Bekki "nomnomnom" J.'s Profile

Ok, I'll amend my review. The last few times I came to drop off packages, the staff has been pretty nice and no one tried to get me out the door without a receipt. Keep it up, guys. :)

This a nice place to try, provided that you are aware that this is fusion cuisine and is going to be considered extremely pricey compared to the typical authentic but cheap Asian place. But if that is the experience that you're looking for, why would you come here?

I loved my Bee's Knees cocktail, which was gin with lemon and honey. It was dangerously delicious without being overpoweringly sweet. If my tolerance hadn't gone to hell, I would have knocked back a few more of these. Instead I nursed mine the whole night like a wimp. :)

We had the daikon rice cake and pork shoulder to start. They were both very good! The pork was so tender and the garlic chives and pineapple anchovy sauce complemented it perfectly. It was easily the highlight of my meal.

We were less impressed by the entrees which we shared over some jasmine rice. We had shrimp stir fried with onions in a caramelized chili sauce. I really don't want to compare this with the typical Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant because it's not exactly apples to apples, but you can get something like this dish for much cheaper elsewhere. As our vegetable side, we had some brussels sprouts with black trumpet mushrooms, which were good but I have prepared similar at home with very little effort. While we liked both dishes, they were not anything special at this price point.

For dessert we had the beignets, which was a fun way to end the meal. They were fried to a perfect crisp on the outside and somehow managed to be both light and heavy at the same time. We ate them dipped in a mascarpone sauce, as we sipped our teas. The husband had a Hong Kong style milk tea that was perfect and not too sweet. I had a jasmine 'art' tea served in a wine glass. The leaves were arranged into a ball that expanded into a flower while it steeped. It was like drinking tea with a weirdly pretty growing alien baby in it. It sounds gross but it's not. Haha.

Despite having reservations, there was a short delay in getting our table, but other that, the service was fast and efficient. Our server was friendly and just attentive enough despite being incredibly busy. The location, views, and atmosphere are all great. It is a very 'nice' place without being too fussy.

I would definitely come back again after a while. Next time, I may go more appetizer and dessert heavy though.

Moving is always a pain, but Martin and his crew made our lives a lot easier when we had to do it. We had 3 movers help us move from a 2 bedroom across SF last summer. They were efficient and finished moving from door to door within 4 hours. Everyone was genuinely nice and treated our things with great care. The price was also reasonable. I highly recommend these guys!

BethAnn is nothing short of amazing! I was disappointed many times in my search for a wedding cake, but when we finally sat down to meet with BethAnn, bells were ringing and angels were singing [in my head.... no I'm not crazy] and HALLELUJAH I knew I had found THE one!

Being the OCD bride that I was, I made an inspiration panel for prospective bakeries to look at. Every other baker I met with politely dismissed me with an "oh... that's nice" with their eyes glazed over. But not BethAnn, who got totally excited and started doing concept sketches on the spot!

In the end, she created a gorgeous and unique wedding cake that fit our theme and color scheme perfectly. And [subtle Portal reference in 3.... 2....1....] the cake was so delicious and moist. :P

Heidi did my hair for my wedding and it was exactly what I wanted. I showed her a few inspiration pictures and she made me a perfect combination of the hairstyles I showed her, a voluminous low up-do with a retro inspired bump at the top.

I was concerned because my hair wasn't that long (a few inches past my shoulders) and I have annoying baby fine hair, but she gave me the volume that I wanted in my up-do, and it stayed up all night! She also incorporated my hair flower and veil perfectly into the hairstyle.

She did a wonderful job with 3 of my bridesmaids that opted for up-dos. She came up with different hairstyles for all of them based on pictures and they all looked fabulous. :)

Her prices are reasonable, she is great with hair, and she is a nice person to boot. So go see Heidi! And bring inspiration pics!

One word to describe Lynn-Kai: AWESOMEEEEEE!!! My husband and I are super picky about photography but we did not want to spend a fortune on our wedding photos, and we can't be more happy with our choice! Lynn-Kai is a super skilled and talented photographer, and he has a very artistic post processing style as well. He is great at cute/artsy/dramatic posed shots as well as journalistic shots, so you get the best of both worlds.

Not only are the photographers super talented, they genuinely care about capturing your special moments. They are nice people and easy to hang out with. (Very important because you will be with them all day long!)

We had a lot of fun with Lynn on the engagement shoot. We spent an entire day running around various parts of San Francisco to get some great shots. We even got kicked out of an abandoned building by a bum!

On our wedding day, we met the second and third shooters, Derek and Jing Yi, who were also excellent photographers in their own right and contributed some awesome shots to the mix. Lynn, Derek, and Jing were there with us the entire day, from the time we were getting ready in the afternoon to near the end of the reception. We did a few series of posed shots and that was a lot of fun, but most of the day they just captured moments, which they did expertly and unobtrusively.

We just got access to the proofing gallery and the pictures are AMAZING. :)

Greenfish totally rocked my wedding on May 23! They did full service catering and managed all the rentals for my wedding at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga.

Mina is not just a total sweetheart, she is also a great coordinator. She made sure that our wedding was perfect AND on budget. During the last week before the wedding, she kept in touch with me almost daily just to make sure that all the details were in place.

On the day of, the reception area was set up beautifully and the sushi bar looked amazing: Piles of fresh sushi made on-site by Chef Eric who is not just a good chef but a super nice guy. The sushi bar was beautifully decorated with vegetables carved into flowers. The fish was fresh and the sushi itself was fantastic. The vegetarians were happy too because the chef would make vegetarian rolls for them on the spot.

We had bacon wrapped scallops and teriyaki chicken skewers for hors d'oeuvres. I only had small bites of each before having to run off to take pictures and I REALLY WANTED MORE!!! Especially the scallops! D:

The kalbi, salmon, and vegetable dishes were really good too, but I did not see how the other buffet setting looked though I'm sure it was great. The only reason I didn't get to see it was because Mina made sure that my husband and I got served our own plates once we sat down during the reception. So unlike a lot of brides, I actually had time to eat my own wedding food! The only thing I regret is being too busy and anxious to have a full appetite!

In short, all the food was AWESOME, but don't really have to take my word for it, I'll let the following fact speak for itself: We ordered plenty of food for our 110 guests and we were completely cleared out by the end of the night. We received so many compliments on the food and personally I had never seen people eat so much at a wedding. :)

If you want great Asian food at your event, go with Greenfish. The staff is simply amazing and the prices are very reasonable for what you get.

As a self-professed music snob and control freak, I was very hesitant to hire a DJ for our wedding in May at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, thinking that we could just have an "ipod reception". Boy am I glad that we didn't go that route...

Peter Haley came highly recommended by a friend and I quickly saw why. My husband and I were sure that we wanted to hire him immediately after our first meeting, and we (by we I mean mostly my husband ;) are the annoyingly analytical types that take days to weigh pros & cons before making decisions.  :P

Peter is clearly passionate about what he does and genuinely cares about the success of the event.  And unlike another DJ we interviewed (who shall remain unnamed) that shied away from talking about whether he could play an eclectic selection of indie pop/rock, jazz, classical, and dance music for us, Peter was happy and excited to talk music with us. We spent a lot of time on our first meeting just hanging out and talking about the music that we liked to listen to.

We met again about a month before the wedding and he sat down and helped us plan out the entire event schedule, which was really helpful for me and my husband, since we were planning the wedding on our own, without hiring a professional planner.

Being very particular about the music, I sent Pete a document full of songs that I wanted for specific parts of the ceremony and reception. He made sure that he got all of them, and then added some of his own music that had the same feel as what I provided.

Peter's very comfortable in front of the mic and will help you keep the night flowing, but he will not be "that obnoxious cheesy DJ"  and thank god because who wants that? We got lots of compliments from our friends about the music (haha I had something to do with that so thank you very much!) and the DJ. Also, it is important to note that he kept the dance floor going, and we had two distinct and potentially incompatible groups. He decided wisely that the earlier portion of the dancing would be devoted to the older ballroom crowd and then as the evening progressed, he would pick up the energy for the younger folks.

We had to make some last minute emergency changes: the slide show had to be shifted later because it was an outdoor reception and the sun set later than anticipated... which ended up also shifting the cake cutting earlier, and then we ended up canceling the bouquet and garter tosses to make more time for dancing. The scheduling changes caused a bit of confusion that can't be helped, but Peter smoothed things over for us, and the night was still a success despite some minor bumps.

After the wedding, Peter gave us 6 CD mixes full of music that he used for our wedding, and we still listen to it in the car while fondly remembering our big night. :)

If you want a reasonably priced DJ that truly cares about you and your event and is totally receptive to all your quirky ideas and particular tastes in music, Peter is your guy!

This place is run by very nice, knowledgeable, and accommodating people. They take their time with their customers and are never pushy with you when you are shopping, as some jewelry places can be.

I come here to ship my packages. It's a tidy, compact UPS store amidst all the hubbub on Geary.

One time, I couldn't find my packing tape at home, so the guy there helped me out for free instead of making me buy tape when I had some at home somewhere.

Today, I ran out of tape at home, so I bought some tape at the store and started to pack my box in there. I was pathetically trying to rip the tape off the dispenser from the wrong direction. The person working there today was like "OMG UR DOIN IT WRONG" (said very nicely and patiently :P) and helped me do the rest of the packing.

The location is convenient. Lots of metered spots nearby and shops, so you can park with relative ease and run multiple errands within the vicinity at once.

I have been to other UPS stores before, but I always prefer this one, and not just because it's in my neighborhood.

So what did we learn today, kids?
1. I fail at packing
2. This store has super nice, helpful, and professional staff.