Sarah "I'm hungry" S.'s Profile

I was out of town and picked Gold Street Cafe for it's reviews on Yelp.  I'm very glad that I went.  
It's very cozy inside and kind of feels like a mix between and Old Fashioned diner and someone's country dining room.  Tables, chairs, silverware, tablecloths, napkins, and dishes are mixed-and-matched and rustic.
Services is really quick - seated, had drinks, ordered, and got our food very promptly.  Waitresses are very friendly.  
Food was great!!  Boyfriend got 2 biscuits and gravy.  It was huge and very good.  They use a sausage gravy and it has an awesome smoky taste to it.  Good biscuit to gravy ratio.  I got the corned beef hash.  This definitely is not hash from a can - there are big chunks of meat.  Served with either hashbrowns or country fries, 2 eggs, (I got the country fries) and toast.  The country fries needed some salt, but that doesn't make them any less good.  Very satisfying meal!
With 2 cups of coffee and tax, our total came out just over $18.  Definitely will visit again next time I'm in Redding.

I wasn't sure where this place was - but we found it pretty easily.  It's in the same parking lot as Coach's, Polo Lounge, and Mario's Portofino - kind of towards the back on the left side (if coming in from Virginia).
Chips and salsa were great.  I liked the idea of the bean dip, but it needed something (I added salt and some of the salsa).  I love that they bring salsa in a little jar so you don't have to wait for your waitress when you run out.  
Margaritas are not good - I could smell the tequila in there, but I sure couldn't taste it!  We opted for a Bohemia for our second round of drinks.
I ordered the carnitas burrito and my boyfriend ordered the carnitas platter (not sure what the exact name of it was).  They are essentially the same thing, but with the platter you have to put everything together yourself.  It was good, but I've had better.  The pork was in huge chunks which actually made it difficult, if not annoying to eat.  And one of my chunks of "meat" turned out to be all fat - not an awesome bite.
Service was decent, but we needed extra napkins and it took a while for someone to come by and when they did, we had to call them over instead of them asking if we needed anything.  The food came quickly though and we were seated right when we walked in.
Haven't decided whether we will give this place a second chance.  If the margaritas were better, I'd probably stop by again at least once.

My dog is about 2 1/2 years old and is/was in desparate need of socialization.  When we first brought him to Link Piazza Dog Park (up in Hidden Valley Park), we felt like parents dropping our child off at their first day of kindergarten.  We were so nevervous and walked him halfway around the park before we took his leash off.  He did great, with the other dogs and the other people.  But this isn't a review of my dog's behavior, it's a review of the park!
This is no-leash park.  The park is separated with fences - 1 part for little dogs and 1 part for big dogs (read the posted rules for weight requirements).  People are cool with little dogs being in the big dog park, but people are very uncomfortable with big dogs being in the little dog park.  Bags are provided, but trash cans are only on one side of the park.  There are doggy drinking fountains, but they get turned off in the winter months.  There is plenty of space for the dogs to run around.  There is both a grassy area and a dirt/sage brush/hilly type area.
Usually, everyone brings water and allows all of the dogs to drink from it.  In my experience, 99% of the dogs are awesome, they want to play, sniff, run, and chase balls.  There's never a lot of barking, growling, or biting.  I finally feel comfortable not keeping an eye on my dog the entire time.  Everyone I met is very friendly and sometimes they share treats.  There are tennis balls that are for everyone's use - you can find them scattered about the grass or stuck in the trees.
I love this dog park - so close to home and WAY better than our grassless and small back yard.

Last I checked, the Studio no longer offers Zumba.  There is still a huge variety of Yoga classes.

Around dinner time, service is a little slow, but the place is PACKED so I think it's understandable that there is a wait and it takes a while for your next beer to get to your table.
The menu has all the same items as the Sparks location (fish and chips, big salads, beer cheese soup, burgers, etc.) However, the Reno location also has pizza and servers brunch on Saturdays and Sundays (9 am to noon).  I added the food part of the brunch menu to the photos.
I've had a couple of the pizzas - unfortunately I don't remember which ones.  Obviously, these take longer than any of the other food to come out.
I tried the Breakfast Wrap on Sunday - very, very good and super filing!  Next time I'm trying the Egg-A-Nator!  Coffee is a bit pricey at brunch ($2/cup).  Bloody Mary's are YUMMY - $5, Smirnoff is their well vodka.
Great Basin - whether it be the Sparks or Reno location, is still one of my favorite restaurants.

I have never been super impressed with the food here.  The margaritas are a different story - they are HUGE (and you can order them even bigger).  The first time I went they automatically gave me top shelf tequila and didn't tell me about it so I ended up having an $18 margarita (wow).
Back to the food - on my first visit I ordered the La Tampiquena (rib eye steak with sautéed onions, peppers, and mushrooms).  I felt like I had more fat than steak and everything just kind of had a greasy taste to it.  Not entirely pleasant.
The next time I went back we had hands down the coolest waiter ever.  He was funny, friendly, helpful and someone that you'd want to go grab some beers with after he got done with his shift!  He recommended the bean dip appetizer which is refried beans, chorizo, salsa, and cheese.  It was ok - I like chorizo but the grease it just a little too much for me, especially when paired with the beans and cheese, it was pretty much a heart-attack on a platter with not a lot of flavor.  For my entree, I ordered the Fajita burrito.  Nothing really stands out in my mind, which means it was neither excellent nor disgusting.  
The one thing I love about this place is that they have black beans instead of just refried beans.  I like refried beans and all, but I'll choose black beans over them any day!

Whenever I'm in the mood for Mexican, this is where I go.  I'm sure I should try other places, but I have good experiences here!

I've never had to wait too long, but I have seen quite a long line, so I guess it kind of depends on when you get there.  There is parking behind the restaurant, but you'll probably have better luck in the bank parking lot next door.

Margaritas are huge, delicious, and come pretty quickly.  Although, last time I went, they never asked if I wanted another (probably better that way though!)  Chips need salt but the salsa is pretty good (not too mild/not too hot).

I usually get the enchiladas verdes (because in my experience finding enchiladas verdes in Reno is not an easy task, but maybe I'm just going to the wrong places!)  I usually get them filled with chile verde, but you can choose your filing.  Also, the burritos are huge and you can choose them "dry" or "wet" (not sure if that's the term they use, but you can either get sauce or not on top.)  No one has ever had a complaint when I've been with them; the only one thing that I was disappointed about was the tamales.  I had a huge craving for them and was looking forward to a large tamale or too with plenty of meat.  That's not what I got - I got too pretty small tamales with a little bit of meat.  They reminded me of the ones you can buy frozen at the grocery store.  Not satisfying (portion-wise) and didn't quite quench my craving.

Prices are great - two meals and two margaritas with tip was $43.

I went into 775 Gastropub wanting to give it 5 stars, but I have some complaints so 4 stars it is....

First of all, the good things:
- The beer selection is HUGE (I guess it could be considered overwhelming, but I stuck with the drafts for my first trip).  They'll bring you free samples if you're unsure about a beer (better this than purchase a full beer and found out you don't like it!)
- The beers all come in their appropriate glasses and so the serving sizes all vary depending on what you choose
- They do so may fabulous things for the community: 1) every month a portion of the sales of the 775 Burger goes towards a different local charity, 2) they get their bread, meats, and veggies from local farmers and bakers, 3) the business you give 775 Gastropub means more business for these small, local famers.
- They have Chef's Specials every week (you can find the specials on their website or Facebook page)
- Their ranch dressing is soooo good!

I went with full intentions of getting a burger (I got the Reno burger), so I can't really say much about any of the other entrees.  The sage rub on the burger was just a little too overpowering, to the point where I felt like that was really all I could taste.  Even though the burger was supposed to come with bacon, mine did not have any.  The burger patty itself kind of fell apart every where.  I'm not sure what all is put into the patties (breadcrumbs? eggs? something else? nothing?) but I think it would be wise to look into a way to make the patty stay together a little bit better.  Also, I ordered my burger medium-rare but it was more of a medium-well.  Finally, the bottom half of my bun was pretty (ok, REALLY) soggy which made the whole burger pretty difficult to eat.  

For an appetizer, I ordered the latkes (one of the Chef's Specials that week).  This comes with one zucchini, one carrot, and one potato latke topped with sour cream.  They were pretty good - my only complaint was you could tell that potatoes had been shredded pretty far in advance because they had taken on a grey color (the color potatoes turn after being exposed to air.)  Simple solution if they want to shred them in advance - keep them in cold water and then drain on paper towels before making the latkes.

Our waitress was awesome; she took the time to answer our questions, explain the "local" concept of the restaurant, helped us out with beer choices and was just overall friendly.

I'll definitely be making more trips here to try some of their other entrees and brunch (Make Your Own Bloody Mary bar - yes please!)  And I hope that they take some of the reviewer's suggestions into consideration and maybe next time I'll be able to give them five stars!

5th St. Bakehouse has the absolutely most delicious Cuban sandwich ever!  It was properly pressed and had real roasted pork/shredded pork.  The bread was FANTASTIC and not soggy at all (huge pet peeve of mine).  
Each sandwich comes with a choice of potato salad or green salad.  I chose the green salad.  When your food comes, they bring you two choices of homemade dressing.
The food does take a while to get out since they make everything fresh once you order it (well, I'm assuming that the bread has already been baked and the pork roasted, because we weren't there THAT long!)
Prices are pretty reasonable - about $6.75 for a sandwich.  I paid just under $9 for my sandwich and a bottle of soda.
You can order breakfast or lunch any time of the day, which I think is great because I love eggs no matter what time of day!  And I give them extra thumbs up for being open on Sundays!
The place is right next to Cue and Cushion, so if you know the area, it's not the nicest, but this place is nice and clean and the people are friendly!
I will definitely have to stop by again and try their breakfast, homemade ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies.  I may have to get some of the cheddar jalepano bread to-go too because it looked amazing!

I'm kind of torn between 2 and 3 stars...

The first time I tried to eat here we received HORRIBLE service, well, not at first, but here's what happened:
We were seated in a pretty reasonable time frame, our waiter took our drink orders, brought our drinks and told us about the specials.  We asked for some more time to look at the menu and then everything went downhill.  I have no idea what happened to our first waiter, but all of a sudden there was a new waiter in the area.  A couple more tables were seated after us and they received their drinks but we still hadn't been asked for our food order (our menus were closed and we kept trying to make eye contact with the waiter.)  Then all of the tables that had been seated after us had been asked for their food order and we were still sitting there waiting....  We finally just got up and left without paying for our drinks.  I was pretty disappointed because I was looking forward to trying this place but pretty much made the decision to never go back.

Well, I ended up going back with my family.  My brother talked me into it since one of his friends is a waiter.  We waited at the front for several minutes without ever being asked if we had reservations.  Drinks came out one at a time instead of all at once and took forever to get there.  Bread came from a different person every time so you never knew who to ask for some more.  We wanted to order an appetizer right when we ordered our first drinks but that didn't happen so we didn't end up orderding our appetizer until we ordered our entrees.  Luckily the appetizer came out well in advance to the the entrees.  We got the fried calamari (fritto misto) which was ok but nothing spectacular.  Between the four of us we got: Duck Ragout, Chicken Piccata, Seafood Pasta, and Cioppino.  All were great, except the seafood pasta could have used a little bit more flavor in the white sauce.  Dessert choices are pretty typical of what you would expect to see in an Italian restaurant - gelato, tiramisu, cannolis.  Again, nothing I was wowed about.  Service got better as the place cleared out, but I am still left with a bitter taste only because I expected so much more.