Tara "Tiger" B.'s Profile

I delivered a 10 lb baby boy at UCLA Westwood totally naturally. I truly believe that without the help of Giuditta I would have given up on my wish to give birth sans drugs.

My husband was very comfortable working with Giuditta and that is an essential part of having a good team dynamic.

Having Giuditta help us navigate our newborn after we got home was essential especially because we don't have any family nearby.

We appreciate Giuditta every day!

I sat in a massage chair for an hour and received a great mani pedi and only paid $20. I couldn't believe it, I have never paid less than $40!

The staff was very friendly. I loved the guy working the desk, he was so nice and helpful and made sure I was comfortable.

My only complaint is that the fumes are pretty harsh in the small space, they could stand for some more ventilation.

I had a bum shoulder and needed help STAT! I called and they got me in within 10 minutes! I arrived and let me just say, don't let the exterior scare you, the inside is clean and tranquil. The sound of the running water calmed me down a bit. I was asked to take off my shoes and immediately proceeded to my room. My massage therapist had a very quiet, calming voice and asked me to strip down to my underwear. I've been at massage places before and wouldn't expect anything different. After i was laying face down she came in and placed hot cloths on the bottom of my feet. NICE, what a great way to start. From there the time flew. She tried so hard to get the knots out of my shoulder. After the 60 minutes was up, I walked out to the lobby and a cup of green tea and cut up fruit was waiting for me. Nice touch. I chilled out and then paid my $45 plus tip (note, they charge $2 for using your card).

Having lived in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles means that I expect a good cup of coffee. I think that Intelligentisa in LA, Four Barrel and Blue Bottle in San Francisco, and Vivace and Stumptown in Seattle pull a good shot.

We asked a bunch of people that have impeccable taste in coffee where to go in Paris and this is the place that was most highly recommended.  We appreciated the knowledgable and friendly baristas and their care in making and presenting the coffee.

Unfortunately we did not like the beans that we purchased for making coffee at home. They were roasted too dark and the coffee tasted like burnt wood to me.

I stopped eating fish and so tasty veggie options are very important to me now. Hands down they have the best avocado rolls - fresh avocado and the rolls are large unlike many Japanese restaurants.  The sesame ginger or chili edamame are a nice change from plain or salted and the sweet potato fries are good and crunchy.

The waitstaff are on average very nice and you can usually be entertained with celebrity watching.

They serve vegan salmon rolls and desserts. It is a beautifully decorated restaurant of Eames furniture. Delightful and delicious!

I have lived in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and now LA - cities that are fairly well known for serving great coffee.  Admittedly I'm not a puritan and I like lattes, but hands down, Intelligentsia in Venice has the best soy lattes.  I think they use Westsoy and their lattes are consistently delicious.  I actually think Venice is superior over Silverlake.

i would like for them to offer vegan pastries.  Or maybe it's good that they don't.

I purchased a "Brass Hat" 2008 Mini Cooper S from South Bay MINI in March of 2009.  The Service Dept is incompetent.

Issue #1

The car was fine until the Tire Pressure Light came on.  I took it to the service dept. and they said it was the weather causing it and there was nothing wrong with any of the tires.  They turned off the light.

About one day later the light came back on.  I called the Service Dept and they said not to worry about it.

After awhile the light was annoying me so I took it back. Again they said there was nothing wrong with any of the tires and turned the light off.

A day later the light came back on.

Shortly after that, my tire was flat, I filled it up, and I took the car to the nearest tire repair center.

They told me the tire and the rim was ruined and I had to pay over $600 to replace them.

Issue #2
When engaging the clutch it started making weird noises.  As I had little faith in the South Bay Mini Service Dept we took it to Nick Alexander Mini.  They said the clutch was totally worn through and needed to be replaced.  We had driven the car for less than 10,000 miles since purchasing it and it only had 17k miles on it when we got the news.  
We had no choice but to have the clutch replaced. When we got the car back, the clutch felt completely different than when I purchased the car, indicating to me that the clutch was already in bad shape when I purchased it.

I contacted South Bay Mini about both of these issues and said that I expected them to reimburse me.  The Service Manager, Roy Dychte listened to me, but was not willing to discuss the possibility of a reimbursement despite the fact he admitted that his Service Dept should have done more when the tire pressure light came on.  He also said that the clutch should have been fine if it was a Brass Hat car.  He offered to detail my car...

At this point I have to go through a bunch of hoops with Mini USA to try and get reimbursed.

I have recently changed my diet to Vegan and am moving to Venice and I was really worried that I was going to have a hard time finding anything good to eat.

I tried out the southwest burger at Seed and it was the best burger I have ever had in my life. No joke.  I went back 2 more times in a row I enjoyed it so much.

The staff is really friendly and mentioned that they recognized me and that made the experience even better.

The green tea cupcakes are the perfect dessert compliment to the burger.

Charging a $5 cover at 1:30AM is unacceptable.  I also think the days of rude door bouncers is over.