Chuck "rYno" R.'s Profile

On short notice once moved into a new house, I called Bryan and he was able to come over and install a few ceiling fans and some new switches to control them and the lights.  Even though some modification had to be done to the wall for the bigger switch he didn't leave a mess.  Laid down some drop cloths and cleaned up before he left...

My rooms are cooler now and I'm happy about that... nice guy too!

Lots of glitz and glam, little to back it up.

Food was meh... really expensive too.

Margs were good but I can get the same for cheaper.
My friend got sick from the food she ate...

Not impressed... never went back. nuff said

very close to a 5...  so a 4.5 but yelp fails at halves

Only reason prevented me from a 5 is that it's more of a family place and traditional setting that I'd like to hang out with friends at... lots of kids... sorry I can't do the screaming thing.

Food wise... chips and salsa are SOO frickin good.  I used to stop by on my way home once a week and buy a big bag of chips and a big thing of their salsa...

Cookin is always good and comes out pipin hot exactly as ordered and I always order custom style and they have no problem making it the way I want it.

I've been going here for years and will continue to do so.  Also this one is better than the one on University.

I went with Lamb and Mint...  I can't really explain or relate it to anything per say but it was gooooood.  The dipping sauce (gravy) it came with was really good.
At first glance it didn't look like it'd fill me up but I was surprised... the meat and stuff is packed pretty dense so it works.  The bread is really tasty and crusty but not too dry.

The beers were like $6 a pop and for two of us it was $30 before tip...

I'll go back... was pretty good... lots of other pasties to try on the menu

Killer lunch specials that are hard to beat... always coupons in local papers and clipits for dinners as well.

I've been to Abacus about 8 times now and have failed to leave a review for them so here's the breakdown.

Food is good... probably not the best I've ever had but definitely nothing wrong with any of the meals I've had there, and I've never eaten the same thing twice as I've been trying to eat different things each time.  Their menu is pretty big and can get a little confusing for somebody with ADD like me but hey you get a lot of good stuff to choose from.

Service is always very prompt and they're very nice as well.

Cost is average, but like I said, get the coupons from local papers...

All in all, I like Abacus and I'll continue to frequent there when I'm in my chinese food moods :)

Not by any means an Indian food expert, nor have I been to more than 3 Indian places.  I was craving some Naan (that awesome flatbread) and talked to my good friend (who's Sikh) and he recommended this place as it was local to me and he had had a good experience there - and if he says it's good I listen.  She even asked me on a 1-5 scale how hot I wanted the food... 3 totally but could have done 4 probably :)

It's in a dark corner of the plaza and the price was higher than I was expecting but the food totally made up for it.

The safest thing I could get is Chicken Tikka Masala, which tears me up anyways but I love indian food (don't think indian food is meant for skinny white guys.. just sayin).  

Bottom line... girl on phone was very helpful and very nice, the guy at the front desk was very welcoming and nice and they even offered me drinks for waiting like 3 minutes for my food to be done (was doing take-out).  Felt very welcome there and everybody was friendly.

Got home, everything wrapped and sealed up nicely as for no spillage in the car and the naan was wrapped in reynolds wrap.

Food was great... bread warm and fluffly, chicken cuts were very tender and moist and the rice was perfect fluffliness.

I'm totally going back... but I need to give my body a break... I'm payin for eating Indian food...  but it was so worth it!

I love South Mountain...   okay lover moment aside...

What do you want to do?
-- Hike? cool tons of trails for ya from easy to hard...
-- Bike? road or mountain, we got both for ya.  Mtn goes from flat very fast trails to very very technical XC rides to some killer downhill/vert stuff.  Road has great views and one sunday/mo they shut road down to motors so get a wide open road all to yourself
-- Views?  heck yes, you'll have to hike a bit if you want distance but if you're looking for nature - tons here and plenty of places to get away from ppl traffic also to have a very quiet place to sit and think.

Funny thing about South... is it seems almost everybody has their own favorite place to go while there.  The low flat trails get a little busy but that's easy stuff, if you want to be alone work a little bit and you get away from 95% of the traffic.
Everybody seems to have a "secret" spot too they like to hike and get away... I've got one that my buddy and I know of that when we get up there... there's a point at which we keep going and we've only seen like 2 other ppl go that far back into the canyons... so it's always a very peaceful run and can even look down onto the main trails and watch people down there too.

South is great... I need to mess around more on the west side of the mountain but I live in Ahwatukee so I'm on the east side and just ride over there.

They do close some of the lesser known trails from time to time to get the wildlife back in and get some growth back in, and other than once getting lost on a close trail I've never had issues.

The park rangers I've met there are always nice, always asking how the trails were and making sure ppl are safe.

Probably not the smartest idea, but I love to run when there's a storm rolling in... just love going out there and thinking and being alone...

I see Papago as a starter location for trail runners and bikers alike.  There's no hard hillclimbs/grades that will challenge a seasoned mtn biker or trail runner but there's plenty of good speed trails to hit cardio and do a nice tour of the park.  
There's a tunnel under the road so you can go from north to south side of curry I think it is...  I've yet to be over to the zoo but I know that's over there and as far as I know you can get a fairly good (free) shot of the zoo from there.

There's some good hiking stuff you can do and climb up into some cool caves/holes in the rocks.

I've been to an enduro mtn bike ride there on the east side and that's a good track for that, short but make lots of laps and you'll be tired after 4 or 5 of those fo sho.

Good park, clean, trails are nice - look out for bees tho sometimes!  They've marked off some trails for that before but nothing new - you are in arizona.

We had a Yelp event there a week or two ago and the first thing that I got was REALLY fresh orange juice, like... they just made it.  Brownie points...

The biscuits and gravy is hands down the best I've ever had, the fries were really good too, and you've got to have good fries.  Their breaded chicken with onion sandwich has a really different taste to it but was supurb.  And to top the whole thing off they brought out a huge applie pie/pancake... I can't even explain how awesome that thing was... nom nom.

The main chef guy and owner came out to talk to us a couple times and was a really nice guy, originally from Chicago - so of course he knows good food.

Bottom line... check it out for breakfast or lunch and you'll enjoy it.

Pretty tough reviews but this was my first visit.
I went for the Panang Chicken Curry... not too spicy which was good and came with some rice and they had a coupon in their paper menu's at the desk for a free chicken egg roll with an entree so that's what we did.

I'm no curry expert by any means but I've had better curry at Thai places previously but I wasn't disappointed at all.  I could have taken more rice but in the end it turned out to be just enough.

My buddy went safe and had the orange chicken which he said was just fine and he'd also return.

It's not a really nice place so no worries there, but not dirty at all, just kind of quick sit down and eat type place.. wooden chair booths but plenty of seating for a lot if you had a group.  Ladies were very nice and food came up fairly quick.

I'll go again and try another item on their menu and hopefully will be just as good or better.

Oh and they have Diet Dr Pepper, which is awesome... just sayin.