DiDi "EE, FF, GG, HH" V.'s Profile

I've visited at least 5 costume stores in the area, but Joker's Wild takes the Gold.  I will no longer go to another.  I'm betrothed.

When I first visited this place, customers and workers all looked like homicidal carnies.  It was a little spooky, but I shook it off as coincidence and forged ahead.  Glad I did.

This place has so many costume accessories, it inspires you to come up with a creative costume.   Hats.  Guns.  Swords.  Glasses.  A Halloween cornucopia.  Feast, little pilgrim.  Feast!  Until I dress up as an angry Wampanoag  and end you.

This place should serve as a petri dish for the scientists @ MIT.

Something is alive in the air, in the clothes, on the walls.  This something that's alive should probably be dead because it smells dead.  Or maybe it should be cultivated as a bio-weapon.  

Came here with the rest of the crowd looking for a Halloween costume.  For the size of this place, I expected more.  The wigs and the $70 pre-packaged costumes were plentiful--but the kinds of accessories that allow an imagination to go wild?  Nada.  Vintage clothing that would inspire a unique costume idea?  Nope.  Prepare for the gross gross racks of dirty smelly stained falling-apart clothing you'll sift through only discover it was a waste of your time.  You can't get to a shower fast enough.  The Garment District is frightful.  Boo!

Wow.

So I waited another week for a non-deformed lamp only to get one that was just plain broken.  

I love lamp?  I HATE LAMP.

The foot of the lamp was snapped in two.

Thank you Z Gallerie!  Thanks China!  Last time I buy something from you.  Well, I meant Z Gallerie.  Definitely can't say I won't buy anything else from China.  They pretty much own the world now, so yeah, everything is made there nowadays.  

Well, at least Yelp software is still developed in the U.S. ... ... .... right?

So this place closes at 11, huh?  Well that's funny because I tried walking in at 10:45 the other night and a heavy-set waitress was blocking the door.  Literally, with her back shoved against the door, not letting anybody in.

I tapped on the glass.

She scowled and said, "We're CLOSED."  snarl snarl meanie face.  What an attitude!

Well, maybe instead of just blocking the door, you should flip the goddamn OPEN sign to CLOSED.  Maybe?  No?

If 'rosebud' was code name for you-know-what, well, there's another word for that.  Starts with a C.

This is why I wish you could give negative stars.

I registered for a road race with this company because the race web page brought me to http://active.com.  That was in August.  The charge for that race showed up on my credit card statement.  All was well.

Then, in Septemeber, a month later another charge shows up on my credit card for $60 for http://active.com.  W.  T.  F.  Now I've been on the phone with them for 30 minutes just waiting to find out why.  I went through some funk, some pop, some classical and now I'm on smooth jazz!!!!  I hate smooth jazz.  The funny thing, is the automated phone message already had a "Dial X" if you want to talk about  $60 that showed up on your credit card statement."

SCAM.

Just got off the phone with the operator, and he said as I registered for my race and just clicked through, I was also clicking through and accepting the terms of an agreement with http://active.com where I pay $60 for a coupon program.  Shouldn't there be a law about the $total$ showing up clearly somewhere before your card is charged?  

A nice operator man just refunded my money.  Finally.

But I'll never get those 30 minutes back, or that stupid smooth jazz tune of my head.

Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

5 stars because I've been to many Sonic in the South, but this may have been the BEST Sonic ever.  Friendly, fast, and... fresh ? (well, as far as Sonic goes, this one was fresher probably because the fryer is still brand spankin' new).

The roller dudes were sooooooo nice.  And so was the guy on the intercom.  

The trick is to go at 9:30am.  No crowds.  Your pick of stalls. Just get the staples: grilled cheese on toaster bread, tater tots, jalapeno poppers and a cherry limeade.  

CHERRY LIMEADE. I think that cherry limeade money went right to some education charity thingie, too.  Sonic is so benevolent...and magical?   I had some tummy acid issues prior to my visit  but so far only mild symptoms have returned.  What if Sonic cured my pre-ulcer?

Why does Peabody have to be so far away? :(  I would be there again tonight if it were a wee bit closer.  But it beats driving to VA for some Sonic like the old days.

I thought I really disliked thin crust pizza.

Then I came to Emma's, which by the way is a perfect place to go after seeing a movie at Kendall Sq.

We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. Only downside was how crowded the bull pen was waiting for that table.  But the friendly staff was on the ball and got us drinks promptly as we waited.  Sangria was really good.

A 12 inch pizza was plenty for two people.  I ordered one side sweet potato and goat cheese #3, and the other side was just MEAT #25.  No complaints, but the veggie side was better than the meat-attack side.  Also kudos to Emma's for carrying some lesser known beers like that one from Maine, and that Jamaican one Professor Gates drank at the 'beer summit.'

Why did those two go all the way to DC for their frosty pow-wow. (Can I say pow-wow?, or is that f'd up?)  They could have just gotten together at Emma's.  It's right across from Tommy Doyles, too--where Sgt. Crowley himself probably gets all loud and tumultuous after one too many Blue Moons.

I live in Massachusetts.

My nephew/godson lives in Monterey.

He was turning 1.

I wanted to give him his first tasty, chocolatey, cakey birthday treats, and lucky for me Layers delivers.  The shop was very accommodating, and the cakes got rave reviews from the family.  I ordered 6 chocolate baby cakes, and a small round, lemon cream birthday cake.

The only issue was his name was just slightly misspelled--the accent was off, going in the wrong direction; however, the boy's name is a bit unusual, and I gave the order over the phone.  Eh. Oh well, from videos, I can see the baby is smashing the cake all over his hands, high chair, face, clothes, security blanket etc!!!  There couldn't be a more rave review for a birthday cake than a sugar-rushed infant with his face buried in buttercream.

And the cake looked good and cute.  Very whimsical and modern.  The baby couldn't keep his eyes off of it....or his hands, or his face...

Portuguese cuisine in Lowell.  It happens.

FOOD: Half of the dishes were FANTASTIC.  The other half were, well, NOT FANTASTIC.

SERVICE: The... waiter... was... so... ... ... ... ... SLOW!  Very unenthusiastic.  He looked like he didn't want to be there, like his family owned the place, and he was just filling in for his cousin or something.  He gave us rolls, but no bread plates.  He took drink orders at another table before dropping off the bill for us, even though we were hella hurried.  We waited way more than a half-hour for our food but that was expected because each dish was made fresh. It's not like the place was super busy--we were the only table in the dining hall.

The lunch portions of the Carne Alentejana (chicken and pork, they were both good) was decent-sized, totally affordable $8.95, and tasty as all hell.  Really the best dishes at the table.  The pricier $14.95 fish dishes Salmon and Fried Hake were also tasty, but the ripped up iceberg side salads that accompanied the dishes were a little pathetic.

Don't get the Bifana--even though it's only $5.95--the bifana should have been more moist and flavorful.  It was a bit tough and unseasoned.  Though it tasted dry, the meat juice soaked through the bread too quickly, and it became a sloppy mess, so did I.  The Octopus stew was also a sloppy mess, but I guess that's expected with stew.  The flavor was all wine and salt, and not enough Octopus taste.  It was just mush.  I think we expected more of the chewy Galician Tapas style, but no, Octopus stew is like Octopus goo.  One coworker didn't go beyond a single forkful.  The other ate most of it, but he eats everything.  I should say that the french fries that came with the bifana were the BEST french fries of my life.

She loves it, she loves it not, she loves it, she loves it not...

Now I know what to get when I go back, and I think I'll go back.

This should be a two ** review.  Nobody puts DiDi in a corner... for 1.5 hours.  That's how long it took us to get a table.  True story follows:

We arrived on Sat. night.  Party of 4.  The deck was full.  Instead of dining in the cramped indoors, we decided to wait the expected 25 minutes for a table for the outdoor deck overlooking the Indian-named river I can never remember and Maine.  Gave them our name, weaved our way through 100 River House waitresses, and a hostess herded us  to a waiting pen of other hopeful diners.  We could order drinks as we chilled.  And drinks we ordered.  Three rounds later, my very hungry hubby decided it may be a good idea to inquire about that table.  Would we ever get one? A panicked hostess apologized and said we would be the next table.  It became painfully clear that she had forgotten about us.

Sure enough, we were the next group to be seated.  At first we were seated at a tiny table that most restaurants wouldn't even use for a party of 2.  I at once started ordering multiple appetizers because I'm a high-roller from Boston and couldn't believe the moderate prices.  It became clear to the waitress that all of our appetizers would not fit on the table, and so we were moved to a bigger table immediately.  We overheard another staffer asking why we were placed at an "oversized" table, and she responded: "Because they waited 1.5 hours."  "Oh..."  'Oh' is right, lady.

The appetizers came out quickly enough.  We ordered the mussels, some spicy fritters and a dip with toasted bread.  All very good.  Only a couple of mussels were unopened. (We saw the table nearby complain as only half their batch was opened.)  My com-madre also ordered a side of sweet potato fries, and they were nothing special at all. More mushy than crispy, and thin.  I've had better at dive bars.

My husband really liked his scallops.  The others shared a sausage pizza and they seemed to like that.  I had a Thai salad that was not so great.  The chicken was beyond blackened.  It was just burnt.  Not good at all.  The delicious chowder stocked with lobster, shrimp and clams made up for any bad entrees.

And so I cannot give this place less than 4 stars.  Maybe I'm getting soft in my Yelper old age, but I like it when a place tries hard to correct its mistakes, and that's what they did here.  The appetizers were amazing and so was the chowder.  I'll be back. Show owner comment »