Bryan "Honky McGill" O.'s Profile

Very good food & the prices are nice and the speed is great for take-out.  We've never eaten in, always got take-out, but the food travels great.  

Strangely (at least in my mind) I've only had the stir-fry (as has my wife) and not tried the sushi yet.  However, the boy (our son) loves sushi rice, so I've gotten a few orders of that for him, and it had nice taste & consistency to it.

I've always found the link of Thai & Sushi to be weak and loose at best.  They have like 3 Thai dishes on the menu.  However, I understand it's marketing, so it's all good.  Just don't think you're going to a real Thai place, just a Pad Thai and 2-3 other dishes "Thai" place, that really focuses on Sushi & Japanese stir fry.  

Now, with that said, you can see that this really bothers me since I gave them 5 stars.  

They're located in the same plaza as the Cove bar.  So if you're theyre swilling on a Friday, I definitely recommend hopping over to Thai Sushi express to eat (avoid the crap at the Cove, only good for the drinks).  

I digress.  Good stir fry is hard to find, and this place has it.  Check it out.

What a great facility, absolutely beautiful outside & in.  Had the pleasure of checking out the Celebrity Chef series with Tom Colicchio last night, thanks to our kickass CM Maria!!  It was very cool to meet her and Eve, who also attended.

This place is spectacular and yet intimate.  For those of you who haven't seen the Celebrity Chef series, I've only seen this one, but it was great.  Colicchio was about as down to earth as a human could be.

Only slight downside was that we had pay $15 to park in a quasi-attended lot across the street.  The parking price seemed a bit steep, but then again, it was on some pretty prime property, so it's all good I guess.  

I highly recommend this place for events, just a great place.

What a nice and delicious restaurant.  Didn't try the Thai, but will definitely next time based on the other reviews.  I had the sashimi dinner and my wife had a couple sushi rolls and the miso soup.  All of it was just great.  We both had Sauvignon Blanc and it was quite tasty, while still decently priced.  

It's a nice dinner out, with a friendly service staff, all though they have a slightly humorous egotistical edge to them, but they're good.  It's just something to smirk about that adds to the ambiance.  The decor is on the hip side.  Parking is valet only, but it's free except for the tip, which you damn better do you cheap bastard.  

Highly recommend the place.

Okay, this has been a totally odd experience.  It started with a 5 star review by me when we were in the process of getting our large group cruise put together.  Consider it excited optimism as a first time group coordinator who was full of hope and promise.  

Then we do the sailing.  I followed up with the one star review that follows:
"Okay, our cruise is done and I'm not all too pleased.  The Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas and it's staff were great, but Regency sucked, IMHO.  First off, the communication gaffs were horrible.  We had 133 people on a 2700 passenger ship, or 5% of the total passengers.  Sure, we're not the biggest group ever, but every customer is important.  

The problems:  
1. Couldn't reach my agent, Linda, for final info, large package loading & contact on board for our room the Friday before we sailed.  
2. That would have been no biggie except that on Monday, the day we sailed, she was unreachable after the morning when I had some issues with the situations on board.  
3. The scheduled bus pick up time was booked 1 hour later than she told me she'd book it for us, causing 50 some-odd people to wait an extra 30 minutes in the sun for the first bus and another 30 people to wait 90 minutes in the sun for the second bus.  
4. We had used some GAP points to give our passengers a bottle of Champagne in their stateroom, which was there, but with her & Regency taking credit for it.  
5. Even though she stated there was a chance I wouldn't get an upgrade as a large group leader (and was assured not to book a higher grade), my wife and two children were shoehorned into a standard room when the cruise line sold the super high cost huge rooms that had been available for cents on the dollar to help fill the boat.  If I had known they'd do that, I would have paid for one of them, she should have known that they do this.  
6. After speaking with experienced cruisers, they stated that she should have booked herself on this cruise with a group our size, to make sure everything went perfectly.  
7. She was paying for one of the buses, yet I got charged for both, and only a review of my CC statement caught that, after which the charge for the other bus was removed from me and put on them.  

I thought we were really getting top of the line help and assistance, but, in review of my notes of situations and some communication gaps, I think I was wrong about my first review.  I guess I was just happily anxious and new to being the leader of a big group sailing.  What really cheesed me was that on Monday when we sailed, I called her at noon from the boat and was told she'd left the office for the day (on a Monday) and called her cell phone.  Yet, I received no calls back, nor did I get one today to see how everything went as a wrap.  She was pushing to get another trip booked for later in the year.  We'll have another big cruise (I'll let all my yelp friends know too, could be a fun event!!), but it won't be through Regency.  Saddest thing is that Linda is one of the owners and her son & daughter play in my league and we should have received even more superior care.  I know I'm not their only customer and I'm no more important than any of the others, but this just doesn't sit well with me.  Oh well, live and learn and move on."

Now fast forward to us awaiting our check from Regency for some money due back from RCCL that was being processed by Regency.  I had been made aware that the check had been cut on January 26th but still hadn't received anything by late February.  I then called them, specifically Linda, to find out what was going on.  I was told Linda was on vacation until March 23rd and would have to wait until she got back, and then there was some seemingly subtle hint of her not liking the review I'd left on Yelp, which might have led to the delay.  This was the gist of what was quickly stated by the person on the phone and then not followed up with by them, as I had to leave a message for the co-owner, Cindy.  

I spoke to Cindy, who's the co-owner of the agency with Linda, a little later, both via phone & email.  She was unaware of the situation and none too pleased with what I had to tell her.  She wasn't upset with me, but with how we were handled.  I wasn't sure what direction this was going to go, so I removed all my reviews of them, as I wanted to make sure I received the money due us.  Not that everything's clear, I've decided to post my whole ordeal.  

I have to give big props to Cindy, as she handled the situation professionally and quickly, while being apologetic about it.  The reason they're getting two stars is her follow up.  Having not dealt with the remainder of the agency, I can't speak for how good of a job they'd do, but I stand by my results from the dealings with Linda at cruise time, which were very disappointing.  

Like I said in my original deleted review, move on and up and go from there.

Just got back from the Turks & Caicos property and all I can say is F'n A Cotton, F'n A.  The place was spectacular, 5 stars the whole way.  

The property has 3 "villages" even though they're on the same property and in short walking proximity inside the gates.  The newest village is the Italian Village and it's all suites and rivals a Ritz Carlton.  There are 15 pools, 15 restaurants and tons of stuff to do, or you can do nothing at all.

They have the whole Sesame Street connection for the offspring, which is just great for them.  

Bottom line, service is spectacular and super friendly and they do things right.  We've been to a total of 7 different properties, and every time they've exceeded expectations and been just spectacular.  

The Turks & Caicos property is just the diamond jewel in a great line of properties and has some adult only areas so you can escape the kiddies too.

Hey, at the end of the day, it's like 2 steps above fast food.  However, their lunch special is a great deal and the food's tasty.  The pizza is fine.  It's definitely not the best, however, I feel it's the best delivery pizza in our area.

Cool atmosphere.  Good service.  Fun place.  Had a pizza with the family.  Was it frozen?  Not sure, but it sure had the appearance and taste of one.  

We weren't expecting fine dining, but I was surprised at the lack of adequacy of the pizza.  The beer was tasty, the bill was fairly cheap and, like I said before, the service was really good.  

It is what it is, a fun bar on River Street, that is used to hosting people that are ready to drink and to quaff down some bar food for some sort of sustenance.  

If I was there drinking, I'd definitely hit this bar bar again, I'd just eat somewhere else.

The beer I had was tasty, but not magnificent.  I had the Porter, which was reminiscent of the Sam Adams Porter that they used to sell.  I also had the wheat beer, which was a fair knockoff of Blue Moon, but still good enough.  

What was a bit disappointing was the food.  Granted, it wasn't bad, but it was just okay.  The wife had the appetizer portion of the crab cakes for her dinner.  They were tasty, but more balled & a bit too much filling, than typical cake shaped and not overflowing with crab.  She also had a dinner salad, which was a dinner salad.  I had the pulled pork sandwich, which was tasty but could have been had in any city in America, not setting it off as a great Southern sandwich like it should have been.  I also had the fried green tomatoes, which were downright horrible.  I love fried green tomatoes (not the movie), and these really disappointed me, as they were just way too breaded and over-fried.  I'd come back for a few brews here, maybe, but the food was just ehh.

The hotel is older and has had slight renovations, but it still shows as old.  It's not worn out, but just a bit dated.  That said, the customer service was 5 star.  They  were friendly & attentive and did everything they could to help any need we had.  The place was packed for the weekend as well.  

We booked a King Suite and it was great for us, the travelers with 2 kids, so the large room with a separate room was key.  We did pay $140/night for that right, but it was in line with other hotels that weren't offering suites.  We did have to pay $9/day for their parking garage, but that was the norm everywhere, and their garage was on premise, so it was convenient.  

At the West end of Bay street, so it is a bit of a walk to the center of Bay & River Streets, but it's a great location.  For those that have been to Savannah & stayed in the historic sector, it's all just a short walk away.  Plenty of good bars & restaurants right next to the hotel, so the location was really good to us.

The farthest thing from a typical "southern" breakfast place. Actually seemed like something out of tahoe or Colorado ski town. Had the very southern lox and bagel, while the boy had a waffle & banana. No biscuit & gravy or such to be found. Still, really good food, clean and friendly.