Vicki "drunkenatheist" M.'s Profile

Let me phrase it this way:
If I were able to replace my entire wardrobe in one shot, I'd probably hit up Greene Street, but on my budget, it's a little difficult to justify $16 for a gorgeous scarf from a consignment shop.  (Trust me, it was hot, too.  Broke my heart to have to talk myself out of it.)

I think that Buffalo's selection and pricing are more in line with what I'm looking for, but you can easily get some great steals in Greene Street.  Earlier today, I saw two beautiful trench style tan wool coats on the clearance rack.  Each was under $15, but unfortunately, the one was huge on me and the other wouldn't fit over my, ahem, chest.  It seems like jeans tend to get moved back to clearance pretty often, as well.

One thing to note: a few items that I really liked had more wear on them than I would have liked to see.  Yes, I realize it's a store that primarily sells used clothing; however, I have not seen as many items with such heavy wear in other consignment/used stores in the city.  If shopping at Greene Street, make sure to anal retentively check every seam, every button, the zipper, etc. before committing.

Philly AIDS Thrift is becoming my new favorite place to engage in some retail therapy.  Every time I stop into the store, I find another little nook that I never knew existed!

On my trip earlier this evening, I learned that they have a small craft section.  I snagged three skeins of a small gauge, vintage charcoal grey yarn, FIVE NEW AND SEALED PACKS OF STITCH WITCHERY (!!!!!), a sealed pack of cross-stitch fabric, some neato fringe, die cut metal embellishments, and a pack of sewing patterns.  

Most of those items were only $.99 each!  Stitch Witchery retails from about $3.50-$4 a pack at Joann Fabrics, while the Aida fabric is usually around $2.50/$3 a pop.  I couldn't believe that I had scored such lucky finds!  I also snagged a scarf, a handbag, a cigar box, and an adorable sailor themed t-shirt.  The damage was less than $25.  ($21.95, to be exact.)

If I were in a grown up house, I'd definitely scour PAT for furniture and housewares.  Unfortunately, my roommate and I rent a small Point Breeze rowhome, and we simply don't have the space for a lot of those items.  

As other folks have pointed out, you will need to set aside several hours to really dig through all the merchandise. This evening, I spent about two hours in the store, and most of that time was spent browsing and digging apart the accessories and craft sections.  PAT is totally the type of thrift store where I could see myself spending 8+ hours digging around and enjoying it!

(Plus, as others have pointed out: the donation process is so easy.  Dump your stuff, get a receipt if you want, and leave.  Easy peasy.)

By three stars, I really mean "3.5/3.75 stars."  Look, after living a block and a half away from Slice, I'm spoiled.  Sorry, folks.  I'm not trying to crap all over Renato's, it just doesn't quite compare to Slice.

Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, Renato's is the only pizza place I really trust in Delco.  Personally, I'd rather have subpar toppings on an awesome crust than amazing toppings on a subpar crust.  On that note, Renato's does me right.  The crust is crunchy and chewy and plain old yummy.  The toppings are better than what you typically find in the area, but they still aren't the most high-end.  (i.e., Slice's Hawaiian pizza with prosciutto vs. Renato's Hawaiian pizza with regular ham)

That's not to say that their pizza is bad, just that it could be a bit better.  I also really wish that they consistently delivered out to Springfield area.  They will occasionally deliver to my apartment, but usually only when we have a large order.  Again, not the end of the world, but they have definitely lost business from us because of it.  

In case you're reading this, Renato's staff, it's nothing personal.  We actually enjoy your pizza a lot.  It's just that sometimes, the thought of swapping sweats for jeans and slippers for sneakers so we can go pick up the pizza is way too much effort for us.  But you know, if you are reading this review, I would totally bump up my rating by a star if you guys expanded your delivery range.  Please?  Pretty please?

The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the acoustics are horrible there late at night.  I guess it's because it's so empty late at night, every little sound just bounces right into my ears -- but don't quote me, I am neither a scientologist nor a mathemagician.  

With that being said, creamed chipped beef and cake are two of my big litmus tests for diners.  Judging from the size of my ass, they passed both tests with flying colors.   A+

Wow.  What is with all the low stars here?

Is the food good?  No, for the most part, it's standard greasy bar food.  The pizza is "eh" at best and really only good for soaking up the beer in your bellah.  The ISOPs are tasty and definitely above average for Delco bar grub, but they certainly don't compare with any of the offerings at your average Philly gastropub, tapas bar, or whatever the cool kids are eating on Passyunk Ave. this week.

But you know what?  I'm okay with that.  With the exception of the ISOPs, they aren't claiming to have the most amazing food you've ever eaten.  The food wasn't what drew me in: it was the gajillion beer taps all around the bar, in the windows, on the tables, etc.  Every time we have gone there, they have at least one great thing on tap.  The selection has never disappointed me.  Ever.  

Maybe I've just lucked out, but we always seem to get the same bartender.  (White guy, bald, looks like he's in his mid-30s; I think his name is Victor.)  Dude is on the ball, we've never waited longer than a minute for our next round, and he manages to be friendly without being overbearing (as well as backing off without making me feel like I'm hassling him to get me a fresh drink).  

On top of this, they have a surprisingly good selection of packaged goods and $2.50 drafts on Tuesdays.  How can you complain about that?  Seriously, y'all?

If dive bars with a great beer selection are your thing, ignore the naysayers and check it out for yourself.

Giant is my preferred grocery store in the area for a lot of reasons, but somehow, they managed to make me an even happier girl with the addition of the Springfield location.

First, the store is just pretty compared to the Aldan location.  Pretty ought to count for something, right?  It's been around for about 6 months, so it's still got that new store smell to it.  The employees are great and are easy to find; my boyfriend has dealt directly with produce managers on two separate occasions and had no problems tracking them down.  

Second, I can haz 24 hour shopping?  NO RLY?!?!?!?  The hardest thing I had to adjust to when I moved over here from NJ is the lack of 24 hour shopping.  We South Jerseyans are accustomed to our 24 hour Walmarts, Wawas, CVSes and grocery stores (or at least this former South Jerseyan is).  When I moved here in '04, I couldn't get over how difficult it was to find a 24 hour anything.  Now, I don't even have to sweat it.  My boyfriend has an odd work schedule, so it's a life-saver to be able to run out to the grocery store at 1 am.

Third, the produce section is huge.  HUGE.  When we first moved back to the area, we were typically splitting our shopping between Trader Joe's and BJ's.  I have the most awful luck with produce from TJ's; most of the time, I get a few days out of it before I have to pitch it.  BJ's produce selection is lacking and it's sometimes a bit difficult for two people to tear through two pounds of brussels sprouts and a pound of kale in one sitting.  It's wonderful to finally have a local, year-round option for produce that is reasonably priced, has really fresh stock, and isn't in a giganto mega bulk quantity.

Fourth, one of the first times we stopped there, we found 1 oz. packs of dried morels for FOUR DOLLARS.  FOUR.  Lemme tellya, I was riding that high for several days.  #TRUTH

Fifth....  Wait a second, I don't need a fifth reason for the high stars.  $4 morels are worth two stars on their own.  

Check it out for yourself and tell me I'm wrong here, folks.  I dare you.

$300 covered 6 months of contacts, a new pair of glasses and the eye appointment without vision insurance.  I had new contacts the same day and my glasses were ready in less than a week.

I don't what else to tell you about the place.  I'm happy, my boyfriend's happy, everyone's happy.

I'm wondering if Nooddi is hit or miss, which kind of makes me sad.

We got delivery from there earlier this evening, and were both pretty happy with it.  Now, I'm willing to concede that we may have found it so tasty because we were so starved for non-generic-suburban-Chinese food, but frankly, we're pretty snobby with our food.  We don't eat out that often because we can often crank out something better for half the cost.  

The pineapple fried rice was alright.  Unfortunately, the only place I've had better was Plan-Eat Thai in Point Breeze, which no longer exists.  My beef drunken noodles were delish with a little bit of spice that hit me at the end instead of blazingly spicy food.  My boyfriend was happy with his red curry w/chicken, which kind of surprised me, since we've found curry dishes to be hit or miss in general.  Our spring rolls were good, but the filling tasted like it was mainly cabbage.  (Side note- Man, I miss living off Washington and having access to yummy spring & summer rolls.)

It loses a star for the cost, which was a bit pricy.  (We split an order of spring rolls and an order of pineapple fried rice with two additional entrees.)  Our bill came to around $40 and since we had the delivery come out here after the snowstorm, I made sure he got a good tip.  For comparison's sake, we're normally spending around $30 at our regular  Americanized Chinese food place for two entrees, two appetizers, and two soups.  

We'll probably go back at some point, but based on others' reviews, I'm totally ignoring the Pad Thai.

I adore Fante's.  Knife sharpening is only a few bucks a pop, the gadget and tool selection is seriously intimidating, and the prices aren't terrible.  (As in, I'd likely check Amazon before dropping serious cash there, but for most things, I'll just chance it.)  On top of it, the employees are the bees' knees.  Seriously.  I don't use that compliment lightly.

Also?  They offer Wilton classes that appear to be way cheaper than what the big chains (i.e., Joann's or Michael's) are offering.  It's one of the things I regret not doing in the city when I had the chance!

I've gone to Wooden Shoe multiple times over the years.  I think most people here have summed up my issues with the store (prices are awful, volunteers can be less than welcoming, selection can be tight), but it sticks in my craw when I go to an "anarchist" bookstore and see fliers all over the place stating that Micheal Moore books are banned from the store.  (Banned because they don't like his position on Mumia.)  I'm far from pro-cop, especially in Philly, but the Michael Moore thing bothers me a lot.  Perhaps they've changed their minds on this subject, but I'm not terribly hep on censoring a guy who, frankly, has done a hell of a lot more for left-wing politics than anyone staffing the shoe.  Also, as an anarchist, I sort of take issue with their mailing list being used as a way to get more laws created.  (lolwhut?!?!?)

James G (who is more than happy to assume the "boss" roll as the public face of Wooden Shoe) claims that if you have problems with ideological bent of the store, you can hug it out with him.  When I listed off a few complaints to a mutual Facebook friend, he popped on to screech at me.  (I was unaware that he was also on this young lady's Facebook friends.)  I was told to "fuck off" and I had an incident attributed to me that never happened.  (I was also told that I was an anarcho-capitalist.  My boyfriend and I had a gut busting laugh about that.)

I get it, you guys are super cool "anarchist" types who get really threatened by anyone's criticisms of your store, but I really don't think that's a great way to run a business.  I haven't been to the Shoe in several years now.  Up until a few months ago, it had been because I just didn't have the money to do so, but now it's because I'm not too happy with the treatment received by James Generic.  I think that his below comment (which I thought was against Yelp policies!) speaks more about his customer service skills than amount of Shoe based criticism could.

As for me, I'll just stick with Powell's in the future when I need to get my lefty book fix.  At better prices and selection with less judgy 'tudes, it's worth the week long wait for my books.