George D.'s Profile

This review is long overdue.  I was THAT guy at your typical 24 hour fitness gym.  The one that would be there for 2 hours working out one muscle group a day then hitting the treadmill for a little cardio.  While my upper body strength was alright, I was pretty much just average everywhere else.  I stayed away from workouts I knew I should be doing like squats, deadlifts and push presses because I'd read how badly you could injure yourself if you didn't have anyone watching you and coaching you properly.  I experimented on my own with routines I picked up from youtube, p90x and blog postings here and there.  Even picked up a book called Training for Warriors to get more workout ideas.  But I didn't really get anywhere.  I mean, I kept myself from blowing up into a 300lb blob... but fitness wise I wasn't anything to run home to tell your mom about.

After training myself for a ToughMudder last year I lost steam working out.  LAX Crossfit opened up just in the knick of time and helped me re-ignite that fire I had to push myself just a bit harder every day physically.  The facility itself is awesome and it's hard to ignore the giant yellow beast in the middle that functions as a group pull up cage and power cage for your squats/lifts.  The sight of the yellow cage alone when you walk in will breed an unusual feeling of both fear and anticipation for what's to come.  I'm a firm believer that if you're not even a LITTLE afraid of your workout, chances are you're not pushing yourself enough.  Each day I walk in I am almost literally shitting bricks when I look for the WOD (Workout of the Day).  After giving it my all, I go home feeling awesome.  Well, more awesome.

Not only is the facility superb, but the training environment is amazing as well.  You're encouraged to ask questions if something doesn't make sense and the guys are great about making sure you understand the movements in each routine before doing them.  Due to the friendly atmosphere there, EVERYONE you work out with is now your gym partner.  There's that instant connection you get with people slinging the same blood in the same mud.  Everyone has their bad days, but it's safe to say that compared to other "gyms" the percentage of people that push themselves to the edge and consistently try to break their own walls down with their face is higher at a facility of this caliber.  Trainers included because the guys take turns jumping in to get their WODs done too!!  It's also common to see people who have finished their WODs staying for an extra 30 minutes or so to work on something: kipping pullups, backsquats, double unders.  You name it, people are trying to perfect it.  It's great being around people constantly trying to improve themselves!

A lot of people I've spoken to about Crossfit jokingly call it "cult like".  I can understand why some people would feel that way.  Everyone that I know who came in and genuinely gave it a shot LOVES it.  You can't beat the awesomeness.  Awesome facility, awesome trainers, and awesome members.  

I jumped into crossfitting for the first time about 3 months ago with the first fundamentals class.  Their fundamentals class is a great way to get introduced to the basic movements and philosophy behind crossfitting.  There's nothing more satisfying than seeing how much you improve in those two weeks alone!  They also have Saturday morning classes you can take for a spin if you're ambitious enough to wake up early.  It's an awesome way to start your weekend.

I tell you, family businesses can be THE best.

My cousin and I were rollin down the street lookin for enough pizza to feed our clan plus a ton of other family friends.  Being from LA, I yelped all the neighboring pizza joints - all closed.  WTFBBQ, it's only 10pm!  Why do pizza joints in SD close so early?  Do people not eat pizza after 9?  Do San Diegans turn into gremlins if they eat pizza after a certain hour?  Sheesh.

I'm not really sure if they really are the Bambino's or if that's just the business name but around 10:15 I called up the family there and they answered!  Huzzah!!  I asked if I could put in a fairly large order so close to closing (they closed at 10:30) - and they said YES!!  How awesome are they?  The girl answering the phone was so pleasant sounding with her cute voice and helpful too!

"About how many people do you need to feed?" she asked.

"Uh.. a lot," I reply, obviously sucking at being more specific.  "To tell you the truth, we just came back from a funeral viewing and there's an ass-ton of hungry relatives and friends back at the house that I'd like to take care of."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss," she said and she really did sound sincere.  After a bit of a pause, "We have our 28" pizza, that should be enough to feed 8-10 people?"

I look at my cousin and ask if 28" pizzas would do the trick.  Again I utter the words that always land me into ridiculously comical situations, "Sure why not?  Let's try it," I reply, "I'll take 5."

Bear in mind that my cousin and I were ridiculously tired and pretty emotionally drained so neither of us equated the fact that 28" is larger than most rappers' SUV rims, not to mention larger than ANY pizza we had ever seen.  So as soon as we walked into their dining area and saw the pizza boxes, the first thing we said almost simultaneously was "Oh shit."

"We're gonna have to empty out your trunk," I say to her, also trying to imagine how to properly bungee cord some of the pizza boxes to the roof of her corolla without the wind blowing the corolla over.

"I don't know if it'll even fit!" she replies.  

Due to the truly perplexing nature of our problem I resisted the obvious "That's what they all say" joke that was itching to see the light of day.  And because, well... she's my cousin you freak.  I was worried we'd have to call one of the other cousins with a truck to come by and help us out but it turns out that all 5 of the delicious pies fit - just barely - in the trunk.  

Now, I'm a super huge fan of excellent customer service.  Particularly customer service that goes the extra mile.  THIS family owned joint goes that extra mile.  They'll take care of you from the moment you give them a call, to when they hand you your order.  Long story short, I love this place, I'm thankful they were able to help us out in a pinch and I plan on going back whenever I'm in San Diego.  The look on our families' faces as we popped down the gigantic boxes was well worth it too.  "WHAT?  There're 3 MORE outside?"

If you wanna amaze someone with a huge ass pizza that tastes just as good as it looks - get a 28"er from here.  Totally worth it.

I just destroyed my toilet.  A plumber's worst nightmare exploded free of my buttcheeks in an asstastic explosion.  You think I jest, but I most certainly do not.  My stomach was rumbling the whole car ride home and didn't stop till the thunder god himself rolled out of my sphincter.

Perhaps I should rewind.  Some friends and I had just wrapped up a decent sushi dinner over at Kazuyo around the corner.  During dinner, my buddy suggests we check out Pink's since it's just around the corner AND he didn't see much of a line there when he drove by.  So we stopped by.  Then I uttered the words that keep getting me in trouble, "why not?  let's try it!"

The line wasn't long, but no line is worth the wait.  I got the Shrek dog.  10" of shit shaped weiner, covered in guacamole and tomatoes.  The hot dog was cold, fries cold and onion rings were cold.  After that long wait I expected my food to have at least been warm!  I felt sorry for the sushi I had consumed earlier, forcing such crap to accompany them down my digestive track.

Perhaps you need to be stumbling out of a bar/club late in the evening drunk out of your senses to really appreciate this joint.  Or maybe have a palette comparable to that of an anteater.

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Edit (The day after) : #$%#$%@# !! #$%#!!!!  I'm still gassy from the damn food I ate!!  Arghhh!!  *raising fist in indignation*

There are few things I would willingly wait in a long ass line for:  IronMan 2, Bottled Jessica Alba Bathwater, and the chance to throw a pie at Sarah Palin.  Sorry Kogi, you don't make that very short list.

Don't get me wrong, I love that the tacos don't require me to put a mortgage on my left nut.  The tacos and burritos are really quite savory and tasty.  Having to wait in a long line just kills it for me though.

I'll hop on over when I'm working away at a nearby cafe and see the truck parked outside with what looks to be a 5 minute line but that's the extent of my patience.  So three stars.  I do believe they deserve some major credit though for utilizing twitter in such an awesome way.  One extra star for techie awesomeness. *wink*

I've intended to write this review for a while now but I've been distracted with the other parts of my life that don't suck.  Which the food here does.

Regardless, time matters not with this review because once you've shoveled crap into your mouth - you don't forget.  At least, I don't.  

I will never forgive Tofu-ya for being closed that fateful day.  Walking down Sawtelle, my gf and I were taking in our choices and we noticed that Tofu Villa was finally open.  Then came the moment I uttered those fateful words that seal the fate of 98% of all horror movie couples, "why not?  let's try it!"

True, they give you a lot of banchan - but a pile of crap is still a pile of crap no matter how many bowls you put it in.  A starving bunny from Ethiopia probably would have gagged at the sight of the salad alone.  The word "Fresh" seems to be a foreign concept here.

The soontofu wasn't anything to write home about, and chewing my short ribs was like gnawing on rubber.

I can't believe I wasn't paid to partake in this episode of Fear Factor.  Definitely not coming back here again.  I wish the "Good for" section of this review had a checkbox for "NOTHING".

Of all the places near me, I frequent this establishment most.  I love the food here, and the service is great.  

I almost ALWAYS order the chirashi bowl and an extra order of hamachi sashimi.  i LOVE hamachi sashimi...  I suggest you skip the sashimi dinner order and go straight for the chirashi, seems like you get more sashimi with the chirashi bowl.  I also love having the shrimp shumai, man I don't even know what else to recommend... the best thing is, you can go crazy and sample something different everytime you visit because the prices are really reasonable.  

They most definitely do not hold your left nut hostage.

i'm always wary of buffets, i try to stay away from them normally.  however, when surrounding yourself with idiots, some of that idiocy WILL rub off on you  - as is evident from my buddy's trip the other weekend.

since my buddy made the effort to come down from the bay area to harass me with his smelly prescence.  i figured i'd show him the promenade area in santa monica.  when we were relatively hungry, we walked by Lighthouse, and... despite my reservations i listened to him when he said "this'll be FINE".  stupid people are rarely right, and boy did that rule apply with him.  

the "fresh" crab legs were rubbery and tasted like they were caught last week and kept outside cause the fridge was overflowing from the previous week's leftovers.  they started putting things away while we were still coming up for food too!  ugh.  at least stay open until the hours you have posted!

my friend didn't seem to mind too much.  no surprise there though, the guy's got about as much taste as a headless horseman.

a buddy of mine came to visit the other weekend and since i'm too nice to say no to the guy (he has no other friends), i had to figure out what to do to entertain him for the weekend.  one of my ideas was to rent one of those segways you can see zipping up and down the santa monica beachwalk towards venice.

man was that a great idea!  $75 for two hours is TOTALLY worth trying at least once.  we headed over to venice first, but my buddy's segway battery started draining fast.  so we headed back to get one with a fresh battery.

so with the fresh battery in tow we rode around checking out the awesome houses nearby that my buddy will never be able to set foot in unless they hire him to do dishes and because... well.  he's retarded.

i would totally recommend renting a segway to anyone.  you gotta try it at least once!  unless you're poor... like the douche that told his son "look, cheaters!" when we rode by.  haters.  pfft.

i came here with my buddy visiting from out of town, my gf and her mom.  like i've said in my previous reviews - totally don't get the yogurt craze.  i mean, it's not too bad.  i had mochi and kiwi on mine that night, and it was great... i just don't know about it being upwards of $4 great.  

my gf insisted on paying because she felt sorry for my mongoloid looking hunchbacked buddy who just found out he had to get his left nut amputated.  that's why i dig her.  cause she's got a bleeding heart for every basket case loser.

i don't know what Elizabeth S is smoking.  

i put off servicing my car despite the shiftlock release problems i was having because i didn't know a reliable mechanic in the santa monica area.  one morning, my engine became stubborn about turning over, so while i was driving i surfed the web and quickly scanned reviews for nearby autoshops.

i called the guys over at Kondo Motors after looking over the reviews on yelp.  no way was i gonna take my car to the Santa Monica dealership after all the horror stories i read about it.

when i got there the guys were really friendly and listened to me while i described the problems i was having with my shift release.  they gave it a quick look and fixed it right there.  the other 5 star reviews are right on.  these guys are awesome, really friendly and explain exactly what they're doing to your car to you.

i'm definitely going to be a repeat customer and recommending them to my other friends.