James O.'s Profile

I've been taking my car to Jeff (the owner) for 5 years now, and every time I have, I've been more than pleased with the incredible service and very fair prices.  Jeff is not the type of person to see what money he can squeeze out of you -- he honestly wants to do the best job for the best price, and will tell you if something is a need-to-repair-immediately problem or a can-wait-until-you-can-afford-it problem.  I always feel safe leaving my car in the hands of Superior Auto, and when they pronounce my car finished I feel confident that it's in good shape.  I would absolutely recommend them to anyone; I could not be more happy with their service!  Even if you live a ways off, it is WORTH the drive to be treated with respect, care, and fairness.

What a RELIEF it is to have someone actually LISTEN and do exactly what I ask!  And not only that, but do it well, and do it for a fair price!  I've been having Michelle do my hair for about a year and a half now, and I've been happy with the results every time -- even though I've changed it up a lot.  Michelle's always happy to try something new, even something crazy like green-and-violet hair cut in a faux hawk ;-)

Michelle's prices also can't be beat!  And if you tell her that the Krista-the-violet-haired-girl sent you, you can get $5 off ;-)  You can reach her at the salon or directly: 770-846-3530

Decent food, but truly HORRIFIC service.  I've been five times, and the first four the service was merely shoddy -- the waiters never came over without being called, but were at least around enough that we COULD call them.  

The last time we we went, our waiter (Humberto, I believe) was so absent that we had to flag down another waiter and ask for them to find our waiter.  When we finally managed to get Humberto to come to our table, he had a very bad attitude about everything we asked for, even just to have our waters refilled.  And we didn't ask rudely -- we were ready to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was busy, not lazy.  But we were rewarded with huffiness and slamming down our food on the table.  When we talked to him (still politely!) about the poor service and attitude, he did not apologize but insisted that he had done a good job -- and then snottily told us to ask for another waiter next time.  We attempted to talk to the manager about it but they were apparently out.

I have a lot of respect for wait staff and usually tip 30-50% -- before this night the lowest I'd ever tipped was 10%, and that was for bad service.  Humberto was so incredibly rude and arrogant on TOP of being a very bad waiter (it was not busy either -- he had ONE other table) that I left no tip at all.

I may go again just to see if the manager heard any of our complaints (which we told to the check-out person and another waiter) and made any changes.  If the service is decent then, I'll come back and review the food.

I've only visited once, but I was very impressed!  I ordered the black bean burger and it was incredible.  Nice thick slices of fresh tomato (not thin slices of half-green tomato that I have sadly come to expect on a burger), a generous number of onions, REAL crisp lettuce (not it's limp, beaten-down cousin that goes by the same name), a whole-grain bun, and a delicious meat-free patty that put beef to shame.  The fries were perfectly hot and just the right blend of crisp/soft.

The server was friendly and attentive, the place was clean and bright, and of course the food was delicious.  The only reason I didn't give this place 5 stars is because it was a bit pricey ($9 for my burger and fries).

Some hairdressers forget that you're the one wearing the hair and therefore your opinion is the one that matters.  Such people will try to convince you to get the cut they think is best or they just nod along and then cut it differently than you ask for (infuriating!).  I'd gotten five disastrous haircuts in a row from different salons and hairdressers when I finally discovered Unique.

What a RELIEF it is to have someone actually LISTEN and do exactly what I ask!  I've been going to Unique and having Michelle do my hair for about a year now, and I've been happy with the results every time.

This is absolutely the BEST salon I've ever been to -- everyone is friendly and down-to-earth, and although no one there would dye their hair vivid violet, they don't give me that "omg-you-are-insane" look or try to talk me into a more 'reasonable' color (like Three-13 did).  The atmosphere is really relaxed and the prices are downright amazing.  I really can't imagine any way it could improve!

If you're going for the smoothies -- they're yum, but expensive ($7.00+ for a 20 oz, when you can get a 32 oz for $6.00 at Planet Smoothie).  Everything seemed scandalously overpriced: I compared some prices to Whole Foods prices and each time they were at least $1.00 more here.  (from Bach's Essences to Annie's shells & cheese)  Unless you're buying only one item, I'd recommend making a longer drive to Whole Foods because those price differences will add up fast.  Also, it's a fairly small store so you just don't have as much selection.  It's not bad, but it's not good either.

The coffee was excellent!  Not only was it tasty, but they made it with flair (a heart swirled in the foam).  It felt like the baristas really put their hearts into it (no pun intended), and I love that.  I think you can taste the difference when someone makes food/drink with joy rather than as a chore.

And the atmosphere was lovely!  It reminded me so much of coffeeshops I visited in Glasgow -- something about the wooden construction and rough-hewn feel.  Not a lot of space inside, but very cozy.  Also, the outdoor seating is BEAUTIFUL, surrounded on two sides by big trees and bamboo, with a garden just beyond (it was dark so we didn't explore that) and a lovely Japanese Maple in the center of the courtyard.

If you go, don't go for the coffee.

I've only been in once, and did not paint any pottery or have any of the food, so I can't really rate those things.  I will note that they had a wide selection of paint and a fair price on the pieces.  And the space was nice and open with a lot of seating -- good for meeting with a medium-sized group.

For me, it's all about the coffee.  They did a good job with the tools at hand, but they only had a few flavored syrups (I've gotten quite spoiled with flavor in my coffee), and rather than high-grade chocolate syrup they used your standard chocolate-milk type syrup.  So if you're a fan of bare-naked lattes, it'll work for you, but if you like something a little more flavorful and sweet, then you'd be better off going a little further south on Roswell Rd and visiting Land of 1,000 Hills.

note: I shop for sci-fi/fantasy, historical fiction, psychology, spirituality, biographies, feminism/gender issues, and non-fiction about animals/plants.  I only occasionally glance at general fiction or other genres, so I cannot rate them.

My criteria for a good used book store:

it has quick turnover, so that when I go back next month there are plenty of new books to pick over.  
--- Book Nook II rates a 5? on this -- I've only been there twice, so I can't  say for sure how good the turnover is, but there was about a month between my two visits and I got a hefty haul each time, so my best guess is that it has WONDERFUL turnover.  Plus, there are just so MANY books that it's likely you'll spot something you didn't notice before.

it stocks a good number of books in a wide variety of genres.  
--- Book Exchange rates a 6 out of 5 stars on this!  I am WOWED by the massive size of the store and the fact that each genre has a good selection (no matter how obscure!).  They outshine the next-best-stocked store I've been to by about 200%.

it is clean, organized, and well-lit, with friendly helpful staff.  
--- 4.8 stars -- I wanna give a full 5, but it's very dusty (hardwood floors that don't get swept too often).  Extremely well organized! Rather than non-fiction being jumbled into 3 or 4 categories, there must be at least 40!  If they have what you want, you WILL be able to find it.  The staff is friendly -- I don't know how helpful they are because it's so well-organized I haven't needed to ask for help.

prices are low, with fair trade-in value.
--- 5 stars!  This is my new spot for bringing in books to trade.  They have a system I'd not seen before -- your credit can only be used for half of your purchase, but it is counted toward half of the usual price.  So, say you had credit and wanted to buy a book which was $8 new and thus without credit would be $4.  The credit would pay for half, and you would pay $2 for the book.  You end up spending more than at the places where you can use pure credit, but you get an overall better deal, I think (since most places use credit against the original $8).

Overall, I was THRILLED!  I could easily spend several hours here every month.  Definitely my favorite bookstore of all time!

Also, they have a large selection of CDs.  If you have eclectic taste and comb through like I do, you can probably find something you like each time, but if you're a top-40 music lover, then you will probably be out of luck because they're not too choosy with the CDs they accept.

AND they have a good-sized DVD section!

note: I shop for sci-fi/fantasy, historical fiction, psychology, spirituality, biographies, and sociology, and only occasionally glance at general fiction or other genres, so I cannot rate them.

My criteria for a good used book store:

it has quick turnover, so that when I go back next month there are plenty of new books to pick over.  
--- Bookends rates a 4 here, but I visit once every two weeks.  There's usually something that catches my eye, even though I visit so often.

it stocks a good number of books in a wide variety of genres.  
--- Bookends rates a 3 on this, mostly because of the small size of the shop.  There is a nice variety and a decent number of books, but not above average.

it is clean, organized, and well-lit, with friendly helpful staff.  
--- 4 stars for being clean and well-lit, with friendly helpful staff, but it's not very well-organized.  There simply isn't enough shelf space for all the books, so they teeter in giant stacks on top of the shelves and on the floor.  Everything is in the correct section though, and it can be fun to play Jenga with the stacks ;-)

prices are low, with fair trade-in value.
--- 4 stars here; the purchase prices are quite fair, but the trade-ins don't give as much credit in return as some others do.

Bonus: they're open late!  for a night owl like myself, this is a very important factor.  Also, they sell CDs and DVDs -- they don't have a great many, but I've found quite a few good selections.