Sandra H.'s Profile

I drive 60 miles round trip to come here, even as a massively sleep-deprived new mom.  I followed my stylist, Teresa, to Zindagi from another salon.  She has been cutting my hair for about 5 years; from the beginning, I never had to say much for her to give me a stellar haircut I love (other people now love my hair too) every time.

My hair is naturally wavy, not silky straight like stereotypical Asian hair, and I've had my hair straightened many times in attempts to make it easier to manage.  Every since Teresa started cutting my hair, it has become almost hassle-free as her cuts somehow tames my hair so there's good volume and great layers.  A major plus is that it looks good all the way until the next cut (for me, ~5 months before I can find time to go in).  For me, a great cut is well worth the expense.

As mentioned in other reviews, Teresa is a sweetheart.  She is kind and gracious.  And we can talk about everything from work and traveling, to kids and family.  I feel fortunate that I've found her!

Zindagi is a nice salon -- small, simple, trendy.  Can be busy, but never feels too bustling to be relaxing.   Only issue I've had -- I've had trouble with their credit card machine not taking in the tip value properly, so we often have to run my card twice -- takes extra time.

Rating: 4*
Would return: Definitely, would definitely make the trip if only for the artichoke soup & olallieberry pie a la mode!

What we ordered ($55 post-tax/tip):
-- Cream of artichoke soup: Wow! Delicious, perfect for a cool day.  One of those rare dishes where you can really taste artichoke flavor.  Great creamy texture.
-- Braised tripe: Very good, slow cooked with tomatoes, celery, etc.  A bit too much celery, but otherwise very tender and hearty.
-- Sole: Came with mashed potatoes and generous portion of chard.  Sole was very good -- two fillet pieces, lightly pan-friend.  Overall dish wasn't very salted so you could taste all the ingredients, but we did have to add some salt/pepper to bring out the flavors more.
-- Olallieberry pie a la mode: Yum!  Olallieberry is easier to eat than blackberry -- smaller seeds to deal with.  Very flaky crust and excellent balance of tartness and sweetness.  Very generous scoop (1.5 scoops?) of vanilla ice cream which paired perfectly for the whole slice of pie.

What went well:
-- Food
-- Service
-- Price

What could be improved:
-- A bit more salt/seasoning in the sole dish
-- We sat at the counter which was a bit crowded when people passed behind us.

Notes:
-- We happened by here around 5pm and were surprised at the stated 30 minute wait (ended up being only 15-20 minutes).  People eat dinner early I guess!

Rating: 2.5*
Would return: Unlikely -- perhaps our expectations were high due to the long wait, but between so-so dishes, the unpredictable with-reservation wait, cold wind, high prices for the quality, we'd go elsewhere next time.

What we ordered ($65 post-tax/tip):
-- Garlic bread: charged for this though the last thing our waitress asked was "normal or garlic" bread.  Everyone around us had a few pieces of garlic bread so we thought it was a standard free bread choice.  But it ended up being a large plate of 8 pieces of not very garlicky or good bread.
-- Caprese salad: neither moz nor tomatoes were flavorful; shallots and capers added a nice bang; had to add olive oil & salt to taste.
-- Lasagna: decent, very meaty -- but dry-tasting meat like turkey.
-- Rosso di Bianco (papardelle w/ alfredo & fresh tomatoes) -- more watery than creamy which I didn't mind.  Tomatoes added a nice flavor to cut into the alfredo.

What went well:
-- Ambiance: packed restaurant
-- Papardelle
-- Friendly staff

What could be improved:
-- Crowd management: we arrived at 8:15pm for 8:30pm reservation to a crowded vestibule.  Were told we'd be seated in about 5ish minutes.  Finally got a table around 8:50pm.
-- Climate control: outer door did not close by itself, so it perpetually stayed open w/ the crowds despite the cold temperatures outside.  We shut the door while we were waiting about 5x and even had to do it after we were seated.

I'm still recovering from a sugar headache which somewhat colors my review.  So I'd give Sprinkles cupcakes 3.5 stars but rounding up here.  I like cupcakes in general -- they're cute, trendy and hopefully tasty.  At Sprinkles, they are cute (but big), very trendy and quite good.  

Fortunately, I pre-ordered a bulk order today so I didn't have to wait in a Monday afternoon line of 20+ people (crazy).  (The staff was efficient on the phone and EMAILED me an order confirmation.  Lovely -- this alone rounds up my 3.5*.)  I also got to try some of the red velvet, the dark chocolate, lemon, black & white, and vanilla (hence the sugar headache).

The cake for the black & white was the most moist, followed by the dark chocolate and red velvet.  Very crumbly (this doesn't hurt or help the taste, but makes it very messy to cut or eat this cupcakes without a fork and plate).  The lemon & vanilla cakes were only ok.  The icing is applied on thickly, often with a dense covering of sprinkles or their signature "dots".  Overall, I found the icing to range from fresh & fluffy to too-sweet & heavy.

Go with the chocolate-based cakes (red velvet, dark chocolate, black & white).  And best to eat just 1, or somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 of one.  Add plenty of milk/water/tea/coffee to dilute.  Otherwise, plan to skip a meal.

--- 1 day later addendum: Now I've also tried the coconut and the strawberry.  Still think you should go w/ the chocolate cakes!

Food: The chocolate cupcake is awesome.  Cake is moist and not too sweet.  The frosting though... is heavenly!  Fresh, airy, chocolate-y, again, not too sweet.  The chicken sandwich was very good but I think my expectations were a bit too high.  The bread was soft and chewy; the chicken was OK -- juicy in some places, just OK to dry in others.  The green part (similar to a cole slaw without the cream) was great and they are very generous, to the point I felt that I had eaten a side salad.

Decor: Tiny, cute.  Ironing boards as their tables.  We took our food to go.  

Service: Swift, friendly.  Just be ready to say the # of sandwiches you want and what baked goods you're still drooling for after standing in the long line.  They passed out shortbread cookies while we were waiting in line (in the rain).

Good:
- Very cute decor
- Omelette w/ ratatouille was excellent.  Fluffy, light eggs.
- Nice service (when they were around)
- Jam (tart & sweet)

Only OK:
- Brioche French toast (undercooked so a bit egg-y, no lavender or orange flavor, just the cinnamon)

Bad:
- Roast potatoes with the omelette weren't good
- Service slow

I've only come here once, but I think it's a solid 3-stars.  I had the duck noodle soup with the "fun" (flat, thick white noodles).  It came with an impressive number of pieces of duck though many pieces were quite fatty.  Noodles were good, not overcooked.  

Good for fast comfort Chinese food served on nice serving ware (modern, white bowls, cute metal mini-barrel mugs).

Todd is the best.  For our July 2006 wedding, photos were one of our top priorities.  As a result, we swept through over 20 local and non-local photographer sites, consulted friends who are professional photographers, etc. to whittle down a short list.  We found that even "affordable" photographers weren't cheap; most of them took worse pictures than those of our hobbyist friends.

Todd does mostly film but does some digital.  Since our wedding was outdoors, we wanted to go with traditional film to ensure we captured the colors optimally.  Todd is professional and generous, patient and skilled.  We had a fun time during our initial meeting and our engagement photo shoot with him.  Most importantly though, during our wedding day, he was great.  Key strengths:

1. Perfectionist: He doesn't need to snap dozens of pictures of the same shot.  He gets it perfect first then shoots.  For example, a friend of ours put his arm around my shoulders in a casual shot.  Todd reminded him that we might not like a big hand between the bride & groom :).  He made sure the details were clean -- moving stray hairs, making sure relatives didn't bring in a big purse, that no one's face was partially covered.  He was, frankly, amazing in this respect.
2. Strong eye: He is really into shapes and we came away with some unique shots that were really artistic and beautiful.  Case in point: At Stanford where we took pictures, I explicitly remember thinking "ew, there's a dirty puddle" and then lifting my dress to walk around it.  Todd was soon laying on the ground to take some photos.  After we got our pictures back, I realized he used the "dirty puddle" to take an awesome shot of our silhouette and its reflection!  Everyone oohs & ahhs at this picture.
3. Polite & blended in: Todd worked well with our parents and guests.  Some of our guests noted they didn't ever really *see* Todd.  Given the amazing shots he captured and that he's probably 6-12 inches taller than most of us, this is a tremendous skill & benefit.  I've been to some weddings where the photographers are really obnoxious and in the way.
4. Professional: On-time, helped keep us on track with our timeline.
5. Fun: I really enjoyed working with him.  Really nice person with a good sense of humor.

No doubt, Todd's pricey, but worth it.  For his albums, he just charges for the materials and a bit for his labor.  Other photographers we met charged ridiculously high prices for their albums.  

Though we still haven't had time to order our formal albums, I have our pictures everywhere (you can get high-res digital scans of the film from him) and smile each time I see them!

We first heard Wally perform at a hotel in San Jose, and we hired Wally's Cocktail Combo (4-players) to play at our wedding reception.  We were avid swing dancers, so we really loved Wally's voice and retro style.  He played light jazz over dinner and broke out the dance songs later on.  Our guests were big fans.  I found his manager really easy to work with.  We had lots of asks due to the constraints of our wedding site, and she was easy to reach, friendly and professional.   They do black tie or white jackets depending on your event style.  They have a wide repertoire and can take requests.  We loved having the live music!

I sent my mom and three bridesmaids to do their hair & makeup with Candy at Bella Beauty.  I've also recommended them to several local brides, and have been there as a bridesmaid subsequently myself.  They are friendly, professional and good at what they do.  I've mostly seem their updos & makeup jobs which look great (no experience with other services).  

Major note: I have to say that they don't do a good job on Caucasian faces as they really overdid it for my normally beautiful friend.  We had to do a big repair job afterwards.  (Had this not happened, I would have given them 4-stars).