Julia "I like food" Z.'s Profile

They are going out of business, and wow, they are SHARKS. We need a new mattress, so we went in there... given that they are down to one or two of most things, the prices do not seem that special. Still, those Tempur-pedics feel completely awesome. Does anyone have one? The sales-shark tried to tell me they last 20 years but I don't know anyone who has had one for more than 5 years. Yelpers??

The whole shopping center's probably going to be knocked down, after they move out O'Reilly Auto Parts... and that's a good thing. It was built in the 50s and it has not aged gracefully at all. Combined with the big lot next door, they will be able to develop something high-density and useful, and hopefully, more attractive, too. It's right on the B-line and many other bus routes, and blocks from the train-to-come, so it's in a great location.

Anyway, I'd steer clear of this place even in their final gasping breaths before they shut down because I suspect you could get better deals (or the same deal) elsewhere, and who knows how well they'd stand behind something if there was a problem once they're closed down? I doubt you could expect much more than "you break it, you bought it" at this point.

Oh yeah... their prices on Natuzzi are still freaking insane... way too high!

I am disappointed in some recent changes.

Someone has decided to coat their tater tots, formerly delicious and in fact, the best in Bellevue, with Johnny's Seafood Seasoning. Sorry, but tater tots are NOT seafood. And that shit is salty and gross!

They still haven't managed to dictate one fryer for fish, and one fryer for chicken and fries. Fishy potatoes are nasty.

They often have paper cups instead of reusable cups. I pay their higher price for their special cup so I can have refills. Paper cups don't hold up to that.

Don't leave new staffers to work ALONE on a Friday night. It was his first day, and Creme Tangerine was playing; the International Food Court was PACKED. Whoever scheduled him to work by himself that night should be fired.

Step it up, people! So much promise... I want to go back to 4-stars.

tl;dr: Should have looked at the three-star average here and then avoided it.

I've always wanted to try this place, ever since someone raved to me years ago about the Ballard location shortly after Scott opened it. I never did make it over there, but now LL has made it over here, of course, sadly, without Scott.

The menu is interesting but confusing and it set me on edge right away with their high-attitude "no substitutions" rule. Screw that.... at $15 for a burger, I DON'T WANT MAYONNAISE even if it's your FANCY mayonnaise. We are not seeing eye to eye from the get-go because I don't want mayonnaise on my food at any price, even if you pay ME!

So since the substitution rule prohibits choosing ANY of their pre-configured burgers, we go to Build Your Own. At $10.99, it's steep. Add $2 for special meat, $2 for bacon (really good bacon), $1.50 for cheese (REALLY? Cheddar was $2.50/lb at Safeway this weekend!!), $1.50 for each topping like grilled onions, and $0.50 for each sauce after two, it's very easy to build a $16 or $17 burger. I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. The only upcharges there that I think are reasonable are the $2 for each meat upgrade. The burgers should then include your choice of one cheese, one topping, and two sauces "for free" because you have already purchased two burgers anywhere else!!

They WILL NOT leave off the lettuce, onion, tomato, and pickle from the plate, even if you ask and tell them you do not want to waste food. That is shitty! And those veggies were not even of high quality; definitely not the caliber I'd expect to go with a $16 burger. As Gordon Ramsay would say, "What a shame."

Don't get me started on the fries. We had tater tots and skinny fries... neither was hot, and the tater tots (standard issue, nothing fancy) were dry and hard, almost inedible. Even good sauce couldn't save them!! That is basic incompetence and there's no excuse. Charging extra for sweet potato fries at these entree prices is also an insult.

As is often the case, my son's kids' meal of homemade beef corn dogs and tater tots was the best thing on the table, especially at $4.99. He didn't like the tots. Do you hear me, Lunchbox Labs??? This is a three year old who will whine for TWO HOURS to get tater tots, and he didn't eat them. They sucked.

The kids had "barrels of fun" to drink, which was fine, but they brought my son his drink in a giant regular glass, causing stress and inviting disaster -- did I mention that he's 3? A covered cup is still a GOOD idea for him unless you don't mind spills. We were also overcharged for these beverages if the menu is right. My husband got a $2.75 iced tea, no lemon, which of course, came with lemon anyway, and was so overfull that the waiter spilled it on the table and menus, and then he did nothing about it. I got a Diet Coke. NONE of these drinks were refilled even though we ran out and waited around for refills, though the waiter offered to get me more as he delivered the check for me to sign. Seriously.

By the way, shakes were not an option for us. We have peanut allergies and they won't clean the machines down specifically between shakes to make sure there's no cross-contamination, even if you ask. BE WARNED. I think this is yucky even if you DON'T have allergies.

We were charged an EXTRA $0.50 for a sauce even though my daughter and I were each entitled to two free sauces with our $17 burgers and didn't order any. That is bullshit.

The service was slow and not very attentive, full of "style" and "attitude". Save it for someone else. I honestly missed the sweet earnest 20-somethings of Red Robin... at least they will not let your Diet Coke run dry!

So was ANY part of the meal good?
- The dork meat patty was really interesting; greasy as hell, but that's what I expected from a duck/pork combo, and the flavor was great
- The rolls were really good
- My husband liked his Sunny in Seattle sans mayo just fine
- The restaurant seemed clean enough

The bill was $70.86 and I left a 15% tip (nearly on the nose, and I used my phone to calculate it)... that's a high sign that I am pissed off, since I usually double the tax and round UP, often resulting in a 23-25% tip. At $80, we could have eaten at Red Robin and could have had appetizers, entrees, AND dessert for $20 less. Sure, Red Robin doesn't have dork but you don't need to eat that crap all the time anyway! At Red Robin, you can get a healthier turkey patty (no upcharge), good bacon ($1), cheese (free), and a whole-wheat or gluten-free bun (free), and you will still enjoy it.

Parking was free and there was enough of it in the garage downstairs and the building itself is nice, though needing a key to traipse across the lobby to use the restrooms is tacky at best.

I doubt we're going back. Too bad. It's a GREAT idea, and I always LOVE a great burger. Lunchbox Laboratories did NOT do it for me. :-(

This place was a surprise. Suggested by a neighborhood friend as one of the few places open late on one of the really snowy/icy nights, we crept down there with the chains on the car and walked in... to our surprise, it was actually busy!

The food was simply delicious, much better than I expected for a hotel restaurant. I had a burger that was simply delightful, cooked perfectly and as I requested. John had a something-or-other dip sandwich which was similarly excellent, and our host had chicken fingers and sweet potato fries... not your average Sysco junk but clearly made with actual care. The prices were not insane either, definitely not the rip-off you expect from a hotel-associated restaurant.

The ding came from the service; a bit too slow. Not sure if they were short-handed because of the weather or what, but he should have let us know ahead of time instead of pretending all was well. We would have found it easier to be patient if we'd known to expect him to be crushed. We were going to get dessert but it just took too long... he lost out there.

All in all, I would go back. Better than expected, and it was great to discover another place just a few miles from home.

Their chocolatines are pretty authentic, as are their croissants, though in each case, they cost more than five times as much as the authentic item from a patisserie in France. What gives? Butter is CHEAPER here, as is labor? Four stars

The ham and cheese croissants are gorgeous... four stars... but cold... three stars. Can't you guys nuke 'em for 20 seconds if people ask?

The cookies are delicious and they are a great change from cupcakes for your kid's school birthday party, but at almost $30 for every kid in the class plus the teacher, it will take your breath away. No discount for three dozen? Really? Come on.

The real crushing blow here is the coffee. When they expanded the store to include coffee, they put in good machines, tables and chairs, and some other typical coffee-shop stuff. Sadly, they took on a coffee company that seems to have defective roasters. The coffee is TERRIBLE... one star. It's bitter, muddy, and has a funny taste. It's not one bad barista, either; it's consistent across different days, different baristas, and even different kinds of drinks. Add to that insult the high prices, and you're going to be disappointed.

Starbucks sucks, but unbelievably, it's better. It tastes burnt, but at least it tastes like real coffee, just burnt in the roaster.

It makes me a little sad to not be able to give this place a five-star rave. I'm the FourSquare mayor of Crossroads Bellevue and it's our everyday place... I love French food... the people here are nice... they have awesome stuff... but the execution is just not there and the prices are too precious. In France, the patisserie is a DAILY stop; here, there's no way I could afford it more than once a week, at best.

I actually wrote to the company to let them know how happy we were with the help we got from a Heartland Home Health Care nurse recently. My husband had open-heart surgery in January at the University of Washington Medical Center and due to a diabetes-related wound complication, was admitted to the hospital for a second stay for initiation of wound-vac therapy. They sent us home with home-health nursing arrangements for changing the dressings.

The hospital staff did not consult us about our preferences and made these arrangements for us, presenting them as the only option. Honestly, I was very concerned about what felt like a real violation of our privacy, and I did not want to have a nurse in our home. However, there really was no way to make the timing work and to secure arrangements in a wound-care clinic, so we reluctantly agreed to go along with the plan.

Mary Bakker showed up at our house on Sunday and quickly changed my mind. She was professional, kind, and respectful. I did not feel uncomfortable at all about having her in our house. She was careful about doing the admission, medical plan, and medication-tracking paperwork accurately and explained things to me clearly (John was not interested in the paperwork, and she didn't force him to participate).

Before beginning the treatment, Mary talked to John and I, listened carefully to our concerns, and wanted to know exactly what had and had not been working with the previous wound-vac dressings that he'd had. John had had a terrible experience with the first wound-vac dressing change in the hospital (the nurse refused to give him pain medication as ordered and it was very traumatic), and she was sympathetic and reassured John before she started. She also gave him a lot of autonomy in the process; he was able to remove the old dressing himself, which was the part that the hospital nurse had done in such a painful way. That was very helpful!

She did a brilliant job changing the wound-vac dressing; it didn't leak as some of the previous ones in the hospital had, and it was also more comfortable than many of them. She shared information about the wound, what to expect as it healed, and when we would know we were done with the wound-vac unit, information we'd tried to get from hospital staff but never managed to learn from them (and we got the sense that many of them didn't know).

The only feedback I'd give Heartland about how to improve is to provide their nurses with better gloves; the cheap vinyl ones that Mary had stuck to the dressing; the nitrile ones that the hospital had given me were much better. Better gloves are a tiny investment that would help the nurses perform better for their patients.

Because John wanted to go back to work, we ended up getting the rest of the wound-vac dressing changes done at the UWMC wound clinic. This was in no way a reflection of the services we got from Heartland. We were both pleasantly surprised and if one of us ever needs home health care in the future, I will be a lot less concerned about it than I was this time.

We were referred here, I think because the Overlake name impressed someone. Don't be impressed. The Overlake Cardiology Clinic is the most ghetto doctor's office we've been to in a long time.

My husband had major open-heart surgery at UW Medical Center last week. We got out of the hospital yesterday after 6 days. They wanted us to follow up today to adjust the new medication and I wanted us to stay on the Eastside because it's so much closer.

If it was a single-story building, you'd swear you were in a trailer. The whole place is CARPETED... OK, I can see that in a waiting room, but how on earth do you keep carpeted exam and procedure rooms clean? You don't. Even the RESTROOM is carpeted... I think that's disgusting in a home, never mind in a doctor's office!! How many years of pee splashes into carpet are acceptable? Really?

The room was cramped and it was clear that none of the hard surfaces are wiped down regularly. The hand-washing sink was BONE DRY, and the soap dispenser, plain old Softsoap, looked undisturbed. There was a cotton ball with blood on it discarded on the floor, clearly visible. WTF?

The nurse came in, all "ma'am" and "sir" -- that's OK once, but unless you are three years old, you do not need to start or end each of your sentences with that word. I understand when you are speaking to me. She set up and ran an EKG, putting the sensor stickies on John with her bare hands (no gloves) without cleaning the sites first with an alcohol prep pad.

The walls in this clinic are so thin that HIPPA is a complete joke. You can hear ALL of the conversation in the exam room next to you. (This becomes more important in just a moment).

My husband has a long incision over the sternum bone, which they cut open to access his heart; he also has two large surgical-drain incisions, several tiny ones through which instruments were passed, a central-line incision on his neck, and more IV- and blood draw-puncture wounds than I care to think about. These incisions are NOT yet healed and since he's a diabetic, there's an especially high risk of infection.

Dr. Holder finished up in the exam room next to us, wished them a good day, walked out, entered our exam room without even knocking, and offered to shake my husband's hand. John pretended not to notice, looking him in the eye instead. The doctor proceeded to ask a ton of health-history questions, the vast majority answered on the intake paperwork I'd just filled out. Dr. Holder is somewhat hard of hearing, and my husband, not feeling well at all after being kept waiting for 45 minutes (we were 10 minutes early), started saying "Fine" or "OK" after the doctor would ask him to repeat his initial longish, detailed answer.

Here's the kicker though (and the reason we're going to report him to the Health Department). Dr. Holder didn't wash his hands before he went to examine my husband. He didn't put on gloves. He didn't even use sanitizer gel. I stopped him by saying, "I don't mean any disrespect, but you need to wash your hands first".

Dr. Holder replied, "We have facilities outside the rooms, and I used it before I came in." This was a direct and obvious LIE. We didn't hear him run water, use a paper towel; we didn't see his wet hands and said paper towel; we didn't see him rubbing sanitizer gel, nor did we hear him activate the dispenser. He then said, "You're right, you shouldn't let anyone touch him without washing their hands first." He stepped out of the room, KA-CHUNK got some hand sanitizer gel, and came into the room rubbing it all over his hands. The alcohol vapors were overwhelming... how did we miss the ones he'd presumably created mere minutes before?

He examined my husband, again, without gloves, something that ABSOLUTELY would not have happened at UW.  He made all sorts of pronouncements about my husband's condition, some correct and some incorrect. He didn't recognize the manufacturer of John's mechanical aortic valve, ATS Medical, maker of the second-most popular replacement valve. He went to use his stethoscope on John: I raised my eyebrows and pointed to the sink; glaring at me, he went back into the hallway, got some hand-sanitizer gel to rub on the stethoscope, drying it off on a paper towel before continuing.

In the end, his demeanor was mostly kindly, but he is past the prime of his career (he is 69). His clinic is shoddy and unsanitary. He is hard enough of hearing that I don't see how his stethoscope work will be as accurate as that of someone with full hearing function. I wouldn't let him anywhere near me to do surgery, and given that a lot of cardiology is life or death, we are crystal-clear that he is not even going to get the chance to TALK to us again. We're going back to the UW system where hand-washing, gloves, gel in/gel out, equipment and room cleaning procedures are all clear, posted, and followed without a second thought as they should be!

Not my favorite. It should be predictable, and here it is. Your fries will ALWAYS be too salty and cold. Your chicken nuggets, cold and rubbery. Your burger will have WAY too much sauce on it.

Not worth it... go across the street to Burger King. You have to watch them there if you order onion rings, to make sure they're hot, but otherwise, they always do better than this McDs.

I know I should like it, and there are a few awesome things about it, but it's always so crowded that I can only give it three stars.

The good:
- the family restroom which is big, useful, and well-equipped
- the kids soft-play area
- BJ's American Grill
- Bahama Breeze
- the game store upstairs

The bad:
- parking
- crime
- crowds
- crazy random people
- teenagers

It's a mall. It doesn't have much soul, but it's clear that an attempt is being made. It's not as rich and snooty as Bellevue Square, and it's not owned by Kemper Freeman (that's worth a 1-star boost!)

It was Wendy's. The food was fresh and hot. The french fries were good, not too salty. The burgers were custom-made the way we wanted them. We did not wait a long time.

I dinged them a star because they gave a party of four who had ordered ten food items TWO napkins. Really? I had to walk inside to get more. While inside, I used the restroom. It was clean enough, nothing amazing but not gross either. Kitchens are usually kept as clean as restrooms, so I felt fine about eating the food they'd made here.

We attracted a nice crowd of seagulls and crows in the parking lot, throwing them bits of bun and french fries. Yes, I know that's evil. It's also a lot of fun.