Bes "BesZ" Z.'s Profile

Wow.

This is a place where each and every other person around you, all hundreds of them, are laughing hysterically and enjoying a good time. Whether it's falling down, or getting up. Or skating, or thinking they're skating.

I went here on Friday [11/28/08 - 8-9:30 pm session]. It's located in the open, so the cold weather is very beautiful [I prefer the cold]. You buy tickets, get your skates and then ice skate during your session. Each session is about 1 hour and 30 minutes long. There is a line for tickets and a line to get your skates.

The line to get the tickets gets through quicker than the line to get skates. Keep one thing in mind though: if you buy the ticket and they do not have your skating size [shoe size] in the get-skates-line, you will not get a refund. They also have lockers to put your stuff or shoes in if you wish - majority of the people simply left their shoes nearby. The place has portable restrooms - please do not use it. Seriously. No, don't laugh or giggle: I'm serious. If you think I'm just typing this because I'm bored, go into the portable restrooms there. And then once you realize I'm right, do not go in there ever again. Ever. Never ever never ever.

Ok, the ice skating part, which is the main part, is awesome. It's so awesome, with the most beautiful buildings on one side and the piers on the other side, that you will not think of anything before or after the ice skating [other than that you want to go ice skating [again]].

There were ice skaters of all levels: pros, professionals, good ones, bad ones, sucky ones, those that did not know what ice skating is, and those that kept laughing and ice skating and flapping their hands around and avoiding all the falls yet looking like hysterically laughing chickens running around and having everyone point at them and take their pics [ahem..me], and more. Everyone was laughing. The music in the background varies and changes, so if you don't like one set you'll probably enjoy the 2nd or the 3rd one after that [or at least find it less boring].

No one cares if you're good or bad - everyone there when I went was there to have fun. I had so much fun, I feel like I want to go ice-skating daily or weekly now!

I give it a 5 by 5. It's a lot of fun, and it's a lot of fun. Despite some of the cons [listed below], I give this place a 5/5 and am looking forward to going there and ice skating again.

Yay!:
--Ice skating in the open in San Francisco by the piers right on Embarcadero. Are there that many other things you may want to do, with all the surrounding activities also, in most of the other yummy parts of the country?
--You'll flap your hands around like a chicken and be proud of it because of the joy

Hmmm/ewwww?:
--The ice skates can be very ewww [hard to get into or just feeling weird], though that won't affect your ice skating [it will affect only the put-on-take-off-skates part]
--Restrooms are what nightmares are made of. If you have a bad stomach that day, go into this portable area - maybe you'll forget about your stomach pain because of the surprise over the pain you see in front of you, and then the surprise will get mixed with the joy of ice skating! everyone wins [except, the waste management people]
--Long lines and lines starting, to get the skates, like 45 minutes before the actual skating session.
--Skating sessions [90 minutes], and not "Skate as long as you can flap" sessions.

5/5

To be honest, I can write a book on how the DMV treats you like a 5 year old puppy over the phone and also hangs up whenever they have no more excuses or reasons over some of their mistakes. I've been to many DMV locations, for myself and for my friends [and sometimes strangers], that going into this location made me think I'll be beaten up if I ask too many questions. I was wrong - Yay! [feels less abused]

While there are moody people inside this DMV [that's the trademark of DMV and part of their policy "Show rudeness to at least 5% of the people each day or find another job"], this place has a lot of professionalism. By professionalism I don't mean wearing shiny clothes and showing off your $$ to treat others like they came out of the sewage [sewage people rule], but that these people, even when rude [only on 1 trip for me so far in this location], still keep on doing their work and making sure you get what you have to do and will not lose their cool on purpose and will shift other things into any rudeness that they show.

The end result? Almost none of the people walking out feel upset or angry, and the worst feeling that you may feel is that the person you talked to is just a serious person who talks like that.

Parking is good in a big parking lot, and there are some big places to shop or eat at nearby if you feel that the lines are too long [usually aren't] and that you'll come back later.

The lines here move very quickly, and the wait time is not usually that long. Waiting is not that bad and not too uncomfortable - you can walk over to the nearby places [Circuit City!! it's filing for Chapter 11 as of today/this-week and you can get awesome things while your number comes up at the DMV]. Be careful though!: if your number comes up and you come in half in hour later saying you were shopping nearby, they will cuss out you and your parents and will not allow you to come back for at least 24 hours [ok, fine, that last line from the "cuss" part till the end isn't true, but you don't want to upset an angry beast if its playing along nicely with you, not until you get what you want first and have an escape route ready].

There is no driving test offered here. They do offer the written exam here, and people are happy coming out of it and telling someone on the phone "Hey dude I passed it - yeah no problem - didn't miss a single point and got it on my first try" [liar - he was talking so loud with the exam result checker earlier everyone in person knew he had failed it 4 times at some other location and passed this one with the minimum passing points].

I give it a 4/5. Go here if you want to go to the DMV for anything other than a driving test unless you want to experience situations where you get yelled at or shown attitude, are not allowed to talk or respond back, and thus try to make yourself stronger in life by exposing yourself to bad situations. 4/5 is a very, very, very, very high rating for a DMV, so high that many of you will think I'm drunk, on chocolate or that I bought a cat today to be so positive about these three universally infamous letters: D M V

----Good things-----
-Very fast service
-Very helpful
-No feeling that you'll get yelled at

----Things that scare me in my dreams-----
-They can get mad/rude, but don't start crying right away - wait a few seconds & they'll act human again
-NO driving test here [didn't count this into my rating - this location does what it's supposed to]

I give it a 4/5. Again, this is a VERY high rating for an organization/government-service that makes the bullies in high school visit different DMV locations to learn new ways of intimidating and upsetting and ignoring people and yelling at them, BUT this location is the first DMV location I have been to that has always shown a good, professional side to DMV. Other DMV locations should learn from this one. Good job at making sure I don't cry at the DMV anymore!

I had to postpone posting this review for about an hour to ensure I hadn't accidentally eaten any drugs [who knows what Jamba Juice puts in their juice!!!] that was making me give this rating. I'm still feeling the same, so this review stands and is awesome [unless the drugs will take several hours to wear off].

This Circuit City is located in a convenient parking lot spot, with ample parking around. That is one of the few good things about this location.

While the store itself has many kinds of electronics ranging from both recent announcements to older inventory at discounts, the staff itself that I have come across is not knowledgeable at all when it comes to the actual products. The stores also feel very weird - the dim lighting mixed with the red trails in different areas create a very weird atmosphere that makes you focus more on thinking about things in life [like food] instead of shopping.

There is not much inventory of different items, and while they do have discounts on some old clearance items that rival the prices at BestBuy sometimes, most of the other items are very expensive compared to almost every other online retailer that has a B&M [brick & mortar - physical-in-person] store.. They do have a price match offer, and offer 8% discount to all AAA members on almost everything.

I give it a 2 out of 5. My entire rating is based on it being in a good location, and having a variety of items on discount during holiday season [like now]. However, it does not have enough inventory of different items and the staff is not experienced in anything [ask them about their digital cameras and get amazed at their knowledge of photography or anything related].

-----Good things about this------
-Good parking
-Good clearance items from time to time

----Things that make you dream of BestBuy, Amazon or saving money-----
-Staff knows nothing. Seriously. Ask them their names to make sure they know something.
-Everyone working there acts as if they're working in a sweatshop - they don't laugh, they show attitude, they'll throw "we don't have it then" anytime you ask them to check the back or check something on the computers, etc.
-High prices compared to other discounts at other stores
-Not enough inventory
-Bad lighting - this doesn't count in my rating, but the lighting makes you feel as if it's a shop aimed at happy people to make them depressed

2/5

Parrot Cellular is probably the only main AT&T authorized store available for Pleasant Hill [I'm sure I may be wrong] on this popular street. However, the service is very different than what you would expect, and from what it should be.

If you want people dressed in expensive-"looking" shirts telling you all the things you need and making recommendations to you, with you being a new customer, this store is good.

If you want to be treated with deprioritized priority and told over almost any question you ask regarding your existing service that you have to contact AT&T directly for that, with you being an existing customer who bought a phone from this place [or not], this store is good.

Recently I went there and asked to get a printout of my latest bill/usage. They said their computer will pull up only a month+ old record and I would have to go to the actual AT&T store in Walnut Creek for a recent copy. When I asked the surprised perfume/cologne-laddened sales person to show me on their computer screen that they could only see a month old record, the computer automatically & miraculously showed the latest records for my #, to which the sales person said "Wow I must have been pressing the wrong key." You only press the "Enter" after entering the phone # to show the records, and he did press the "Enter" key.

Better option would be to go to the actual AT&T store in Walnut Creek. Sure, they have different types of sales people there, but you'll get everything you want from there too.

I give it a 2 star as they treat you well for a new customer, and they treat you like a bell for an existing customer [well, bell, it rhymes, get it? hmmm].

-----Things that are good--------
-Good location
-Every sales person has a strong perfume/cologne/aftershave, so you can sometimes ask what they're wearing

-----Things that are ewwwww?------
-They don't answer the most basic questions after you've become a customer, & instead tell you to go to corporate store in Walnut Creek
-They give wrong answers a lot
-Not all perfumes/cologne/aftershave smell good

2/5

I do not depend on drinking coffee. I only drank coffee, I think, around 5 times max in the last 12 months because friends asked me to go to Starbuck's or some other coffee shop with them and I usually got a non-coffee item. Thus, this review of Starbuck's focuses on me reviewing a place where I went many times and had coffee once, and other drinks [orange juice and SOBE yummy!] a lot. The non-coffee items, however, are sometimes more expensive than buying the same thing at other stores in the same shopping lot. Orders come in quick - usually within 2-4 minutes.

This place is very clean inside. There is seating outside too, which I think is wiped clean [the tables] every hour or so. The staff is professional, and if there is a mistake on any order, from what I have experienced they are very eager to fix the mistake and sometimes throw in something extra [like no charge to keep the mistake-order while they give you the new fixed order]. This location is usually very busy. There are many times where you will have to walk in and out once or twice to try to find a place to sit. Also, the same shopping lot has other stores too, so you can do other things while you drink coffee, or after/before your coffee.

I give it a 4/5 as it does its job well as a Starbuck's and sells some other drinks too. I have NOT rated the actual coffee item, by the way - I have rated everything else, including other items that they sell.

---Good----
-Clean place
-A bit quiet environment inside & a bit more other-environment outside
-Fast service
-Professional & polite staff
-Good service
-Interesting restaurants and other stores in the same lot

-----Needs improvement?------
-Parking can be very bad since many people simply keep driving back and forth in the nearby 2 lanes instead of driving further
-Usually very busy to find a place to sit
-Non-coffee items are a bit expensive than other places
-It's coffee - a natural + chemical drug to keep you awake or more attentive. Is that healthy? [Didn't count this in my rating]

4/5

This Quizno's store is located in a kind of the middle of the Willow's Shopping Center in Concord, and can sometimes be very hard to find for first timers [or for people like me].

Personally, I love the sandwich that comes with the dipping sauce. Do you know what I am referring to? It has beef in it and I am so much in love with it, toasted kind of, that I always walk into Quizno's, look at the menu and say something like "I want the sandwich with the dipping sauce, you know, the one where you dip..." and I make hand gestures to show the dipping. They immediately realize what I am referring to and always say its name, but I get too excited to remember. So yes, they have some of the healthiest and tastiest sandwiches compared to Subway & ToGo's [ToGo's comes 2nd], and their toasted option is very very good. Their portions are good, though I wonder if Subway gives the biggest portions of the three. This Quizno's location also gives a bit more dipping sauce when asked: usually other stores give dipping sauce as if there was a femine going on in East Bay [makes me wonder about the homeless, poor and hungry people in, around and outside of the Bay Area hmmm :( ].

This location is always clean. There are a few tables inside, and there is a lot of seating outside at different places in the open-no-roof shopping center [roof only on top of actual stores]. The staff here, the last time I went there around April I think, was very polite, excited to have me and very eager to get to work right away. The management seemed new as of this year, and very excited too. Everyone there [I have run into around 5 people so far] seems very relaxed, enthusiastic, and sometimes kind of nervous [I wonder if that's because of not that many people going there as I noticed in the following sentence:]. I did notice that whenever I went [afternoon or around closing time], they were almost always empty [of customers], so I wonder if their rush hours are some times that I am not aware of. Also, because of not many people around when I went, I had a very, very relaxing time. If only I could erase the staff from my imagination too, I could enjoy the food as if I was the only one in the world at that moment!!!! [or at least in the store]. The non-realization of that fantasy/dream of mine is not affecting the score of this rating.

There is a lot of parking around here, and even on the busiest days you can park and walk to this Quizno's location within 5-10 minutes [maybe I was so hungry I was trying to run to it]. Food is served quickly as they make it in front of you.

Well, that's it. I give it a 5/5 as this location does its job well that it sets out to do.

----Good things----
-Very clean
-Good quality food
-Good portions
-Ample parking space
-Seating inside & outside
-Polite, respectful staff
-VERY relaxing atmosphere [yummy!]
-Long live the poor and the hungry, and happily too! [ok fine, not part of Quizno's but this is my review so part of me!!!]

----Needs improvement?----
-Still kind of fast food as all meat/other things are precooked and sitting and waiting for rich and poor hungry zombies
-Very empty many times - people who prefer chaos around them [sometimes I do a lot!] may find it uncomfortable

5/5

This is the drive-thru place that thousands in Pleasant Hill think of fleeing to [or maybe hundreds] once it's past midnight and the tummy feels empty. The drive-thru is open 24 hours. The place is usually very clean, and the actual sitting place is probably the smallest of all nearby fast food places. The drive-thru can get very, very busy. Sometimes it tries to compete with the drive-thru of the Berkeley Jack-in-the-Box [Berkeley Jack-in-the-box on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/bi... ] in terms of having very long lines in the drive-thru that stretch all the way to the nearby main road.

Compared to a place like Burger King [nearby Burger King on Yelp:  http://www.yelp.com/bi...] or Carl's Jr., Jack in the Box does not give big portions, though it does give bigger portions compared to a place called McDonald's, which is almost next door too [nearby McDonald's on Yelp:  http://www.yelp.com/bi...]. Taste-wise, Jack in the box food is very yummy!

I give this location a 3/5. This is not a bad place to eat, though even after waiting for a long time, you may not be that much satisfied. You may get so hungry waiting in the drive-thru, that once you get home you'll chomp on the food very quickly, feel bloated, think you are full and fall asleep. Hmmmm? 0_0

-----Good:-----
-Drive-thru open 24 hours
-Good food - one of the best tasting fast food places - yummmmmmmmmmmmmmy
-Normal staff

-----Needs attention?-----
-Drive-thru can make you wait 24 hours
-Parking can be hard in their tiny, macro parking space
-Not big portions
-Slow service - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz in the car in the drive-thru

3/5

As a fast food place, Burger King gives considerably bigger portions of some burgers than most of the other competitors [McDonald's & Wendy's, for example]. Taste wise, the food at this location is very good, though maybe all Burger King locations in this part of California taste a bit similar. This location has one of the friendliest staff anywhere at any fast food place that I have seen in my life, if memory serves me correctly: the cashier with the mustache and glasses here always smiles and goes hyper when he sees me. I wonder if that happiness and politeness is only towards me or all customers. The rest of the staff is also good, professional. Some smile while some are always serious: they do all, however, act normal and professional, so it seems that the seriousness or similar traits is just their own personal personality that includes consideration for others which I love and respect in every human being.

There is a lot of free parking right next to this location, so parking has so far not been an issue at all. The food always comes on time, both in person and in the drive-thru. Sometimes the cashiers will also give me change for a dollar or two if I am in need of coins along with food - they have never said no so far. The place is big with a lot of seats, and there is usually more than one table empty here. There is also a mini-outside seating here, to kind of overlook the road and others walking by. The location is usually very clean. I have yet to have a mix-up on any of my orders here. When it does get a bit busy, it is during early evenings or around noon with Diablo Valley College [DVC] students from nearby [DVC on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/bi... ]. Drive-thru times are usually always within 5 minutes [5 minutes to drive in, wait, place order, pay, and get the food]. Only once or twice I have had to wait [for the whole process] for around 10 minutes.

The last time I went to this place was over 2 months ago, and once I ran into that friendly cashier on the street and he said something like : "You don't eat no more?" I didn't even recognize him, heh. As a fast food place, this place has good food. As a healthy food place, this is not a place you want to eat at regularly because fast food as of today is still not good food when it comes to Burger King, Wendy's, McDonald's, Carls Jr., Jack in the Box, and many others.

I give it a 4 because of its good service, clean location, and good tasting food if I am looking for fast food. Why did I not give it a 5? I ate one whole point [yummy] because the drive-thru is not open late every night. They are starting to slowly change this, however, like opening till 2am [drive-thru] on certain days. Also, around 3 or 4 times I have seen a note pasted on the drive-thru ordering-menu stand which says "ATM/credit machine out of order", and it keeps saying that for days. Each time they took a very long time to fix the payment machine. That is when the nearby Jack in the Box [that specific Jack in the Box on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/bi... ] becomes my new destination [though as of late the kitchen is my main destination for preparing food and the entire house for eating it and creating a mess].

-----Good:-----
-Some very friend staff, everyone else very professional
-A lot of seating space
-Clean premises
-Bigger portions
-Fast service
-Big parking lot so parking is usually not a bad issue
-Starting to remain open some more hours now

-----May need attention?-----
-Drive-thru is not open late - this is an issue with the entire Burger King chain [they are starting to change this]
-Many times the drive-thru credit card machine does not work for days
-It's still fast food [this has NOT affected my rating]
-It's still fast food [this has NOT affected my rating in a huge manner]

4/5

Sun Valley Apartments are motel-building-looking apartments that have probably been renovated mainly from the exterior, and in some forms from the interior, to make them look and feel more like apartments. Sometimes the apartment complex looks so beautiful and unique it looks like some of the motels or some apartment complexes from Louisiana or Mississippi. If you drive into the apartments [Dexter street], you will think you have arrived at a huge motel area.

The area outside is usually very clean. It can get loud during the day due to kids playing and due to some of the apartment people playing loud music. There are several speed bumps here due to children playing. At night, it can usually become very, very quiet. The actual walls of all the complex buildings, as far as I am aware and can test, have walls that resemble, in their sound insulation, the walls from actual motels or some hotels. You can hear your neighbors for about an hour a day total in my experience. Sometimes you can also hear, faintly yet surely, the band playing nearby [right next door almost] at the Playa Azul restaurant [Playa Azul on Yelp : http://www.yelp.com/bi... ]. The trash cans here are big, and there are two of them in the designated area. Lately, however, as of this review date [September 25th, 2008], almost every night or early morning a group of 3 people [Mother, Father & Daughter?] go through the trash cans. Now they may be looking for stuff people throw away, like furniture or things they can resell.  I always smile and nod when I see them while throwing trash, though I wonder if it is wise to throw sensitive material in there like your bank statements? I am not letting the trash-can-archaeologists affect the rating of this review, by the way.

Management is one of the most interesting points of this place. Management has changed twice, going from very relaxed, efficient, helpful and accommodating couple to a no-thrills-don't-care individual to a very efficient and very strict management in less than 2 months. Due to this, some things have changed, like parking rules have become stricter and the empty guest parking area cannot be used by actual apartment owners anymore. From almost the day the new management came in, I have seen cars being towed here at night. Long live Sun Valley Towing! If only they could tow away unwanted guests or the strict rules also when needed.

The actual appliances in the house are very nice. When I moved in earlier this year, there was a new fridge, new stove, new microwave, new kitchen cabinets and new counter tops. The A/C works well but I think the poor thing is too weak and old, even though it looks new. Maybe I am demanding too much coolness and should bring the coolness out from within? The house walls and ceiling are painted in a bit off-white [90-95% white?] color and the doors are white [100% white]. Door handles inside the apartments are golden and are the type that lock from inside by turning the knob clockwise and if you want to open from outside, you put the needle/thingie in there to open the lock. There are new mirror-sliding closet doors and they are beautiful. There is carpet in the rooms and the living room area. The actual apartment buildings have a lot of lighting installed from both sides, which is a safe thing because there are a lot of children living here. The bright lighting is also annoying because the lighting is on both sides of the buildings, and thus your apartment will always have a big light shining in through the windows. You should invest in good dark yummy curtains/blinds.

I give it a 3/5, which is a very strong rating considering that this is a service related to people living and depending on the customer service and the actual product [aka shelter]. Since this is a house, I am sure I have many, many more things to share. I may update my review after a while to include more information.

----Good things:----
-Beautiful from the inside
-New appliances, carpeting and other things [check out the A/C exception below in the "More attention?" section]
-Good parking locations. Guest parking available
-Mailbox located in a convenient position near the stairs
-Management office right within the complex
-There are 2 big trash cans nearby, and they almost always have space
-Speed bumps to ensure safety for children, people, cats and me while walking on the road in front of the apartments

----More attention?:----
-Bad sound insulation [I am wondering right now if the neighbor, whoever it is, passed out at this very moment while in the shower - I hear the shower turned on for 2+ hours now - living in the shower = yummy?].
-TOO BRIGHT ALL THE TIME. Must use good blinds/curtains to make house darker and more beautiful
-Air conditioner is not powerful
-Parking rules are too strict
-Management is getting changed too fast and stricter each time
-Speed bumps to ensure my car brakes get replaced every 3 months

3/5

I have been to this location of Yan Can many times and have always enjoyed the food. The food is Asian blend with healthier ingredients, and will taste much different than other Asian restaurants. You pay first for your food and then get served at any table you sit at. The food comes within 5-10 minutes. There is seating inside and outside on one side. I have always sat inside, and the tables and chairs inside have always been very clean. In all my trips there, the cashier was the person bringing the food and cleaning the tables. For sodas and other drinks, you get a cup when paying so that you can get the drinks yourself from the drinks machine. The place is usually not full, and on the days when it almost is, there is usually a seat or two empty somewhere inside or outside where you can sit. As far as I remember, there are no laptop plugs there - that is not a bad thing as it is a restaurant that advertises food and not power outlets. There is, however, free wifi available inside which is very nice. When I was there for anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, the internet wifi signal was very strong and I browsed the net and did everything I wanted online while drooling on good food. One of the very good things is that the staff does not bother you if you stay a bit longer after you are done eating: I always tried to order something small or more when I stayed longer. Some people stay there for hours and do not order anything extra [sometimes when I came into the restaurant there were people sitting reading or using their laptops and had already finished their food and drinks], and none of the staff bothers them.

One of the main cashiers and servers is extremely nice, polite and pays a lot of attention to everything: sometimes you will only look at her and she will know you need something and will come running. Another cashier, however, wants you to run after her. She is polite too, but very serious and sometimes I wondered if I have to pay more to ask any questions after I get my food.

Some of the rice and other dishes sometimes contain a lot of absorbed oil, which is very unhealthy in the long run in my view. The price is right and not too expensive for all the items. I usually had a customer order of a rice dish and they always made it without asking any questions. However, the amount of oil or chicken they put in the dishes that I got sometimes varied significantly: sometimes there will be less oil and a lot of chicken, and sometimes there would be a lot of oil and less chicken. Regardless, the food tasted good and the experience felt good too. I have mostly tried rice dishes, chicken teriyaki, mongolian beef and some customized varieties [custom order] of these.

The background music is usually Chinese if I am not mistaken, and there is a TV there which shows Martin Yan, the owner of Yan Can restaurants, going around and exploring new areas, shopping centers, farms, kitchens, and more. The sound of the TV is always turned off, so you only hear some music playing in the background. The actual setting of the place can probably be described as retro traditional: they have some new forms of architecture [Asian] combined with some old artifact replicas and color settings [Asian in some forms, also].

I give it 4 stars out of 5. This location of Yan Can is meant to provide quick, yet healthier-than-McDonald's food in a nice setting where you can go dressed formally or informally, and it does its job. The price is right, and service speed is right too. Even the serious cashier does the basic job very adequately, so this place is a nice place to go enjoy some yummy food.  Of course, after eating the oil-drenched yummy rice, you may feel sleepy like I did, but that should be counted and considered in a Yelp review on me, and not Yan Can.

-----Good things:------
-Lots of item choices
-Good food
-Fast service
-Clean premises
-Pleasant-looking, bright place [if you avoid the TV - see below in things that can improve]
-Reasonable prices
-Good portions [size]
-Free wifi

-----------Things that can get more attention to improve further:------
-They could use less oil
-Not all the cashiers/staff are polite/nice/attentive
-The music/TV combo does not work, unfortunately [if you focus solely on the food you'll do fine]

4/5