Lois "Ashtangi" L.'s Profile

We stayed here the week of Christmas and were treated great. Carol at the front desk was over the top nice and helpful.

We requested a refrigerator when we checked in and by the time we brought our suitcases to our room, she was in there installing the refrigerator and a microwave! She also brought a humidifier from her home to let us use because Hampton Inn didn't provide them! Talk about above and beyond the call of duty. Carol should be running this place.

Other than that, basic needs were met -- comfy bed, adequate breakfast options (unless you want organic), free wi-fi, adequate business center (for brief use, not staying here as your home office...the connection is slow). Room was clean and not smokey smelling.

My wish is that Hampton Inn would provide organic breakfasts (oatmeal with not salt or sugar added -- let people add them separately if they want); local/organic eggs; local/organic fruit; and water for tea that doesn't taste like it was in an urn that was also used for coffee...come up with that and I'll give them 5 stars ;-)

Barrrington plaza is notorious for stealing tenant's security deposits and stole $200 of my deposit. They tried to steal more, but after 3 months of going back and forth, I got most of it back. The cleaning fees that are outlined in your lease rental agreement are fraudlent - they are about 50% less than the actual charges that you will incur. It would be cheaper for you to hire a cleaner  yourself than pay them $300 to clean the studio and shampoo the rugs for a 500 square foot studio apartment. I have no pets, don't smoke and don't wear shoes in the house...how dirty could this place be that they needed to pay $300 to clean it??

I have never had a security deposit withheld - I leave places as i found them. May the laws of the karma take 10x the amount that Barrington Plaza stole from me from each and every employee that was involved in this theft. I'm glad to be out of that energy.

I've been walking by their $25 Foot Massage sign for months now and finally decided to check this place out...So glad that I did.

The place was beautiful inside and felt like a spa, not like the typical $25 massage places in LA...the waiting room has comfy leather couches and a beautiful giant aquarium with coy fish gracefully swimming in the water. The massage area is clean with soft music and a water feature that adds to the tranquility. It is peaceful inside and you cannot hear the traffic on Wilshire - it's like you have left LA for an hour.

Cyndi, the owner was really nice. When I was booking my massage I requested several areas of focus which she translated to Michael my masseuse. He followed her instructions perfectly. Michael's touch was a little light in comparison to other reflexology I have had, but his results were great - deep relaxation. After the massage they give me a bottle of water which was nice so I remembered to drink.

I have had lots of these $25 massages in LA. This was a great experience.

Cristian is a great dancer and salsa instructor who has built a community of salsa dancers on the west side. There is a consistency to the students who show up for his classes and many students are monthly pass holders. It is a very social and supportive group. I have met lots of people in class who I later dance with at the clubs so we can practice what we learned in class; it feels less intimidating if you can practice with someone you know.

If you have never done salsa dancing, have no fear. Cristian and Alicia (his capable assistant), will make sure you are able to follow the class and will work with you individually if necessary.

The Level I classes are designed to give you a solid foundation. He generally focuses on footwork (but occasionally the class will do partner work).  The sequencing is challenging with variations each class so you are always learning something new. Alicia will typically give the ladies styling techniques to incorporate into the footwork patterns.  She is extremely patient and breaks the steps down until everyone gets them. At first, I was disappointed that we were not doing partner work. But after a couple months of taking lessons, I now see the benefit to his approach; the footwork patterns will (eventually) translate onto the dance floor to help me develop a more unique style.

The level 2 classes involve footwork (faster and more complex) plus partnering. He provides great detail to the men about how to treat the lady and proper hand position for a lead that is easy to understand and follow.  I love dancing with guys who have trained with Cristian...they are easy to follow, have good musicality and have really cool dance moves.

Josie will get you on the dance floor in no time with her fun classes. If you are a total beginner or think you have two left feet, have no fear. Josie has years of experience and patience. Josie knows you want to get dancing and she provides fast results in her fun-filled class.

For the more seasoned dancers, Josie will teach you new moves to show off in the clubs.  I take cha cha, bachata and salsa in her East LA studio on Saturdays.

She also offers semi-private lessons in her long beach studio which are amazing. I did them for a month, but the LA traffic was more than I could handle as I was commuting from the west side.

Josie is a treasure to the Los Angeles dance community. Come check out these classes!

Been using the morningstar data base of mutual funds since 1996 to help analyze funds and make investment decisions. It's the only comprehensive source for this type of information. So they should get 5 stars for that right? wrong. Their query functions are cumbersome and since 1996, they have expanded into so many other areas (none of which I need or want), that their basic database set has been left to languish.

To make matters worse, I am bombarded with emails, snail mails, and some phone calls to get me to buy their other products. I can't "opt out" of the emails because then I won't get my notification telling me when the online updates are available for my database. How lame?!

I've called throughout the years to request that they stop soliciting me, but they say "sorry. we can't. All or none." So I will stay with them until someone makes anothe product and will happily say good riddance to this non-customer friendly company as soon as one arrives.

Morningstar = Lame.

All style, no substance. The exterior is stylish and chic, as are the rooms. However, the service is sub-bar (certainly not worth the $300 a night I paid to lodge myself and my auto - valet @$35/nite); the rooms are not designed for someone who is staying there more than a few hours (or crashing after spending the night partying at their night club).

If you want a bureau, a tub, a nice shower, attentive service, and a good night's sleep, you should look elsewhere. If you are looking for a hipster hotel where the staff give you attitude, the rooms are not functional and you like to stay up until 2am listening to the pulsating sound of the hotel night club then this is your place!

Here's a summary: Natasha checks me in on Saturday ~4pm + brings me to my room;it's gorgeous. She says 'call her if there is anything that I need'. She forgets to tell me a few things about the hotel (i.e., complimentary pastries in the lobby...and the welcome cocktail that is advertised on their website) . I begin to unpack and notice that there was no bureau. I call the front desk+get Natasha. I inquire if there is a bureau hidden somewhere to which she replied "No. We have had a lot of requests for that"....hmmm....I'm wondering if it ever occurred to her that when customers keep asking for a basic item that your hotel does not have, that you need to make a change to the room? I'm used to staying at the Marriot and Hilton, so I am suprised at her ambivalent response. I explained that I would be here for 3 nights and would like to unpack and asked if there was something she could do. She said she would call me back. A few minutes later she calls back and with attitude she says, "You can either pay for an upgrade to have a room with a bureau, or we can see if there is an ottoman with drawers available that we could move to your room and put at the foot of your bed. But your room is very small and the ottoman would take up a lot of space and potentially be a fire hazard. And I don't even know if an ottoman is available."  Is this their idea of 5-star customer service? If you want to unpack it costs extra otherwise they'll cram a piece of furniture in the room so as to create a safety hazard? My response was that I was not going to pay for an upgrade and if she cannot locate a bureau, she should move me to a room that has a bureau in it--which is a standard feature of a hotel room and shouldn't cost more. She said she would try to locate an ottoman. 20 minutes later the ottoman arrives and I direct the delivery person to squeeze it in front of the window next to the bed so I still have room to walk around the front of the bed and get to the desk area. It's a workable solution and I'm content, but still blown away by the "attitude" I got from Natasha.

Next, I realize that my cell phone battery is dying...but the charger is in my laptop case...which is in my car with the valet. So I walk down to the valet and ask him if he can get my laptop out of the trunk of my car. Sure thing. They were a little busy and said they would send it up. An hour later, still no laptop. My phone battery is now dead and I'm unable to make plans for the evening. So I go downstairs to the valet. They said they sent someone upstairs to my room and that I should go up there now because he was waiting at the door for me. So I go to my room, but  no one is there waiting for me. I wait another 15 minutes. Then I call the valet. They say the have my laptop down at the valet station. They said they got confused. So I go downstairs to pick up my laptop - this staff is lame. I've spent the first couple hours of my arrival at the hotel trying to deal with incompetent staff, when what I really wanted to be doing was lounging by the pool.

So I decide that I'll take a hot bath and relax. That's when I realize there is no tub. Bummer.  Well, I guess I'll just take a shower and get ready to go out. The shower is very cool looking. A sleek hand-held rod shaped unit. Unfortunately, this was not highly functional. It's inconvenient to wash your hair when you have to hold the shower in your other hand. If you put the shower on the resting space, then it shoots water directly at your body at a 90degree angle...which happened to shoot directly into my face. So I adjusted the height higher (it couldn't go any lower),  but then it went over my head and hit the wall behind me...it was kind of drafty due to the design of the shower door which let a lot of air in...and the water seeps out and floods the floor of the bathroom. Who designed this?
Saturday night I went out returned at midnight expecting to crash.  But my room (#302) was filled with the pulsing sounds of the hotel night club. This went on until 1:30am; The hotel didn't quiet down until 2am.
Let's recap: A hotel with no bureau, a lousy shower, no sleeping allowed before 2am on a Saturday night and incompetent service that costs $300 a night. But is looks nice ;-)

If I were rating the sushi chefs for cuteness, the place would get a 4+...however, since I am only focusing on the quality of the food, the place gets 2 star since the food was mediocre at best.

I love sushi and have experienced amazing sushi prepared by master sushi chefs. I am not into cream cheese with my fish, preferring more traditional preparations. A great sushi chef will prepare the food so as to balance the tastes (sweet, sour, salty, spicy, etc) and have artful presentation ...all of your senses should be subtly and pleasantly affected. Ra is more like fast food sushi.

I went tonight (Monday) and ordered items from the happy hour menu -- kaisen ceviche (yuk. tiny shrimp, iceberg lettuce, a scallop that they cut into pieces and some avocados served on top of a giant 5" square greasy wonton...it was heavy and bland); Spicy tuna roll (this was OK...nicely spiced); Yellowtail sushi (not bad); Garlic citrus yellowtail (yellowtail sashimi smothered in a garlic citrus sauce and topped withsome sprouts; it the sauce had been lightly "drizzled" on top, it would have been a nice dish...instead, it overpowered everything).

The fish was reasonably fresh, but not "off the boat" fresh.

I also orderd green tea and miso soup (not on the happy hour menu).

Total bill was $27.73 including the tip. I would have been totally bummed if i paid full price for this mediocre food.

yummm! I dropped in for dessert tonight - ordered the warm apple tart with creme fraiche ice cream and a cup of lavendar honey tea. Delish :-)

Service was fast and friendly.

This company is the BEST and their prescription goggle inserts are AMAZING!!!

I am an avid skier and up until recently, wore contacts. I am no longer able to wear contact and cannot have Laser eye surgery so I was looking for an alternative to "goggles over glasses".

I had a ski trip in 4 days and called http://SportRx.com. Rob in customer service personally handled my order to make sure it was done quickly and accurately. I wanted to use my existing goggles (rather than purchase a new pair from them) so I overnighted my goggles and prescription to them and they custom fitted an insert and overnighted them back. I didn't have time to get the anti fog coating (this takes ~week and costs $60) and I was bummed when I tried on the goggles in my house and the inserts fogged up. So I called up Rob and he said, 'no problem. Get some "cat crap" anti fog cream'. I purchased "cat crap" at REI and it did the trick. Three days of cold and wind at Mammoth Mountain and only occasional fogging on the gondola...which immediately cleared when I hit the slopes. YAY!!!!

Their detailed refund policy is available on their website and is fair and generous. Essentially, Rob said I could send back the prescription inserts and exchange for a replacement insert with the fog coating ($60) or if I was unhappy with the inserts I could simply return them for a full refund. They stand behind their product and are courteous and helpful. Customer service is top notch. This is the best alternative to wearing goggles over glasses while skiing!