Amber N.'s Profile

Pasha is absolutely my new favorite restaurant. My go-to dish is the Turkish salad sampler, sub kale salad for the fried cheese things. Kale is a vegetable that is very difficult to do well in a raw state, but they NAIL it with the kale salad. Every single dish has distinctive flavor and texture. The black bean, kale & hummus wrap with a side of lentil soup is my lunch favorite. You must also try the Sirkonto zucchini, it is amazing. Their hummus is hands down the best I have ever had - it is so creamy.

My omnivore husband had the "most popular grilled chicken and spinach" dish and he ate every bit (and he never eats anything resembling a leaf, much less spinach).

The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, I love when I go somewhere and don't have to ask about ingredients, they know what vegan means. They also have a vegan dessert option, a delicious date roll with nuts. Their dessert tray is absolutely mouthwatering, have them bring it out for you just to drool. My husband had the chocolate cake and loved it.

Other praise:
* Delicious, fresh and beautifully presented food
* Many organic, vegetarian and vegan options
* They source local ingredients whenever possible, lots of local wines too
* The best lentil soup I've ever had
* Attractive decor inside including an open kitchen design
* Lovely outdoor seating area
* Fast service, knowledgeable staff
* They cater, which I'm sure is just as amazing
* Great for lunch too

4/6/09 Edit: I amending this review again. I've been to the Lizard twice since the bad experience I had, and things have been wonderful there. I got the Mediterranean Sampler and the hummus wrap, and both were delicious. The waitress was polite both times, and they now have a sign that explains the counter vs. seated service arrangement. I'm happy to say I will be back.
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Edited to add: I'm amending my review due to the feedback I received from the manager, Christine. The morning following my posting of this review she called me and we had a very nice conversation. She did address all the issues I'd had, from the preparation and flavor of the food to the wait times to the rude waitress. The food flavor and prep is the same as their parent location and won't change, although she did say customers are welcome to request special arrangements such as getting the pesto spread on both sides of the toast. As far as the wait times, she said they are balancing new staff with transitioning from the way the previous tenant handled things, especially the new difference of having waitstaff instead of just counter service. She apologized profusely for the bad service and said they would be addressing that with the waitress directly. In the end I feel like she addressed my concerns and values my business, and I do plan to go back in a few weeks and give the food another shot as well. I am raising this review to two stars.
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Today was my second chance for the Lizard Café, which is the new restaurant that replaced the Taste Unlimited counter inside Prince Books.

My first trip to them I got the hummus wrap to go. I think they only have two vegetarian sandwich options (besides one or two cheese sandwiches), but I figured it's hard to make a bad hummus wrap. I was wrong. The hummus was tasteless and grainy, like they made it in a food processor and didn't bother to add any tahini or olive oil. The wrap was absolutely smushed flat, and breaking when I picked it up. The squishing I could have understood if they had attempted to grill it, but no grilling was evident. Instead, it looked like someone had sat on it. By the way - a hummus wrap with cucumber, lettuce, tomato and carrot took 25 minutes for them to make.

Today I decided to give them a second chance, and eat in. I ordered the tasty-sounding Mushroom & Artichoke Heart sandwich, which was supposed to come with a sun dried tomato pesto spread and mozzarella (I left the cheese off). I ordered and sat down at one of the small tables and pulled out some knitting while I waited. Immediately a waitress approached, stared at my knitting for about 10 seconds, looked up at me and asked, "Are you planning to eat anything?" I told her yes. She said, "Do you need a menu because you need to order if you're going to be at a table." I told her I had already placed and paid for my order. I asked for a glass of water and she left.

When she brought it back, she noticed two women sitting at the booth behind me. "You need to get a table if there's only two of you." One of the women explained they were waiting for a friend to join them. The waitress went on to grill them about exactly how long it would be before the friend arrived (she clearly wanted to downgrade them to a table even though not all tables and booths were full) and (again) that they needed to order if they were going to occupy a table. Both these women had already placed an order at the counter as well. I found this to be a little police-y and rude, as if we were just drifting in off the street and deciding to rest a while in a crowded restaurant, instead of being legit customers.

...25 minutes later. A table of two women next to me had been waiting even longer than I had. They ask the waitress about their orders several times, the final time explain that they only have a short time for lunch. The waitress rolls her eyes and says "the kitchen said it would be 2 seconds, would you rather them pack it up so you can go?" Her body language was pretty dismissive. The women said they would continue to wait. The "2 seconds" turned into at least 5 minutes before they got their food. By now it had been nearly a half hour since I ordered a sandwich, so I went up to check on my order. They were plating it at that moment. She set it on my table and quickly left. I had to go request a fork and napkin from the counter.

The sandwich was so disappointing. There was sun dried tomato spread on one piece of bread only; the other was just some dry toast. The rest of the sandwich was RAW, yes raw mushrooms, and those quartered artichoke hearts from the can, like three tiny pieces of them. I don't know about you but I would not call raw sliced mushrooms on a plain piece of bread a "signature sandwich". I ate a few bites but it was completely unappetizing. The waitress did not appear for the rest of my meal.

I miss Taste Unlimited. I hope this isn't negatively affecting business at my favorite bookstore but I bet you anything it is.

I wanted to post an update since we got all our hair done at Wink Salon for my wedding in June. Everyone on The Other Side books up fast, especially Matt and Megan, so be sure to book several months in advance. Matt, Megan and Tori were our stylists for the day, each of them did two of us. We had a great time, relaxed and listened to music and my girl Genevieve and I did everyone's makeup in between hairdos. I was completely thrilled with mine (and everyone's). My hair was the perfect mixture of vintage and unusual that I was looking for. All my bridesmaids and my mom loved their hair as well, and those are some picky women! Big smooches to everyone at Wink.

Eda is a godsend. I take all my alterations to her, everything from hems to completely redoing jackets to fit my weirdly shaped body (narrow shoulders, big short arms, medium bust, smallish waist, huge hips). Her prices are more than reasonable, she has a quick turnaround and everything fits afterward.

I decided to have my wedding dress custom-made, which is what I recommend to everyone who wears a larger size or just wants an awesome dress buying experience. I had noted on multiple occasions the myriad of custom dresses I'd see in her shop when I went in, everything from prom dresses to gowns for a drag queen pageant (no lie!), so I knew she could probably handle anything I threw at her. I brought in dress pictures to show my ideas, she took my measurements and sent me fabric shopping. The dress was ready for the first fitting in less than two months (if you order a dress from a bridal shop you are looking at at least six months turnaround time). I went in for three fittings and at the end, had a dress that was perfectly my vision. The price was more than reasonable, probably 1/3 of what I'd pay if I ordered the dress from a store, plus it was custom fit to my body and my exact specifications. I felt awesome on my wedding day.

All I can say about Shayna Walker and Williamsburg Wedding Design is THANK YOU! She made our wedding run seamlessly and with seemingly little effort! Let me brag on her and her staff for a minute.

I hired Shayna to be our day-of coordinator. We worked together for months leading up to the wedding, she responded via email and phone to recommend vendors and we prepared my big time line for the day, which I think ended up being around 15 pages. A checklist that detailed makes a perfectionist control freak like me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. She gave me honest feedback regarding the flow of the reception and ceremony, and was valuable in assisting me in making choices about the wedding party and seating.

The day before the wedding, she ran the rehearsal smoothly and quickly. She diffused a very stressful situation in which the venue manager actually got hostile with me. From the time she handled him so effortlessly, she put my mind at ease and it was smooth sailing all the way through 'til the end of the wedding.

The day of, while my girls and I were getting ready, her staff (she brought three interns to assist with the wedding) was picking up flowers and setting up decorations. We didn't have to lift a finger and everything looked magnificent. When the 101 degree heat proved to be too scalding for our original ceremony location in the full sun of the garden, she orchestrated moving the whole ceremony setup into the shade before I even knew to worry. She fielded vendors, directed family, assisted the photographer, told people where to go and what to do. Her staff even ran back to the hotel to fetch my wedding band which I left in the room when we were taking photographs (but in case they couldn't find it, she had fake rings for the ceremony - this lady is seriously prepared)! Everything was perfect.

Afterward, my mom had to do very little other than pack the stuff into her vehicle, Shayna and her staff handled cleanup and lockup, we didn't have to worry about a thing.

At first, I was dubious about spending money for a coordinator, but let me tell you it was worth EVERY PENNY and more. This was the best money we spent on the wedding, in my opinion. Contrasted with my sister's wedding where there was no coordinator but plenty of stress, mine was stress free, and we were able to just sit back and enjoy the day with our family and friends. We are so pleased we hired Shayna and her staff. Hire her, you won't be sorry!

All I have to say is WOW! Daley DJs far surpassed my expectations. Working with Liz was wonderful. She was the consummate professional, responded quickly to all my requests and went far above and beyond the norm to make sure my wedding was exactly what I wanted and more! Some of you might know that Jimmy and I are both involved in the local music scene, he is in a band, music is very important to us. I met with her at her beautiful Williamsburg home to discuss music for the reception and she provided extremely helpful feedback on how to fit the songs we loved into the party so it would flow well.

We also worked together on a grand entrance, and it was SO FUN. I highly recommend doing this if you book with Daley DJs. We selected a short clip of music for each person in the wedding party, everything from "I'm Too Sexy" to George Thoroughgood. Each song was hand picked for each person in the wedding party (some meant to be funny, some were just awesomely suited to the personality of the person). I didn't tell anyone in the wedding party about it so it would be a surprise and when each person marched out to their own tune, there was huge applause and roaring laughter the whole time. Jimmy and I entered to ACDC's Back in Black. I could NOT have been more pleased with how it turned out.

Peter was our DJ on the big day (Liz was booked and they only book one event per day) and he was awesome. Extremely professional, wore a tux in 101 degree heat and made it look good too! Everything went smashingly. We had a wonderful time and I would recommend this vendor to everyone.

I got my wedding cake from Gourmet Bake Shoppe. Everyone loves cake! My sister Heidi had her cake made by Chef Emily De Long of Gourmet Bake Shoppe and I followed suit. Chef Emily De Long truly is a cake artist. Besides her gorgeous sugar artistry which more than rivals anything you'll see in Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes, she was able to accommodate my special requests for the cake as well. I am vegan (don't eat dairy or eggs), which to many people would be a challenge when baking a wedding cake. Not Chef De Long! She got right to work making a vegan version of the delicious almond Chambord cake with buttercream icing. Our top tier and small cutting cake were vegan and the most delicious cake I have ever eaten. Seriously! My vegan guests raved about the cake (we usually are stuck eating nothing when wedding cake is served) and so many guests commented on how lovely it was AND how tasty. I was so pleased.

She made my vision for the cake a reality and made something delicious I could enjoy on my wedding day despite my dietary choices. She also helped us save money by making a small cake for display then a larger sheet cake for serving to guests (rather than one huge cake). Contact: info@gourmetbakeshoppe...

Nearly everyone I know who's been married in Hampton Roads has gotten their flowers from Norfolk Wholesale. They pack a lot of bang for a little buck. I shopped around and the quotes I got were vastly, vastly different depending on where I went. Not only did Norfolk Wholesale come out to be the least expensive, they also came up with the quote on the spot, I didn't have to wait a week or wonder if what I was dreaming about flowerwise was going to match up with what I was willing to allot to flowers budgetwise. I was able to say, I don't want to spend more than $30 on each bridesmaid, and Sandy told me what my options were in that price range. She designed a gorgeous bouquet for me and I was very pleased overall.

Sandy also helped me take my vision for the centerpieces to a finished product by suggesting branches and silk flowers that would look great together. I was able to make centerpieces very cheaply by using recycled glass bottles, curly willow tips, two types of silk flowers and some hot glue. A night with the brideslaves and some friends (thanks Tasha & Deva!) and I had all my centerpieces for under $5 each.

Norfolk Wholesale Floral made wonderful bouquets, boutonnières and corsages for everyone, the flowers were ready on time and the order was 100% correct. I would highly recommend this vendor.

I wanted to update my review since we used Gourmet Gang for catering for our wedding on 6/7/08.

The Gourmet Gang did an absolutely top notch job catering our wedding. Lucy, the event manager was terrific to work with, very responsive to every request and helped me put together a creative menu that met our specifications. We thought we'd have a hard time finding a caterer since we wanted an all-vegetarian (mostly vegan) menu, and we definitely wanted our guests to be impressed with the food (for some this would be a first impression of vegan food). Plus we weren't having alcohol so the food and drink had to make up for that as well.

Gourmet Gang wowed all of us. We got so many compliments on the food, not one person asked "where's the meat?", the food was top notch. They created a sumptuous menu of hors d'oeuvres: everything from crabless crab cakes with garlic aioli to tomato corn salsa to vegan sushi. The bruschetta bar was an impressive array of dips and spreads with assorted pitas and crostinis. In lieu of cocktails they created a signature drink for us: raspberry lemonade with fresh lemons, raspberries and mint leaves. YUM! The presentation was gorgeous, the staff was courteous. The wedding was held outdoors in 101 degree heat, and the staff coped with it flawlessly, brought the food inside the building and no one was ever the wiser that it should have been set up otherwise.

The staff also set up all our tables, chairs and rentals and when an invoice came back from the rental company for some broken items, Lucy took care of it immediately.

I would very highly recommend Gourmet Gang for any event you have. They cater everything from small meetings to huge events, plus their deli locations have delicious lunch options as well. I visit the downtown one frequently. 5 stars. Contact: events@gourmetgang.com

Great place, gaudy decor, awesome food. For some reason it's usually hard to get good guacamole at a Mexican restaurant but not here! They have great bean tacos too.