Andrea Q.'s Profile

Stopped in at The Good Egg for breakfast on a Saturday around noon.  I appreciated that there were quite a few other folks having a lazy late breakfast.  I had the Florentine Benedict. The size of the hollandaise sauce portion was a little bit overwhelming and a little bit too thick but otherwise tasted fine.  John had the pancakes, which were huge.  He was psyched.  Prices were reasonable for a breakfast place, which in Scottsdale is rare.  Coffee was too weak for me but they leave a big carafe of coffee and a pitcher of water on the table which is kind of nice.  

Huge restaurant with plenty of seating.  Country decor but not obnoxious.  There wasn't anything here that I was blown away by but it was totally edible, homey breakfast food.  I'd have no problem eating there again.

Super delicious sandwiches.  i had the bbq chicken (chicken, bbq sauce, bacon, red onion on a delicious roll), john had the zesty italian.  We're still talking about how good they were 7 weeks later.  Will totally get sandwiches from Palisades again next time I'm back in Calistoga.

To be honest, I was under a wine induced-haze when I woke up on my last day of a Napa Valley vacation to the wine insiders groupon deal in my inbox and I bought the groupon deal before reading reviews (which is not like me at all, but after drinking great wine all week, all I could think about was getting my hands on more wine! ha!).

I purchased 3 of the groupon deal - knowing I could only use one for myself and the other 2 needed to be used as gifts.  I wasn't sure if I could use the gift groupons on their website by ordering it myself and having it delivered to someone as a gift or if I had to actually give the groupon to someone else to use.  I prefer to send the wine as a gift myself rather than gift them a groupon -don't really need anyone knowing how much I spent on them. I sent an email to Wine Insiders to see if they could answer this for me before I tried to place an order for someone.  Well, it's been a good three and a half weeks or so and I still don't have a response from them.  Why provide an email address for questions if you don't have any intentions of answering them? In 2011, I think it's bad business practice to not be responsive to online inquiries, especially since they do web business.

I placed an order for myself, using the groupon, on Aug 30, and to be fair, the wine shipped very quickly.  I received all of the wine I ordered (with no substitutions) and I had it in my hand by Sept 6.  So I give them credit for that-they seem to have straightened out the shipping problems others here are complaining about.

I'll admit, I wanted to maximize our groupon savings, so I ordered their cheaper red wines, but I've been a wine drinker for years and cheaper doesn't always mean poor quality.  And since Wine Insiders claims their wines are picked by an "expert tasting panel", I was expecting the wine to be a good value for the price.  Here is what we ordered:

2009 Burke Family Cabernet Sauvignon
2009 Longchase Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon
2010 Black Fox Cabernet Sauvignon
2009 Saddlehorn Pinot Noir
2010 Kunza Cabernet Sauvignon

The best one of these was the Black Fox Cabernet and I used the word "best" lightly.  The Saddlehorn Pinot had a much too strong smoky flavor.  The Longchase and Burke Cabernets had an incredibly sharp finish - to the point where I winced with every sip.  The Kunza Cabernet had a really revolting finish that tasted like rubber gloves.  Yeah, rubber gloves.  Seriously.  Hard to believe that all 5 bottles I received were gross.

Now I'm stuck with two groupons I can give as "gifts" but there is no one I would give the gift of less than mediocre wines to.  I'll have to think about that one but it looks like I'll just have to deal with losing that money.

UPDATED - 12/28/2011
Wynne from Wine Insiders sent me a message here on Yelp after I wrote this review and offered to send me two bottles of red at no cost to make up for wine we didn't like.  I declined because Groupon refunded my "gift" groupons and I didn't feel right accepting the offer.  I appreciate that they were willing to remedy the situation (and I should mention quickly- they contacted me shortly after this review but I didn't see the message until now).

When John and I decided to elope a week and half before leaving for our CA vacation, I frantically started emailing and calling vineyards and reception locations with our very modest budget (that asked for an officiant, a photographer who would provide images on a DVD after wards and a gorgeous location).  The majority of the responses we got in wine country were "Sure we can do that for you, for $10,000", which was way way over our budget.  Obviously if we're spontaneously eloping on vacation, we're not looking to spend what could pay for an entire wedding.

Just when I was about to give up and either convince john to majorly up our budget or just get married at the County Clerks office, I received a warm email from Jack Martin at Mark West Lodge.  In it he said:

"I have some proposed elopement celebration details for you.  You bring a bouquet, two rings, some cheese and crackers. I'll bring the champagne and be the witness.  I'd be honored.  A magical setting. Everything you asked for. You are welcome to spend a leisurely afternoon enjoying the site all to your selves. Great swimming hole. Other amenities."  

He also included links and names of the vendors we'd be working with so we could research them before responding.  All of this and he came in UNDER our budget.   His response was so genuine and unbusiness-like, my heart just melted and I was almost ready to tell him YES before I even got a chance to let John check things out as well.

We ended up having an incredible experience at Mark West Lodge.  The property is gorgeous and calming (if you like a rustic, beautiful and homey atmosphere- we were at Creekside). No doubt it's this way because of the love and warmth that people like Jack put into taking care of their clients.  He delivered everything we asked for and more. The memories John and I will always have from that day will be more vivid and happy because while we weren't surrounded by family and friends, we were surrounded by wonderful people like Jack Martin, Rose Barboza (our officiant) and Briana Sherry (our photographer).  I wouldn't change a thing about our elopement and I highly recommend going to Mark West Lodge for your arrangements if you are considering the same thing.  Absolutely perfect!

J and I eloped in Santa Rosa, CA with only a week and half to plan everything this past July.  We selected Mark West Lodge as out location and Timeless Treasure Portraits was the vendor that they worked with.  Brianna was great to work with!  Not only did she willingly stand in as our witness, but both J and I felt really comfortable working with her.  It's a lot easier to pose for pictures when the photographer is down to earth and personable, especially if you're not super comfortable with smiling on cue (as J is!).

Within a week of the ceremony, Briana emailed us a link to our pictures.  265 of them!! They came out absolutely gorgeous!  I am thrilled with our pictures and it's been incredibly fun to share them with friends and family since we were alone on our wedding day.  It's made many of them feel like they were actually there and smoothed over a little roughness with some relatives who weren't so happy about that.  I've had two different people tell me that they were the most beautiful wedding pictures they've ever seen.  I may be biased :) but I agree.

Briana also sent us a DVD of all the pictures a few weeks after the ceremony (something we requested in negotiations) and included a note from her giving us permission to use them in case we have difficulty printing them.  Such a nice touch and I really appreciated it.

I highly recommend Timeless Treasure Portraits and Briana Sherry.  You'll get gorgeous pictures and have a relaxed, easy, stress-free experience with a photographer who knows what she's doing and is enjoyable to work with.

J and I stopped by here for a tasting one day on our way to the beach earlier this summer.  It's small - only 5 acres (and the oldest winery in NH) but really cute and the wines were tasty enough that we bought 6 bottles.

Our favorites were the Steuben Rose -dry with a floral finish, The Cabernet Sauvignon-very tart, the Marechal Foch was sweet for a red but nice, the Leon Millot 2010 was our favorite- had a lot of similarity to pinot noir.

Glad we stopped in.  Now when I see their wines in stores near me, I know that I can buy some local wine that is drinkable!

Stopped in here with J one day when we found ourselves in Rye and ravenous on a Saturday afternoon.   Decor-wise, it's pretty typical for a beach-side seafood restaurant.  Very casual.

I had the fried clam dinner.  The coleslaw was sweet and a little overly dressed but generally pleasant flavor and crunchy.  The clams were plentiful and large (and they should be for the price -$22).  Fries were fine-nothing exciting but that's ok, i don't order fried clams for the fries! Tartar sauce was skimpy but otherwise pretty standard for tartar sauce.  For such a large plate of clams, I could have used more than two tablespoons of tartar sauce.

J had a combo plate with fried clams and the fried haddock.  The Haddock was tasty but like others have said here-the breading was a little soggy.  Otherwise, he was happy with his french fries and clams.  We sat upstairs by the windows, had a nice breeze and it wasn't very crowded when we went in so we got our food pretty quickly and service was ok / personable.

Not a bad place -yes parking lot is small but there is plenty of parking on the road.  You just might need to walk a little if it's a busy beach day.  If i'm in the mood for fried clams and on the seacoast, I'd be willing to stop by there again.  It totally beats going anywhere near the hampton strip!

Showed up 20 minute late for our 9pm reservation due to traffic and they were totally cool about it.  We had great service.  I forgot her name but our waitress was incredibly nice, knowledgeable, unassuming and had great timing.  Loved the decor - it's a hip, modern looking restaurant with touches of Japanese flair and natural wood pieces.

We started off by sharing the tuna pizza and the morimoto junmai cold sake. The tuna pizza was excellent - a perfect umami combination of crispy, salty, creamy, spicy and briney .  The tuna just fell apart in your mouth and I think the anchovy aioli is what really pulled the dish together. We loved the Junmai sake.  I've actually never had cold sake before but I really enjoyed it.  The junmai had such a delicate floral flavor that I think serving it on ice really brought out those qualities.  I wish the junmai was something I could buy here at home but Morimoto has that one specially made for his restaurants.

For entrees,  J had the Australian wagyu ribeye, and mini fingerling potatoes (which were truly mini-each about the size of my thumbnail!).  He absolutely loved the steak and while they potatoes were good, he thought they were overly salty.

I had the Japanese mackerel sushi, soft shell crab roll and the spicy salmon roll.  While there was absolutely nothing wrong with the sushi, I expected the presentation to have a little more of a wow factor considering I could have gotten the exact same quality sushi back home in NH.  With all the fan-fare I've heard over how wonderful Morimoto was, I guess my expectations were too high.  

For dessert we shared 3 mini ice cream sandwiches - cardamom dark chocolate, black sesame and lime verbena.  They were wonderful!  I liked the lime verbena one the best but the black sesame came in a close second.  Delicious and the perfect sized dessert to share with someone else.  The coffee was also very good - nice and strong.

Overall, I enjoyed most of the food, the atmosphere and the service at Morimoto.  I would eat there again but probably order something other than sushi since it was of the same quality I can get at home.

Had a great experience with Tesoro!  I called them from the Airport two days before I was eloping with my husband in Santa Rosa and had no clue what I wanted.  I needed a bouquet, needed it delivered to my hotel and wanted to also keep to a budget.  

I told them what I didn't like and told that I like Calla Lilies and basically told them they could do whatever they wanted - bright colors or all white.   They ended up delivering (not just on time, but early) an absolutely gorgeous bouquet in several shades of white - calla lilies, white roses and gardenias, so pretty that I brought it with me on the plane when it was time to go home (currently hanging up to dry in my kitchen!).  Kate Stanley of Kate Stanley Designs recommended Tesoro when she was unavailable the day I requested and I'm glad I chose them.

Stayed here for one night in July.  It was a hip hotel in a lively neighborhood (on a Saturday night anyhow!).  Room was spacious, clean and the bed was so comfortable.  I always feel like city hotels feel like you are in a basement and Hotel Adagio was no different but at least the room was stylish and large which minimized that feeling.  I also felt that Hotel Adagio was a good value price-wise, when compared to other hotels in the same area.

Stopped in at Bar Adagio after coming back to the hotel after a long day of sightseeing/walking.  Cocktails were strong, the bartender was friendly and fast and the bar was full enough to feel alive without being crowded and too loud. It was a a cool looking bar - something classy enough to stop into even if you aren't staying at the hotel.

Checking in and out was a breeze and getting our car the next morning from valet parking took all of two minutes, which was nice!

I wouldn't mind staying here again next time I'm in San Francisco.