Ben "Ben Ha Meen" B.'s Profile

I was so surprised at the quality of this place. The food was absolutely AMAZING.  For $25 you got to eat whatever you wanted... honestly each plate had huge portions and would have been a pretty good entree in and of itself.

They had an enormous variety of things to choose from, and as the exact opposite of a food fussy (more like a human garbage disposal) I was extremely pleased.

The ambiance was nice, the waiters were attentive and the drinks were strong. We could make reservations, were sat almost immediately and had a great time. We will absolutely be going back here whenever we stay at the Hard Rock.

My only issue was that my girlfriend is a wimp at eating so I ended up ingesting about 10,000 calories. No Rehab pool party for ME the next day!

Antlers Resort is run by a group of criminals who make their money by scamming and taking advantage of folks who pay good money to rent boats from them. Let me start off by saying I am 26 years old and have rented houseboats from nearly every marina on the lake. I have always had great experiences with the other marinas.

A group of my friends and I rented the most expensive boat this resort has for my friend's army going away party. We also rented a wakeboard boat.  We were all fairly experienced with houseboating and followed all the rules as far as having someone sober driving at all times, proper land docking techniques, etc. We had a great time, but unfortunately there was a severe storm one of the days and our wakeboard boat was damaged.

We brought the boats back the final day of our trip, and the houseboat was in great condition; we cleaned it from top to bottom and it was definitely in better shape than any other boat I've ever rented. The wakeboard boat was clearly damaged (although we didn't know the extent at the time) but otherwise cleaned.

At the dock, we were quoted at $800-$1000 worth of damage to the wakeboard boat, which was fine and fair. They randomly decided the carpet needed to be steam cleaned on the houseboat and there was a very small section of fiberglass damage (that we absolutely didn't cause... It was clearly old damage) and that would be $400 worth of charges, at most, depending what the steamers quoted.

I had made a $500 deposit for the wakeboard boat and a $3000 deposit for the houseboat, so the agreement from this asshole was that he would let us know the final quote before charging us, and that it would likely be less than $1,400 total and certainly not more, and ironically made sure to mention that he isn't in the business of "screwing people."

Well, three days later we haven't heard from the guy, and I checked my bank statement... These CRIMINALS maxed out both deposits, so they charged me $3,500 in total... Ummm what??? First of all, it's illegal to use one deposit to make up for another boat, since both deposits were separate agreements. They SHOULD have charged the $500 for the deposit on the wakeboard boat and then billed us for the remaining balance on that boat, and at most charged us $400 of the $3000 for the houseboat. Instead, they tried to make up for the difference on the wakeboard boat by charging the houseboat deposit... Totally illegal. On top of that, they charged the max amount... More than TWICE what they were owed!

One of my friends on the boat is a lawyer and contacted them about it. He asked for line items for each of the charges so we could verify the legitimacy of their charges. Of course, they couldn't provide us with the documentation to support their $3500 charges. I disputed the charges with my bank and then we worked out an agreement with them that we would pay an agreed-upon FAIR amount, and we mutually agreed on the amount of about $2,000. They agreed to remove the charges from my card and we would send a check.

We created a paypal account and collected the money in preparation of sending to them... Well today I called my bank to verify that the charges were removed, and instead the resort had verified the charges with them, so now the claim is closed and these criminals not only are stealing $3500 from me, but lied to us in a legal agreement and are trying to steal an additional $2000 from us! Whatever they sent to the bank to verify the claim is clearly FRAUDULENT, since they could not provide us with any documentation supporting their charges.

The owner or this company, Shana, is an extremely rude, obnoxious pig and this company is awful. Pick ANY other company on the lake to rent from and you will be perfectly satisfied.

I can't think of a single complaint about this place. I've not tried EVERYTHING on their menu, but I have tried a lot of stuff and everything that I've tried is absolutely spectacular. I mean seriously, when I am leaving a restaurant thinking about how good the KALE was of all things, then that is saying something.

On top of the food being great, the service is really good, the ambiance is perfect, it has a HUGE outdoor area with cool assortment of tables, couches, an outdoor bar/fireplace thingy, and has great fresh-pressed juices as well.

I have tried a number of other health food joints in OC and this one ranks up there with the all-stars, those being Secret Spot in HB and Panini Cafe in CDM.  I like to take my personal training clients and business affiliates here for lunch, and have heard no complaints so far! Rock on, TFK!

This review is for Outer Limits in Costa Mesa in general, and Russ Fisch in particular.

I came to Russ a couple years ago with a general idea of a large piece I wanted tattooed on my back. I had gone to a number of tattoo artists with the idea (including my previous artist at Goldrush Tattoo Parlor), and none of them had embraced the idea because I didn't have an already-completed image for them to trace onto my back... they were against the idea of actually drawing something apparently (my mistake, I thought they were tattoo ARTISTS!).

Anyway, not Russ. Russ is extremely picky with the large pieces he WILL do, but I looked through his albums and he had the exact artistic style and talent I was looking for. He embraced my idea and helped me define exactly what I was looking for... except we never drew it out--he told me he would need to free-hand it on my body because it was such a large piece it needed to intimately fit my individual shape. I loved that he said this, but was also somewhat scared of the idea of "winging-it" with something permanent like this.

Needless to say, I manned up and let him do it, and it has now been around 2 years and many, many hours of work and I couldn't be more pleased with the finished product, which was finished last winter. The piece is absolutely breath-taking, amazing artwork and completely unique. It is a hand-drawn bamboo design with a moon in the background and it's almost like Russ was able to read my mind because it's exactly what I wanted but couldn't quite explain.  I get compliments on my tattoo constantly and cannot wait to go back to Russ for another.

However, my experience with Russ went WELL beyond just getting a tattoo. Russ is one of the most personable folks I've ever met, and made my experience amazing. I am a guy, and as such, am expected to go into a tattoo session and act like I have 300 lb testicles and can't even feel that puny needle pounding into my spine for 8 hours straight. To be anything less is to be a "total pussy" right? Well, something about Russ just eliminated this intimidating atmosphere, and I felt like I could express myself in a realistic fashion.  Now luckily, I DO happen to have about 250lb testicles, so for the most part I did well but there were some periods where the pain was excruciating and I was free to grimace without fear of a callout or punishing increase in pressure to "give me something to cry about".  Ok, obviously I'm being facetious here but my point stands... Russ is super friendly, fun to talk to and made the ~25-30 hours of total tattoo time an overall enjoyable experience rather than a heinous self-torture that I would never want to go through again.

To top it off, unlike my GOLDRUSH TATTOO ARTIST WHO REFUSED TO TOUCH UP THE MISTAKES HE MADE, Russ not only touched up my tattoo for free (and by "touch up" I mean he spent an extra 2 hours on it!) but he ALSO touched up my other tattoos as well!  What an awesome dude.

As for the parlor itself, everyone else was super cool and nice and the place is clean, smells neutral and has good airflow.  I couldn't have asked for a better experience!  Check out the gallery for my tattoo :)

Three words that describe this place:

Boring, Bland and Uninspired.

I'm very forgiving with food. Although I have a cultured pallet and greatly enjoy fine dining, I'm still able to enjoy everything from shitty Del Taco to a fine French amuse bouche.  Other than foolishly trying to get a steak at Coco's one time, I've never been as disappointed with my food as I was here.

I am a personal trainer and took a couple clients here because it seemed healthy and a good start to the day.  I got in there and the place had no seating available inside... and tons outside, except the umbrellas covering the tables did a piss-poor job of blocking the rain so in other words there was no seating.  Finally, a couple people left the center community table inside and I snagged their spots.

First thing that came to mind was that I've never sat in such shitty, uncomfortable chairs in my life.  They felt like they were going to explode under my "enormous" 190lb frame and the uncushioned slats were all but cutting into my legs.  Pure enjoyment let me tell you, if you're a Klingon.

Next, I ordered a cup of coffee while my clients were coming. Each cup is $2.00 and amounts to about 3 mouthfuls of actual coffee... I guess I can't complain about that too much because it is in swanky Corona Del Mar but that still seems a little stingy to me.

My clients arrived and we ordered. I got the "Healthy Scrambled Breakfast" which according to the menu, consisted of scrambled egg whites, black beans, brown rice and salsa with a side of cantaloupe.  "mm, this will be good!" I thought to myself.  Well, the menu sure didn't lie.  The meager portion that was brought to me was EXACTLY what the menu said it was... there wasn't a single spice, vegetable, or anything else added.  In other words, I got a plate that had a bowl of plain, cooked black beans, a side of plain brown rice with some flavorless salsa on it, and a serving of plain egg whites with nothing on them.

Seriously.  I am a pretty good cook so I understand that part of the joy of cooking is adding your own touch to dishes, in fact that's one of the main reasons people go out to eat... to get something they couldn't get anywhere else.  As it stands, I could have made this breakfast in about 5 minutes at my house for about $1.50, probably with a larger portion size to boot.

Don't open a restaurant and make food that any asshole can make on their own, and try to charge a premium price for it just because you're located in a rich neighborhood.  What happened to the passion for cooking? Where is the chef who has designed the menu himself over the course of many years of cooking? I hardly think plopping liquid egg whites in a pan, cooking them and then making some boil-in-a-bag brown rice and adding some canned black beans is an appropriate meal at any professional establishment.

To top it off the cantaloupe was gross and totally not fresh, in fact it tasted as if someone had partially frozen it and then rethawed it.  Neither of my clients enjoyed their meals either.

I left the restaurant feeling totally hungry and as if I'd just paid a 14 year old highschool kid $15 to allow me to eat his first home-ec project.  I will never go back here nor will I ever recommend anyone who actually enjoys food ever eats here.  Next time I will just invite the clients to my house and make them food that is 10x better than Zinc Cafe makes, and probably still spend less money on all our food than I spent just on my meal at this place.

I am not sure why this tattoo parlor gets such rave reviews... I will outline my entire experience with the place.

The first time I went in there, I spoke to a dude about what I was thinking about getting.  I had some ideas in my head and was hoping to talk to someone who would listen to me and start drawing stuff as I talked, giving me input considering he's supposed to be an "artist".  This was my experience in my college town at the local tattoo parlor, which wasn't even that good one to be honest!

However, instead the guy stared blankly at me while I tried to explain what I was thinking, and then told me to come back and bring in a picture of what I wanted because he couldn't "visualize" without it.  First of all, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted and the whole point was that I wanted an artist's input and an artist is supposed to be able to visualize stuff, that's the entire purpose of their job!.

Anyway, I left and decided I would absolutely not go back to that guy.  So I went to another guy instead (I'm not going to name names because I think that's rude) and brought him some materials and he drew my tattoos up and we got to work.  It took about 2.5 hours to do both and it cost $300 total, including the deposit.  I tipped him 60 dollars on top of that... a pretty hefty tip especially considering that not everyone tips in that industry, and I didn't have any color or anything (just straight black tattoos).  I tipped him well because I planned to come back to him with future tattoos and wanted to establish a good relationship.

Well, after my back tattoo healed I noticed there was a small spot that was missed, and the tattoo on my chest needed to be rounded out a bit as well, so I scheduled to come in for a touch up.  I got there and he tried to charge me 60 dollars to touch up my tattoo... I've never heard of that, and was pretty pissed considering I'd already tipped him 20% and he's trying to charge me 60 bucks for 10 seconds worth of work.  I said nevermind and I'd just have him fix it when he did my next piece.

Then I started talking to him about my next piece I wanted to get... a large bamboo on the side of my back.  He did the same thing the other guy did... just kind of looked at me while I talked, not offering any ideas or acting enthusiastic about it in any way.  When I was done talking he told me to bring in exactly what I wanted...

If I wanted someone to trace my artwork on my back with a tattoo gun, I'd have my highschool brother do it for free.  I am paying a tattoo ARTIST to help me DESIGN a tattoo... I do not mind paying for it but these guys don't even seem to want to do anything custom, at least not the two that I interacted with.  Plus, if you look at 90% of the guys' portfolios, it's almost all stock work.  Stock work pays the bills but I don't really consider that to be legit artwork because you're just tracing shit that was already drawn.

I decided after some thinking that I will go to a different tattoo parlor because I want someone who is stoked to design a unique, awesome tattoo for me and who has a better attitude than "hey, you do all the work for me and I'll just trace it on, charge you for it and then refuse to do any touch up work for free even though the reason it needs to be done is my fault".

I STRONGLY suggest that at any tat parlor you go to, meet with your artist BEFORE you commit to anything and get a feel for if they have a good attitude or not. I'm not talking about smiling at you when you walk in the place... that doesn't make a lick of difference what really matters is if they are STOKED TO DO YOUR ART or not.

I am a little suspicious as to why this place only has 5 star reviews too...

ALSO, PARKING IS FUCKING HORRENDOUS Show owner comment »

Most of these reviews are retarded, and obviously written by people who either have never visited the gym or are blind, retarded, or both.

OC Kickboxing is not for "weekend warriors who don't want to get hurt or ever really spar"--the gym has a very successful fight team that regularly competes in pankration, muay thai, jiu jitsu, grappling, savate, etc.  Not only competes, but usually wins.  There are more than one international champions who instruct at the gym so to say that it's the same as a 24h Fitness "kickboxing" class is stupid.

What my poor misinformed friends are misinterpreting is the beginner-friendly atmosphere of the place.  The gym is truly for anyone.  You don't have to be an already-accomplished fighter just to try the place out as you would have to be at No Limits or other places.  If you want to learn from the beginning, the trainers at this place are more than happy to teach you.  

However, that being said, if you are interested in advanced competition and real fighting, this place has serious, no-nonsense training classes for you and a fight team that is hard-core.  I'd love to see SAM Y. or dae m. come "fake spar" with the fight team on a Tuesday night and see how they do.

My suggestion is to check the place out for yourself.  They offer a free kickboxing class (albiet, this is much more similar to a 24h style class since it is with a bag) but you can also sit and watch the other classes as long as you want.  If you come in at 8-9PM on Tuesday or Thursday you can watch the fight team train.  Other good classes to watch are the MMA class at 8-9 on Mon/Wed and the Muay Thai class at 7-8 on Mon/Wed.

Guys from No Limits have come by our gym to train before and see what it was like, and I've never seen them leave with a smirk on their face.  If anything, they leave with some respect for the trainers and the quality of the classes.  Like I said, check the place out FOR YOURSELF and form your own opinions before listening to studio gangsters like some of the fools below.

If you want to get into an unprovoked altercation with a TapouT-tshirt-wearing caveman with something to prove, this is the place to pass by.  Notice I said pass by?  That's right, you don't even have to enter this bar to have someone decide to test their three weeks of cardio kickboxing lessons on you.  This place is so saturated with 909 trash that they will stand on the patio and talk shit to every person that walks by, and then run after said people and proceed to demand to prove their manhood (or lack thereof).

It's no wonder that the HB police tend to make their stand directly in front of the place, every single night. I have personally been in three fights that I didn't start in the last two weeks in front of Crabby's.  What are the total number of fights I've been in in the last year?  Three.  My point, exactly.

This place is a menace to any normal person and should probably be shut down, but then again if it were shut down, the filth that hangs out there would be forced to infest the other bars.  I guess it's a necessary evil.  At least the name is fitting--everyone is crabby!

I found Splash Salon thanks to Yelp, actually, but was somewhat hesitant to try it because there weren't many male reviews.  A salon that is great for girls doesn't necessarily translate into a salon that's great for guys.  I bit the bullet however, and contacted Steven to set up an appointment.

The first thing I noticed when I got to the salon about Steven was that he had the same hairline I do!  This seems like a strange thing to be pleased about, but the truth is guys with higher temples have to have their hair cut in a different style than guys with straight across brows.  Since he was a hair stylist and had the hairline himself, I knew right away that I would be in experienced hands.

Steven was very easy to talk to, and we had a good conversation the entire time.  He explained his theory about "hair symmetry," and explained that he looks at hairstyling as mathematics rather than as an art.  He did some cool stuff I've never seen done before (put a slight part in the middle of the sides of my hair so that the front half can be pushed forward and the back half can flow with the back of my head) and he expertly blended my fauxhawk so that I could wear it extreme or tame, depending on the situation.  I work in a professional environment, so it was important to me that I could have reletively conservative-looking hair when I needed to, but at the same time could throw it up in a hawk on the weekends without looking like a frat-boy wannabe who's just pushing the middle of his hair into a point.

I was very happy with the cut, and Steven even hooked me up with some sample products and explained how to flat-iron/prep my hair correctly.  I left the salon feeling satisfied and enlightened.  I am definately going back to Splash Salon, and have even set up an automatic once-a-month appointment so Steven can keep my hair looking awesome.

I almost forgot to mention the price... at $30.00, it's the cheapest quality cut you'll get outside of having a girlfriend hairdresser who will do your hair for free!  Definitely worth the money, and more!

This place is great.  I've been eating here since I was able to eat solid food, when my dad would take me to the old location after his rounds at the UCI medical center.  Since my dad's a doctor and often took care of the employees' families (for free), they would always hook him up with free food.  Be cooler than that.

I, of course, don't get the free food, but it's still cheap, huge portioned, and is the best Mexican food outside of Hermosa Beach or San Diego.  Their seafood is amazing... and not just fish tacos!

Whenever someone tells me about a "good" Mexican restaurant in OC that isn't Los Sanchez, I just chuckle and tell them to visit this joint before opening their mouth again.  It's obvious that they're true mexi-noobs.