Lily H.'s Profile

This was my takeout place when I lived in Harlem. I lived there for a year and a half and literally only ordered in twice (and the second time was on my last day). Good: Singapore mei fun, roast pork lo mein. Standard reliable that is the same everywhere: fried pork dumplings. Gross that was so much better at the takeout place at my previous residence: short ribs. Also had chicken and broccoli which was a-ok.

One day I'll make it out to the Bx to this Borgatti's place that has been on the front page of Yelp for months. For now, I'm glad that I got a groupon and sampled some of the pastas here. They made me never want to eat boxed pasta again... which is good, because it's carbs and definitely goes straight to my stomach. Maybe I will only get my pasta from here and have it occasionally. It's a similar phenomenon with cupcakes and cookies-- because I only want the really good ones, I think I actually eat fewer of them. Thanks New York for refining my taste in everything from cupcakes to pasta, and thanks groupon for still having a good deal once in awhile!

What I had: fresh-cut squid ink linguini w/ puttanesca sauce, pumpkin tortelloni, and roasted pepper ravioli with bolognese sauce. Everything was amazing; the roasted pepper ravioli with bolognese sauce was my favorite.

Fish market, Harlem institution.

Corner deli that opened up last summer. They are pretty nice. They have snickers ice cream bars.

I have to say, I disagree with their decision to change the admission fee from $20 to $25. I get in for free because I have a Baruch ID from when I took a (scholarship-funded) business class, and I'm grateful that I've been using that for a few years. When/if it expires I am just going to spend my life complaining about how I can't go to the MoMA.

It's also painful that employees of the most uncreative, drone-filled corporations get free passes. That's the equivalent of giving me a season pass to the Yankees. I'd go like, once, sit there, maybe venture to say, "I have no idea what's going on. What's going on?" and then I'd leave.

I love the leggings and tights in all their variations and combinations: heattech/ cooltech; the knit/ thick/ warm ones, the thin nylon type. The tights are better than the ones I used to get at Macy's. So durable. When leggings + tunic were in fashion, I had a couple of pairs that I wore practically every day and just rinsed out and rotated for over a year until they finally tore. I recently restocked when the new Uniqlo opened on 53rd and 5th and they had promotions at all their stores. It's too bad they don't come in nude (or I didn't see them)! I have them in black.

Most of their clothes (including the leggings) are not for my body type. They need more curvy/ pear clothes! I do have a +J dress which fits well.

I got braces from Dr. Terzis when I was in high school. My smile looked great afterwards. I recommend him highly, especially given a less satisfactory experience I had with a different orthodontist years later.

This is the laundromat around the corner from me. They are open 24 hours, and M-Th there are a few washers that are $1. The dryers actually work, too, which is not the case at the laundromat a block in the opposite direction from me-- there, some of them work and some of them don't. So this quickly became my go-to laundromat.

Another reason I come here is the people who work here are nice. There are two women who always look up when a person walks in, and if you say hi they will chat with you. I tend to chat with them because unlike the men in this neighborhood, they are not going to hit on you. One of them (I think they wouldn't want me to mention their names on a website) even mediated for me a little when I was in the laundromat one day and some dude kept coming up to me and asking me questions. So I really appreciated that. And the other one gave me some good bed bug tips (yes, my building has bed bugs. It's atrocious).

The only complaints I have are that the place could be a little cleaner. If they could get some of the people who come here to shower, too, that would be awesome. Earlier this year there was a hurricane that came through, and the whole place flooded like crazy. Literally mid-shin-deep in water. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. And the person who was working there at that particular shift (I have only seen her a couple of times) resisted giving me a bag at first to put my wet clothes in. True, she was busy frantically bailing out the water, and probably not in the best state to go get me a plastic bag. But it just seemed insane that she tried to charge me ten cents for it when the place was a disaster zone. It seems like all bets should be off in that scenario. I mean you are drowning your customers, the least you can do is give them a plastic bag to take home their clothes in the pouring rain. Which I told her, and she came to her senses and threw the bags at me.

So, yeah. You need crisis management skills if you're going to work here. Anyhow I think they fixed that leaky walls situation (or I learned not to go when there is a forecast of rain) and it would not have been a big deal, but the thing is when the place was flooding there were roaches coming out of the wall. Nightmarish.

Anyway that's my laundromat. I have more stories than I realize about this place. I have to stop before I think of more. Seriously despite the things I just said, four stars. Guess I'm grading on a curve here and forgiving them for things that are somewhat beyond the scope of what they can control.

This CVS is not that bad. I think you should get a dollar off for going through that self check-out line. The only annoying thing about it is that there's always a few large, slow-moving people who clog the aisles. I walk past all these aisles looking for an opening. The time it takes to ask them to move out of the way, and for them to size you up, grumble, and move, is greater than it would be to walk to the next aisle.

They have most of the things I need. I am not under the impression that the prices are the best, but I don't have the time or inclination to really check. It's just that every once in awhile I am at Target and realize I just bought a few things at CVS that cost more.

56th between 5th and 6th. One of my favorite ramen places in the sense that I've been here the most times. It's not blasted loud like Ippudo and it doesn't require you to hang out for an hour outside like Totto. It's also possible to come here alone, after your soul-crushing job, for some not too damaging comfort food.

Minus one star for getting a B on their DOH test.