cameron "dairy queen" t.'s Profile

Damn you 85C!!!!

Why are you not on the east coast? Actually, why AM I ON the east coast? I don't even like Irvine but considered moving to those brand new Avalon apartments across the street so I could be closer to you.

Damn your white chocolate strawberry cake! Damn your giant Brioche bread! All those fresh, tasty baked goods we gorged ourselves with on the flight home.

Who knows? maybe it's a blessing in disguise that I no longer live in LA. At least my butt will thank you for not getting any bigger!

No bad service for us. We only waited like 5 minutes on a Saturday afternoon...got lucky I guess. Everything we had was hot & tasted fresh. The only problem we had was the same ladies kept coming by our table and there were some that never made it over to us....so we missed out on a few items. No big deal.

Can't believe I am going to say this.....

Okay, I've had better xiao long bao in NJ. Yes, I did say New Jersey! I know it must be some horrible mistake but I am totally serious.

Loved the nian gao (rice cakes) and the red bean sticky rice. However, the dumplings were just ok. I actually prefer them to be slightly bigger. They weren't very flavorful but still pretty good. I would go if I was in the area, but nothing to go out of my way for......expensive too compared to NYC prices.

My cousin suggested we visit this place for lunch since she had been a few times. I have to say that although it wasn't terrible, I probably would rather visit my regular places like Big Wong or WIng Wong.

We ordered porridge with preserved egg & pork, beef chow fun in black bean sauce, fried dumplings, shrimp in rice noodle & siu mai. The porridge was great...huge portion in a stone pot which kept it warm. Thick & tasty. The chow fun was good but lacked the black bean flavor. It was too mild. The dumplings were tasty but very untraditional as we found bits of celery in it. We also didn't like the sweet sauce they came sitting in. The siu mai were giant! Unfortunately, they were SUPER gross. Mushy and nasty. We didn't eat them.

The servers all seemed to speak English, and were quick & efficient.

All of the tapas we had were pretty good, except for the empanadas. They were not so great. Our server couldn't give us accurate descriptions of the tapas, and didn't know what some of the items were at all. She forgot drinks, and then charged a drink we never ordered on our bill. The paella was some of the worst we've ever had. Mushy rice and overcooked seafood & chicken. It wasn't awful but not good. It didn't taste like paella at all.

I would stick to the tapas & skip the paella next time.

Came here with a large group of 17 people for dinner and they sat us right away. The servers were nice & our hibachi chef was pretty funny. He interacted a lot with the kids and all of the food was perfectly cooked. I've been to several hibachi places and they are relatively the same. I didn't find the food at Ziki's to be greasy. My filet was tender and flavorful, and the shrimp they use was a lot bigger than most other places I've visited.

The chef you get is luck of the draw. I feel like that can make or break your experience depending on how skilled & entertaining he can be. We all had a great time but I did feel like some of the food items were over priced. Also, please don't charge $2.50 for a soda if you are going to charge me $25-$30 for my entree. This isn't exactly a fancy restaurant.

I am very sad to say that I did not have the same experience as my friend Su K. My cousin got married at The Villa this weekend and after everything that happened I wouldn't recommend them to anyone for their wedding.

The wedding began at 6pm. Most people started to arrive around 5:30 and they were still setting up. The "holding" area where people were waiting to enter the tent for the ceremony did not have enough room. It was also in full view of the cocktail area where they were setting up. Couldn't they set up earlier or wait till the ceremony had began? Setting up in front of wedding guests is not exactly professional. When the cocktail hour began, there were not enough places for people to sit. There weren't enough areas to stand & eat either. Some of the cocktail tables they set up were so wobbly that if you put anything on it, it would fall right over. The cocktail food was set up at a tiny little table for about 150 guests. The line for food was insane! They had passed hors d'oeuvres which most people didn't know about. They had to hunt down the people passing them out.

The best part was the "Open Bar." The bartender was a complete jerk. He was slow as hell and rude to the guests. My husband asked him "How are you doing?" and his response was a curt "What do you want?"  Apparently people were ordering too many drinks "on the rocks." They tried to tell us that they weren't going to allow people to order those anymore as they are the same as shots. Last time I checked a shot and Dewers on the rocks were not the same thing. If the couple paid for an open bar and spent all that money you should not be bothering them during their wedding because the guests are drinking more than you expected. My family had to intercede to keep them from bothering the bride & groom. The coordinator called the owner apparently and he said everything was fine. However, they already put a downer on the wedding after arguing with the family for several minutes.

Service during dinner was also very slow and uncoordinated. There was a large gap between salad and entree. The wine was also not offered until most people were almost done with their entree. The entree was a filet and lobster tail "stuffed with crab meat." It was actually a lobster tail SHELL stuffed with crab meat & some lobster. There was no lobster meat in it. They might as well just served a crab cake instead. The filet was cooked perfectly as were the vegetables.

The worse part of the night was when we wanted to extend the reception by an hour. They wanted $2000 in cash. Are you kidding me? What kind of ghetto place demands cash? I can see them not accepting checks but cash only? and what does all that money buy?

Thank god everyone had a good time. That was only because the bride & groom worked so hard and added so many personal touches to the wedding. They designed all their own tables and decorations so it was a beautiful night.

Do yourselves a favor and have your event somewhere else. Don't do business with these rip off artists. I planned my own wedding and have several friends who are coordinators, florists, & photographers. The Villa was completely unprofessional. The service was terrible and they charge you and arm & a leg for it!

If you've been to Cafe Demel in Austria then you may be disappointed with this outpost. First, it is teeny tiny with maybe 10 tables? It has not even a third of the pastry selection that you will find there. The coffee choices are smaller as well. We tried the strawberry cream cake, the raspberry yogurt cake, and the white cheesecake. All of them were good, but nothing spectacular. None of it tasted as good as the pastry we had in their Vienna store. Maybe since they are made here, the ingredients have something to do with it?

The girls in the cafe were friendly and quick. Their iced tea is delicious with hints of lychee & mint. Also, try their Elderflower soda...refreshing & so good! On a positive note....the prices were very reasonable. It was very cheap for NYC prices and if you were in Vienna it would have cost twice as much. Hell, The Cheesecake Factory charges more!

Cambria is Choice hotels "high end" hotel. It's in the same category as Hyatt Place or Starwood's aloft. Super clean facilities and friendly staff. Very conveniently located to the freeways and only 15 minutes to the airport with no traffic. There are a million food options available as Polaris shopping center is across the road. Apparently, Columbus is the chain restaurant capital of the world so your food choices are limitless. The rooms are all suites, and pretty modern. The bedrooms are separated from the sitting/work area. There are 2 flat screen tv's in each 1 bedroom unit. The rooms also have a microwave, coffee maker, and fridge. There is a restaurant downstairs with a limited menu, and a "grab n go" case with sandwiches & salads, etc. There is also a small pool & hot tub and fitness room.

Had a really great dinner experience tonight. Great server named Brad. Super friendly, genuinely nice guy who provided excellent service. Our food was delicious. We ordered calamari for an app. It was tender on the inside, crispy on the outside, and the marinara had a mild kick to it. We also ordered a chicken pasta soup, caesar salad, prime rib, and some steak dish with a mushroom madeira sauce. The only problem we had was my prime rib was ordered rare. The piece that came out was more like medium or medium well. It was run out by another server, but when our server saw it he offered to take it back immediately. The steak dish was also over cooked and a bit dry but they replaced that as well. Both replacements were perfectly cooked and delicious. The croissants are amazingly yummy & tasted like they were 1000 calories a piece.

We ordered key lime pie and the 4 of us devoured it. It was so good! Even better was the fact that they comped it because our steaks were overcooked. Oh, they have $1 espressos! Really good espresso for a dollar. Our server thought it might have just been a misprint that they kept on the menu....what a bargain!

Great experience! too bad there are no locations anywhere near us, but my butt will probably thank me for not getting any bigger from those yummy croissants!