Albert "The Angeleno-Burghemorean" L.'s Profile

this place remains the one place that i know that serves up the flakiest, juiciest fish n chips that i've ever had. and while i may not have had many places, until the next place i try serves up a better batter covered fish, this will remain 5 stars in my books.  staff is always attentive and remembers your face easily in order to make eye contact when your order comes out.

This place is always an enjoyable place to lounge or walk around if by some chance you run out of things to do in the city, or you want to take a break.

food court is awesome, with everything i could ever want (minus in n out). beard papas...jamba juice... quintessential California vibe.

For a place to serve Xue Hua Bing (snow ice) open up in Pittsburgh was something that seriously came out of the blue.  While few places in the US even serve this (mostly only available in large metropolitan cities, to my knowledge), I had to double check that Cool Ice Taipei actually served this Taiwanese dessert, and make sure that it wasn't the traditional shaved ice simply lost in translation.

I arrived at the restaurant to realize that it's actually a sitdown place. we were seated at one of the many just-a-tad-narrow 4-person tables and handed menus.  There were only 3 other parties in the restaurant at the time on a Saturday afternoon, so service was fairly quick.

My two friends and I ordered a wasabi chicken appetizer to split. For entrees, one got pork chop over rice, while the two of us got beef noodle soup. for dessert, i ordered a snow ice japanese ba bao style for myself.

wasabi chicken appetizer - wasabi flavor was very subtle, could be accentuated a bit more. friend unfamiliar with taiwanese cuisine found it "wayy too salty", which i partially agree with. crust is not popcorn-chicken-like, more just a breading.

beef noodle soup - noodles were just a TAD overcooked, and a bit more broth would have been nice. would have been nice to have baby bok choy (like the way it should be), instead of the napa cabbage. temperature came out perfect, and it was served with the minced pickled stuff (its english name somehow escapes me atm), which was a good addition to add into the soup. broth certainly didn't taste as authentic as i wished; it was slightly watery, and didn't have the fragrant beefyness that i would have liked. i wouldn't go as far to say that it was taken from a can.

pork chop over rice - friend said the saltiness was still a little strong, but ended up liking it by the end, with the sides that came with the dish.

japanese ba bao style snow ice - ba bao means eight treasures in chinese; they typically refer to some dish that has 8 toppings. in this case, they just included 6 fruits, red bean, and taro, over a matcha (green tea) base.  unlike the one i had in taipei, the green tea was certainly not as potent, but still good. some of the fruits went well with the ice, but i would recommend them take out the pineapple, and add in pudding or something else instead. the sourness of the pineapple just doesn't blend in well, and is certainly not japanese style either.

my friend also got a taro milk tea, which was not too sweet, which is a bit of a relief from those that are normally overly sweetened. when i asked the waitress whether they served tapioca (just out of curiosity), the waitress said "no we don't serve it because rose tea serves that". it's clear that from the menu choices, this restaurant was opened to be complementary and not competitive to Rose Tea Cafe, providing items that Rose Tea doesn't serve. i'm not sure who owns this place...

i'm looking forward to going back again!

all in all, i'm extremely grateful that a place like this has opened

To finally have a smoothie place even closer to me than juice box in shadyside was a plus.

To have a smoothie place that was reminiscent slightly of jamba juice was another plus.

For the smoothie place to also include frozen yogurt, providing 6 flavors (plus 3 pairs of swirls) at the same price as all other frozen yogurt places in pittsburgh (41 cents/oz), while still operating in shadyside, is just absolutely fantastic.

The staff here are still learning how to make the smoothies, so it will take them a little while to speed up and serve more customers in times to come  (hopefully).  GIven that planet smoothie is a decently successful franchise, and there are no other major competitors of their products in shadyside,  i really hope that this place stays. i've wanted a smoothie/froyo place to be in my vicinity for so long, and it's finally here.

I had a screamsicle smoothie, and while it wasn't quite as sugary as the smoothies i've had at jamba juice, it was still very refreshing.  having been primarily a jamba juice drinker, i am more used to a pretty thick, sugary smoothie.  their frozen yogurt seemed just as good as that of razzy fresh's (despite the fewer flavors); although i didn't try a whole bowl, i tried three samples (key lime, raspberry pomegranate tart???, and original tart) and they all tasted fine.

Become a patron! Go now!

Random side note: even though they have high top tables lining the window, there is no seating inside (as of now).

i've barely visited the stores at this mall, but the mall holds the sole location of a check/cash deposit-enabled Bank of America ATM in the pittsburgh metropolitan area. that, and one of two apple stores in the same metro area (the other being in shadyside)

and for that....yeah.  it's a pretty generic simon mall. very clean, but nothing spectacular.

per suggestion of the previous reviews, i came here one lazy weekday evening.

like every other time i passed thois place, there was noone inside, but because of the reviews on yelp, i wasn't deterred from trying their lamb shawarma.  pressed on a panini grill, the wheat wrap was served piping hot, stuffed with lamb from the spit, a little excessive amount of the white yogurt-type sauce, and a ton of parsley for that big kick in flavor.  i accompanied my order with a side of the cucumber sauce, while my friend opted for the chips.  while we ate at the store, the owner kindly handed us another container of cucumber sauce, as he noticed that my friend and i were using the same container to pour sauce on our wraps.

very pleasant service, fresh ingredients: makes for a good experience!

i came to shake shack at 10AM, a whole hour before the establishment opened. employees were still sleepily setting up and wiping the tables for the day, and i had 2 hours to spare before taking the megabus back to pittsburgh. what else was i to do? i made it a mission to try this place after hearing so many of my NY friends talk about it, and after the buzz that was generated from the article comparing in n out, five guys, and shake shack.

I finally decided to stand up from the table and get in line (ended up being second in line to a woman who had arrived later but lined up earlier). I read that the beef patty was each 4 oz, which was equivalent to the amount of meat in a double double at in n out, so i decided simply to go with the shack burger. with this, i ordered the featured concrete of the day: "Nuthing but amazin' : vanilla custard blended with fudge sauce, salted peanuts, and a 'shattered' sugar cane", and a small order of fries.  

the burger:
the meat was indeed very juicy, as it was seared to perfection on an ultra-high temperature griddle, and the juices stayed in as the beef. the special sauce was good, no worse or better than that of in n out (slightly more bland). the lettuce, tomato, and bun all had the distinct taste of quality ingredients. the bun was not really toasted, so the only things that could contrast the soft texture of the meat and bun was the lettuce (even the tomato was slightly mushy for my taste). the way they put it together was the main downfall of this burger.  half the lettuce leaf was sticking out, which, to my lack of experience, did not necessarily mean that it was because there was more lettuce inside. upon my second bite, the whole lettuce leaf came out. the way the burger was presented to me looked just like that of the picture of the shack burger from the in n out vs. five guys vs. shake shack article, which led me to believe that they let the lettuce sit like that for presentation's sake.

the concrete:
this did not stand out as anything particularly fantastic. again, the ingredients were certainly of premium quality, and the ice cream was very rich and creamy. however, there were wayy too many salted peanuts, and barely any of the "shattered" sugar cane.  i would have preferred a better balance of the two ingredients inside this vanilla custard "shake".

the fries:
not impressive by any means.

the price:
$15 dollars just for these three items?! i know it's new york and all, but alas, there's no way that i could enjoy a meal like this at $15 as often as i can with other places like in n out. i'll be glad to come back here for their burgers as long as i'm in new york. my loyalty, though, continues to lie with my dearest, in n out.

4.5 stars

this was the first place i visited during my day trip to cleveland.  it is located adjacent to a couple of closed establishments, and on the opposite side of the building that holds other bustling establishments, such as flying fig.  my friend and i came in to a slightly dark interior, and a very pleasant server behind the counter.  he asked whether we wanted to try any samples. they were all so good! but we decided on getting a Spicy Lobster & Chorizo Bisque and a Jambalaya soup, each in the smallest 8oz size.  Each soup portion was accompanied by a piece of bread wrapped in foil.  

I'll start off by saying that the Jambalaya soup is good enough by itself (without the bread), to be sufficient enough as a meal.  it is very hearty, with chunks of sausage.  but with the bisque, the bread was the best accompaniment.  the bread itself was very fresh and absorbed the less viscous bisque very well.  in fact, by the end of my meal, there was not a single drop left in my plastic soup container, as i soaked every last bit of it up with the bread.  -0.5 point only for the temperature of the soup, which was just a tad lukewarm for my taste. i understand, though, that keeping the temperature of the soup too hot while sitting out in the front may cause it to evaporate and change the taste of the soup itself. if i'm in cleveland again, i'll be back!

given that i came here only a few days after it opened, the staff was still very vivacious, eager, and conscientious enough to give every customer full attention, even if they wanted to sample every single flavor. they kept the tables clean. these points were enough for me to give this pinkberry location 5 stars!

pinkberry original tart reigns supreme of the plethora of frozen yogurt places i've tried, and i love their dark chocolate crisps. stay away from the crepes.

this was one of the less well-kempt pinkberrys i've been to.  it seemed extremely busy when i was there, as the line spilled out to the street.  consequently, the staff, while numerous, seemed to be unable to keep up with the crowd, as the frozen yogurt dispensed from the machines were too liquidy to enjoy. i have no complaints about the limited space, but it could have been maintained a bit better.