Joshua F.'s Profile

If I ever need to stay in Seattle again, I will be calling the Belltown Inn. We took a gamble and found the super cheap hotel and booked 4 nights for our trip to Seattle.

Our experience started with a bang when my fiancee called the Belltown to see if we could check in early (since our plan arrived @ 11am and check-ins aren't until 4pm). Checking in early wasn't a problem and the person on the phone was more than excited to make sure how we knew exactly how to get to the hotel.

Once we got to the hotel, we were met by an exuberant staff that took us under their wing and made sure we knew the lay of the land. The Belltown Inn is in close proximity to many bars, restaurants, coffee shops and the two major Seattle attractions the Space Needle and Pike's Place Market.

Our four nights in the Belltown Inn were fantastic, The room had a mini fridge and sink so we were able to make ourselves right at home.

The only drawback was having to set up the internet yourself (for $5 a night), but it is a fiber connection giving you more than enough bang for your buck.

I will definitely be coming anytime I am in Seattle!

Tried Damon's the other night since our apartment's air conditioning was on the outs. First impressions were good as it is a huge improvement to the restaurant West Wings that once held this location. Unfortunately, overall it wasn't a huge improvement in either food nor staffing.

Granted this place is still relatively new, but after sitting down to a relatively empty bar, we had to wait 10 minutes to even be acknowledged by either of the two bartenders.

The beer list is good, and the Guinness tap seems to be properly tuned; but the variety of beer took a hit with the change in ownership. West Wings was known for its beer list (even though they were usually out of half the menu) and I would have liked to see Damon's carry on that tradition of beer selection.

The food was okay as well, it is standard bar fare. Though it did take a while for our food to come once ordered, and the people next to us had their wing flavors mixed up.

I would like to try this place again once the growing pains are worked out, but it has been around for a while still and there seems to be no improvement from the previous reviews.

We went to Firebox on a whim after hearing really good things about it, and I have to say it did not disappoint!  Unfortunately not everything was 100%, so I had to give it four stars instead of five.

We started off sharing the Poached Farmer's Egg first course, which was a poached egg on a chive polenta cake with a roasted tomato and caramlized onion marmalade topped with pancetta chips.  This was a wonderful way to start off the meal!

For our second course, I chose the Duo of Natural Chicken which consisted of a roulade of chicken breast and spinach, confit of leg ravioli (which to my surprise were fried) with a side of brocolli rabe.  The brocolli rabe was the first miscue of the night, however, since it was terribly over salted even for my taste.  The rest of the meal was delicious!

My guest had the Local Fettucini which the only vegetarian item on the second course menu.  It consists of roasted mushrooms and roma tomatoes with a vegetable brodo.  Even with getting the app size portion we both went away happy with this dish.

For dessert we shared the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee that boasted "Ruwet Family Farm" eggs.  This was okay as creme brulees go.  The Firebox prides itself on the farm to table approach to cooking, however it is never really explained to the guests.  Maybe Ruwet Family Farm is somewhere in close proximity to Hartford...

Overall I highly recommend you try out the firebox.  Just becareful as it is a bit on the expensive side for a random Monday meal we went there for.

I was hoping for more with my visit to Barca, but what we left with was some awesome drinks and okay food.

I love tapas style bars because it is a great way to try a bunch of food that you normally couldn't get, but what we got at Barca was pretty standard fare for most restaurants.

There were four other people out with me so we got a good sampling of the menu.  We ordered:
*Tamal de Helote - Fresh steamed Cornmeal Tamal served with Lola Sauce.
*Empanadas - Beef filled crispy Turnovers with Chilean Pebre Sauce.
*Steak Spanish Flat Bread with Cheese and Steak
*Calamares Fritos - Fried Calamari served with a Spicy Remoulade Sauce.  
*Papa Rellena - Traditional Peruvian Potato stuffed with Beef and served with the Chefs traditional litely spiced home made sauce.
*Quesadilla de Pollo - Flour Tortilla filled with marinated Chicken amd Monterey Jack Cheese.
*Chorizo Encebollado -Sauteéd Spanish Chorizo with Onions and Green Olives.
*Causa Limena - Spiced up Mashed Yellow Potatoes stuffed with Tuna and Avocado.

Each of these plates (except for the steak flat bread) were all reasonably sized for a tapas portion.  I ordered the above items from best to worse, and unfortunately it is a very quick drop off.  The tamal, empanadas and flat bread were good. I would actually recommend them.  The calamari and  papa rellena were okay, though I think I have had better calamari during a happy hour some places.  The last three dishes were just unacceptable.  The quesadilla was just a hot mess with no creativity and really stretched the boundaries of tapas.  The chorizo dish did have chorizo in it, but just barely and the onions overtook the dish (let alone the most saltly olives I have ever had). And lastly, the causa limena should have been returned if it wasn't for me making everyone else try bites of it.  I could go on about this dish for ever, but I have never ate a dish that I would completely reverese the temperature it was served me at.  The causa limena comes out cold which is just totally wrong.  Also, looking back at the menu today, I do not remember and reminence of avacado or spice!

The drinks are excellent and the bar seems to come up with some awesome combinations.  I had a drink that included both gin and white port (along with fresh orange juice!) which I could have drank all night.  Come here for drinks and hope you ate before.

One of the more enjoyable starbucks in the area. It is very big and always seems to have excellent artwork.  If I am in the mood for starbucks and time is not an issue, I head here!

Unfortunately, no decor could save this place for me.  I am not sure what I was thinking when I went to eat at a place that is a 21+ bar all the time, but I did and I regret it!  We had reservations for 6 @ 8pm and we were lucky enough to get a booth, if we didn't we could have sat at one of the many floor level tables (which I could only imagine would be terribly awkward).

Now it was 8pm on a Friday night so the bar was anything but hopping, but by the look of our frantic server you would think she was slammed all night.  The night started off wrong when the six of us were clamoring over two menus until our waitress came some 15 minutes later to give us our complete set.  She took out drink menu and we were off.  Service is anything but punctual here!

As a Mexican bar, I was impressed with their selection of tequilas, but I was not impressed that they did not salt the rims of the glass (even after asking you if you want salt or sugar).  The drinks are rather expensive (at $10 a margarita), but you are in the casino and should expect that.  What you shouldn't expect is that your $10 margarita should taste like sour mix.  It was one of the worse margaritas I have  had in a while.  The flavored margaritas were better, however, but not much.

The food was no saving grace either.  Besides the run-of-the-mill appetizer list there is only six main entrees; one would think they should all be fantastic.   Most of our table got the burrito baked in the enchilada sauce (for an extra $4) with various meats and vegetables.  If you are a vegetarian, definitely pass on this place because their idea of assorted vegetables was mostly onions.  The enchilada sauce was nothing more than a tomato sauce left over from one of the casinos Italian restaurants.  The waitress even mentioned on how our burritos smelled like pasta.  To top off our dinner, one of our meals (out of six) was missing on service and the make-shift burrito that came out of the kitchen some ten minutes later was all but acceptable.  

To end our night, we received out bill with 18% gratuity already applied and we all sank in our booth realizing the gravity of the evening in full. The waitress was barely around, one of six meals was forgotten, our margaritas tasted like some tequila sour, and there was pasta sauce on our burritos.  What a terrible place for dinner.  I would not recommend it to anyone; maybe the place as a bar is better, but do not waste your time or money on the food.

I really enjoyed finding this burger place on my last trip to NYC.  We were looking for a low-key place and I think we found in BLT Burger.  

The decor was something to be desired, but the waitstaff's t-shirts definitely made up for it.

The food was good, I had the "BLT" Burger and I added the fried egg and cheddar cheese.  Even though the fried egg was an extra $1.50 and the cheese was an extra $1, the burger came out to a pretty reasonable price for NYC.  Though, add the $4 french fries and the $5 beer and the bill adds up quick.

My guest had the Veggie Falafel buger, and I have to say that it was great!  It really stayed true to the idea of a falafel, but still shined as a burger.  We also got the onion rings which weren't anything special, but they were still spot on.

All in all, if you are looking for a buger place in NYC, I highly recommend you trying out BLT Burger.

Great little find in the heard of Chelsea Market.  Serves minimalistic coffee options that all are quite good.  Had their medium sized americano and a medium sized latte and the total came to $10 even.  I feel it is a little pricy, but the coffee was that good.

In a town where you pass a starbucks every 3 blocks, it is nice to see places where you can just get bare-bone coffee products.

Looks like a new coffee shop opened in downtown Barre, VT.  Espresso Bueno is found right on Main Street with a beautiful store front.

The coffee seems to be having some growing pains however.  The espresso is pulled ristretto; right on the black board with all the drink options says so!  This made a very strong, chalky espresso with a very strong taste.  This is a complete opposite to their drip coffee.  Their drip coffee seemed to be too weak for my liking.  I ordered the Kenyan blend and was expecting some good tasting coffee especially after the espresso, however the drip coffee failed to deliver.

Espresso Bueno is definitely just a coffee house.  They had a few selections of cookies and scones, but other than that you will have to go elsewhere for food.

Definitely recommended for their espresso, but only their espresso.  I can't wait to try an Americano next time; I think it is going to be amazing!

This is a great coffee place in my usual gateway to the city.  I am very pleased that I do not need to go to the Starbucks in Connecticut or in Grand Central to get my much needed caffeine boost.  However, it isn't perfect...  They do not take cards; you can only use cash!  What an inconvenience!

On my way into the city I got a espresso macchiato and a small hazelnut latte.  I was glad that they were using the right proportion for the lattes, that always makes me smile.  The espresso macchiato was great as was the latte.

On my way out of the city, I discarded my iced macchiato from Starbucks to get an Iced hazelnut latte from Joe.  First off, let me say I don't think I ever had a drink with four shots of espresso (as comes in a large iced latte at Joe), but wasn't it delicious!  It was amazing though, there was a strong taste of chocolate in Joe's espresso.  It almost hid the flavor of the hazelnut.

I will definitely be looking forward to coming back to the city and try more of Joe's espresso drinks.