Kione "pinOypOibOi" E.'s Profile

So sad.

Lack of personnel to help with the customer service.

The cars stink. No, really. It stinks in their cars.

And, the maintenance is crap.

Freakin' impressive!!

Awesome customer service.

Have I ever ever mentioned to anyone how sad Walmart makes me feel?

Pretty sad.

Although toilet paper is a good thing to have.

Customer Service?

Where?

Oh you mean getting your items rung-up?

No?

Oh, you mean having some one available on the floor to help you locate a certain item?

Ah...so?

OK. So,  you actually have to chase some one down...and after you asked them to assist you, they can't because the have shit for brains and don't know their head from their ass hole and basically on a whole TARGET  is one humongous pile of shit when it comes to customer service?

Yeah, I have to agree with you that management and corporate head quarters are the reasons that Customer Service is a myth.

And yeah, the hot dogs are pretty good.

Lack of Customer Service.

Let me clarify:

Great and directed at the door by 2 employees. Good.

Locating some one to find the actual paint I needed - 0. Bad.

Waiting in line for 15 minutes to get some spay paint and primer . 15 minutes. Bad.
Finally a guy comes to help me. Obviously annoyed that he has to help me, Bad.

Having a multitude of people to show me where the things I needed are. Great.

Waiting to get a key made. 10 minutes. Bad.
The brash attitude and unintelligent communication skills of the woman that came to make the key. Bad and I actually wanted to slap her.

Waiting in line to check out. Horrible.
Only one register available while a dozen or so employees hang out and chat with their co-workers. Absolutely unacceptable.

LAX.
What do you feel like eating?
She said, Korean.
We agreed that we should make the trip to Korea-town knowing that what ever establishment we find there will be pretty good.
As I drove us there, I remembered a review I read a few days ago that was Yelped by Sunny K.
http://www.yelp.com/us...

Aw man! I said. I wish I could remember the name of the Korean BBQ place that I read about earlier this week. The person who wrote it gave it a high rating.
Ding! (the light bulb goes on)
Ooh! Can you get on Yelp on you phone?
She said, yes.
And so, I had her pull up my Yelp profile page and through my friends list, found Sunny's review.
Genwa? She asked.
Yeah! That's the one! Where is it? I know it's on Wilshire.
She brought up the map and navigated us towards our destination.

Genwa.
Interior. GORGEOUS.
Atmosphere. Very comfortable, warm and clean.
Initial impression from the server/hostess. Courteous and graceful.
My initial reaction. Oh yes. This was going to be a great dining experience.

After being greeted, sat, and handed such beautifully designed menus. We both agreed that we were far beyond famished to think of doing any cooking ourselves. So we decided to order items that were already cooked.

We both wanted something with noodles.
I wanted something spicy, soupy and very hot.
She also wanted something that had tofu.

Kimchee Jigae with brown rice and Galbi Udon...ramen.
We shared.

Oh yeah! Ban Chan.
Some of my usual favorites and some I have never had before.
A rather grand selection.
All of them insanely delicious.

The Kimchee Jigae was everything I hoped it was going to be.
Spicy, hardy, VERY hot and very delicious.
The brown rice was wonderful. So flavorful and fragrant. Cooked perfect.
The Galbi Ramen.  DAMN great.

Service. Impeccable.
Our gracious server/hostess took time to split the Jigae and ramen for us at our table and was always attentive to our needs.

After our initial attack on our dishes, we settle down a bit and began to savor every bite of every delicious morsel that was before us.

Almost 2 hours later.
Satiated. Content. Blissful.

Genwa.
Amazing.

2.75

I got together with Ella B and a couple friends for a birthday dinner.
Getting there about 30 minutes before they showed up I made my way into the bar after having a smoke out front and grabbed a seat in the bar. There I nursed a Double Makers over, while I enjoyed the 3rd and half of the 4th of the LAkers and Grizzlies game.
They have Guiness and Pilsner Urquell on tap.
Oh yeah!

Upon entering, I thought the red waiting room with all the pictures was pretty cool, but as I came to the host stand and saw all the paraphernalia, shirts for sale and more of the kitsch, I realized that it was THAT kind of place.
You know what I mean.
The kind of place that has to load their wall and hall and surrounding with all kinds of crap, to make up for their lack of.
Lack of what?
Let's find out, shall we?

I must admit...that by the time Ella B. and friends show up, I was more than a little buzzed and was being really goofy. So when we were sat and given the menus I couldn't settle down enough to concentrate and decide on what I was going have for dinner. Lucky for me, Ella wanted to try a couple dished but wasn't super hungry. So she suggested that she and I share a couple dishes.
Coolio!
We decided to get the Bagna Calda for the table and she & I settled for sharing the small Zuppa de Pesce and the Silence of the Lamb Shank.

Banga Calda. Rolls and roasted?/sautéed? garlic marinating in olive oil.
That was pretty good.

The Zuppa de Pesce tasted a step above any of Wolfie's canned soup.
Where's the Pesce? They put enough shell fish in the bowl to keep you from bitching about it right away. And it's only when you get half way through it looking or the rest that you find that that's all there was.
BASTARDS!!

The Silence of the Lamb Shank. The potatoes were eh. Needed a little more something...flavor, yeah! Although...the creamed spinach thing was pretty tasty. Alright, it was the best thing on the plate. And the shank got shanked. Roasted is one thing, but roasted dry? Sigh, so sad.
Took it home and finished off the Zuppa.

ATTENTION ALL STINKING GARLIC PATRONS!!!
DO NOT! I REPEAT!!! DO NOT EAT THAT ABOMINATION THAT THEY CALL A DESSERT!
You know the one I'm talking about!
The garlic ice cream!
NASTY!!!
Yeah, it's on the house for the birthday person but don't get it. Pay for you damn dessert and get something that is actually edible.
I'm serious!
You have been notified.

Good service all around.

Oh yeah, I'm addicted to their iced-coffee.
Like a junkie I gotta have it.
Rich + sweet = delicious.
Been making regular stops here on my way to work ever since I had my first iced coffee.
Without a doubt, a BAGILLION X better than starbucks!!!

Weekend.
Lunch time.
Joining friends/family for lunch before heading over to our golf lessons in Pomona.

A Red Robins or any type of chain restaurant would not be my choice of places to have lunch, but since that's where the friends/family chose to have lunch at, that's where we were.
7+1 child.
We get there and friends/family are seated and already reading the menu.
I heard that the burgers are pretty good, so I took a look at the menu to see what choices they had. It didn't take too long to figure out what I wanted.

About 10 minute goes by.

When the kid-waiter-dude finally got to us to take our drink orders, but we were ready to order lunch as well. So, he went about in an orderly fashion receiving our requests. We had a lot of question and he pretty much had all the answers.
Not too bad...so far.
When he gets to me, I ask for the Red Robin Bacon Cheeseburger, rare, cheddar w/ fries.
Kid-waiter-dude informs me that they "cannot" cook their burgers rare, but can cook it medium rare.
"What? Really?" I asked.
He gave me some spiel about health code and other crap.
I translated it to: "The quality of out meat product is crap, and just so that we don't get a law suit on our hands, we will cook you meat as much as possible. Thank you."
sigh....
pause...
I wasn't happy.
"Alright, medium rare...if you have to." I said. "And some coffee please. Thanks."
And, off he went to place the order.

About 10 minutes goes by...

...and no one has their drinks yet. Although, we see kid-waiter-dude running around taking orders from his other tables.
There must be some runner bringing us our drinks, I think to myself.
Finally, our drinks show up.

Question: Do you want to know when I think the coffee is crap?
Answer: I use a lot of sugar and cream.
I used a lot of sugar and cream.

It is part if my nature...that has been ingrained into me as a former restaurant/bar GM...to observe and access my surroundings.

This is what I saw:
Servers with more tables than then can effectively handle.
It was the weekend and lunchtime...and this location is surrounded by shopping malls.
Lack of runners.
The floor manager pacing near the line, trying to look busy...
,,,and some prick who was most likely the GM or worst DM walking around with a stupid smile on his face and empty eyes, trying to chat with some of the servers and runners who were running around frantically, trying to do their jobs.

I flagged a server down for a refill of coffee.

Now, the thing that really irritated me was:
1) I was hungry.
2) Everything was taking longer than it really needed to be.
3) The prick  GM (or DM) decided...in the middle of the fucking lunch rush, that it was time for a team prep-speech.
Are you fricken' kidding me?
DM...it had to be. Only a DM of a chain restaurant can be SO stupid.

I really don't know what was being said, but the crew was responding with practiced shout, claps and cheers.
Kind of like when you command your dog to speak, for a treat. But, without the wagging tail to show it's excitement. Dogs can't lie.
Afterward, the crew broke from their huddle, most looking annoyed and went back to their tasks.

Just as I was about to flag a server for another coffee refill, our food shows up...on the cooler side of warm.
Damn, it's been sitting around waiting to be picked-up and delivered.
And...my burger was medium.

Question: You want to know when I think a burger sucks?
Answer: When I use a LOT of ketchup.
Yup, I used a lot of ketchup for that burger.

Yup. I still hate chain restaurants.

Sexy Halloween Costumes!!!

This is going to be the best Halloween weekend EVER!