Diane "10yearstogether" H.'s Profile

I really wanted to like this restaurant.  

Ambience: The ambience was really lacking in the dining area.  The lights were pretty bright, almost florescent.  It was just awkward. A big space with huge booths and then tables in the middle.  The colors were just bland, reminded me of a Carrows or Marie Callendars.

Service: Was nice. She was very attentive. I will say that things came out very quickly.  Almost too quickly. Giving it a diner-ish feel. Kind of strange.

Food: Husband had the crab stuffed halibut with mashed potatoes and asparagus spears. It didn't have a strong flavor and was fine, just very forgettable. I had the mac n cheese.  It was good, very rich.  Borderline alfredo tasting.  The blueberry cornbread was good, but again, for the prices ($13 for mac n cheese, about $22 or so for my husband's dish, $8 or $9 martinis) I would have expected something a little, I don't know, nicer?  The watermelon martini was great.  Like previous posters have said, it was pureed, perfect drink for a hot day.

Sorry, I won't be going back or recommending it.  It may be a good place for happy hour, but not for a nicer dinner.  For 2 martinis, 2 beers, 2 entrees, our tab was about $85 after tip.

*This review is for customer service, facilities, and one intro class only**

I went to my first intro class tonight and signed up for a 1 year membership immediately afterwards.  My girlfriend recommended it to me and I thought I'd give it a shot.

The intro class was great.  There was an instructor and someone who did the moves to show you how it was done.  One guy who may have been a regular even helped me with kicks.  Super nice.  Staff was very friendly and unintimidating.  

Facilities were great.  Basic, but in good condition, from what I saw.  It didn't smell - score.

BEST PART - the schedule of kickboxing classes.  I work full time and have a hard time getting to TKB classes at 24 hour fitness.  HELLO not everyone can do a 10am, 12pm, or 430pm TKB class.  It's really nice to have a gym to go to with kickboxing classes that understands the needs of working professionals that have regular office hours.  Check out the schedule for yourself.  I for one love the following offerings:
8-845am
1210-1250pm (lunch crunch)
6-645pm
645-730pm

The morning and lunch hour offerings give me a chance to get a kick ass cardio workout in without sacrificing my time at home.

I also thought it was a great deal for pre-paying for a year, but even their month-to-month options were reasonable.

I can't wait to see the difference after a month or two at this place.  From experience, there aren't many workouts that are so effective as an all-body conditioner/shaper.

In the past, I've gone to Meineke (used to be Econo Lube) on El Paseo - never again.  I found out after the fact that I had basically been overcharged and I didn't like the long wait times.  For instance, they have a coupon in the mailer for a $49 synthetic oil/lube/filter change but at Firestone it was $48 regularly.

I spoke with Danny initially - SO NICE and helpful.  I had been having problems hearing screeching when I hit the brakes and knew something was wrong on my 11 year old Dodge with 117k miles.

I brought it in and Tim at the front was VERY helpful and knowledgeable and extremely nice.  For $20 they did a complete auto check and let me know that my oil was leaking and that I need to get it steam cleaned but they don't do that on premises.  They told me that I had to have x, y, and z fixed.  My dad is in San Francisco but has been a mechanic and electrician forever, and I had them call him and he gave me his seal of approval.  He actually vouched for Firestone's quality of work, even in the bay area.

It took about 2 hours to get the fix on my tire rod and bushing kit removed and replaced.  My car was aligned and my tires were balanced and rotated.  And of course my oil was changed.  They even saved the replaced pieces and showed me what was replaced and what had gone wrong.

Now most shops probably don't give a care when they see a female in her 30's go in with car problems - they might write her off as stupid.  Not these guys.  I really appreciated that they educated me on what went wrong and acted like I knew what they were talking about! (I didn't - hee hee).

I got the Firestone card which saved me about $50 because it's 10% off your bill.  I expected to see a repair bill of about $700+ but instead it was $491, $440ish after my 10% off with the Firestone card.  And you have 90 days to pay for it interest free.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SHOP.

This review is for happy hour only.

Margaritas - MY FAVORITE IN ORANGE COUNTY!  Strong drinks, tasty!  It didn't taste like they use the generic margarita mix in these.  The margaritas actually remind me a lot of El Callejon's margaritas, which are now SECOND best in OC.

Service - awesome.  Our waitress was working hard covering a lot of tables and the bar area, but she never gave attitude.  Gotta love that.

Food - chips and salsa were REALLY great.  I kept going back to get more salsa.  The tacos were just ok, as were my side salad and buffalo wings.  But honestly the chips, salsa, margaritas, service, and CHEAP happy hour prices were well worth it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I wouldn't say that they have the best quality furniture, but we have a bedroom set from here that was a great deal.  The salespeople follow you around and are borderline pushy and annoying, but I understand that they likely have a quota to make.  They are pretty helpful though and aim to please, but I guess it's hard to find a good balance between super helpful and pushy.

Delivery took the time they quoted to me.  

Financing package was ok.  However, the store said I would have ZERO payments for a year with zero interest, but turns out it was just zero interest with a payment every month.  I didn't find this out until I got an overdue notice.  Huh?!  I had to clear it up with Wells Fargo Financial, who luckily was understanding and took care of things for me.

This shop is absolutely disgusting.  It makes me ill to see people actually purchasing pets from this store.

The store smells HORRID.  It smells like urine and feces.  

The first experience I had was coming to this store with a girlfriend, looking at the puppies, seeing what they labeled as a French Bulldog pee or poop bloody feces.  There was another dog in there with the French Bulldog and it was eating up the poop/blood. I wanted to faint.  That was bad enough.  

But what happened next should have gotten this place shut down - we went to the front and told 2 workers about what just happened.  They went to the cage where the French Bulldog was and picked her up, took out the newspaper, and then put in new newspaper, and put the dog back in!!!  No friggin spray, no disinfectant, nothing.

It made me sick and want to cry.  This place is so disgusting to me.

This place is so neat!  I could not believe all of the candies and toys they had available in the selection that were a total throw back to my childhood days!  

The store is very clean and tastefully decorated.  The staff is wonderful as well.

The prices are a little on the higher end, but I suppose it is justified because you won't find a lot of these products in the regular stores anymore.

Very unique concept.  Worth a visit!

Really neat little tanning salon.  I had my first airbrush tan from here and have never gone elsewhere.  The owners are really friendly, and the workers are the same way.  I had a young lady do my airbrush tan and I expected it to be very awkward.  Although she was young, she was really professional and made me feel very comfortable!

Very clean as well.

Highly recommended!

This is a review of drinks and service only.

We went here after having dinner somewhere else.  Stumbled upon it, actually.  The margaritas were FANTASTIC and the waiters were VERY nice to us!  The drinks were strong, the complimentary chips were warm and just right, and the salsa was tasty.

Reasonable price for such large and strong margaritas as well.  It's also in a great spot for people watching.  We sat on the patio and the night had beautiful weather.  

We went 2 nights in a row because we liked it so much!

I love this spa.  It isn't cheap, but it's not priced like Glen Ivy or Burke Williams either.  The establishment is cozy, well kept, the sitting room is very relaxing, the bathrooms/showers are clean, the sauna is very clean as well.  The interior is nicely decorated.

I have been here about 4 times, each time with a different massage therapist, and they were all fantastic.  

I have also had the sea salt scrub and a different scrub treatment and I swear I was in Heaven.  

They have a nice selection of Epicuren products as well, and it's a good deal when they have a 20% off product sale.

The service is excellent at this spa to boot.

Highly recommended. Show owner comment »