Jennifer "jennyjenjen" N.'s Profile

Any review using the phrases "the meat is always tender" and "peanut sauce" is sure to be a four-star review or higher, right? Well this one is.

My parents love taking out-of-town guests here and we have not yet heard a complaint from any of our visitors. The food has been pretty good so far, but I have avoided ordering the pho as what tastes I've had from my mother's orders didn't seem to be up to par with what I'm used to (and spoiled by) in San Diego. Well, it's not San Diego, but for a Phoenix suburb, it's still pretty good food.

In terms of wait service, I find it pretty baffling what poor service others have reported. We have generally had pretty great service at Saigon Kitchen, particularly from Hue, but once in a while some of their servers seem a little disorganized and distracted. During my last visit, I requested extra peanut sauce (even though it doesn't usually go with the dish I ordered), and the waiter told me "No, this is the sauce," and pointed at the nuoc cham (dipping sauce). I told him that I understood but that I wanted extra peanut sauce. Finally another waitress with a little more sense told me that she could go get it, but I was just too annoyed by the other server who kept refusing a reasonable request - something my dad asks for and had just gotten a moment earlier, actually - that I told her I'd be fine. (And yes. I'm also childishly laughing every time I say peanut sauce. There! Did it again...)

Other than a few minor miscues, I really enjoy lunch here. The meat is always tender and all the ingredients seem fresh. I like the shrimp rolls quite a lot. On my last visit, I ordered Vietnamese iced coffee, and at first was disappointed because it seemed kind of small; after trying it I realized that it was just too rich to be served any bigger. I'd order it again though.

My favorite thing is the combo bun. Shrimp, pork, and egg rolls - can't go wrong with this one. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and the serving size was ample.

One day I will have to order the pho, but again I don't think it will measure up to the hole-in-the-wall places in San Diego, and that's okay. I'll still come here with my parents and enjoy other dishes.

And the peanut sauce.

Stumbled into the first Chipotle in Yuma on the second day it was open. It's a chain, of course, so I rarely feel like giving a lot of stars; you get chain-quality (read: cheap) food, except a little better (because Chipotle is all about natural ingredients). This location is sure to be very busy between those new to the experience and people who want a quick alternative to the In-N-Out across the parking lot. It's also a good option for lunch when Red Lobster seems too time-consuming or expensive.

It is very clean and I hope it stays that way. The staff seems comfortable and eager to impress.

I have never loved Chipotle but it doesn't usually disappoint. The ingredients are pretty fresh. It seems like this Chipotle has less selection than I've seen from other locations, so perhaps it is their strategy for newer locations to start with the basics.

I would like a better selection of bottled drinks, but like I said - I bet a new roll-out has fewer options. The drinks were not out for display like I have seen elsewhere but I did see beer and bottled drinks on the menu.

The huge queue I waited in was worth it over the food court nearby and even the In-N-Out I'm used to stopping at when I'm in town. For being a chain, it's pretty good and worth four stars, especially because the staff was very nice.

Could I please give this place less than one star? Please?

Whatever. One star. Because that's my best option.

I only visited this establishment because a friend wished to celebrate her birthday here. Even if some of my friends like it, I just can't be persuaded. Sorry, friends - this is no judgement on you. And I'll be honest: I have not been here during the daytime; my visit was on a Saturday night. And I have no idea what the food is like here. But I don't think any food could ever convince me that this place deserves more than a rock-bottom rating.

I got a kick out of the old school rap videos playing, but the way the place practically died when the "DJ" started playing a half hour of recently-popular house music destroyed any shred of hope I had in this place. Come on, people, really? You get balls-to-the-wall excited over Nelly, but Calvin Harris makes you soft? Is this a joke?!

So maybe it's a low blow to comment on taste like that, but it is not a subjective matter when it comes to the drinks at this joint. I was shocked at the ridiculous prices for the most disgusting, watered-down drinks I've ever had in my life. Ever. Anywhere. I've paid less for stronger, bigger drinks in Vegas. Most bartenders can't sight-pour worth anything anyways, but these guys were so inconsistent it was painful. Buy these guys some jiggers already.

And the clientele: they were entertaining, if you will. The patrons were a mixed bag of plastic surgery superstars, bro-tastic sharks looking for the night's hookup, and large groups of.... swingers? Or something? I'm not kidding. By 1 AM I was wondering if it was just some twisted social experiment and John Quiñones was hiding around the corner with a camera crew.

Bottom line: $5 cover and a line in the middle of North Park for a lousy sports-bar-turned-wannabe-nightclub with overpriced and watered-down drinks? Huh? No wonder it draws the crowd it does.

I'd heard bad things. But I didn't know it really is THAT bad, not until I saw it all with my own eyes. Had it not been for my friend's birthday, I would've been outta there faster than you could say "Ed Hardy."

When trying to visit the Carnitas Snack Shack one fine Tuesday with a good friend and finding it closed (I understand that greatness needs a break once in a while), I knew the solution: stomp on over to The Mission instead.

I'd almost forgotten how big the portions are and how filling the food is, but rest assured, I was reminded right away that this is one of several reasons why I keep coming back. One of the other reasons is the Plato Verde con Huevos, which is a plate of vegetarian sweet tamales with eggs and beans. I typically add some avocado slices (it goes really well with the dish) and/or a little bit of bread for the over-easy eggs. This is my absolutely favorite dish here, and believe me, it is not disappointing.

Other great dishes I have problems deciding between include the chicken apple sausage & eggs, the Mission Rosemary, and the Zen Breakfast. The Mission always gets the eggs right; their over-easy eggs are almost perfect and their scrambled eggs unmatched. If you truly love good eggs, The Mission will serve you well.

There's a really good beverage selection, my favorites being the passion fruit iced tea, the Mission Mimosa, and the mango and green tea freeze. I have yet to try the Bloody Mary, but I hear it's not too bad.

I knock a star off my review only because the service is inconsistent. Not horrible, just inconsistent. Sometimes it takes a little while to get servers' attention or the food is really, really slow, even when it's not terribly busy. It's never a huge hassle, but it isn't terribly good that the place can be borderline empty (which happens weekday afternoons) yet still take quite a while for service.

All in all, it's worth the wait you may encounter on the weekends.

I have brought my dog here for the self-serve bathing station and I highly recommend it. I came here with a Groupon, which was difficult on the Groupon end at first, but the shop knew how to fix it and it worked out well.

I really liked taking my Shar-Pei Toby here because he's terribly stubborn, doesn't like baths, and gets a lot of anxiety from noisy water fixtures - but he does really well here. While it was tough getting him into the bin, he seemed to even like his bath once we got him going. Toby especially needed a bath this time because he had gotten fleas from a playdate - but no big deal, they have flea shampoo!

Toby really loves the homemade treats. He's kind of picky about treats, but he would've eaten the whole box had I left him to it.

Also, the blueberry facial - who knew there was such a thing for dogs? - was really good and gave him a nice fruity smell.

The staff was incredibly nice and really liked having Toby there. Well, of course - Toby's the best.

After being disturbed by his little bout with fleas, this was the perfect place to bring my dog for a good wash. I will be bringing him back!

I kinda hate giving this place a poor review, but after the half-dozen times I've been here, I just really can't get over the awful food. If the food was just a tad bit better, I'd up it to three stars - but there are other beer places with fantastic food and those places have really earned their stars.

So the beer selection is great and I can't fault them for that. There's always a good dark beer on tap. The selection is fantastic!

The decor is, shall we say, outdated. Not that a beer place really needs a nice decor or anything, but it doesn't help the place one bit. I'm not sure you can expect much from being in a little strip mall in such an odd place anyhow.

I've ordered three different burgers, a salad, a sandwich, and a taco plate. One burger was pretty good, but the other burgers were too greasy, not cooked the way I'd ordered them, and never seemed to get better. The lettuce on the salad wasn't terribly fresh and didn't seem to be of good quality. The taco plate was tasteless and the sandwich was completely overpriced. When my friends suggest going here, I typically join them for beers after having eaten at home. I just can't stomach eating here again, nor paying so much for horrible food.

The service is inconsistent. Sometimes you have a really good, competent server, and once in a while you get a real dud. I'm sure they're all nice people, but I'm never quite sure what I'm getting when it comes to service.

I really hope they shape up the food so it might be enjoyable to eat here sometime. I don't know how I didn't learn my lesson after so many disappointing meals. At least there's the beer!

For cheap sushi, it's not too bad.

However, it's cheap sushi. And while I realize that I'm now spoiled living in California - I'll put it this way, sushi in Colorado doesn't measure up for obvious reasons - I still think that this place is passable for a cheap lunch and a blind sushi craving. Otherwise, if you really want good sushi, Sushi Deli is not the place. No, not 1, not 2, not 3 - none of 'em.

Cheap, low-quality sushi is pretty much three stars straight out of the gate. Cheap, low-quality sushi with lousy service, bad parking, a horribly long wait, and mediocre drink specials turns into two stars.

What really bugs me about the food here is that it's terribly inconsistent. I have, however, experienced consistently dry rice. The rice in a roll isn't supposed to have a crunch to it when you bite in... right? Didn't think so. That got tiring the third time I ordered a roll and could hear my own teeth against the rice.

The fish just isn't consistently fresh either. I used to be pretty in-tune to how restaurants ordered their fish and when the best days of the week to go are, but there's no telling at Sushi Deli. Especially this one. Mushy salmon? Ick. Slimy yellowtail? No thanks.

Oh. And all those fancy rolls with spicy this and special that? It's to cover up the fact that the fish isn't very good in the first place. Should be a warning sign.

Besides, there's not much of a selection - not if you really like sushi. Like, something other than rolls. There's plenty of other Japanese dishes, though, and it might be a better bet to get a roll and a few pieces of sashimi or nigiri to accompany a dish of noodles.

Did I mention the parking? I'm afraid to get towed here. I know there's a fenced lot across the street that's okay for parking, but beware of small crashes in that lot because people drive way too fast there. That whole street is a parking mess and I prefer to avoid it entirely.

Overall, if you want that cheap sushi experience because you're broke (yep) and have a sushi craving (often!), go ahead, go to Sushi Deli. Just pick a different one and use this one only in emergencies, or when you have a few hours to kill waiting for service.

I don't know how I haven't written a review about Tiger! Tiger! until now. This place is ace.

It's no secret that I love the Blind Lady Ale House (aka BLAH), so of course I'm going to give a high rating to its North Park counterpart. If you ran the BLAH 3rd Anniversary Beer Run (I use the word "ran" lightly), you'd also know that the two restaurants are also only about a mile and a half away from each other. Great stumbling distance if you're feeling ambitious, right?

I invited my friends out to Tiger! Tiger! for my birthday knowing full well that it would be a hit. Between the amazing craft beer selection and the unique selection of sandwiches, salads, soups, and even desserts, there's really something for everyone. Heck, there's even oysters. How can you go wrong with oysters and beer? (I mean, in reasonable consumption.)

I really like the bahn mi here, with one exception: the bread typically used for the bahn mi is too dense. One of the lighter breads is usually a lot better, and they've switched breads out for me so I'm betting they will accommodate a substitution request.

Other great picks for food include the clam chowder and the po' boy. Mmm, the po' boy.

I hear that the low tables are gone and something more permanent has replaced them; guess I'll have to stop in to see how that's going, but even if they hadn't replaced them, I still wouldn't have minded the low tables (being short has its benefits).

The owners know how to run a good, honest business. I'm glad that somebody out there still values quality. I also really like the staff here and have found that everybody is accommodating, quick, and honest about their opinions. If you aren't sure what to order, the staff knows the menu rather well and will be able to help. They're also very beer-savvy, just like at BLAH.

Overall, if you like BLAH, you'll love Tiger! Tiger!. It may not be exactly the same, and that's fine with me; the important character aspects of BLAH carry over rather well without making you feel like you're in the same restaurant. You can bet I'll be back for more.

If it weren't for the clientele (which I don't often judge harshly when reviewing a place) and feeling like I didn't really fit in here, I'd probably give it another star. But what... the... heck?

I'm a fairly sports-savvy girl who loves sports bars and enjoys a cold beer and baseball on the tube. So I typically feel pretty comfortable in most sports bars.

But... I don't think it's fair to sports bars to place Market in the same category.

Don't get me wrong - I really liked the food. We devoured the popcorn shrimp basket in its clever little movie box container. Dana's Dish with alfredo was super delicious and I even ended up taking some of it home. Shameless, maybe, but whatever.

Yet I still don't think I can get over the fact that it was guido central here and I don't think most of the men in attendance were actually there because it's (supposedly) a sports bar. Sure, we got seated near another group that was also very intently watching the games, but we were in the minority.

To be honest I was happy that my cousin's boyfriend picked up the tab for this one. It felt like we were paying for the experience - a mismatched, awkward experience - and not the food, so it felt like we paid too much (which we probably did anyways because it seemed a little overpriced). I felt dirty as we left, as if I had just dropped some major bills on a bump-and-grind club with $10 well drinks and $40 cover just to give my number to a greasy wannabe with pit stains so he would go away.

Joke's on me, I guess. Is it a thing, to 'market' (ba-da-ching) a douche-tastic bar as a sports bar, ya know, for novelty?

I seethe with jealousy every time I think about the fact that my cousin and his family live just a few blocks away from this Lincoln Park treasure.

I have to admit that my sweet tooth is not like it used to be. Chocolate? I don't salivate at the thought of chocolate-dipped anything anymore. Frosting? Always seems too sweet. Cupcakes? Well... I can be convinced, maybe if you want to share.

But it's different at Sweet Mandy B's.

My cousin's wife had specifically mentioned this place when another cousin and I talked about boarding the L to grab a bite in Lincoln Park. "But what about real food?" I asked. "Don't eat too much, whatever you get, before you come here," she said. "You will like it."

And was she ever right!

Between three adults and one little kiddo, we had quite the assortment of cupcakes and other goodies. I ordered an orange creamsicle cupcake. I'd never tasted anything like it. I also picked up the most amazing s'more ever which I kept to take with me to the airport. I was not disappointed one bit.

The customer service is amazing, the choice of cupcakes wide, and the quality of baked goods top-notch.

I really can't wait to go back. If I'm going to satisfy my sweet tooth, it's got to be worthwhile - and Sweet Mandy B's totally hits the spot.