Daniel P.'s Profile

Worst 24 Hour I have ever seen. To the point my partner actually called the district manager to complain. Which just got him a list of excuses. Nothing improved. In fact it's gotten worse. I am there at all different times of day including past midnight and I haven't seen anyone CLEAN in 12 months. They used to at least vacuum at night...

As others have stated: it smells, it is run-down, the machines are outdated and always busted, it takes 6 months to repair anything, lots of homeless wandering in, poor layout, nasty locker room, worse showers.

Sadly if I want to workout past 11 I am stuck with this dump. Or another equally dumpy location in Chula Vista. The newer locations never live up to the name.... Which BTW is retarded. If your business is called "24 hour" anything I should not have to check the hours of operation... Just sayin'.

I cannot believe I haven't reviewed this place sooner! It has truly become my favorite place in San Diego for brunch (or bRunch).

I love the food SO MUCH. I am a big brunch person. I love eggs and bacon and potatoes and the like, so I find R Gang's brunch menu amazing. My fave so far is the Turkey Avocado Benny. It has the most amazing chipotle sauce... *mouth waters* Today I had the Chorizo Scramble and it too was terrific! Add a Bloody Mary or "Endless Mimosa" and... Perfect.

For dinner the starter menu always distracts us and we usually have a few of those instead of an actual meal. So many great flavors.... Why just have one thing? And the tots... even Lobster Tots. OMG delicious.

Then there's the mac and cheese. Yes it deserves it's own paragraph! SO GOOD. It has a gouda cheese and (if you like) Italian Sopressata.... I really cannot describe in words how much I love it. I have even got it to-go on my way home from work so I could serve it with with dinner. LOL

I cannot close out this review without mentioning the staff. Every server we have had has been warm, friendly, fun, and funny. The whole place just feels friendly and inviting.

Okay. The root of this is that the venue didn't matter, we were there for a friend's special occasion. Also, I can kinda see how this place can be a good time.... It wasn't horrible. That said:

Mediocre. The decor was 'meh'. The location, Gaslamp/downtown is a horror. They try, I think to be a hip and trendy sports bar. Not an easy combo to be sure. Anyhoo, the service was decidedly okay. We were a big party and I do feel they tried. The service was not an issue.

Okay here's what bugged me the most. Food. That's important in this type of place. They seem to rely on their steak. Before going to dinner I read the reviews here that mostly dissed the ill-prepared steaks. What got sent back tonight? The birthday girl's steak. Shame! Somebody there needs to pay attention to Yelp. They do a "steak special". you'd think it was cause it was good, not a markdown item due to quality... I had the Cajun Chicken... hoagie? It was a lot of bun and iceberg lettuce with a hint of chicken. The house salad was okay but as mentioned they like the red onion in this place. A lot. It was like airport food. That's what I thought of. Yup.

My second issue was the guy's bathroom. It's a one stall/one urinal situation. Barely room to fart. What's with the Bathroom Attendant? He is just all up and in the way... Plus obnoxious. If I take the towel he hands me I should tip, yet he's in the way of the public towel dispenser. Also he really should step up the colognes. Is Curve for Men really what the straights are sporting to get chicks? I mean srsly, a Walmart fragrance?

So yes, I had a blast and agree this place tries... And people clearly love it. So one extra star. I won't go back.

You guys. I. Can't. Even.

Remember this is at Fashion Valley. It's in the food court of a Big Fancy Mall. So there we were, hungry, with 30 minutes before our movie showtime. We have drooled over this place a few times but always opt for Rubio's as we can stick to our diets there... Today we decided to give it a go.

The place is clean, well designed, and kinda pretty. Everything smelled amazing. Our order was taken pretty quickly... it was after ordering that we noticed all the people inside to the right. Waiting. Huh. Whatever, it's a sandwich shop. I figured it was just a busy time and it was normal. I was wrong. We waited.

Waited.

Waited.

It got to be humorous even. Our commentary on the long wait got our line-mates a chuckling... (There are 7 people back there! What are they doing? He's looking for the knife again! Is he stoned? Why can't the salad lady jump in and help? Is she seriously waiting Just For Salad Orders??) So then, when we could, after *12 minutes* actually see OUR order being prepared they ran out of the "spicy sauce". We had ordered the "spicy chicken sandwich" (as did the gal before us who was apparently sent out without her sauce) It was unreal.

I have never in my life waited 20 minutes for a FOOD COURT meal. We had to literally swallow it and run over to the theater to make the movie. I think it was actually an okay sandwich despite having to skip chewing it. 20 minutes good? Well, seated table-service dining doesn't even take that long... They were clearly not short staffed. I have no idea how this place stays in business. JUST GO TO RUBIO'S.

My friends have been talking about 'doing brunch' since forever. We never actually go, so the last time it came up we *made a plan*. Unfortunately the *plan* was made after numerous cocktails at the Dream Girls Review at the Urban Mo's, and the details got a little hazy. So after many texts and some links exchanged last night we decided on Richard Walker's Pancake House. None of us had been, we all had heard bout it, blah, blah, blah... Also the online menu made me drool!

So we planned to meet at 10:30, thinking that was early enough to avoid Brunch Rush Hour. We figured that was later due to the general publics' sleeping in after Saturday nights. (Clearly we regularly do Brians) Anyhoo, so we get there and see the line and think "oh no". I shove Richard out of the car to get in the line while I park. Parking was pretty limited as you'd expect. I didn't see a lot and street parking on free meter day downtown.. Well, yanno.

The line wait was probably 25-30 minutes after all. Not bad. Everyone around us was fairly friendly and chatty (not the brunch hangover crowd) so time passed pretty quick. At our turn to be seated an outside table opened up. This turned out to be a good thing as the inside seem a bit too "cozy".

The food was the best part though. I had the Santa Fe omelette with hash-browns. It was one of the best I've had. The veggies were cooked through and it was filled with creamy melted cheese. My friends had ordered the Bacon Pancakes as their sides and I did manage to take a taste. Phenomenal. The bacon was really crisp pieces chopped and evenly spread out. I thought it was gonna be odd, but it was SO GOOD.

Everything was so tasty and the service was so good I'd easily wait longer to get in if I had to. This place is a *must try* if you get a chance...

Okay, lemme just say up front that I have a history with this place. It is where Richard's cat, our cat, Chanel passed. Right there in Exam Room 3.

*sigh*

That was a tough experience. The doctors here were great, as far as I could tell for Richard thru that. It was one of the most emotional experiences of our relationship. We were both a mess... And were treated with courtesy and respect and sympathy.

Forward to my own kitten. A purebred wedge head Siamese. She was spayed a bit early as she went into heat early. She had a bad time with the operation and her body rejected the sutures. I took her to this hospital, were she was rehydrated, yet miss-diagnosed. I never placed blame. I blamed myself for making the comment that she was too hard to medicate. I assumed that was why I was not given the antibiotics that would have stopped her symptoms.. But, whatever. Money was spent, and my cat eventually made it to her own doctor, for more money, and all was well. She finally healed up great, I never thought about it again.

So this last time, the day before yesterday, I came home to find my cat in pain. She was favoring her right paw to the point of not walking on it. One of her Soft Claws was missing. I assumed she got stuck somewhere..  Long story and I won't bore you with the details, but I was worried something was broken. The regular vet was closed, of course. So being the good (yet paranoid) cat dad I took her to the emergency clinic.

I was kept waiting. A lot. A lot more than before. I was finally brought to a room and yet still waited. When I actually saw the doctor she was very complimentary of my cat. She even mentioned how much my cat reminded "them all in back" of Lady and the Tramp. I am kinda used to that. Apparently a Siamese like her is pretty rare around here... I was polite, and happy to hear nothing was broken. We were sent back to the waiting room to await check out. another 20 minutes. Yuck.

It wasn't till I was home and my Richard got home that he pointed out how stinky the cat was. She smelled like smoke. Cigarette smoke. I hadn't noticed, being so glad she wasn't permanently damaged, not to mention administering the pain killer and all... But I sniffed her. She stunk pretty bad. It was as tho she was passed around outside on a smoke break. I don't doubt that she was. The doctor I saw was so enamored with her I can just picture her running outside and passing my cat around like a pack of smokes.

But that is wildly inappropriate. There I was, afraid for my pet's well being, and I am kept waiting while they take her out on a smoke break? And return her to me reeking of smoke? I actually had to bathe her it was so bad.

No. Oh no. Not right.

I am sorry that this is the only emergency hospital in my area because the next time I have a need, I will think twice about the care here...

Dude. Just... Dude.

A little back story. My man and I had a good friend over earlier in the week for cocktails and we got to reminiscing about all the fun of mini-golf we had experienced as kids. I have no idea how it came up, but we planned to go. We looked into it and discovered this nearby Family Amusement thing. Let me just say thank gawd we had had a few drinks first! We had a great time, because that's what we do, but dude...

This place was more than run-down. It is victim of gross neglect. The "western" golf course is faded, in need of paint, and ugly to be sure. It is also downright dangerous! The plank bridge that traverses the depressing and dirty "river" has actual loose planks and some that are so worn that they bend when you step on them. There are more loose boards throughout the course. The entire thing was in need of basic sweeping. The amount of leaves and LITTER were hard to golf around and we frequently were brushing crap out of the way of the "tees". There is very little of the quaint holes were you shoot the ball through an architectural feature. In fact, when we played through the one they did have our balls were stuck and we had to toss another ball in to dislodge them. Sad. And would it be too much to put on the lights when the sun goes down? That 20 minutes of darkness was crazy. But then the lights that did finally come on were not really aimed at the putting greens, so whatever..

The place is also plagued with bad parenting. Kids were on the loose everywhere doing what ever the hell they wanted, including but not limited to walking right through your golf area while you were playing... It appeared that all the parents were planted at the snack bar feeding their faces and uninterested in interacting with the kids.

All in all this place sucked. Sure we had fun golfing, but we will either find another mini-golf place or never do it again.

So here's the thing with the Thai food. I like it. My partner thought he didn't (something about peanut sauce). I only have had it a few times, since it is something my mother and I went for when we were out together, since Dad hates it. The 'rents are in Florida now. So no Thai for me in a loooooong time. I guess I just want to be clear that I am not the best judge. I like to be honest.

So now for the review...

I LOVED IT! It was just what I remember Thai food to be like, except in a much hipper environment. You walk in and it is a small, modern, fast-food looking place. Reminded me of one of those Bubble Tea places up north I got so fascinated with. Except for the part where I realized 50% of the  place was actually the kitchen and I could see everything being prepped and then cooked. Cooked by one woman and her enormous wok!

The food was YUMMY. In all caps. Just like that. We had the Pot Stickers,  Panang Curry Chicken, Pad Thai, and the safe choice (in case my man hated the rest) Thai Orange Chicken. I loved everything. I went for "medium" spice levels, so that the other flavors would stand out for my Thai Food Newbie. I really enjoyed some of what I remembered to be traditional Thai flavors just like where my mother and I used to go. Nice! The Pot Stickers were the least impressive, not that they weren't good. They just came off like any Pot Sticker. Didn't seem "Thai" enough.

Best part: My man likes Thai food now! Yay!

All in all 4 stars. And now I get to start exploring more Thai places around  the city! Wee!

I am a lazy man. It's true. I hate doing laundry enough as it is. I can't even begin to bother with ironing things.... So all my work clothes, especially the dress shirts, go to the cleaners. I typically get the shirts laundered and pressed, and the pants dry-cleaned. Anything black I will typically get dry-cleaned as well. I hate faded black clothes.

Anyhoo, with that in mind I will tell you that since moving to San Diego this has been my cleaners of choice. I tried others at first, but the prices were really high or the location was inconvenient. I don't think this place charges an unusual price at all. It's sort of middle-priced from my experience. As you know location is key. I can grab a coffee at Starbucks, do groceries, and pick up my clothes all within walking distance. It's glorious.

As far as the service, I would give it a solid average. They clean the clothes. They starch as requested. And every now and then a stain might not come out. Once a shirt got ruined. But you know, stuff happens. Just like anything else. If you do it/go there enough eventually *something* will go wrong. It's a statistical fact...

What I do love about this particular cleaners, and the main reason I keep going back... the PEOPLE. The same 2 gals are usually at the front. They  know my partner and I BY NAME. They are fun, funny, and make a rather mundane chore kinda fun. In fact I pop in when I am just going groceries to say hi. I don't do that anywhere else!

So if you are looking for a perfect yet really inexpensive cleaner (if that exists), this may not be your place. If you are looking for a solid cleaners in your neighborhood where they greet you with a smile, I invite you to try Stadium Cleaners...

I think this might become our new "place".

Tio Leo's is one of those that we drove by quite often, but never stopped. Now I have eaten there 4 times. 2 for take-out and dined in the other two. Was the food amazing? No. It was very good though. Very good. Do they have my favorite mole sauce? No. Which they should remedy...

What do they have? Amazing service everytime. For take-out I had ordered there and the hostesses were always friendly, peppy, and made absolutely sure I had everything I needed for my meals. Both times we have dined in it was actually *fun* to eat there. Our server last night, Rachel, was great. Amazing actually. She went above and beyond!

AND...  the chips are tasty and the salsa has the right amount of kick to it, there is a full bar, the delicious food felt kinda authentic, and I love the look of the place.

I have to say, give it a go, yo!