Anya "The Magnificent One" S.'s Profile

My least favorite Caribou of all.
Their coffee is meh.
Their internet connection is sloooow.
Their workers discuss their personal lives in great detail.
But the space is nice.

Its not Buerlys, Lunds, Whole Foods, Cub or even Aldi.

This place has its own unique charm - regular fights in the parking lot, lack of any organization, lack of any knowledge, questionable characters, smell of smoke and pot, rude clerks and  general lack of customer service, big guy selling me his food stamps and/or bus pass, kids running around with no parental supervision, people taking stuff out of your car - you name it, they have it.  ( I suspect drugs are sold in the parking lot, but I do not have concrete evidence to back up that statement)

I presume that being the only "reasonable priced" grocery store in the area is the only way they can stay open.

If you are still reading, yes they do have some basic groceries. Like any other store there are aisles where the aforementioned groceries are displayed.  The produce section is sad and sometimes rotten.  The meat section is less the desirable, and I do not remember the last time the deli was open/functional, but they do have the staples of ramen, ranch dressing and pasta sauce, popcorn and various snacks.  One time they were out of Dove Chocolates, which equates itself to a gross misdemeanor in the grocery business world.  Other then that, there are always potato chips.

If you can afford to go somewhere else, go.  But if you need popcorn, mozzarella sticks  and BBQ potato chips at 11 pm on a Tuesday night, they are likely to have it.

I am not sure if Ill be back.  

Went there on Friday night, expecting some live music or entertainment.  Kinda of disappointed, when all there was old Russian pop music blasting.

The place is small, there is a little bar area and a main room, with maybe 10-12 tables.  Decor is minimal, but the tones are warm.  

There were us, a couple on what appeared to be their first and last date and a group of "older" folks who were celebrating someones 79th birthday. And that was it for  Friday night, I am not sure how this place stays afloat.

Now, the food.  For appetizers we ordered olivie and chebureki.  Olivie was good, and the chebureki were crunchy and pretty yummy.
For the main course we ordered a plate of kebabs and fresh grilled walley.  The kebabs were mediocre at best.  The meat was tough and not very flavorful. However, what killed it for me was the "freshly grilled walleye"- it was a walleye allright - however it was deep fried and prepared somewhere offsite and probably microwaved for me.  Yep, paid $18 or $19 for microwaved walleye.  

Service was good, but they weren't busy at all.

I guess if you are really craving kebabs, this is not the place to go, but chebureki and olivie were decent.

Working downtown means you are stuck with what is close to you.

This place not only offers convinience, the food is absolutely great.  The gyros are tender, yummy, flavorful and have all the right spices. Their fries are quite yummy too,  sometimes I just get that I gotta get me some french fries fix, I stop by here.

The staff is nice and friendly.  There is abundance of ketchup and napkins. If you avoid the lunch rush, you can score a nice table and really enjoy your meal.

The only negative thing about this place- are the prices, its quite expensive. Ive been sticking with simple gyros simply because I am not sure if I want to spend $10-12 for lunch on something I am not so sure about..

It was an interesting experience I tell you.
Never thought that cheap business clothes could cost soo much and be sold by mean managers.

Technically, the concept of a store catered to the young hip proffesional is quite clever, unfortunately, the execution failed.

The store is very dark. I guess they dont really want you to see yourself in their clothes. Its hard to see whats hot and whats not.  The fitting rooms are extremely small and feel cramped.  Once, again this young proffesional wants to see herself and does not want to spend 20 min figuring out if this is black or navy.

The clothes are a hit or miss.  Some things are quite cute others are not.  The prices are ridiculous.  Just FYI you can always find their pants at  Marshall's for $14.99 not for $59.90.

I feel bad for the people who work there.  I understand that for most of them its a side part time job, but I was "lucky" enough to witness a conversation between a sales person and what I think was a manager.  The manager was rude, belittling and disrespectful to the poor employee who did "something."  I do not know what that something was, but if my manager talked to me that way I'd quit and sue her.

Shop the clearance rack if you have extra time, but there are many many other much more fashionable stores.

For a Russian, Russian stores are either a hit or a miss.  This one, unfortunately is a miss.

Overpriced semi-good testing food for "gourmet" store prices. I got some kielbasa, and it was clearly there for several weeks, not fresh and tasted like rubber.
I also got some grechka, which was $4.99.  You can get regular americanized kasha at any store for $3.49.  They do have some nice candy, but I am not sure how often they get shipments, and if its not fresh, its not worth is.

They fish selection was very limited and they were out of several "basic" russian fish, i.e. seledka and baluchok.

Service was ok, i.e. below an average american store but a little better then other russian stores.  I have no idea how they treat americans, as we all know some stores in our area cater specifically to the russian community.

Overall, its better then nothing, but I dont think I will be coming back there often, only when I am feeling particularly nostalgic for some seledka.

I am not sure.  Its a smart concept but its not very tasty.  However, they seem to be very popular and there are always people there.  I, on the other hand think that it is forgettable and overpriced.  

Ive had the mac and cheese ($5.25), the mushroom stroganoff with beef and the pad thai with beef ($8.30).  All were mediocre, even the mac and cheese wasn't great.  I can make something like that with one of those mac and cheese out of the box.  The noodles seems to always be overcooked and the cheese was tasteless.  Pad thai was too spicy for me and the noodles were also overcooked.  The beef stroganoff was alright, the sauce, however,  had a weird aftertaste, also for $2.50 you get very little meat and its not worth the money.

The servers are nice and friendly, cant complain there.

I tried to like Caribou.  But every time I went there I was dissapointed.

My last two visits

I got an espresso frappucino.  I asked for the smallest size.  Caribous small is equivalent to Starbucks' medium. Thus, it costs more and I could not finish the whole thing.  Furthermore, my espresso drink tasted more like caramel and sugar.  Very little taste of coffee, and the little hint at coffee  was overpowered with sugar, sugar and more sugar. Was I chewing on a cube of sugar or drinking a coffee drink?  It was soo sweet, I could not finish even 1/3 of the small.

Tried the black ice tea.  Same as lipton 20 bags for $1.99.  I actually think I like lipton better.  Tea had a weird after taste.  I know a thing or two about tea, and Starbucks teas arent the best in the world, but much much better then what you get at Caribou.  Plus, Caribou is more expensive.

Service was ok, not too friendly, but friendly enough.

Starbucks all the way.

I am a fan.

I was a little skeptical of this place at first, but it was quite good.

Service - our waiter was very attentive, waters were refilled pronto, he gave us enough time to talk and read over the menu (which was extensive).  Overall, service was quite good.

Ambiance and decor - we were seated in the main dining room, in a booth, which was cute.  The design of the dining room is nice, its not too crowded, and there is enough space between you and the next table, so you can have a private conversation, without the next table overhearing your every word.  They also have an outside patio.

Food - we both had sushi, they were good, not mind blowing, but solid good sushi.  They had my favorite sweet potato roll, which is yummy.  I also had the avocado roll and the Minnesota Roll.  They were quite tasty.  They are reasonably priced too.  

I will be back.

This place definitely has potential, but its a little overwhelming and overcrowded.  

The jewelry section has potential, but the prices are high.  
The designer shoe section has 2-3 amazing pairs, and the rest is not so great.   Lots of high end purses.  

The high end clothes - I have found two amazing pieces, they were not cheap, but reasonably priced.  However, most of the time high end clothing rack is full of  rejects and weird pieces that very few would buy/wear.  Basically, there is a potential to score something there, but you have to be patient and come often and roam around looking for that perfect high end item.

The regular clothes - I would say, skip it unless they are having a sale, TJ Maxx and Marshalls, or even Macy's prices are lower then  Opitzs.  Once it goes on sale, then there are bargains to be scored, but once again you have to come in often, with an open mind,  and roam and look, spend time and be ok with spending two hours going through the racks and finding nothing.  

I wish they would organize and make it a little but more appealing.

I also should note that yesterday, I scored $80 Manolo's for my mommy (and she loved them), but she is size 5.5.