Patrick R.'s Profile

Went to Rodney's last night to celebrate a friend's birthday.  I love Rodney's.  It is one of those places you can go with friends or a secret lover and no one in there will recognize you.  That's true! Not to say I haven't recognized a few Denver A and B listers in there (whether or not they were with secret lovers or not is anyone's guess...).

Consistently good food and a fun place to drink.  The staff is great. So nice.  Prices good. Weekend madness: very manageable.

In conclusion (yes this is a VERY extensive review), I will say this:  If you want to relive being 60, divorced, rich, and a part of the Cherry Creek elite from yesteryear, this is the place for you!

The bummer of this place is the disappointing and blatant consumer misleading the company practices.  When you arrive at the location, and you have your heart set on a good cup of coffee, you quickly find out that this place is really Just 99 Cent Shop occupying Cabot's Coffee House!

After searching aimlessly inside, there was not a coffee maker to be found.  Not even a 99 Cent one!

(Um... this place no longer exists. Has not for like, three years.  But when you use your fancy iPhone to find Coffee shops in Mayfair, this place comes back from the dead.  It actually spooked me when it showed up!  Not to mention, I freaked out that the Just 99 Cent Shop had closed!)

Don't let the name of this store fool you.  "Just 99 Cent Shop" is what we call in the business, "a place that names itself something that sounds like everything in it is just a certain amount of money but really, has other things they sell that cost more."  Oh yeah... we throw that term around a lot in the Branding and Identity business.

That said, this store offers a lot of crap... I mean stuff... that IS in fact, under 100 cents.  With quality to match! Located in Mayfair, and midway between the Safeway and King Soopers, there isn't really another place quite like this where one can get off-brand pink dish soap or smelly candles. Or some brand of potato chips NOT carried at either Safeway or King Soopers.

The store also stocks a large selection of what I call, "disposable tools" that you use once (if lucky), then discard because after you use them they are broken.  But be forewarned, some of their higher-end tools can be expensive if they came from China and are coated in superior-quality lead paint.  I would say you should expect to pay 200 to 300 cents for these special products.

And speaking of quality, lead-based coatings from China, this place is a toy-store dream for the kids!  Instead of GI Joe, there is Fighting Frank. And who wants to pay 2000 cents for a Bratz?  Here, you can get a Stinkeez for only 150 cents!  And the heads come off too!

Just 99 Cent Shop is a true Mayfair institution that has come to the rescue over and over for last minute birthday and anniversary gifts!  You don't want to know how often this store has saved my marriage!

Ok...  Papa Murphy's.  Someone needs to really get to the bottom of what this place is trying to do.  Maybe I am missing something?

The interior is very spartan and is not conducive to dining in.  It is much better to order your pizza to go.  There is only one small bench in the place and it seems to be randomly occupied by whoever is there first.

The wait staff (who, from what I can tell, seem to always be behind the counter and never in the front of house) is very friendly and accommodating.    I did notice a couple of times that at least one employee would be on the phone during service talking loudly about their job which is disconcerting.  I don' t know if the manager actually knew the staff was taking phone calls during work hours or not... but, that is really a minor thing.

I did notice all the ingredients used to prepare the pizzas are fresh and there is a wide variety of menu choices!  I love trying new pizza combinations and Papa Murphy's excels at offering unique choices.

Tonight, I tried the Papa's All Meat.  And once again, I ordered it to go  rather than try to wrestle that bench away from a young mother and her two toddlers.  

Now, here is where I have to raise concern.  Once I got the pizza home, I have to tell you... it was WAY undercooked.  I mean, it was, in my opinion, almost raw!  Even cold to the touch basically.  I don't understand how the chef could possibly think that the pizza was ready when they gave it to me.  The whole family agreed: this was the most under-cooked thing we had ever gotten dining out... and we have eaten out a lot!

Luckily, since we were home, I hit upon the notion to just heat up the oven and, well, basically COOK it right there.  I suppose I should have returned it and made a big stink about it. I mean, how else would the chef know he was putting out orders that were so un-cooked?  But, like everyone, I always hate complaining at restaurants for fear the staff will bomb my food with everything they can find in the back.  Scary.  So,  I usually just keep my mouth shut  and never return.

At any rate, my idea worked and after about, oh, 11 minutes or so at 425 degrees, the pizza looked like it should: bubbling melted cheese, toasty crust, nice sizzling meat, etc... Dinner saved!  All I can think is how lucky we were to be in our home at the time and not at a picnic or drive-in or someplace that did not have an oven.  We'd have been screwed!

The redeeming factor here is that the pizza tasted yummy once hot.  Very fresh and really satisfying.  The prices at Papa Murphy's are great too.  A Family-sized pizza will feed a family.  No kidding.

So, aside from the minor chef incident, I am giving it 4 stars and another chance - probably within two weeks - because the pizza WAS good after all.  Maybe they just need to get a new chef.  And, tell the employees not to pick up the phone every time it rings.

The Thunderbird Lounge is easily overlooked as you drive past it at 40 miles per hour on Quebec.  Located at the end of a shabby strip mall-ish kind of building next to a liquor store and a defunct Blackjack's Pizza, you could easily mistake it for some hole-in-the-wall. (Kassai Sushi is located on the other end along with Moongate next door to that...)

But make no mistake.  This bar/restaurant is a nice little slice of neighborhood goodness with one of the friendliest staffs around.  They practically know your name after your first visit.  

The food is usually excellent  and the menu has a nice variety of comfort food along with nightly specials that have proven time and time again to be the best choice when ordering.  With a two-for-one happy hour daily, as well as their very reasonable prices, The 'Bird can easily become a weekly habit.

The physical layout of the space creates a separation between the bar and the restaurant so families can comfortably bring their kids without the risk of them hearing anything they maybe shouldn't.  And I have never seen a kid not find something they love on the kid's menu.  The staff is super attentive and almost never allows your drink to become empty without asking you if you are ready for another.

The bar side is perfect for after-work cocktails with friends or co-workers and has the requisite pool table and golden tee stuff.  There are plenty of wall-mounted TVs that continually stream ESPN  and CNN.  The well-adjusted crowd that frequents the place is usually civilized yet fun-loving and consists of a lot of old-time regulars who have kept the place alive for so many years.

The bathrooms suck but you quickly overlook that minor flaw if you are with the right people.