Carrie B.'s Profile

We chose between a middle eastern place and the newer Salvatore Scallopini on Southfield Road. We had been to other Salvatore Scallopinis, such as the one on Miller Road in Flint, which was big and open. This Salvatore Scallopini's is in a remodeled Coffee Beanery, long-since shut down. They did a good job remodeling it, but the restaurant is tiny. Don't bring small kids or groups larger than 4-5.

We went on a Thursday evening, but it was prior to a holiday. We arrived around 7:45, and the dinner rush was in full force. My sister-in-law had a 9-month-old, and there was my mother-in-law, her boyfriend, my husband and myself. They said they weren't going to do reservations, but seemed put out when we arrived with a party of five and a baby. We tried to stand in the front and the hostess not-so-subtly tried to get us to go by the bar, finally repeating herself five times, louder each time, until we complied. Unfortunately she didn't realize that not everyone could fit well over there, even though my sister-in-law took the baby carrier back to the car. My husband squeezed his small frame by the wall and I shoved in beside him, but we still couldn't fit. The bartender was then seemingly irritated that only one of us was going to order alcohol.  They really need a heated lobby with additional seating! We waited about 30 minutes to get a table for five people and one baby (held on a lap). They seated us just as we were getting ready to leave to go to the middle eastern place.

The initial time at the restaurant was a disappointment, but the waitress was very sweet and the food was excellent. We all had different items from chicken breasts to eggplant parmigiana, and nobody was disappointed at the quality. The dessert tray also had several options and both the tiramisu and cannoli were delicious.

While the food and service were very good overall, the initial experience was a downer. I will certainly return to the location, but at a lighter time (say, Monday evening around 8 p.m.). I most definitely wouldn't be going with more than 2 people!

We had high hopes of delicious brew and fish & chips when we got our Restaurant (dot) Com gift certificate for $10 off $20 of food and drinks. Noting that Buckminster's opened at 4 p.m., we headed out to Northville to do some boutique window shopping before stopping in for an early dinner. We walked through the door at 4:45 to a near-empty house and expected the best.

The person behind the bar (also serving as waiter and possibly as cook) handed us the scant menu. Typical bar food at mid-level bistro prices. The husband ordered a Guinness and I ordered an iced tea and a glass of Pino Grigio. The Pino was fine, though at $6.50 a glass ($1 off at Happy Hour 4 - 6ish) I could've just bought the bottle for a dollar or two more and took it home to enjoy in peace. The Guinness was good, well-poured, and delish like most Guinness is!

I ordered the house-made chili and the Michigan Salad. My husband ordered the Reuben. The chili was "eh" and I didn't really taste the Guinness they supposedly make it with. The salad was standard fare and other than wanting protein on it, it was pretty good for the price. My husband's Reuben was on a TINY piece of marble bread and was maybe 3/4" thick. For $8.50+ it was a disappointment, as it also only came with crinkle-cut chips. For bread that small it had better be stacked for $8.50. It was really about $5.50 worth of sandwich and it didn't have any "zing".

The atmosphere was nice. It was kinda-sorta British pub-style, but with a bland American charm. It was VERY clean and the windows had a nice fog about them, which was sort of nice-looking from the outside. It is a pretty unassuming place.

The verdict is that we're definitely not in a hurry to go back. It wasn't BAD, but it wasn't GOOD, either. If you live in the neighborhood, it might be a good place to pick up a beer after work. But don't go there expecting gourmet!

I'm definitely a fan of the Southfield Planet Fitness location. My husband and I were going to a less-than-stellar gym in Royal Oak, and then we decided to try PF because of the pricing and location. The staff was friendly and the facility was CLEAN and smelled about as fresh as a gym could smell, which sold us.

First, bring a lock to the gym! Their locker rooms are definitely nice, but that doesn't mean your stuff is safe. Staff can't monitor is 24/7 and you should take responsibility for yourself! I use a good lock and haven't had problems.  

There are oodles of cardio machines, which we never have to wait for, even if you go at peak times. I've never seen any machines out of service, except for a row at a time as they clean during off-peak hours. They actually lift them up to clean! Gasp! That's awesome.

I really enjoy the Curves-like 30 Minute Express Workout station. There are usually one or two people working on it each time I'm there. Do a few minutes of cardio to warm up and yes, that thing can certainly kick your butt if you rise to the occasion. If "Curves-like" isn't for you, there are the same machines elsewhere in the circuit training equipment.

I haven't tried the abs circuit, stretching/abs area, or cable/free weights area yet. One thing I would like is instruction on how to use the cable area and also information on my form for free weights. I asked the desk staff if someone could show me how to use the cable machines and they said they couldn't because they're not Personal Trainers. I said, "Okay, but most people should be able to tell you how it works."

Lack of instruction and lack of Personal Training availability (and choice of trainers as they only employ one) is my biggest beef with Southfield PF. I would like to learn once so I can be more knowledgeable and appear confident in the areas I'm not already confident in. I guess I'll have to take time off work to do a [free] PT session where the PT designs a plan for you. If you go on an off hour, I guess that you have a better chance of getting a one-on-one session, as you can't pay for individual sessions.

One thing I really love about PF is the massage chairs and access to Infrared and UV lights. My husband has the access-only ($10) membership and I have the Black Card ($19) membership. I can usually make myself work a little harder if I know I get to plop in the massage chairs afterward at no additional cost. Kudos to the staff/company for really keeping everything in working order!

We're not all hip to yell "Lunk!" if some big, beefy guy is working out. (There are some big, beefy guys that come often that may do better at another gym, but for all I know they have two memberships, because the cardio equipment is superior to most gyms.) I don't really care about the Judgement-Free part of it. I care about access, cleanliness, friendliness of staff, and basic amenities. They deliver these in spades. I don't see myself lifting dumbbells over 60 pounds, so for the people complaining about lack of poundage at other PF locations... Duh! This isn't the gym for you! It's the gym for the rest of the country who is afraid or just beginning to get out and move. Go to your Gold's or Powerhouse and shut your craw!

Overall two thumbs up.

Howe's has been our go-to place for the last eight years. Whenever friends come in from out-of-town they usually say, "Let's go to Howe's." We typically go one or two times per year.

Service can sometimes be hit-or-miss and some days are busy and other days you can hear proverbial crickets in the place. But the food is typically tasty and novel when you have guests.

The normal fair: pulled pork po' boys with a side of either garlic smashed or sweet potato fries, atchafalaya chicken, catfish, or Pasta N'Orleans. (I should note that only the husband eats the catfish. I don't eat bottom feeders.) On the whole these dishes are quite good and the quality is solid meal after meal. Some of the other entrees we've tried (last night's pork chop with homemade applesauce or the etouffee) haven't always been winners.

They do have a decent wine and beer selection, with a select Michigan beer on tap at any given time. Last night it was Bell's Best Brown and it went pretty well with my pork chop and mashed sweet potato special, though I liked the beer better than the pork chop plate.

Some days it's a two-star experience and some days it's five, so I think my "Yay! I'm a fan!" is pretty warranted. It's a good joint every so often and the owners are always nice. We'll keep going back as long as folks still want to go there.

First let me say that the Halibut dish featured in the Restaurant Week menu was probably the best fish dish I've ever eaten. Period.

Second, I'll say I *wanted* to absolutely love it. But...

We had a good meal overall. My sister-in-law booked during Restaurant Week for the prix fixe menu ($28/person for 3 courses) in honor of my mother-in-law. Some plans got changed around and my husband and I ended up going along as well. We were happy to get the chance.

Parking near Roast on a Sunday evening wasn't very troublesome, as there were no games going on downtown at that time. I would not go during a game or during prime weeknight dining hours, because I can see how the wait would be terrible. However, we had reservations and we were seated very promptly.

Like other Yelpers, we noticed that the "leisurely" dinner pace was in full swing, with our waiter taking his sweet time between explaining the menu, getting drinks, taking the order, between courses, etc. (We got there just before 7:15 Sunday evening and left at 9:30.) Although we had reservations, the table wasn't properly set and we had to wait for one more place setting before we could all enjoy the bread.

Let's do some pros and cons.

Pros:
* Nice hot tea, and the water person always kept the glasses full
* Delicious halibut
* Large salad portions, not overdressed
* Complimentary bread was not too big and it was very soft with a light, crusty outside
* The prix fixe menu had ample choices, considering
* The ambiance is very classy, though a bit underlit
* The waitstaff and hostess were very kind
* Other staff brought water, appetizers quickly and cleared dishes quickly
* Reasonable valet

Cons:
* Time between meal elements (ordering, food arrival, etc.) too long
* Mushroom soup was more like the gravy from grandma's gravy boat
* Steak was WAY oversalted and undercooked
* Red meats come out woefully undercooked. Take Yelpers' advice and order your meat a level UP from where you normally get it. Their "medium well" is really a "medium" or "medium rare". My husband's was half-medium-well, half-medium rare, which should be considered unacceptable.
* No real options for kids (PS: The mac n cheese side has herbed breadcrumbs. Kids and mac purists beware.)
* Lighting too low to really see what you were eating
* Price is definitely higher than this "casual diner" typically pays

It was nice to try Roast. I could see myself going there maybe once every two or three years, but there are other places downtown I'd rather head to for the price. I like the idea of the "Roast Beast" and the downtown vibe. I'll say it was a "3+" and not just a solid 3. I've had better and if it didn't have Simon's name on it, it wouldn't have nearly the buzz.  It was certainly worth trying for the Restaurant Week promotion.

Try it yourself. Then review it! I'm interested to hear what you thought.

We drove down from Ferndale because we've been buying Calder milk for a while when we can find it. We wanted to go to the farm itself, but it was a bit more of a drive. Some friends came down from Flint who expressed interest, so we decided to get ice cream and buy dairy at the store. It was easy to find (though Google directions are goofy, per usual).

We all tried different ice cream flavors and found that the Blue Moon was "one of the best Blue Moons I've ever tried" (quoth my husband) and the maple nut and butter pecans were delightful. They also had banana, which was a real treat!  

The store is tiny, but effective. You can pick up any milk that you'd like as well as fresh eggs ($2.07 for a dozen brown eggs), candy, and canned items. For a glass-bottled gallon of milk and a dozen eggs, we spent just over $5. The person behind the counter also said that if we bring our bottle back, you get $1.25 off the next one because they will reuse the bottles. That's reason enough for me to save up the bottles!

Support local farmers and local products and take a little trip to the dairy. :-)

We tried to like it. It was clean and the staff was fine.

On the first visit we went to another local Pei Wei and we got the spring rolls and edamame as an appetizer. Those were good. My husband got some sort of noodle dish and I got what was the most disorganized, SALTY pad thai I've ever experienced. I took two bites and asked for a manager. I sent it back and got Burger King on the way home, which was tastier (and I think less salty if you can believe it).

We tried Pei Wei in Royal Oak on this past Friday to give it another shot. I got some chili ramen and my husband got a beef dish. We got crab wontons and edamame for appetizers. This is about when I... *facepalm*.  My husband's beef dish was thick, sweet, salty, and battered. The Chinese dive around the corner from our house puts out better beef than that! My ramen was tasteless as the broth was at the bottom. The noodles were overcooked and the veggies undercooked. The tofu was cooked well and once again the edamame appetizer was tasty. (SKIP the crab wontons.)

After my husband ate what he could and I ate what I could, we left the freezing (Holy air conditioning, Batman!) restaurant, we came home and ate snacks. Needless to say we left our leftovers right on the table.

Plus side:
1) clean restaurant
2) great unsweetened flavored teas
3) good edamame
4) decent staff
5) located next to a Bloomberry for dessert
6) located next to an Olga's for when your Pei Wei was gross and you needed to eat okay food

Sorry, Pei Wei. No more chances. Your food just kinda sucks.

I have enjoyed my trips to Cupcake Station since they opened. Their storefront is homey and seems to have tweens, teens, college kids, and moms draped over the chairs when I go in, eating away like it was an ice cream parlor. Although there are several locations, it doesn't feel like a "chain" establishment.

The cupcake displays are fairly immaculate, not dusty or smeared with fingerprints. The cupcakes and baked goods look lovely on display. We purchased two each (at $2.75 a cupcake) and went home to indulge.

This last trip... The carrot cake was smashing, totally moist, and my husband said the key lime "bumpy" variety was also quite good, though he wasn't a fan of the white chocolate candy shell on top. I also had the chocolate salted caramel, and while the cupcake was moist and delicious, I've found the frosting lighter than other cupcake places' frosting and it can sometimes be a little greasy or appear that it's falling off the cupcake. (Hint: Don't let them sit in a hot car, or you'll have a hot, melty mess!) My chocolate salted caramel was like this. The best part was not the frosting, but the salt with the chocolate cake. My husband also got the Boston creme, which looks like a dream but is as of yet uneaten... He eats like a bird.

I give them props for quality and cleanliness. Sometimes the staff is hit-or-miss (I don't like feeling like I've been talked down to when I'm buying a silly cupcake). I give them two thumbs and two big toes up for the quality and moistness of their cake, which can really be a shaky subject at other places. I still like one other place better (hint: "dot") overall for various reasons, but I appreciate that Cupcake Station has invaded downtown Ferndale with sugary goodness.

We really enjoyed the cake that we got from Al Meena Bakery. The owner's son (or grandson? It's a family business.) replied promptly saying that they could do my custom sushi-themed birthday cake in the time and in the price range that I was looking for. I was excited, because the sushi cake on their website was great, and they were close to where I live in Oak Park. If you have time, browse their cake galleries on their website. The storefront is very unassuming, but I'm impressed with the cakes they put out.

When I went to place the order, the gentleman seemed a little stern, but he was pleasant enough. The cost for my custom sushi cake was $80 and did not include delivery, but I did not need it. At first I thought it was a little high, but when we got a half sheet cake-sized dessert, I was thrilled! This was a great cake!

Pick-up day came and another gentleman was manning the shop. He gave me my cake, asked me to inspect it, and then assisted in carrying it out to my car. It was also carefully boxed so as not to damage the fondant decorations on top. That was nice!

They did a wonderful job and my husband was just thrilled at his awesome sushi cake. But I didn't even mention the taste! We got a chocolate cake with a raspberry filling. They used a whipped cream to "glue" the fondant on, which was also very tasty. I was impressed that the fondant actually tasted vanilla-y (better than other fondants we've had, even for our wedding), but it's definitely better to peel off the fondant and enjoy the cake itself! The chocolate cake is moist and delicious, but not overpowering. You couldn't taste the berry filling very much, but they mixed it with a chocolate frosting to give it texture and it made it delicious. Everyone was raving!

High-fives. I really enjoyed the experience and would go back again in a heartbeat!

My girlfriends and I enjoy meeting at The Breakfast Club in Madison Heights once a month. The food is consistently delicious, prepared very well to order, and coffee is always a'flowin'!  The waitresses are pleasant and the choco-strawberry finish is always a pleasure.

The coffee refill person doesn't always know much about the menu, which is one of the negative things. ("I don't know, ask your waitress." is sort of a customer service negative.)  My only other gripes are that the place is tiny and not good for the weekends due to crazy popularity (a good problem, I guess) and that the place is NOT good for large groups or kidlets.

Parking is tight in the lot, but the church across the side street lets you park in their lot, which is totally respectable. I've never had an issue for our Monday a.m. brunches, either finding parking or an immediate seat. I love, love, love this place! We will keep going back once a month.