Normal "puttin' the 'ass' in 'I'll pass'" O.'s Profile

Really nice place. I wish they sold hard alcohol and at least some chips or something, but a nice place overall.

I love Miami Fitness. I've only been going there for a week, but it's a great NO nonsense gym. I love that in a gym... I'm not there for a boyfriend or to make friends, I'm there to work out in nappy sweats and get all red and gross and then go home to my nice, cool shower.
And at $25/mo, it's a really unbeatable price for a gym. And it's next to Fresh & Easy, so you can grab an apple or an entire week of groceries if you need to.

Clean, courteous, effective, and reasonably cheap. I love this in a tanning salon. Every time I went there, I felt welcome but not weird (I'm fairly goth, so I've gotten looks before).

I'm a nachos snob. I will be the first to admit that.
We ordered nachos last night because I had a powerful hanker. I *knew* their nachos were soggy, icky, didn't generally come with meat, and generally suck. But last night, they came with a NEW brand of suckness: pump cheese. Yes! Truly! Somehow someone made the decision that people would rather go to 7-11 and have yellow cheese sauce than enjoy actual, delicious REAL cheese nachos... and then they served it to people in a town where there's no excuse for bad nachos. If we had these in Bellingham? Ok, I kind of get that. But in Southern California, in a restaurant filled with people who understand good food, one might imagine they'd at least have the decency to use actual cheese. (I uploaded a photo)
Disgusting. I hope to never go back (it's less than a block away from both work and where I live, so it's the first place we all  think of when we think "oh, Mexican food sounds good.").

Huh. I had thought I'd written a review already, I was so fuming mad when I left. But I guess I didn't.

I saw Dr. Ghotanian about a year ago. I hate going to the dentist and don't have a lot of patience for waiting for appointments that I arrive on time for. I have a job, which is the reason I have insurance, and it's important that I arrive at a predictable hour. I was seen a half an hour late. First frustration.

Dr. Ghotanian came in and greeted me, and sent me off for x-rays. Like the others, this was the only time I saw her during my appointment (only later, when I raised a fuss about the $900 additional they wanted to charge me, did Dr. Ghotanian see me briefly). Second frustration.

After my x-rays were taken, they handed me a printout of the costs that they forecasted for my teeth... keep in mind I have FULL insurance that should fully cover standard services with a very small copay ($20, I think it is). In addition to what is covered by my insurance, they wanted about $900 to clean my teeth, fill a cavity, and replace an old one that is probably in need of fixing. But why is this above and beyond my insurance? They could not explain. Third frustration.

I called my insurance to ask why these seemingly standard services weren't covered by my fairly steep monthly premium. I was pissed! I mean, if I'm paying for the deeeeeluxe dental insurance premiums, I want to at least have an annual cleaning covered. My insurance company rep and I read through the printout and she was astonished at the cost. She said that every one of those items are fully covered under the insurance. She also recommended that I file a formal complaint, which I have.

I called Dr. Ghotanian's office to let them know that they must have made a mistake with the bill and that my insurance claims that every one of these items is covered. They said they'd get back to me, which they did not.

I'm not saying that Dr. Ghotanian is a scammer. I'm just saying that the amount that she charges above and beyond what my insurance charges is very expensive. It seems that some here have enjoyed her services and have felt that they got their money's worth. For my time and money, though, I've got to find a different dentist.

I just started taking accordion from Dave's Accordion School a few weeks ago and it's going very well. Veronika and Dave are so patient and encouraging, even as I flail through lessons. I strongly recommend it... I'm having a blast.

Oh wow, where to start? First, it's a great little place. The restaurant could show less football, but hey, different strokes for different folks. I know there isn't football all the time. I've heard there's live music on Thursdays, which I'm sure we'll see soon. Happy hour prices were great ($2.50 for a glass of wine, $5 for calamari, which was very good).

Here's the run-down:
house wine: chianti. $19 bottle. We later realized we should have just ordered it by the glass. At $2.50/glass for happy hour prices, it would have been cheaper.
salad: we had the arugula with cherry tomatoes, balsamic reduction dressing, and cream-filled mozerella. It was absolutely amazing. I loved every part of it and was so enamored with this salad (easily a 2k calorie piece of cheese in the middle). Fantastic. $11.
calamari: seasoned, breaded, and with great marinara on the side. It was cooked to perfection. Not chewy. Very good. I'd have those again (and again). $5.
pizza: The pizza was genuine thin crust. We got the Margharita with proscuttio. It was unique and fantastic. $12.50 (or something similar).
gelatto: (did I spell that right?) Wow. fucking wow. We had both the tirimisu and coffee, and both of them were amazing. $3/cup... not a huge cup, but really more than any one person would reasonably want to eat.
lambic: we had both framboise (on tap for $6/glass) and crick (sour cherry) (by the bottle for $7 -- $9 not on happy hour). Both were predictably great. No surprises.

The waiter, bless his soul, was all by himself as the restaurant filled. So, you know, it was a leisurely situation. But we weren't in any hurry and we weren't wanting for anything.

I think that we'll be going again. The bill came to $135 for 4 people, but we didn't hold back. We basically ordered whatever we wanted, so it was much more expensive than I think it would have been if we had just been thinking of money. Next time, we'll try the pasta. The waiter said everything on the menu was really good and, yep, I believe him.

The bar prices are on par or below any other bars in LA/Burbank. They have Fat Tire for $6/pint ($3/half-pint) and the rest of the prices kind of fall in line with that. A great selection of alcohol, definitely. Nice stuff.

Overall, I love Ciao Christina! Thanks for an over-all great dining experience.

Diva and I had to go in on an emergency. She suddenly had incredible pain and couldn't tell me why. Dr. P was so amazing, caring, and responsible in her care. We had x-rays and ran some tests and, honestly, the whole procedure was expensive, but reasonably priced considering all the work we had to do. Ultimately, Diva's fine (though restricted to the couch for 3 weeks) and I'm relieved. At every moment, I felt totally cared for and like Diva's well-being was top priority. They're definitely not out just to make money, they really do care. We've found our Home Vet from now on. :)

Hmm. Ordinarily, I love Bob's and love their greasy food after a long and abusive night of drinking. But this morning, well, I was so surprised and disappointed that I decided to write a review.
As usual, I was struggling to stay upright and was flipping through the LA Weekly trying to piece together how I managed to sing Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" so pitch-perfectly that I got a 100% on Rock Band without permanent damage to my vocal cords.
And all this thinking and flipping took quite a bit of time... and soon enough, I noticed that the guy next to me was finishing up his breakfast and leaving... but, um, he had gotten there after me and had ordered loonnnng after I ordered.
So I started asking around about my waitress and she finally brought out a biscuit, which I finished up...and then she finnnnnaly brought out my meal and walked away, but it was the wrong order... I asked for the eggs over hard and they were all runny. So basically, I waited about 30 minutes for undercooked eggs.
I sent them back and talked with the manager about the whole thing, and he was going to comp me breakfast, but honestly, I was so irritated that I'd lost my appetite.

So, there we go. I am never going back and encourage you to go across the street to Moe's if you feel like having a fine breakfast.

It was a really cute place, but I found myself very nostalgic for a real western bar. Drinks were reasonably priced, the bartender was friendly. Overall: No complaints, except for the fact that there was football on the huge TV. Why must football be EVERYWHERE?

UPDATE: I've decided that this is my neighborhood bar and therefore have started having semi-regular gatherings there. The bartenders actually recognize me and my friends now, which is funny, since I've really not been a regular anywhere in about 2 years.

"Our" night is Wednesdays. It started on account of the State of the Union address, where they very graciously put the address on the big-ass television for us. And then, you know, after the weeks of going there, I don't even mind the sports so much. There's a pool table and, through some amazing miracle of taste, the other locals/regulars request consistently great music on the jukebox.

Miss M who says this is a real dive bar has obviously never been in a REAL real dive bar (you know, the kind with vomit in the corner and old men playing pool against skinny meth waifs), but it has a nice feel and I could sure see myself actually choosing my next apartment closer to the bar. It's a good neighborhood. The people are friendly. The decor is phenominal.

Still, my only beef with this place is the sports on all the time, everywhere you look. It seems like a shame to have it all about sports. Maybe next time, I can convince them to put in "The 3:10 to Yuma" (the original) and "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" to really round out the place.