Fred "Why Not?" F.'s Profile

Ah yes!
Let's face it, Las Vegas is a bit intense. The traffic is horrific, there are people everywhere and you can't get a moment to relax. Unless you come here.
Nice relaxing place to park your butt, have some coffee and a well prepared breakfast. And - it won't cost you an arm and a leg!
Sure, you can go to any of the hotels and do the breakfast buffet. But, come on - starting your day with 12,000 calories and putting up with the crowds is not going to lead to a long and healthy life.
Grab a newspaper - go here - relax - have good food - save your money for the blackjack tables later.

I've eaten at Carnegie Deli in NY.
I've eaten at this Carnegie Deli.
Are they really run by the same people?

The service here is simply terrible. When you can find your server he/she will look at you like you just interrupted a smoke break.  I came close to tripping a server as she walked by - she wasn't our server but I needed a fork and I didn't care who got it for me.

One woman in our party ordered a corned beef/pastrami sandwich. A corned beef sandwich is about 4 inches tall - when you order the combo sandwiches they just add another 4 inches of meat. They don't tell you this upfront and you'd think the server might mention it.
Who can eat that? Who can put their mouth around it? You can send the leftovers to a 3rd world country and keep them in deli meat for a month.

To summarize - the food was so-so (a bit dry), the service was awful, and the prices were high.
Instead of eating here, go into the casino and start betting. Take your winnings and fly to NYC to get some real NY deli food.

Almost hidden in a shopping center but worth the hunt!
They have an all you can eat sushi deal that's hard to beat. And, they must have 100 variations that you can order.  Since it's all you can eat, you can experiment with sushi you'd be reluctant to order if you had to pay separately for it.
The service is extraordinary.  Two servers took care of our table (4 people) and the orders came out quickly.
Go here!

Very good BBQ!
The service was excellent.  I had the pulled pork sandwich and my wife had the brisket. Both were very good.
Nice place for a casual meal for not a lot of money ($25 for two).

We came here for dinner after seeing 'The Jersey Boys' which is a solid 5 stars.
I figured nothing to dampen the happiness from seeing such a great show but Canaletto came close.
For what they charge (more on that later) you'd expect terrific service. Well, keep hoping. Water glasses were left empty, four of us drained a bottle of wine with no offer to get a new one, and dirty dishes stacked up.
The food was so-so. We had Calamaretti for an appetizer. The batter was a bit salty but overall it was OK.  For a main course I had gnocchi with a lamb ragu.  The gnocchi were pretty good but the lamb ragu ruined it. It didn't taste like lamb, it didn't taste like anything I've ever had before.  
The price - 4 people, 2 appetizers, 4 main courses and a bottle of wine for $165 before tip. OK for a good meal - not so good for what we experienced.

There are a lot of very good Italian restaurants in Las Vegas - this may have been one of them in the past, but it isn't now.  Go see Jersey Boys, skip Canaletto.

Don't you just ove 2 for 1 coupons? I'm not sure I would have tried this place if it wasn't for that. If I'm at the Prominade and want lunch I'll usually just go to Baja Fresh which is almost next door to Tossed.

Service was very good. My only complaint was the menu board that's mounted about 10 feet above eye level and has about 2,000 choices. Come on, my eyes aren't what they used to be. I had to go grab a printed catering menu.  My wife and I both ordered crepes and soft drinks (serve yourself to the drinks). Our food was delivered to our table in about 10 minutes.

My wife had the Chicken Portobello Crepe and I had the Turkey Cheddar Crepe. Each meal came with a healthy handful of sun chips.  They were $7.95 each; drinks were $1.85.  A first - your receipt shows everything that's included in your crepe. Since you can add or delete ingredients the food preparers use their copy  to make your meal.  

They have an extensive selection of salads, sandwiches, soup, crepe wraps and a "build your own" option for the seriously picky.

Nice effort. We'll be back.

I go to Tempe about once every five years. It's just not convenient for me and, other than ASU, there's nothing there that I can't find closer to home.
On the way home from an awesome car show at Falcon Field in Mesa my wife wanted to pop into Tempe Marketplace. It was lunchtime so we stopped in at King's.
The service was terrific. The ambiance is great and the Nawlins jazz is easy on the ear.
But, I came here to eat and I wasn't disappointed.
I had rainbow trout with a side of rice and corn on the cob (which they cut off the cob). My wife had Mexican shrimp on a skewer with a mixed veggie side and rosemary potatoes. Both dishes were excellent.
Total tab with softdrinks - $39 before tip.  Not a smoking deal, but not bad.
I may have to come to Tempe more often.

I have to admit to a snotty San Francisco bay area bias when it comes to Chinese food. SF is my point of reference for Chinese. There are more Chinese people in the SF airport right now than the entire state of Arizona. With that higher population you naturally get more Chinese restaurants and the competition keeps the quality up.

Stopped here for lunch. It was OK. I had the Four Seasons (shrimp, scallops, chicken, BBQ Pork, veggies with a brown sauce). My wife had the Chicken Lo Mein. The lunch specials include egg drop soup, crab puff, spring roll and fried rice. My meal was $10, the Lo Mein was $7. Great deal.

The food could have used more spice. They have some menu choices with a spicey warning and I avoided those because I've been burned before (literally and figuratively) but next time I'll know better.

The service is extraordinary. Quick on the drink refills without asking and the dirty plates were whisked away. The owner stopped by to say hello and make sure everything was OK.

If San Francisco is too far to go for lunch, give it a try.

Hmmm, what to do with that spare bedroom/junk room, what to do, what to do.

Ah - a home gym! Work out whenever you like! Heck, with the gasoline savings alone you can justify this idea in about 25 years!

I now know more about treadmills than anyone on this planet; I'm considering writing a buyer's guide to cut that payback to 24 years.
We wound up buying a TRUE treadmill and a TuffStuff home gym.
George, the store manager, was very patient with me and he knows his stuff! Excellent experience.

The equipment was delivered and set-up on schedule.  There was a slight misunderstanding which got worked out and George even gave me a store credit to apologize (nice touch).
So while the rest of you are burning gas going back and forth to the gym I'll be at home working on a six pack (yes, I do mean beer).

When we bought our Scottsdale house it needed some updating. One of the last things to do was replace the tile floors. It had an off white 18 inch tile with grout lines that were impossible to keep clean. After a lot of research we settled on 18" Travertine and opted to also do the living room and the dining room. All told we had over 1,700 sq. ft. of Travertine installed. The bedrooms and the den are still carpeted.

Flooring America did a good job.  We went on vacation when they did the installation so they were able to move all of the furniture into the bedrooms. They put plastic over the kitchen cabinets, closet doors and hanging lights.  When we came home the house was spotless. They wiped the walls, etc. down after they were finished (remember, they had to remove a bunch of tile as well - which they removed for free as part of a special).

They did have to come back to replace some tiles and that was a bit messy. I don't know if it has to do with the grout line size (about the width of a dime) but I've had some of the grout pop out in a few spots. Easy enough to fix.

All in all, it looks nice. They weren't the cheapest bid but their references checked out and the AZ Registrar of Contractors didn't have any complaints on them.

I'd certainly call them in to give me a bid on my next tile job.