Jennifer "jennyjenjen" N.'s Profile

This is probably my favorite pho place in San Diego. I wouldn't say that it necessarily means it's the best, but I still like it a lot. I can almost always be sure of what I get there - sometimes they forget the extras I request, but they make sure to rush it to me - and I've never been displeased with what they have served me.

I typically get the P6, or the pho tai nam gan, with extra tendon. If you've never had tendon before, it's not as weird as it sounds; it's soft and tasty and seriously worth getting. I tend to eat a lot of pho, and some people say that the pho here is subpar, but... maybe I'm ignorant or something but I still think it's rather good. I would say some of the places up on Convoy or in Mira Mesa are better, but I still wouldn't call Pho Fifth Ave's pho "subpar" or even "average."

One of my favorite things to order is the spring rolls with shrimp. Sooo good. The peanut sauce is to die for.

Service is prompt, friendly, and they tend to recognize you if you're a regular. The food rarely takes long - it's really fast, in fact - and they always fill up your water and get you your bill in decent time as well.

It's busy most of the time but never too packed, or at least not that I've seen. You can get in and get out all the time. Even the time I was sick, ordered pho for takeout, and it spilled all over my car - the lid wasn't set well - they helped me fix it and replaced the food.

And I like the little lollipop with the bill. That's a cute touch. Simple, but cute.

All in all, I'd say that you should come here to fulfill your pho craving for a reasonable price. Don't expect fireworks or anything, but it's a fantastic place and I love it.

When I was a semi-broke college student in Boulder, Colorado, I used to hop the B bus on the weekends just to go to the first Snooze, in Denver, and have some delicious pancakes with friends. Then we'd get right back on the bus and go back to Boulder.

That's how good this place is.

And it's almost the same, except it's here in San Diego. It's the same menu and almost the same feel - they even stuck with the original decor. The minute I heard we were getting a location here, I marked my calendar for the purported opening date and gathered a handful of friends to come with me. I wanted my friends to know the goodness of one of their ridiculously rich Red Velvet pancakes. I had to introduce my friends to their incredible menu of eggs Benedict. And I had to get my paws on some of their French toast.

I really don't even know where to start with these guys because I just love everything on the menu. Once in a while I find something that isn't my favorite, but that's okay - it was good anyways. I think the only gripe, if you can call it that, I have is that to have the hash browns all crispy, you have to make sure you ask for it. And that's it. That's the only gripe I have. At all.

Mimosas are worth getting here, especially if you'll be waiting to get in. It's worth the wait, though, as you get what you paid for and more; a flight of pancakes can be shared quite easily and it's easy to stuff yourself on a breakfast burrito or eggs Benny. Oh yeah, I mentioned the eggs Benedict already... but there is an entire menu devoted to eggs Benedict, and my favorite is probably the Upstream Benny. Heck, you won't go wrong with any of 'em. I mean... even the decor is a treat.

If I had to choose a favorite pancake, though, it would probably be the Sweet Potato Pancake. Warning, though: it's pretty sweet. But delish nonetheless.

As for any of the negative reviews, I seem to see a lot of people complaining about the wait. If you haven't figured out how to wait in line (hello, Hash House) and can't stick it out like the rest of us, I don't really feel sorry for you. The place is in high demand and that's just how it is.

Snooze breaks my diet like no other. And I'm soooo happy it's here, because I don't know how I lasted two years without one of my favorite brunch joints in all the world. Huge thanks to the wonderful owners for bringing this place here. Adam and Jon rock, and local manager Robert always says hi. What really shows the quality of ownership is that people moved *from Colorado* to work here (and they show their Colorado pride all the time with the shirts, football games on TV, and the reminiscin' every time one of us from the 303 stops in to chat).

Now if only Lucile's would open in San Diego, too...

What a neat place full of a bunch of freshly-baked Danish goodies. "Hygge" - a Danish word meaning something kind of like "coziness" - describes the personality of this place rather well. The people who work here are friendly, the baked goods are rather authentic, and the place is just the right size with a touch of Scandinavian design.

The only thing I didn't particularly enjoy was my beverage; it wasn't a particularly good drink, and I wish I could remember exactly what I ordered, but it wasn't spectacular. And that's no big deal I guess because on should go here for the pastries, not the beverages, and the pastries are certainly worth the visit.

Having spent a lot of time in Scandinavia and having a great appreciation for Scandinavian foods, this was a great pleasure and I am sure I will go back again next time I am in Los Angeles.

This is a little taste of home for me as "Noodles" (as we call it) is based in beautiful Boulder, Colorado.

The place isn't fancy at all, and that's okay. This is a great place to get a pasta fix, especially if you want something a little quirky. Their international dishes aren't meant to be authentic, but they're great dishes if you want a little taste of something that isn't altogether domestic. And it's a place where you can afford to have something freshly made and delicious even if you don't have the cash for a standard sit-down restaurant or you don't need something particularly fancy.

I love the whole grain Tuscan linguine and the pesto cavatappi. If I'm feeling like changing it up, I get the mushroom stroganoff. The pad thai isn't authentic but it's tasty, as are the Japanese pan noodles. I have yet to be disappointed by the Wisconsin mac & cheese. Oh! And the flatbread is always worth it. The rice krispy/marshmallow treat is pretty good but not always fresh.

I am very glad Noodles & Co. is in San Diego and I hope they not only stay but grow. I'd be a sad panda if I couldn't get my Noodles fix away from home!

This is probably my favorite sit-down Thai restaurant in San Diego proper. You can come here with friends, bring your parents here, have a casual lunch, or even go on a date here. The cuisine is affordable and there's a great selection of traditional Thai dishes. It's really hard to get let down here.

The service is above average but I've never had knockout service, though that's not that big of a deal - much better than coming here and getting bad service. They're always pretty quick about making sure you have your beverages and it never takes too long to order.

I love the appetizers and I have yet to try a dish I don't like. The curries can get pretty hot if you ask for it and the noodles are never soggy and they don't overdo any sauces.

I come here frequently and will continue to come here. I'm a fan for sure!

My dad went by here a while ago to see if it was worth fixing my car to get it past emissions. Eventually it wasn't, but he held onto their card and stuck it on my fridge in case I needed to repair the car I had to replace the old junker with.

And then came the day when my brakes were metal to metal.

I had gotten lazy with my brakes and I was looking to spend no more than $300 with repairs. Not only did they say they could do that, when they were just over a few cents they knocked the change off to make sure they stuck with the estimate. They were prompt, did not overcharge me (some places quoted me much higher), and respectful. Usually I feel pressure when I go places as a female by myself seeking car repairs, but they did not do that here.

These guys are friendly and professional and I will come back anytime I need repairs.

Saw the ad in one of those annoying mass mailings. I usually don't keep them, but I had an insert laying around and my friends and I were sitting around watching movies wishing we had pizza. We called, psyched to get some pizza. The guy who answered had such a thick accent that he was unintelligible. Now, as the daughter of an immigrant, I'm pretty tolerant about that kind of thing. But not when the person who answers the phone is a complete asshole.

Not only was this guy an asshole, he didn't believe me when I told him that my address is in the 92101 zip code. I gave him my address but also my cross street and he could not figure out where the hell I am. He disagreed with me several times about where my house is. And he would not speak clearly no matter how many times I asked him to speak more clearly. Finally I just said, "I really just can't understand you."

"I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU EITHER," he screamed back at me.

That's when I hung up and decided that this was not worth it.

This will be a short review: I don't remember the last time I was this sick. Didn't even bother with their pre-made sushi, just wanted some froyo on a hot day. I had a very miserable ride home because, well, sorry to put it this way, using a restroom in OB is damn near impossible. Not a good idea and will never be going back.

Is this my finest moment as a Yelper? Certainly not. But is that which feels like death in a styrofoam cup worth no more than one star? You bet it is.

The two stars for this review are for a few things that really irritated me about an otherwise great experience.

My friend's brother got married here and the wedding was really fun. We had a DJ, an open bar, *fantastic* food, and everyone enjoyed the ceremony and speeches.

So, I plan events. It's not my day job, but I have planned a decent array of events, for as few as 30 people to as many as 700, involving food, venues, budgets, advertising, etc. I don't plan weddings, so I'm sure I could use more wedding planning experience before I criticize too harshly, but I think common sense rules help out with the things I'm about to pick on right now.

Let me just say that this is a cute venue. My friends and I loved it. We would love to do a photo shoot there or host a fundraiser there. It might be on the list if we're able to wrangle it someday.

The first thing that irked me was about some of the staff members. Are they volunteers? I'm not sure, other reviews seem to point at volunteers. I thought most of them were really nice and super kind. But a few of them just acted a little odd. Like the one who was trying to direct me to the restroom? Sure, I wondered aloud where it was and she (in good will, I'm sure) came right up to tell me where it was. But lady, I'm 25 and have great hearing, so I'm not sure why you were speaking so loudly and slowly. I can totally handle a conversation in English, thankyouverymuch, in case maybe that was the deal. And it was kind of awkward how you hovered around my conversations. I get that the upstairs was for the wedding party, but my 'date' was in the wedding party and I had been up there before, so... well, whatever, you were nice but kind of odd. Kind of odd.

What was even weirder was how the end of the night turned out. I knew that the venue needed to be cleared out by 10 and I had kept my eye on the clock the whole time, being a little OCD about things like that myself. But when that last song came on and my friend wanted to get out on the floor - at 9:15, plenty of time left - I didn't really think about packing my stuff up before getting on the dance floor. Didn't think I should probably down that last drink. It'd be there when I get back, right?

Uh, wrong. Last song was done no later than 9:30, and when I got back to the table, all of our nametags, most of the party favors, and all of our drinks were already gone. Okay, I get it: there's stuff to put away by 10. I understand that. But after coming down from a good, natural high, enjoying how much fun I had on the dance floor, something about that really pissed me off. I know my tablemates wanted their nametags and I know not everyone had claimed their favors. I kinda wanted my nametag, but it wasn't really about the nametag; it was about the fact that, to me - as someone who has plenty of sympathy for event workers as I've had the thankless task myself - this was just tacky! Don't you learn this in Kindergarten, that something with someone else's name on it isn't yours and you should leave it alone? Maybe I'm being bitchy here, but that felt a lot like a kick in the ass to get the hell out before they shoved us out. And there was still plenty of time for them to put away other things - so it's not like they needed to clear those tables while our stuff was still there.

I did complain to a guy who offered to go look for my nametag. Mind you, he didn't seem to understand that I wasn't complaining about the nametag itself. He kept trying to explain that they needed to get out of there early. Look, dude, you didn't get it, I told you then and I'm telling you again: the point was that you threw away things that were for the guests, and you did it in a way that looked like (and sounded like) you were just rushing us out. Get it now?

I've always hated when servers take your plate from you when you're barely finished eating, or remove your glass when there's still some left. It's not about that last morsel, it's about the idea that you're at a wedding or a nice dinner or a pleasant date where being rushed is just plain rude. I had a full glass of sangria I didn't finish. And my first thought about not finding my nametag was that I'd placed it underneath my cell phone, yet it was still gone. Was someone picking up my cell phone? I don't know, but this all rubbed me the wrong way. I'm generous with my reviews and sympathize with stressed workers, but this time I'm just annoyed enough to complain.

So, a few things about other reviews: there are a lot of out-of-towners (not all bad!) and a lot of people who seemed to think this was anything but an Italian-American place. Well, I may live in San Diego, but I am not a Chicago outsider and have spent quite a lot of my life, since childhood, in the city and the suburbs. That said, I'm not surprised that a lot of out-of-towners were either let down or unimpressed; genuine Chicago deep dish is hard to find, and if you think you know it because you've found it outside of Chicagoland in California, NY, or elsewhere, you could easily be wrong. However, I'm quite glad to see that a lot of people from out of town have learned which places to try before they make a judgement on good deep dish.

Of course there's debate over the best pizza in Chicago. I like Giordano's, too, and I loved Lou Malnati's until I ate at Gino's East. I'd have to say that I prefer Gino's East.

The thing about Gino's East is the crust. Although the last time I went there it was doughier than I prefer (which is partly why I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5), most of the time they get it right. Yes, there's an hour-long wait much of the time, and that's why you order cheese sticks and a pitcher of beer. And since when does eating have to be snap-snap and quick as hell? Only since America, my friends, and this is an opportunity to slow down, take it easy, and enjoy the time you have with the people at your table while you sip at a beer.

The service is so-so here. The time that I visited with my younger cousins and only had one pie, the server acted less enthused with us and catered a bit more to the bigger tables with more adults (I guess it looked like we didn't have any money). I've been to other locations with better service though and I am not certain this is entirely representative of their staff.

Any pie here with spinach and/or sausage is great if you ask me. And the crust? Fantastic. Never need more than 1 or 2 slices and it's even good when you take it home!

All in all, I pick Gino's East for my deep dish. At least come here and try it, then go try other places and come here again.Try other locations if it isn't a spectacular, rewarding visit. Just don't forget your silver or gold marker so you can write on the wall and leave your mark!