Mitch "Philabelle" G.'s Profile

If you are in a hurry to get a refund...or in fact in a hurry to be relieved of the anxiety attached with figuring out if you owe the current administration anything for all the "incentives" and "stimuli" that they've been expelling, DO NOT...I REPEAT...DO NOT think you'll get it done in a hurry here.

I went to the office with a scheduled appointment because I was sure that this year's damage would be harder for me to tally than last year's was due to a relocation, a home purchase, and other things.  FOUR HOURS later, I left the office and STILL DID NOT get it all done.  I actually had to return the next day to complete the work.

I know.  You're thinking, "well, you are kinda high maintenance" and " you did say that you had a lot of complicated stuff in this year's package to deal with" BUT let me assure you that I am a savvy taxpayer and that I have dealt with the HR Block team before in other cities so I went well prepared and documented.  Perhaps that was what confused my designated preparer.  Allow me to say that he was kind, and even apologetic, but is there any excuse for keeping me for such a long time when I had my details in order?  AND to pay for the experience? AND to have to return the next day to complete it because someone  more savvy in the office with Emerald status was needed to help?  Apparently, if you go to this office ask for Vivian or Bob.  They have the most tenure.

I guess the only good news about this visit is that it turns out that I don't actually owe money to anyone besides the heavy fees they charged.

And with the will power of a drunken sailor in a port-of-call full of bevvy opportunities, I found myself docked at a table with several friends one night after church, contemplating the levels of temptation a dieter would have to endure.  Having been successful at withstaining from all fats and sugars for over 28 days upon arrival to Grimaldi's, my power to resist was waning because of the smell of dough, red gravy, and fennel implanted sausage!   Great service added to the inability to resist this illegal per diet restriction meal, and I sat muted as my 8 friends ordered a variety of pizza's for the table.  All pies are thin crust and just floppy enough to pass the aHHthentic test.
HOW DID I GET OUT  OF THERE NOT HAVING TAKEN ONE BITE?!
HOW CAN I DO THE YELPING COMMUNITY A SERVICE WITHOUT ACTUALLY DINING?
I know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But I can tell you that I was one pizza sniffing chick that night.  I smelled everything!  I believe I smelled a salad also!  It was all so fresh and delightful and the way that I would have wanted pizza outside of the Mid-Atlantic region to look and smell.  Could the taste be far off?  I can't yet know.  Blame my doctor.  But I tell you... I will be looking at Grimaldi's with desire until this darn detox is over and I WILL  update this post with my taste bud test!  STAND BY...

What a lovely way to spend the first Saturday of the decade...sitting sipping succulent saucers of sugary non-soda sustanance while staring silently at the sills saturated in satin stained suggestions. Still stalking the scenario, suddenly it seems our shouting shook a local without solicitation to solve our sight-seeing saga!  Sensational.

And the coffee and company are good too.

Lured down the slightly  hidden path next to a typical Irish dining place by the promise posed by a photo rendering the logo of Cinzano, I was certain that I would be able to have a romantic meal with origins from the mama-mia land.  I was not disappointed by anything but the missing actual bottle of Cinzano!  

The service is quite personal and yet uncumbersome.  The space is plainly lit and is no bigger than a small chapel on Capri, yet it is intimate and warm.  

What I loved most is that the rumour being spread by a bartender over at Amsterdams about the freshness of the food, turned out to be true and a welcome aroma to hungry souls.

The gnocci, the carbonara, the soup.  You cannot make an error ordering from their carefully chosen menu items.  But you might be amazed that freshness tastes much different than what you have become used to at the many chain Italian restaurants you somehow keep patronizing.

Chow 4 anytime.  Ciao for now.

In da jungle,
Da Pita Jungle,
The hummus rules the nite!
Ah ooooooo.... in the jungle
The pita jungle...
Dolmades were also tight... heh heh!
OOOOHhhh ahhhh ooooh weh dumm di di day...(repeat).

So I am singing about the Jungle because after a baptism there is nothing better than emersing your flavor buds into the BEST cilantro -lime- jalepeno hummus around!    

Ok...Maybe one thing better might be having the thickest tzatziki west of Athens and yummy beef wraps.  

Our group had things ranging from spicy chicken pizza, to chicken salads of various sorts ( by the way... loads of chicken on the salads!) and spanikopita.

I wanted to give full marks but I felt that the service was a bit of a miss.  We had a large party and even though we asked for more roomy accommodations which were available... we were ignored blatently as they shoved all our orders onto a small space and pretended not to hear our request to add a table twice!!  

Other than that, I noted that the server paid attention to refills very well and the service was certainly prompt.  They are assertive with posting the gratuity as the actual price on the initial bill....so if you don't look closely, you will have paid the tip twice.
A- weema wak, a-weema wak  on that!

Ya'sou Roula!  
I have to say that the original owners are not there anymore but Uncle Nester must have left his recipe with the new team.  I used to get my greek salad here with my pizza years ago when you could see Roula, George, and Nester working things.  The pizza was masterful in its lightness, freshness, and savoryness.  

This kind of neighborhood pizza is so quickly deminishing.  I had wondered if Roula's would survive the flailing economy.  But there like a trusted family member, is Roula's and all of its simplicity and value.

Aa -Yo.  Yo- Aa.  Whatcha lookin' at, eh?  I'll tell yah.  
Old school Italian in every sense of the notion.  
I felt like  I was in the living room and kitchen of my best friend's house slurping chianti, lauging at the latest prank pulled, and dissenting over politics.  Amazing how this place transports you to the 1930's.  The decor, the glares, the lack of tolerance for anything "different" or "new" and the smells...all place you in quinticential South Philly.  
Now let's talk food.  As much as I hate to admit it, this place has the genuine article when you are looking for Italian-American staple.   As I wanted almost 20 minutes to be acknowledged and then another 45 minutes to be seated, I witnessed amazing looking food being ferried from a small kitchen to the crowded restored row house made shop.  My party ordered their spinach,  mussels, calamari, a margherita pizza, and penne alla vodka.  All were acceptable, but  I did not like the fishy brew that the mussels were in.  It was more served in an ocean puddle than it was garlic, wine, and butter. I am pretty sure that the cook drank the wine these were supposed to be in and sent them out to us hoping we would not notice.  Just like my best friend's grandma would have done!  I could not swop the bread in it without the risk of becoming sea-sick.  My friend who ordered them, agrees but ate all the mussels regardless and just ignored the juice.  

The oven baked pizza was my favorite of all the things we ordered.   Ok, also the chianti.  
Service marks are low because they seemed to be disorganized and chaotic.  There was ultimately a list and a "system" but the estimated 20 minutes of wait time we were quoted, was an absolute miss - quote.   You could tell that the wait staff were annoyed actually by the crowd loitering in the path of their service for lack of an alternative place to wait.  Parties who called and reserved seemed to have to wait long as well.  I did see a few vwery large parties go upstairs to be seated immediately.  The rest of us seemed content to wait for the food notwithstanding all of this.  I did not feel let down once I was seated and the food was not extraordinary, but it was what was expected ( minus mussels).  

Overall... I alliterate...Magnificent marinara manifested on margherita and manicotti mostly meeting mother -in -law monitored mind-sets minus mussels di marina .

Talk about working with what you have and pushing the envelope!
I am not a fan of the location, and I wish it were a bit more Spanish  Meditteranean in its housing.  I wish that I could just shake that image.
But for all that was missing in a Spanish breeze, there was nothing lacking in the red or white SANGRIA!  Choose white before 5pm and red after 7pm.  Then, get a real tortilla...the egg and potato kind...

Try their vegan offerings. My two friends tried several items and there was not one that we did not love.  The others who shared the long benched table outback with us were also smiling as they allowed themselves to be comfortable eating and drinking with strangers.

The place next door kept playing competing music, but when i could hear the spanish guitar music, it made me very  excited about the promise of the power of tiny dishes of tantilizing tidbits tingling my tongue teasingly.  

Full marks because the service was equally sensational and appropriate.  Tapas as they should be...even when they need a new  Spanish designed house to be served from.

Stop!
In the name of all  island BBQs...
I dared to stop by with a friend after spotting all the updates happening to this renovated showroom.  I will give 4 marks to the design aesthetic.   Lured in by the many tiki mugs on display which are show only, I was thrilled to see a menu containing a fusion of Hawaiian and Caribbean blends of culinary art.

I had a Jawaiian choice which included jonny cakes....something that I haven't had since my momma stopped making them for me!  These were a close rendition but I will not let my momma know.  

I am pleased that the clientele lured to this place seems to be sophisticated and sober, something often missing in the neighborhood.

I am mildly impressed with the fact that the attempt to be a Vegas -style casino in Arizona is long overdue here in the valley of the slots.  This is not a pass, but rather a visit that will allow you to feel like you are in the middle of something more special than the other casinos in the area.  Not just because it is new but because you will be charged for the aesthetics.  But it is beautifully and tastefully done.  I for one am happy that there is another place to meet up with a middle class crowd of good people looking to enjoy  the fruits of their labour.
Bearing in mind that you are actually NOT in Nevada, and remembering that you have to drive 25 miles to get to Scottsdale, this community is strategically placed for success.  Its size is also well porportioned for a successful feeling of activity.  

If you are looking for flaws, we can point them out upon entering from the parking lot. The TV screens show programs sideways and it only seems to show football each time I go by.  I think the screens are meant to advertise the venue vertically and so there was no attempt to have the screens turned horizontically.  Then, we could say that fewer machines might be appropriate with more variety of types of machines.  We could complain about the price of the tables, but since the place is new, it may take them a while to drop the minimum bets to $5.  The absence of a buffet is not a miss in my opinion and I hope that the retaurants that are there will maintain the quality of their menus.  The platinum invitation only bar upstairs is a little cold atmospherically, but could be easily overcome with the right music piped into it.  The live entertainment venue is my biggest complaint.  I feel that they could have had a larger venue for winners, alas losers to jiggle and hoop about in...  I think that it is a miss also because I saw no evidence of Karoake. Sorry.  I am biased.

Overall.  I will say that the place should be successful and I hope that it does not just wind up sitting in the desert under populated by winners and heavily trafficked by losers.