Stacy G.'s Profile

If the barista has a bolt through his nose, chances are good you're in for a nice cup of coffee. That was certainly true here this morning. I came in with my daughter for a late morning cup of joe. My latte was made well, with a nice little design on top with the milk. It was beautiful, but then got covered up with the cheap plastic lid. My daughter's hot chocolate was also delicious and not too hot for the five year old to slurp down right away.

I thought the latte was not quite as strong as I'm used to. I tasted more of the vanilla flavoring and milk than I did espresso. I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

This location is where Cuban Press used to be. They have changed the space a lot, making it much more comfortable and relaxing. You'll find free wifi and also a drive thru lane (which looked popular). The folks are friendly, the coffee so-so.

This place just oozes estrogen. We're talking 20 to 1 female to male ratio at lunchtime. I swear I'm not making that up or exaggerating. At times I feel very out of place here, like I'm some lost college freshman who mistakenly stumbles into a sorority meeting or something. But don't get any ideas with the sorority reference, because half of these ladies are older gals from the country club neighborhoods. The rest are skinny little girls from the Windward cubicles, feasting on salads and whatnot.

But nevertheless, this place is uber popular right now. Are we still in the midst of a recession? The owners of this joint wouldn't know of it. The lines continue to be long, and the prices are on up there.

My first experience here was ho-hum. I've been back a few times since then with better results. They recently opened for breakfast, although with a limited menu. The place was unusually dead the first week of their breakfast offering. I appreciated the peace and quiet for a change. I ordered a sausage and egg biscuit. The price seemed pretty steep at nearly 6 bucks... at least that's what I thought until it came out. The biscuit was about the size of a hamburger bun, with what looked like three eggs folded up like an omelet. Underneath I found two spicy sausage patties. This thing was a monster. I didn't come close to finishing it all. To top it off, it came with a generous portion of home fries. The biscuit was very flaky and didn't hold up well considering everything stuffed into it. After a few bites, it had just about disintegrated into crumbs. I'm glad I ate it in the restaurant, because I had to wield a fork and knife.

On my last visit for lunch, I tried a grilled chicken sandwich on ciabatta bread. The chicken was perfectly grilled, tender and flavorful. The rest of the sandwich was pretty good. My favorites at lunch continue to be the chili. This is by far the best restaurant chili I've had around here. You'll find cubed up tender chunks of beef floating in bean-less chili sauce. I think it could use a bit more chili powder and other spices, but it is very well made and delicious.

All in all, the sandwiches at NET are pretty good. I find the sandwiches at Wildflour to be more creative than the offerings here, with better ingredients. But both restaurants are terrific. Just come as you are, tennis skirt and all.

CANS? What's up with this name? I sometimes associate "the can" with Mexican food, in a not so good way. That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw the name. My lunch partner Adam R was thinking more along the lines of "nice cans", a la something out of urban dictionary. Don't get any ideas though, this isn't Hooters.

What you will find at CANS is some damn good Mexican grub. I tried the carnitas, a braised pork shoulder that is served pulled. It wasn't quite as tender as I would have liked, but they made up for it in the flavor department. The pork was juicy and delicious. And for a lunch menu item, I thought the portion size was very generous.

The chips and salsa were ho hum. Tasted like chips from a bag with halfway decent salsa.

It is hard not to compare this place to Pure Taqueria. I thought the food here was a tad below what I had at Pure. The restaurant is far more comfortable and less crowded at lunch. But of course it is much more out of the way. Crabapple isn't exactly in cubicle land. Perhaps the dinner and weekend crowds are more substantial. This place was practically dead at lunch last week. Seemed cavernous in there.

Thanks to Gretchen for putting together this Yelp lunch. CANS is a delicious joint that I'd certainly go back to if in the area.

Touch my monkey! The name alone evokes memories of Mike Myers and his character Dieter. But no one wants to read my silly musings about an old SNL skit. Your narrative has become tiresome, Stacy G.

This little doughtnut joint is a welcomed addition to the area. There really are no local alternatives to the product they are offering. Want a good doughtnut? You either go to Publix or choke down some stale crap at a QT. So with this I welcomed the idea of authentic, hand-crafted fried dough and sugar!

Their location is a bit out of the way for my breakfast commute. Avenue Forsyth is a great place for anything upscale, but I don't know about the breakfast traffic in this area. But nevertheless, I made the big detour to come here last week. Their location is a bit plain, but their product looks great. I knew I wanted a dozen to take back to the office, but I didn't want to decide. I let the lady there mix them all up. Even with the dozen discount, these were on the expensive side.

It wasn't until 8:30 or so before I tried the first one. I started with a plain glazed doughnut. It was pretty good, yet a bit chewy. The chocolate glazed are also good. They use fancy chocolate here, the kind of stuff you'd use to make a chocolate truffle. There is nothing wrong with that, it just took me off guard a bit. I'm used to sugary chocolate on my doughnuts, not fancy dark chocolate. But it was alright.

Doughtnuts can be fickle things. I thought by 8:30, these things had lost most of their freshness. They were by no means stale or bad, but lacked that warm freshness that makes doughnuts sinfully good. I might have had a different experience had I been there close to opening time (which is very early by the way).

On the other hand, my fellow cubicle dwellers loved the stuff. They raved about these things, making them disappear in no time. I heard a lot about how great they were, but no "thank yous" were pointed in my direction. Those ungrateful mooches!

All in all, I'm happy to see this place here. I suggest getting there really early, and maybe try their drive thru lane.

Now is the time on Yelp vhen ve dance!

You can sing the Super Bowl Shuffle here and not get laughed at. Or maybe do your best Ditka impersonation while paying homage to the shrine they've erected to him.

So I guess if you're from the windy city, you'd dig this place a lot. Every square inch of their walls are covered with flair from Chicago. Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Bears, they've got it all. You can't even take a leak here without getting a face full of Ryne Sandberg above the urinal.

This was only the second time I've eaten here, even though my office is about a 5 iron shot away. On my first trip I tried some kind of hotdog which was pretty good. They have some crazy, over-the-top dogs if that is your thing. Tonight I came for the pizza. I decided on a thin crust pizza. I'm not a huge fan of deep dish stuff, so I thought going thin would be somewhat close to normal. But stupid me, thin here really is thin. I wasn't super impressed with it though. There was no crunch to the bottom of it. Tasted a lot like something you'd get at the overpriced concession stand at a ballgame. Perhaps that's what they were going for.

The place is pretty small but warm at the same time. It can get crowded during the lunch hour, but there is enough on the menu to keep it interesting. It might be another few years before I come back as Stacy G is not a "Superfan" of Bobby G's.

This place is scary. And I don't mean next-to-a-cemetery scary (because it is next to a cemetery). And I don't mean trailer-park-redneck scary because, well, it is Walmart. I mean Roswell bad neighborhood scary. I mean dimly lit parking lot scary.

I'm usually here just after dark. I find myself walking briskly to get inside, making myself a little more aware of my surroundings. It puts me outside of my happy little Alpharetta comfort zone being here. But once inside, all is well in Walmart land. And once inside, it is just like a million other Walmarts, fifty thousand square feet of China's finest. Just remember to pack heat.

...Fool me twice, shame on me? I can only blame myself for suggesting to go here again. We were in a pinch for time and I thought we could get in and out fast. Oh we got out fast enough, because I didn't eat half of this slop.

I've had mall food court Chinese better than this. They have more selection than your typical mall joint, but less personality (if that is possible). The fried rice was tasteless, as Bill points out. The black pepper chicken lacked pepper taste and was mostly celery. The orange chicken was funky, chunky and full of cartilage. And the ladies working there tricked me into thinking a spring roll was included with a lunch entree. After checking my bill, I got dinged a buck and a half for this soggy grease roll.

And to add insult to injury, they serve Pepsi products. Why does that not surprise me? Please avoid.

How many napkins does it take to mop up the grease on a large pie from Johnny's? If you answered eight, you'd be right! This pizza had more grease than a Jiffy Lube shop. It might have had more were they to cook it long enough. Pizza shouldn't be served medium rare, with a cold center in the crust and no char on the outside. Golden brown and delicious? None of the above.

Johnny's is a no frills chain pizza joint. I find no redeeming qualities to this place whatsoever. The pizza is undercooked, greasy and strangely sweet to the taste. They have some trappings of a sportsbar, but they are also in between two pretty decent alternatives for that (Taco Mac and Hudsons). So please, get your grease on someplace else.

I find myself in downtown Alpharetta much more often these days. As such, I end up at the Corner Deli now about once a week. This place is growing on me. I've tried a lot more of the menu, including...

Brisket Sandwich - Juicy and flavorful sliced beef on a hoagie roll. They serve it like a french dip with the au jus on the side.

Soups - The chili didn't impress me. Tasted like hormel. The matzo ball soup was very tasty. Was the first time I've ever had this, but I enjoyed it a lot. Just a tad bit salty though.

Chicken salad - Straightforward without crazy ingredients like nuts or grapes. I order this on most days.

Breakfast - Served mornings and all day. The pancakes are decent, french toast above average.

Outside Seating and Pet Friendly - Eating outside here is a real treat. You're on the sidewalk, very much like a European cafe. Dogs are encouraged outside. They provide drinking bowls and water, even doggie treats.

Decor - They go a little too far with the college sports stuff here. It is heavy on the SEC/ACC football with other Atlanta professional sports teams thrown in. They're on the verge of making my flair list, but I won't do it. The rest of the inside dining room can be cramped and uncomfortable if they are busy.

If I had to pick on anything, it would be that sometimes their food seems too salty to me. But otherwise this place is a nice little family-run deli in a great location. Don't expect anything fancy, or over-the-top sandwiches. Do expect good service from super nice mom and pop owners.

And by the way, yelp has the map incorrect. They are on the corner of Milton Ave and Roswell St in the heart of downtown Alpharetta. Most of the restaurant faces Milton Ave.

"Do you want the lunch size portion, or the regular size?" So I thought to myself and pondered how hungry I really was. It was cold and wet outside, and a generous portion of shepherd's pie was predestined to be in my belly. So I decided to man up and order the regular size. Oh my.

Purists might have a problem with the ground beef in this thing. But that didn't bother me too much. This grub was beautiful. Nice golden brown mashed potatoes covered what was basically a medium sized casserole dish. It could feed a family, but it was all for me! Mwahaha! I tried my best to finish it off, but after a while, I felt like I was on the man versus food show. I cried uncle with three or four bites left. But it was delicious, the best shepherd's pie I've had in a very long time. I'll be back when I have another hankering for serious comfort food.

I took a short break from inhaling my sheperd's pie to try my wife's fish and chips. Pretty good stuff made with beer battered cod. Also comes in sandwich form.

I can't comment on the night life here, or the bar. We were there for lunch, and I was impressed. The lunch menu had enough variety to keep me interested for several visits.

They spent a lot of time and money on decor. I thought it was pretty cool, with a lot of little nooks and crannies in which to get lost. The entrance to the restaurant is on the side of the strip mall, which made us look rather stupid trying to get in. I like to think we were not the first to have this happen, right? Hopefully I won't look so dumb on my next visit.