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"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so"
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- 13 Review Updates
- 25 Firsts
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Rating Distribution
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Review votes:
139 Useful, 77 Funny, and 98 Cool
Phoenix, AZ
Yelping SinceJune 2008
Things I LoveSeriously hot food, motorcycles, sea otters, otters
Find Me Inan oven that has the temerity to have city limits
My HometownEdinburgh, Scotland
My Blog Or Website When I'm Not Yelping...I'm wrangling a toddler, riding my bike,
Why You Should Read My ReviewsYou shouldn't but I think we've established that you'll read anything.
My Second Favorite Website The Last Great Book I ReadMarket Forces, Richard K Morgan
My First ConcertFish ( ex Marillion)
My Favorite MovieFilm answer Amelie and Bladerunner, Movie answer changes too much
My Last Meal On EarthWorld's biggest Vindaloo
Don't Tell Anyone Else But...the Baby sitter's dead.
Most Recent DiscoveryMarian Call ,Ice Hockey, Paul and Storm
Current CrushWomen that like scotch and Sci Fi
DatePhoenix, AZ 85085
(623) 581-8635
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers
Category: Restaurants
Gilbert, AZ 85295
(480) 814-7722
Grimaldi's Coal Brick-Oven Pizza
Category: Pizza
It was busy on a Fri night around 7pm but the outside area had many a single table occupied with loads to spare.Quoted a 45 min wait. Stood around a minute outside while thinking of another place to go when the , possibly on-duty manager, outside asked what was up , let her know and they said to give them 10 mins to get the outside ready which was much more agreeable. Things improved greatly after this.
Better pizza than average, same story with the salad and decent servings on the wine. Much better with children than expected. Food is maybe 3 to 3.5* but the service made it feel like a 4* for the type of restaurant. While unimaginative on the mushrooms, it's a source of amusement to see the care and attention that goes into making the base pie and then failing at the fungus stage ,with default 'shrooms was a wee bit sad. Not a great selection of beer, a bit better on the wine front but not by much.
Restrooms. You are kidding ? Yep there's 1 in the guys, 1 for the girls, and not a lot of room to wait in. It's not the most toddler friendly set up.
Recently refurbished,clean room, minimal check-in. The room has a Mwave, coffee machine, fridge,free wifi and decent water pressure and heat from the shower. parking within a few feet if your door, in most cases and cost around $75
That's all I really need in a motel. I'll definitely be using this place again next time I'm back in town.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (1)
Mesa, AZ 85206
(480) 355-6900
Honda Superstition Springs
Categories: Auto Repair, Car Dealers
100% untrustworthy sales team.
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (1)
3 Previous Reviews: Hide »
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8/6/2009
Back to their old tricks.
Called re a certified Element they had on their site. Sure come on down. When we got there was told that they couldn't let us test the car as Honda wanted to verify that it was being represented correctly as a certified car ( given our history here we thought that was quite amusing)
In our opinion the interior fails that test on the cosmetic front but hey, we're not the experts that these guys are;)People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
- Funny (2)
- Cool (2)
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3/3/2009
Found out that the Honda customer support line is more of a heatsink for the dealers. The Honda rep I dealt with , Morris, took the view that since they would fix it after the fact that everything is ok. Yep piece of mind to them = 2 weekends of sitting at a dealer or arranging alternative transport at your expense. I think I'm more pissed at the rubber stamping.
Ok here's why it's still a two. Mistakes happen. If they had taken car back week one, took me to and from work, or given me a loan, and fixed it first time I would have been happy enough for 3 stars:) Sadly they said no loaners, do it on your own time and that the certified items had to have gone wrong between them certifying it, and me buying it so really the warranty rather than certification that's the issue. Basically do not trust CPO cars to be working as advertised just because of the name.They don't need to be at time of sale at least according to Honda just at the time certified. So if your car sits on a lot for 3 months and people take spares from it.. yeah well :) Sucks to be you.People thought this was:
- Useful (3)
- Funny (2)
- Cool (2)
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2/4/2009 First to Review
Following on from the fun over at Camelback VW we drove to see a Honda Civic at this dealer. Decent test drive , I like Susan (Suzzane?) the sales person and once again I find it hard to divorce the idea that the initial tier doesn't know what the sales manager and Fi guy are going to pull.
The car is a certified Honda meaning that it should have had 150 items checked and they all should work. To this dealer it means "if they notice fix it" actually it meant pretend to fix it. So yes I bought the car ( sorry to spoil the ending) but am still trying to get it to match the condition at which I negotiated the price for.
Manager tier pulls the usual car dealer tricks. Unable to answer an honest question. E.g What's the price of the car +tax + doc + vlt with NO other add ons for paint coverage, window etching or a myriad of other things you can acquire for far far less if you add them after market. I nearly walked out as the $200 etching fee made it into the paperwork. He claimed it's an error, said it would hurt the salesperson and the usual emotional BS they teach at weasel school. Having said that I liked the finance guy , Kiko, which is a total first for me.
If you paid $800 for a factory alarm it will do your sanity good to avoid checking the part number and installation procedure.
So why the two? The fuel cap on these can only be released from the inside and it doesn't work. Noticing this on your trip to San Diego after buying the car is not a lot of fun. Once it was opened it had so much grease, fresh, that it looked like an attempt to cover it up/ fix it.
The radio that I pointed out had the speakers incorrectly installed was meant to be remedied on site. They did a little but still doesn't work and the central cabin light isn't working. The latter 2 are livable the former is not.
Yes it's picky but the inflated value of a cert car is mostly the happy fluffy knowledge that it's been checked and has no major issues that would prevent your enjoyment or necessitate a trip back to the dealers to resolve.People thought this was:
- Useful (3)
- Funny (3)
- Cool (3)
Goodyear, AZ 85338
(623) 935-3809
Nakama Sushi Restaurant & Lounge
Category: Sushi Bars
After entering, 8pm on Friday, we met a rather confused greeter. No drinks menu, no sushi menu nor utensils, yeah we had to request the existence of ALL these, thankfully Mike,the waiter, was on the ball and things got a lot better from here on in.
Thai Basil Udon - Udon with tomato and basil in a blazing sweet chili sauce with chicken was pretty good, the sashimi and sushi were better than average for the are (E.G, Phoenix metro not Avondale) and it's not going to break the bank.
The pomegranite soyu was great and well worth trynig out.This was a recommendation from the waiter , though I think the bar tender was strong arming him into making it;), which was a really good idea. Sadly they had ran out of Sapporo 12oz , so it was a soft drink kind of evening from there on.
Nice surroundings, not too crazy on a Friday night and certainly worth another visit when in the area but I wouldn't drive by Zen sushi, Hot wasebi or Tokyo lobby to get there
The provisional figures matched exactly what I was looking for without anything sneaking its way in but really it's hard to tell how they are going to treat you once you start the purchase.
Avondale, AZ 85323
(623) 298-1200
Michael Crawford Suzuki
Category: Car Dealers
They called when it was meant to be ready.
I had a chat with their finance manager re the prior trip leading to failure and the sales staff having an interesting interpretation of having a car within your inventory entailed. I had no names from the calls because one shouldn't expect every encounter with a company to be a future problem (practically you should but it sucks a lot of enjoyment out of life) For my concern I got a discount on future service items for which I am happy with just now.
They have late night opening for service too, 9pm on 3 or 4 nights.
1 Previous Review: Hide »
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7/28/2009 First to Review
I could go into this but let's keep it brief.
They sent me a card , I'd been out before to test drive a couple of cars, that offered 6k off any 2008 model. We called to confirm on the Sat PM that they had 2008 Aerio Sx4 crossovers in stock. Drove down in 110 heat on the Sunday to find out that ,er no ,they didn't have any. That they don't really check stock that much, that the people on the phone at $8 can't be expected to get something as simple as an inventory question right.
The latter doesn't mitigate the companies cheapness in hiring then does it? All in all it's the usual bag of tricks which kinda sucks. The "salesperson" I spoke with knew we were coming, had our number and didn't bother to call re the sudden, and unexpected rush of people that bought up all the in stock cars overnight, must have been celebrating this momentous occasion eh?
Gas, time, goodwill all wasted. About the most moronic thing a new dealer of a niche brand can do.This is the only Suzuki dealer north of Tucson now and if they plan to build a brand based on such a fundamental lack of respect for the buyer's time I don't foresee too bright a future for Suzuki in the Phoenix region.People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
I've only had one meal here but it's not likely to get a recommendation to the people at work. I kinda hate that I kick off with a negative review but this isn't that cheap a place for the quality of food I received. I had lunch bento 4 chicken katsu. This comes in a plastic bento tray, salad, rice, katsu and a couple of slices of orange.
You also get miso soup which was pretty poor and the dashi base was rather too much like a chicken stock with little flavor in the supporting ingredients . ( Zen Sushi spoils us)
The Katsu was apparently fried more than once, with an intermediate cooling period, was really fat laden and is readily beaten at Ono's, or to be frank any order of katsu i've had in the last, oh lifetime. It wasn't white it was saturated with oil for that nice yellow color.
We have too many good places around $9 at lunch, Saigon nites, Thai House and Indian paradise (on a good day) to make this part of the lunch rotation.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
The first server didn't know about the drinks available, no asian beers present, but specifically was unable to get a pear cider in bottles until we'd proved it, would have been easier to have asked the bar person, oh hell she was the bar tender but I like a game of search the menu when parched. Makes the prize so much more rewarding.
Server change:)
Sabrina was great, a non corporate personality in a chain ( tis a good thing) even during my head-addled minds attempt to get through the appearance of an item on the menu being claimed to be "happy hour only" Sorry I wanted 6 wings, not 12, hard enough to lose weight, yeah why go to Claim Jumpers then, damn you caught me. ( I was cheating ok?) We had a light, for CJ, meal and it all came out well cooked and on time. Drinks stayed filled. I stopped going to these a while back because the self control didn't match their offer I'm happy to say that they are making it a bit easier ( though not by much ) to leave without two bags of food under your arm while your spouse wheels you out to the car.
Their new place is only about 25 miles from the old one but is far smaller, maybe 1/3 the retail space. Even better though the access to the craftsfolk is no longer behind a wall, glass and almost totally insulated from the sound but occurs a foot or two away from behind the metal railing. If you are missing Phoenix heat at this time you will probably feel right at home:)
There's a restaurant, gift shop and other crafts shops, like jewelry and ceramics nearby so it's easy to spend 1/2 a day here, I suggest spending the next half at that nearby Glen Turret distillery for another kind of glass appreciation:)
There's a video presentation on glass making and the company history, kinda lo-tech. E.G., they have to come start the video :) There are hands on glass painting areas and what turned out to be a lot of fun for the wife the chance to make your own glass paperweight. (They may not be complete the same day so having it mailed on could be necessary )
I love their output and while I am not remotely a serious collector ( seriously don't have the serious money to keep up with it) these beat out any tourist trinket you can take back.
4 Lists
Near 4 in the afternoon isn't a busy time but the service-dividend one would hope to reap wasn't present.
Greetings, placement, balloon for kid all happy:) time to drinks good. Then not so much.
Ordered a burger that had jalapenos as part of the garnish. What i got was double fried, at least, and cold .While the server did go back and get some it's a pain in the ass to have to open up, pick them out, and wait for the new ones to get back. It's a small thing? Maybe so small that anyone with brains would not serve cold, fat sodden and about as far from crispy as you can get in the first place.Paltry number of fries ( seemingly you can ask for more but found that out a little too late
The bun was claimed to be a jalapeno,meant to be chipotle mayo and the burger was meant to have seen cayenne. Tasted fine, just not gourmet in terms of ingredients and presentation.
My wife's BLTA was the straggliest SINGLE piece of bacon we've seen in a long time and the 2 piece of avocado seemed to have visited the same health farm as the pig:)
Slow refills, had to ask for mine. Wife's refilled but way late in meal.
Poor value. realistically it's about 2.25 rounded down.