Sarah E.'s Profile

My husband stopped by this adorable little art gallery after a pleasant lunch and a scary trip to one of Dahlonega's antique stores.  After the antique place (which featured, among other things, items with the Confederate flag emblazoned on them and strange bigoted plaques with grinning caricatures of African Americans...  eep), our expectations for the local flavor weren't too high.  Fortunately, Hummingbird Lane helped raise them again.

This gallery features (according to one of the owners, who we briefly met) the work of over 100 artists.  We saw some really fun and unique drawings, beautiful pottery, funky glasswork, and a wide variety of other beautiful pieces.  

We were just browsing, so I can't speak to the pricing.  But I was pleasantly surprised to see such a nice art gallery, and I would definitely go back there if we were looking for some nice art to grace our home.

My husband and I stopped into the Crimson Moon Cafe for lunch today.  This cafe seemed a little more cosmopolitan than the majority of the other Dahlonega establishments we visited (except for the cute
Hummingbird Lane art gallery).  It offered free wi-fi and featured interesting art (which I assume was created by local artists) on the walls.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that we got to experience this cute place at its best.  There was a wedding party going on upstairs, and everyone was super busy.  To the staff's credit, we were warned before being seated that there was a wedding party and it would be about 10 minutes before any lunch orders could go back to the kitchen,

After the aforementioned wait (I think it was actually a little over 10 minutes before a server even came by our table, which is why I only gave 3 stars), we ordered the fried green tomato appetizer.  It took a while to come out, but when it did it was pretty good.

My entree was definitely the winner of the meal.  The melty meatloaf sandwich was really, really good.  My husband's reuben sandwich was good but unremarkable.  Since we split the two sandwiches between us, we both left happy.

Our server was nice when she was at our table; she just seemed extremely rushed and we didn't see a whole lot of her.  But our food did come out hot when it finally made it to our table, so it seems like the kitchen was the real bottleneck.  I'd love to check out Crimson Moon Cafe again the next time I'm in Dahlonega to see if the service is good when they're not quite so overwhelmed.

My husband and I recently purchased a foreclosed home, and it needed every wall and surface on the inside repainted.  It also needed some minor repairs (such as caulking and patching some pieces of siding).  

My parents recommended Mendez Painting after having Gabriel do a large job at their home.  He gave us a very reasonable quote and was able to get a team to begin work on our house almost immediately.  His team was quick and competent, and our home looked beautiful when they were done.

Our furniture was moved into the house after the painting had been finished.  Although our movers were VERY careful, there were a few spots and smudges on our walls after they were done.  Gabriel had a team come in and fix these spots for us afterward, free of charge.

We would definitely use Mendez Painting again in the future.  They really helped us make our house a home.

My husband and I have used Mathis Moving Service twice now.  Both times, we have been extremely happy with the service we received.

The first time was when we moved into our "starter" house.  We had items in a storage space because we couldn't fit everything into our apartment. The storage space was in Suwanee, the apartment was in Duluth, and the new house was in Chamblee.  They gladly drove all over creation to pick up all our stuff and get it where it needed to go.

The new house had hardwood floors, and we were clueless about how to protect them.  They thoughtfully suggested that we invest in some felt circles to put on the bottoms of our furniture to avoid scratching up the floors.

They worked super hard and got our stuff moved in really quickly, considering the amount of running around that was required.

We recently upgraded to a large house and enlisted their help again.  They were fast, friendly, and helpful.  We had put some items in our car to move ourselves, and when they finished the move, they stopped the timer and unloaded our cars for us free of charge.  It's a small thing, but it's the thought that counts.

On both occasions when we moved, all of our items made it safely from one place to the other.  Nothing was damaged, and nothing went missing.  During the second move, the carpet in our new house was brand new, and the walls were all freshly painted.  The movers were very careful not to mark either one up.

For the price they charge, (a very reasonable $150 per hour for a team of 4 movers, or as low as $110 an hour for two movers), Mathis Movers provide impressive quality of service.  The owner himself participates in the moves, and his team is competent and friendly.  I hope to enlist their help again in our next move (which I hope won't be for a long time).

I've been on a very tight budget lately, so I haven't been able to go out and try new places, let alone fairly expensive places like H&F.  So I was excited to finally get to give this oft-reviewed place a try.

I'd give this place 4.5 stars if we had half stars here on Yelp.  Since we don't, I'll give it a very solid 4.  My only complaint was the drinks.  I tried the Unmarked Grave and another one that I now can't remember with "Soul" in the name.  I didn't like the first one at all, and the second one was just okay.  For a place that's supposedly known for its artistic drinks, I found these expensive cocktails unimpressive (and small).

The food, on the other hand...  YUM!!  As others here have already said, small plates are small.  My friend and I ordered one small plate first because I knew from reviews that we needed to try the fried oysters.  We were able to gauge how much to order based on the size of that.  

It's kinda like really expensive tapas.  Order a lot, and share with your friends.  Fortunately, our server also told us this right away, so we weren't appalled when we got our plate with only 6 oysters on it.  And they were so good!  No, seriously.  That first bite was heaven.

We also tried the duck rillette, the Coca-Cola fried shrimp, the mussels, and the Crunchy Gentleman.  We followed these up with a couple of desserts.  Yes, this ended up being a $100 tab when you factor in the 2 drinks I ordered and the one my friend had.  But we did leave full and happy at the end.

My unexpected favorite (besides those heavenly oysters) was the Crunchy Gentleman.  It's a ham sandwich.  With cheese on top.  It's kind of hard to screw that up, and they didn't.  Sometimes simple is really, really good.

However, I have to admit that the Coca-Cola fried shrimp may have tied with the Crunchy Gentleman.  The batter was just so tasty and flavorful.  This is a VERY small plate, though - just 5 shrimp.  Be forewarned.

The duck rillette was also quite tasty.  I've never had any sort of rillette before, so I have nothing to compare it to.  If you are ignorant like me, a rillete is sort of like a pate - it's meat that is mashed into a pastelike consistency and molded together.  It comes with a jelly-like layer of goo that I assume was duck fat (??) on top.  This made me feel a little squeamish, but it tasted really good on the toast points that were served with it.

The mussels were, surprisingly, my least favorite of the plates we tried.  They were still good; don't get me wrong.  I did like the fact that the piece of bread they give you to soak up the "juice" was studded with jalapenos.  However, the mussels themselves were good but not terribly memorable.

For dessert, my friend and I split the bacon caramel popcorn and the pumpkin burnt cream.  The popcorn was sort of like a Cracker Jack with bacon instead of the peanuts.  It was interesting, but I'm not sure I would order it again.  I fully support the trend of bacon in desserts, but I didn't feel that this particular dessert was extraordinarily well-executed.  The bacon had a bit of a burnt taste that stood out a bit too much from the other flavors.

The other dessert was basically a pumpkin creme brulee.  It was served with a gingerbread cookie that was, quite frankly, hard, overbaked, and unappealing.  The pumpkin creme brulee was respectable but oddly uneven in temperature - the outside was hot and the middle was cold.

Overall, I'd say the desserts and drinks were kind of a miss, but the food was really darn good.  I'd go back again (maybe I'd try to make it at the right time for the famed burger) but would probably just order beers and focus on the food.

I guess I am in the minority here, but I was very satisfied with my El Pollo Loco experience.  I'm rating it based not on authenticity (because I'm sure that El Taco Veloz is more authentic Mexican fast food, but beyond that I am not an expert), but on flavor and quality of food.

I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but I probably never would have visited El Pollo Loco were it not for the show "Flipping Out."  The people on that show are constantly eating takeout from El Pollo Loco, which piqued my curiosity about it.  Then my husband and I happened to pass one while we were really hungry.

I liked the salsa bar.  Everything was very fresh.  My favorites were the avocado salsa and the Salsa De Arbol (the brown salsa).  

I had the Ultimate Pollo Bowl and my husband had the Chicken Tostada Bowl.  The chicken in both of our dishes was so moist, juicy and flavorful, it was like a party in my mouth!  

Not sure why my experience was so different from my fellow Yelpers', but I would definitely go back to El Pollo Loco.

I have been eyeing Get Coffee since last fall when I noticed it had opened up, but I didn't get around to stopping there until now.  I needed to meet an acquaintance on my way home from work, and so I finally got an opportunity to check the place out.

I love the decor and the general vibe.  There is a little sitting room on the left side of the building, which is where I waited for my friend to arrive.  I loved this little area, and no one gave me the hairy eyeball for sitting there when I hadn't ordered anything (yet).

After a while, I did try a coffee drink - a mocha.  It wasn't bad, but to be honest I am in love with Starbucks' digustingly sweet and creamy mochas.  What I really need to do next time is try a plain old cup of coffee, because that's something I can NEVER get at Starbucks because I can't stand the taste of their coffee when it's not diluted with sugar and milk.

The people there were super nice, and it just had a really chill, community feel.  I wish I had gotten around to hanging out here when I still lived in the area.  Now that I don't, I'm sure I will still find an excuse to stop by again every so often.

If we had half stars, I would rate Chocolate Pink a "3.5".

This rating is for the cupcakes, because that's all my friends and I tried.    At my office (and I guess in life overall), I have developed a bit of a reputation as the Cupcake Girl.  As in, I love to eat them and I've also become fairly proficient at baking them.  The fact that I can bake them is making me increasingly picky as a reviewer.

Anyway, because of the aforementioned "Cupcake Girl" designation, when one of my co-workers got a $35 coupon for Chocolate Pink, she decided to invite me and 2 other co-workers to join her there.

Here are the cupcakes we sampled, and my thoughts.

Peanut Butter and Jelly - I recently made peanut butter and jelly cupcakes for the first time, and I actually liked mine better.  I thought Chocolate Pink used too much jelly in theirs (and my co-workers agreed.  Also, I would have preferred a thicker texture to the frosting (more peanut buttery), which is how I made mine.  But that's personal preference.

S'mores - The cake part of this one was REALLY dry.  We think that was an intentional stylistic decision, in order to make it more graham-crackery, but I'm not sure I agree with the choice.  The marshmallow topping was yummy, though.

Coconut - I hate coconut shavings, so I only took a small bite of the cake part.  The cake was VERY moist, but almost too sweet.  

Cookies and Cream - This was good but not great.  The cupcakes with a vanilla/white cake base were all on the dry side (but I know from personal experience that it's pretty tough to make a moist vanilla cupcake).  Still, I can make a kickass vanilla cupcake so I am unsympathetic.

Dulce du Leche - This was my favorite of the bunch.  The caramel was rich and delicious without being too sweet.  And the ratio of caramel to cake was perfect.

Mochaccino - The cake part was a bit dry, but the mocha/coffee frosting was delicious.  This was probably my second favorite cupcake.

Chocolate Fudge - This was a little too cocoa-y (as opposed to fudgy) for my taste.  But it was still pretty tasty, and I liked the texture.

Pink Lemonade - I'm going to be picky about this one because I can make a mean pink lemonade cupcake.  Chocolate Pink's interpretation is a lot different from mine.  They used lemon curd in the middle, which was kind of nice.  But I would have preferred more pink, and a more lemony cupcake.  

Red Velvet - I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  I am picky about red velvet, and they ALMOST got the texture right.  I've had better cream cheese frosting, though.

Carrot - This was another pleasant surprise.  The cake was REALLY moist, and I like the fact that they chose not to taint it with any nuts or raisins (I will never understand why people think that nuts and raisins belong in cake, or really in desserts at all).

All of the cupcakes were beautiful to look at.  So if I were rating based solely on presentation, I'd give Chocolate Pink a "5".  But the taste and texture weren't on par with what I've come to expect.  These guys can beat me on some of the accents and details, but I can make tastier cupcakes than this.  And SugarMama, Mattycakes and Star Provisions all WAY outshine Chocolate Pink in the cupcake arena.

(Also, I have the sneaking suspicion that they are using shortening in their frosting and fillings instead of butter.  I'm just never fully okay with that.)

My final complaint is the price.  Please note that I no longer even bat an eyelash at dropping $3 a cupcake.  But these seemed small for cupcakes at that price, and the quality just wasn't good enough to win me over at that price.

It was fun trying all of those cupcakes though!  So the promotion itself was a win.  Well, sort of...  maybe not, because I'm not sure I'd go back there when I can get better cupcakes elsewhere.

I don't really like to review chains, but I have moved out to Lawrenceville, which has an abundance of chain restaurants.  My parents like Longhorn because they have pretty good options for dieters and non-dieters alike, so we visited this location a couple weeks ago while I was in the process of moving to the new house.

Our server seemed like she might have been on something.  She wasn't horribly incompetent; she just seemed sort of dazed and out of it.  At one point, she started a sentence somewhat excitedly and then randomly trailed off in the middle.  It was just a little odd.

I'm not the biggest fan of Longhorn's food, but I don't dislike it, either.  However, on this occasion, my salmon salad came with rancid cheese on it.  I was not pleased.

To our server's credit, she was very apologetic and brought me a replacement salad.  She also said they threw out that bag of cheese "just to be safe" and opened a new one.

Still, ewwwwwww.

My husband and I have been to Sear two or three times, all for the breakfast buffet.  If I were rating based on the food alone, I would be giving Sear 4 or 5 stars.  

Alas, the poor service we received on our last visit has tainted my opinion of this place.

We came to Sear to celebrate my husband's birthday.  Since it was 9:30 am on a Sunday, we assumed that we wouldn't need a reservation for our party of ten to eat at the buffet.  I understand in retrospect that this may have been a stupid assumption, but my experience thus far has led me to believe that most people are asleep or in church at 9:30 am on Sunday.

Although the restaurant appeared to be almost completely empty, the host glared at me when I said I didn't have a reservation.  I apologized and said that I'd thought it would be slow at 9:30 am on a Sunday, but that I'd make sure to call in advance next time.  He said, "It's one of our busiest times," and glared again.

The host chose to lead us to a private room (we didn't ask for it, and the restaurant appeared to be almost completely empty).  When we got back there, he noticed I was carrying a birthday cake (in a closed container).  He said, "Is that a cake?"

I explained that it was and that if it was a problem, we wouldn't eat it there.  He said, "If our sales manager sees it, you'll be charged for renting this room."  It's not WHAT he said, but how he said it and the way he flounced off afterward.  Again, I do understand that we should have called ahead and asked about the cake.  It's the attitude with which I'm taking issue.

Our server was pretty nice and on top of things, although my friend says she never refilled his water the entire time we were there.  For me, everything was fine until we went to pay.  

At most restaurants, with a large party each person can hand the server or cashier a card and state the dollar amount they want to pay.  At THIS restaurant, the snitty host (remember him?) stated, "We don't split checks.  

I pointed out that we did not want him to split the check.  We just wanted to tell him the amount to put on each card.  He said, "That's just as much work as splitting a check."

Really?  Because I've worked in several restaurants, and no it's not.  My friend ended up paying the entire bill on his credit card and we all went to the ATM and gave him cash.  This is the first time since before the advent of the debit card that I've had to do that with a large party.

Although the buffet was beautiful and everything on it was delicious, I don't think we will be making any more visits to Sear.  At $22 a person, I expect to be treated a little better than we were on this visit.