Lauren H.'s Profile

I went into labor the day after I ate the Mexican chocolate pecan pie. Then my friend went into labor the day after eating the same pie, and she was 11 days early!

Can't beat that!

You kill me. I am eight months pregnant and have been craving chocolate pie. I wait in your insane line, pay 6.50 for the tiny little chocolate pie. You put a pie with chocolate shavings on top into a box. I slog it all the way home, which involves BART and the horrible 38L, the only thing keeping me going is knowing that I'll finally have chocolate pie when I get home. Turns out, you gave me disgusting BANANA pie! You can't even keep your pies straight??? Now what am I going to do? I give you a call, and I have to listen to a five minute message about pre-ordering bread three days in advance (BTW, WTF? It's just bread). So all I can do is leave you a teary hormonal message. You are everything that is wrong with hipster Mission.

/rant

On first glance, it looks like your typical over-hyped, thin crust pizza Italian place full of Marina types. And it is full of Marina types. But yet I've really fallen for the place.

The folks there are amazingly friendly, attentive, and accommodating, even when it's really busy. They got me a chair with a back on it since I'm pregnant, and they've done the best job making a virgin cocktail that I actually like (and didn't charge me!), and not just recommend whatever sweet standard mocktail they have on the menu.

The food is delicious, high quality, prepared with a nice finesse, and fast. The bar is impressive too: good wine selection, good cocktails, and fast and friendly bartenders. They have all my favorite foods: beet salads, burrata, sardines, mussels, and of course pizza. The paninis look delicious, but I haven't tried them yet.

They don't take reservations, and I imagine it's a bit nuts on the weekends, but during the week I haven't had to wait much, even when it seems really busy.

If I worked in downtown Spokane, I'd be here for lunch every week. I ordered the humus sandwich, and for such a simple thing, it was super tasty and satisfying. The lamb souvlaki is really flavorful and tender. The best part is the pita. Instead of the usual dry pocket pita, they use a thicker soft pita bread that they get from Chicago (and they sell it to go!). Prices are cheap too. Next time I'm in downtown Spokane, I'll be back!

Boo, Twigs. You are off the list for future visits to Spokane. Went there for lunch and was beyond disappointed. Service was bad, but the food was even worse. It's like they have seriously downgraded their ingredients.

I ordered the beet salad. The beets weren't remotely cooked enough and tasted gross. The lettuce (I can't believe I'm complaining about the lettuce!) was tough and tasted bad. It's like they used only the rough outer romaine leaves that most people would throw out. The soup was so salty that it had to be sent back. The pork sandwich had canned pineapple rings.

Too bad. I used to like this place, but no more, at least for meals. I still might give it a try for drinks and apps, but I'm not optimistic.

Huckleberry pie. Only $18. Delicious. That is all.

I was looking for a B&B in Priest Lake, and turns out this is the only one. The Old Northern Inn is an extremely old hotel and it is adorable. It's in Coolin, so on the south end of the lake, and about a half hour away from the resorts on the other side of the lake. It's right off the road and up the hill a bit from the lake, but it's an easy walk down to the dock on the water.

There are only 5 rooms total. We stayed in the Bartoo suite, but since we the only people staying there, we could have easily saved money and stayed in a smaller room. There is a living room area, upstairs sitting area, upstairs porch, and a whole deck area to hang out on and take in the view of the lake. All is very woodsy and homey. We never bothered to lock the door to our room the whole time we were there.

The folks running the place are very friendly, and were very accommodating to us changing out reservations at the last minute. They don't seem very busy, so you could easily get a room last minute most of the time.

Breakfast was very nice: yogurt and fresh fruit, OJ, tea or coffee, fresh muffins, and puffy oven pancake with the requisite huckleberry sauce.

Minus one star for the following:
- beds could use an upgrade. The sheets and towels were nice, but the bed was obviously old and squishy.
- wine could use an upgrade. A B&B can do better than boxed wine.

Spokane, you are so lucky to have this restaurant tucked inside the Flour Mill! I am a huge Ethiopian food fan, and this is delicious. Don't be intimidated: there is a ton of explanation for all the menu items, and the friendly women who runs the place is really helpful with ordering.

The food is so flavorful and full of spices, although not crazy spicy. And it's so nutritious! It's very vegetarian friendly with lots of lentils and chickpeas, and the lamb is tender and so delicious!

In addition to the injera, the teff flatbread (that's healthy too! Teff should be the next quinoa as far as healthy grains go), there is a wheat bread that is like a warm muffin or quickbread. Never had that before and I wish I could get it now. The injera itself seems thicker and more dense than I've had other places, but I think it is because it is made with all teff, and not combined with wheat, although I'm not sure.

Prices are extremely good and portions are very generous, especially since we got extra injera and lentils to take home with our leftovers, and had another full meal the next day!

I always hit up Gordy's when I am in town, and now I'll be adding Queen of Sheba as a required stop on future visits. Please, Spokane, take advantage of this awesome food and keep this place in business for me for when I visit again!

I love Boulevard, and I still like it a lot better than Prospect. The large bar area is great, as are the bartenders.

However, once we got the table, I suddenly felt like I was at Applebee's. The waitress wasn't horrible, but all she said was "I assume you're okay with the drinks you have from the bar?" and then "So are you ready to order?". No saying hi, no offering to help with the menu, no smiles, nothing. Total lack of the polish I'd expect. When we ordered, she took the drink menu too without asking if we'd like something with out dinner, so we had to flag down someone else. When our food arrived, no descriptions of the food at all, just "For the lady", which got tiresome three courses in. The suit folks are total professionals, but the cheesy vest people need a lot of work.

Drinks: wine options by the glass are good and well priced. The special cocktails were kind of strange and didn't sound good, so I didn't order any, which is weird for me being a total cocktail snob. However, the gimlet I ordered was tasty and I was able to have a fairly useful discussion about the gins on the menu with the bartender.

Food: All the seafood I had was delicious and cooked perfected. The lamb was also cooked well, but the overall dish was dull. Desserts were mostly good, but not quite good enough to bump the rating up to four stars.

I enjoyed myself and would be great for, say, a company dinner, but it just wasn't quite special enough for my husband's birthday.

Do not eat here for lunch. Service is intolerably slow and unprofessional. Food is bad and overpriced, and served on paper plates. They are spared one star only because the guac isn't bad. Definitely the worst Mexican place in the area, and that's saying something comparing them to Iron Cactus and Mijita.