Coty "Beyond Tragic" S.'s Profile

This is one of the most difficult malls to get to... with twisting, trailing roads going all over the place and people trying to run you over.  There is access from Brandon Boulevard and the Causeway, but the roads still manage to give me nightmares.  When I used to competitive shop more often, this is the mall I would always visit while shopping the junior's and young men's stores.  For personal stuff, I come here to shop shoes and cosmetics.  Their clothing selection is just so-so.

The food court is very impressive with a free standing bar for Pho and one for sushi.  There is also an outdoor food area with popular restaurants.

Shi is by far my favorite shoe store in the Tampa Area and this is the last location left in town.  As many of you know their shoes are an expanded women's selection from Journey's, and there is much more to choose from.  I normally shop them in the Fall because they have some really killer styles that are definitely not "the norm" and the prices are decent to too boot.  I usually pay $20-60 for a pair of shoes here.  Shi also has knee-high Converse styles.

Shi tends to carry many unpopular brands that I have only been able to find in Soho (NYC that this), in some of the smaller shops.  If you are into the "scene/rocker/punker/LA/dark" style, then I definitely recommend checking them out.  You can always check out the website first, but shoes are so much better in person.

I am not from Bradenton, so I have yet to understand what townies here are like or the local dynamic.  However, when I visited Lost Kangaroo it was my first time ever experiencing Old Main Street on a Friday night.   It was encouraging to see that there are some young and well-dressed people in Bradenton.  The street scene even reflected a less crowded Ybor.

As soon as I walked inside the bar, I was hit with a ton of staring eyes.  The sports playing on the wide screen TV's had me making a b-line for the outdoor tables.  The music ranged from decent to terribly annoying.  An interesting mix of customers;  baby-boomers, locals my age (stuck in the 90's like me), and twenty-somethings that must be college students from Sarasota.  If the weather did not permit me to sit outside, then I would have probably not stayed here as long.

The Kangaroo has quite a large selection of beers on tap (39 types), as well as my beloved framoise on tap.  The prices are average compared to other specialty beer bars in the area.  

They have food, really?  I did not see any evidence of that.  

I would prefer to come back in the afternoon because things would be a bit more mellow then and there would be more parking.

All of my B-town friends and acquaintances told me that this is the best donut shop in the area.  So, you know me, I just had to check it out for myself.  These donuts are potato raised, and appear to be made from a mix, just like Gold Star Donut.  However, Gold Star Donuts are fresher tasting at any time of day compared to what I had at Turner.

Even at 10:00am, expect a wait, sometimes with a line out the door.  Parking is often scarce because of the downtown Bradenton location and small lot.  The inside was decorated with Chinese New Year decorations last time I was here and the owners were speaking both Spanish and Tagalog, which is awesome.  

There is indoor seating with a waitress, but there is usually not an empty table.  There are cake and raised donuts to choose from, but the raised are not yeasty or fluffy- kind of flat.  Nothing really spectacular or different and I found the taste and quality to be lacking.  The dryness of the donut was also a major turn-off, as well as the taste of the oil.

I was all excited because one of the cake donuts was labeled "Honeydew," which made me think of the delicious green melon that I love so much.  After tasting, I realized that it was just a plain ol' cake donut.  Lame...  How hard would it be to take honeydew and put in the blender, then mix with powdered sugar to make a glaze, then dunk a cake donut in it?  Seriously, I am getting tired of the same flavors over and over again.

Sorry to break the news to you folks, but this buffet has neither a hibachi grill nor supremacy.  
A hibachi grill is an actual grill that cooks various foods on an elevated surface that leaves grill marks.  

The only thing supreme about it is the sheer size of the place and the amount of items offered.  Oh, and the miniature scene of a Chinese folktale mountainside village by the register... complete with a fog machine to make it even more magical.  I think there is green lighting as well.  Supreme Buffet is brand spakin' new, so the interior looks decent.  

Sometimes we come here for lunch because the adult buffet is less than $6.50 per person and it is right by my job.  If you just order water to drink, that is a pretty sweet deal.  There is tons of Chinese-American style food offered, and it is all of the usual stuff.  Nothing interesting, healthy, rare, or authentic- but that is not to be expected.  Steamed rice is nowhere to be found, so if you like to eat your Chinese food with rice, you may have to inquire with the waitress.

The sushi items are bland and I don't recommend eating anything raw.  There is also one of those "Mongolian" or "Teppanyaki" bars where you put sketchy raw stuff into a bowl and a dude fries it for you on an oversized round flat-top.  Don't let the website fool you, there is no frying tableside.

No one ever filled me in on Pinellas Park, so I did not know that there is a Vietnamtown.  I feel really left out, thanks guys!  Anyways, I had only been over in the area to eat at the Pho Quyen location-  I never got the chance to drive up and down the street during the daytime to see all of the Vietnamese businesses until recently.  

Normally, I would choose where I wanted to eat based on the number of cars in the parking lot and the reviews.  Neither was an option for me this time because I was trying to find lunch at 2:00 in the afternoon and the reviews are really lacking.  So, we ended up at Thanh Thao not knowing what the hell we were doing.

As soon as we entered, it was pretty awesome.  There are food splatters all over the walls, Chinese old-school historical dramas playing loudly on the TV (dubbed in Vietnamese), and a dude on a loveseat sitting by the front door hacking away at sugarcane with a machete.  What more could you ask for?  

The waitress did not speak English (not a problem), nor understand my Vietnamese (a problem).  I ended up pointing and even writing down some items in Vietnamese for her.  It was stressful.  For a moment there, I almost thought that the waitress was trying to play a practical joke on me.

The atmosphere was awesomely scary, but the food was seriously lacking.  

The Goi Cuon tasted of chlorinated water and the Pho was really flat.  The worst was my Bun noodle bowl... the pork was seriously like flavorless pork jerky, not even exaggerating on this.  I could not even eat it, even I am not able to mess up pork this bad!  We felt like total chumps and could not wait to get out of this place.  Thankfully, I am a determined woman and will venture into this area again at random, something that most people would not dare to do after an experience like Thanh Thao.

You cannot miss this grocery store if you were driving past, it is painted black and white like a cow.  The entire place looks really sketchy, but sometimes they have really good deals on rib-eye steaks, sausage, and pork chops.  There is also a decent taco truck attached to the left side of the building.  

It is a meat market, so that portion of the business takes up about 1/3 of the place.  However, they do have a grocery store in the rest of it- but, it is treated more as an afterthought.  The only reason to purchase from other areas would be for convenience because the prices are that of a convenience store.  

If you want super fresh and local cheap produce...Then, I recommend going to the Red Barn outdoor flea market down the street.  Come to Samoset Grocery for cheap piles of meat.

I was looking around online for information on this place, but there was nothing to be found other than some so-so reviews.  And, just reading reviews with no photos can lead you off into dangerous territory...  The parking lot is always slammed with cars and the marquee claims that they have fried fish, so I figured I would give it a try.  Just from everything I read, I assumed that it was a country buffet and that most of the items were homemade.  Neither are true.

The food is, in fact, as American and up-tight as a housewife from the Mid-West.  With a refined touch, don't get me wrong.  I was the only diner here under the age of 65, but it was all friendly faces.

The Macaroni and Cheese does have real cheddar in it, but it is straight out of the Stouffer's box.  The Mashed Potatoes go as far as to put fake red skins in them, but they are still made from a powder mix.  The gravy, too.  However, don't let that detour you from devouring other carnivorous delights served to you in shiny troughs like; Fried Chicken, Rotisserie Chicken, and Buffalo Chicken Fingers.  Avoid anything that is not American classics like Tacos, Spaghetti, or Eggrolls- it is just wrong.  They did manage to make the Meatloaf disgusting, but I don't know how that happened.

The things to come here for then?
Well, the salad bar is clean, fresh, and frankly badass.  
Salad and dessert are pretty much _it_ for me at Duff's.

The dessert bar is a never-ending parade of sugary cakes, pies, and self-serve ice cream.  All brought to you in a dimly-lit romantic setting.  There is a slide front fridge full of assorted baked goods on tiny little plates.  Just that fridge alone is worth the $10.  Bring the girls and have a tea party.  But, the tea will be served in textured plastic red cups- only served as a cold and sweet iced beverage.

I made the mistake of looking at the menu on their website before dining at the actual restaurant.  Many items on the website are not offered in the restaurant, so be warned.  The website also states that there is a special menu and drink specials after 9pm, this is not true at this location.

The barbecue dishes here are just decent, and kind of dry.  It is also stated on their website that you are given a barbecue sauce sampler with your meal, but we ordered a massive sampler platter for two people and did not receive any sauce.  It was tragic.  I also ordered the Deviled Eggs, which never arrived, so we had it taken off of the bill.

Thank goodness I was here with friends watching the UFC fights and having a good time.  Otherwise, I would have been really pissed about the crappy service and lame food.  I think it is better to go to Wing House to watch events.

I have now learned some Korean language (speaking & reading/writing) and been able to enter and dine at Soul of Korea. It looks like a carpeted office converted to a dining room, but the food is delicious.  

The main food item to come here for is the Spicy Chicken Wings.  Soul of Korea is the only establishment in the Tampa Bay area that serves wings of such a high standard.  It is nothing like the popular Kychon or BonChon chains, it is something completely unique.  The wings are sweet and spicy, covered in gochujang as well as pepper flakes.  

They have BBQ dishes as well as the Korean/Chinese dishes that I fell in love with while living in NYC and working in Murray Hill.