Joy "Ms. Alaska" G.'s Profile

Biba is just wonderful.  While I agree with the previous comment that it could be so much more than it is, it's current state is just fine.  It is in fact, a motel, not a hotel, but don't let that deter you.  The rooms are kinda damp, since it's a motel but it's Florida, so it is what it is....  Biba was totally within my budget and had a great funky ambiance.  Someone obviously spent a lot of time and love giving Biba personality and the result is a chic, but not too cool for you, West Palm Beach experience.   If you want a predicitable HoJo's experience, then Biba is not for you.

Biba's landscaping and layout are what makes it so cool .The magnificent palms and Floridian flora are well tended.  I especially dug the bar/courtyard area, which would make a dreamy spot to get hitched.  The pool is also GORGEOUS.  Bartender was awesome, but the bar wasn't very well stocked with the exeception of a million kinds of vodka.  The rooms are all different, and I love the funky touches like sparkly shower curtains.  I appreciated the light (but uninspired) breakfast that was included, which I ate on the marvelous patio outside the bar.  I would return to Biba in a heart beat.  I really, really loved Biba.

Location is an easy drive to the heart of West Palm beach.

BTW- the way this place is laid out with the main courtyard and the room clusters make Biba absolutely perfect for small weddings.

Definitely a hip place to hang out.

After reading so many good reviews about Pho Saigon, I can't supress my disappointment.  Back in Jersey, there were two Vietnamese places in town where I could get incredible pho, with densely flavorful broth in enormous portions for half the price.  So yeah, this is Alaska, I yeah I expect to pay more.  But $10 for a medium sized bowl of pho with 7 dinky pieces of meat in it just hurts.  I could forgive the chintzy meat if the pho broth actually had FLAVOR, but have mercy it was just bland.  The only saving grace is the AMPLE selection of condiments of the table.  No doubt it was the best selection of condiments I've ever seen at a Vietnamese restaurant.  

Other things that irked me:  ambiance and service.  It's a mall... but again, back home, my ghetto mall had a Vietnamese restaurant that still managed to be clean, brightly lit and slick.  Pho Saigon is dingy and makes no effort to be stylish.  No doublt, I would forgive this if the food blew me away.  The service was also awful.  The girl at the desk was a b*tch.  I mean seriously NOT NICE.   And not only was she not nice, but the other staff (who were nice) didn't communicate very well with each other or the customers.  There were a number of customers looking a bit frustrated.

On the plus side, my pho wasn't horrible and didn't have anything gross in it.  But it certainly wasn't good.  And my honey's fried rice was the best I've ever had anywhere.  Too bad the portion was miniscule.  $10 for a plate of rice that would have barely satisfied me.  There's something wrong with that.  The thai tea was excellent.  The hot tea had tons tea leaves in it and no strainer.

So despite the really excellent rice, my overall rating can't go above  2 1/2 stars.  Only as an act of desperation, or if someone else was paying, would I consider going back.

This Foot Locker is awful.  They have a really limited selection.  The Dimond and 5th Avenue Foot Lockers are way better stocked.

This Foot Locker is sort of middle of the road.... way better than the Northway Mall location, but not as good as the 5th Avenue Mall location.  I don't like how pushy the employees are here.  The store is kind of cramped and not very well organzied.  They do have a really good shoe selection here, but everthing else is kind of hit or miss.  I found more Nike basketball products at JC Penny and Fred Meyer's though, so they ended up getting my money.

Best Foot Locker in Anchorage.  They keep their store well stocked with a wide selection of items, colors and sizes.  Decent service without being too hovery too.

Ok, overall I really like Natural Pantry.  They have a REALLY good selection of a wide variety of products.  I heart their bulk foods and spices section... what great idea!  Decent selection of produce and dairy-ish products as well.   And there's a pretty large selection of herbal supplements and bath/body products (if you're into that sort of thing.)
Most food items are priced pretty reasonably.  But holy hell! Their dry goods and impulse items are priced off the hook!!!  I also really dislike their tiny check out areas.  The store also smells funny and needs to be updated.  But what I absolutely HATE about Natural Pantry is 1- they don't rotate their stock well, so CHECK THE DATE on EVERYTHING perishable. 2- Their customer services SUCKS!  

I bought a yogurt drink and .5 seconds out the door realized it was past date.  I walked right back to the girl that rang me up and she told me I had to get back in line and wait for the manager.  She said it was their policy that I could not make an even swap without going through the whole assinine process.  Then, when they did allow me to make an exchange, it became apparent that every product in the cooler was out of date.  Good grief.  So what should have been an easy transaction because of THEIR error, wasted another 20 minutes of my time.  I haven't been back since. I won't go back until I HAVE to just because it's a hassel.  But overall I like their unique offerings.

I think DiBruno Brothers may be #1 on the list of things I miss from back home.  I've been in Alaska almost a year now, and I was wandering around the supermarket the other day waxing nostalgic about DiBruno Brothers. I think my sweetheart couldn't understand why I was making such a big deal about cheese.  I used to make a special trip to Philly at least once a month to get my fix.

DiBruno Brothers has all of my favorites at the best prices ... Palacios Chorizo, Cabrales, aged Manchego, razor-thin Jamon Serrano, olives, Membrillo and flavored balsamic reductions.  My heart skips a beat just thinking about it.  DiBruno Brothers is a high-end whorehouse for those of us that love food porn.  It's so wrong it's right.  Really.

Three bucks for a movie AND I still get patronage points on my Regal customer rewards points.  AWESOME.  Oldish style cinema (with some HUGE old style theaters), but definitely a God-send for anyone with a family or on a budget.  I don't care that the movies are second run... they're still just as good and I don't feel so guilty about spending $20 on concessions when I only paid 3 dollars to get in.  And Totem is clean too, which surprised me because back East the second run places were filthy.  Totem rocks.

If you like candy or you have kids, you need to make a pit-stop at It's Sugar.  There's no way in hell you're going to walk past this place if you have kids in tow.  It just looks TOO appealing for any child or kid at heart to resist.  They've got a great selection candy, with a heavy emphasis on Jelly Belly and gummy candies.  Not cheap, but worth a visit for sure.

I dunno if these people are racist toward Native Alaskans or just have terrible customer service, but after being seated, we sat idly for over 15 minutes without being acknowledged.  We watched people who were seated after us be waited on.  I must admit, the staff looked frayed around the edges.  Perfect Cup is small (and cute) but the 4 staff in the frount should have been able to manage the small crowd, which is why I'm inclined to believe it was a deliberate slight.  We made several signals for attention that went ignored as well.  When it was obvious we were leaving, someone looked barely concerned that we were walking out.

Whatev.  Perfect Cup can suck it.  I have no tolerance for bigotry and I love my family.  Don't patronize this place.