Monique "The Real Urban Zen Master" B.'s Profile

This is a great little pet store!

I needed bitter apple for my doggies. who love chewing on my most tasty and most expensive items.  Well, I didn't feel like going all the way to petsmart so I stopped there. Its located on Florence, of course. (I've lived in Arizona and  Casa Grande for less than a few months and I found that EVERYTHING is on Florence!)  Like most of these places, they are small mom and pop style shops.

They have everything included the cutest little puppies ever and nice inexpensive doggie treats.  This is the best part. You can get 2 huge bone shaped doggie treats for a buck. I didn't ask of they were home made (which would be awesome, if they were), but came in a little brown bag and my dogs love them. There were some other similar priced treats  of difference sizes and qualities.

Definitely worth a look!

I went the trouble of adding this place just so I can write this review!  I''m not placing link to their website because i don't want to help their business any further.

First of all. DO NOT GO HERE!

I couldn't tell you about their prices, their customer service or even the quality of their bikes and mechanic's work. And you want to know why?

Because they slammed and locked the door in my face as I tried to come GIVE THEM MONEY!

I came into a nice sum of CASH and I wanted to put a downpayment on a bike. They had a huge sign saying "Motorcycle Sale", so my boyfriend and I went to go see.  We parked, got out the car and walked up to the front door.  As we approached we saw the door SLAM and heard the lock click.

The hours of operation were clearly marked as 9-5 or something similar. And it was about 1pm.  Also, the neon "Open" sign was lit.

I can't begin to tell you how insulted we were because of this. At the very least someone could have said "Hey we are busy or closed right now, can you come back" ANd we would have happily obliged.

I just want to get the word out. Obviously this company doesn't want to make money because they just turned away 2 very eager buyers.

Thanks for reading!

I've been going to this place for years!  

Everyone is nice and the service is quick and thorough.  I have no idea about cars so I can't give a really in depth review. But, I can say that Steve is a great guy! I think he's the owner or manager or something.  He's been there as long as I can remember and takes good care for my car as well as my gramma's.  He was able to pull up the records from my car before I even mentioned my name. (And no, he didn't see my license plates first, either :D). He also noticed my gramma's car before I did when she came to pick me up. I was completely impressed. Also, he explains things without getting too technical or making me feel like 'dumb girl.'

So, if you are in the Temple Hills area, don't go the dealerships that are conveniently down the street. Come here! Your car (and your wallet) will thank you.

I'm a victim of "The grass is always greener syndrome." This means that I'll travel some where out of my neighborhood and see something great. Then complain about how I wish this (insert store or service) was closer to me. So when I go into a neighborhood store, I my expectations are very low. Just so I will not get disappointed and long to live somewhere else.  

I was pleasantly surprised when I visited this shoppers.  I've never shopped here, but I did stop by to pay a parking ticket at the customer service desk before.  I just came here on a whim, and I'm so glad I did.  Its just an additional 5-10 minutes drive from my home, making it the second closest Shoppers. But, I'd gladly drive her every week for my grocery needs.

I'm a semi-vegetarian, meaning that I, for various reasons, cut back on meat.  But, I LOVE seafood. I can't stop eating it and would probably die if my body didn't get any for any period longer than a few days.

That being said, its easy to see why I spent a good amount of time in the veggie section.  I can honestly say that this Shoppers has everything my little veggie heart desired. There were those South American waxy-looking potatoes that I just learned about from a cooking show, all type of Asian veggies, stuff I haven't seen before but now I want to try out and of course, your typical selection of cucumbers, tomatoes and such.

I was impressed by the selection of tofu. All types of favors and types. No tempah, which surprised me. The other Shoppers with hardly any vegetarian section even had that. Also there was a good selection of vegan cheeses and mock meats, too.  

The international aisle was massive.  I was expecting a tiny corner like my neighborhood Shoppers. But oh no, this was a regular aisle.  In the refrigerated section (actually by the veggies, but it seem to fit in this paragraph better), there was pickled Korean veggies - which I love, but  usually cannot find.  Their Asian selection was good, large bags of sushi rice and rice noodles, large bottles of fish sauce and rice vinegar and a good selection of spices, soups and mixes.   There was even another vegetarian section nice sized bags of different flours (whole wheat, soy, rolled oats, etc), canned and boxed soups, rice, soy and almond milk, etc.  Perfect!

For this review, I just glanced over the other sections. The seafood looked good and fresh. I noted that jumbo shrimp was on sale and I cursed the fact that I was so broke.  Also, I didn't notice that 'fishy' smell that usually comes from the seafood section. I have a cold though.  The meat looked fresh, but I didn't really examine that.  The bakery smelled heavenly and stocked a bunch of great stuff.  And the floral section looked colorful and well stocked as well.

I wanted to be the first to review, but I should have known this diner wouldn't be a secret.  I mean, if you are open 24 hours in this part of the woods, then most people will know about you

Now that that's out of the way.  I like this spot.  Its clean and the waffles are excellent.  The prices will not break your wallet either. The service is fast the the pies look good. I always get waffles and I don't think maple syrup and snickers pie would go together well...and my waistline thanks me for that decision.

The only cons are: the place is small. So on a busy day (or night) you may have to wait or sit in a very tight space.  If you are in a group of about 6 or more, then you will back to be spit.  If I remember right we could sit in a long table comfortable and we had 6. so we split 4 and 2 at neighboring tables.  We had a big girl with us, though. So you mileage may vary. For arm room though, I'd recommend spreading among 2 tables.

This is a purely selfish review.  After reading about the other's positive experience with this service. I really want it! But there are no other customers in my area.   I'm writing this so that when people in my area come to my little spot on Yelp, they will see it and sign up!

So far, I've had a good experience with this company. We had pleasant email communications and they seem to try their best to get to me, but unfortunately, I'm out of their range.

So, if you are in the Temple Hills area and you want a nice box of fresh veggies and fruit delivered to  your door every Monday, sign up! Do it for your health! Do it for me!

I'm going to talk about the good stuff first.

I only met one instructor, Master Ford.  He is a really nice guy who will work  with you (in all areas including financial) if you are genuinely interested in learning TaeKwonDo. He  has a love of the martial art and the teaching of it.  He is also very encouraging.

I also got the feeling that this isn't a "McDojang" - a term that means that the owner will award the belt, just because you paid the money for the test.  Its a non-profit place and if I remember right, Master Ford does it because he loves the art.

The dojang is neat, but small.  It seems that it house a decent sized class, though. There is equipment to be used until you are at the correct level to buy it yourself and they are in good shape and everything.

I was only able to see the studio during the evenings, due to my schedule.  Also, I didn't get to meet the other instructors or see any of the other classes.  But from the pictures I saw around the studio, the main focus are kids and younger learners.

Now for the classes. I took about a month worth of classes.  The fees were too good to be true. I think about $150 for the first month + registration + uniform and about $55 a month afterwards.  That seemed like a great deal!  The classes where held twice a week or more or less if you talked to the instructor.

I came into this a fresh newbie. So I didn't know what to expect. I even signed up and attended classes before even viewing any classes (*hinthint* when looking for a martial art class, ALWAYS take a class first or at least view one before signing up)

The class was more philosophy than anything else.  We learned the first form and got to handle some weapons, but we didn't do too many drills or conditioning. I'm not totally sure what goes on in a class, but that is what I was expecting since I wanted to also lose weight on top of learn a martial art.  I was expecting to come home after practice and pass out. That's how hard I wanted to work.

I would recommend this school, because of the dedication of the instructors. I just would warn any interested to try to sample a class or two before jumping in.

I like this place.

I sat on the floor, drank about a gallon of green tea, my legs fell asleep and I had some good crunchy unagi rolls. That's sums it up..really.

But, if you want all the details, here they are:  

We went during a Japanese convention that was held in the nearby by Omni hotel.  I was secretly glad that most of the con-goers were on a McDonald's budget.  But, we saw several of them there in their lovely costumes. Hey, who can go to a Japanese related function and not crave sushi.  We craved it so much, that we went twice in one weekend.

Anyway, the service was nice, but a bit slow.  I think our waitress was the only one for the bottom floor.  She was pleasant and tried her best, though.  I really liked the salad.  I've settled into a favorite sushi place of mine, which serves regular leafy salad with their meals. Here at Tono you get bean sprouts in that yummy  sesame dressing that I love.  I really liked that, plus it was so much easier to pick up with chop sticks.  I wanted yellow tail miso, but they were fresh out. But my friend got mushroom and I got clam miso. Both were really good, with huge chunks of tofu.

The crunchy unagi brought me back a second time.  I don't know what it is about eel, but I love it so much that it haunts me in my dreams (I'm a true foodie, and sometimes it really creeps me out). It had eel in the inside, some avacado and it also had more eel tempura on the outside with some of that sauce.

This is one of the reasons I wished I lived in the city instead of the suburbs of Maryland.  I would love to be in walking distance to places like this. I would also be broke, because I'd never eat at home.

So far, my first impressions are that this place is GREAT. (Actually, this is a second hand experience)  I've been looking for an excuse to go vegan and now I may have it.

I only tasted a bit of a friend's food and I couldn't believe it was all vegan. The tofu cheese cake is enough to make me go vegan and never look back.

More on this place tomorrow, I'm going to sample more ASAP.

Update!
I finally made my way back to ELH.  

I got a cold-side lunch which is four options for about $8 and one of their drinks (apox $3 for a small and $5 for a large). At first it seemed rather expensive, but after I thought about it, I'm used to fast food prices.  I don't mind paying for fresh, specialty food.

Everything looked good.  I had come a little late and all of the spaghetti casserole was gone. (I think that was a favorite and I wanted some!).  The guy behind the counter was nice enough to give me a run down on everything and I mean everything! He also gave me samples on plenty of dishes.

ELH offered  "chicken salad", some type of spicy tofu, and "pepper steak" tofu, along with lots of  tofu salads, veggie salads, and starches like couscous.  There was no problem with me sampling any  and all of those things.  I ended up getting the "chicken salad" the macaroni salad with protein, beets (that were stringy with some type of sweet dressing, yum!), and seaweed.  I also tried this green drink, which was very good, but got very sweet  after I drank a lot of it.

They also offer belly dancing classes. My grandmother took a class a while back, but just told me about it today.  She enjoyed it and recommended it to me.  Its a good work out, she says.  I think they hold them in the space next door, where books, incense and other stuff is being sold.

All and all, I like this place. Its a good place to go to try out vegan dining. So, definately try this place and inject a little healthy-ness into your diet!

I love this hotel.  I wish I were able to stay during a non-convention weekend, since most things like some of the shops were closed and such.

But, this is a great place.  I attended Katsucon, an anime/Japanese culture convention that is always held here.  Even though the hotel was jam packed with anime lovers, lounging in the various hallways, eating pizza and carryout, being generally loud and having fun, the staff was allways attentive, nice and helpful.  

I had made a mistake during booking my reservations. I booked one king, thinking I would get 2 king beds. How? I'm not totally sure. But, the Ahmed (Yea, I remembered your name! He was great), made sure that I was able to get the double that I wanted. Checking in and out were quick and easy, housekeeping was friendly and I even got free wifi and a paper outside my door in the mornings. :)

The hotel is beautiful. This year weather was pretty nice, so I found myself outside in the courtyard taking pictures of people in their customs.  I didn't go out last year since it was cold. But, man, that place is huge and beautiful! Lovely landscaping and a few gazebos really impressed me.  At night the trees that line the walkways are lit. I'm not sure if they just forgot the X-mas lights or what, but it still was pretty.  I promised myself that next year, I will come back to take more pictures. Or even have a romantic dinner out there.

All in all, I give the Omni a 5/5. I wish I could give 10.