Steve H.'s Profile

I had my first visit to this vet today and it was an amazing experience. I delt with Dr. Yen and he was courteous, professional, warm and took genuine interest in my kitten's well being. All of the other staff were very nice and the vet tech that I dealt with was really, really excited to play with my kitten. Overall, a wonderful experience. I am glad it was such a great visit and I look forward to dealing with them for a long time!

Change seems great to IS great. After writing this review the owners contacted me over yelp and encouraged me to introduce myself. So, the next time I visited, I mentioned casually that I wrote a review. Before mentioning my name, one of the owners remembered my face and name from my yelp profile and introduced himself. In fact both owners introduced themselves! They also gave me 10% off! This really shows me that they care a lot about customer service.

Last time I visited I was accidentally overcharged for my latte. I sat outside snapping pictures of a cute chow when one of the employees came out and brought the mistake to my attention. I was offered pastries, a free refill, etc. all to make up for a $0.75 error. I told him that I'd pass on the goodies and just snag an extra espresso shot (or two!) the next time I visited.

One additional fact people may find useful. I consider myself somewhat of an espresso connoisseur. I'd rather buy Intelligentsia Black Cat than some mediocre blend and I avoid bad coffee at all costs. In fact, I have my own machine: a Rancilio Silvia semi-auto. I know the delicacies of proper grind, proper tamp pressure, and varying extraction temperature and time depending on the blend. It's not an easy technique and takes a long time to master. The point I am making is, I venture to this place to get good coffee away from home, awesome customer service, and great ambiance. This is without a doubt my coffee shop of choice.

This is really a 3.5 star review and I will make sure to update it to something better upon my next visit should conditions improve/degrade. (see below, I am capricious)

I like the atmosphere, it's reasonably close to my apartment pretty inexpensive. Today I ordered a triple small latte and to be quite honest, it isn't very good. I am an espresso/coffee aficionado and to me this latte is watered down and completely lacking flavor.

However, I often find that cafes cannot live up to my expectations because of the setup that I have at home. With all of that being said, this is probably one of the best cafes in berkeley sans the comment above. There are plenty of seats, decent music playing (my built to spill play list ended for a minute, so I could actually hear the music), lots of outlets for laptops, in fact each table in the back is surrounded by 4 outlets, free wifi, tons of food and snack selections and a wide variety of coffe drinks, tea, naked juice and all types of other goodies that look delicious.

Additionally, my latte was delivered to my table by the person working behind the counter. She was incredibly friendly and in general, the entire environment gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Nice lighting, a few outdoor seats, a view of shattuck, and open decently late for berkeley: 12am.

You know what, forget it, I'm rating this 4 stars, despite my previous claims, I have this deep-seated feeling that I have received this oh-so-watery latte in error!

I really want to give this place five stars and an even better review; I love the atmosphere and proximity to center of town, so I will definitely be back.

Ooooooh! Their light blubs are environmentally friendly too! You notice things like this while doing much to much work and staring off into the distance.

I actually agree with everything that Steve M said. Normally, I would reiterate all of the horrible things about this place, but I think he summed it up fairly well.  Bottle service, for $400 a bottle? You've got to be kidding me. Seriously, this place is terrible. Jumbled sentences show my frustration at how bad of a club Vice is.

I will make this as brief as possible namely because most of my posts turn into a james joyce style stream of consciousness review that contain way to much detail and not nearly enough content... ok, stop.

I am cheap when it comes to my haircuts, or at least I used to be. I was always the type of guy who went to the local *Cuts and paid $15 to have my hair chopped up haphazardly for20 minutes with completely variable results. I decided that I was tired of rolling the dice and I decided to give Sole a try.

Well, I went on Tuesday so I could get the discount cut. I have no problem spending money when I feel like I am getting my money's worth and good god, I totally did. I had never been to a salon before and Abby made my experience wonderful. I got a scalp massage, shampoo, condition, cut and styling; totally worth it. Now that I know what the experience is like and how pampered and relaxed I feel during the whole process, I have no problem shelling out the additional money for a cut any other day of the week. Instead of a haircut of varying quality, I know that I am paying for the assurance that I will have an awesome haircut and experience. Abby was totally fantastic and yes, yes, I have already re-booked an appointment a month from now.

Also, I thought it was incredibly interesting to overhear the jargon in the conversation that took place between Tony and Abby. I'm a CS guy so I am used to confusing people with my jargon, and not used to being on the receiving end. Okok, I am trailing off again, I just mean it was pretty neat to hear them talk about transitions and other nomenclature for haircuttery and the like.

Also, I don't care that I am one of the few guy reviewers for this place, it is totally awesome and I have found a new place to get sexified*.

Damn, this wasn't brief at all!

*sexified: the process of making one look sexy**.
**had to add the footnote to clarify that this is not THAT kind of place.

UPDATE: 2/10/2008
I still love this place so very much. Abby is completely wonderful. She does my hair perfectly and it's incredibly entertaining because she's really smart and an incredible conversationalist. I mentioned an oh so embarrassing story that my mother bought me this ridiculous cat calendar that I could *never* actually hang up in my apartment. As a result my love for cats and animals an general came up in conversation. As a result, after my appointment she said that she was heading home right afterwork and had brought her cat with her and asked me if I wanted to see it. omgyesidid. Anyhow, Abby let me play with her cat! She is incredibly awesome and a great stylist...you will not be disappointed.

I like kitties.

UPDATE 3/23/2008: She is witty even when she had far too much fun the night before. My berating was deserved.

This place takes the cake! It is totally sweet! (YESSSS two puns in a row!)

I won't sugar-coat this review(I love puns), because it's not necessary. After reading several reviews on yelp I decided I would buy several treats to gorge myself on my birthday. I decided on the bourbon cake, bread pudding, a fatima's thigh and a shortbread cookie(approx. $11). I informed the person working at the cash register that  it was my birthday and that it was okay to gorge myself every once in a while! ...and gorge myself I will! After wishing me a happy birthday I took my really cute cake box outside and had to control myself not to rip it open and devour the contents. Truth be told, I eat more healthily than most people I know but my Achilles heel are sweets. So this place may be the best or worst thing that has ever happened to me!

Status of the desserts: well, the thigh and cookie are no more and I am trying to pace myself on the rest of my treats; I am certain I will not be disappointed!

Getting desserts ANYWHERE else is a total waste of time and money, this place is incredible!

ps. The female employee who randomly crossed my path twice before she made it into Crixa cakes to start her session of work was reaaaaallly cute ! :-D How fortuitous! (Really not trying to be creepy here, but hey I can do what I want, it is my birthday!)

I really, really like this place. The cleanliness of showroom and private rooms, professionalism of the staff, selection of jewelry are all unparalleled.

One quick aside: I made the mistake of touching my jewelry while examining some plugs in the front of the store and I was admonished by one of the gentlemen who work there (shaved head, side burns,sorry didn't catch his name). Yes, it was my fault, I felt like an idiot and apologized profusely, especially after I looked around and saw all of the signs hanging around the shop. This person was nice enough, but his response and slight lack of amicability kind of put me off a little bit. I made a mistake, but always before I get pierced, I put myself a little on edge and his attitude didn't help things. Don't misunderstand me, this was a very, very minor detail, and he WAS friendly, I just got this vibe the entire time dealing with him that was off-putting.

However, my piercer Lysa was so incredible, excellent, copacetic, awesome...PLEASE I NEED MORE ADJECTIVES. We talked for quite a while about everything dealing with piercings. I had my lip and ears done in the past at various other place and I had stopped in on that day to get my eyebrow done. She informed me how to clean my piercing and we discussed the possibility of the piercing migrating. The entire time she spoke with confidence, experience and gladly answered every question I had. She asked my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations...okay, not actually that far, but she was very social, professional, and had an ambiance about her that instantly quelled any apprehension that I had. In fact, during our conversation I even discovered she had worked at a Piercology in Columbus, Ohio (my old stomping grounds, which by the way is equally as professional and clean!), this fact just added reinforcement that she is a professional and likely one of the best in the industry.  Also, her fear and loathing in las vegas-esque card is awesome!

Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I highly recommend using Lysa when you visit Industrial Tattoo; you won't be disappointed!

Additionally, the pieces there are fantastic. If you visit, it will be really, really hard to just window shop. In fact, after I got pierced, I got a new pair of plugs that are beautiful! Now I just have to stay away from the showroom, otherwise I'll spend all of my money there.

After the Strada incident, I decided that I needed to find a friendlier place to study. I've been searching everywhere for a coffee shop that not only had decent coffee but was conducive to studying. I must say that I love this place! In my opinion, it is located in a nicer part of town and in a conspicuous area. There are comfortable seats, great ambiance, the espresso (specifically the macchiato) is wonderful and the regular coffee is excellent. In addition, I buy a half pound of the locally roasted ticino blend on a nearly weekly basis for the creation of homemade macchiatos. The staff is friendly and best of all the internet is free (this review brought to you by the wifi at Village Grounds)!  

Also, I have a wide variety of espresso cups that decorate my apartment; some more functional than others. What can I say? I am constantly looking for ways to accessorize my coffee addiction. The cups they serve espresso in are FANTASTIC and I exclaimed that "My God these are cute!" the last time I was served here (in a completely heterosexual way :-) ).  So, go for the coffee, stay for the free wifi, delicious pastries and wonderful ambiance.

Please stay away, if this place gets busier, I may not have the comfy seat on the couch that I am currently occupying!

Inexpensive, delicious espresso, fresh made juice, awesome sandwiches, close to Soda Hall. Need I say more?!

I've only been there a handful of times and the selection of pastries, food, and drinks is quite large considering the space that they're stuffed into is so small. But, I've ordered a double espresso multiple times and I've been disappointed every single time. Too watery, little to no crema, etc. Yuck. This place may be fine for pastries, but I am getting my coffee elsewhere.

On another note, the staff there is very friendly!