Michelle "Not W!" P.'s Profile

Ok so we dont live in Mexico or the Southwest, so i'm going to put it out there that we're probably not going to find "real" mexican food around here.  However, i love mexican and have a hard time finding any that is really more appetizing than Taco Bell.   But now i have :)

I was really excited for Guapos to open and felt that there was a lot of anticipation leading up to its opening.   I had high expectations and was happy to see that they were met.  

I started with a sangarita, which was pretty much red wine and margarita mixed together... and was delicious.   I am interested in checking out the sangria on its own.    Then we got endless baskets of chips that were warm and lovely, and salsa, which was suprisingly tasty just really watery.  Could have been chunkier, but i enjoyed it.   We also ordered the chile con carne, which was awesome, but its hard to mess up cheese and meat mixed together.  I enjoyed that it came with "sturdier" chips to hold up the dip.

For my meal i got the chicken burrito, which i enjoyed greatly.  The refried beans were great, as was the pico!  I loved the flavor on the chicken and was excited to eat my leftovers for breakfast this morning.  

The best part about the evening was the service.  Our water and chips were constantly filled and everyone was very firendly.  While i didn't feel like i was in mexico, I would much rather come here than the overpopulated Rio down the street.  I am anxious to come back and check out more stuff and their brunch!

Its only fitting that i have the hypochondriac cat for the hypochondriac owner :P

For weeks my cat had been breathing very heavily.  First they thought it was allergies, then a virus, then a bacteria and then asthma.  After all of that, the great vets at Pender said that they needed to get a better look down there and see what was going on. They were checking for polyps or anything else that could be making her whistle out her nose by that point.  Since they couldn't do it at Pender, i was referred to Dr. Gasser at Hope.

Everyone here was SUPER accomodating and friendly.   We were taken care of perfectly and all of the options and financials were discussed up front. I  really appreciated the fact that they seemed to do things in tiers, rather than all up front.  Example: "It might be heart worm, but that test is $75 so lets rule out other things first".   And when the initial scope showed nothing, the doctor did not stop there.  She sent away cultures until she finally discovered the pesky bacteria causing some of the problems (most of it is her asthma though).  And even with additional testing, the price was still less than anticipated.  

There have been many follow up phone calls with results and reccommendations.  I feel completely confident with my cat in their hands.

My only complaint (and lack of the 5th star) is the fact that we had to wait a ridiculously long time for the initial testings (like an hour and a half) when they said it would take maybe 30minutes.  Also, because they are so busy its often difficult to talk to the doctor herself on the phone.

Its definitely not cheap, but if you have a hypochondriac cat like mine, its definitely the best place to bring them for those advanced medicial issues.

All i want is to do Biggest Loser Yoga.  Seriously thats it.   Yet the stupid post office is getting in my way.

I ordered that and a jillian michaels DVD from http://amazon.com.  I got an email stating my package had been attempted to be delivered, yet there was no note on my door.  So i called and checked in and they said to go to the post office.

So i drove in 30 minutes of rush hour traffic the 2.6 miles to my post office.  And waited for 30 more minutes in line.  To be told, my package was not there

So i droe home, called USPS, got put on hold for 20 minutes until i gave up.  Called again, and where is my package??? The chantilly post office.  So now i have to make sure i'm home this afternoon to recieve my Biggest Loser Yoga.   At which point i will need to do it immediately to relieve the stress of dealing with the united states postal service

For $4 on from 4-7 on a weekday you can get a gigantic pile of onion rings, fries and homemade chips.   This is a steal!

The staff is amazingly friendly... sit at the bar and i know they will take care of you.  The TV structure is also a lot more "bar friendly" and you'll see lots of people in here on weekends trying to catch their out of area football teams.  

And while nothing spectacular... the food is way better than the Falls Church location.

I do love this place.... especially since i can walk there :)

I will admit that Kora is definitely a little too snazzy for my typical taste, but the idea of having dinner here with three very lovely ladies, made me give it a shot.   And i'm very glad i did.

The staff was very friendly.  From the moment i sat down, my glass of water was always full and they were bringing and removing plates in a matter of minutes.   I will say that sometimes we ended up with extra knives, forks, and even plates, but its better than being without i guess!

I was overwhelmed with choices so when the waiter was asked what the "best pasta" was and he said "Lasagna" without heasitation, i was sold.    I LOVE lasagna and this is now one of my all time favorites.  Ricotta is such a hard cheese to melt, yet this lasagna was ooey and gooey and delicious.  The tomato sauce was pure heaven.  I wanted to dive into it.   It was definitely the best lasagna i've ever had.

So why 4 stars??  Well for $16 i got a piece of lasagna that was amazing...... and amazingly small.  They come out with this grand plates and then a small square of lasagna.   Or a ceasar salad with two gigantic romane leaves and a splatter of dressing.   maybe I'm just not dignified enough, but when i pay $16 for something, i want it to fill me up.  

Definitely worth checking out...  but make sure you eat a lot of bread

Gordon Biersch does not scream "Girls Night Out" to me, yet this is where i found myself for dinner with the ladies one friday night.  Having never been here before i was excited to check it out.  Needless to say i was disappointed (although not in the company!)

The star of the meal had to be the sangria.  Why did i order sangria at a beer place?  Cause as my boyfriend pointed out "Its not Sangriersch".  I like sangria and it sounded good.  And it was!  I was pleasantly suprised. We also got the pretzel appetizer that was very soft and the mustard was delicious.

For dinner i ordered the grilled chicken salad with a side of garlic fries.  Well the garlic fries were kinda gross.  My garlic loving friend who helped me eat them, even acknowledged there was just too much garlic.  I didn't know that was possible!   My salad... well the chicken was decent and the portion was huge.  But it was advertised in the menu having "other veggies".  To me that means, tomatoes and cucumbers... maybe a red onion or two.  They did not say there were olives and artichokes and peppericinis.   I may have changed my order had I known that.  I spent my whole meal dodging the minefield of vegetables.    I will say that the mashed potatoes i tried on another person's plate were good.... not the best ever but decent.

Our waitress was VERY friendly and made it a pleasant experience.  However, i was slightly dissappointed and would definitely think about going somewhere else to enjoy the next ladies night

Reasons why this place is 5 stars

-extrememely friendly staff everywhere you go
-breakfast entrees are very inexpensive at the restaurant and therefore you can order multiple (like three!)
-they dont have splenda at the restaurant for your coffee.  Its either the real deal or not at all
-i wanted to eat pretty much everything i saw
-i could get a cheese stuffed pretzel, or one with egg or pizza or ever bacon
-there were about 35 different types of sprinkles including football helmets, leaves, ghosts, clear sprinkles for my snowflake cupcakes that i can never find and the absolute perfect ones for the next SuBQ.  
-I bought the biggest bag of cinnamon i've ever seen and every time i open my pantry it smells like cinnamon.
-every salad at the "salad" bar was mayonaise based.
-they have a pudding bar, which excited the boyfriend
-I bought a recipe book with 15 different meatloaf recipes and 11 chocolate chip cookie recipes... all of which include lard.

I seriously would gain 10 pounds a week if i could come here regularly, but it would definitely be worth it

3.5  stars

On my visit to Cleveland, there really wasn't a whole lot of happening nightlife, but we decided to head to the winking lizard to watch the Virginia Tech/Alabama game.   I didn't have high hopes for this chain, but the fact it had TVs and got the game, was good enough for me.

we started at the bar as we waited for a table and i was completely overwhelmed with the beer choices... wow.  I couldn't decide what i wanted cause everything looked so good.  I eventually got an octoberfest, that ws GIGNATIC.    And not ridiculously expensive... i love the midwest!

When we got a table, we opted to start with some appetizers, since we would be there for the long haul.  Jeff and I got the deep fried ravioli, which was good.. not fantastic but good.  I got the taco salad for dinner, which was gigantic and full of chili and other yumminess.  It was very good and very filling!  I had a really hard time chosing because i wanted at least 1/3 of the menu.  They have so many good looking things... bring a group and make sure to share!

Our waitress was friendly and the service was prompt.  They easily switched on the game for us and let us hang out and watch for as long as they wanted.  Plus they didn't seem to mind little haf on the table!  Overall i would say it was not the best food i've ever eaten, but definitely worth the cost :) If i'm ever looking to watch a game in cleveland, the winking lizard is where i will be

When a place is famous for something (ie having the best burgers in Pittsburgh) thats what you should order.  Theres a reason it has that distinction.  

But in an effort to keep my waistline from increasing, i decided NOT to get a burger at Tessaros.  Instead i got the chili and the side grilled veggie kabob.   To this day i can not tell you why the side of grilled vegetables cost me $5 but it did.   It wasn't bad, it just was not a lot and nothing special.

And the chili... there was something weird about it that i couldn't put my finger on.  Until i realized what it was.... KETChUP!  There was a distinct ketchup taste to it.  Which was actually good!  I actually did enjoy the chili because it was very unique... and i also love ketchup.

Overall it wasn't bad.. prices were decent, staff friendly and the table cloths made of jeans!  But definitely next time i will forget about my waistline and go ahead and get the darn burger!

Yay i love Elite Events!

After missing last week's event, i was excited to go this week.  I was also excited to see the amount of food, since i had heard about the saga of not having enough food last time.  The sliders were actually fantastic!  I really enjoyed them.  The quesadilla was way too spicy, so i looked for a drink to wash it down.

And couldn't find one.  I didn't like a single of the drinks i tried.   Oh well.   I'm just not a liquor person.  The event was still fun and the people were great (especially Alicia's parents!)

Big shout out to Kevin and Tara for a great event... and to Alicia for some classic photos!