Audra "I will send that back" F.'s Profile

Triumph Grill just opened earlier this month (October) in the neighborhood that I work in!  Woot - another lunch option!  So it was funny that it was a Saturday when we chose to dine there.

There is a moto motif that by description sounded eh- cheesy but I was happy to proved wrong in my assumption!  It was lovely!  Dark colors, shiny motorcycle pieces made into an art deco kind of feel in both the bar and dining room areas.  We were greeted by a hostess and asked if we wanted a booth or table (I always like the choice!) and were promptly seated.  

The menus were made out of cool weird plastic-y material - just odd for a menu but I liked the feel of them. Ha.

We both ordered salads and had pretzels and homemade chips as an app.  The pretzels were to die for and the chips were a nice serving and went nicely with the mustard and Guinness dipping sauce.  I wanted to put the sauce in my purse and take it home.  It was delish.

The salads draw rave reviews from us firstly because they are chopped.  No one does that and it is such a pleasant way to eat a salad.  It's never pretty to have large stalks hanging out of your mouth as you overestimate a bite.  

I had the Crispy Barbecue Chicken Ranch Salad (hold the roasted corn) and it was wonderful!  It was just enough dressing and a perfect amount of the lightly crispy bbq chicken.  Although it was so good I could have had just a plate of that.  The sauce has a bit of an orange taste to - loved it.

My husband had the Ago's Tuscan Salad and also loved it.  His only complaint was the focaccia croutons were too big.  We found a solution to that by eating them separate and dipping them in that damn great mustard sauce.

We were offered desserts in small shot glasses and sadly had to turn them down this time....but they looked stunning!

The waitress let us know they have great happy hour deals and on Mondays you buy a glass of wine and get the whole bottle for the price of the glass.  Hello Mondays!  

We will be returning for sure.

This is the only place I have ever gone for tattoos.  Between my husband and I, we have four.  We have never made an appointment as all four were spontaneous!  

We were both super nervous, especially the first ones we got but each artist we worked with was patient as we hemmed and hawed over size and location for the ink.  Mine was a small letter that took about 15 minutes and boom it was done!  No color or anything - just black ink.  I was and continue to be pleased with it.

My second experience was about 8 minutes, a small tattoo on the instep of my foot.  The artist took time to explain the risks of fading due to the placement of the test and let me weigh my options before proceeding.  It's been over a year now and the ink is still going strong!

I thought the prices were fair, especially paying for someone's artwork but I didn't shop around for tattoo pricing prior to my experiences at Iron Age.

I would recommend this place to anyone looking their first or fifth tattoo.  It's clean, comfortable and there is always something to see!

I stayed here October 1-4th for a conference held down the street at the Hyatt.  Overall my stay was lovely.

I am pretty sure the hotel just opened recently so the state of the rooms and lobby are pretty primo.  I had a king corner suite, complete with a couch/chaise that folded out to a bed, a nice small closet with drawers and an impossibly clean bathroom (all good things!).  

The room has shades and drapes that do a solid job of keeping out the light and helps to cut down on the street noise.  My suite was on the 11th floor and even from there the noise was pretty significant.  I found it charming but can see where it would be a pain to some travelers.  

The hotel serves a breakfast most mornings with a good variety: bagels, english muffins, muffins, cereal, toast , juices, oatmeal, waffles.  Let's not forget the all day coffee and tea bar in the nicely appointed lobby.

The staff was all very polite and helpful even when the lobby was crazy busy.  One of my favorite touches was the giant  bowl of Chup Chups suckers available at the lobby desk!  A cute touch and they aren't those cheap dum dum suckers!  

The only cons I can list are: no ice machines - you have to go the lobby "market" for bags of ice and the price of parking (although probably consistent with the area) was steep!

I would stay here again for sure - especially if my company was paying again!

Like many other reviews I give Blues City Deli sandwich accolades!  I am a pretty boring and safe sandwich person so I can only speak to the turkey supreme.  A healthy portion of cheese and turkey and just enough bacon make this sandwich a satisfying meal!  No chips needed!

I am anxious to visit again with a more adventurous sandwich connoisseur, aka my husband, to see what he thinks.

The owner was manning the register and was very friendly - that alone will bring me back for another visit.  Too often this isn't the case at other local eateries!

I have been to LBB several times but most recently to attend a book signing with Bobby Flay.  There were lots of people lined up to get a picture and a book and the staff at LBB were wonderful at managing the crowd while still being uber friendly.  Too bad the same couldn't be said for Bobby Flay!

If you are into things like book signings and readings don't forget to sign up for their ever so often email about upcoming events.  I have found it to be a handy reminder for events I had forgotten to add to my calendar!  

The corner location is also ideal - it adds to the charm in my opinion!

I would go to The Grove if perhaps I was craving sarcasm, shitty service and frozen preformed "hamburger" patty.  We went to this joint only because Duffy's was packed because of a Michigan game and we literally couldn't walk through the place.  

Our party of six was FINALLY seated (even though it was empty it took some time to get seated) and the saucy waitress came to take our orders.  I ordered a patty melt with NO ONION (I know, it's just a burger on rye).  Burger arrived, it's a frozen one and it's just chocked with onions.  Bad.  My sister ordered her meal with a salad and italian dressing - it was just oil.  Also, the appetizer came with the meal.   I asked for the order to be corrected and the waitress informed me that she would have to tell them that the onions "made me nauseous" intoning that was the only way I was getting a corrected order is if I attested to my potential vomit.

I asked if I could switch my meal to the chicken fingers meal (someone else in our party had ordered) and she said, "Well I don't know, they don't like to do that..."  So I canceled the order altogether and she replied by rolling her eyes.  

Jeers to The Grove.

Went to Cafe Ventana today for lunch on the recommendation of a coworker and LOVED.IT.

Parking is somewhat limited (at lunch time anyway) but they encourage bike riding by giving free beignets to those that ride!  I had the apple brie sandwich with a side of fruit.  and it was delish.  The baristas and other employees were wonderful - friendly and accommodating!

We tried both the chocolate filled beignet as well as the powdered sugar trio of beignets - warm and heavenly!  

I am anxious to go back here for happy hour!

Good pizza.  Upper Crust was recommended by a friend in Boston as a must visit.  The people were super welcoming and we ate our pizza at one of the two-ish tables there.  I am pretty sure the two of us at the entire pizza and loved every minute of it.  Would visit again!

On a trip to Boston we were fresh from the airport and starving.  Walking a bit from the hotel we came upon Kennedy's and decided to give it a try.  And OMG what a good decision.  If I am remembering accurately I had a spinach/cheese ravioli (homemade yo) in a cream sauce and it was to die for.  It was a cozy environment upstairs perfect for quiet conversation.  The bar downstairs was a little more rowdy so it was a good mix of environments for different groups.

My sister and I went here and promptly ate everything put in front of us.  The food was delish, pasta in vodka sauce but the most entertaining was the server.  He used the word fuck several times but somehow each time it was endearing.  You know those kind of people - that can get away with saying all sorts of foul things but still come out charming?  That was him. We had plenty of wine, food and swearing and loved every minute of it!

Edited to add: I just went here again this past weekend and forgot to mention how great the bread is...Love.