Angelica N.'s Profile

Generally, if I have to wait over an hour to be seated before eating, anything is going to taste good by that point. Luckily, Plow IS good. One hour wait good? Eh, I'd have to go back and order something different to decide. Here's a quick guide to how long I'd wait for select menu items from my one visit:

Coffee: 0 min. Get your coffee elsewhere.

Lemon-Ricotta pancakes: 10 min. I was sadly disappointed in these. They sounded good, and even now, my mouth is watering at the thought, but in reality, these just didn't pack the flavor punch I need to order pancakes, which are not a go-to breakfast food for me.

Crispy Potatoes: 45 minutes. Yeah, I'd wait that long. These were above-and-beyond fantastic. Best breakfast potatoes in all of SF, IMHO.

Bacon: 59 minutes. Perfect. Bacon and potatoes is all I need/want.

I was excited to check into this hotel--coming from then-freezing SF, I couldn't wait to hit the pool. I attempted to check in as soon I arrived, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10am. I figured check-in would be around 11am, but surely I could rest my weary self someplace, right? Wrong. Check-in is at...wait for it...4pm. I was, and continue to be, blown away by this. 4pm is not only an awkward time, it is late. But wait I had to, so wait I did.

After my 2 night stay, I have some suggestions for the management:
--If maid service is going to arrive at 8am and knock insistently on your door, please provide a way to NOT have this happen, in the form of "do not disturb" signs.
--Edit the extremely misleading signage concerning wifi. Free wifi (*in the lobby) is useful to approximately no one conducting actual work.
--You're already inconveniencing business travelers with the lack of wifi. Don't charge them $10/day for the privilege of accessing the internet to do their jobs.
--Reassess the breakfast buffet.

This hotel seems to cater to family travel, not business travel. I get that. But to not have in-room free wifi in this day and age? In CA? Shocking.

I used to be a hard-core coffee drinker, someone who would scoff at the very idea of drinking tea. Turns out, I'd been drinking the wrong tea, and I have Samovar to thank for this momentous breakthrough, as Samovar introduced me to the ritual of tea.

The Hayes Valley location is by far my favorite of the three; it's like an oasis in the middle of the city. If you can, sit at the big table, take off your shoes, and stay for a while with a book, a journal, tea, and a friend. I also recommend trying the Lapsang Souchong, an unusual smoky black tea. With or without milk and sugar, it is perfection.

Other highlights for me:
--the chai mugs (it's my mission to find these for my own apartment)
--the tea lemonade (unbelievably refreshing on a hot day - I love that the Hayes Valley location serves this in a pitcher; the Yerba Buena location should really revisit that idea)
--the fudge brownie with green tea mousse (quite possibly the best dessert I've EVER had)

I am quite shocked reading some of the negative reviews here for Village Market. Granted, I don't do my weekly grocery shopping here, but anyone budget-conscious should probably realize that a small neighborhood store is going to have higher prices than Safeway or TJs. Why do I come here? The coffee. The rotating food specials. The alfajores. The baristas who know what they're doing. The ambiance. The random selection of books for perusal (Rick Steves' Portugal 2005, anyone?). I think of Village Market more as a cafe than, well, a market, and honestly I prefer it that way. It was high time that the Richmond got a Mission/SOMA-like cafe (in caliber) and Village Market more than does the job.

(And yes, it is super cute.)

Most Saturday mornings, you can find me at Matching Half (and probably eating a turkey sandwich, but we'll get to that later). I can't recall how I found out about this place, but it's certainly a hidden gem, location-wise. I get embarrassingly excited about the prospect of spending time here, ideally sitting outside on a sunny day, watching the never-ending parade of dogs go by, drinking some Sightglass coffee, and eating a turkey sandwich.

Some highlights: The homemade pop-tarts are unreal. I wish I had one now. Brown Sugar is the best, IMHO, but often sold out (please order more!). Jalapeno is an unexpected surprise. The fruit ones I don't usually choose, but Dan W loves them, and he has excellent taste. I usually order the Premium Drip for coffee, but I might move away from that in the future--I prefer the taste of Ritual or Philz (sans cream et all) over the darker, heavier notes of Sightglass (note: am not exactly a coffee connoisseur, but I try), but I also tend to prefer light roasts. And the turkey sandwich! Exact right combo of ingredients and proportions.

I had the most amazing dinner date at Tortilla Heights last night! Say what you will, but Chevy's had always been my San Francisco Mexican food of choice, up until now. I went into the place expecting it to be loud and raucous, but not so, at least at 8:30pm on this Saturday night. Maybe this is out of the norm, but I didn't find it difficult to hear or talk at all.

I ordered chicken enchiladas, Dan W got the carne asada tacos, and we split the jalapeno cheese popper things and a pitcher of margaritas. The enchiladas weren't mind-blowing, but they were above-average good (and definitely good enough that I woke up this morning at 5am, wandered out into the kitchen, and couldn't resist eating the rest despite not actually being hungry). The jalapeno things are not an attractive date food (read: messy), but quite delicious, and I will certainly be ordering them again. The margaritas were strong, just how I like them.

Two minor complaints: 1. Would love to have salt and pepper shakers at the table. Some people (cough) are addicted to salt. 2. I never saw a drink menu. Not a huge issue, except that I was using a Bloomspot deal, and was trying to add up our total in my mind, so not realizing that a pitcher was $28 made it hard to budget.

Can't wait to go back!

I'm always wary of reviewing businesses that are essentially, people. So let me first say that Karina is very sweet, and will immediately put you at ease with her energy, enthusiasm, and friendliness. However. The shoot itself is only the first part of a photography package, and it was the complete lack of follow-through and communication that I'm critiquing here.

I purchased a Valentine's Day boudoir shoot through a not-as-popular deal site (so, not Groupon) with the understanding that I would receive my prints in time for Valentine's Day. I purchased the deal as part of a present, so timing was important to me. I booked my session with Karina the day I purchased the deal, and she assured me that that we had plenty of time before Valentine's Day. My session with her was towards the end of January, and she claimed I'd get my photo gallery in one week, and my prints, again, for Valentine's Day.

After repeated emails, I finally simply got access to my photo gallery after 3 weeks, yep, not in time for a Valentine's Day gift. This is important--literally all she had to do (it seems, maybe I'm misunderstanding the complexity, but I don't think I am) was download my photos and email me a password. That should take minutes, max. Maybe a day if it's in any way challenging to create a password-protected gallery, although I should think it would be routine for her at this stage in her career.

I won't go into more detail, but I finally received my 5 unretouched prints just under 3 months later. THREE MONTHS.

As you've probably noticed from other Yelp reviews, one problem was that shortly after my shoot in January, Karina offered a Groupon and sold about 1400 of them. That is a ridiculous number for a lone photographer, and it's clearly affected the quality of her services. When I researched her, she had all 5 star, rave reviews. Not anymore. I know I cannot in good conscience recommend her to anyone (in fact, several of my friends have since asked Groupon for refunds), and it seems many people feel the same.

I made an appointment here, based solely on convenience of location, after a very negative wisdom tooth experience at a different oral surgeon's office. Not only was this office much nicer, but Dr. Yang actually sat down and listened to me, unlike my other dentist. For once (in a doctor of any sorts' office), I never felt rushed, like he had a million other patients waiting in a queue. In my opinion, Dr. Yang was far more thorough than my actual surgeon, and really knowledgeable. Hopefully I personally won't ever have to go back, but I highly recommend his practice to others needing surgery.

HUGE fan of Rodger's. The coffee here tastes exotic; that's really the word that encapsulates it for me. And the beignets?! Fantastic. Wonderful. Magical. Once, Dan W and I got there when the beignets were just being dropped off, so they were hot and fresh and maybe the greatest thing I'd ever tasted.

My one critique is the layout of the place. I had heard it was like Philz so I thought I was prepared, but when I walked in, it didn't seem intuitive to head to the back, because the person at the register asked me what I wanted right away. Not seeing a list of the different blends (because I was about 2 feet inside the store), I was a bit perplexed. Now that I'm a regular, I know better, but still recall the sting of humiliation from just requesting a drip coffee.

When I visited Eats for the first time, I was in one of those moods where I couldn't decide on just one thing. So I think I can give a pretty objective review here, as I practically ordered half the menu.

The coffee: By far the worst part of my experience. I had one sip and couldn't force myself to drink more. It was bitter and watery.

The hot chocolate: Amazing! So perfect on a cold morning, and any drink served in a latte bowl is alright by me.

The side order waffle: So good, I wish I'd sprung for the full order here. I thought ordering this and another dish would be too much (I guess I was envisioning a Stacks sort of waffle); this is maybe the size of an Eggo? But again, get the full order, unless you are a small child.

The Tartine: I wish the bread had been more toasted. And honey butter, or a seasonal pumpkin butter, would be an awesome addition to the toppings selection.

The Spanish scramble: Well-portioned and well-cooked. Good flavor.

Next time, I think I'll go for the pancakes.

p.s. No French toast on the menu? Can we start a petition to make that happen?