut? No tea menu? But you have the words "TEA ROOM" in your name. How can you not have a tea menu?! Instead she brought out a wooden box filled with a tea that you can get in the grocery store in presealed baggies.... what is this, I don't even--! :( I was very disappointed.
While we waited for our food, I decided to go upstairs to browse the shop. Uhh, everything up there is very touristy nic-nac-y. I didn't really see anything I'd buy for myself except for maybe a turquoise ring. I DID buy my mom a turquoise necklace because she loves turquoise. It was only $15 "half off" of $30 originally. Most of the other jewelry I saw looked like cheap stuff from China, similar to what most of the other shops sell on Main Street. I guess I was just hoping for something a little more unique or original like pieces made by local artists and craftspeople. Sadly, not the case here. The other shops upstairs were similar but sold mostly home furnishings and other misc gifts. I did see some really cute tea cups and pots for sale but none of them were matching sets, so I didn't really want mis matched stuff. The prices seemed fair though like $25 for a really nice porcelain tea pot with one matching cup and sauce and a stand. But I wanted more than just one cup and saucer so I didn't buy anything. Sad! :( I think the woman mentioned it was a consignment shop though so maybe that's why.
When I had arrived back at the table, the food still wasn't there. We probably waited about 25 to 30 minutes to get our lunch which is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. When we finally did get it, my mac n cheese was more like alfredo with too many bread crumbs and it was COLD. Cold and dry and sticky and gross. I could not stomach to eat it. It didn't really taste much like cheese either just flour, cream, bread crumbs, and pasta.
The chicken salad sandwich, on the other hand, tasted really fresh and delicious. The croissant was not stale but fresh! They put WAY too much mayo on it and the sandwich Sean ordered too. Hmm. Maybe next time I'd ask them to go very light on the mayo. The waitress did notice I didn't touch the mac n cheese so she took it off the bill and even offered to bring me a new side but I told her not to bother because the sandwich filled me up.
I must say the service is really good here, can't complain there. Everyone I talked to was sweet and helpful, but the menu leaves something to be desired and the gift shop was just kind of all over the place. My suggestions to them would be to get tea from a LOCAL shop like the Spice Shoppe on Main Street. Hell, even Teavana tea or Adaggio tea would be better than the generic supermarket tea they had. I mean, just look at what the London Tea Room sells, you can't buy that stuff anywhere else, even!
Also for their upstairs shop, make it less cluttered with useless junk and maybe get some local unique pieces up there be it artwork, jewelry, or furniture. Even a wine shop would be cool but they'd probably need a special license for that. I see they had books and cookbooks for sale but they were just laying around randomly, why not organize all the books in one section? I don't know. It just seemed like an old lady's garage sale in the upstairs of a beautiful historic home which saddened me greatly.
I think I'd return but not anytime soon. I'd rather make the drive to the city for the London Tea Room. They don't even serve high tea or afternoon tea here. :( | 1neutral
| 903 |
As an avid fan of Top Chef on Bravo and having seen Hubert Keller in action I was ecstatic about trying his flagship "Burger Bar" at Lumière Place despite the lavish expense.
The place was deserted when we got there. At 6:00pm. On a weekday. During Restaurant week.
Let me back up- this restaurant, which was advertised and FEATURED in restaurant week ... was empty? Signs already point to bad, says my spidey sense.
The atmosphere was bar-ish. It seemed cozy enough with the high backed, individual bench stalls and dim lighting. We also seemed pretty well insulated from the din of the casino. Our only reminder of the posh casino next door was all the LCD screens riveted to EVERYTHING.
We were seated relatively soon, once the staff realized there were actually people who want to eat at their establishment. As we looked over the menu I was blown away by how many options I had. You choose your meat, you choose vegetables, cheese, sauce, additional meats to on your burger (lobster and bacon among the choices), you can choose garnishes like truffles and coleslaw. With a selection like that the possibilities seemed almost endless.
The list of stock burgers was extremely short, on the other hand. There were only 6, 5 if you don't count the $60 "upscaled" version featured such garbage as truffles and foie gras. (Why the h@#! would I want liver pate on my burger?!)
So what to choose? I'm not a professional chef, I don't know if chopped jalapeños will go well with a cranberry sauce, or whether sliced zucchini will taste ok next to pickled green tomatoes. And I don't want to make a disgusting combination because I'd be spending upward of $20 to $30 dollars for it!
So I asked our waiter for suggestions, PRAYING he would have made an observation regarding popular burgers other guests have 'invented' or at least burgers he had tried himself. Instead he pointed us back to the stock choices.
This is just my philosophy, but when you are in the food service industry and someone asks for a suggestion, they're looking for guidance and personal experience, not a poorly read-aloud of the menu. *Most* folks *CAN* read.
I decided to go with a medium cooked Black Angus burger, with baby spinach, Jalapeño bacon, Monterey Jack cheese and a Peppercorn Sauce.
We also ordered a "Trio of Fries" which I took to mean a sampling of several types of fries (sweet potatoe, shoestring, wedgecut, waffle, etc). Not a trio of 3 things that ARE fried (zucchini, onions and pickles).
A while later (it seemed forever in the dead atmosphere of the bar), our food arrived, appetizers and burgers at the same time. Everything looked great, so I was still excited despite all the warning signs.
The burger was a laughable abomination. Rather than a large patty spread thin with toppings packed compactly into a deadly combination of flavor explosions in each bite, the burger patty itself was practically a meat ball, and the excessive toppings were perched precariously on top. They seemed to sway back and forth gently in an undetectable breeze.
It was impossible to savor a bite which combined the flavor of everything I'd ordered. Instead, some bites were cheesy (at least, I assumed the texture I sensed was cheese), some were meaty, some were spinachy (it was cooked spinach, btw... not raw as I had imagined... blech!). This lack of consistency while eating was definitely a shame. I had ordered the items together to TASTE them together. Which the constraints of a 3D space did not permit me to do.
That said, the flavors of everything were disappointingly mediocre at best. The jalapeño bacon did not POP with spicy jalapeño flavor (or bacon flavor for that matter). I couldn't taste the flavor of the monterey jack and the peppercorn sauce might as well have been thick gray water.
Plus the burger itself was more rare than I would have wanted.
In expecting to pay somewhere near $25 dollars for the burger, my standards had been raised- I expected it to TASTE like $25 dollars. And Hubert, I'm sorry to say it fell miserably short.
By the end of the meal, I was more satisfied and impressed with the Trio of Fries we'd ordered. For $15 bucks we got an enormous amount of fried foods- and everything was pretty awesome. I don't know if I'm a fan of beer battered, deep fried pickles yet, but they're starting to grow on me.
As it is, I feel like if you want a professional burger experience with a massive selection of non-typical toppings, then head to Five Guys, Burgers and Fries. It's not only a better value, but a better quality burger. | 0negative
| 795 |
Cielo is exactly what you'd expect from a restaurant at a Four Seasons: bright and airy, with great food and a focus on friendly service. We ate at Cielo twice this weekend, for both dinner and for breakfast the following day.
The atmosphere is upscale, with an open dining room, and two-seat tables angled so both diners can look out of the floor-to-ceiling windows at the waterfront and the arch. The downside to this view, however, is having to look out onto the patio, where a relaxed sense of decorum seems to be tolerated. Expect to see muffin tops and people crammed into spandex several sizes too small, as well as kids running around the rooftop pool, which also happens to be right in your line of sight, and serves as a stark reminder that we are not in Miami.
If I were to redesign the place, I would expand the dining room outward, replacing much of the patio, and move all of the commotion to the big, empty part of the deck, or route the pool traffic around the dining area, so that diners could have a less obstructed view of the city.
The food is really quite good. The tasting menus offer a great value for the quality of food you are getting, and are a great way to sample a few things on the menu. We started with some scallops, bruschetta, and sweetbreads. The bruschetta had a little too much pesto with a little less flavor than it needed, but the scallops were fantastic, and the sweetbreads were the best I've ever had, with a great flavor and texture.
Next up I had the rabbit ravioli, and my girlfriend had a chilled cucumber soup. The soup was dynamite, but very, very rich, which means that she gave up about halfway through and let me have the rest. The ravioli themselves were very tender and flavorful, but the sauce it was in was a bit too sweet and threatened to overpower the flavor of the rabbit. Next for me was the lamb chop and it was fan-f'ing-tastic. Perfectly cooked and dressed. This was one of the better lamb chops I've had. My girlfriend's canneloni was also excellent, and the ragout that accompanied was very flavorful.
The only real downsides to the dinner were a slightly odd pacing that saw some courses clip the heels of the preceeding course, and an interminable wait for a port that saw the desert delivered and eaten out of necessity (gelato melts) before the server returned to tell me that the port I ordered was unavailable. At that point, the desire for an after-dinner drink was lost without something to pair it with.
Breakfast was also a mixture of excellence and disappointment. We arrived a bit later than expected when our morning appointments ran over. We were greeted with a friendly smile, and assurances that even though we were arriving near the end of service, nothing would be compromised. Immediately, however, we were told by the bartender that the bloody mary bar was a no-go, which was disappointing since the assurances that it would remain open were the main reason we chose to stay for brunch instead of going elsewhere. We debated leaving and going instead to the amazing-but-polar-opposite Eat-Rite, but recognized that we were too dressed up for a diner and decided to stay.
After we had been seated, we waited for at least 15 minutes for a server. I thought we had been forgotten, to the point that the Eat-Rite sounded more and more like a viable option. But, just as we were about to surrender, the server arrived, wiping away most of the annoyance with the trademark Four Seasons demeanor. I ordered the corned beef hash, which was absolutely dynamite. This was not mush, but a generous portion of cubed corned beef and potatoes, served with poached eggs and a slightly spicy sauce. I would definitely order it again, if it weren't for the fact that I was informed it was being dropped from the menu! That is a travesty!
All in all, Cielo offers a very high quality of food with only a few missteps. The lapses in service would have been more problematic if it weren't for the pervasively gracious Four Seasons attitude. I just wish that, within the trademark "my pleasure" banter, there would have been a little bit better and more timely communication about what was and was not available, as these little missteps took the experience down a notch from excellent to very good, and it is why they lost an easy fifth star from me. | 2positive
| 771 |
I have to start off by saying that this is definitely in the top five best Italian restaurants I have been to in my entire 31 years of existence (the BEST in Florida by far). I live right across the street and finally decided to try this place out. We reserved a table on their outside patio for a party of 7 at 8pm Saturday night. Our table was waiting for us the moment we arrived. Our server Harrison, greeted us as we were seated. Let me tell you, I have never had anyone as kind, professional, and as knowledgeable when it came to serving. I have received the utmost best service in my entire life when dining at a restaurant. Every single dish he recommended was outstanding. Yea you can go to Bern's and come across a server who was trained for around four plus years to learn their entire menu but when it comes to service and professionalism, this guy blew my mind as well as everyone who dined with me. Now as far as the food goes, we ordered the braised octopus, the Kobe meatball, the coccoli platter, as well as the burrata crostino to start. I was never a huge fan of octopus so I didn't try it; however, everyone said it was far better than any octopus they have ever eaten. The meatball was the size of a mini basketball and let me tell you that this was the best meatball I have ever in my life tried. There was something about this meatball that was out of this world amazing. The coccoli platter was something I have never tried until today and it was made perfectly as well. The cheese in that dough as well as the honey went so good together it's pretty unexplainable unless you try it for yourself. The burrata crostino was nice and refreshing. I was instantly able to tell how fresh all the ingredients were in that plate. Now for the entrees. I ordered the pappardelle with braised short ribs, my brother and someone else had the bucatini, my cousin and another had the rigatoni, and our friend had the spaghetti cacio e Pepe. My pappardelle was cooked perfectly. The short ribs were cooked very nicely, and the sauce went perfectly with everything. Everyone loved their pasta dish and couldn't find one thing to complain about. Lastly, we ordered the bombolini and the tiramisu. Oh my goodness, the bombolini is something everyone needs to try. If you're on a diet or trying to eat healthy, skip it for once and order it. That's all I'm going to say about that. Let me break it down simply for anyone reading this. The people who wrote negative reviews of their food not tasting good, does not know a thing about good food. Good food is not supposed to be overly seasoned as you are supposed to be able to taste and enjoy the quality of each of the ingredients that are going into your dish. Also, if you order a dish that is supposed to have meat and you don't eat meat, please don't make the chef exclude it from your dish. Simply don't order it. Chefs put a lot of work into creating their menu and it's not meant to be altered with. As far as portion size goes. Now sorry to those who are used to the American standard which is large portion sizes. You will not get that here. If you're looking for an Italian restaurant or anywhere that serves huge portions, go to the Cheesecake Factory or any other American chain restaurant. Their portion size was perfect. Perfect enough to be able to enjoy an appetizer, an entree, and dessert without feeling like my stomach is going to pop. As far as pricing goes. Listen, I'm sure restaurants set their prices according to location, employees, quality of ingredients, etc. If you're scared of paying for good food then go to those places I mentioned above. Who cares about how much we spend on dining out, as long as we enjoy the food that's all that should matter. Maybe it's because I'm from NYC and I'm used to this pricing when it comes to dining out, but the fresh ingredients and our server was worth every single penny spent. Lastly, the music here was not loud whatsoever. For those complaining about the loud music. Seriously, are you really going to have a hard time swallowing your food because of however loud the music is. People just want to find something to complain about. If your scared to spend fifteen plus dollars on appetizers and an entree then this place isn't for you. If you don't care about how much you spend on food, then let me tell you, you will not regret it one bit. As for me, I'm so glad I live right across the street from them. Oh and lastly, please order something that you feel like you would like. If you know you don't like bacon, don't order a pasta dish that has bacon in it. Order something that you know you would not mind eating. It's really not fair to write negative reviews on certain dishes when you didn't like half of the ingredients prior to dining here. It really just doesn't make any sense. Try this place out. You won't regret it one bit. | 2positive
| 901 |
Firstly, I will say that, I was excited about visiting Barbuzzo after its 3-bell review in the Inquirer and after visiting Lolita, Mercato, and Varga in the close and extended restaurant family. NONE of those wonderful places should be grouped with this review.
Everything about my experience this evening made me say "meh" or "gross". Not a good sign.
Upon arrival, it was 5 minutes before anyone from the restaurant greeted us. The hostess was off on another errand, apparently, but none of the servers bothered to even smile or say something like "the hostess will be right back". We were wondering for a time if she had jumped ship.
When she did return, she took our name and gave us an estimate of the time (our table was paying their check) and shortly after offered us a seat at the counter which we took, gladly to get out of the cold doorway.
The seats were sturdy and there was a purse hook (always appreciated by ladies, I think) underneath the counter.
We sat a moment after the hostess took our coats then she came back with menus.
My friend and I immediately decided that we would order two of the specials - butternut squash soup and a lardo pizza - as well as the Pig Popcorn that we had heard so much about.
Our drink orders were taken and we sat for another 5-7 minutes before we got to order. No rush.
The server greeted us and we answered affirmatively to his query of being first-timers. He explained that portions were small to medium plates that were meant to be shared. My friend and I were both quite hungry, so we ordered 6 dishes as suggested. The server then told us that was "on the larger side" and asked if "we were sure". I claimed that I was hungry and love leftovers. The server then proceeded to tell us that the soup, pig popcorn and goat cheese plate would come out first, then the meatballs (LaBan recommended) and Gnocchi dish, and "if we had enough room" the lardo pizza.
Personally, I would have preferred the pizza as an appetizer, but perhaps that's because I think of meats and pasta dishes as a later, heavier course and, coincidentally, excellent to reheat. But who doesn't like day old pizza? Fine.
The soup came out with 1 spoon, even though they claimed that everything was "meant to be shared". We asked for another which was brought out promptly. The apple slaw that topped the soup was too copious for the portion of soup and had a bitter, acidic flavor that juxtaposed the sweet squash flavor in a detracting way. (meh.)
The cheese plate followed. It was an average cheese plate with little to rave about in the way of condiments, but it was okay. (meh.)
The pig popcorn to which we had been looking forward never arrived. We watched order after order go out to other tables though. It looked just like the pictures, but I can't speak for the taste since we never got it.
The stuffed meatballs came out shortly after they cleared the cheese plate. They had a little bit more of a spicy kick to them than I cared for, but the tomato sauce cut that flavor just enough for me and the accompanying bread was rich and hearty with an excellent flavor. My personal preference aside, this was the best dish of the evening.
The meal went downhill from here. We were brought the gnocchi dish which had a one-person portion of greens that were not complementary to the other flavors. The chantrelle mushrooms were hard to find at first, and somehow the mix of gnocchi, onions, mushrooms and truffles just didn't do anything for me. I only ate about 4 gnocchi and thought to myself "why am I still eating this?". At the same time I came to this conclusion, my friend said, "This is really nothing special, right?" We were disappointed at best and nauseated at worst. (gross.)
We set the plate aside, with about 8 gnocchi missing from the plate (about 1/8 of the plate). The server asked us how it was, and my friend replied that is was "not good". There were also mysterious shaved nuts added to the dish which were not on the menu's description. We still don't know what they were.
Another 18 minutes went by from the gnocchi disaster before our pizza arrived - just enough time to wish I was home in bed. I even wondered if it was too late to cancel it, but the server informed us our pizza would be right out.
Upon arrival, the pizza - about 12-14 in. diameter - was cut into 4 pieces. I know we live in America, but I prefer a more manageable slice. Again, my friend asked the runner to cut the quarters into eighths for us. It arrived back quickly. The combination of artichokes, cheese, mushrooms, and lardo was overly salty and dull. We each ate once slice and couldn't eat any more. I made my friend take the rest home, because it felt like such a waste. I suggested he feed it to his dog.
The server did not charge us for the pig popcorn or the gnocchi.
Sorry, Barbuzzo. 1 star because I will not be back. | 0negative
| 892 |
I've been going to Alfredo in Berwyn since it opened. I like the exposed brick decor, and always get my corner table by the window. It's convenient when meeting people for a casual dinner in-between home and the city.
I didn't know how I was on Mercato's email list until I saw the webpage which branded it as "Mercato by Alfredo of Berwyn." The webpage featured a picture that looked like a tab "now featuring our fall menu', but when you try to click on it nothing happens, so you're not able to preview the menu online. I looked for the restaurant on Open Table as I use it to book at Alfredo but they aren't listed, come to find they use Yelp's system. Arriving at 6:30 Sunday almost every table except three were taken. The bar was full. Our reservation was honored without wait, unlike, cough* Limoncello cough*. The service was good, very attentive but anxious and hurried, yet didn't make us feel rushed. We were watered but bread didn't come immediately. The waiter asked if we'd like drinks which were declined he noticed we didn't have bread, then asked if we'd like it and that he'd grab it for us, came back to ask if we'd prefer olive oil. Once returned asked if we were ready to order when I asked him if there were any additions to the menu, he quickly and apologetically read them from his book. There was someone shadowing him that he, (I hope), was training. After reading the specials we asked for a minute. We ordered the asparagus app and the arincini, I orderd a gnocchi special and my company the papperadelle. The menu is similar to Avalon in that they are listed in courses, unlike Avalon I did not see a pre fixe or pairing menu. Avalon also prices a smaller plate and entree size, there was only one price per plate here. We opted for the apps and pasta and forewent the entree and salads. The bread was good though balsamic was in the oil, I order it tabled to add your own, no big deal, if that's how they do it I'll live. The arincini was prepared well and had good flavor but was not hot, some bites were cold. The marinara was very good. The asparagus was different but enjoyable, it didn't need the runny egg on it but was still good. Not impressed yet. Honestly I only ordered the gnocchi because originally I though he said it was a ravioli special, I misheard him and since I didn't want to make him come back, ordered the gnocchi, which, God forgive me, I really don't like. I actually enjoyed it. It was very good, I didn't finish it all because remember, I don't like gnocchi. My company enjoyed the papperadelle and was very pleased. Redemption! I ordered coffee and dessert the dessert menu was quite limited, only four options. I have a feeling that's because I think the desserts are actually made in house from the taste of them. (incidentally, I saw the owner of Yori's bakery a few tables away, hope he wasn't looking for a customer.) Bread pudding was a dessert special this evening, the waiter mentioned. I quipped, "you get that many old people here?" The waiter boasted, "yes we do!" Only two desserts on the menu did not have alcohol one of which was the pumpkin cheesecake. Honestly I am not impressed with pumpkin anything this time of year, ooh, sugar cinnamon and nutmeg, feh. So I ordered the pumpkin cheesecake (insert LOL), It was actually good. It was topped with pecans ( I think, could've been sugar smacks for all I know) and a caramel drizzle, The top was a little too sugary but if you mixed it together with the center it balanced out well. All and all, I'm going back. Like I said the entrées redeemed the apps, the service really tried hard and they were very busy for being new, I think once they get in the vibe they'll be fine. This is a place in West Chester I want to like. I will stop back within two weeks to give it another shot. To sum it up You're not leaving hungry, I don't know that I would've been able to fit an entrée, I would have to omit the pasta dish if I were to order an entrée in the future. Everyone in the place seemed to be enjoying themselves and the place did smell wonderful. Somewhat difficult layout entering & exiting the bar area for as crowded as it was. Two appetizers, two pasta dishes, one dessert and coffee $70. (w/o tip or booze), A little pricey but better quality than some of the other places in town although I don't know that everyone will recognize and appreciate that difference, I hope they will. | 1neutral
| 815 |
Marsh House brought me to the Gulch on Christmas Eve after I'd dramatically declared I was quitting the Gulch - too many overpriced restaurants with pretentious menus and unaccountably-hyped food amidst a parking nightmare.
We got a ride down to Marsh House - after checking their cocktail menu and following a week of staring at that gumbo - gumbo may be my food weakness - I was ready to fill up and have a good cocktail.
Entering Marsh House is enormously welcoming - The Thompson hotel smells like new wood still and the very comfortable mid-century modern decor has absolutely bumped Butchertown Hall from my mind as "Coolest-looking place to impress an out of town guest." Everyone greeted us, doors were opened, we were invited in and our waitstaff felt genuinely happy to have us there and excited to share a Christmas Prix Fixe menu with us - my heart fell, no gumbo.
Five minutes later after feeling like the bad customer, briefly thinking sadly my whole start of falling in love with a new place would turn into a love affair that didn't like me - the bad customer - our waitress came back and was delighted to tell me they could get me gumbo. Hero mode, activate. She walked us through recommendations - what was special to the menu vs. what was normally available. We picked cocktails - one Mule, one Millwood, both opposite ends of the spectrum and either would have been perfect. Cheers.
Course one was regular menu crispy brussels sprouts - I'm in love with those at Two Ten Jack and they now have some competition. The crispy here is from pecans, not rice krispies, and while I'd argue less crispy, it's moot - it's just as addictive as being served an enormous bowl of piping hot sweet and salty caramel corn popcorn. I took a bite of the special plate - venison carpaccio with a horseradish aioli. Oh, what a brilliantly composed bite of food - nothing was amiss and that bite was insanely well-done, the kind of brilliant chef who puts everything on the plate to look pretty AFTER the chef has decided on the immaculate layers of flavor to pull out. Yum.
Gumbo was next - oh, the roux. Our waitress saved the bread to come out with the soups and it was like a melting pot of joy to dip that chunk of bread into my roux and come out with that deep-flavored broth soaked through my carb-loaded transport. Every ingredient I have on my mental checklist of essential gumbo was there and in quantity - shrimp, okra, rice, sausage! So highly recommend it. I didn't try the husband's lobster bisque - not usually a fan.
Round three, the boy chose the stuffed flounder over a cauliflower puree - delight on a cloud of foamy nuance. I picked the acorn squash risotto with fried mushrooms. Not what I was expecting - more of a fritter on top - and lacking something I couldn't quite place. The portions were so generous to this point though that I asked to have the majority of my main meal packed up - I was pretty full and we still had dessert. Good, not great, not enough to dismay my evening.
A brief pause before dessert to mention how awesome the entire waitstaff was - pulling away used dishes at a nearly exact rate that made you believe they had a magic timer somewhere. Ignoring and cleaning up the many brussels sprouts we'd dropped on the table with a bit of oil smear (and then eaten anyway...because some sacrifices are too great), grabbing us knives for the butter, water to keep us from imbibing too heavily - making a joyful little platform for our evening...that's definitely a bit of spiolage I hope we all get every so often.
Dessert pick was pumpkin cheesecake. My mind knew what to expect - the flavor delivered. Spice and pumpkin - yes! Toasted marshmallow on top, a bit of cream on the side to bring the sweetness to a more mellow tone. What really surprised was the maple brittle - just shy of bitter and spectacularly thin like the top of a creme brulee so I got to keep whacking it with the spoon to break it smaller and smaller while it delicately balanced sideways on my cake. The chocolate tart was like someone had taken those wafer chocolate-and-caramel girl scout cookies, used the highest quality ingredients they could find, then whipped it straight off the "just made" pile onto your table. Rich, delicious, very high quality chocolate.
Overall, planning a return visit already to hit up the true-normal menu. The designer for the restaurant has a strong eye for a great vibe, the staff are some of the most welcoming people in town and the chefs do a spectacular job of making really. good. food. Through any element I never once felt the hype didn't live up to the reality - instead I was welcomed into the reality and it was the hype. | 2positive
| 844 |
I have mulled over whether or not to leave this review but after speaking with several friends I have decided to do so. My husband & I frequented this establimement after learning about it in Sept of 2020. Recently, my husband & I visited & I went next door to order food as I have always done when we visit here. I am on a special diet that their food menu doesn't cater to; however my husband is not so he orders dinner for himself & drinks for the both of us at The Wheelhouse. The wait staff has never indicated that this was a problem as I've done this every time we visited.
When I returned my husband was seated. Rachel came & took our drink order & returned with the drinks. She then asked about food & I told her that my husband was ordering but I'd be eating food from next door. She said "okay" & walked over to a couple seated across the way. Then she returned from that table & told us she was sorry but we couldn't bring outside food. My husband asked why & she explained "that's just what I've been told". He then told her "it's fine I guess she can eat in the car". She said "okay" & walked away. I could see my husband was becoming upset so I told Rachel we were going next door to eat. She said "okay would you like me to cash you out?" I told her that was fine even though I had only taken one sip of my drink before she told us we could not eat there. When she came out with the bill my husband told her that I was on a special diet & that is why we were leaving. It was obvious he was upset, but he was not raising his voice. He then said "I've ordered drinks, & I was going to order food as well. I am trying to spend my money at this business". To which Rachel responded very smugly as if to check him "well you skipped out on your bill last time so...".
I have worked in hospitality in the past there is a level professionality one must uphold & the way Rachel handled this situation was far from that. I was always taught in these situations to assume the best in customers until they've proven you wrong. Clearly there was a misunderstanding if we returned after this incident & she had 4 interactions with us prior to mentioning this that she could have gotten an explanation. Instead, she made my husband upset & used that information as retaliation when my husband began airing his grievances to her about a completely opposite subject. I was both appalled by her unprofessional behavior, & hurt by her accusatory tone. Not to mention humiliated in front of other patrons. I asked "why wouldn't you have told us that when we got here?" To which she responded while shrugging "I mean I didn't think it was that big a deal". If it were not "that big a deal", why would she have used it as a response to something my husband said that had absolutely nothing to do with what he was addressing? I added "we are here all the time are you insinuating we stole from you & returned without any regard?" She then responded "well to be honest I think you don't even remember". This statement was even worse. It seemed as if she was inferring that we were so anebriated we don't remember visiting that day. I remember details from that specific night so this wasn't the case. I left & calmed down (as I was shaking from how badly she treated us). When I returned later that evening to get the exact transaction she was referring to, I informed her that the last time we were there was Dec 23rd, 2020. The bill was $77 & my sister left a 25% tip. She apologized & explained that she "mis-spoke" & that she meant it was the last time she saw us which was the night before Halloween. That night a couple by the name of Rich & Bernadette began talking to us & insisted on paying for 2 of our rounds. My husband later told me he was under the impression they had paid for everything. I remember specifically that Rich had said it was only 2 rounds but perhaps my husband misunderstood. This is the explanation for the alleged "skipping out" on our bill & if Rachel had handled this situation more professionally, we would have apologized profusely, explained that, & squared away what we owed her immediately.
Later the manager explained they had a staff meeting explaining to wait staff why outside food was no longer allowed which made perfect sense & Rachel never divulged that information. Instead she just said "that's just what I was told". If she had explained what the manager informed me, then my husband would have never gotten upset with her as her tone was dismissive & cold which we NOW know was because she was upset about something totally unrelated that she could have tactfully addressed beforehand. I will not be returning. | 0negative
| 876 |
Where do I start? Well, I'll start with it's been 8 yrs since I've been to this Chicky and Pete's. That time, the experience was not good. We were sat in the bar area at lunch time. Them music was so loud, we could barely hear each other speaking. Service was slow, despite it not being crowded at all. I ordered a salad. It was just a pile of iceberg lettuce, the shrimp were few and overcooked. There was nothing else on the salad, some ingredients (veggies) were missing. My dining partner had a cheesesteak. The ratio of meat to roll was way off. Very little meat, no flavor. We decided one and one for us. Fast forward 8 yrs later. My fiance had never been there, and I had told him that I had no desire to go back, but we thought maybe time had made this place learn from mistakes, listen to other bad reviews there were online, etc. So, we gave it the benefit of the doubt. Bad move. Once again, we were sat in the bar area. Still, very loud at noon, with only once couple at the bar. Took our waitress 10 min to get to our table, which we understand, in these times, waitstaff is limited. Our waitress was nice, and she was training someone, so she was being shadowed. Problem one was the music was so loud, we could not hear our waitress ( the mask didn't help) and we wound up yelling back and forth at each other, just to hear each other. She took our order. We ordered the Crab Fries and Onion Rings as an app. The crab fries came out ( to their credit, the order was plenty for two people). The bad part was the doused them with so much seasoning, they were hard to eat without wincing from all the salt and spice......it was way too much). I'd recommend asking for light seasoning on them if you can't tolerate eye watering salt. They were my fiance's app, so I only tried a couple, but he concurred, way too seasoned. Then it took the onion rings another 10 min to come out. Never good when you order apps and they don't come out together, but 10 min later is a long time to wait for the other app. But they were very good, and we did not complain. We ordered a regular cheesesteak and the meatball parm. Again, having to basically yell to our waitress.....the music volume is ridiculous. First comes out the cheesesteak. Upon looking at it, it was not the one he ordered. 5 min later, mine comes out. I had asked if they could just leave the sandwich in the oven for a few extra minutes, to crunch up the bread a little. That did not happen. The bread was soft, and clearly had not been put in the oven at all. The sandwich is quite small for the price. Looked to be a 6"-8" roll, with only two small meatballs on it. Two. Mostly bread, only 2 small meatballs a little sauce an NO cheese on it at all. Supposed to be a parm sandwich, with melted mozzarella. None. Waitress came over, I did not say anything about my sandwich except there was no melted cheese on it at all and it and the bread was mushy. There was no time for them to take it back, cheese it and put it in the oven to melt. We were on lunch, and the service was so slow to begin with, we couldn't wait longer. We did tell the waitress that we got the wrong cheesesteak. She said "no, you ordered the pizza steak"...and we told her we did not, we ordered the regular, and even the girl she was training told her we did not order a pizza steak. Even if we had, it still was not right, what he got was the South Philly steak. We were very nice about it, we are never rude to wait staff or expect miracles, but we did want them to know our order was wrong and my meatball sandwich was not as requested and no cheese. She got the manager to come over, we did not request that, but appreciated that she wanted to do that. He came over, barely said anything other then, "oh sorry, your order was wrong....took the sandwiches off the bill" and walked away. We appreciate the gesture, but there was no real concern from the manager at all.... basically "sorry". On our way out, there was an employee coming in from the outside tent, we walked through the door and said "thank you" for waiting for us to pass him at the door. His response was "yeah". I said "have a good day" his response again...."yeah". So, not sure what that was about, but sadly, 8 yrs later, this place left little to be desired. We will never go back, but do wish management would read the reviews more and try to rectify some of the issues. Maybe other locations are better, but this one, once again, was not. | 0negative
| 858 |
Hoshun = win win !
Hoshun was literally my go to spot whenever I was living in NOLA. Y'all are about to read and see just how often Hoshun was a GO-TO spot for me. I literally had almost everything on the menu..and y'all...their menu is as hefty as a newspaper. This spot was definitely one of my favorite spots to hit up. I mean, the food was always pretty much consistent, drinks are good, service is alright, and food is so bomb. OH, and they're open until 2AM.
I mean literally almost every night after work, a few of my coworkers and I would meet up at Hoshun for food and drinks. We'd ALWAYS order a bottle of Black&Gold Sake, fried calamari appetizer, and crab rangoons.
5 PEPPER CALAMARI $10.95
Lightly battered fried squid tossed with jalapenos, red & green bell peppers then seasoned with salt & black pepper.
Okay y'all, calamari tentacles are spooky looking or whatevahh, but get pass that because this was a MUST order appetizer. LIGHTLY deep fried calamari with hints of peppers...so good. However, this dish was a hit or miss because the batter tasted almost stale at times....hence the -1 star.
CRAB RANGOONS (comes w/ 4) $7.25
Fried wonton wrapped around a snow crab & cream cheese blend served over sweet Thai chili sauce.
Another MUST ORDER appetizer. If you know me, you know I love me some crab rangoons. How can you go wrong with a creamy seafood cheese blend on the inside of a deep fried golden to perfection purse?
BEEF TATAKI $10.50
Rare rib-eye steak, grilled & sliced with ponzu & scallions.
Portion was kind of small, but I mean I love me some rare rib-eye steak.
Probably wouldn't order again because of the portion.
SIZZLIN' SQUID $9.95
Whole squid grilled then served on a hot plate with teriyaki sauce.
A WHOLE squid served SIZZLING hot with teriyaki sauce arrives to the table every single time as well. I always get a side of white rice to go with this appetizer or easily can become a meal.
EDAMAME $4.75
Lightly salted steamed soybeans.
Don't be a boring Betsy and upgrade your edamame for $1 to spicy edamame. Thank me later.
EGG DROP SOUP $4.25
A thick "eggy" soup with chicken broth.
How can you go wrong with an egg drop soup? I always ask for extra crispy fried scallions, green onions, and fried wonton strips to go atop of my soup..
HOT & SOUR SOUP $4.95
A thick & hearty spicy soup with pork, eggs, tofu, bamboo shoots & mushrooms.
You guys know how at most chinese spots their hot&sour soup was either way too sour or way too bland? Hoshun hot&sour soup is always pretty spot on for me. I have to thank my dude Q for putting me on this underappreciated soup..much love brother. haha
SEAWEED SALAD $5.50
Marinated seaweed on top of organic greens.
.................Basic.
SQUID SALAD $5.95
Thinly sliced marinated squid on top organic greens
sauce, sesame seeds & smelt roe.
................Basic.
HOSHUN J-POPS (comes w/3) $6.55
Tempura jalapeno peppers stuffed with snow crab & cream cheese, then deep-fried & drizzled with mango & cherry sauce.
Hit or miss item... nothing special.. wouldn't order again. I mean because the jalapeno is deep fried, is it supposed to be heckkka soft to where the batter is falling off? Idk, somebody message me and let me know.
GENERAL TSAO'S (SO's) FRIED CHICKEN $13.95
- sweet tangy spicy sauce with chili peppers.
This was one of my boss lady favorite item. It's not your regular smegular general tsao's chicken.
COCONUT CURRY SOUP
Blend of coconut & green curry broth with vermicelli noodles, bell peppers, baby corn & zucchini with choice of:
Shrimp, Chicken OR Vegetable $9.95
I LOVE curry soup, but this entree comes with noodles! I always ask to substitute the vermicelli noodles for udon noodles..so good!
SAUTEED STRING BEANS $9.25
In XO sauce.....I don't really care for the sweet thick sauce that Hoshun sauteeds their vegetables in.
SURF & TURF ROLL (med rare) $9.75 | $16.95
Snow crab, avocado & shrimp tempura topped with filet mignon, eel sauce, spicy mayo & green onions..
This is the FAVORITE roll to order at Hoshun.. its literally so melty in your mouth delicous!
*NARUTO ROLL
crabstick & avocado rolled in a cucumber wrap & topped with champagne sauce
Snow crab $10.50.. If you're wanting something more on the lighter side, this is easily another favorite roll. The cucumber wrap replaces the rice/seaweed making it so so uberly refreshing.
HOSHUN'S TREASURE $9.75
Shrimp tempura, cream cheese & avocado topped with spicy mayo, eel sauce & crunchy tempura flakes..
For my cream cheese lovers.. this roll is pretty delish too. It's like a rocknroll on steroids.
DESSERT
MANGO SORBET or COCONUT SORBET $5.95
Frozen dessert made from sweetened water flavored with fruit
Pretty light sorbet molded into a coconut/mango shell. I love the simple presentation.
THAI TEA ~ can easily be a nice dessert too. | 2positive
| 833 |
TL;DR: Friendly service, atmosphere, and decent food. Didn't have any big issues. Very detailed account of food and experience below.
I'm being a little generous with my rating. 3.5 stars I think. I wouldn't mind going again to try something else. Overall, happy with service and atmosphere. Prices are a bit high for dinner, but most are large portions. It's a large restaurant with spaced out tables and plenty of outdoor seating. Street parking is meter parking. We came in from the left side and couldn't tell which was the main door. The left side was closed off inside as well as out, and we thought they were closed. There was no sign until walking further to the right to indicate we needed to keep walking to find the main door (FYI owners--a sign on that side would be helpful. We almost left). Our dishes were better than what we had at Fritanga, but it could have been our choices at each place. Food didn't come out quickly, but our waiter asked when we got there if we were in a hurry, and we said no. We were chatting, so it wasn't a problem. Our meal lasted over an hour.
Sancocho soup: Another review said it was spicy, but I didn't think so (I don't like spicy). Maybe they didn't like the black pepper. I did add ice cubes from my water to physically cool it down. The taste and large-cut ingredients made it feel more like a stew. A chunk of chicken, beef, yucca, yam, potato, squash, and an awkward-to-eat chunk of corn still on the cob. It was fine, nothing special. The kind of thing I could make at home in the Crock Pot, and I'm no chef. I think giving smaller pieces and a greater number of them would improve the dish, making it more pleasant to eat. The smaller size is called a "small bowl," and that's an accurate description. Not a full dinner portion for most, since it's a thin broth, but it was larger than most restaurant's "cups" of soup. It did fill me up enough that I didn't eat even half of the entree.
LaBandera Dominicana: The chicken was on the bone, but it fell right off when poked at with a fork (awesome). It was very flavorful compared to a lot of US American dishes, but I didn't think the taste was amazing compared with Indian dishes. Might just be a personal preference; it was by no means bad. Came with white rice and beans and choice of two types of plantains. I got the tostones (plantains flattened and twice fried), which didn't have much flavor. It was almost like a sliced, fried potato--I felt like I should be eating it with salt and ketchup (I may actually do that with the leftovers). My friend's maduros (sweet plantains) were much tastier. I'll definitely get those instead if I come back. The beans with mine were "standard" baked beans that looked like they came out of a Bush's Baked Beans can (which I do like). Most entrees come with rice and beans (black beans for the others in my party, I think) and a generous serving of type of cole slaw, which was just okay. It wasn't as "wet" as most US American cole slaws, and there wasn't a lot of flavor to it.
My and my husband's entrees were huge, so we have plenty left over. Our friends finished their dishes: camarones (shrimp) and arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) for the other. Hubby got some kind of sandwich with avocado with maduro plantains as the bread; I didn't look at what else the sandwich consisted of. He is hard to please, and he was happy with it, despite not realizing "platano" meant plantains, which he did not like in the past elsewhere.
EDIT: Also I wouldn't recommend trying to arrive an hour or less before closing time. I called to double check their hours the day before, and they said the kitchen closes at 7 (Sunday), when the restaurant closes at 8. I don't like keeping them past their closing time, so my intention was to get there at 7, which I changed to 6:40 to ensure we'd have time to decided on what we wanted. I was surprised the cutoff was an entire hour earlier, since restaurants usually stay open for people to finish. Perhaps it's because it takes them so much time to prepare these meals. It doesn't seem like a place to go if you're in a hurry. There was only one other table there when we got there, and food still didn't come quick. | 2positive
| 777 |
The Snapper should be called CRAPPER.
This was my first visit in about 8-9 years, so I really had the expectation that things would have improved. This is given the fact that the Phoenixville restaurant scene has vastly improved in that time. Restaurants from the highly acclaimed Majolica to the solid Black Lab Bistro have really given the area a new spark of gastro-life. One would extrapolate that the legacy restaurants would now have to step up their game in order to compete. With 6-10 new restaurants over the past 8 years on a half mile strip, I thought my hopes were well placed. NOT!
The restaurant is old, so I do forgive some of the tacky trappings. It seemed clean, but I never got to the restrooms which will really tell you how clean the property is. But the decor is okay and nothing turned me off and I do think it has improved slightly since my last visit.
The hostess seemed a little clueless. We asked to be seated far from the jazz duo that was playing as my girlfriend and I like the ambiant music, but also like to hear each other as we talk. So where did she take us? To the table closest to the musicians. Then when we asked for a different table, she didn't really know what to do. Luckily another server took over and showed us to a better spot. The hostess was nice and polite though.
Our server, Rachael, was pretty good. She was attentive and explained the specials. The only weird thing was when she she asked how the Snapper was, (I'll talk about the meal in a second) as she was going to order it later. As a server you should already know what the meal tastes like. If not, its a failure on the Chef's part as he/she should have daily tastings. All-in-all, solid service.
SO, THE MEAL = ACK!
We started with the Crab Bisque and Calamari. The Calamari was okay, not great not bad. One annoyance was the plating. Why does an upscale (that is for Phoenixville) serve the condiments in plastic one ounce containers? It's tacky, especially when menu items can cost as much as $50. Lose the plastic. My Crab Bisque was actually Snapper Soup at first, as the kitchen sent the wrong soup. I did try it and frankly is sucked. The Crab Bisque finally made it to the table. It was gritty in texture and my girlfriend found bits of chicken in it, yeah, really. But other than that...wait for it...wait for it...it was flavorless. DOUBLE WHAMMY! POW! ZAM!!
Onto the entrees. Meh and Yuck, the crap twins. Meh = Crab Cakes. Rachael told me they were all jumbo lump with no filling. NOT. I spent 12 years in the biz, and consider myself to be an upscale home cook, so I know from where I speak. There is filling, there is backfin and they were so freak'in small. You could have combined the crab cakes into one and you'd think that would be a normal size cake. For $30, it was a huge disappointment. Yuck = Snapper Special. Holy f@#$ what did I just put in my mouth? First, the plating was awful. There was this gloppy gooey sauce (ectoplasm?) completely devouring the entire plate. I actually asked my girlfriend if the fish was under that or not. The menu description said "encrusted with pecans." I didn't realize pecan encrusted really meant "swims with goo." So I guess we all need to learn the Chefs language. Secondly, it tasted like absolute dog food, no really, I'm not trying to be vulgar. Honestly I have not had a worse single plate of food EVER. So, don't order anything with the word SNAPPER in it... just saying...
Thank god I had a big bag of Jax Cheese Curls in my kitchen. That saved my appetite. Savory Cheesy Goodness! I should have saved my $100 and just stuck with these things instead.
In summary... Setting = okay, Service = Good -Solid, Food = ?????. Not sure what we ate was food, so I just can't say.
Looks like the setting and staff have stepped up their game, but the Chef probably needs to find another line of work, and soon.
Oh, one other thing. When a restaurant does not tell you anything about the ownership, chef, staff on their website... that tells you something.
Cheers!
IF YOU FOUND MY REVIEW HELPFUL, PLEASE RATE IT AND SEND ME A COMMENT. IT ONLY TAKES A SECOND. | 0negative
| 760 |
Date Night Turned Into Wait Night
Back in the day, Yellow Porch was a weird, vegan or vegetarian restaurant. But then I went there for dinner with some friends and we had a lovely evening, outside on a patio complete with whimsical string lights, and I saw that they now have a normal menu with beef, fish and salad options plus a decent wine list. Hubby and I had an opportunity to squeeze in a date night dinner and this was as close to downtown as I was willing to venture with the crowds in town for the draft and Buffett concert and marathon.
Red flag #1: We pulled into the small parking lot and there was an open space right in front of a sign that stated "Yellow Porch parking." As we pulled in, I noticed a fire hydrant there at the parking spot but it wasn't blocked or striped off and appeared to be an actual parking spot. We got out of the car only to be accosted by a parking attendant who informed us we couldn't park there despite it looking like a parking spot because the hydrant was nearby. I suggested maybe they make it look less like a parking spot and go ahead and stick a cone in it or maybe put some stripes down on the pavement. We moved the car and then headed inside.
Red flag #2: You have the option to sit inside or outside on a covered deck. It was a nice night and the dining room seemed dark and crowded so, as we checked in for our reservation, I asked the hostess if we could sit outside. She briskly inhaled through tight lips, looked outside warily and mumbled that she'd have to see what was available. I looked out the front window at 3 or 4 available tables and offered, "how about any one of those open tables?" She left us standing at the hostess table but then came back as if she'd gone behind the curtain to ask Oz and said, resignedly, that we could in fact be seated outside. [insert eye roll emoji]
Red flag #3: We waited a good while before a server came over and said hello and took our drink order.
Red flag #4: Finally, a lady came and introduced herself as our server. She was friendly enough but not effusive. She did not ask if this was our first time to visit (it basically was). She made no remarks on the specials or the menu. When my husband ordered and asked if he could swap out a side dish, she acted like she had to think about it and even tried to talk him out of it (despite that the, albeit unspoken, reason behind his request was a health/dietary restriction).
Husband ordered lamb chops (medium rare) and I ordered a filet (medium). His lamb chops arrived served in a shallow bowl filled with risotto. This was an awkward presentation at best as the chops were just floating in a sea of creamy risotto and it was difficult to slice them as they sat atop this liquid mess. Furthermore, his lamb chops were well north of his requested mid-rare so, after a couple of bites, he decided to send them back.
Red flag #5: We waited. And waited. He picked at his sides and I continued on with my meal but the server never came back around to inquire if everything was to our satisfaction. I finally excused myself from the table, walked inside the restaurant, found her and said, "my husband's food isn't right." She quickly followed me outside and whisked his plate away muttering, "yeah, that doesn't look medium rare." As she started to walk off, she half-assed asked about my steak, which I had not gotten into yet, but reached over with the flat side of my knife and pressed. I immediately knew it was over cooked, as well, but we were in a time crunch and didn't have time to send both our plates back and the waitress went ahead and offered, "that looks right" so I guess it was [go ahead and insert another eye roll emoji here]
As my husband sat there watching me finish my meal, I cut into my steak to find it somewhere between medium well and well. I will say it was flavored really well, which made it edible, but it's a shame they overcooked all their meat.
Red flag #6: When my husband's entree was brought back out, it was delivered not with an apology but rather a "here ya go." Also, he pointed out that he was "docked" one lamb chop, having one less chop than he did on the original plate. He theorized that they noticed he'd had some of one chop before sending the dish back so they didn't give him a full portion on the refire.
Red flag #7 and 8: Even after these missteps, the server was still MIA. She should have come back more frequently, at least to check on the new order and see if it was better but she remained missing in action much like she was the entire night. Husband finished his entree and it was a nice evening dining al fresco so we discussed coffee and dessert. A table left beside us and their server was clearing their table. He heard us talking about dessert and said, "Y'all want dessert? I'll go find your server." I responded with "good luck." By the time she finally came back, we asked for the check, deciding they did not deserve any more of our time or money | 0negative
| 940 |
This block of Ortega was in desperate need of a restaurant. I eagerly anticipated the opening of Little Kitchen from the moment their notices of construction were posted in the window. I was like a child anxious for Santa to arrive, walking past the store front daily (it's near my job) for signs of life.
Once it finally opened, it took me weeks to come in because I could not get past the putrid stench just outside its' door. Everyday there was this overwhelming order of urine, vomit, alcohol and whatever other secretions ooze out of the Wild Cat next door and on to their little store front area. It was like an invisible force field that repelled me back each time I tried to enter the restaurant.
After what seemed like a couple of months, it appeared someone eventually got the notion to hose off the area and the stench subsided..for a brief time at least. Relieved, that was my cue that the force field was down and in I went. Once you get inside it smells like a restaurant is supposed to smell, not like an out house in the back of a brothel. The decor inside is earthy and inviting, the bathroom has the most adorable tiny sink and the tables are decorated with cute fresh flowers. One of the owners is often at the counter taking orders. She is also an accomplished chef and used to whip up some great dishes for Happy Hour at the Kitty.
I ordered the Turkey Rosemary Club and substituted a wrap for the ciabatta. (Though ciabatta is delicious it always tears up the inside of my mouth, hence the substitution.) It came with a side salad and I added a La Croix sparkling water. The sandwich/wrap was delicious and very flavorful, filled with chunks of turkey breast and ingredients that tasted fresh. Yes! It was also super reasonably priced. I enjoyed sitting at a table where I could look out the window (but not close enough to the window where I could inhale any lingering stench.) The next time I came in, I tried the Tomato Soup and Half Sandwich, also delicious.
The last time I was there and the reason for the two star review, is in regards to the kitchen. On a slow afternoon, I came in and ordered my Turkey Rosemary Club with Side Salad and Sparking Water and sat at a table with a view of the open kitchen. While I was waiting for my meal, I noticed one of the chefs preparing a take out order. In the midst of placing the food items in containers he let out a series of huge, snotty, wet sneezes and deep coughs reflexively catching the goo in his bare hands. He then took said once bare hands, now covered in slimy germs, and inserted them directly into a bin of tasty house made potato chips; grabbing two handfuls and placing them in the to go box for the take out order. Yum! Some folks got extra "seasoning" that day or maybe even a side of laryngitis. This scene had my stomach churning and although I had already paid for my meal, I couldn't stomach the idea of actually eating it given the lack of hygiene observed by the chef in the kitchen. I waited a few minutes to see if he would ever wash his nasty hands, but no, he didn't. He just continued to handle customer's food bare handed and covered in germs.
If I was a restaurant owner or manager, I would want to know about situations like this so that I could re-train my staff. So I discreetly pulled the owner aside and shared what I witnessed. She seemed surprised, albeit aloof, and went back to standing at the register, but did not address the issue at the time. That was my cue to to let her know that they did not need to make my order. She offered to give me a refund. I told her that was not necessary. It was not about the money, it was about the cleanliness or lack there of in their handling of food. She insisted and gave me a refund.
I'm sure things like this happen in kitchens all the time behind closed doors, but to see it on display in an open kitchen is just repulsive. I can't imagine how food is handled when customers aren't in plain sight, if this is how it is handled when they are.
So, no more Little Kitchen for me, unfortunately, because I did enjoy the convenience and taste of the food. Who knows, maybe boogers, snot and saliva mixed in with a little virus, bacteria or allergies are the flavors that I unwittingly enjoyed. | 0negative
| 795 |
Tommy DiNic's is a Philadelphia institution. The Nicolosi family has been feeding hungry Philadelphians for the last 100 years, since 1918 when Gaetano Nicolosi opened a butcher shop and called it Nicolosi's. In the 1970's DiNic's was born - the brain child of cousins Tommy Nicolosi and Franky DiClaudio. By combining their names they came up with DiNic's. The original DiNic's was located at 10th and Oregan. In the 1980s, the cousins decided to split up the business; Franky taking his half to 10th and Reed and Tommy making Reading Terminal Market his home. The Reading Terminal Market location of DiNic's is now run by Tommy and his son Joey. It is their commitment to the made-from-scratch process that keeps people coming back for more.
This being my first visit to the Reading Terminal Market I was initially overwhelmed, both visually and aromatically. After a slight detour to a stand that boasted homemade honey and candles made from beeswax, I got back on track and made my way down the center aisle toward DiNic's. Located roughly in the center of Reading Terminal Market, DiNic's is hard to miss, both because of its signage but also because of the large crowd surrounding it. We got in the line, which wrapped 3/4 of the way around the restaurant. The menu is short and to the point: roast pork, roast beef, Italian sausage, and homemade meatballs. You can also get hand carved roast pork or beef brisket. As for toppings, you have your choice of broccoli rabe, provolone, sauteed spinach, or roasted peppers. As I had been planning this visit to DiNic's for months, I knew what I was going to order and did not need to consult the menu board. As luck would have it, three stools opened up as we were waiting in line to order our sandwiches. We quickly claimed them and I commenced my surveillance of the other diners. All were elbow deep into their sandwiches and all had the same blissful expression on their faces - like there was nowhere else they would rather be at this moment. I could not wait to experience my own food nirvana. A server quickly took our order and while we waited I checked out the food prep process.
Because of its location the whole place is open for viewing. The dining counter surrounds the kitchen area. There are soda fountains in one area and the sandwiches are built on the other side. Our sandwiches were created right before our eyes - first the bread was sliced up the middle, next came a few slices of provolone, sliced fresh off the cheese block, then a heavy helping of pulled pork, extracted dripping with goodness from the slow cooker, and finally, the broccoli rabe, piled high on top. The sandwich is cut almost in half and wrapped up in wax paper before being placed in a red basket. As business was booming, this whole process was done quickly, but with practiced precision. My first bite was one of shock - I was not expecting the bitterness of the broccoli rabe having never tasted it before. On its own, probably not my favorite green, but when combined with the pork, cheese and bread, was a fascinating taste bud experience. The broccoli rabe is slow cooked with garlic and other spices. The pork was juicy and tender, each bite an explosion of flavorful juices. The provolone cheese was delicious and gave a salty zing to the pork and rabe combination. The roll was fresh baked and fluffy - the stuff bread-lovers dream about. While consuming my sandwich bits and pieces of other people's conversations floated into my ears. Many of those in the line had not been here before, their visit prompted by the Travel Channel show, Man vs Food. Almost all were planning to order the sandwich that I was quickly consuming. Before I knew it, I had finished the first half of my sandwich. I had the second half packed up for a future lunch. We left DiNic's with happy, full stomachs and thoughts of return visits.
When I was a kid, food held no special significance for me. I knew what I liked and what I didn't like - at least I thought I did. This would explain why it took me so long to explore Reading Terminal Market and Tommy DiNic's. What I couldn't appreciate as a kid, I am making up for as an adult. My visit to DiNic's was everything I expected it to be, delicious, slightly hectic, and a family affair. It was only fitting that my first DiNic's sandwich was experienced with my parents on either side of me - one family enjoying another's culinary heritage.
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
-Andre Gide | 2positive
| 807 |
I've had Pho in all of 50 States, completing such a feat in Anchorage, Alaska in June 2018. Here I am in Willow Grove, PA at it again. Then again, it was just lunch here at Pho Viet Hoa. It was nice to meet up with a friend, whom I hadn't seen since November 2013 in Philadelphia.
My friend and I cruised on over to Pho Viet Hoa Vietnamese restaurant on a brisk Sunday afternoon, arriving at 12:30pm. After driving from Newark on a easy Sunday morning, it was good to have Pho anytime of the day - especially with the weekend I just had. Pho is always the go to spot for me, doesn't matter where I go or when. It is usually the perfect meal option when I'm craving for it. The restaurant itself was small enough, holding about 20-25 people comfortably at a time. It's basically your quintessential Vietnamese restaurant. You can get in and out of here within 1 hour of ordering and eating. For the most part though, it was an enjoyable meal with great company. Conversations about marathons and traveling is what we do here - along with the Pho. We both ordered Pho, but I wanted the combination Pho, which was #16, as mentioned by the waitstaff. My friend had the chicken Pho while I ordered the not deep fried shrimp rolls. The fresh shrimp rolls were good and delicious. You can tell when they're delicious and freshly made, since the rolls don't taste like they just came out of the freezer or refrigerator. I look for that very aspect when you know it's authentic. Fresh is the only way to go! It definitely hit the spot after a morning of driving from Newark, that's for sure!
The overall experience here at Pho Viet Hoa Vietnamese restaurant in beautiful Willow Grove, Pennsylvania was quite nice. It was casual, quiet, and definitely was food for the soul. Driving from Newark was the afterthought when sitting down to lunch here with a dear friend. It essentially was the motivation to get here on time. The restaurant itself was nice and clean. The service was good and friendly. While my friend says this place isn't the best nor her favorite in Willow Grove, it was good for me. We sat in the middle of the restaurant, close to the wall. It was nice to be out from the cool autumn mid November air. Pho Viet Hoa Vietnamese restaurant is located at 3646 Welsh Road, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. They accept major credit cards, as well as cash. Since the restaurant is in a small commercial strip mall, you can find plenty of parking here. Just be warned that it can get crazy if you get here too late. Fortunately for us, it was on a Sunday and the parking situation was A-okay. There is public transportation options here, even from metro Philadelphia. You got to take the Landsdale/Doylestown train on the SEPTA then the route 95 bus into Willow Grove. If not liking the public transportation thing, best bet would be to grab your own wheels or rent one. Uber and Lyft are your best friends too. Just get here soon, so you can participate in the Pho orgy that you've come to love.
For y'all who loves the Pho, you will get your fix here at Pho Viet Hoa in Willow Grove, PA. The aforementioned combination Pho manifests itself here as "P11", where you have a combinations of beef to soak in the beautiful bone broth. I enjoyed the broth, although it could have been a bit more richer. The flavors of the broth was exquisite and definitely hit the spot after that aforementioned drive from Newark. Maybe I should have asked for extra bean sprouts, since it's always a fun time with extra bean sprouts. For the most part though, it was a good and causal experience here. Just get in and out with getting your Vietnamese fix for the minute. The bowl was larger than I expected it out to be and I cleaned that up within 20 minutes, soup and all. It was delicious and money well spent for sure. While I have been to the one in Chinatown Philadelphia before, I must say that this one is better. If you don't have to go into metro Philly to get your Pho fix, consider coming to Willow Grove and get that Vietnamese pep in your step. If you are in the area and love Vietnamese cuisine / Pho, consider coming here for a fun time in your stomach and taste buds. You won't regret it! I would recommend this place to anyone and everyone. Good stuff all around.
4.5 stars for the overall experience. Quiet and nice lunch on a Sunday. 4.0 stars for the ambiance and 4.0 stars for the food and service. Prices are pretty good, average $10-$12 for a bowl of Pho, depending on what you want in it.
Support local!
B+ | 2positive
| 832 |
If you live anywhere near mid city, you know the options for good Vietnamese food are pretty dismal. I can't put into words how excited I was to see a Vietnamese cafe opening within walking distance to my house! The pho gods are smiling down on me!
I was super excited to try Namese and it didn't disappoint! Namese is a cute and modernly stylish Vietnamese cafe that has recently opened on the corner of S. Carrollton and Tulane Ave. This area is pretty run down and trashy and is in serious need of new businesses, so this was a welcome addition to my hood. (Stayed tuned also for Treo that will be opening soon)
I really like the atmosphere and decor. It's modern and warm. There's an really nice outside patio area with a good amount of seating, albeit close together. I'm sure after the meal there with my friend, that others around me know intimately about my physical and emotional well being, as well as the antics I plan to take part in this weekend. I heard one man remark about how it was a little difficult to get in and out of his chair because the tables were close together. It's a small thing, but removing a couple of tables might help the situation. Decor gets a B+
The staff was beyond friendly! We were asked numerous times how things were going and if we needed suggestions, etc. It was nice, and I was glad to see a young staff working so hard to make the new restaurant a success. Another unnamed Vietnamese place (that I happen to love), has a young staff and their service really suffers because they don't seem to care very much. Definitely not the case here. Service gets an A+
Let's eat!
We started with the crab rangoon appetizer. I'm a crab rangoon junkie, so if it's on the menu, I'm ordering it. With that being said, I very rarely get crab rangoon that I think is amazing. I eat a lot that's good...but not amazing. The amazing title for crab rangoon is still held by China Doll. In my 41 years of living on this earth...it's always held the number one spot. I would say that Namese's crab rangoon is good. Not great. The bad: They were VERY greasy. Also the inside was not hot enough. It was barely warm. Both of these characteristics lead me to believe that the oil they fried them in wasn't hot enough. The good: While not hot enough, the flavor of the filling was very good. If it were hot enough and oozing all over the place, it would've been so much better. They serve it with a dip that can be compared to chimichurri. It was delicious! I found the value to not be as good as you get at most Vietnamese restaurants. It was $6 and came with 4 very small rangoons.
Next, we shared the banh mi trio sampler. It was 3 small slices of bruchetta with different meats and the standard banh mi pickled veggies. They were very good, but again, a poor value. It was also $6. When you think about the fact that you can get an entire sandwich for that price, $6 was just too much for what you got.
For our entrees, I had the lemongrass chicken bun (vermicelli noodles). I was delighted when the waitress corrected my pronunciation of bun. I've been eating Vietnamese food for YEARS and no one ever corrected my pronunciation. I hate when people say pho with a long O, and here I've been saying bun wrong. Thank you waitress! I then proceeded to impress her by counting to 10 in Vietnamese and telling her she was pretty in Vietnamese, etc. etc. Well...I had to redeem myself. It was absolutely delicious, but again, I can't help but compare the value/portion size to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. The serving size was about 1/2 the size of the other place, and the same price.
My friend had the pho ga. She said it was good and seemed to be enjoying it. It was the same serving size that you'd find at most Vietnamese restaurants.
Food gets a B+
Value gets a C
And I want to note...that I'm not as bothered by the price as I am about the portion size. Had I not shared 2 appetizers, I still would've been hungry after eating my chicken bun bowl. That has NEVER happened EVER at any Vietnamese place I've been to. I usually never get apps and I'm stuffed after eating. So even if they want to charge a little more for it, I'm actually fine with that for the convenience of not having to go to the Westbank...I just want to be full.
So all in all, I really enjoyed Namese and would definitely go back again. I'm thrilled to welcome them to the neighborhood. Give them a try! | 2positive
| 825 |
As with any restaurant, usually there are high points and low points. There will forever be room for improvements, especially in the restaurant business.
Always remember that reviews I post are that of my own personal experience.
My husband and I dined there with our 18 yr old niece on Thursday, October 29th at 5:30pm. We called to see if there were any open reservations and were told that at this point in the evening, they had a few open tables but were not taking reservations. Hmmm...website says "reservations strongly suggested"...
We took a chance and went to see if they would have a table when we got there. and they did.
The restaurant space itself has lovely décor, makes good use of the space and immerses you in browns and gold, creating a very warm and inviting feel.
They have a back entrance as well as a front. We parked in the back and of course, used the back entrance. A bit confusing when you walk in and have the bar and the bathrooms to greet you. No hostess stand, no sign telling you to head to the front of the restaurant to see the hostess. Truly feels like you came in through a back door and not a 2nd entrance.
We were seated and handed paper tri-folded menus. OK, I will give you a pass on that since you just opened up. But not having nicer menus but having your logo on the cocktail napkins...just sayin'.
We were greeted by our server and he took our drink orders. The table in front of us was seated after we gave our drink order. And the table in front of us received their drink order below us (yes, it included two things from the bar, a martini and a beer, same as our order). Seemed off, but I let it go.
A different server delivered our drinks and I asked for bread, since other tables had it but we did not. Got bread. No butter or oil. Had to ask twice for both. The bread, which the website says is baked in house was not only not hot (not even lukewarm, just standard room temperature) was slightly under baked. If you are touting that you bake your own bread in house, serve it warm at least!
Limóncello Martini was solid - even had a scoop of lemon water ice in the center of the glass and they have you pour the martini over it. Nice touch!
Waiter finally came back and took our order. After he had taken 2 full tables orders that were seated well after us.
Appetizer:
Affettato ~ think antipasto serves on a wood plank. The selection was nice, three meats, two cheese, grilled eggplant and olives. Prosciutto was cut very thick, would have preferred it cut much thinner.
My Entrée:
Linguini Frutti de Mare - linguini was cooked well and to my liking. Shrimp was WAY OVERCOOKED. Red sauce was solid, although the menu read as "spicy" and I thought it could have used more heat.
Husband's Entrée:
Linguini con Vongole (Clams & Linguini (white) - said it was good and the sauce was clam juice and brine and not overpowered by butter and/or oil. Said it could have used bits of clams in the sauce as the only clam meat was from the 9-10 small clams that were serves in their shell.
Niece's Entrée:
Vitello Principessa - (Veal Medallions with brandy cream sauce and asparagus). It was serves over pasta that was coated with sauce. The veal was tough and she struggled to cut it. The piece that I tried was tough and dry and what seemed to be extremely overcooked. Was drowning in the sauce as well. (again, I did not say anything, knowing that it is tough to get everything perfect, especially in the first few months of opening a restaurant). This is not something she would seek out to order again.
Dessert was tiramisu to share between my husband and I and my niece ordered the chocolate mousse cake. Tiramisu was a miss for me, tastes like strong alcohol to me, husband thought it was OK and nothing to write home about. Niece loved her chocolate mousse cake and ate 90% of it, which is a compliment in and of itself since she doesn't eat sweets often.
We ordered a pizza margherita to take home for lunch the next day. It came to us just out of the oven and hot! Smelled delicious! Tried a nibble when we got home and was disappointed with the crust being a bit too "doughy" for my personal taste. | 0negative
| 773 |
Is poutine the most Canadian food invention? Probably yes. Emerging from Quebec in the late 1950s, this french fries, cheese curds and brown gravy combo has become one of the quintessential dishes of Canadian cuisine.
Here are some of my own personal (judgmental) thoughts on poutine and how it's supposed to be made:
1. Crispy french fries. Must be fried twice to a golden perfection.
2. Cheese curds. Must be squeaky. Cheese will melt on the outside while retaining a cool, squeaky centre. DO NOT consume a "poutine" made with shredded cheese. Blasphemy!
3. Sauce brune. The gravy is known as a "brown sauce." Should be silky and piping hot.
If these three points are not met then the poutine is generally not worth my time. (Let's have some standards, people!) VUE Weekly named La Poutine as the #1 Best Poutine 2018 and #1 Best French Fries 2018 and therefore I had to check them out! (I've tried their poutine years ago. But since that time I spent 3.5 years living in Montreal, so I figured that I'm due to try them again.)
The little shop in Garneau has been around for quite some time now (it opened in 2011) and is pretty undisputed as thee spot for poutine in Edmonton. One of the owners is actually from Quebec, which is certainly comforting. You need that built-in expertise! The restaurant is very small, however there is seating for about 10 people and they offer outdoor seating as well (even in the winter!). The space is simple and clean with the ordering counter as the focal point. There are some fleur-de-lis here and there which are necessary! And the menu is pretty straight forward: They've got poutine and almost nothing else!
I visited on a Saturday evening and I came prepared. The menu consists of sixteen different poutine concoctions, ranging from very traditional Quebec styles to versions that are definitely suited to a Western palate. (The Perogy and the The Donair scream Edmonton to me.) I like seeing this! It means that they understand their audience. (However they don't have a poutine with hot dog in it, and that might be one of the most Quebecois ways to eat a poutine.) They also make a feature poutine that changes every once in a while and it's fun to keep an eye out for what they create next!
La Poutine does claim to take the tree main ingredients very seriously, which is key. Their fries are hand-cut from locally grown russet potatoes and twice fried in canola oil. The cheese curds are brought in from Quebec for added authenticity. And there are three types of gravy to choose from; Traditional (Quebecois-style), Beef (Western-style), and they also do a gluten-free gravy. All of the poutines some in regular or large size and a couple even come in a mini size.
As for the beverages at La Poutine, I have some criticisms. They offer cans of pop, which is totally fine, however they don't carry the correct kind. Everyone in Quebec knows that a poutine (or any fast food, really) is to be enjoyed with either a cherry coke or a spruce beer. Neither of these are options at La Poutine. They do have Pepsi, which is probably the next most acceptable thing to drink, but it would be so much better if they carried a few more classic choices.
I was very ready to commit some food crimes and to crush a whole pile of fries, curds and gravy. First up, The Big Mack (Traditional poutine + ground beef + house mack sauce + lettuce + red onion + pickles + toasted sesame seeds - $9.50 for regular). Big Mac-themed foods are so hot right now and are a major trend. I was happy to see that La Poutine is on board! I thought that they totally pulled this off and did an excellent job of creating a Big Mac in poutine form. It tasted exactly like it. The fresh lettuce, pickles and special sauce really brings in the exact flavour and mouthfeel that you would expect. And I especially liked the nice touch of adding sesame seeds to mimic the hamburger bun - so smart!
The "weirdest" poutine on the menu is likely The P.B. (Traditional poutine + bacon + maple PB&J drizzle + crushed peanuts - $9.50 for regular) although to me, it really doesn't sound weird at all. It just sounds like something that I would love to eat. We ordered it as our "wild card" item, although I was pretty sure that it was going to be great. This was the one! We all agreed that this was the best poutine of the four that we ordered! Ultra unique, the flavours in this poutine just make sense. The PB&J drizzle offered that amazing, crave-worthy, salty and sweet combo and the crushed peanuts brought a great texture. I kept forgetting that there is bacon in this, which is the absolute best protein that they could have chosen. This poutine was fun, different and delicious!
Next up we wanted to sample something really traditional to get a feel for how they're doing a true classic. The Quebecois (Traditional poutine + shaved Montreal smoked meat - $9.50 for regular). I was skeptical of how good their smoked meat could possibly be, but it wasn't half bad. The cured, smoky t | 2positive
| 898 |
Came here for a celebratory homecoming dinner after my main squeeze had been overseas for two months, and it was a great choice!
When you pull in you will be required to valet your car. Notice all the Maseratis, Porsches, BMWs, and Mercedes' flanking the entrance to the restaurant. If you drive a crappy VW like me, it will be hidden way in the back so as not to scar the delicate eyeballs of Mainline 1%ers. The valet is gratis, though, so that's a plus! They were also very fast when retrieving my car at the end of the evening.
Noise level was deafening upon entry for an 8pm reservation, but had simmered down a bit by the end of our meal. Dress code was not as formal as the vehicular lineup and valet theatrics would indicate. It was as though everyone was on the same mailing list that informs wealthy white people of what to wear and when, which must also be the medium by which all Mainline housewives know just the right level of upscale athleisure and gold accessories that is appropriate for an afternoon grocery run. Lots of very tan people in the 40s-early 60s age range. The few people I saw closer to our age were with groups that appeared to include their parents.
OK, you're reading this for the food, not my snarky classist commentary. We decided to start by sharing a seafood bento and crispy octopus salad. The presentation of the octopus was lovely - it arrived in a covered dish and when the lid was removed with a flourish, bonito flakes danced a delicate, wavy jig on top of the crispy octopus. This dish was excellent and got F's vote for best dish of the night. The seafood bento was also very good - each component included thoughtful accompaniments that were much more than a typical afterthought garnish. Only the shrimp spring roll stood out as rather pedestrian, though not bad by any means, while everything else was spectacular. The tuna tartare in the bento was my favourite item of the night.
We moved on to share two specialty sushi rolls, which are quite large. The seared tuna was very good, but didn't stand out as anything really special or unusual to justify the price tag. If it had incorporated a yuzu vinaigrette drizzle or something else to brighten it up I think I would have been more wowed. The King Kong roll was better in theory than in practice. The overall impression was a bit dry, and I'm personally not huge on shishito leaf so that's just my own taste. The end pieces were so huge there was no way to eat them whole, so I pulled out the meats to eat on their own. I found that the beef was incredibly good and it seemed sort of a crime to hide it in a roll like that. A bit gimmicky, and not terribly successful.
Finally we each concluded with our own dessert, always the highlight of the meal for F. He got the chocolate torte and I went with the deconstructed s'more. His torte was very good, rich and beautifully presented but not unique or particularly interesting. My s'more suffered the same fate nearly every Top Chef contestant meets in the "deconstruct a dish" challenge. Each component was good on its own, but did not come together in a single bite to evoke the flavour of a s'more. It was also a little confused, with peanut butter and banana being brought to the party. The chocolate peanut butter brulee was interesting but lacked the smooth creaminess of a traditional creme brulee; the banana marshmallows didn't taste much like banana but the torched exteriors were very satisfying; the banana ice cream could have been creamier (it was icy, more like a sorbet) and the graham cracker cake's texture did not play well with the other components, while tasty on its own.
To accompany this feast I got a thyme and cucumber gin cocktail that was truly excellent, well balanced with good flavour. In fact, it was so good I decided to get two even though I was planning to only have one, but was then disappointed when my second drink arrived tasting significantly different from the first - sweeter, and less balanced. It was still fine and I drank it, but it speaks to an inconsistent regime behind the bar.
The bill was actually not that shocking, especially by Center City standards. Total before tax and tip was about $122, which I found fairly reasonable. Service was good and overall we really enjoyed our experience. We plan to come back in the future for drinks and a full table of appetizers - those were the real stars of the menu and could easily make a meal. We found what we had ordered to be the perfect amount of food, we left full but not stuffed. | 2positive
| 823 |
Way to treat your GLOBALIST(highest level) member guest! If I could give zero stars I would...My overall stay at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis was absolutely horrendous. The entire stay was a disaster and the rooms were beyond deplorable. This trip to Indianapolis was supposed to be special as my mother and I were visiting to celebrate my great uncles 90th birthday. I battled between staying at the Hyatt and Hilton since my mother is a Diamond level member. I convinced her that the Hyatt was a better option and I was terribly wrong. I was thoroughly embarrassed to have her witness all of the horrible situations that took place on this trip.
For starters I think that the front desk staff should be educated on how important it is to properly inform the guest. I called in prior to my arrival and spoke with Eugene who confirmed that upon arriving, I would have a room available for an early check in. My reservation was for checking in on 11/10-11/12 and because I was arriving so early on the 10th I wanted to make sure it wasn't necessary to book an additional night on Friday (11/9) I was assured that this wasn't necessary and he would note my reservation about this. Well to my surprise when I arrived at the hotel on 11/10 around 1:30 AM or so I wasn't greeted promptly. It was no front desk agent in sight until about 5 minutes or more passed a gentleman came from the back. Stating he was working on paperwork.. That's neither here nor there and doesn't excuse the fact that the front desk was left unattended for as long as it was. My reservation wasn't found at first and he was having difficulties until he finally located the reservation. At this moment I wasn't aware that he or somebody in the hotel changed my reservation to a 3 night opposed to the 2 WITHOUT telling me which resulted in additional nights fee's being charged to my card WITHOUT anybody telling me until checkout. First I was told that there wasn't any room available and then he said that the room that I was assigned to wasn't ready and then it was, very confusing. I was told that the original room I was put into was a "Premium" room since it was located on the club room level.
The room was far from premium. Complimentary premium internet is a complete joke. This Wifi connects and kicks you off. There was an EXTREME amount of dust and garbage that was behind the dresser where the TV sits on. My mom dropped her ear ring behind there and this is when we discovered all of the nasty things that were behind the dresser. I took plenty of photos and went to the front desk to show them the ridiculous amount of dust and junk that was found. I had a really hard time sleeping because I kept sneezing and couldn't figure out why.. well the DUST everywhere from the corners of floors to the incredible amount of dust located along the baseboard of the beds would explain this sneezing. Absolutely ridiculous. Fast forward, I was changed into another room which was clean to the naked eye however it contained some problems as well. The vent in that room obviously needed a new air filter because when we turned on the heat it blew out an extreme amount of dust ALL OVER THE BEDS. Completely unacceptable. To add to the long list of things that went wrong with the rooms, the tile inside of the bathroom was on its last leg and was on the verge of coming down and crashing into my mother head while she was using the bathroom. Another unbelievable thing that transpired and really made the stay beyond frustrating.
The ice machine on our floor (18th) was out of service for the entire time we stayed. I called down on the 2nd night to speak with another unpleasant employee by the name of DALTON. After several attempts to reach the front desk he finally answered without giving his name. I had to ask for it which doesn't seem like the guest standard for Hyatt. Nonetheless he had a very nonchalant attitude while speaking to me and even made an absurd suggestion for me to go to another floor to retrieve ice. I shouldn't have to go out of my way to go get ice, the problem clearly never was fixed and I wasn't going to spend any more time calling downstairs about this.
The last thing that I didn't understand about this hotel is that the club room is closed on the weekends. I honestly wouldn't have booked this if I would've known this prior to making a reservation. The day that it was finally open which was on that following Monday 11/12 I had no access to the room. Called downstairs to inform them about this and was told my room key showed I had access but I didn't. The card wasn't deactivated as I was able to still access my hotel room. Went downstairs to have the key re done and once again it didn't work. Too much of a headache and based on everything I've just shared this hotel caused so much stress. The trip was supposed to be fun and it wasn't because this hotel. Being refunded a total of 8,000 points was an insult! Barely enough to compensate for this atrocious stay. | 0negative
| 916 |
There's no dearth of good eateries in Edmonton; that's one reason I so love my adopted second city. There *is* a dearth of excellent execution: rarely do front-of-house and back-of-house mesh so seamlessly as to spark joy in the diner. DOSC sparked joy.
From the clean exterior façade to the strong horizontal lines and quirky art of the interior, to the thoughtful elements and equipment including the beef dry-ager to accents in the washrooms, DOSC (Drunken Ox, Sober Cat - a nod to the contrasting personalities of the owners) shows an attention to detail that's vital to curating a good set of courses.
Upon entering you've got a choice between the Sober Cat Café to your left and the Drunken Ox dining areas to your right, within which there are tables and booths. The hunnybunny chose a booth for us. I got to pick that perfect one that gave me a straight-line view into the kitchen and she got the panorama of the goings-on.
Front-of-house was represented by Megan, the barista-on-duty, and Bianca, the 'leader'. (No, really, that's the title on her business card.) Both women were no-nonsense lovers of their domains, sharing their joy of coffee and cuisine, respectively. Best of all, I heard the wonderfully honest words "I don't know" on occasion, to be followed up by a researched answer. That's refreshing; thank you.
Bianca gave us an unhurried tour of the restaurant, showing off with pride the kitchen (beautiful views are to be had) and the beef dry-ager and the many cuts of meat on display.
The 'bunny did the ordering for us, picking a selection of items to share. (We've been doing this together for a while, all over the world, so there's rarely anything to worry about.) As apps she chose the beef marrow (with gremolata and a chive baguette) and the roasted butternut squash (with hazelnut, tahini, and pesto). Both were very, very satisfying. I could have used twice as much baguette to sop up all the tasty marrow and drippings. I'm rarely all about the veggies but I loved the punch of the pesto as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the squash. Would order again.
Then we selected a steak tartare; damn, it was good! We've discovered there's a lot of ways to make it badly, and only a few ways to do it well, and DOSC does it well. Much joy in the steak tartare, thank you very much.
There were many menu items I would've tried but for budget and belly; we even took home some of the mains to allow for a dessert flight; details later. Also, I've added pix of most things mentioned herein.
What I am all about is the coffee, so much so that the 'bunny rolls her eyes at my glee (but she lovingly indulges me). I went with a compare-and-contrast coffee flight of one bean prepared two ways; AeroPress vs pour-over. It was *very* impressive, both the differences in the taste and colour. The 'bunny went with a cold brew. She was happy. I believe a caffe Americano and a bit of cream followed a little while later.
The meats are the stars of the show at DOSC. I would have tried each of the "On Bread" items, the brisket, the Wagyu burger, and the "Double DOSC" (which seems like an elevated White Castle burger), but after Bianca brought out a tray with the various types of Wagyu -- seeing the cuts of meat side-by-side was impressive -- and gave us a run-down on their characteristics I was overridden with more serious-minded choices: a shank (on celeriac), a Northern Gold Angus striploin, and some A3 Snake River Wagyu lollipops.
All the meats were satisfying. The 'bunny grooved on the Wagyu lollipops, I swooned over the shank (which I would never have ordered, having suffered my late father's repeated obsessive love for osso buco), and we both liked the striploin. Presentation was spot-on, each item's taste was layered and delightful to discover. A trivial aside: I had way too much fun with the volcanic black salt and the white salt flakes.
There's no dessert flight on the menu, but it's a clever way to show off the versatility and range of the kitchen to enthusiastic diners; kudos on the good idea. We had, if I remember correctly, a deconstructed cheesecake, a bourbon apple pie topped with cream and candied ginger, brownies encrusted with nuts, and an ice cream with berries. I am not the dessert demon but I thought each was delectable and even better for the contrast of the different dishes.
In fact, in the interests of full disclosure, DOSC was *so* good as to completely turn around our "fight night" into "date night". Thank you, DOSC. I'm grateful for your staff, your tasty delights, and your relationship balm. The rest of my YEG visit was a joy because of you and although I'm intensely bitter that it'll be at least a month or two until I sojurn again in the Paris of the North and I know that the 'bunny has already booked an engagement at DOSC next week, I won't hold it against you. I'll take out my rage on the rest of your menu upon my return. I'm looking forward to it. | 2positive
| 881 |
I was really looking forward to my Friday night plan of checking out The North End Moonshine & BBQ, the latest restaurant from Indy chef Ryan Nelson (of Late Harvest and Oceanaire fame). While I'd already heard some mixed buzz about the place, for the most part the mixed reviews have also come with a disclaimer crediting most of the issues with The North End being a young establishment still working out the kinks.
If I were to rate The North End solely on the basis of my server, Sarah, it would easily be a 4-star establishment. I say this not because Sarah had a knockout smile (She did!), but because she was friendly, attentive, and seemed to enjoy being there. She came back to my table a couple times during the meal, though I do wish she'd asked directly if I needed a refill. But, that's a minor issue and equally mine since I never really asked.
However, I'm not rating The North End solely on the basis of my server and, quite honestly, I found myself at least modestly disappointed with the experience itself. While the restaurant has apparently been packing them in, I arrived at about 5:30pm on a Friday night and the rush hadn't settled in yet. The dining room was less than half full and it had a contemporary rustic feeling that was warm yet not overly casual.
One of the reasons I was really looking forward to this meal was simply my overwhelming desire to be able to relax, read a magazine, and enjoy a nice meal. I'd had a hectic week at work, and I really wanted to just soak in some atmosphere and enjoy the dining experience.
What can I say? "Ugh." I didn't enjoy this dining experience...at all. Despite having a dining room that was less than half full, the host saw fit to squeeze me into a two-top that was right next to a wall and had a family of four on the other side of me. The tables are squeezed in rather tightly, and as the host brought me to the table you could see the look of surprise even in the family's eyes. I think we were all thinking "Really?"
Beyond the fact that it was far from relaxing and bordered on intrusive, I can also say that as a customer with a disability it felt to me like my wheelchair was not so subtly being pushed out of the way. I had no sense of the atmosphere. If I looked at the wall it was, well, a wall. If I looked to the left of me it seemed like I was staring directly at this family who was, by the way, talking their entire meal.
I don't begrudge people enjoying their meal and enjoying each other's company, but I do begrudge being unable to enjoy my own meal. There were several other places I could have been seated or, alternately, I could have been offered outdoor seating. This also meant that my meal and reading was constantly interrupted by the server walking between the tables (which happened several times).
As I noted, Sarah arrived quickly and my drink arrived in a timely manner. Since I was already feeling uncomfortable, I decided trying to enjoy a relaxed (and more expensive) meal was futile. So, I ordered their LHK Bar Burger, which Nelson reportedly brought over from one of his other joints, and it came with their in-house made chips for $9.00. I ordered the burger well done and kept it as they usually prepare it with caramelized onions and a special sauce with lettuce. It came on a larger than usual bun that tasted freshly made and was quite good.
Unfortunately, there's simply no way that burger was well done. I'm guessing it was medium though it did have some darkness to it in spots. Also unfortunately, the burger was falling apart by the time I'd finished my first bite. I believe I counted three different places where pieces of the burger fell off the sandwich. The burger itself had a nice flavor to it, but its lack of structural integrity and lack of being served as I ordered it made it at least modestly disappointing. The homemade chips were on par with most homemade chips and, in fact, bore a striking resemblance to the ones I had recently while at Books and Brews.
They had just made three desserts as I was finishing my meal, and had I been seated in a better space I'd likely have hung around a bit. Unfortunately, I was uncomfortable and not enjoying the atmosphere and headed out rather quickly once the meal was finished.
I do give kudos for the overall design with accessible parking clearly marked and ADA compliant. They do have an odd front door that I completely passed as it's an unmarked wooden door on a wood base. Having read through some of the reviews for The North End, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has passed it by.
My entire meal was just over $12.00. It's definitely a reasonable value, though you could definitely spend quite a bit more here if you dipped into the higher end meals or the quite plentiful alcohol menu that includes local brews, a variety of whiskeys (obviously), and quite a bit more. Since I was practically sitting on the lap of my neighbors, I heard the cornbread and brisket are great. | 1neutral
| 914 |
One star rating because I cannot go lower:
Absolutely awful food and "meh" service. Aside from the courteous greeting and prompt seating we received from the host, everything else was downhilll from there.
A couple at a nearby table had a delicious looking plate of nachos, so we went with them, ordering them immediately with our drinks. This is an $11 appetizer, keep in mind. We got our drinks promptly and ordered our entrees.
Within about 8-10 minutes our nachos appeared, and they looked and tasted great . . . BUT within TWO minutes our entrees arrived, basically on top of the appetizer, leaving us no choice but to abandon our pricey app and move on to the pricier entrees. (Steak, lobster, and crab legs).
Everyone knows how well nachos hold up over time, right? Hello, appetizers are served FIRST, and after a proper interval (at LEAST ten minutes) you serve the entrees.
On to the main course: I had the "Land and Sea" consisting of a top sirloin steak and a grilled lobster tail. I should have known from the appearance of the tail that something was wrong--it was served on its side, all curled up, with a knife split down the middle. Most EVERY other place I have had lobster has served it "revealed" through the split so the patron does not have to wrestle the meat out of the shell, but not Keith's Oaks, and here is why:
It was ROTTEN.
Nasty, awful, ammonia-smelling rancid rotten.
I cut one bite off and dunked it in butter, which is why I didn't notice the TASTE until it was too late, but the SMELL of that spoiled tail will haunt me forever. I know it well, having experienced it once before. It's unmistakable, like a very powerful cleaning agent--definitely NOT something that is safe to eat. My hands reeked of that awful smell, as did my plate (remember I had to wrestle it out of the shell?) and the meat was pale brown throughout, with dark brown edges.
I called the server over and asked her to smell it. I had her take it to the manager and have him smell it. Quality control, anyone? Tails should NEVER be served to anyone in this condition, and any "cook" or "chef" that does so should be washing dishes for a month or two until they learn to CHECK food quality BEFORE sending a plate to a diner. But, they KNEW it was bad, which is why they didn't remove it from the shell before they SERVED it to me . . . .
After a time the manager arrived and offered me ANOTHER tail. Seriously? Um, no, my palate is a bit off for the night, as far as seafood goes, thank you anyway. He did offer to give me half the cost of the plate (9$ off!) to mitigate this terrible experience.
He also sent us a "free" drink . . . .
I mentioned that the app was served on top of the entrees, making it effectively wasted, and he apologized for that, but did not offer to credit us for it or to remake it later.
How was the steak, you ask? Remember that this was the "Land and Sea" plate. I hoped that our evening might be redeemed with a glorious piece of beef, but alas, no. The thing was good sized, and had perfect grill marks on it, but that was all. Almost completely bland and tasteless, even after adding salt, which I seldom if ever add to my food. Thinking my "taste" was off (because of the "lobster") I offered a taste to my companion . . . she remarked that the only thing she tasted was chewy and char. Four bites and I saw no point in finishing it.
So, utter ruination of a date night dinner, with the only "good" part of the meal (the appetizer) wasted by being served WITH the entrees. Our "compensation" for this horrible, terrible, literally sickening experience?
$18 off of a $70 bill.
Now, I'm not a restaurant owner or manager, but I HAVE worked in customer service and sales for many years, and IMO here is how this SHOULD have been handled by the manager:
Manager: "Mr. Customer, I am TERRIBLY sorry that we served you an inedible dish and ruined your evening. Please accept my sincere apologies, and there will be NO charge for the meal. Please DO accept my explanation that this was an isolated occurrence, and PLEASE return again to give us another chance to make this right for you."
This would have left a much better "taste" in my mouth, and I might not have left this review at all. I probably WOULD have taken the manager up on this (hypothetical) offer to return again (since we are LOCALS) but, alas that is not to be. We will NEVER patronize Keith's Oaks again, not even if invited by someone else, and in fact (since I didn't really eat anything) we stopped at another restaurant immediately after leaving, where I had a delicious bowl of clam chowdah with some cheddar biscuits.
Which was delicious! Where did we find this tasty salvation for our "spoiled" evening? Red LOBSTER.
How awesomely ironic . . . .
In summary, if you eat at Keith's Oaks, be CAREFUL with what you order, ESPECIALLY if it is seafood. Smell it, examine it, make SURE it is safe to eat before you put it in your body.
Or just don't ever eat there. | 0negative
| 924 |
1) Yogi Berra 2) West v East 3) Brooklyn, Baby! 4) Value 5) Friends 6) Flies All relevant to our first visit to this Grimaldi's, an offshoot of Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Not a franchised store, but outpost of westward expansion by this privately owned business. (Joe Ciolli is current CEO.) The business plan installs Grimaldi's in up scale shopping malls. Hence, The Village mall location. Good pizza means we will go back - in our case in spite of the mall location. Although after Treasure Valley fly season has ended. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Flies were at the end of the list.
YOGI BERRA: True story. Yogi ordered a pie at the counter in a Brooklyn pizzeria and headed to a table. The guy behind the counter hollered out to him, "Hey, Yogi, want this cut in six pieces or eight?" Yogi replied, "Six! I could never eat eight!"
There was wild laughter in the NYC audience where Yogi, himself, shared this. You get it. Right? Ta Dum.
That story for New Yorker Yogi comes to mind as original Brooklyn Grimaldi's had but one size of pizza. Now chain Grimaldi's offers three sizes: Personal (12"), Small (16"), Large (18"). We ordered 2 smalls for 4 people and each couple had 1/2 a pie to take home. And in what is typical for Brooklyn service, pies are cut in 6ths. Next time we'd ask the kitchen to cut them in 8ths because now we know a small is perfect share to size by 4 lighter eaters if salad is ordered too, as we did.
WEST v EAST COAST: Noting some reviewers complain about absence of ranch dressing for pizzas and need to order toppings separately, that is absence of "special combos" on menu, that is not a failure of Grimaldi's but a difference in expectations on West v East Coasts for pizza. My hubby is Italian American born and raised in Brooklyn, His expectation is you have a cheese pie (red sauce and mozzarella) or a white pie (olive oil and mozzarella) and if you really MUST add something you select from a traditional list of toppings. When we moved from NY to SF he was appalled, the right verb, to find ham and pineapple pizzas. And even for me, native Oregonian, the concept of Ranch dressing for pizza seems awful. Regional expectations differ. Grimaldi's leans East. And traditional NY-Italian. So-youse-know.
BROOKLYN, BABY!: Grimaldi's pizza here is coal oven baked, just as at the original location. That produces a different crust outcome for texture and edge toasting than a wood fired or gas fired pizza oven. Some folks complain about the 'burnt' crust edges. Different strokes for folks used to gas pizza ovens perhaps. I think Grimaldi's has it right. They use water specially formulated to resemble Brooklyn water in the dough. There are people who swear this water is the secret ingredient that makes pizza crust (and bagels) made in Brooklyn the best ever. (They do not serve the Brooklyn water to drink, thank goodness; I can say from experience drinking it is no treat.)
VALUE: Toppings are first quality - sauces, cheeses, meats and veggies all. We thought it a good value that two 16" pizzas with five toppings between them that served four people with half left over to take away clocked in at only $42. (16" = $14 - $16 red to white and toppings range $2 to $4).
FRIENDS: Pizza is always more fun to eat when friends are present and so it was today to have friends along who had eaten at Grimaldi's in Las Vegas and who have traveled in Italy. Whether this is Italian style pizza or Brooklyn style pizza we agreed it is good pizza. We also all agreed we would have enjoyed it more without the...
...FLIES: We sat inside specifically because it is fly season in the Treasure Valley. But the darned things were buzzing inside too given how sneaky they can be getting in as people come and go. This is no criticism of Grimaldi's. It is a heads up that flies are an issue this time of year in most places in the Treasure Valley - flies abound from roughly early September through mid October if history holds.
THIS N THAT:
1) AMBIANCE: Light and bright; lots of windows, lights inserted in wine bottles hang from the high tin ceiling, red checked table cloths. High perch seating in bar along with a couple of standard height tables. More standard height table seating in main dining room and out on patio that is along a fountain. Great music on the sound system. Alas, a TV or two in the walls. Tables tightly spaced at walls, not quite so bad in middle of room.
2) ACCESSIBILITY: Level in and throughout main dining room. Chairs too tight in some places for wheelchair access. Wheelchair access in bar looks dicey for space although there are a couple of standard height tables there. The ADA, 26 years old, requires EQUAL access be provided to tables. No excuse to get it wrong. Patio seating looks accessible.
3) SERVICE: Young servers were friendly taking our order, delivering our food, filling our glasses. The manager thanked us for coming in. Bravo. | 2positive
| 877 |
This review is about two very good things - this business, and the kind hearted people in Philly who are working nearby. Strange sounding, but I have to explain as this was a nice reminder how good hearted people in general are - whether they are in a big city or small town. Pls bear with me. :
My girlfriend and I are in Jersey City, NJ, and had planned to trip to Doylestown, PA one morning recently and return the same day. This food truck and the falafels were highly recommended by my neighbor , and after reading the many yelp reviews, I decided that I have to try it. So, we timed it to finish our work in Doylestown, drive to this truck (~40 mts away) to be there before he closes @ 2 pm, and then drive back to NJ/NC.
I was delighted when i pulled over @ 1.45 and saw no line. Ran to the truck and saw one couple waiting. Maintained social distance and waited for the owner to acknowledge us (thanks to all the previous reviews that disclosed more on him:)). I was prepared to blurt out the two orders I wanted - one veggie (for me), and the other for my lady.
After two minutes, he noticed us and to my utter dismay said that he was sorry and that he's closed. I was @ loss of words. Tried to plead but he said he ran out of food. Crushed, I told him that we were coming close to Manhattan just for this and it is unfortunate that we didn't have the luck.
Crestfallen we turned to walk back when the couple who were waiting waved their hand at us. They asked if I said that we were from close to NYC and driving back now, to which I said yes. I was shocked when they asked us to take their lunch that he was preparing. I was taken back and grateful, but said thanks as I didn't want to take their spot. We were about to leave but they stopped and insisted I do. I wasn't sure and then they explained that they work nearby and come here often; and so, they would rather outsiders like us get a chance to taste the food.
I was so touched, thanked them and accepted their invite, and checked with owner if it was ok with him. :) He had no issues but then disclosed that he was preparing only one meal - the last one - for them and that it was too late to make it vegetarian. Plus, he had ran out of falafels. I asked him to go ahead so that my girlfriend can have it.
By the time I turned around to thank that lovely couple again, they had disappeared. I wanted to do was to buy them a lunch or at least a drink for their generous nature, and felt bad that i couldn't.
So, to the kind people of Philly and that couple whoever you were: thank you! You are magnificent. I am going to buy a drink or lunch for stranger in NYC to pay forward this kindness. :)
now to the food:
since falafel's are our favorite and we were fortunate to have tried many in Tel Aviv, Palestine, and in many places in NYC, I knew that my girlfriend could be a very good judge of it even though I can't taste it. She liked it but wasn't prepared to give it 5 stars. Maybe because it was the last portion of the meal that he had and could have been overcooked. She said it was quite nice though and that the fruits had a mildly pleasant distraction. She rated the falafels very similar in taste to ones served by Nish-Nush, a favorite restaurant of ours in Brooklyn/Manhattan.
Overall, she liked it and for the price, it was closer to 'great' than 'good' (which is what 4 starts in yelp indicate). Wish yelp allows me to assign 4.5.
final note:
The hard work put in by the owner was both touching and motivating to hear. He did chat with us a bit and was not irritated to speak as he was cleaning/closing. Apparently he wakes up around 3 am to prepare the food for each day so that taste is fresh. Preparation by itself takes a lot of time and the produce has to be very fresh in his opinion, and he has to stock up the truck for the grilling. He has to also ensure that unique nature of the truck doesn't look bad. After close, he still has an hour's work to clean-up and then head back to beat the traffic. Hope he gets more recognition and success. Wish him the very best.
I wish I get lucky the next time I am in Philly to taste his falafels. | 2positive
| 815 |
It pains me to write this review.
This is my first Nashville sushi experience since moving here. I read a lot of Yelp reviews, mentally filtering reviews that didn't mention anything substantial (both positive and negative reviews), those praising crazy non-traditional sushi rolls to the high heavens, and those that are over two years old. Ken's immediately stood out because of the talk of fresh fish, good quality and selection, and the fact that Ken is Japanese. My expectations were high.
I read in reviews and on the website that navigation doesn't work well for this spot. Perhaps I was coming from the best direction because Google easily navigated me to the right place. My friends were coming from other directions and had to text me to figure out where it was. So, I would recommend taking a moment to look at a map and possibly do a street view so you know what the building looks like and the nearest landmark.
At 7pm with the light starting to dim, I pulled into what felt like parking anarchy between patrons of Ken's and Horus. It felt very much like a battleground. Cars were everywhere. Lines weren't obvious. I opted to skip the front and drive to the back. It looked like a parking free-for-all. I noticed some 18-wheelers and other large trucks to my right so I didn't park in front of them or in a way that would require them to maneuver. I could barely make out any lines that would indicate where others cars would park in the open space. Amazingly, when I left (close to 10), the back area was full with a lot of cars parked in a somewhat orderly way. I did have to serpentine to get my car out of the lot. There were a bunch of people hanging in and outside of their cars in the back, and I will say that I didn't feel super safe walking to my car at the back edge of the lot. So, if it's dark and you're alone, I would recommend trying to park as close to the front or having a friend walk you to your car.
The building is obviously old and wasn't designed to be a sushi restaurant. We were sat in one of the booths that line the front side of the building. The waitress was very nice and split our checks without asking.
The menu is pretty extensive and if I weren't craving sushi, I would have tried many of the cooked items - ramen, saba shioyaki, katsudon, yakisoba, etc. They have a whiteboard that faces one of the booths. If you're not in or near that booth, you have to get up to see the other items available from the kitchen. I only asked about it because I heard someone order a skewer and I didn't see anything like that on the menu and looked around for a specials board. The waitress said they were all appetizer portions. I gladly got up to look at the menu because the waitress was pregnant. However, I'm not sure any attention would have been directed toward the board had I not asked. I took a picture so I didn't have to stand up in front of it or send my friends there to review it for themselves.
I ordered pork gyoza to start. They tasted good. The dipping sauce was nice and had just the right amount of vinegar.
The sushi on the other hand... I ordered a single nigiri piece of salmon, yellowtail, fresh water eel, scallop, albacore tuna and toro (fatty tuna). I was told they were out of the albacore so I chose octopus.
The octopus came on a separate plate and had such little rice with it. At least, the portion of octopus was reasonable. The salmon, yellowtail, and unagi tasted fine. The scallop was super fishy like it was improperly stored but its fishiness didn't compare to the piece of toro. I saved the toro for the last bite since it's the most expensive and luxurious item. It was my dessert. But I tasted an amount of fishiness that makes mackerel seem as fishy as a saltine. Even the ginger did not help cleanse my palate.
This was a very disappointing experience because no sushi chef should allow a customer eat a piece or more of raw fish that is that bad. Any chef, sushi or not, should take pride in anything that leaves their hands/kitchen destined for a paying customer. I would prefer the chef tell me half or even more of the sushi offerings weren't available because the fish quality wasn't there. I would have so much respect for that. The standard here was just set too low. I wonder if salmon and yellowtail weren't so popular, would they be fishy too? | 0negative
| 806 |
Frankie's on Fairview, sometimes I just want to scream with frustration over you. How do I rank "almost"? Seriously, this is making me crazy.
Dinner started a few months ago, and since then the Reverend, I and sometimes others have visited three evenings. Since it's a new offering, I wanted to give time for the restaurant to settle and even out. Except it hasn't.
First visit: Gnocchi and the milanese pork chop. Gnocchi was definitely freshly made and had a nice texture. Pork chop was great....except no applesauce which is the Reverend's favorite pork chop topping. The gnocchi were swimming in an orange-ish sauce and rooted in a bed of melted cheese. The sauce was...odd. Was it a vodka rose, perhaps? No, marinara we were told. Marinara is red and robust, not orange and...odd. Service was great.
Second visit: Went with the chicken parmesan and again, the Rev wanted the pork chop. This time he had grieved the loss of applesauce and moved on. Both entrees were solid. Yay! No weird orange sauce. Perhaps it was just an off night. I ordered the wedge salad with my meal. It promised lots of Maytag bleu cheese. What came out was...odd. There was a huge slice of iceberg, bacon crumbles, tomato, and crumbles of bleu cheese. No dressing. The problem is that the iceberg (lack of? bland?) flavor overcame everything else, so it tasted just like eating plain lettuce. Again, service was great, and this time they took my salad back, added some mayonnaise to the bleu cheese to form a basic dressing. Good save. With that base added the bleu cheese flavor came through beautifully.
Third visit: Calamari, bacon mac & cheese, herbed chicken breasts, guess who got the pork chop (he is a man who knows what he likes) and lastly the linguine bolognese. Calamari had a berry glaze drizzled on it which was ...odd. Bacon mac & cheese was fine, it was a small ramekin as it's an appetizer. Chicken earned rave reviews, tender, flavorful. Pork chop again was consistently very good.
Now for the linguine. Everyone, please repeat after me:
"Sauce with meat is not the same as Bolognese".
Thank you. Also, the return of the strange orange sauce, this time with meat and carrots, which made the orange multi-dimensional.
This time service was WAY off. Clearly no front of house management or line management. No, they were not busy, there were 4 total tables and 2 servers. Meals took a very long time to come out. First time we asked, we were told they were coming. Second time we asked, we were told the pork chops took longer to cook. Wait staff: Never blame the food ordered for the delay. Then our waiter disappeared. Our glasses became empty. Bread was gone. Tummies growled. Hurrah! Food arrives. Drinks are refilled! We are back in the land of the living! Except, no. After that we were left to our own devices. *sigh* Finally we were checked in on, got to-go boxes for what we didn't eat.
Made the mistake of ordering a dessert, because hey, how long could that take to come out? I can tell you: 12.5 very long minutes with dirty dishes covering our table. No sign of our waiter. When dessert did come out, it came with the check, which never got picked up. Seriously. Oh, and the dirty dishes weren't cleared when dessert arrived, so we had to stack it and eat around them. Finally we went up and handed a random person our check with payment. We were asked how it was. We replied "very long and we sat with dirty dishes for a good part of that". "Sorry!" Yah. $100 check and "Sorry!" Hm.
See here's the thing: Some things they do very well. Pork chop is consistently solid,even without the applesauce. Chicken dishes were great. Then there is the stuff that is just ... odd. Some I get are creative choices, but then there's orange marinara and salad without dressing. The thing is: It's not a cheap meal. They're clearly shooting for a higher end experience. They just don't execute well often enough to give us pause. We MAY be back for dinner. It's definitely not top-of-list anymore, though.
Breakfast, by the way, still rocks the house. Very good, and usually well managed service.
Frankie's, we want to love you, really. We are going to have to settle though for just "A-OK". We like you, we just think you're a little odd and off. | 1neutral
| 752 |
A big disappointment...
We made reservations for this place on open table.com for 7:45 PM. When we arrived we were told we needed to wait for an additional few minutes which turned into approximately 10. Our first time at this establishment, this was not the best way to start an impression. This place is loud. From the small area by the host stand the drone was noticeable. When we were led to our table by the hostess who never smiled, we were disappointingly directed to seat ourselves at a half booth half table that was located in the raised bar area. We requested a booth instead and were reluctantly led to one along the wall in the same general section as the raised bar. The first thing you'll notice about this place is the lighting after the noise. It is simply horrible. There are a few nice looking chandeliers that fit the decorum, but mostly it's extremely bright overheads hanging above the booths and spot lights that shine down on the tables in between the booths. The booth we sat at which was the second booth from the corner, had horrible spring problems in the seat. Our server's name was Shelbie. She was a cute girl and seemed like she might have a nice personality outside of work however, as a server she really needs some assistance in preparation. Throughout the evening she made several unnecessary trips, and didn't complete some trips that really needed to be made, more on that later.
We had a living social coupon which was basically for an appetizer, two entrées and dessert. While Shelbie gave me the rundown on the draft beers, my wife looked over the cocktail and wine list. I ordered a Samuel Adams Oktoberfest and my wife ordered white sangria which was 2-for-1. Shelby informed us that she would return and let us know which appetizers and entrées we could choose from. I felt a little handicapped when she did this but decided to go with her flow for the moment. As we glanced over the menu I wondered aloud whether or not this place could produce good seafood, as it was decidedly decorated as a steakhouse type establishment. A little while later Shelby arrived with my beer, not my wife's sangria. She then explained which appetizers we could get. We were limited to the calamari, wings, or the spinach artichoke dip. Reluctant to try the calamari, we opted for wings and split the order in half, one half we ordered as Thai chili, and the other half Greek barbecue. Shelby then explained that we could also choose from the following entrées. We could opt for a top sirloin 10 ounce steak, the mahi-mahi, or either of the two chicken dishes. We ordered the appetizer and before we could order the entrées even though we're pretty sure we knew what we wanted, she took off. She returned a short while later bringing my wife's sangria and to take our entrée order. My wife ordered the mahi-mahi with broccoli and sweet potato fries as her side items. I ordered the sirloin medium rare, and traded in both of my side items to try the house specialty macaroni and cheese with bacon. This was listed as a serves two dish.
In the time that followed we analyzed the horrible lighting, the spring in the bench seat poking into me, the decor complete with very large heads of deer on the wall, whether or not they had wireless, which they do, and the noise. We couldn't do much about anything other than the lighting which I unscrewed the bulb above us. A short while later Shelby arrived with the appetizer. Unfortunately she took off before we could ask for plates which she neglected to bring. We did manage to summon her back to bring us some plates. This served as yet another example of not being prepared unfortunately. To her credit, as promised, the appetizer was eight wings of a small to medium-size. I found the flavor of the Thai chili wings to be somewhat lacking. In contrast, I found the Greek barbecue to be quite special. It was both unique and hard to describe. Quite tasty though.
A reasonable time past and our food was brought out by a runner. Personally, I am always irritated when the runner can't figure out whose dish goes to whom and has to ask. It's also equally irritating when they don't ask you if you need anything else and before they head off and you have to stop them and ask them for something sometimes to no avail. This was the case this evening as he took off before I had a chance to cut open my steak. Fortunately the manager was floating around in my wife flagged him down. We explained to him that I had ordered my steak medium rare and it was completely rare in the center. We also explained that the mahi-mahi my wife had ordered was unfortunately quite fishy, and as a result, would be unacceptable. As a replacement we ordered one of the chicken dishes, called the Southwest Chicken Stack. It is described in the menu as a grilled chicken breast layered with Tod's salsa, bacon, grilled onions and mushrooms, cheddar Jack, sour cream and crispy onion straws.
Edited for yelp( sign this a big disappointment!) | 0negative
| 895 |
Hmm. I just realized the Cal-Neva kinda falls into the same situation the Western Village does with me - I like the casino even though it's small and divey, love the cheap eateries and the sports book ... but the hotel has serious noise problems and I can't recommend it. I'll shake the whole thing out to a 4 because I'm fond of the place but the hotel really is 3 at best strongly leaning 2.
Hotel: In the case of the Western Village it was just super paper thin walls ... with the Cal-Neva, most of the rooms seem to have adjoining doors, which means a crack underneath that Neighbor Noise can freely travel through (what's even better is most are right next to the bathrooms, so when trashbags pee without closing the bathroom door you get to hear all about it.) If you get lucky with a considerate neighbor (or if they have rooms w/o adjoining doors) the rooms are alright, if totally bare of bonuses and amenities. They look nice (had some really nice cottage paintings), the bed might have been the most comfy I've slept in in Reno, and generally clean and OK. But the TVs are dying elephants that need to be taken out back and shot, the free WiFi was either completely down or too slow to be usable over the 2 days I was there, and you get total nada for freebies - no coffee in-room, no free food, no discount coupons or match play, no nothin'. No fitness center, pool, jacuzzi, etc. You might be saying, "Whaddaya want for $30 a night!" .. but the Sands offers all that stuff for $20.
This all was from booking directly through their website for a queen non-smoking at $30 a night. Maybe they have baller rooms that you can pay more for that are better ... I see some dude down in the reviews below talking about free coffee. Or maybe you could just pay $60 and rent two attached rooms for some financially wasteful peace and quiet. Or you could go to one of the many other options in Reno from $20-40 on a weeknight that do a lot better. Sorry Cal-Neva, I like all your other stuff, but in this market you can't really get away with a substandard hotel room even at $30 a night.
One positive about the hotel - the staff is excellent across the board. The desk staff was kind and responsive, housekeepers are sweet and polite, even the engineer guy was real cool. This extends over to the casino floor and into the restaurants - people who work for the Cal Neva generally seem like they actually enjoy their jobs and want you to have a good time, even if you aren't spending a whole lot of money.
Casino: Smokey, but not as bad as other lower-end places. Weird characters at night, but not as standoffish as other low-end places. Decent mix of tables, slots and video poker. Video poker pay tables tend to be Meh but I've found decent ones here and there ... but they rotate them around and change them at random times, so you have to pick around the place if you haven't been there in a few weeks. Table games probably a better choice and more fun, you get some real characters playing here. Sports book is great, not as swanky as the Peppermill or Atlantis but better deals if you want to make small wagers, and a comfy and pleasant enough place to watch games.
Player's Club is a bit mysterious. They issue you a "Gold Member" card initially, but there's no like tier list or tier points that I'm aware of. I think maybe you can only get comps through play, no other little bonuses. Supposedly they send out mailers but I haven't received anything as of yet. I'll reserve judgement for now but it seems a lot less robust than the other lower-end player's clubs in Reno.
Restaurants: Top Deck is a great place to spend 10 bucks max (after 20% tip) and still get a very decent meal in a comfy, unpretentious environment with good servers. Separate review up of that. The steak house looks very reasonably priced, but it's only open Thu-Sun nights and somehow I'm never rolling through here on those days. I'll catch it eventually. Grill downstairs makes a pretty good footlong hot dog with fries among other quick junk food stuff for an OK price. Some dog-and-draft specials up at the sports bar that are OK. Bud 16 oz. $1 at all times available pretty much anywhere in the joint except the Grill, I think.
Le Conclusion: I'll definitely be back to eat and likely back to play a bit, but I'm leery on the hotel even at $30 a night after that creepy adjoining door business. If anyone has intel on their other types of rooms I'd love to hear it, PM me. | 2positive
| 830 |
If there is a SAINT LOUIS 4-Legged BBQ Stool....then Adam's is that STRONG 4th LEG...with those other other legs being Pappy's, Bogart's, Dalie's.
I visited this quaint but powerfully flavor-filled packed shack, on Father's Day with my own, and after dining in, we left with to-go orders of things we just had to take home to continue to pleasure our palates with processing their contents. Here's what we had and I do my best to paint a picture that leaves you anxious to go, hungry enough to schedule a time to go, and angry because you haven't been. We ordered a slab of ribs, 1lb of their smoked wings, tri-tip, macaroni salad, coleslaw, potato salad, applesauce and their baked beans. So here's the breakdown:
RIBS: if you are a fan of Bogart's dry rubbed ribs with their sweet honey glaze atop, then you will be confused because these are somehow edging those tender, juicy, sweetened smokey meat pops out by an inch. They are just at the edge of being fall of the bone for those that really favor that, but if you are a barbecue judge....they are walking a thin line, but your tongue will make sure to force you to say YES, another please!!! My only knock would be the silver skin on the bone side of my ribs were not removed...for that I'd take a star away.
WINGS: They were flavorful with a great rub on them. I prefer mine to be cooked a little longer to have a crisp on the skin, but that aside I'd order again. They had a house-made Buffalo sauce that complimented them well.
Beef Tri-Tip: This sliced layer of beefy goodness was so tender it literally melted in your mouth once it made contact with everything in your mouth. It was by far the BEST TRI-TIP either of us had ever had.
*** When we got there roughly before 2pm, they were out of brisket, turkey, pastrami, and their house made salami, but the people were seated next to (elbow to elbow) offered us their salami (that they had specifically came for) not because it was less than stellar, but I think they felt sorry for us because we too desired to sample more of their smoked proteins and HOW BLESSED WERE WE!!!! BEST SMOKED SALAMI....get there early and get you some!
SIDES
Potato Salad: Mustard based and pretty good. Not the best ever, but definitely worthy of your side consideration when selecting one.
Cole Slaw: A simple creamy slaw that shocks you with some apple slices in it, that sweetens it, and sets it apart from other average slaws. Definitely get's my recommendation.
Applesauce...I SAID APPLESAUCE people.....If you are chunky but funky applesauce lover, wait til you get your lips on this. In case you didn't know pineAPPLE has APPLE in so watch out this was a such an delight we both got pints to take home of this incredible stuff. It was a great balance between chunky but the pieces of apple and pineapple were so tender with sprinkled cinnamon throughout.
BAKED BEANS: IT HAS BRISKET in it folks.....and the beans themselves are smoked in a smoker. Not infused with smoke flavor from the liquid smoke death, or infused by just the smoked meat in it, but the beans themselves are smoked...WOW. They were on the sweeter side of the baked bean spectrum but ultra velvety and flavorful. Adam's definitely took notes from what Bogart's does with their baked beans.
Pasta Salad: Al dente noodle shells, jack cheeses, red onions, spices in a creamy mayo based creation of goodness. It was good enough a pint of that to go was necessary, to have a meeting with some Albacore Tuna because my stepfather believed that was the only solution to make it any better than it already was.
In short....it was a great experience despite the fact by the time we made it there they were out of significant amount of their smoked proteins, but they were extremely hospitable and accommodating. Like telling us we can order ahead to make sure we get those things we really wanted to try (brisket, burnt ends, and the smoked pastrami). I failed to mention their sauces because we were seriously half way through our meal NOT NEEDING ANY!!!! Their sweet sauce was like a KC Molasses Sweet sauce, and they have a Cranberry Cayenne Spicy Sauce that was REALLY REALLY good, and different on the landscape of BBQ sauces. I suggest you get there ASAP and try to be there when they open up to better insure you get what you came for.
Thanks ADAM'S for helping create another memory of a great meal with a great man! | 2positive
| 785 |
Not sure what all these 4- & 5-star reviews are about.,,,
I was in Santa Barbara this past weekend to see the Postal Service with my boyfriend and some friends - amazing show btw. Sunday morning we decided to go to brunch and I suggested Adama because it had gotten such great reviews on Yelp (boyfriend is vegetarian, me+one friend are vegan, 2 friends are non-veg, but like veg food).. I called around 10:30 am to inquire about reservations - the woman on the phone told me she suggested I make one, so I did and they were able to accommodate us half an hour later. I asked about bringing our dog and she said yes they had a dog-friendly patio. We showed up for our reservation and the place was practically empty. I went inside to check in and was told they were still setting up our table outside. Well, when we walked around to the patio, it was basically a 4-foot wide walkway with a bunch of plants. They pushed two tables together for us, but when we sat down, we were definitely blocking any "walkway" - fire hazard much?? When our server came out and took our drink orders, me + one other friend ordered mimosas - 5 minutes later, she came back out and told us that we couldn't have alcohol on the patio. Ok, no big deal - the $8 mimosa probably wasn't worth the 8 bucks anyway. Another 10 minutes later, our other friends got their drinks - 1 orange juice and 2 Americanos. Our server was waiting on one other table of 2 outside, but definitely seemed overwhelmed. Finally, we got to order.
The food:
I ordered the nachos with no Daiya cheese (Daiya upsets my stomach, so I only wanted the cashew cheese) - when they came out, there was a white melty-looking cheese all over the nachos + some white shredded looking cheese - neither looked like Daiya, so I didn't question it. Verdict - Nachos were not bad. I think I was just so hungry that they tasted better than they actually were. But for $12, definitely not worth it.
My vegan friend ordered the vegetable skillet with tortillas and asked for a side of salsa - turns out the dish already comes with salsa (although it wasnt listed on the menu AND our server didnt mention it) - the server brought and extra side of salsa and then tacked on an extra $2 for it when the bill came - good thing my friend spoke up and they took it off the bill. Obviously she wouldnt have ordered a side if she knew it already came with the meal. She said it was tasty, but the portion was very small and again, for $12, not worth it.
My boyfriend wasn't feeling very well, so he only ordered a side of toast (it was GF) and a side of avocado with totaled $6. He said he didnt like the toast, so didn't eat much of it.
Our non-veg friends ordered the pumpkin pancakes, the chipotle chicken panini, and a carrot cupcake. They said the pancakes were just ok, but they liked the panini. This was their first experience with Daiya cheese and they liked it a lot. They were pretty bummed on the cupcake though. They are not too familiar with GF baked goods, but I am, and the taste was just ok, the frosting was gritty AND there was barely any on it! When the bill came, and it was $7, I was shocked!!! I am a vegan baker - I own a vegan bakery in Orange County - and I make organic, vegan and gluten free cupcakes... I know ingredient costs and one cupcake should never cost $7 - WHAT A RIP OFF!!! Plus their meals were $10 (for two rather small pancakes) and $12 (for the panini) - again, not worth the price.
Look, I can totally appreciate paying a little more for organic, vegan, and gluten-free fare, but this place just rapes people. The total bill for 5 people to have a meal with no alcohol (technically it was about 4 1/2 since my boyfriend didnt really get a meal) was $80!!!! The service was mediocre - everyone there seemed overwhelmed and that showed through in their customer service. I will give our server the benefit of the doubt because maybe she was new, but they weren't even busy. Sadly, I will not be recommending this place to anyone, vegan or not. | 0negative
| 756 |
Whether you enjoy Buffalo wings, sandwiches, salads, or burgers, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar has that and much more to offer. The restaurant has certain things it specializes in, for example, the various amounts of sauces for those who prefer a milder one versus a spicy hot sauce. The atmosphere aspect is unique and comfortable because of the various amounts of TVs and tables for dining. Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar provides some of the most amusing waiters and waitresses in the area. It provides the best service possible for their customers.
I have dined twice at the restaurant and both of those times I was provided with the best customer service. When my friends and I entered the restaurant the greeter was nice and respectful she gave us an accurate time of when our table would be ready. Some restaurants provide an inaccurate time so the customers can stay and wait for a lengthy time. At Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, there is a waiting area that is to the side of the restaurant so customers can comfortably wait until their table is ready. Our table was ready in about ten minutes, which is a fast time compared to other restaurant like BJ's. The employees wear jerseys and it sets them apart in a more personal and unique way. Jerseys seem better than the typical black and white dress code other restaurants follow. The waiter that we had was entertaining and made me laugh. Not only do the waiters show respect but they are enjoyable by providing humor when they check up on tables. Some restaurants are so busy they forget about their customers. In the aspect of their servers and greeters, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar did an outstanding job. I was pleased with their customer service. They also excelled in how tasty the food was, it was fulfilling and delicious.
The food is variable because although the restaurant is called Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar they do not just sell Buffalo wings. There are burgers, salads, desserts, appetizers, kids' menus, and the drinks vary from lemonade to beer. This is a good quality to have because when eating at a restaurant they should apply variety in case some customers do not like certain foods. The restaurant is really known for the diversity in their sauces. Some of the sauces are Medium, Spicy Garlic, Honey BBQ, Wild, and Blazin. When we visited the restaurant I got the chicken tenders with ranch because I am not a fan of hot sauce. My plate was well cooked and it came with fries and four chicken tenders. For my drink I chose to get the Strawberry-Mango Lemonade, it was tasty. The price is neither too cheap nor too pricy it fit the budget perfectly. My food and drink was a total of about $13.00.
Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar is mostly known for having big game nights. One example is the Super Bowl that is coming up they will be having the game played on the big screens so people can enjoy their food while watching the game. They not only play football, but baseball, hockey, rhythmic jujitsu, MMA, and basketball. At Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar they also have game boards that people can use and play while waiting for their food or entertain themselves when they are done.
The restaurant is spacious and decorative because there are numerous amounts of tables and the color of the restaurant brightens the atmosphere. The colors are black and yellow, and it suites the restaurant perfectly. I have gone when it is lunch time and dinner time. When I ate lunch the light was bright and relaxing, and when I went there at night, with a group of friends, the lighting was dimmer, it fits the mood. It is neither too noisy nor too quite that people can hear your conversations. When I dined there someone had a birthday party and the servers sang to them while also bringing them a cake. They danced and sang along, it was enjoyable. It seems like they care about their customers.
What makes Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar great is their food, atmosphere, price, and customer service. They know how to hire the correct team to portray a well taught customer service skill so they can be respectful and entertaining to their customers. This was shown with my personal experience the two times I ate there. Not only is the restaurant spacious but equipped with big screen TVs for the customers to watch various amounts of games or just to sit down and relax an enjoyable meal. The food is delicious because their Buffalo wings and sauce are one of a kind. This also applies to the rest of their food, because of the variety they have to offer. As a customer I left the restaurant with a satisfied meal and delighted entertainment by the waiter. I would go back and recommend friends to stop by and try their delicious food and excellent service. Whether people enjoy Buffalo wings, burgers, a comfortable atmosphere, or excellent customer service, Buffalo Wild Wings & Grill has that plus much more to offer. | 2positive
| 871 |
We have been looking forward to trying this place for a while, don't get to this end of town very often so being that neck surgery is coming up for me, thought we would get out and enjoy some places that we have been wanting to try. The wait was only about 20 minutes. When we sat down, I asked the server about the burgers, and what were the 3 cuts of meat that are used to make up the burgers. She cocks her head and says "WHAT?!!" "I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION?" I again ask, " THAT'S A CRAZY STUPID QUESTION, IT'S GROUND BEEF, THEY ARE BURGERS, WHAT, I'VE NEVER BEEN ASKED ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE, WHAT???!!!.." I just sat kind of stunned that I was called STUPID by somebody, but whatever. So everybody knows The burgers are made of BRISKET, SHORT RIB and SIRLOIN, which they cut, and grind there at the restaurant each day. Something I knew, but the server didn't!!!! (and i'm the CRAZY STUPID one for asking it) Something that would help "B SPOT" put that information ON THE DAMN MENU!!!! That way people will know it, because the servers sure as heck don't! We ordered our burgers, mine came out and right away, you see that these are not what we saw on TV, or in photos. I had the YO burger which is to have fried salami, capicola and hot peppers with shasha sauce and provolone. There was ONE slice of Salami, one slice of capicola, 5 banana peppers and one slice of cheese. I could not get over how small. I cut it in half, and it was cooked wrong. The other burger was also wrong, and she even read the order back to us 2 times. So when she came back to ask, I said that the burger was wrong, as I walked to the pickle bar, as I was still taken aback from being called STUPID. At the pickle bar, i'm getting what I need, and I LOVE pickles, somebody says to me, "are you getting enough there? I don't know if he was a worker or not but again, REALLY??!! Just for that, I put another fork full of pickles on and said, NOW I DO!!!
I asked when I sat down, and my G/F said she had some sort of excuse as to why the other burger was incorrect.
The Fries had ZERO seasoning on them. When we got to the bottom, I poured the container over and one half speck of rosemary came out. $3.99 for steak and shake fries with no seasoning??!!! COME ON!!!! The onion rings, very good, should have some sort of zesty sauce with them, that's not on the table, especially for $6.99. I had to wait to get my drink refilled each time, but I think our waitress felt bad for her own service, as she near the end came up to us and said, "OH YEAH, BY THE WAY, OUR BURGERS ARE MADE WITH BRISKET, SHORT RIB AND SIRLOIN, IT WAS BOTHERING ME SO I ASKED AND THEY TOLD ME" and she was looking at me, so I smiled, and I said, YES, I KNOW, and that is something that YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! THEY ALSO GRIND IT HERE IN STORE EVERY DAY! She just turned red and walked away. I was going to ask her who was STUPID now, but she was gone. As we were leaving, my G/F knocked over her glass of water, so I started to wipe up the water, and pick up the ice cubes. The wait staff was just standing talking with each other so I thought I would do it until somebody came over, and that took almost 4 minutes, as that brown paper on the table does NOT soak up very well. They just stood there watching me wipe up and pick things up, as I didn't want somebody to slip and fall down. Finally somebody from the other end of the restaurant came over with a bar towel.
Overall this was not a fun time. $50 for 2 very small burgers, one order of fries and a order of onion rings. Being insulted because I know the menu better then our waitress, having to wait for refills on water and pepsi, just a huge disappointment for us. I usually give places 2 chances before writing them off. I do want to try the shakes, and I love bourbon, so we shall see, but it will be a while I feel. The only good thing was that I did see 2 of my doctors in the restaurant, so i'm looking forward to talking to them, as I know that my burgers are as good or better then these, and I don't call people stupid for being right when i'm wrong.
(just so everybody knows, there is a major difference between, ground beef/chuck the 80/20 that you get in the store. To what is being offered here with the 3 cuts that are ground and then formed, you could essentially eat BSPOT's burgers blue rare and not get sick, can't do that with 80/20 burgers! The 80 is meat the 20 or that number, the 2nd number is the fat number, so there is a major difference in a 80/20,90/10 to what these are, to Steak and shake burgers etc..) | 0negative
| 896 |
My girlfriend and I went to the Largo Mall Target this morning we was there at 8:45 a.m. the security guard said that they were only letting in people over 65 and the ones with immune system deficiencies that could possibly have a threat to this Coronavirus. So we moved away from the security personnel and the only door that they had open to avoid everyone no one else was there. This gentleman walks up not very appealing at all, and keeps getting a little closer and a Little Closer wanting to have a conversation, I told him sir we need to maintain at least 6 ft distance or more would be even better there's no one else out here and there's plenty of space. He kind of laughed and moved a little closer, in a louder voice I informed him of the cdc's rule of six foot and he needed to maintain his 6 what distance from my girlfriend and myself it security personnel Target's security Personnel had no problem hearing this but yet he said absolutely nothing to this man. The man started a meaningless conversation with the security guard. At that time people started to approach and began to gather out front waiting for the store to open for everyone show the man walks back over again close to my girlfriend and I we backed up our backs were literally against a brick wall the man still moved a Little Closer I told him in a very loud voice sir you will back up maintain your 6ft distance! He laughed again the security guard still said nothing to this gentleman. The security man that was working for Target informed everyone the store will be opening soon in a couple of minutes, I'm not sure if they were unlocking the doors or what but this man approached right up to me and my wife almost coming into physical contact then I shouted at him informing him if you do not maintain your distance I will clear my 6-foot area it is the cdc's rules and regulations for the federal government and you will give me my space. A security guard in the store which had it been alerted by the other guard comes out screaming at me sir leave my store you will not threaten anyone here! We were back against a brick wall and this man kept approaching so when I M forced my 6-foot rule I was told to leave the store and not to come back. Not only did this happen there was a group of about 20 people standing in front of the store less than six foot from each other and the security guard never said anything to anyone about dispersing in maintaining their distance from each other. The only people he ever said that the storm was concerned about was their employees maintaining their distance from possibly infected customer! Wow so Target could care less about the customers or this security guard would have made sure that this guy stopped approaching me he would have asked him to keep him maintain his distance which was never done he never asked the crowd to disperse no crowd larger than 10 should be together at any one time that is the rules. With that being said if you go to this target do not think they have your best health interest in mind because it was proven first thing this morning they could care less about their customers. I called the store manager she informed me that she was told a different story but she would look into it with a very disbelieving tone. So I had to ride a public transport bus round trip about 8 Miles to and from Target for absolutely no reason whatsoever my first trip out of the house and almost 2 weeks which should have been an enjoyable trip and I should have gotten what I needed and I obtained absolutely zero of the items that I went to purchase. Not that it makes a difference but the man that started all this which obviously homeless and a panhandler which was not going to spend one penny in the store. Good luck with this target I will never return. As soon as I did get home Governor Ron DeSantis issued a Statewide stay-at-home order with that being said that says a lot about the lack of attention to detail and the laws in place to prevent the spread of this virus to the public. This is in Largo Florida Largo shopping mall in Pinellas County Florida, as of today there is 167 cases of coronavirus confirmed in Pinellas County and with places like Target and the security Personnel that they have that will be an awful lot more protect yourself these people do not care about anything but what's in your wallet | 0negative
| 814 |
I'm giving this restaurant a 2.5 because the overall food quality and aesthetic appeal kept my experience from being completely terrible. If it had not been for the service I received I would've given this place five starts, but the service I'd honestly have to rate a solid 2.
Let's start with what they did right. The food here is AMAZING! I love the unique way they design their food plating and it's cooked to perfection. The music is also definitely on point, seating is super comfortable and the restaurants overall ambiance is just a vibe.
Here's where things went poorly.... On our first trip Friday 7/23 my bf made us a reservation for my birthday. They disregarded that note and I watched other tables celebrate their birthday while I received no recognition. Mistakes happen and we didn't bring up so I wasn't too focus on that issue. The night however got increasingly annoyed worse. We were originally sat a two seater table in the middle of the restaurant, so when our original server came by to introduce herself we requested a new table for more space. We got moved to a new table and waited 30 mins before I finally got the attention of a waitress and was able to place our order. The waitress who took our order told she wasn't our waitress but that'd she'd put our order in and that the original young lady should be making her way back to us.... That never happened. We ordered an appetizer, and two entrees, after an hour of waiting we still hasn't received our app or been visited by our "waitress". I caught the attention of the original server who the waitress who took our order said was responsible for our table and she told us she was not our server. She then went over to speak to the young lady who took our order and then returned to tell us the young lady who took our order was our waitress. I can understand this was probably due to miscommunication on their part, but we were offered no apology. The young lady who took our order then returned to our table and she told me that after an hour of waiting and watching tables that sat after us be served and complete their meals that the entree I ordered was as no longer available. I changed my order and our app and entrees were out within 10 mins... crazy since we were just waiting over an hour. When we got our meals we couldn't even eat because we didn't have silverware we had to ask for that after sitting with our food for another 10 mins.
My first experience at this place I looked forward to coming to for my birthday and was sour after this, but I wanted to give it another try. We returned for Brunch on the following Sunday 7/25. The wait was long were outside for hour, sweating my dress was literally drenched. I don't fault the restaurant for that though because it's a popular spot so of course there's going to be a wait. I did expect better service though after what we experienced Friday and waiting so long to just get in. Things were going well at first, we had the same waitress from Friday who took our order. We ordered immediately because we didn't want a rerun of Friday during brunch. Our entrees came out quickly but AGAIN with no silverware, had to sit with my plate for 10 minutes before we could get her attention again to ask for silverware. At this point I also asked her to add eggs and seasoned hash to our order, we waited 30 mins and received nothing. She didn't even check-in to offer an explanation of what was taking so long for the hash and eggs. My boyfriend already paid for our meal prior to the extended wait but at this point we were so over it we told her to go ahead and forget. She offered to get her manager for a refund but we didn't want to wait around for $10. I will say on our exit that the managers did offer apologies for the experience but it's still disappointing getting subpar service and paying for food you didn't even receive.
Honestly then food was so good I wish I could say that I'd be back to try it again, but I don't know of that's true. My boyfriend is more forgiving so he'll probably give it another try, but those two visits certainly left a bad taste in my mouth for this restaurant. If he does pay it another visit I'll have to see how it went for him before I try again. Maybe the third time will be the charm because try one and two were honestly pretty bad. | 0negative
| 809 |
"Dance 10. Looks 3." Song title from Broadway hit "A Chorus Line" describing a dancer could be applied to Crave! after their second audition for delivery and food respectively. (See earlier review for details about the business.) They continue to be best at the delivery part - on time, well packaged, arrives hot and cold as appropriate for the dish - and the delivery drivers are the best - professional, friendly, helpful with questions. It is Crave Delivery's food part that needs attention to get things right - both for the descriptions on the app listing to be complete and for the food to be prepared correctly. While our first experience with Crave! left us eager for encore, the second pass made us think we'll wait a bit to see if the owners can better arrange for kitchen supervision.
Food specifics follow. Some is good news. But the bad news much outweighed the good this time and for a $52 order - before tax, delivery fee and tip for driver which put it over $70, we expect more professionally prepared food. This is not about being a finicky consumer. Crave Delivery was launched purposefully during covid19 days to leverage the fact that people are ordering take away not dining in. Their business model is to prepare food according to specifications of the 'big name' restaurants who sponsor each dish on the menus. Getting it right needs some work. And a problem they really need to fix for this order from app model, their dish descriptions are incomplete with ellipses (...) leading nowhere and/or with descriptions that don't match the food delivered.
* A dish that highlights the problems with the incomplete descriptions is Panzanella Salad ($13 from ESR - Seattle based Ethan Stowell's 'at home' Italian themed eats). The app listed heirloom tomatoes, toasted croutons and red wine vin... Let's assume vinaigrette for the last. But what it did not say was this was prepared in "deconstructed" style with the heirloom tomatoes cut into big chunks - like quarters. That's fine but not what we expected based on classic panzanella preparation and had they been more descriptive we could have been more prepared. Sadly, those heirloom tomatoes were icy cold, as if refrigerated for a long time and so they were spongy and flavorless as is the case if you refrigerate fresh tomatoes. We did not eat them. Also the croutons scattered about were deep fried and oily not toasted. We could not eat them. The (few) chunks of mozzarella di bufola were good though, so was the scatter of fresh marjoram leaves, slivered red onions and green and black olive halves. The vinaigrette was awful - as if they had used red wine and not red wine vinegar to whisk into oil. Panzanella is one of our fav dishes and this was a big miss.
*Crab Cakes ($14 sponsored by Elliot's Oyster House in Seattle) were our fav of this delivery. Two good plump crab-rich cakes, a tasty fresh corn 'relish' alongside (but too little for two cakes) but alas the (small portion) potato salad didn't quite fit the description (another ... issue) and was really overdressed. But we would order these again.
*Rigatoni with spicy Italian sausage ($10 for small plate portion and from ESR) arrived with perfectly cooked for al dente rigatoni and kudos to them as that is hard enough for eateries to get right to service at table let alone for delivery. The arrabiata style spicy sauce was good and the pasta was dressed just right too. But while the flavors in the sausage were on-point, it was as if they had made the sausage into a patty, pan fried it then cut it up in four chunks. Neither sauteed pieces of sausage nor links sliced into pieces as might be expected with this pasta but more like a sausage patty shape one might get on a breakfast sandwich then cut up. Enough wrong for us that we wouldn't order this dish again. (Keeping in mind that in my Italian husband's culinary view some things are sacrilege. Your opinion may vary. As they say.)
*Cacio e Pepe ($15 also ESR) translates cheese and pepper and is a dish that has only 3 ingredients; spaghetti or linguini pasta, grated pecorino or parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper. Steps are few too; hot pasta water is used to sort of emulsify the cheese into a light sauce then cracked black pepper is added and tossed with the pasta until each strand has silky coat. A simple dish that is simply delicious when done right. Alas, while the linguine arrived perfectly cooked - kudos to them - but looking nude atop a very little liquid in the bottom of container that may have been the water emulsfied cheese but flavors were not as expected when we 'dug down' to find it and toss it with the dry pasta and there was literally not one spec of cracked pepper. Fortunately we could add fresh cracked black pepper at home. But for the entire dish, since this is supposed to represent ESR Home's preparation my husband said "ESR would be appalled." | 1neutral
| 861 |
Despite the low number of stars and bad reviews we wanted to try Tace for ourselves and give it a good chance because New Orleans fare is one of our favorites. We thought when we walked in, 'hey the place is packed' so it has to be good, right?...nope. It pains me to have to give a new restaurant a 1 star, but I have to. Tace is a huge disappointment.
From beginning to end there are issues. Although the hostess was pleasant, she had no idea that a party that had reserved for 7:30 was already eating in the restaurant. Mind you, we arrived at around 8:30, so the reservation shouldn't have mattered. Not a big deal. We and a party of 4 behind us was able to be seated.
It took a while for the server to come to take our orders, but we knew what we wanted. The server came over and counted tables to figure out what number table we were. Again, not a big deal, but I noticed. I ordered the Barbecue Shrimp...my favorite New Orleans dish. I asked if the Barbecued Shrimp was like Brennan's or Pascales and the server had no idea what I was talking about and then told me that it was only her 5th day. So, I asked how many shrimp was in the order, she said about 5 and that they are the big prawns (which in NOLA you always get big prawns with barbecued shrimp). I decided not to ask anymore questions. I also ordered Fried Green Tomatoes. We tried ordering red beans and rice, but they were out. What?! How can a New Orleans style restaurant run out of red beans and rice? A bad feeling was coming on.
As we waited I looked around and noticed many tables getting wrong orders and servers calling out wrong names of plates, then making excuses for not knowing what the items were. What looked to be a band came in and started setting up, however after a while we noticed that pop music was playing...not Jazz. I then realized that the Hispanic "band members" were there for something that was going on later because I noticed the bar area started to be patronized by Hispanic women in party-style dresses (salsa night maybe?). We saw a picture of the bread from someones visit a month earlier on Yelp, so we were eager to try it. We were instead brought the bottoms of dinner rolls with butter. It definitely wasn't the same bread. The water I asked for with lots of lemon had the end of a lemon sliced thin and thrown in the water...pet peeve to have the lemon in the water and not on the side or side of cup. Most of the lemon wasn't squeezable becasue it was just the peel sliced.
So, I see a server from another table bring what appeared to be our food to a table across the room. I watched as they called out the food and placed plates down...I saw my Fried Green Tomatoes...and not to be the judgmental bastard or anything, but those people didn't look like the type to order Fried Green Tomatoes. I then saw the waiter look at the ticket and mouth, "oh these items belong to another table" and he looked over and saw me staring at him. So he went to the back with the plate and another server came out and gave me the same plate.
The rest of our disappointing looking meals came out and our server called out, Shrimp and Grits. I said, "No one at our table ordered Shrimp and Grits. I ordered Barbecued Shrimp." "Oh, that's what I meant," said the server and as she put down the plate in front of me. I gasped. "Uh why is there rice in my plate!" She said , "That's how we serve it." Not only was rice in the plate, but there were big hunks of onion and an extremely dark barbecue sauce in the bowl. The shrimp were medium sized shrimp, not large prawns and they were shelled and butterflied. Well all but one was butterflied. The shrimp also had the veins still in them. Why wouldn't you de-vein the shrimp if you went through the trouble to butterfly these little shrimps? The look and taste of this dish was all wrong. It didn't taste like Brennan's or Pascals. It was just wrong. Barbecued Shrimp from NOLA isn't really barbecued at all. They are big prawns drowned in a butter based sauce and made with Abeita beer or some sort of liquor. The sauce at Tace was trying to be barbecue sauce out of a bottle.
Nothing tasted great and a lot of it tasted bad. Bad would definitely be my Barbecued Shrimp, my husband's Seafood Beignets and the booty bread. The okays: my Fried Green Tomatoes, my daughter's Caesar Salad (although too much mayo) and my son's Seafood Gumbo (couldn't' see the seafood and that was the most shallow bowl I've ever encountered...the gumbo was only really painted onto the plate as my son could barely fill his spoon with the gumbo).
This place will not make it if they don't make a change. My suggestions:
1. Go to NOLA and eat your heart out, then find a Chef that can actually cook NOLA style food.
2. Train your servers. Let the servers eat every dish. Give your servers a lesson in NOLA food and history. Train your servers on the layout of your restaurant, expediting food, and serving the food to the correct tables and seats. | 0negative
| 936 |
So first let me say that this review is based on my experience with BCB as a destination for a party. And at the end of this, you'll understand why they got 1 star.
So as my 30th birthday was fast approaching, two of my best friends approached me wanting to know where they could plan a fun event to celebrate this milestone in my life. After looking around at LOTS of places in St. Louis, I called BCB. I spoke with a gentleman on the phone. Not sure of his role, but he was super friendly and very helpful. The set up for a party seemed to be the best we found in the city.
1. A guaranteed space without any additional cost
2. Willingness to set up individual bar tabs for guests
3. Ability to order food for the party while still allowing guests to order additional items
4. No party minimum. (They basically ask that the total tab, if added together, would amount to around $20/person. Not hard to do here.)
5. No penalty for not meeting a certain minimum.
6. They had an opening the night we wanted to have the party.
So as you can imagine, we jumped on this offer. My two friends met with the manager (guy whose name I don't know) about one month in advance. They wanted to see the space and go over details for the event. At that meeting, they decided on menu items they wanted to order for the party: cheese plates and several of the flatbread pizzas. They also discussed a dessert option for the group so they could light candles and sing. The manager then offered them the option to have menu items from Bailey's Range brought in. Since they know me too well, they decided to add on the pretzels with cheese, one of my favs. After the meeting, they felt that all of the details were worked out and the night would go smoothly.
They were wrong!!!
The party was set to start at 7pm. When I arrived a few of my friends had already gathered in the upstairs area that was reserved for us. It was cute, cozy, and very well decorated. There was a female waitress who presented me with a menu...........and then I never saw her again. After 45 minutes, I had to belly up to the bar to get my own drink. I find this concerning since I know the girls had to pay a server fee for the party. I can tell you I have no idea who the server was, because everyone ended up having to get their own drinks at the upstairs bar. RIDICULOUS! And throughout the night, no one cleaned up. One of my friends took empty plates and glasses to the bar because our server was no where to be found. Then when the cheese plates were brought out, they were simply sat on the bar. I should tell you that the bar was not part of the reserved area for our party. So basically anyone coming up to the bar could have had access to the food they sat there. After an hour or so, we had to inquire where the pizzas were. They were supposed to be out around 7/7:30 when the guests arrived since they would likely be hungry. After much discussion with the MANAGER, the pizzas came out around 9pm!!! 9pm!!! What terrible service. And NO apology. Other guests from the party, who became hungry, had already ordered and eaten their additional food before these pizzas even came out. And when the manager was approached, he acted like he had no idea what was going on or why anyone was upset. There were also no pretzels and cheese. The manager told them "we don't carry those." When confronted about the fact that he offered them from the Range and ensured they'd be there the night of the party, he again acted like he had no idea what they were talking about. The other insane piece of the night is that there was NO dessert. Even though the girls planned ahead for a dessert to be brought out, it never happened. By the time they addressed the issue, it was 10:30 and most of the guests had left. How frustrating. My parents who were also there had to ask for the complimentary chocolate chip cookies because, again, they were never placed on the tables. This is a standard expectation at BCB, and again a real miss on their part.
All I can say is that it will be a long time before I go back to BCB. The lack of service is embarrassing. You would think that a nice establishement like this one would strive to achieve great customer service, something that is absolutely FREE! But no, no apologizes or explanations for their mistakes. I even emailed the owner of the restaurant and let him know how disappointed I was and I never heard back from him. Again, terrible customer service. I don't know why it's so hard for someone to say "I'm sorry," but they have a lot of room to improve. If I'm going to spend $10+ dollars on a drink, I expect excellent service. There was a rotating group of people behind the bar that night, but rarely would any of them look in your direction, much less make you a drink. I guess they get paid to socialize and ignore their customers.
You have a lot of work to do BCB if you want to keep customers happy. So the moral of the story, DON'T PLAN A PARTY HERE!!! | 0negative
| 941 |
When I was a vegetarian, this place was a god-send. Now that Im not, I still really like it. Meat-eaters who arent pretentious fops who say things like "well it doesnt taste like beef, so i dont like it"...will probably like it too. If you go here understanding that the food tries to come close to some meat-like dishes but with no real intention to taste exactly like it, then you will be able to recognize that this food DOES taste really really good on its own merit.
Ambiance is nice, modern, clean. Peggy (the owner) is super nice, always wearing a smile, and is very helpful if you dont know what to order. There are some great things about this place, most of which relate to the fact that everything is vegan, and is therefore almost uniformly healthy for you (a few exceptions). Im going to skip that crap and go to the important stuff: what I like to eat here. And as one further pre-req, I have to tell people that when it comes to ordering what you like here, if at first you don't succeed, try try again. Not every vegan food is delicious to everyone--even vegans. There are some REAL gems on this menu though, and my personal favorite happens to be one that...well...most people are too scared to order.
Tuna Salad. And I get why people are afraid. Most vegetarian seafood knock-offs are really, legitimately, terrible. No, like think of the worst thing youve ever eaten, and then go one step further. When I first became a veg, one of the foods that I loved but could no longer eat was tuna salad. Fake meat products were pretty limited back then, and there was no option to duplicate this simple meal. Then there was Tuno, which was around for a while. Most people hated the stuff, but I really liked it. Eventually, they stopped offering it. I was without any sort of tuna substitute for a couple years when lovin spoonful opened up and began making their own from scratch...yeah, from just plain old vegetable protein flakes. I have no idea how Peggy does it. Ive tried it myself, and failed miserably. Regardless, hers really REALLY hit the spot for me every time. I order on organic sourdough, with french fries instead of chips and depending on how I feel that day either the cole slaw or the carrot salad (both great! but the slaw can be a bit dry some days). Fantastic.
Did I say that was my favorite? I take that back. HANDS DOWN FAVORITE on the menu: Chicken Nuggets. These are not like McDonalds (but those probably have just about as much chicken in them as these do). They have this awesome crispy beer batter thing going on, and they are CRAZY good. I order mine with Ranch (made in house-vegan, and surprisingly delicious).
Lots of people have told me the Route 66 burger is their fav, and Ive had it, its good, just not exactly for me. When it comes to veggie burgers, im a boca guy (not vegan) and most vegan burgers just dont impress me. But Im the weirdo in this situation, most people like it.
Ok, now for the bad--and theres a bit. This place is expensive. Its not their fault, exactly...meatless meat products are expensive, And i know personally that they are using some products that have to be wholesaled because theyre not available to the public market. Everything is on special order, and YOU will pay for it. With an appetizer, meal and drink, one can very easily spend over $20 per person.
The layout is...well, not confusing...but annoying, I guess. There IS table service, but you still have to wait in line at the counter to order and get a number. I mean, for the prices you're paying here, and for the size of the place, they could have fit in an extra 5-6 tables and gotten rid of the waiting in line thing.
There really is no embracing of the veg. What i mean by this is that every item on their menu is a knock-off of some meat-eater's dish in vegan form. Thats all fine and good, but who knows how to cook veggies better than vegetarians?!?! RIGHT!?!?! I wish they would take that into consideration and offer some grilled asparagus or something even as a side-dish.
Breakfast, IMO is pretty awful. 20 versions of the same meal, "The ______ scramble". A scramble with no eggs. Something that kinda looks like eggs, sure...but is definitely not eggs. Breakfast is served till 11 and lunch is WILL NOT be served a moment sooner than that. They have to change out the line in the kitchen, so dont even think about ordering off the lunch menu yet. Along the same lines, the dinner menu looks phenomenal, but has almost nothing in common with the lunch menu. I wish they would pick a couple of their best off of each and make them available all day.
Despite its faults, Its still the best vegan restaurant probably in the state at least. I really do love this place, have been coming since it first opened, and I will be continuing to go back for years to come. If youre a veg and havent been here, you're an idiot. If youre one of dem carnivores, give this place a try some day when you're feeling a bit open-minded and adventurous. | 2positive
| 912 |
As visitor to Boise in 2013, I wrote then about this uniquely remarkable eatery to say this was the best food my husband and I enjoyed during our week long visit with "...all people are welcome vibe, friendly service, inventive cocktails, delicious food and good value. We loved it." As residents of the area since 2014, we have enjoyed scores of meals at the Modern over five years and that summary is still true. Consistently excellent.
PRE 2019 BAR & RESTAURANT REVIEWS: The property, re-imagined from a TraveLodge in the Linen District, is both a hotel and a bar / restaurant serving daily dinner and weekend brunch. Reviews for the restaurant and the hotel were once posted on the same Yelp page. In June 2019 owners set up separate pages for the Hotel and the Bar / Restaurant. For Modern eatery reviews and photos prior to June 2019 visit the Modern Hotel Yelp page.
VIBE: A mid-century modern designed friendly gathering place for grown ups of all ages and walks of life including those whose 60's are in the rear view mirror as well as those who are just started on the road of their 20's. I read the owners' comments, shared below, before making my 2013 visit to encourage me that although media reviews called this "swanky" and "hipster" - neither of which apply to my hubby and me - we would be welcome here.
"...a grown up space with great cocktails...friendly but stylish sort of establishment with knowledgeable bartenders, new music and good wine...small and intimate...Our kitchen provides our guests with simple, elegant bar food...showcase produce and meats grown by local farmers and ranchers...When the weather is fine...guests socialize on our outdoor patio and listen to local music while enjoying the best food and drink Boise has to offer."
THE DRILL: No reservations. Seat yourself at the bar or at any of the laminate or plexi top standard height tables inside (yahoo for standard height seating which works well for everyone) or during warm weather months on the patio. Table service for libations and snacks - like nuts and deviled eggs - from 4p with dinner service starting at 5p. Earlier is better if you don't want to wait for a table during dinner hours. Brunch on Sat and Sun 8a - 2p. Children welcome on patio but not inside given bar designation.
MENU & FOOD: Highly skilled chefs - one a James Beard Award nominee - have designed creative menus ranging from appetizers through entrees and dessert using seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. Sources are printed on the menu; something my hubby and I appreciate as know-where-your-food-comes-from eaters. There is finesse in the preparation of each dish and options for vegans, vegetarians and omnivores. Gluten free choices are clearly noted. Lovely presentations in moderate size portions that we find to be perfect. We have shared plates and ordered individual meals and all has been fantabulous - particularly anything lamb, pasta or vegetable.
SERVICE: Servers always greet us warmly, know the menu to answer questions, pace the meal perfectly, provide share plates when needed without us having to ask. We feel welcome. So nicely done.
TIP: Given its' TraveLodge origination, we surmise the eatery and bar (adjacent to Hotel's registration office) may have once been a meeting room. The kitchen is built into one of the ground floor former guest rooms. Servers need to go in and out to bring food from the kitchen and serve drinks to outside tables. For those familiar with Boise's "high fly" season in September-ish, I mention this only to set expectations since flies do not know to stay outside when doors open.
LIBATIONS: HH 4p - 7p offers a couple of the inventive house specialty cocktails at a discount and a buck off wine. Cocktails are moderate in size and big in flavor and quality. Wine list by the glass is small but thoughtfully crafted and well priced. There is a nice bottle list too. A couple of sparkling wines by the glass - yahoo! For Sat and Sun brunch service (starts 8a) alcohol is served after 10a per ID law.
VALUE: Menu prices range from $6 - $30. Good value for this top quality.
PARKING: Small private lot for hotel and restaurant guests.
ACCESSIBILITY: Lot has 2 ADA parking spaces but path of travel to eatery door blocked for equal access for mobility disabled guests by patio furniture - must 'go around' via lobby entry. Level throughout. Standard height tables some with clear floor space for wheelchair users. Difficult for mobility limited guests (I have MS) to access and use patio equally with others given loose gravel and open paver surface. Both unisex loo are accessible.
NEIGHBOR: Fun Basque wine bar Txikiteo - same owner - 2 blocks away. | 2positive
| 798 |
Hummm after you wake up sometimes still "Feelin It" you need to bring yourself back to reality. Like the song says..."Back to life, Back to Reality" after boozing and poplocking the night away in The City of Reno btw I did say "Poplocking" and not just dancing. I had an appetite suitable for a "King". Now here is where it gets good I promise..Its so easy for one that stays in one of the "Virginia Street" hotels during their visit to get lured in by one of the Casino restaurant's or grills. But I'm the type that likes to venture off the yellow brick road a bit. Like they say "Life is like a box of Chocolates, You never know what you gonna get" but I ate those chocolates up already the night before when I was drinking now I needed something....filling....Chinese you say? Buffet you say....? AYCE? (all you can eat) oh a meal sutible for a "King" I found just the place. King Buffet. Let me rant about this one a little bit.
Like I said in my City of Reno review, some of the hidden gems of Reno are outside of Virginia Street. My homie and I woke up starvin like Marvin and wanted something to carry us through we ate later on after partying. He had mentioned Chinese and good thing I Yelp and Bookmark places even if I'm not close to them....cleaver me right! A yelp friend had visited this place before and reviwed it, so my mind was made up, if its recommended by a friend then it must be pretty good. So I showed my friend the page here on Yelp and some pics and he was just as sold as I was. We got dressed and set off....now time to fast forward a bit..
My homie and I arrived about an hour or so later. We were delighted just at the sheer size of the building, we knew that we were in for a treat upon walking in. It was a packed house, but to be honest....what buffets usually aren't around 11 a.m.- 3p.m. on a warm Saturday morning? Unless they're gross. Anyway we waited like about 2 minutes or so because a large group was about to be seated. When we finally got seated we were left scratching our heads, the waitress walked off when I was about to order our beverages. Ok cool, that's fine, we came to eat and boy when I say suitable for a "King" this place nailed it spot on!
I've beem to some AYCE Chinese Buffets before but the offerings always seemed....similar. Not to say thoae establishments weren't good, but the variety of food wasn't there. But that wasnt the case here. The way they organized this buffet and had it set up and layed out was cleaver and nice. All the menu items were placed with the type of food group it belonged too.....score! I've never experienced that before at a buffet. The food here was moving as well, with the hotplates being changed out regularly because of the moving demand, you knew that the food was fresh here. They even had a Mongolian BBQ area which I love, and get excited to see at Chinese AYCE buffets. Because who really like going to the mall paying 12 dollers or more for a small plate of noodles....not me. So I rather have it included in the ($8.99) price tag and get more.
I'm a seafood guy and if you like seafood this place has no shortage of it, heck in fact you can see the fish tank when you walk in. Although those fish were for decoration, to me it was advertising. Here the american options were slim and to be honest I liked that, nothing more that I can't stand to see when goong to a chinese buffet and seeing fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy..like really! The food here was great, very hot and fresh and it totally hit the spot. It filled the void we both needed at that moment. King Buffet isn't walking distance if you're staying downtown Reno, so you gotta hop in your ride or take a Uber or Lyft or something to get here, because this place is like one street away from the Atlantis Casino Resort. Which if you know Reno is on the otherside of town. It sits on it's own in a little strip mall of sorts. Grocery Outlet and Doller Tree are notible stores here.
In my closing, the price here was pretty good, the food even better, but one star had to be taken away because the communication barrier and not getting my drinks till like my second plate of food. But..that isn't taking away from my experience here. This is the perfect buffet in so many ways and would make you happy that you ventured off the normal route or...Yelp in that matter. Because this place filled every expectation and more. So if you're in the mood for Chinese, AYCE, oh and they have Sushi too even Dessert Sushi which I found intriguing and the little kiddos seemed to love it judging by handing them off to a few little ones before I got one piece of my own. Anyway I'm sure you would like this place, but results always vary as you know the world. Yelp your own experience if you come here, because I know I can't wait to come back! | 2positive
| 913 |
Three Muses is for real connoisseurs of culture, good food and music not those looking for a tourist trap!
What drew me to Three Muses is it's inventive menu, romance, creativity and charm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=424UnUra0Xs
It's not a chain (I still can't believe people eat in chain restaurants in Nola) and it is not a tourist trap like Mothers restaurant which all true food lovers with taste avoid if they are in the know before they go according to Chow Houndhttp://chowhound.chow.com/topics/661069.
If all you ate in NOLA were at expensive restaurants famous restaurants and or tourists traps you have missed experiencing NOLA!
Three Muses is listed as French, Cajun and Creole. New Orleans has true fusion cuisine meaning it is not made up by restaurant owners to make money. New Orleans has a fusion of cultures so the cuisine is a reflection on the culture. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/benefit-for-new-york-at-three-muses/Content?oid=2099590
It has romantic ambiance as seen in this Youtube video in terms of the ambiance . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tMiSczO3q
However the tables are a bit uncomfortable.
I was looking forward to Three Muses so much more than anywhere else we had on our list in Nola! We went on a Wednesday night. There was a line 45 minutes long. They do not take cell numbers or have a real system they just tell you to come back.
We kept going back. It was too cold to wait so long. We were in Nola during a cold spell and I got sick from the cold.
When we finally got in there were signs all over saying you must buy one drink per person per set! The seats were uncomfortable and the door was open with the cold air coming in. If you look at pictures of their FB page it looks spacious but when we were there seats were all cramped together.
The young lady taking names was rude, she was not even paying attention to her list of names. She kept letting people in front of us in spite of the fact that we came back early several times. Several hours went by with the same pattern.
We finally made it in. But things didn't get too much better.
It is a bit chaotic in there. I have to refer you to this review. This reviewer says it better than I do. http://www.yelp.com/biz/three-muses-new-orleans#hrid:VsLBIA-cW-uA_PiPfgX0hg
The restaurant was out of everything I wanted to eat.
I had to leave it was too uncomfortable and we didn't get to try the food I know it is good other wise there would not be lines when other places are empty but I did not have a good experience there! Plus they were out of everything I wanted and it was still early at least for us New Yorkers it was early.
We could not get a cab back to the hotel and had to walk in the cold at night! It was too stressful for me!
I am very disappointed in my experience there because I know it is good based on the menu, the lines and ambiance.
The lines were not filled with tourists but locals.
What I didn't know was there was apparently a big name there that night which is why they charged per set. I did not know that. You can keep up with them on FB, https://www.facebook.com/ThreeMuses
However they had no special announcements on FB the night we went so we were not prepared for the long wait or cold open doors. It was a big waste of time for us and I wish they had a more efficient way of taking names and keeping up with how many people come so tables do not have to be squeezed together. I have to give it 3 stars for my experience since we wasted an entire night of our very short vacation which I got sick waiting in the cold. Nola had a cold spell when we were there.
Again I am very disappointed. But how long we waited and the fact that it was so cramped and the fact that they were out of everything made it a disappointing experience for us. I need to add that it was mid week not a weekend and not on a tourist street.
I am giving it 3 stars to be fair since I didn't get to try the food. I usually do not review places I have not eaten at like many Elites seem to do such as trying to be first to review saying when it opens I hope to try it. That is not me.
That is those who are Elite so they can keep their review count up. But since it ruined an entire night of our vacation I needed to review it hoping they might change their methods hoping it won't happen to others.
The music had not started yet either. . If it is that crazy of a wait to get in perhaps there should be a cover charge and not charge per set. In that case what happens is people wait around for the music and the tables are never cleared. Especially when music has not started yet. The people inside were obviously waiting for the music and did not plan on leaving. I am sure it is a nice place but not run efficiently to accommodate the guests! It would have been more honest to turn us away!We did not take pictures we forgot we were so upset! | 1neutral
| 907 |
We visited BP last night, at 5 p.m. hoping to enjoy the ambiance before the crowds arrived. Our plan was to have a cocktail and two appetizers at the bar in order to test out the kitchen. The Yelp review's were generally positive, so we were looking forward to the experience, especially since like many locals, we relish in the growth of Seminole Heights Food and Beverage industry.
Pro:'s The restoration and re-configuration of the old Bungalow style house into a restaurant was impressive, and the vibe is welcoming, if not cliche'd quirky Seminole Heights (in a good way). The owner, who greeted me on the way in, was friendly. The layout was open, and they made a good use of the space. In our opinions, the owners eye for detail show's up in the aesthetics of the decor, not in the food or customer service.
Cons: I ordered a Manhattan. At more than $12, I expect a quality cocktail (I make these at home, after all). The waiter put the drink in front of me without a cherry ( a standard garnish). No explanation, no comment, nothing. When I asked him, he said "oh, they are on the way". OK, I guess I can wait for that....30 minutes later, a 3 quart jar of neon-red cherries arrived (you know, the kind you ate as kid in your Shirley Temple, but which have no value/flavor as a craft cocktail garnish). Sounds minor, but trust me, there is not a bar in Tampa (or any city I've been to), serving cocktails over $10, with maraschino cherries. It's simply not done. BP thought it was acceptable. At a minimum, Luxardo cherries is standard fare, and something the Manhattan needs,especially at the end. Strike 1.
Second, we ordered the Pork Belly appetizer ($13) and the Mussels with steak frites ($13). As I mentioned, we were the first and only people in the restaurant when we ordered, 30 minutes after the kitchen opened. Wait time? These two plates took over 30 minutes to arrive. The bartender didn't check in, didn't apologize, nothing. All common sense things a bartender/waiter would do when his only customers are waiting an obviously long time for their food and are sitting right in front of him. This is customer service 101 folks. Strike 2.
Third. the small dish I received resembled pork belly about as much as a truck tire resembles a NY Strip...not even close. In fact, the pork I received had NO fat on it. Virtually zero. Anyone who's eaten pork belly understands that pork belly is by definition, pork fat. It's not a pork chop, pork tenderloin, or any other cut of the pig. It's fat, that is slowly rendered. When I pointed this out to the bartender he said "yeah, that looks nothing like pork belly...I'll talk to the chef". About ten minutes later he emerged from the kitchen. I asked, "and what did the chef say?".. Bartender stated "well, he agreed, but he's just not into it tonight." Me: "Oh, that's interesting, so he's acknowledging that this is not pork belly but is serving it anyways?" Bartender, "yeah, it must be the way they ordered it from the supplier this time.." No apology. Nothing. No asking to take it off my bill, and no fetching the owner/manager whose otherwise on the floor. HUGE Strike 3.
My wife's mussels, were a 5 out of 10, according to her. The broth was fine, but the mussels were rubbery and served with soaking wet french fries. Not a dish either of us would order again, particularly when we know what we get for our money in other restaurants in Tampa.
I don't think that this exchange with the bartender, or the food requires further elaboration. This was obviously not a kitchen, or a service program in command of its environment. In the end, I dealt with the bartender patiently and did not ask for a refund (though normally I would in these circumstances). I opted instead to write this review in hopes they take my advice and significantly improve their program.
We'd prefer to like this restaurant, we really would. I'll even go so far to say that perhaps the kitchen and waitstaff had an extremely off night, and it's not the norm. The only other alternative is that on average, many people on Yelp eat sub-par food at BP, over pay for it, and expect very little from service professionals. Let's hope that isn't the case.
We won't be returning to BP. There are simply too many solid restaurants in Tampa that are less expensive, stronger in the kitchen, and come with much better customer service. I value my money and in exchange, I expect a solid dining experience. The Food and Beverage business is all in the details. I suggest the owner/managers take an end-to-end look at how to improve their program, for the sake of their longevity, and Seminole Heights's restaurant scene. | 0negative
| 828 |
Originally, when I was planning to do a brewery tour of St. Petersburg, any of the Tampa breweries were not in the cards. That changed when I discovered that Angry Chair Brewing was doing a bottle release on Labor Day Weekend (the weekend my friends and I were going to be there), as well as Hidden Springs Ale Works. Being that I wasn't able to visit Hidden Springs when I went to Tampa last year, I decided to incorporate additional stops of the two breweries. I was especially glad I made time to check out Hidden Springs and their Mega Drop event. Since opening three years ago, they have made a hell of a name for themselves with producing craft beer -- and they are stellar ones indeed.
Situated in the Tampa Heights neighborhood -- an area that's been rehabilitated thanks to Hidden Springs, Ulele, Garagiste, and a bunch of other eateries and establishments in the past few years, the area is a must-stop when visiting. More importantly, Hidden Springs produces bonafide rock stars with their brews, as I discovered at their Mega Drop event.
Parking is fairly easy -- and being that we had tons of people waiting in line for the Mega Drop to start, we were able to find a spot with ease a couple of blocks away without paying a fee. The area is easy and comfortable to walk to reach the brewery, that's for sure.
You can tell where Hidden Springs is located thanks to their giant-ass logo that's painted on one side of their building above their entrance. Being that this was the Mega Drop event, we waited with what seemed like infinite patience to reach the front of the line located within the actual production facility of the brewery around the corner from the entrance. I think it was close to 45 minutes before we gradually made our way inside to the table to make our purchases.
Releasing four types of 4-pack cans as well as a bottle of their Maple Black Aggie (which sold out before we made it to the front), I voraciously purchased one of each -- and was joyous and felt victorious... partly because I had been waiting. Their production facility was fairly sizable in retrospect. I think they have at least a 12-barrel system but I could be wrong (it's a bit of blur since I was all hyped up on buying my cans).
Once I dropped off my purchases, I finally was able to have a flight (or two) from the taproom. Upon entering, you're surrounded by a ton of different high-top pub tables to the left and right -- some communal and others more limited in seating capacity, while a bar counter appears towards the back. Like most of the breweries I've patronized, the look has a hint of industrial -- Edison bulbs hang over the metal bartop if that's any indication.
With seemed close to 20 beers on tap, I went ahead and ordered two flights while I was there. Flights come in pours of four, so you get a nice mix of what Hidden Springs has to offer. Out of the eight I had there, five were tops with two in particular being fucking magical.
The Nitro Steve Orange Creamsicle had gorgeous nodes of orange with a hint of vanilla; and due to being a nitro pour, had a nice creaminess for sure. Their Bearski Berliner Weisse was bloody yummy. Rich, with nice sourness, I tasted passion fruit and papaya, which made for a fantastic pour.
Their Pilsner absolutely impressed me. Rich, surprising sour nodes, where it tastes like pineapple and coconut, which I didn't expect from a pilsner -- some beer purists may argue that may be a sign of something else, but I think it was the brewery's intention. Because sizzle me some bacon, this pilsner was crisp and deeply satisfying.
The real unicorns of the bunch were Deja Moo Nitro Milk Stout and the Fat Guy In a Little Coat Berliner Weisse. Magical with a CAPITAL "M". We're talking unicorns trotting and galloping endlessly on rainbows.
The Fat Guy had an amazing smoothness, with a blend of coconut and vanilla, which made the raspberry nodes surprisingly sweeter and not tart. Very magical.
The nitro pour for the Deja Moo Milk Stout was so bloody creamy, I can't even begin to tell you. So succinct with the right amount of sweetness of cocoa with a hint of spice from the chipolte, which allows to linger so perfectly on the palate. Incredibly magical. While I enjoyed the Deja Moo regular pour as well, the nitro was just so much better to where I felt the goodness, I felt the craftsmanship, I felt the majesty and alchemy of a superior beer being bursting in my face. This is next tier magic erupting from volcanoes and shit.
Incredible beer, hip area, fun times, awesome vibes, with a growing reputation as one of the premier breweries in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Hidden Springs has become to Tampa Heights that Angry Chair is to Seminole Heights: a sought-after, kick ass watering hole that will knock your socks off. | 2positive
| 859 |
Two weeks ago, one of my colleagues brought in a gooey butter cake she had baked, and it reminded me how disappointed I was two months ago.
On the to-do list was to send out gooey butter cakes to Utah for my "boss" and her team as a surprise. With over 70 flavors that Park Avenue has, how could it possibly go awry? Yeah, famous last words.
Park Avenue has always been a community coffee shop, and still is a very community-geared coffee shop. It was dead silent in there, but every chair was filled with regulars. I've gotten coffee there before because one of my best friends used to live in Lafayette Park, so I know the place a bit. I agree with Tanya M...the service is aloof if they have no idea who you are. So I go up to the counter and the first guy was nice enough, albeit a bit clueless. I asked to order two 9x13 gooey butter cakes for send out, and he had to rummage a bit to figure out how that was done. Some other guy came out to help him and had the purchase all rung up with his hand out for my credit card before the first guy even had finished taking down my order and copying the address from my ipad. It actually made me feel that he just wanted my $60 instead of making sure that my order was correct. So the big thing was to make sure that this was delivered on a weekday because the order was to go to my company's building so the team could share it. They were pretty accommodating about figuring that one out even though they gave me identical looks about it...in the end, they said it should go out on a Friday to be there by the start of the next work week. They did forget to ask if I wanted to send a message with it...and I totally forgot about that too and had to turn around to ask for that. So, maybe their order pad needs to have that accommodation. The entire thing just made me feel so rushed and unsure about my order, but hey, it got done.
I didn't think much more about it until that next Monday when after work I switched my phone back on and there was a voicemail from their baking company asking me to verify the address. Oh ok. I called them back, not five hours after that VM, and left a message...both on the personal and on the bakery lines. I figured with baker's hours, I would call them again in the AM. I called them the next morning to make sure they got my message, and without missing a beat, Ann was like, "Oh, well, I couldn't reach you and the cakes had to go out yesterday so I called your boss." WHAT? 1) It was five hours. Some of us miss phone calls when we're working. 2) It was a surprise! So I told her that it was supposed to be a surprise to which she said, "Oh, I didn't tell her what it was." Really? That's supposed to make me feel better? So defensively, she adds, "Besides, she's not going to be in on the day they're supposed to get there, so she gave me the address to her house." Again...what?? I had originally specifically said that it was to be sent to her and the team, not just her. Why would you send it to someone's house? Her team does as much work for me as she does. If she misses it, I'll just send her something else. So I expressed all of this to her, and she said, "Well, I'll call her and let her know that it can be placed in the fridge so she can bring it to work next week." My face was so lucky it didn't freeze like that. I had to say, "No, it's fine. It's a gift, and you really can't call up people and tell them what to do with it." And honestly, shouldn't a "how to keep this fresh" card be included with the package anyway?
So what I really wanted to say, but couldn't find the words to come out of my mouth at that time? You couldn't wait for me to call you back? What was up with that? Was it because the cakes were supposed to go out the week before? Was it because it had to get there by Friday before the weekend? Shouldn't you have clarified the order before you started making them? Yeah, I don't know.
I do know though...thanks to my colleague who embarrassingly admitted to me that she chose the recipe based on Google images, I do have a very lovely and delicious recipe for gooey butter cake. I made a couple last week. I do know it keeps. And I do know, I won't be ordering from Park Avenue any time soon. | 0negative
| 834 |
John Besh is New Orlean's new celebrity chef, supplanting fuzzy little Emeril as the city's darling contemperary chef. He's been on Iron Chef, participated in soft touch Food and Wine articles, and showed up almost everywhere you can in the fine dining world. August is Besh's flagship restaurant in New Orleans, a luxe and classy establishment - and a worthy addition to NOLA's excellent portfolio of cuisine. He might be famous, but he can cook .
The restaurant is gorgeous: all wood interior set in a large and high-celinged space, with lovely ambient lighting. It's a classic Fancy Restaurant space, and I salute Besh for sticking to the classics design-wise. August is luxurious and clubby but not over the top. The service reflects that: it's excellent and courteous in an old fashioned way sorely lacking in Californian establishments, but does not venture into snobbiness.
We are avowed beet lovers in this family, so we began with the heirloom beet, crab meat, bacon, and quail egg salad (10.00.) This was really quite delightful: fresh picked crabmeat worked well with the earthy flavor of the beets and the bacon, accompanied with a peppery snap from the mustard greens. The black eyed pea croutons were a surprise: fried black eyed peas take on a delightful, edamame esque flavor.
New Orleans is an oyster town, and Besh's P&J Oysters three ways seek to highlight the slimy little bastards: one fried with fancy ranch dressing, one served in a a peppery broth, and one horseradish crusted in a creamy, piquant sauce topped with bread crumbs (13.00) . The oyters were presented in three little cylinders and were certainly impressive looking, although I wish there had been more of each flavor. The ranch dressing also was not very much in evidence: I had to look for it at the bottom of the oyster's handy container-tube. The horseradish variant was most sucessful: oysters and cream go together terribly well, and horseradish adds an interesting accent to a familar flavor.
August's duck had been recommended to me by two servers at Luke, and since the waterfowl is one of my very favorite things to eat, the choice was easy. August's sugar and spice duckling is served with Anson Mills cheese grits, roasted duck foie gras, and a side of dark and rich braised quail.(28.00) The duck itself was excellent: a big meaty joint, cooked to the correct level of doneness, the spice rub evoking Eastern flavors - star anise was much in evidence. The rich duck meat went well with the cheesy, perfect grits and the greens, but the foie gras really stole the show: its super rich and decadent flavor can elevate even good ol' grits into pure luxury.
My mom went with August's interesting trout served three ways: three sections of fish topped with shrimp, crabmeat, and scallops, (22.00) on top of a slab of Besh's superlative bacon. This was served with an excellent New Orleans butter sauce, and was certainly an exciting dish to eat: three distinct flavor combinations coming back to the same theme. I know the Three Ways concept is trendy as hell, but as an avowed grazer, I think it's an excellent concept. Portion size was rather huge, which meant I got to clean her plate. Yay.
We finished with the frozen creme fraiche souffle (9.00), served with fresh peaches and blackberry cabernet sorbet - this was excellent, tasting like a large round of truly excellent frozen yogurt, served with lovely summer fruits. I also liked the boozy and dark richness of the sorbet - it's an excellent, light summer dessert. There is no photo because we devoured it too quickly. Whoops.
Besh came out to work the room and greet guests during our meal, which I thought was an excellent, homey touch - you rarely actually encounter the celebrity chef in a celebrity chef's restaurant. He was very friendly and gracious, and really does seem to be the nice Southern boy represented in all his media appearances. Props.
One lovely note: I have just turned 20 and in this fine US of A, I am not allowed to order (gasp) alcoholic beverages. This really irritates me when I am at a fine restaurant and must order a goddamn Diet Coke while everyone else is drinking fine wines and enjoying the snot out of themselves. At August, I asked for a Diet Coke with an obvious note of rueful disgruntlement, which our server picked up on: he noted (quietly) that Louisana law allows a parent to buy a drink for their underage progeny. Excellent. | 2positive
| 762 |
I can't stop thinking about something I ate at D'Angelo's last summer that was completely out of character for me and unbelievably sumptuous. Worse, I'm not sure how I would go about recreating the recipe for the next several months of breakfasts at home until I get sick of it and never have to think about it again, so I'm doomed to be trapped in this obsessive vicious cycle: "Want Sunrise Surprise, can't make it to stop thinking about it...Want Sunrise Surprise..."
Strangely, "Sunrise Surprise" sounds like something bad that happens to you when you share tents in Boy Scouts rather than a delectable breakfast that you also struggle with striking from your memory. Yet this denizen of deliciousness is surprisingly simple: a thick slice of cakey brioche soaked in milk, dipped in egg on one side, pan-fried on both at just the right temperature for just the right amount of time, and topped with a poached egg. How can something so easy to prepare be so respectable, chef-to-chef?
Perhaps it is the terroir present in the copious amounts of butter that the French toast is cooked in. Maybe it has something to do with the syrup: I had the hardest time discerning what percentage was pure maple, and what percentage was pancake syrup. Maybe it was that the brioche tasted spongy, as if cake flour were part of the dough. All I know is that I was having the worst time trying to work up an appetite that morning, and I left the place with my eyes as wide as dinner plates and my stomach stuffed like I ate Jonah Hill. My wife couldn't stop talking about the Sunrise Surprise (her SECOND of the day, mind you) for the next week, either.
The Eggs Rose the wife ordered were excellent and served in the same Spartan way as the Sunrise Surprise (without flourish, with only excellent ingredients), and if I loved salt the way my wife does, I would have loved that menu item. I just felt that on kalamata olive bread the artichoke paste became a tad overpowering for my mood that morning. Everyone seems to like the dish on Yelp, however, and I'm usually a sucker for twists on the eggs Benedict, which this basically is. For full disclosure purposes, I also prefer olives in rather restricted environments, like Greek salads, martinis, some soft breads, marinated, on their own, in giardinera or a muffuletta, or in ropa vieja or picadillo. Yep, I have an olive pecadillo that has something to do with picadillo.
The breads at D'Angelo's (it is a bakery after all) looked particularly exquisite, with more thoughtful ingredient combinations than your run-of-the-mill independent bakery, and the crusty breads on their menu all seemed to have a good amount of "chew," making their loaves the opposite of the ultrarefined crap you find in the supermarket bakery. I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of breakfast meats on the menu to provide a hearty, protein-rich start to my day, but this certainly didn't hurt my gout any. It's not America's fault that what I think passes for breakfast is usually richer and less loaded with carbohydrates than most of my countryfolk expect. All that "continental" crap from the Old Country ruined breakfast: the meal where you're supposed to kick your metabolism into high gear by eating many cuts of pork or other type of largeish mammal. (According to the "Eat This, Not That"--the gimmick for people who refuse to support local economies when they go out to dine--one bagel is as bad for you as 20 strips of bacon, so go for the bacon!)
So while I would like to see sliced rare prime rib or menudo lurking somewhere during brunch at D'Angelo's, this place is a bakery, not a carneceria. And the kind of bakery D'Angelo's is is extremely important, because no bread available in anything other than a bakery like this one seems to have any chew anymore. Everywhere I go, good bread is an endangered species. Even the par-baked stuff at Trader Joe's uses flour that is too refined. With "whole grain" on the label meaning absolutely nothing these days, I haven't found a store brand that makes for respectable anything--except bread crumbs--in the last 2 years. I'm so done with the whole thing that I've gone back to baking my own bread.
So this makes D'Angelo's an endangered species. The only place left that has bread with nutritional value, texture, and flavor. We have to patronize these kinds of places before we all die of diabetes. Children need to grow up knowing what real bread tastes like. Run from the Bimbo Bear.
Oh, and after a little research, this is a good brioche recipe ( http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2007/04/02/simplest-brioche-la-plus-simple-des-brioches/ ) for making your own Sunrise Surprise. You might need to add a little flour to the dough to get it to a point where it just sticks to your fingers without leaving any residue behind. Bake, slice, soak slice in beaten egg on one side, load the skillet with butter, fry on bread side, fry on egg side, top with poached egg. Isn't "Bon appetit" French for "Fuck yeah"? | 2positive
| 863 |
After not feeling well all morning today, I decided to talk a half-day off of work to recover from some weekend health issues. I left downtown Indy in the early lunch hour and decided to make a couple stops on the way home to pick up supplies - I figured "What the heck?" and decided to grab a bite to eat before heading home.
Yeah, I know. I do a weird version of a sick day.
Anyway, I was on the Southeastside of Indy and just happened to drive by this small, rather humble looking strip center right on Southeastern Avenue. Truthfully, I don't think I've even ever driven on this stretch of road before.
I drove by it, stopped and looked. I'd never even heard of it. After contemplating for a few minutes, I went back and checked the hours and realized they were a breakfast/lunch joint open until 2pm. They were definitely local. I looked them up on Yelp and realized they had 3 reviews already and, in fact, as soon as I logged in a friend of mine posted on social media saying that she'd been here a couple times.
"Dave & Betty's" is practically the definition of a slightly divey, mom n' pop shop where the food is good, the service is better and the atmosphere makes it the kind of place where you can sit down, relax and feel like you've entered someone's country home.
Being an older building, it's important to note that there's nothing that I could see identified as "accessible" parking. This could prove to be a hassle if you're in a wheelchair - your best bet is to park off to the side. The actual sidewalk is level to the ground - the front door is a glass door and my guess is anyone needing assistance would be met with a friendly smile. They offer a variety of seating options - an actual lunch counter, booths, and tables (mostly 4-top). They have two separate rooms, though the separation is more like a divided set-up. You can easily see both rooms. I sat at an available 4-top, slightly moving the chair before my server finished moving it.
I almost hate to call the place divey, but if you require your restaurants to be shiny and new then this place is not for you. It's less divey than Rock-Cola, but I think most people would still consider it a dive - it's definitely clean and I felt very comfortable. It's also surprisingly roomy.
The menu is your traditional American breakfast/lunch items. If you look in the photos, there's a couple photos of the menus. It's a pretty broad menu and nearly all the sandwiches come with fries/chips with upgrades available. While the menu isn't the least expensive around, it's easily possible to eat for less than a ten spot. I was tempted by the tenderloin, though I opted for a plain ole' burger (they also have a bigger burger option). The burger with fries or chips is $4.80 - my drink of unsweetened iced tea took it up to just over $7.00.
My server, whose name I never caught, was a delight. She was perfectly friendly, but not in an overly familiar way. There was another woman also working (I kind of wondered if it was Betty) - also very friendly with just a hint of the "honey" thing going on (which I like as long as it's not flirty or just a ploy to get a tip; it felt sincere here).
The food? The burger was solid - the bun was toasted and the burger itself was nicely cooked. It was decently sized, though not decadent. The fries are more middle-of-the-road - a relatively slight serving with the fries leaning toward shoestring. The fries were definitely the weak point here.
The iced tea was solid. I did get a refill and actually got offered one to go. I wasn't sure that would happen - the menu says "free refill," which I took to mean "one" free refill. I was pleasantly surprised to get offered one for the road.
The service was solid throughout - effective, efficient, friendly and genuine. The other customers were also very cool - one guy even opened the door for me on the way out. This is a very working class neighborhood, but this place felt very comfortable for this outsider.
They also offer a jukebox, though given how many people were talking I wondered how well it's received there. That said, I thought it was cool. They also offer what looked like a unisex bathroom - it looked like it would be big enough for a wheelchair, though I didn't test that theory.
While Dave & Betty's isn't really a destination spot, it's just about everything I love in a small, neighborhood joint. I really loved my server, enjoyed the food, appreciated the reasonable prices and found the atmosphere warm and comfy. I don't know that I would drive down simply for the food, but as I'm sitting here reflecting on the experience I'm aware I would definitely drive down for the friendly service. | 2positive
| 857 |
I live nearby Maurepas Foods and was excited to learn about the opening of this restaurant since we don't have much upscale-like dining in the Bywater. But boy have I been disappointed on my two visits and simply don't understand what all the fuss is about. I think everyone down in the Bywater is just so excited for this place that they want to believe it's great even when it fails, and simply can't see its flaws and are instead entranced by its uber-trendy hipster vibe. [CAVEAT: I am a vegan.] I visited twice, first within their initial week of opening with one other, and about a month later the Friday after Mardi Gras with a group of 10 people.
First, the setting. Appealing, high-ceiling space with salvaged wainscoting and fixtures, otherwise lacking in accents (no pictures/decorations on the blank yellow walls). Very open, you can see everyone dining from nearly all points in the room. The problem, however, is that this design makes it extremely loud and difficult to hear your server and the others at your table. When I went with the large group it was impossible (seriously) to hear those at the opposite end of the table. So effectively we could only converse with those directly across from us, and this was pretty annoying. I don't want to go out to dinner with a large party and not be able to talk to over half the group because the noise in the room is so oppressive. Perhaps sound levels improve when the space is emptier, but on a busy night don't expect to hear much of anything except background noise and prepare to raise your voice to be heard.
Second, the food. Trendy locavore-based menu w/some interesting pairings that make you think it's going to be great. Unfortunately from my vegan perspective the food was extremely bland. I ended up with the impression that the kitchen is so meat-centric they have no clue how to make vegetarian food with any flavor; if they can't add meat then they're lost. The linguine pasta dish had no oil or salt on it whatsoever, very bland. Sure the ingredients were otherwise fresh but without any seasoning it was lousy. They also don't provide any salt, pepper, hot sauce, etc. on their tables that would've partially remedied the situation. On my second visit I was hoping these opening week kinks had been ironed out, but the soba noodles with roasted edamame and tofu in vegetable broth was again distinctly unseasoned. Any newly-minted vegetarian could make a better dish than this in their home kitchen! It sounds good on paper but roasted edamame shrivel up and get unpleasantly chewy, and the fried tofu on the side was bland and unseasoned. Throw in some ginger, some soy sauce, anything-with-flavor for crying out loud! So disappointed. I will say, though, that the sweet potato croquettes were good and had preserved lemon peel on top that added some nice zing (couldn't some of that gone on the noodle dishes?!). But the rest of the vegetarian food was a big bland fail.
As for the meat eaters in the party, some were very happy but others were also unimpressed. The mussels were reviewed as simply okay, and my boyfriend was disappointed with the fish and chips as it had about 3 ounces of fish to 12 ounces of potatoes. Fish was cooked well but thoroughly dominated by potatoes (some others in our party loved this dish, however). The crowder pea stew was liked but not raved about, and was oddly not served with a spoon despite its liquid consistency. The green onion sausage (not made in-house, I believe) was thoroughly enjoyed, although the Brussels sprouts were nothing special and probably would've been better (I was told) had they been roasted. The desserts were highly-received (chocolate cake and pecan pie were enjoyed by all), and the cocktails delicious although pricey. [Their bar menu lacks prices for many items which I find pretentious and annoying.] Service was on the slow side, but otherwise polite and helpful. If they're slammed expect to be looking for your server more than s/he's present refilling your glass. [We had to wait a good 15 minutes for the requested spoon to arrive at the table.] Overall they're on the pricier side, especially in light of the portion sizes and neighborhood. If you skip the booze you'll make out with a reasonable bill, but might very well be scouring your kitchen cabinets in hunger a few hours later.
So after two disappointing visits I won't be returning, although I have friends that absolutely love it for reasons I can't fathom. If you're a vegetarian/vegan this kitchen has issues and can't seem to make anything flavorful without throwing in some meat, and I'd recommend skipping this place entirely. Instead hit up Mimi's for their never-fail vegan/vegetarian tapas, or go to Sugar Park or The Country Club for reliable standards.
To sum up, Maurepas Foods tries very hard to be a Portland-esque foodie destination but to me succeeds only in hoodwinking those that are trying to see only what they expect to see. Save your $$! | 0negative
| 860 |
Thank you Yelp. After seeing the The Local Yelp, we decided to give the Eastern Peak a try.
What a nice place. The decor is elegant with large windows that provide lots of natural light in the summer evenings. In the 90+ degree heat, the interior was cool and comfortable. The staff is very friendly and downright jovial. This is a new place, and yet there were none of the hiccups you might expect in a new place. Things went quite smoothly.
In fact, this place is so new that the bar had JUST opened. I ordered my own, simple, but unusual highball recipe, and they did a stellar job. Little did I know that I had the honor of ordering the very first drink ever to be served from the bar! See the attached photo of the manager and our server proudly presenting my drink.
The food was quite good. We started with a Red Dragon Roll and I ordered off menu asking for a Hamachi Roll. The prices seemed a little steep until the rolls arrived. They are HUGE - easily twice the size of your average rolls. The Red Dragon was a delicious variant on a spicey tuna, and the Hamachi roll was perhaps the fanciest I have seen, with pretty black and red tobiko on the outside. It was quite delicious and the snap of the tobiko was a nice addition. The fish was fresh and the presentation was very good. All of the plates and dipping bowls were beautifully glazed pottery.
For our main courses we shared the Spicy Crab Salad and the Basil Duck.
The Spicy Crab Salad is an entree salad served with a beautiful avocado rose set atop a bed of crab meat which in turn was atop a generous bed of mixed greens sprinkled with edamame. The dressing was slightly sweet and a perfect accompaniment to the crab, avocado, and greens. Really, the combination of the spicy crab, mellow creamy avocado, along with the greens and dressing was a gastronomic delight! The salad also had some glazed pecans in it. My niece thought they were delightful, I thought they were a bit of a distraction. Follow your own taste preference. Distraction aside, this is a really wonderful salad.
Speaking of salads, the duck came with a house salad. Ready for your typical Asian restaurant iceberg lettuce salad with a cup of water in the bottom of the bowl? Not here! This was a nice mixed greens salad with radish slices and ginger dressing that makes me want to compare it side by side to my favorite -- the dressing from Sonabana.
Finally, the Basil Duck. I am a sucker for Thai duck. Whenever I see it on the menu, I order it. I love the duck at Jasmine Thai. I even like the duck at Lemon Grass. The duck at The Eastern Peak is in a class by itself. This is perhaps the best Thai duck dish I have ever had. One of the things that makes it stand out is its simplicity. A boneless duck breast cooked medium-well (next time I ask for medium rare) sliced and plated on a bed of sauce and then covered with stir-fried peppers, onions, mushrooms, and of course basil. Even though the duck was a bit more done than I would prefer, it was moist, tender, and full of flavor. I asked for very spicy. It could have had a bit more heat, but my mouth was very happy. I got the fried rice with the duck, and it was very simple with just a bit of finely shredded veggies in it. However, there was some spice or flavoring that seemed quite unusual and yet familiar. Usually in a Thai place, a nice, but unidentifiable, savory umami flavor is going to be fish sauce, so that is my guess here. It was delicious and really went well with the duck, but unusual in your average side o' rice. Definitely give it a try!
A generous dinner for two, with drinks, topped out at about $100. Worth every penny.
So, in The Eastern Peak we have a really nice addition to Nashville's food scene. There are quite a few Thai + Sushi places in town and some are very good. Some claim to be "Asian Bistros," yet serve very standard fare. The Eastern Peak does not talk that talk, but they walk the walk. They serve Asian cuisine with flair in an elegant, upscale setting. It is certainly not "authentic." However, it is a creative reimagining of Asian cuisine that delights.
I look forward to going back. | 2positive
| 772 |
Another review that screams for a half star option....3 1/2 is my verdict, so much I loved about Sacred Pepper and some room for improvement.
Sacred Pepper is a new restaurant, where Grille One Sixteen used to be. The interior decor is beautiful, chic with enough simplicity to allow for the special pieces to pop, while never being visually boring. Really something to see, everywhere you look there is beauty and style. Very well done. Loved the look of the banquette booths as well, they offered some privacy. Sound was well buffered by some very thoughtful decor choices. I can't rate the atmosphere high enough.
We arrived for our reservation a few minutes early. I noticed a lot of people behind the counter...like five. That's a lot of hostesses and hosts. We were given a pager....a bit odd when you have a reservation. By the way, if you don't have a reservation right now, you're probably not going to get in. Plan ahead. Fifteen minutes after our reservation time, we were seated. A bit long, but not unheard of. We were seated in a curved booth.
Our server was charming, friendly and nice. He was knowledgeable about gluten free options for a Celiac in our group. This restaurant should somehow mark their menu for GF items, it would have made far fewer trips to the kitchen for our server. We ordered the Baklava and shrimp cocktail apps, and some cocktails. My cocktail The Sacred 7 Punch was far sweeter than I expected based on the listed ingredients. I don't know what happened there but I'm thinking they didn't tell me about a sweet one, or I would have ordered something else. The other cocktails were really good, the blood orange tequila one and the Tall and Sexy. The apps were stinking incredible. Loved loved loved them. The cocktail sauce was particularly memorable, with a lot of horseradish.
Our soups and salads came. I ordered the Sacred House Salad and hubby ordered the wedding soup. I really didn't enjoy the salad. The ingredients were fresh and it was pretty. I didnt care for the salad mix, and the dressing was REALLY sweet.
Entrees came out and two of us had burrata chicken, one had a grouper, and one had pork chop. The chicken was good, cooked nicely, but I wish there had been a tiny bit of sauce with all the fun toppings. The Brussels sprouts were heaven. My friend who had the grouper said it was cooked well but she didn't care for the actual cut of fish. Her sauce was very nice and she liked her sides as well. The pork chop was a winner, juicy and flavorful, but could have used more chutney.
Here's where we started to have trouble. We saw our server about halfway through eating our entrees, then it was a good bit before he came by again. The booths added to our trouble, because by the time you see someone to flag them down, they're long gone. Anywho, he dropped off the dessert menu a few minutes later than we'd like, but no big deal, he was obviously very busy. Then, we didn't see him for at least 25 minutes. Well, we saw him, but he was at other tables. During this time, something happened with the temperature...I was sweating and feeling quite uncomfortable and had to excuse myself to go cool off. The temperature in the bar area was nice and cool, but not in the banquette area....it was really strange. Not long after I got back, we got to order dessert.
Dessert was a housemade chocolate cake. It was a bit drier than I like my cake, but it was good and nice to see house made dessert. Our entire visit took more than three hours. Now, I lived in Europe, and I am cool with long dinners, but the pacing has to be right. Evenly spaced courses is key to keeping people happy. This was very uneven. I don't know what happened, but something is wrong when the time from finishing your entree to leaving takes as long as the first three courses combined.
Carrollwood has been in desperate need of foodie food, and this is a great attempt. More upscale, check. Filling a huge gap in the CWood food scene. This menu isn't Seminole Hts adventurous, but for the neighborhood, it's very adventurous. The people of CWood will love it, but they won't like spending that long there....pacing needs to be addressed big time if they want to keep people coming back. the food selections will satisfy the CWood populace, while making them feel like they went a bit out of their comfort zone.
I would love to see more descriptive drink and food menus, I really didn't like being surprised by the sweetness of my drink and salad. I would love to see the house salad be less iceberg and more field greens. I would love to be excited by the dessert options. I would love to see at least a daily special offered, and maybe even seasonal menu.
Also: They neglected to give me my leftover entree in the gigantic bag. The only thing in the bag was the cake leftovers. I intentionally only ate half my entree and now I don't have it :( SP owes me half an entree. No lunch for me. | 1neutral
| 897 |
Alright yo. Here it is.
I read a lot of reviews from St. Louisan Yelpers who frigg'n bitch and complain when a Mexican restaurant is not housed on Cherokee Street. Like a Mexican establishment anywhere else is sub-par or illegitimate.
Well, I've got news for you haters: SUCK IT.
The "authentic" dishes typically found in Mexico probably aren't served here. Like steamed goat. Who in deep space hell wants to eat steamed goat anyway? Some might call Tortillaria a "Tex-Mex joint," but I think even that is a stretch.
I have been going to this restaurant for years -- YEARS -- and have never been disappointed. Well no, ONE TIME ONLY. The episode where my refried beans were colder than a witch's teat. I'll allow it.
(I try to avoid places that have paid parking only, but this place is the exception. I'll gladly walk a couple blocks from the parking garage on Euclid, and I'm not even into physical activity!)
My husband and I have introduced this place to many of our friends and it's usually met with great success. This restaurant will always be on my go-to list of St. Louis area restaurants.
We went last night. First time in a long time, and like usual it was effing awesome. Every table in the place was snagged (could be residual Happy Hour crowd), aside from a table for two in a tiny alcove near the front door. If that was the last place to ever seat two guests, it would still be acceptable.
Admittedly I haven't tried many menu items, but my go-to's are the Caribbean shrimp tacos and the tacos al carbon. There was a long time where I ordered nothing but the shrimp tacos. I decided to branch out and try the much more savory tacos al carbon (tacos with carne asada), and damn. Both are delicious.
I have been more diverse in my side item choices, and I think as of last night, I have tried them all. Finally tried the Mexican street corn. I was a little wary because of all the cheese on it (I'm weird about cheeses), but it was a good choice. My personal favorite side item is the calabacitas, a spicy veggie mix of squash, zucchini and peppers. Now you might ask yourself, "Self, how does one make the most boring vegetables on the planet taste palatable." I can't answer that question, but Tortillaria makes it happen. Probably by some proprietary magic that can't be released.
The guacamole is good. Nothing to write home about. You have to make sure you really like it though, because if you go all balls to the wall and order a full order of guacamole, you're going to get A LOT.
The "house margarita" or El Camino, is perfect. To me, at least. I can see where some people might say it doesn't have enough alcohol in it. And probably not for the taste. Because the typical asshat around here wants to nurse a good buzz before the main course. The hell is wrong with people.
And, I've saved the best for last. The salsa bar is IT. Their six salsas are markedly different, but delicious in their own ways. The green tomatillo salsa is my favorite. I could probably tackle 6 or 7 cups of the stuff between complimentary chips and the meal. Hell, I'd drink that stuff from the bottle in public if it was socially acceptable. IN PUBLIC. And maybe I'd do it anyway...
Also, whoever manages their social media (particularly Twitter account) is a str8 baller. I get replies from them all the time. The owner of the restaurant introduced himself to me awhile back because I had mentioned them in a Tweet at like 1:00 a.m. as I was anticipating a jaunt to the restaurant later that day. It was kind of weird that he knew who I was, but that was some slick customer service.
As customer service goes, I'm pretty tolerant of slow service, mix-ups, etc. I've only ever noticed that the wait staff is sometimes slow. Last night was pretty slow, but again there were no empty tables. Our waiter, Norman, slid some queso our way, gratis. He was quick to refill our glasses and he was a personable guy.
My only wish for this place is that they could hire a more permanent staff. Turnover seems particularly high in the wait staff department. It doesn't help that the CWE is rife with college students in transition. It would be great to establish some relationships with those folks.
In all, 5/5 stars. Mostly spurred-on by the tasty food and drink, which is heads and tails above the excellent "other things." | 2positive
| 784 |
I have been to Flix Brewhouse several times now after relocating to Carmel. I've been disappointed the majority of the time. Let me break it down for you.
Tldr I started a campaign for an Alamo Drafthouse in the Indy area. It's everything Flix Brewhouse wishes it could be and more. Flix Brewhouse's only redeeming moments are the reserved seating and clean establishment.
You can order your tickets on-line and reserve specific seats. I love this about a theater as it prevents getting the chiropractor-money-making-seats in the front. I don't like their refund policy. If you order your tickets weeks in advance (as I did with Guardians of the Galaxy 2) and then suddenly had to leave town in an emergency I am not guaranteed a refund. According to their website it is the manager's discretion for "extenuating" circumstances. I've experienced similar set-ups elsewhere where all I had to do was call them up, say I couldn't make it, and they would refund the money to my card. Honestly makes a customer want to give business to a place like this since sometimes weird things can happen (like a wreck on the way to the theater, a sick kid, explosive diarrhea, you know.) They get +1 star for this.
The establishment is clean and well-kept. Including the bathrooms. +1/2 a star.
They play good movies. But should they really get credit for this. I mean Hollywood makes them.
The picture quality is great, sound is decent, and the seating is fairly comfortable. +1/2 a star.
I am sorry to say it goes down from here.
Their menu is "meh" at best. Little variety to the menu and the menu is quasi confusing. They have appetizers but don't exclusively list them. They are under the "Favorite" section which also includes entrees. Ok, whatever. We are intelligent and figured it out but why didn't your design department or whatever pick up how weird this is. Also, the food quality is "meh" at best. Hatch chile queso is meant to have some kick, not a bland cheesy soup. My Pulled Pork Sandwich tonight was cold. The toasted bread was cold, the BBQ sauce ice cold, the bacon cold cold cold, the pulled pork lukewarm. Kinda a turn off right. My husband says their pizza is cold as well. Their shakes are unremarkable (I mean it is about as good as what I make at home at best) and their chocolate cake is boring. The best thing I have eaten here is the Baked Pretzel. -1 star
They only serve beer and 3 ciders. No cocktails or anything like that. I don't drink beer and only one of the ciders is worth a nod. -1 star. Go get a full liquor license and a bartender if you want this star back.
The service at Flix is awful, abysmal, atrocious, apocalyptic. (No seriously it is pretty bad. Go get a cold one (I'll wait) and have a seat while I recount my adventures.)
Story 1 of 2: Flix Brewhouse prides itself on being a "no texting, no talking" type a theater. Normally I would give 2 stars for this but after my first visit I realized this isn't really enforced. I went to go see Beauty and the Beast. The people to the right of me and in the row above me were talking so loud after the movie started I could hear the whole conversation. Annoyed, I tried to tune them out and focus on the movie ...but...that was really hard to do as the kid sitting next to me was unapologetically playing on his phone. I sat there trying to tune him out, wondering if I could catch his Mother's eye, or if I should get up and complain. 15 minutes into the movie a waitress came up to hand him his root beer. She had a hard time getting his attention for the game on his phone while she desperately tried to ask him if he wanted a straw or not. And yet, she said nothing about his use of the phone and instead gave up, put down a straw, and walked away. I was stunned. Right in front of them and they did nothing. I went and complained. They were apologetic and did tell him to put it away. 30 minutes into the movie.
Story 2 of 2: Tonight, I ordered a water (because I don't drink beer or soda and last time the one cider tasted skunky.) I waited 26 MINUTES for my water and that was only because I SAID something! (26 minutes is only when I started clocking it not when we actually ordered it!) I'm sorry, if I hadn't wanted to see Guardians of the Galaxy so bad I would have walked right out. Upon reflection, I realized that on all of my other trips the water I ordered along with my cider never came out until after my food arrived and the movie was 10 minutes in. Nope sorry, not okay. My husband's beer arrived in 5 minutes, the people next to us had their soda arrive in about 8 minutes. But I have to wait @30 minutes for the cup of water you already have filled ready to go 4 rows. I got a very weak apology for this one.
-1 star. Seriously, get better at this.
Flix Brewhouse may be better than Studio Grill but they are performing way below expectations. | 0negative
| 907 |
So, yesterday between 6:40pm and 7:10pm, my mother had quite an experience at this Fry's. It was all thanks to this Liliana lady. Let me tell you what happened...
My mother goes up to the fast check-out line with her handful of items since nobody was in it and the light was on. Naturally, she wanted to be in and out quickly-- nobody likes to grocery shop. Liliana was at the register conversing with a manager on duty, facing outwards towards the doors instead of the register she's supposed to be tending. In her hands were what looked to be like photographs (possibly). Whatever the papers she was sorting through was, she did not turn to acknowledge that my mother had put all of her stuff on the conveyer belt.
Okay, so my mom waited patiently while she finished. This nice lady (who still has not even turned around to look at my mother) was nudged by the manager, to let her know she had someone at the register. She continues doing what she was doing, not even glancing over. Once she finished, she went on to put whatever it was she was looking at into the envelope it came in, walked and handed it back to whomever it was it belonged to. She took the time to speak to someone who had come up to her, handed them a $20 bill out of her pocket, and headed back to her register.
At that point, my mom asked her "excuse me, are you open?" Anyone who knows my mother, knows she is kind of a push-over and just brushes things off. Well, this lady shot a quick and matter-of-factly "yes" to my mom, as she FINALLY turned around to look at and acknowledge my mom. As patient as my mother has become over the years, she could not handle the blatant disrespect from this woman any longer. She told her, "seriously?!" in an obviously irritated tone, picked up her things, and moved to a different line.
It should have ended there, no ? No.
This psychopath FOLLOWED my mother into the other line, got in her way so that she had issues putting her things onto the belt, and had the audacity to GET IN HER FACE about "what the problem was." She kept harassing my mother, while inching closer to her face. My mom tried to brush her off, clearly shaken by this woman's insanity. She tells her that this is THE worst customer service she's ever experienced, and for her to get out of her face.
After checking out, she went to find a manager to speak to. Now, let me tell you that she would never bother to do this unless it truly was an ordeal. She hates hassles. I'm always getting yelled at because I make a big deal out of everything, while she tries to shove it under the rug. Not this time. She was directed towards the manager (I don't know her name, sadly) Liliana was speaking to at the beginning of the incident.
Meanwhile, the crazy lady is screaming at her from the register, "MY NAME IS LILIANA. REMEMBER IT! MY NAME IS LILIANA!!!" When confronted, my mother asked the manager, "YOU saw the ENTIRE thing, didn't you?!" To which she replied, "Yes." She then sort of apologized for the situation. "Sorry," is not much of an apology after how far it's escalated. However, that is all my mother received, and they all carried on their merry little ways.
When my mom gets into her car, she's shaking in rage, unable to believe what has happened. Me neither.
I did not know of the madness until this evening, so I went to confront the situation that they simply let slide. Of course, when I went in, neither of them were working. I had to ask a different manager, who in this case was the front-end manager (manager of the one on duty last night). She was sweet from the start, even before I told her I had a problem. Which is how customer service is supposed to be? Pretty sure. I told her what had happened, to which she apologized and replied, "I didn't even get an email about any such incident." At this point, it only solidified how useless the manager from the previous night was. She then asked for my mother's contact info, gave me hers to give to my mom, and told me she will be investigating the tapes from the night before. Also, she asked for my mom to give her a call to give her a first-person perspective. We will be doing this, but you can count on a call and letter to corporate as well.
If I hadn't gone in, no one would have known about it. They would have allowed it to happen again, without any reprimand! I'm sure they expected it to be swept under a rug because most people (especially Asian minorities) wouldn't go through the trouble. Wrong. Although my mother would have let it go (while still complaining to me about it), I cannot.
If you know this upstanding citizen, I hope you're embarrassed for her. I hope you show her this post. I hope you tell her I will be pursuing this incident further, because she will NOT get away with how she humiliated and disrespected MY MOTHER that way in a GROCERY store. I hope she loses her job, quickly. I also hope this to never happen to anyone else. I can't imagine if it happened to a helpless elderly person... | 0negative
| 930 |
Ciccio's/Water in SoHo is one of the many restaurants in the Ciccio Restaurant Group found on Howard Avenue in South Tampa. they serve fresh California cuisine (salads, bowls, stir frys, etc.) as well as a unique selection of sushi. I'd heard great things about the dining experience at Ciccio's/Water, and knew my group was in for a treat as soon as we sat down.
We had to start off the night by trying out one of their signature drinks: Slamgrias! They are enormous fishbowl glasses filled with white or red sangria...as well as a miniature bottle of red wine, white wine, or champagne. We ended up sampling one of each between the four of us...you know...for scientific purposes...All three varieties were fruity and tasty - they're definitely a party in a glass, and the presentation is very fun! Definitely order one up if you're dining at Ciccio's/Water!
Meanwhile, a few appetizers were arriving at our table! We sampled the tuna bruschetta, which was not only beautiful in color, but delicious in taste! It contained pistachio crusted seared tuna on a crisp crostini with edamame hummus. If you know me, you know that I am VERY new to the idea of eating sushi/raw fish. I have to say: this appetizer was absolutely delicious!!!! The balance of flavors and textures worked wonderfully together in the perfect bite. Yum! We followed that with a sampling of filet quesadillas, their Almost Gluten Free thin crust pizza (the crust is craker thin and crunchy - I was personally a fan), the chicken marsala pizza, and a big bowl of lobster baked macaroni and cheese with truffle oil. Now there's a taste treat! Not only was the mac n cheese rich and creamy, but you could definitely taste the tangy kick of truffle oil in each and every bite. It's definitely an indulgence...so I'm glad we were all sharing! An enormous plate of sushi was also presented on our table, and I was SO excited to try everything! Yep - two experiences with raw fish in this meal...and I LIKED IT! Can someone pat me on the back? On the top of the plate was the Diablo roll (which I am pretty sure was the favorite around the ENTIRE table); it contained Ahi tuna, tempura onions, and was topped with spicy tuna, beet tobbikko, daikon sprouts, sriracha aioli, and sesame seeds. To the left was the Sleepy Hallow: it contained spicy Ahi tuna, cucumber, mango, avocado, and was topped with zesty spicy aioli marinated Maine lobster meat, black sesame seeds, beet tobbiko and tempura spinach. If you like sushi, the selection at Ciccio's/Water is so unique! There were quite a few rolls on the menu that I would have also liked to try, but I guess there's always next time...right?
We weren't done yet, though! My friend Megan and I decided to sample a few of the martinis on the menu. I ordered the Zen cosmopolitan (made with sake instead of vodka) and Megan opted for the cucumber martini (refreshing!).
Then, we soldiered on to taste two entrees: first was the Thai chicken bowl. This was my personal favorite dish of the evening, and I wouldn't be surprised if I ordered it on a return trip. It contains chicken, napa cabbage, scallions, cilantro, carrots, mango, crispy wontons, and peanut aioli, with a scoop of sticky rice. It was crisp and fresh, and not at all heavy. I loved the balance! We also tried the fish special, which happened to be tile fish on that day. The tile fish was served on top of a bed of spaghetti squash and broccolini, with a lemon almond sauce. Again, the flavors and ingredients were fresh and flavorful. And it featured spaghetti squash...one of my favorites!
We thought we were done at this point in the meal, but we were wrong! A bucket arrived at our table...with a huge sparkler spewing fire from it! It was a shot bucket...sent for special occasions. Talk about presentation! And dessert was absolutely necessary, right? That evening, we could not resist a s'mores inspired option. Be still, my heart. I didn't want to share...I wanted one of these bad boys all to myself. It featured a toasted marshmallow and chocolate bar with vanilla ice cream and caramel. I don't think you can go wrong with any of these ingredients, and I'm quite sure that the dessert was devoured by our table in about 10 seconds flat.
All in all, I could not have been happier with our experience at Ciccio's/Water. If you're in the South Tampa area, definitely make sure to head in and give them a try - they are open for weekday lunch, dinner every night, and feature a brunch on Saturdays - so many options!
For more details/photos, see my blog | 2positive
| 800 |
I'm about as Redneck as they come. If Rednecks don't hunt, don't fish, don't wear cowboy hats or cowboy boots or chew. Ok...I guess I'm about as redneck as one can be if one stands in the sun too long without sunscreen. But I do listen to country music on occasion! Does that qualify for me to write a review about a joint like Gilley's?
Anyway. The first time we came here was for a Free VIP party. My second time here was to buy their quality drinks at a reasonable price in a casino. My third time. Yes, I've been THREE times this week. My third time was for a real sit down meal and drinks of course.
I'm not going to bore you with my step by step experiences but I will give you my overall take on the property.
The atmosphere of this place is....hickafied Outback....on steroids. They have lots and lots of bar space but the bar space isn't as usable as a normal bar because there is also lots and lots of bar top "poker" machines. So it still gets a bit crowded trying to get to the bar and of course no eating there. However they do have lots of bar seating with decent tables. Tables that you can only eat appetizers at, so be forewarned full menu is only available in the dining room.
As others have said, smoking is through most of the establishment with the exception of the back dining area. So bringing your kids might be a little complicated unless you know you can be seated immediately.
They have a mechanical Bull!! Not my thing so if it is yours, check out a few other reviews about that...I know Ly S. rode it.
Another thing others have mentioned is the small dance floor. The dance floors are almost always too small but this one does seem unusually small for a floor that is expected to see line dancing. But what do I know, I don't line dance.
I enjoyed my medium rare top sirloin steak. So much so that if they can duplicate this experience in the future, this will be my "go to" steak place when I go out for a steak. The cut was awesome and it was just slightly undercooked from Medium rare which I loved. Normally I have to settle for a poorly cooked medium rare but this was right to my liking. I ordered up the smoked corn and peppers as a side and the other side was the beans. Personally I wasn't a fan at all of the corn, but my wife liked it so much she finished it. Too smokey. Beans were slightly sweet but not too much and thick.
The drinks I have had here over the three nights were really really good, at a really reasonable pricepoint of $6.50 for their signature cocktails. I've had the Revolver, Knocked Up, I80, Texas Tramp, Arbuckle's Boilermaker and the Bone Orchard off the signature menu and all have pleased. I also had the Bloody Mary...these have come 3 different ways from 3 different bartenders so they probably haven't nailed that one down yet, and just a note, the last one was the best because of the spiced rim they put on the glass. The drinks are good and balanced, with the exception of the Knocked Up..that one is more of a dessert cocktail, but in my opinion its the best.
The prices can be seen on their menu. Very reasonable prices here...hopefully those will remain for awhile while they build up their clientele. Also check out the receipt photo of my dinner if you want to get an idea of what it costs for two people to have a meal. And note, it seems they have to charge an additional 10% entertainment tax here so that might explain the lower costs for everything, they need to keep it competitive.
Now don't get me wrong. There were a few kinks; collard greens were a bit salty, I was passed over at the bar a number of times, the noise level is borderline abusive, but those kinks should disappear while they move into their 2nd week and further.
I of course look forward to heading back here on the regular...this will especially be a great place to get a quality cocktail for a reasonable price while on the Nugget Property for any activity. I just have to make sure I'm there after 5.
Oh and when we left at about 7:00 the line was already stacked up deep for entrance into the bar. | 2positive
| 767 |
Hotpot at the comfort of your own home!?
I can't believe I'm going back for more hotpot, not really ... Bc I got it to-go this time. Let's see how that goes. Expectation wise, I try to have none since it's my first time getting a to go hotpot in USA, don't actually recall a time I have done so in US.
My experience on the portion is appx the same amount of food as I would have ordered at the restaurant. I have option A, so I get to pick 18 items off the menu, 2 soup bases, and got 3 small containers for the sauces and sauce bar items in person. It supposed to be 2 for the condiments? But the more the merrier lol!
I ordered mainly seafood: clams, shrimps, squid, and blue crab, and Chinese veggie as before Tong Hao leafy greens, lotus root, winter melon, dried tofu x2 of each, and fried dough stick (too soft inside the soup, wasn't crunchy to begin with - not an easy ingredient to work with in this scenario) and a order of rice.
When I got home, I found an item was different from what I had in mind. I was confused with dry tofu skin or dried fried tofu. I described it but got something else. It's understandable and it still taste good, but wish I had what I thought I ordered.
I know what I want in my sauce from what I decocted last time and happy about the 3 containers and gotten everything I would have if I was there eating in person!
I also got 2 probiotic yogurt drinks like I did at the restaurant when I paid for the order. I am super excited to enjoy netflix on a Friday night with my spicy hotpot.
Since I need to cook these food at home, I wanted to save time, I pick one soup base from the takeout container since I don't have a divided pot like the restaurant, so... it's gonna be one at a time soup base type of deal. I have an IP, so I throw everything that take time to cook in the instant pot with the spicy soup base... ie rooted vegetables and found some cabbage and tomatoes in the fridge to add to the flavor. That's a bonus to eat at home too, to be creative and add what you already have to the pot as well.
While IP is doing it's job, I mix my sauces up and get the hot plate setup. Turn on netflix and get a bottle of beer going, hahaha. I was having a party alone.
Once the IP is done, transfer the entire pot to the hot plate and dump in all my clams and shrimps in the boiling pot... About to get really hungry as I wait for them to cook. How to tell when your shrimps are cooked? They turn red change color and curl up where the tail is touching the head.
I started off on the kimchi and ginger to get the appetite going and eaten some rice.... It's good to cover your stomach lining with something before you eat anything spicy and obviously drink alcohol.
Sweet and sour in the appetizers get the digestion system ready for what's up come, Chinese Dietary suggestion 101. A true "appetizer" will activate digestion enzymes in the the mouth and begins the ritual of a meal! Lol!
Long story short if possible, I ended up with left overs! I didn't even cooked everything and I was too full. I'm going to contribute it to the beer I had. Already threw in more cabbage last night and got the instant pot cooking for the next meal.
Take away for to-go hotpot: make sure you have hotpot accessories like hot plate or hotpot cookware that comes with temperature control.
(They usually take forever to warm up). Another way is cool everything on the stove and eat it like a stew.
The outpost of hotpot is cooking and eat.. then more cooking and then more eating, lol. But as long as you get the enjoy the good, it's all good.
Tips: cook your soup base and hard to cooked ingredients to boil before transferring to hotplate or hotpot device. Don't leave food out that you can finish at one shot, eat fresh. I had ice under my raw seafood near the pot to keep them fresh.
It takes a little more work at home but I didn't have to roll in and out of my car and come back home after a buffet, instead I had a buffet and remain on my own couch, lol!
If you are not a person for would want to eat the same thing twice on a roll, ie leftover hotpot ingredients then just go the buffet at the restaurant and no mess, no clean up, no leftovers.
It's a nice to enjoy restaurant quality and style food at home and thx to COVID, I prefer to stay home as much as I can! So this is an awesome option for me.
P.s. I still got another soup base that need to try, got Thai - Tom Yum, wa hahaha! Really getting more than 1 meal out of this takeout for sure! Really appreciate this option and can't believe I had hotpot for 2 straight days from the same restaurant!
Omg, 2nd novel!!! I gotta stop! | 2positive
| 907 |
I had an incredibly unpleasant and dissapointing experience at Phoebe's a few weeks back. I had plans to have some friends over and order dinner for all of us, and had been wanting to try bbq from Phoebe's. I went to their website, where they give you the option of ordering from a few different online-order vendors, and I chose the Grub Hub option, because I know that ordering with Grub Hub makes it easy to enter any special preparation or delivery instructions. (With each item you select, a box pops up that says 'Enter any special instructions'.
Because my friends have various gluten,soy, gelatin allergies, I entered 'sauce on the side' for all of my orders. Simple enough.
I walked down the street to pick up my order 15 or so minutes later. When I got to Phoebe's, I asked the girls behind the counter if they wouldn't mind just opening up one of the containers so I could see how much food it was. She said no, because it was wrapped tightly in saran wrap.
I explained to her that I had never eaten there before, and didn't know the portion sizes, so I wanted to make sure I had ordered enough food to feed all of my friends, so that if I hadn't, I could order some more. Still, she was entirely unwilling to unwrap the meal. This was frustrating, but I figured I would just step outside, open it up myself to see if I'd purchased enough, and walk back in to add more food to my order if needed. At that point, someone (presumably the owner) emerges from the back of the kitchen, and asked what was going on. I reiterated my request, and he says "How many people do you need to feed?". I said "5 or 6". And he said "Nah, it won't be enough".
Excellent, that was all I needed to know. As I was deciding what else to order, he took the 5 seconds to unwrap my existing food for me to show me how much was in there. I noticed it was covered in sauce, so I mentioned that I had requested 'sauce on the side' for all of my items purchased.
At this point, everyone there was clearly annoyed with me. I swear, I am not usually a high-maintenance restaurant orderer AT-ALL, but from the minute I walked in there, EVERYTHING had become a huge production due to their blatant lack of basic customer service.
So he goes to the other side of the kitchen, to check the print-out of my grub hub order, and sure enough, 'Sauce on the Side' was in the Special Instructions section of all of my items purchased.
Then he proceeds to tell me that they "don't look at those parts of the order" .... That GrubHub provides this 'Special Instruction' option on their website, but Phoebe's has a "policy" that they don't look at that section. HUH?? Mistakes obviously happen, it's no big deal, but nothing makes me more angry than someone who will piss on my back and tell me it's raining. I know he was just trying to cover his mistake, but it was such an absurd and unnecessary thing to say.
At this point, I am visibly annoyed. I suggest this is something that he work out in his agreement with GrubHub, as it seemed a bit ridiculous for a customer to be prompted to enter special instructions for their meal, when they will "not even be looked at" by the person making it.
The presumed owner then says to me (...I'm getting heated again just thinking about it) "Are you ok? You seem aggitated". ...And not in a 'I'm concerned for your happiness' way. In a 'I am a smug asshole' way.
At this point, I had to leave before I lost it. I took none of my food with me, so I can't even comment on its quality.
I was floored with how rude and unaccommodating they had been. I'll never even think about going there again.
On the bright side, a representative from Grub Hub called me a few minutes later, saying that he had just spoken to the owner at Phoebe's about the issue with the recent order. I told him what had gone down. Even though I told him that the issue had nothing to do with Grub Hub, he apologized for my unpleasant experience and gave me a gift card credit to Grub Hub, to show that they appreciate and value my business. That is my kind of customer service.
0 stars for Phoebe's (10 stars for Grub Hub!) | 0negative
| 775 |
Edit:
I raised this a star because I received a handwritten letter from the manager. He was sincere and gave us a certificate for a little less then 1/3rd of the cost of the bill. Enough to go in again? Maybe worth trying again but we'll wait for awhile.
Disclaimers:
A few things to point out:
It was a slow Monday night.
I have been to The Melting Pot before in Michigan.
This is my first time going to one in Missouri.
Our guests have eaten here before and have always had great service.
I waited tables when I first started working in the job force... wayyy back in the day.
We usually leave a 20% tip because of the experience I have of being a waitress. I know it is not easy.
We did leave a tip but only 15% that night. I realize people still have to live.
I rarely leave a poor review and usually only post good ones, as my enthusiasm and appreciation are usually off the charts.
Here we go:
We had crazy bad service from our waitress! It was almost like we were being filmed for a bad comedic television show. The young lady was unprofessional, argumentative (argued several times,) and could care less about her job in her non-malicious sort of way. We are talking comic extremes here.
Too many little things through out the night to post.
This should explain our waitress:
Can you imagine your flippant 12 year old sister or daughter waiting on you?... well there was our night.
She was missing most of the time and argued a few times with us about the menu, (which she was incorrect about,) interrupted our conversation to say something random because she wanted attention (NOT kidding,*lol*,) gave us a hard time with anything we asked or mentioned.. all the while she humorously flipped her hair around. I am really not kidding.. LOTS of hair flipping action.. 80's flashbacks all night. All of this coupled with her childlike, although non-malicious, could care-less-whatever attitude. So basically your bratty little sister or your tween daughter on one of *those* days.
It was so tragic that at the end of the meal, when we were about to leave the tip, she *then* gushed sunshine and sweet roses in her voice and beamed at us saying... "If you guys need anything, I will be glad to help you," with the now traditional full long hair flip. (I am chuckling as I write this. lol.)
The change of attitude and the sudden attentiveness in her voice was like night and day compared to the rest of the evening's service.
It was such a flip side of the coin that we all broke out laughing in shock, at the extreme change of our waitress, as we choked out a "No, Thank you." A couple of us had our eyes tearing up in laughter. Two of us actually had to grab our napkin to muffle the chuckling because the whole night's performance just struck us so humorous. The clear jaw-dropping tragic comedy of the question and her lack of service the whole night just put the cherry on top of the evening.
If this was a local diner I could understand that a young girl in her first job or even maybe on her first night would have problems and then I would not have blinked twice for the service given... But for the image that this restaurant likes to project, it should reflect some semblance of this image in it's service.
At least something better then an eye-rolling, flippant, hair flipping little teenage facsimile of a little sister or daughter. Lol. I didn't have the heart to complain to management until the end of the meal when it was finally just too much but management was no where to be found.
To be fair, I called the manager since then and mentioned the lackluster service that was provided a couple days earlier. He apologized for the lack of service. I felt bad and embarrassed for complaining, as my husband's way is to simply never go back again with out giving any feedback. But I felt even worse when I thought of how much harder it is to earn money now and we choose to spend it there. When you are paying their holiday pricing that they have on their menus, the very least you could expect is a pleasant meal with pleasant service. In this economy, how can I do anything less then mention the poor service for a meal paid with harder earned money, then even just a year ago.
The manager promised coupons of some sort. If he sends a free dessert voucher, for a meal this tragic I will send it back. We have that coupon in our Entertainment book and the cost of the meal and poor service is not worth the dessert.
I will update this if the manager actually does what he says.
*edit* Please forgive my instant message shorthand with my "lol's." I just can not think of how to describe the chuckling and head shaking I'm doing as I write this. lol. :) | 1neutral
| 862 |
Yelp describes a 5-star rating as: "Woohoo! As good as it gets!" I don't give 5-star ratings. Well, not true, I do give them, but I only give them when it truly is, in my humble but ever-correct opinion, "As good as it gets!" Five Bistro is.
I was in St. Louis taking some testimony from an enemy witness. Things went well and the deposition ended much sooner than expected. So, my sainted sister suggested I visit the Gateway Arch and then eat at Five Bistro. Turned out these were two outstanding suggestions.
As I said, it was a business trip. Started at 4 in the morning and was marked by a hard-fought deposition with a tough expert witness. Then, it was cold! 'Way too cold for this south Texas troop. Plus, due to construction, it's effectively impossible to get to the Arch. Well, again, not true. You can get there but they've got no signs and so you have to wander around and then walk and walk, in the COLD, (did I mention it was COLD!?) to get there. (Yes, it's worth it. Fabulous view from the top and very cool ride in a "capsule" to get there.) So, what does all this have to do with Five Bistro. Just understand, I was in a foul mood and ready to be irritated by anything and everything. Just try to please me!
Five Bistro did. Beautifully!
First of all, I liked the quiet neighborhood location. Not too far from the busy downtown area but definitely out of there. Parking is on the street but it was not a problem on this quiet (and COLD) Wednesday evening. I got there early, around 6 pm, and was pleasantly greeted by a lovely young lady named Audra, who was my server for the meal, as well. When I first arrived, I pretty much had the place to myself. It got busy soon, but that never interfered with some very nice service and attention from Audra and the other folks who run this very nice and small and intimate restaurant.
As some of the other reviewers have mentioned, they have a fixed price tasting menu. I think it important to note that the serving size, the portions, in this arrangement are the same as if you order a la carte. I chose the tasting menu and I also chose to add on the wine pairings.
The meal was beautifully presented and served. It started with a little amuse-bouche that was very tasty and then I followed it with the gnocchi, which was superb. I told Audra to just forget the rest of the meal and bring me a big bowl of the gnocchi and a large spoon. Happily, she ignored this request and proceeded to bring me the chowder, which was punctuated with a big chunk of swordfish. Excellent! I finished things off with a nicely prepared ribeye. All very, very well prepared and presented.
For my dessert, included in the tasting menu, I chose three cheeses. This added just a little bit to my bill, but was well worth it. I chose a variety that I knew it would be impossible to pair with any one wine. One of the cheeses was a firm cheese rubbed with espresso and lavender. Another was a creamy and light goat cheese. Pair with that! Well, they did. In fact, all of the pairings were very nice and just right.
I should mention that my server, Audra, told me that she'd only been working at Five Bistro for three weeks. I was shocked. She knew the menu top to bottom and could discuss the sauces, ingredients, and preparation. One of the earlier reviewers had complained that his server went on and on about the local sources of the foods and ingredients but Audra did not do this. She did mention that the chef really emphasizes local farms and sources, but she did not overdo it at all. I think I may have ended up being a fairly easy customer as every single thing I had I liked. But, there was a table near me that came in soon after I arrived, that was comprised of four gentlemen, one of whom was a real pain. He couldn't eat this and wouldn't eat that; he didn't eat meat, or gluten, or water, or food. I wanted to smack the guy. (In Texas I would have but my yankee friends frown on that sort of thing.) But, Audra remained extremely polite, and asked all the right questions. (The guy even complained that she was forcing him to make decisions! I'm not making this up!) Then she made a special trip back to the kitchen to talk with the Chef for this goof. Eventually, when she jumped through hoops to please this braying ass, he shut up and had a great meal. Well done, Audra.
So, I have to say that I highly, highly recommend Five Bistro. I'll be back every time I get anywhere near St. Louis. 5-Stars. | 2positive
| 838 |
It is with a heavy heart that I write this. Now, I absolutely love soft shell crab and my sole visit to this restaurant years ago netted what may have been my favorite fried soft shell crab ever. I ordered a grilled one last night. The first two bites were tasty but the third capped off an overall horrible experience.
My friends and I started out with drinks at Hermes. We frequent this place because it's right across the street from our apartment and the drinks are kicking. A few minutes before our reservation time the host came over and said that our table was ready and it was nice that they took the effort to find us. We closed out our tabs and were seated in the main dining room, which was a bummer because my friend had specifically asked while making the reservation if we could be seated in one of the Mardi Gras rooms. They should have told her on the phone that they were not going to fulfill this request as there was no mention of it during seating. One of the reasons for this flop may have been that two of my friends were dressed casually in jeans and polos. Doh. So we sat near the window with the rest of the tourists. Our waiter was a small older gentleman who has probably been there for decades, which normally you would think is great. Antoine hangs on to their employees for very long stints. Through the course of the evening we found him to be very short; in and out, hard of hearing, difficult to flag down and, at the end, quick to see our meal wrapped up. When people say that Antoine's isn't known for their service, believe them. The second waiter did her best to keep up despite the unfolding follies.
Here is a list of what went wrong:
My friend's boyfriend ordered a Bud Light at the start of the meal. He received his beer 22 minutes later.
When the appetizers came out, the second waiter had no clue whose was whose. After she figured it out, and left, we had to flag her down to explain that one was missing.
When the entrees came out one of them was missing, and one of the beef entrees was still purple and cold - even the second waiter was shocked at its appearance.
One friend also didn't receive the side that she ordered. We just blew that off.
Now to my prized soft shell crab -
As I was enjoying the third bite of my grilled soft shell crab, I noticed a human hair underneath the crab, as in, it was there before plating.
Besides all that:
They don't automatically refill bread bowls or wipe crumbs.
They leave water carafes on the table, which is great, but when those run out, they aren't on top of it.
After the raw beef and the hair issue, the staff quickly grabbed our meals from us removing the soft shell crab from my plate and the supposedly the bill. They also "recooked" the raw meat and boxed that.
The staff was in a big rush to get us out of there. I have been to many fine New Orleans restaurants and have never had this many problems and never been treated this poorly. One difference is that I usually go with my parents. I have to wonder if we were treated like second class guests because we were all in our early thirties and some of us were under-dressed. For instance when I came with my parents, they ran out of Baked Alaska after we had ordered it. The staff offered us a complimentary replacement dessert. Whereas during this visit, we had to ask for the problem-laden entrees to be removed from our bill.
As for the bill, it was all screwed up. The wrong entrée was charged and the soft shell crab wasn't removed; instead, another dish was. After we complained they ended up removing the problematic entrées from our bill to where we were satisfied, but the bottom line was the staff had no clue what we had ordered and didn't keep track of what went wrong. They just wanted us to disappear. The restaurant manager did come over to apologize, but it was late, and seemed insincere.
As for the food, the alligator soup was excellent. My friend's boyfriend didn't like his Oysters Rockefeller, but he just isn't used to the old world way that Antoine's prepares it. The two bites that I had of my grilled soft shell crab were yummy. Despite all of it, I ordered a peach ice cream dessert which was refreshing.
The bottom line is that the service experience is not on par with Brennan's, Emeril's, Bayona, or let's be blunt, even a very poorly run Applebees. I understand that people should come here for the history and the nostalgia and more power to them for forking out the dough. However, I'd rather spend that kind of money somewhere where the food and service are top-notch.
We were quite bummed with the whole experience because we'll be moving out of the French Quarter soon and were excited to say our goodbyes by having dinner at its oldest restaurant, especially since we've been living just across the street for a few years now. This farewell will last more like a train-wreck and I will be certain to never recommend it to out of town visitors, locals, or yelpers. | 0negative
| 919 |
I have never written an unsatisfactory review of an establishment, but it is time. My husband and I spent 5-6 hours in front of Mayo Ketchup on September 3 during the Tour di Lafayette. My daughter and her boyfriend and their friends come into town every year for the Gateway Classic, and since we live in St. Louis, it is always a good weekend because we get to spend time with them. It was our first time at this restaurant.
We were in front of Mayo Ketchup the entire time we were there, and bought at least 10-12 drinks during the day for our family and friends. Our daughter and her boyfriend had races at 3, 3:45 and 6:30, so we planned the entire day to eat there when everyone was finished. Even more so when we found out my daughter's boyfriend loves Cuban food. And so do we.
The young man behind the counter was very helpful and could not have been nicer. It was when I had interactions with the people who appeared to be in charge (I'll call them the "managing staff") that things went downhill. I asked when the tables were reserved (meaning time), planning to make sure we moved before the reservations. The managing staff stressed that we could not stay at the tables if they were needed for people that were eating. I could understand that, but their tone was rude, as if they had already decided that I would not follow the rules. If they only knew what a rule follower I am!!! And we were PAYING customers! Not the way to treat your customers, especially those that could have been loyal St. Louis ones.
We were very careful not to sit there for most of the day even when they were empty, although I saw other tables where people sat for a very long time after they were finished eating and the managing staff did not approach them to leave. There were at least two tables of four and one of two that did not move for a very long time - I can only assume that they were friends of the managing staff or owner, because we were certainly treated differently. All the while I am watching this we continue to go into Mayo Ketchup and buy drinks. I think we bought one drink the entire day which was not from Mayo Ketchup, and it was because my husband wanted a different brand of beer.
When the 6:30 race started, I went to sit at a table until they needed it and because we planned to order food shortly if they did not. The woman with the dark hair basically very rudely said they needed it for people with food (she did not even indicate that there were people coming out now who had already ordered). I would have left the table right away, but her rudeness made me angry, and I pointed out that we had bought 10-12 drinks during the day, and her continued rudeness indicated that she did not care. I was going to speak to the owner but by that time I was pretty angry and chose not to cause a scene inside.
Please do not let the managing staff tell you that they did not treat me differently from other people - especially those that stayed at tables long after they ate because they did and they were rude. Which I could almost understand if we were not customers, but it was no way to treat me and I was a paying customer. I have no idea why I was singled out by these staff, and there's really no reason to be rude to people anyway.
The "funny" thing was that at this time the people who came out to sit with their food were a friend of my daughter's and his father from out of town, and I wanted to sit and chat with the father. My daughter asked her friend if they minded and they did not, so we sat and chatted while they were eating - and being watched by the managing staff and owner as if they thought I was trying to get by with something. Yes, I saw you - again not a great way to treat your customers.
Once the race was finished, my daughter and my husband sat at a table for a little while BEFORE my daughter came in and bought a sandwich and the largest sampler platter they had, as well as more drinks. No one said a word to them. I guess because I was not sitting there or because it was not a woman by herself who they could bully. Yes, I felt bullied. And no, I was not drunk/belligerent - what I was drinking did not even taste like there was alcohol in it - I am a lightweight.
I will say the food was good, but it would have been better had I not had a very bad taste in my mouth due to my treatment by the staff. There are plenty of good places to eat in St. Louis, and I do not need to put up with rude treatment at Mayo Ketchup.
As a lifelong St. Louisan, I have many friends of all ages all over the city. Sadly, there is no way I will recommend Mayo Ketchup to anyone. By the way, I am a senior citizen, even though I may not look like it. It would have been nice to be able to sit every once in a while, and be shown some respect, but that did not happen.
Just goes to show you never know, so you should always treat ALL your paying customers with friendliness and respect, not just some of them. | 0negative
| 965 |
"Dawson Taylor." When that's the answer to the question I always ask when offered coffee in a local restaurant, "What kind of coffee do you pour?", I'm happy to order and sip. So when Dawson Taylor's owner opened Roast as 'slow bar' in December 2016 at the Lusk District building that also holds DT's coffee roastery and warehouse, it caught my attention.
Dawson Taylor was then still owned by the company's founder who started the business in 1995. His is one of those great 'local man does big things' stories of a coffee company being launched in a garage, and named after the owner's then infant son, evolving to become a very successful enterprise. Good coffee grew loyal fans among home consumers who bought beans at local stores, like the Boise CoOp, as well as business accounts for restaurants and college cafeterias.
The Dawson Taylor bright downtown located coffee house was a popular gathering spot for good coffee, light eats and friendly hospitality. When Roast was launched at the roastery site as slow-bar companion to the downtown coffee house, perhaps serving a different kind of coffee drinker in a more industrial vibe, I anticipated the same DT signature of friendly space and service. (In particular based on the Roast launch open house where donuts and pour over were shared.) But, alas, not so much.
Is it because about 10 months after Roast's opening, in October 2017, Hayden Beverage Company, Idaho's largest distributor of beer and wine and of beverages elsewhere with about 350 employees in Idaho, Montana and Washington, bought Dawson Taylor? I don't know. The purchase agreement included the DT founder staying on for several years and it was intended to be all good for DT as Hayden brought the cash of a larger business which would allow DT to purchase lots of rare coffee beans. But just about a year into the Hayden ownership, Dawson's original owner left. (I hear he now lives on a coffee plantation somewhere - no kidding.) And it seems to me, a longtime DT fan, that the charm of Dawson Taylor for customer focus and quality departed with him. Roast's vibe and service might be examples of that.
VIBE: This could be an exciting place to be with a little work, given one is in the roastery and warehouse building, but it seemed dark and unwelcoming, service was haltingly reserved with information about the coffee not volunteered but needing to be wrestled out, and the small array of coffee friendly eats that once graced the small glass case at the coffee bar are mostly missing.
There are a few tables inside the dark space where one can sip and work on laptops, which is what the few customers inside seemed to be doing but, for the most part, absent beverages. Our coffee was take-away given the space didn't invite lingering. Close proximity to a student apartment might make this a fit for students looking for hang out to get some work done. But it is not a place we'd consider as "let's meet up for coffee" destination.
And boy, I'll tell ya...given drinking coffee does has the natural outcome (no pun intended...well maybe) of needing to visit the loo, one would have to be in dire straights to want to use the one here which, on my recent visit, had trash can overflowing onto floor and looked like a good cleaning was in order. When this was coffee roaster and warehouse only, maybe that was thought acceptable to the employees who work here (alas) but if the business is serving the public, they need to pay attention to things like this.
PARKING: On street. The small (four or so) paved lot next door is for Madre Taqueria customers.
ACCESSIBILITY: Although the Lusk District is emerging for retailers who serve customers inside (as in the wonderful Madre next door), ACHD has not yet added sidewalks and curb ramps where they need to be so accessibility in the area is difficult given gravel surrounds. (As a person with MS I notice this.) But Roast itself is accessible - level in the door and all on one level with some standard height tables available and the loo is accessible too.
NEIGHBORS: In addition to Madre (serving delicious, artisan tacos in a cool and warmly inviting interior space with outdoor seating too), the Boise Bicycle Project is next door and Jim's Appliance and a BSU student apartment are a block-ish away in different directions.
FUN TIP: They have for sale here, at 'nearly-free' prices, the burlap bags in which coffee beans arrive. Some of those bags have unique artwork on them and if you're the creative and crafty type, you might see an opportunity to frame them and use them as art or turn them into tote bags with cool fabric linings (as a clever person did with bags from an Oregon coffee roaster where I used to live and then sold the totes at the roastery's coffee bar). Or recycle them in a home garden. I pondered those options as I waited on my coffee to brew. | 0negative
| 851 |
What a feat I've accomplished. Despite rarely making it home to Philly (full-time New Yorker these days), I've conquered The Holy Trinity: Nick Elmi Edition. A very good family friend of ours happens to be an equally close friend of Mr. Elmi's, and being the big foodie that she is, she's pretty much become the chef's personal troubadour since his Top Chef win. And for good reason: Nick Elmi, once again, wields versatility, creativity and finely-tuned execution in his third endeavor. While all of Chef Elmi's spots are French at their roots, Royal Boucherie feels like a classic Brasserie. The vibe is consistent enough here that you forget it's actually quite a new establishment. The cocktail menu--as expected given my experience at ITV--is original and overall fabulous, and the food menu, well, I'll get to that later. The gist: you can't go wrong. We didn't receive a bad thing all night.
Came here on Saturday night at 7:30 with the bf and my parents. Our mission (read: my mission, one I'd be enforcing with frighteningly authoritarian precision): try everything on the menu. As I alluded to in the intro, the space itself feels to be set in a different era. An old French pub with a well-kept secret: the brews are solid but the food is magnificent. Before looking at the food menu, I like to settle in with a cocktail. Royal Boucherie is a great place to do just that.
Dom Carullo is the head mixologist at Royal Brasserie, and he's thoughtfully paired some adapted classics with a number of his own creations to make the cocktail menu here consistently solid. I tried the
Royal Punch on Tap (Cognac, Rums, Lemon, Tea, Spices), which is a fantastic winter drink. Rich, complex and warming. Not overly sweet or boozy--great proportions. I also tried my dad's "A Very Stable Genius" (Vodka, Aperol, Vanilla-Orange Cordial, Allagash White), which, along with having perhaps the greatest name of all cocktails, was innovative and delicious. And clearly brand new--it's dated 2018 on the menu.
Food-wise, Royal Boucherie is stellar in every area. Raw, cooked, seafood, poultry, warm, cold--you've got it all. The small plates here are pretty light, so you can get away with ordering a decent number of them in addition to entrees without feeling stuffed. Our eats, below:
Charcuterie Board: A
Highlights for us were the Sweetbread Terrine w/ apple pureé and Pork Terrine. Rich and flavorful. For the small option, you still get a good array of meats without being overwhelmed.
Chilled Razor Clam w/ Celery, Apple, Horseradish: A+
Very different from most of our plates this evening but still wonderful. Beautifully presented, delicate flavors that went together perfectly.
Baked Cape May Salt Oysters w/ Mignonette Stuffing: A+
I hardly remember these because we inhaled them so quickly. Flavorful without losing the essence of the oyster.
Smoked Salmon Pavé Crispy Potato, Cucumber, Chervil, Roe: A+
I want to say this was one of my favorites even though every plate was kind of my favorite. I just adore salmon. Done multiple ways, layered on top of each other with perfectly crispy potato separating each layer--magic. Taken to the next level when combined with the salad.
Baby Kale Salad w/ Apple, Turnip, Candied Pecan, Buttermilk Vinaigrette: A
Not just a boring salad. Fresh and delicious with incredible dressing. Not to be ignored.
Steak Tartare w/ Smoked Cheddar Tuile, Quail Egg, Mustard Greens, Grilled Rye Bread: A
More substantial than many of the steak tartare preparations I've tried. Quail egg for decadence and the cheddar tuile made for some great textural variety. My dad tends to be lukewarm on steak tartare and he gave it high marks, too.
Champagne-braised Escargot w/ Chartreuse Hazelnut Butter, Crisp Baguette: A
Decadent and delicious. There's no other way to do escargot.
Seared Duck Breast w/ Fermented Quince, White Sweet Potato, Turnip: A+
As well-executed as I've ever seen. We were served duck at Laurel during my last trip to Philly, and that blew me away too. The way Chef Elmi conceptualizes his duck dishes is the paragon of how one should approach it. Delicious and elevated even more by the sweet potatoes--a winter warmer, for sure. Don't skip this one.
Lamb Crepinette w/ Parsnip, Rutabaga, Parsley Root, Preserved Lemon Gremolade: A+
This felt like a true "brasserie" type dish. They actually cook the lamb such that a super thin layer of bread soaks into the lamb, making the outside slightly crispy and all the more delicious. The meat was cooked perfectly and the flavors were sublime. These last two dishes made use of some great winter veggies and starches, which I appreciated.
Overall, 4.5 stars. I gave Laurel and ITV five and they were just a teensy smidge "better". Still, at Royal Boucherie we felt taken care of, our plates were coursed out such that we had time to digest and reflect, and the warm vibes of the space made the experience all the more enjoyable. | 2positive
| 827 |
I could remove a digit from one hand and still have enough fingers remaining there to count the number of times I've sent a dish back to the kitchen because it was inedible. Sadly, my meal at Luciano's was one of those times. Maybe if my expectations were lower going in this review would be higher a number for stars. I appreciate others had better experiences or think more highly of the food. But there are many other places in the Boise area I'd rather spend my dining dollars and time.
THE AMBIANCE
Fun first impressions held unfulfilled promise. The building is just seedy enough looking that along with the Luciano name on the front, we hoped there might be a little gem of Italian-American family style cooking inside as in the days of my hubby's childhood Brooklyn-Italian neighborhood joints. (Lucky Luciano was a Brooklyn guy after all.) Add to that the garlic aroma that smacks you upside the nostrils as you open the door, and we were off to anticipate good food even if it was clear the interior, something my Sicilian in-laws would have thought a "nice-a place" at it's prime, needed some sprucing up.
But that's where it ended, the good stuff, From there it went downhill.
THE SERVICE
Servers were friendly but it was more magic act for disappearing than dining service. In spite of staff aplenty for the number of occupied tables, there were long delays between seating and greeting, between menus and ordering and between ordering and the first pass of food arrival. The return of the dish I sent back to the kitchen took even longer to arrive on the second pass. None of the meal was worth waiting for.
FOOD
An uncut, little loaf of warm pillow texture bread that was brushed with oil of some kind appeared on the table in relatively short order. One was left to try to slice or tear it with fingers leading to greasy fingers. (Good cloth napkins on the table helped keep oil off clothes.) Different strokes for sure given how many seem to love this bread, but warm pillow isn't my idea of good stuff to eat.
The house salad was good enough and the best part of the meal with fresh greens and a gorgonzola vinaigrette, even if over dressed a tad.
After a long time gone for our server, another appeared in his place with a vegetable pasta (my hubby's) and Carbonara for me. As if the bread on table wasn't enough, each plate of pasta was presented with a piece of garlic bread. And in a kitzch touch my late in-laws would have appreciated in their day, the white pasta plates had red spice on one side (paprika I think) and a sprinkle of chopped parsley on the other. (Sure you get it, Italian flag colors.)
Carbonara is a simple dish but it takes some finesse to get the egg and pasta combined just right so the egg is cooked to coat the strands of pasta and create silky sauce. I have to trust a kitchen to order this because it is woeful if under or over cooked. I figured here I was safe. I figured wrong.
As that server made his pivot turn to leave I saw the strands of pasta were coated with egg that was raw that also puddled on the bottom of the bowl, the pasta was far short of al dente and the dish seemed more room temperature than hot. In short, inedible.
When our first server finally appeared back in view, I flagged him down and pointed out that the dish was decidedly not what Carbonara should be (trust me on this, I eat a lot of it). He agreed, said it should not have left the kitchen, apologized and whisked the dish away to be redone.
When it arrived back at the table (by this time my husband had nearly finished his meal at my urging to eat it hot), the egg looked scrambled and the pasta far beyond al dente. Almost as if it had been tossed in a skillet and stir fried. Still it was at this point hot, so better than nothing. A little better. Not much. But edible.
The waiter could tell, he said, that it still wasn't right. Which begs the question how it got out of the kitchen to make it to the table two times; raw the first time and cooked to smithereens the second.
I expected better all around. My husband and I were both so underwhelmed with the food and service we said "BASTA"!
THIS N THAT:
1) PARKING: Advantage is a private lot, even if time worn, in which to park.
2) ACCESSIBILITY: A parking space or two right outside the door are marked with the blue wheelchair symbols but neither has a striped access aisle and do not meet 25 year old state codes and Federal rules to be usable by a person using a wheelchair. Restaurant is level in the door, all on one floor throughout and most or maybe all tables are standard height. | 0negative
| 853 |
When you're away from the comfort of your mother and father's cooking, you seek out places to help fill the void. Lolo's Filipino cuisine got the job done and me and the kids had a pleasant encounter with the cook, Lolo and her mother Arlyn, who made us feel like family.
The delicious Bistek, fish balls, garlic fried rice, and Halo Halo were the bomb!!! I ordered two extra orders of Bistek- one for my husband and for my special neighbor, because special people deserve special food.
If Filipino food is foreign to you, I suggest starting with Bistek, a classic Filipino dish made of thinly sliced beef braised in citrus (calamansi), soy sauce, garlic, and onions. It has always been one of my all-time favorite Filipino foods and goes well with garlic fried rice. My 86-year-old caucasian neighbor loved it so much that she texted me right away, asking me to bring here to Lolo's for more.
Chicken Adobo is also a hit, which is made of chicken, garlic, onions, soy sauce, and vinegar. It's equally as addicting as Bistek, if done right. I can't wait to try Lolo's version.
Lumpia and pancit are always hits at parties serving Filipino food. Lumpia is an appetizer comparable to a spring roll in other Asian cultures, filled with ground pork, onions, celery, carrots, and eggs. When dipped in sweet chili sauce, Lumpia is super delicious and can easily become a favorite of someone trying it out for the first time.
Lumpia is commonly paired with Pancit, a Filipino dish with noodles cooked in garlic, onions, carrots, celery, chicken broth, chicken, and seasonings. This hit is awesome, topped with chopped scallions, black pepper, toasted garlic, and calamansi (like a sweeter version of a lemon).
My all-time favorite dish is called Sinigang, another classic dish characterized by its sour and savory taste. They have a beef and seafood option available at Lolo's and I can't wait to try them both. They are best eaten with rice.
If you haven't already tried Filipino Spaghetti, it's so popular in the Philippines that you will find it at every fast food joint, party, and restaurant in the Philippines. It is completely different from traditional spaghetti in that it's cooked with banana ketchup, making it on the sweeter side. The addition of hot dogs and a topping of cheese makes it a fun and popular dish among kids. People either love it or don't care much for its' style. I say it's worth trying.
Palabok is another dish worth mentioning, with rice noodles cooked in a yummy shrimp sauce and topped with chopped scallions, sliced hard-boiled eggs, crumbled pork rinds, and drizzled in clamansi juice. This dish is also commonly served at special occasions.
On to dessert. Halo Halo is one of the most well-known desserts in the Philippines, which is a cold, layered dessert consisting of sweetened beans, jellies, fruits, toppings, shaved ice, topped with Filipino ice cream, and drizzled with evaporated milk. Lolo adds pinipig (toasted rice), macapuno (young coconut shavings), camote (sweet yam), and saba (cooking banana) when in season, making it as authentic as the ones you'd find in the Philippines. The trick is to mix everything up until uniformed. This way, you get all the flavors in every bite. I'd come to the restaurant for this dessert alone.
If you're a person that loves bacon, you will more than likely love the super popular dishes, Sisig and Crispy Pata made of fatty cuts of pork. Sisig is marinated pork belly that's chopped up and cooked with other ingredients. Crispy Pata is Fatty cuts of pork deep fried and cooked to a crisp. I love these dishes so much, but I see that they're not for everyone, considering how much fat they consist of.
Filipino breakfast is super popular among the Filipino community and has gained popularity in America, with its' non-traiditonal, addictive flavors and use of marinated meats. If you haven't already tried, I highly suggest trying Filipino breakfast out. These combination plates are called "Silogs," and consist of a base of garlic fried rice, fried egg, and your choice of a meat (tocino (sweet Pork), Tapa (marinated beef), Longanisa (sweet pork sausage), Bangus (marinated milk fish, my Favorite). These are the most common plates offered at breakfast, but at Lolo's, you will find additional options.
Filipinos are known for their friendliness and the ones at Lolo's were the epitome of just that. Thanks for showing me and the kids kindness and how to be Filipino haha. If you're looking for a foodie adventure that will not disappoint, Lolo's is the place.
NOTES:
-staff wears masks
-they are currently hiring
-serve wine, beer, and island cocktails
-If you're looking for Filipino breakfast options, they are currently selling them on Sundays
-They cater
-You can make reservations and order online through their website
-starting Thursday, 6/17/2021, and then every other Thursday, there will be live Jazz music | 2positive
| 824 |
We are over the moon that the Lingnan Chinese restaurant decided to open up their first Express location in St. Albert!
My husband and I have been patiently anxiously stalking their twitter and Facebook site awaiting the grand opening! Much to our surprise, we were driving by the location on Hebert road yesterday and thought we saw an Open sign!
Upon arriving home, I immediately checked Facebook and twitter but there weren't any updates yet. So I phoned their downtown location and spoke with Mandy who confirmed they opened yesterday! Hip hip hooray!
I called my hubby at work and we set the wheels in motion to plan for our inaugural Lingnan Express Lunch for the next day!
One of the reasons we are OVER the moon is because we have a toddler and a baby who has been sick for a few months, so needless to say, we haven't gotten to enjoy a Valentine's or Birthday meal out in a few months! Let alone a normal date night... What are those? At least now we can bring home the city's BEST Chinese food to the comfort of our home!
Flash forward... It's today! Today is the day!
Went down to Lingnan Express this morning when they opened at 11am! I was so excited to see Amy, Miles, and Mandy there! (If you haven't seen their television show, check out Quon Dynasty on the Food Network and get to know the family!) Mandy quickly came out from the kitchen and greeted me upon entering the restaurant. I had to tell her how excited I was that they opened up in St. Albert.
While perusing the menu, which includes 5 different $9 lunch combos (available daily from 11am - 2pm), Amy (the Mom) arrived at the restaurant. She is just as bubbly in person as she is on the TV show and we have been going to their restaurant in downtown Edmonton for 10 years now.
I expressed my undying gratitude for the new location and Amy and Mandy explained that they have always loved their St. Albert customers and knew that St. Albert was the first place they wanted to open an Express location - I feel so lucky! They let me take pictures of the restaurant for the Yelp review and Amy even insisted I take one with her :-)
I ordered Combo #1 and Combo #4 to go - and I apologize but their take out menu doesn't break down what exactly all I ordered. I know Combo #1 was Amy's famous Crack Chicken (Dry Chicken) with Ginger beef, fried rice, mixed veggies and a veggie spring roll. Combo #4 was Beijing style Kung Pao Chicken and I can't remember the 2nd item - sorry! Also with mixed veggies, a spring roll, and chow main.
The Crack Chicken/Amy's Special chicken in #1 was perfect! Just as addicting as ever - and perfectly moist and dry! The ginger beef was a little over done - a bit difficult to chew - but I'm not complaining! Still some of the best darn ginger beef in town.
Amy was so cute, she warned me that all their equipment is brand new and it takes a little while to get used to cooking on new equipment - to essentially break it in. She warned that it might take a little while to get up to her standards. Just love that woman! The mixed veggies were cooked perfectly and the rice was also perfect - not an easy feat for Chinese take out. I LOVED all the stir fried broccoli - LOVE LOVE LOVE it when the mixed veggies isn't mostly onion and celery.
Combo dish #4 was awesome and I we loved it! Although, I will double check the picture next time in the restaurant because the Kung Pao Chicken was Beijing style but it was only the chicken on top of the noodles in my dish - no peanuts or veggies with the Kung Pao? I was the first customer of the day so it may have been in the transition of being completed since I did go at 11am :-) But the sauce was spot on - Delish! Hubby loved the 2nd meat item in Combo #4 - Wish I could remember what it is.
And the best part of all? The EGG ROLLS are to die for! If you haven't had a Lingnan Egg Roll you are in for a treat! $2.50 each and well worth it! They are GIANT and filled with savoury curry goodness! You will love them!
So very, very happy for the Lingnan! And looking forward to our Saturday cheat meal more than ever now that we can just pop out and grab some of Amy's Crack Chicken and an Egg Roll to go!
And before I zipped out the door to take my delicious Lingnan Express food home to the fam, Ms. Amy gave me two gorgeous chopsticks that my daughter fell in love with the minute I got home! And for a 3 year old, she's pretty darn good at picking up rice with them!
Next time we will order off the dinner menu!
Hip Hip Hooray! The Lingnan made my family's day!
*Check out the pictures I uploaded* | 2positive
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