Diego "Diegermeister" P.'s Profile

I hate Denny's, so why did I walk into this one?  Well, I was starving.  
Why am I reviewing it?  Because I met THE best waitress in the world.

I walked in on a Sunday morning and they had a FULL house.  Ready to turn around and leave, I figured I'd ask how soon I could be served.  The waitress who will remain nameless answered, "have a seat, what do you want?"  

In between 150 who-the-hell-is-this-guy looks, I told her my choice.  Three minutes later, she comes out of the kitchen with my order!  

Me:             (Whispering)  "Doesn't this plate belong to someone else?"  
Waitress:  "This person has been waiting forty-five minutes, I'm pretty sure another ten won't hurt."  

Twenty dollar tip for that girl.  I will not expose her, but just know there's a girl there who will stick her neck out for you.  Best server experience in the world.

Who's stupid enough to starve themselves all day on Thanksgiving Day?  Well, I'm sure you all are, and that's exactly what I did this year.  (I didn't mean to call you stupid, we're still Yelp friends, right?)    :)

If you didn't take me off your list for calling you that, then let me redeem our "Yelpship" and recommend this delicious place to you.  My girl and I were driving around the Belmont Shores area and decided to stop at the first small restaurant for an appetizer before our Thanksgiving dinners ("dinners" as in "plural" because these days you don't just have one.)  

Place:              Medium
Waiters:          Welcoming and friendly
Atmosphere:  Simple, yet appropriate for a dinner date
Music:              Easy-listening Mediterranean, I even used SoundHound  on a few tracks.  

We ordered the White Anchovy and Red Potato Salad.  If you're a sucker for citrus-y/mild foods you will truly appreciate this salad.  It tasted like heaven to me, you'd have to try it to make your own comparison.  I really wanted to order two more plates of just that, but we were being experimental that evening.  One plate didn't appease our exposure curiosity.  

Then we decided on drinking the Green Tea tropical.  It was served on a medium pot made entirely of iron, which I thought was so cool, I'm gonna have to buy one next time I have dinner there.  The Baba Ghanoush made an excellent chew along with their Pita bread.  Then we sealed our dinner with a Falafel Wrap, which was pretty good but we were already blown away by our previous plates.  

I really won't try to convince you much because giving a five-star rating seems biased and actually makes some people skeptical, but I should note that my girl and I kept talking about how delicious our food turned out was during the meal AND THEN half an hour after we were done, during our drive.  It was a very pleasant surprise.  

The best part of the deal?  It was only twenty-five bucks!  We spoiled our Thanksgiving meal, but I'm no Pilgrim and I'm pretty damn thankful for ending up here that night.  

Try this place.  You won't regret it.

Let me go ahead and excuse my manhood here - I have no business being in a Mani/Pedi spa.  You see, I'm not the type of guy that puts the "Man" in "Mani."  Call me delusional but I still think daily showers, trimmed fingernails, and a nice set of iron-pressed clothes suffice for a man's hygiene.  

The culprit of my presence at Tips & Toes was my friend, she had an appointment here and I agreed to come along.  Of course, I tried to hint out a bar instead but why the hell would she listen to that?  Women..  

The place isn't big, but it's very very clean so that compensates for its size.  The workers there were friendly and they actually sparked up interesting conversation amongst each other.  They went out of their way to involve their customers in conversation, it wasn't the usual anti-male society of Amazons that instinctively develops when a bunch of flock together.  I would have been furious if that were the case - then again, they were pretty hot.  I suppose you win some, you lose some.  lol  

The phone rang often and I wondered if anyone would answer it more frequently during our visit, but then I noticed that all the employees were busy.  Answering every phone call would probably deflate their customer service atmosphere.  

Tips and Toes is a very clean and comfortable place, I would definitely recommend it.  As someone who's been involved in the customer service industry for years I have noticed that some people demand ten-star treatment on a five-star scale.  The people here work very well and if I were a woman I'd sure come here.

I just couldn't give it five stars cuz, you know... I'm a dude and stuff.  

(Burp!)  lol

I have absolutely no idea why these people are criticizing this bar..  anyone who decides to hit up a dive should anticipate sacrificing spiffy luxury and trading it in for a comfortable drunken conversation with cool people you've never met before.  

It's a DIVE, people... button up your vests, adjust your watches and take it somewhere else.  

I've only been here for $2 beer Tuesdays a few times and I've had no complaints.  Whether I might show up with company or without, people just wanna chill.  Sure, you get a few assholes, but it's all about how you carry yourself in the end.

Cheap drinks, cool people, loud music?  Good enough for me.  The loud music is usually a killer, but if you think about it it just gives you the opportunity to say, "I didn't catch that, could you come a little closer?"  

;)

Another one for the good ol' 90022.  

If you ask me about politics, unfortunately you will get no conversation or interest out of me.  But ask me about underrated restaurants and I will make your head spin worse than Monica Lewinsky did to Clinton verbally of course- but you'd have to be a chick, though.  lol

Cerese's Pizza was recommended to me by a good friend, and they were formerly known as Yuyu's Pizza.  According to popular buzz, those guys literally had people lined up around the corner for this pizza.  One thing that Cerece's was smart enough to do was to keep the recipe for this DELICIOUS pizza.  

I highly recommend the Jumbo Deluxe pizza.  You know how you go to Little Caesar's pizza and you get 90% bread, tomato sauce, and SOME toppings that made their way to the pizza by accident?  lol  Well, this pizza is the polar opposite of that.  You get real soft pizza dough bombarded with all these fresh toppings that haven't been sitting around frozen, sacrificing taste.  It's the real deal, baby.  

Oh, and if you're gonna get the "Antipasto," (salad) get it with the Italian dressing.  You think Olive Garden has a good salad?  You're in for a treat here, man.  

Don't take my word for it.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - the 90022 just doesn't get the love it deserves.

"But it's a fish taco, and I HATE fish."  

That's what I used to say before I came to Tacos Baja Ensenada.  Well, they sure knew how to shut ME up.  Best fish tacos ever, without exaggeration.

Fish 1 - Diego 0... you may have won this round, ya stupid fish.  For that, I will eat you.  I'll take mine with avocado, thank you.  lol

This place is nothing special, but their tostadas de cuerito are!  

Come here if you're around the area and craving this dish.  Otherwise, you'll probably wanna punch me in the f*ckin' face if you drive down here all the way from Long Beach.  

True story.

"Hey Diego, what's a good place to eat Tortas in EastLos?"  

And that's the question that gets me blabbering for the next ten minutes, ending with "Chago's Tortas Ahogadas."  You should know that this place serves original authentic Guadalajara style tortas, and not that plastic-tasting Americanized version of Mexican food.  

As Stewie Griffin would say, "Those are not tortas... they're LIES!"  lol  

First off, Chago's customer service kicks ass.  The restaurant has a humble Mexican atmosphere and the staff's manners are impeccable.  If you're not fond of spicy foods, do NOT get the spicy torta or the mita y mita (half-spicy, half-sauce).  You'll cry.  

I'm serious.

And even if you're a bad-ass macho whose sweaty testicles ooze out of his tighty-whiteys' left pocket, you should still order the mita-mita... you just don't know what you're getting yourself into if you order the spicy torta, dude.  What can I say, the tortas are tasty, fulfilling, and most importantly, they're the original thing.  

Since their original restaurant is established in Guadalajara, Mexico and they only have two satellite restaurants here in the United States, you're practically getting a Mexican imported exotic torta for just five bucks.  It's a risk, but it's like not liking musicals and then watching "Chicago:"  you'll love it, but you'll be too stupid to realize it right there and then.  

Oh, it takes time, baby.  ;)

Ever been punked by a burrito?  I have.  It was a beautiful day where the Mexican in me was wearing the X-Bulletted vest, stroked my mustache, and yelled out, "For Zapata!"  lol

I wanted food.  Real food, and I wanted it now.  I was feeling supernaturally divine that day.

Unfortunately, since there's divine, there's also evil and if there's evil, there's a Satan.  Sometimes he... likes to show up in the form of a burrito for some reason.  Haha

Yep, can't win against the devil.  That thing is so big, you can feed livestock with it... well, maybe a small pig - and we all have a cousin that resembles one, right?

What you do is you go get THAT cousin and take him here about two weeks before Chrismas, then you wait for him to give you a Christmas gift because believe me, he'll be grateful for the portion.  :)

It's not the greatest food, but you won't forget it very easily.  Look at it like scoring with a pretty-but-chunky chick:  it's probably not good for you, but the barbarian in you can't wait to take her down!!

Shortest legitimate review:  food was fine, service wasn't bad... but you'll never catch me having "Won-Kok" because I'd rather have "Tu-Klams!"

(I'll give you a second to let it sink in.)  I might come back to this place, why not?

Yours truly,

-Diego-