Annette G.'s Profile

Brought my roommate here for the Christmas Day Champagne brunch so we could booze it up with mimosas and have a nice meal.  We picked Lael's because it was within walking distance of my bf's house so we could walk back and not have to deal with driving.  However both of us were totally fine to drive afterwards, a bit disappointing.

The food was good, I'll give them that.  They had a bunch of seafood in a buffet room off to the side.  The oysters were miniscule, mussels were ok, and crab legs were good.  They also had a variety of cheese and salads.  In the main dining room they had several carving stations, not sure what they were since I only eat fish I didn't check them out.  They had an omelet station which had a line everytime I walked by so I didn't bother, then some pasteries and a dessert table.  For $60 a person there was a decent variety and we left pretty full.

However our waiter was very unattentive.  We had 2 mimosas the entire time we were there.  We literally sat there for almost 20 minutes with nothing to drink, not even water.  Everytime our waiter walked by we were unable to get his attention because he was too busy focusing on his other tables.  We were very, very frustrated with this.  When he finally came to get our check he asked if we wanted another mimosa for the road.  So that's when we got our 2nd drink, after being there almost 1.5 hours.

Think next year we'll go back to Humphreys.  Yeah it's not within walking distance but we had excellent service there.  Wish I could say the same for Laels.

Seems like the Holiday Season is the busiest time of the year.  So busy in fact that I just don't have the energy/willpower/patience to cook dinner.  Especially the night before me and the bf part ways to go visit our families for Christmas.  So what does a girl do?  Order pizza!

Fliers always magically appear on our door but the flier from Berkeley Pizza proclaimed they had stuffed pizzas.  The bf was hooked from there, so he called the order in and we waited for our order to arrive.  Not only was it quick, it was hot and delicious.  The owner actually delivered our pizza and chatted with us for a few minutes during the delivery.

We ordered a small pizza that was 1/2 veggies for me and 1/2 meat for the bf.  For about $20 we had enough pizza to easily feed 3 people.  And the small pizza box, probably weighted 10 lbs.  It was huge and full of cheese.

Next time I'm feeling a cheat day from the diet and want to pig out on some carbs I'll give this place a call for sure!  Way better quality then any of those chain places.

Just got back from a 2 night stay here.  The location was absolutely perfect for our Disneyland trip.  Hotel is right next to the crosswalk that takes you by the trams and to the front entrance.  Probably took us 5 minutes to walk, very convienent that we didn't even worry about carrying around our sweatshirts for the evening, just went back to the hotel later in the afternoon.

We had a 2 queen bed room on the 3rd floor and were about 2 doors down from the hospitality room.  We went and got our free "breakfast" the first morning which was juice or coffee and a pastry of muffin.  The 2nd morning we opted to walk down the block to Mimi's cafe.  The hotel is within quick walking distance to Dennys, Ihop, Mimi's, McDonalds, Quiznos, and a Coldstone.  

Rooms were clean and had a microwave and fridge.  Bathroom was huge and very clean.  We didn't use any of the toiletries provided but they looked fine.  Most importantly they did not skimp on the towels.  For 2 people we were left 5 bath towels each day!

Would recommend this place to anyone looking to stay near Disney and save a bit of money.  Room was around $100 a night and they offer a AAA discount.  They also have a pool area that looked nice however we didn't use it at all.

I love winning stuff!  Lucky for me I recently won a 5 course dinner with wine pairings for me and 3 friends from http://www.discoversd.com for All American Grill.  Since I had been waitlisted for the Yelp Elite event held here recently I was pretty excited to get to try them during normal hours for a full meal.

We arrived at the restaurant and there were special personalized menu's on our table with my name on them.  Super nice touch, me and my group felt like total VIP's!  Our special meal consisted of Butternut Squash Soup, Wedge Salad, Swordfish, Petit Bacon wrapped Filet, and Lava Cake served with 3 pairings of wine and a fresh house Irish Cream.  A very impressive sounding menu!

I don't really know where to start.  I don't recall our waiters name but he was amazing and we had excellent service all night.  In addition the manager came by several times to check on us and even gave one of my guests a few pointers on how they made their roasted veggies.  Not only was the manager at our table though, we saw him stop and talk to other tables as well.  Nice to see a business checking on their customers.

And the food was amazing.  The soup was smooth but not too rich and the salad has this amazing truffle vinagette that wasn't too strong which was good since I'm not a super huge truffle fan.  The swordfish was cooked perfectly and was super moist.  It was served with a really good black olive bread pudding in a cute little espresso cup.  The filet looked great (I don't eat meat so my bf was lucky enough to get mine) but the roasted root veggies that it was served with were amazing.  We thought the carrot was soaked in butter however the manager assured us it was just roasted with olive oil.  Lastly the Chocolate lava cake was delicious and the ice cream topped with fresh basil was a great combination.  With all that food we were odviously super stuffed by the end of the meal.

Also parking was plentiful, they had plenty of tv's to watch the game and the table next to us had a http://www.restaurant.com certificate which is always great in this economy to find a place you can get a discount at.  The bf and I will be back here for sure!

Stopped in yesterday for brunch with a friend and stayed for um...6 hours.  My head hates me for this right now but I had such a blast.  They have bottomless mimosas and bloody marys for $10 each.  Both were delicious.  My breakfast burrito which is easily enough for 2 people to share and was only $5.  My friend ordered the chorizo and eggs and it was huge also, I think his was a few bucks more than mine.

Place was bit crowded since it was Sunday.  They had 2 TV's so there were a lot of people there watching the games.  Also they have a patio area along the building and we saw several people hanging out with their dogs.

So, I love going to places that are both local and in walking distance.  The bf (see Lance C.'s review) and I headed to Zanzibar to try their dinner.  This was our 2nd time there, first was breakfast and while it wasn't the best experience they recognized it and compensated us for their issues.  This was not like that at all.  We were there for 2 hours for an appetizer of Mussels and 2 fish sandwiches.  Um...this isn't rocket science people.  20 minutes for our beers to come out, convienently at the end of happy hour.  Another 30 minutes for our appetizer and another 30 for our sandwiches.  People around us were enjoying their food and paying well before we had our main course.  

My opinion is that this is a cafe not a fine dining establishment.  The wait time we endured was unreasonable and unexcusable.  At one point the bf grabbed another waiter and asked for the status of our food and never received any feedback.  If someone would have come to us and explained they were busy (which they were not) or that they were having issues and it would be a bit of a wait it would have been fine.  Not one apology or acknoledgement of the ridiculous wait and service we received.

Zanzibar Cafe has now been removed from our list of places to go to.  Too bad.

This is our go to place for out of town visitors.  The location is amazing and on a nice night the patio outside is great.  They get busy on the weekends when there are conventions in town, I recommend making a reservation on their website.

They always have a $35 Prix fix deal which changes seasonally.  I've really never had a bad dish here.  They do have sushi in the evenings only and even though it's a bit pricey it's really, really good.  And of couse if you love chocolate you must get the lava cake.  Amazing.

Hi.  My name is Annette and I'm a http://Groupon.com addict.  I wake up each morning and can't wait to see what the daily deal is.  I've gotten some pretty good deals on this website and in this crummy economy we have going on who doesn't like a good deal?  I've also never had a problem using these coupons which is pretty important to me, don't want to feel hasseled or like I'm getting less than stellar service.  Cool thing is most of the restaurant deals are for food and drinks too.

This place deliver anything in their store with your food order.  Do you want a large pizza, 12 pack of beer, pack of smokes, and some twinkies?  No problem!  Their pizza and pasta dishes are not only delicious but reasonably prices.  Not bad for a liquor store.

My bf and I stayed here for an event at the Rose Bowl.  We wanted to stay somewhere within walking distance to bars and this was the only place near Old Town Pasadena that had a room available.  Rooms were clean and comfortable.  Nothing fancy but we were only sleeping there so it was fine.  Each room has a microwave and refridgerator which is great.  Overall I'd stay here again, it was a great value for the location and the room.

Also there is also a Whole Foods across the street and it's about a 10 minute walk to Old Town Pasadena with tons of shopping, restaurants and bars.  There is also a metro stop about 2 blocks away from the hotel.