Chris "The FoodTrucker" L.'s Profile

4.5 Stars

Great place for lunch. big portions, quality ingredients, and mighty tasty!

I love the pho - broth has a nice flavor and if you add the veggie option, you get lots of vegetables. Very filling, even when I get the 'normal' bowl but you can go big with the larger bowl too.

The rice plates come with a lot of meat and have a lot of flavor.

Quick friendly service which is great especially during lunch hour.

Lots of parking.

Quick, personal service.
Knowledgeable staff.

Dr. Truong makes you feel comfortable and is very thorough.

Most of my stuff (exam and contacts) is covered under VSP insurance - so I don't know how their prices are.

Nice selection of frames too. Convenient parking.

Grab lunch next door at San Carlo Italian Deli (good subs).

Great place to spend time on a pretty beach, go in the water, and frolic with your dog!

It's a really huge area (way bigger than Long Beach's dog beach) and very swimmable for both you and Fido.

Parking can be a little difficult on weekends and pretty days. Just wait in the line with your car and eventually you'll get to the front and snag the next available spot. Parking rates are reasonable too (I think it was $1.50 an hour or something).

Beach is clean, most owners clean up after their pooches and there are doggy bag stations near the walking areas (not on the beach itself though).

What a great way to spend the day!

Needed some big holes in my drywall patched up.
Called them up, and they sent Michael.
Michael got held up a bit at his previous job but called me to let me know his time frame.
He showed up, assessed the work to be done and gave me an estimate. I had to run out and when I came back the walls were patched up and smooth just like Michael said they'd be. Great job and decent price - about $150 for one giant 6x6 hole and one 5x5 hole with a valve box in the middle. Can't even tell that there were holes before.

I've lived here for 2 years and been through 2 changes in management.
And yes, this place was run down with a management company that didn't care. The former owner went bankrupt and the property languished in that in-between mode of being owned by a bank who is waiting for someone to buy it. So the former management company was paid to stay on and manage the property through the whole process. Well, obviously they didn't give a shit and weren't going to invest anymore time or money to fix anything. They were probably just operating as lean as possible to handle the day-to-day stuff. So if they were bad before, they were worse when they had to oversee it when no one cared anymore.

BRE took over (last year I think) and even though they had a slow start, you can see changes starting to take effect now (now being mid-2011). Yes, it has taken months for things to start happening but they are happening (finally).
There are:
New carpets, paint, and lighting in the hallways and stairways.
A completely remodeled community area with pool table, kitchenette, wi-fi, and conference areas.
New secure dog run.
New security company.
Remodeled front lobby.
New bike storage area.
New locks on all doors (with new keys issued).
Community parties (with free food) hosted by management.

It looks like BRE really wants to make this a flagship property for them. Smart because it's in a prime area and the property itself has so many amenities. They are dumping some pretty shiny pennies into this place to make their initial investment worth it.

Okay, but how is the complex?
Well, I think it's pretty nice. There are 2 pools, 3 jacuzzis, free fitness classes, a huge gym, sun decks, BBQs, saunas. It's like living at a resort honestly. The gym has all newer weight machines and ellipticals/treadmills - it is on the level of Bally's or 24 Hour, just smaller. Think about how convenient it is to come home, change, and walk 5 minutes to the gym. And when you're done, you walk back to your apartment. No worries about parking or driving or traffic.

How are the units?
I lived in a 1 bedroom. It's a decent size, all my huge furniture fit. Things like club chairs, a 9 foot L-shaped couch, coffee table, side tables, wine cabinet, bookcases, and a dining table all fit in the main space. In the bedroom, I fit a queen bed with frame and 2 nightstands and 6 drawer chest. Honestly, the space may sound small at a little under 800 square feet but it eats up your large furniture with room for more. The only thing that was lacking was closet space. Yes, there is a walk-in closet but the one I had only had 2 short walls where you could put/hang stuff. There is no coat/shoe closet. The kitchen looks big but for some reason I couldn't easily access my stuff. I always had to move something to get at something else. And my balcony was tiny - but that's the architect's fault for putting form over functionality.
Bathroom was nice and big. Two people can get ready at the same time. And the building feels solidly built. I thought the apartment next to mine was empty and was surprised when I saw someone coming out of it one day. I never heard them.

I never had a problem with security or break-ins in the garage. My wife and I have never felt unsafe there. Oh wait, I did have one package taken from my front door. And I get a lot of packages so one going missing out of 30 isn't too bad. Usually, the front desk will sign for you and hold it but for whatever reason, the delivery guy decided to walk all the way to my unit to leave the package at my door. I have a feeling it was some dumb kids that live in the building.

Yes, one of the elevators broke and took a  while to repair. It's probably due more to the previous management not doing any maintenance on it. We learned to take the newly cleaned stairs and only take the elevators when we have to carry something. So in all, the same elevator broke 4 times while we lived there.

Oh yeah. There is a sewer/trash fee (handled by ISTA) that every unit has to pay. The average is about $40 per month on top of the utilities (DWP). This charge was a surprise for us since no one told us about it.

I never had a problem with management. They are responsive and do what they say they'll do. And maintenance is good too. We clogged the kitchen drain and they were there within an hour to fix it.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones but I enjoyed living at Aqua.

I wanted to have a good experience after reading all the 5 star reviews. Especially since friend Gigi had such a good one.
Unfortunately it didn't happen for me.

I needed a water line run from one side of my kitchen to the other (a distance of about 6-8 feet, in the crawl space under the house) for my refrigerator. I got a couple of quotes, all around $150-$175.

Hotline came in at $160 plus all the 5 star reviews. How could I resist?

Sergio showed up early and was very polite.
He talked about the water line saying that it was $175 (already higher than the price quoted over the phone). And then came the up-sell. If I want it to last, I'd need copper. Plus, I'd need the valve box in the wall (as opposed to exposed tubing coming up through the floor). How much? $375. Sucker that I was, I agreed. I asked about the Yelp discount and Sergio was hesitant because it was such a 'good price' but said he'd talk to his boss. Boss agreed and cut the price to $338. I don't know if they teach this in The School of Up-Selling but Sergio kept repeating that I was getting a 'good price'.

Sergio left to get some materials. Came back with a power saw and started cutting my wall. I asked him about patching and he said that he'd patch the wall with something that was pink but would turn white when dry. Once the hole in the wall was cut, he started drilling through the floor. He left to get a different drill bit. I never saw him again.

I left the house open for him while I went to run some errands.

A couple of hours later, Sergio called me and left a message saying that he completed the job and also found a leak in the drain line under the kitchen sink.

I came home excited to see the work only to find a SECOND hole in a different wall and dust EVERYWHERE. The line was run, valve box installed, with two holes in my walls and no patching.  Here's a pic but note that my wife cleaned it up all nice before I was able to take a pic: http://www.yelp.com/bi...

I called them up the next day, talked to someone (I think it was Jed), and asked him about the mess. He had Sergio call me and he explained that  there'd be no wall patching because I got such a 'good price'. I asked him about the dust and he said he cleaned up as best as he could (also leaving dust/dirt all over my bathroom) but he did not have a vacuum cleaner. Don't most plumbers carry a vac in their vans? Well I guess not this one. He apologized and yes, repeated many times the fact that I got a 'good price'.

I asked him to explain about the other leak he found and he did and  quoted $675 but then brought it down to $650 for the job, another 'good price'.

Luckily for me, the leak in the drain pipe was covered under warranty. The plumber sent by the warranty company checked out the leak and also commented on the line that Sergio did. He said that the welding on the copper was good but he didn't hang the pipes properly. He literally propped part of them up with a rock. I'm no plumber but that  just sounds wrong, doesn't it?
I asked this other plumber how much they would have charged for the line. Get this. He said $95. $95????!!!! My 'good price' was $338!!!! Well,  he could tell by my reaction that I wasn't happy and he tried to make me feel better by saying, "At least he found the leak." Yeah, he found the leak in my wallet.
Oh yeah, and another thing, the other plumbing company charged (to the warranty company) only $370 to fix the leak (compared to the 'good price' of $650). Show owner comment »

One of my favorite neighborhood standbys.
It's nice to have a place that you can go to where you're never disappointed. And it's a neighborhood institution that is locally owned. There's a neat story behind how the owners met. There's an article on one of the walls with their story.

You start with a base - sweet cream or tart yogurt - and add mix-ins such as fruit, things like gummy bears, cookies.
They also have ice creams, flavored frozen yogurt, and sandwiches.

I like to get a blueberry cheesecake - which has sweet cream base, cream cheese, blueberries, and graham crackers. You can have them throw in some M&Ms if you want more crunchiness. But I think anything here would be good. The sky's the limit. Get creative!

I took my wife here when we were first dating and I think it helped up my coolness level with her.

Can I say I already hate working with this company and they haven't even done any work yet?

I have to use them because of a home warranty from First American Home Buyers.

They called me to make an appointment. Good.

The guy showed up 20 minutes early. On a Saturday. Good.

He was too big to fit in one area under the house to get a good look at the problem. At least he tried. Good.

He said he'd tell his office the options: send a smaller guy, or go through on a different side, cutting pipes along the way. He said I'd hear from the office on Monday. I never heard from them. Bad.

I waited until Tuesday to call them. Was immediately put on hold (you know where they say, "Hello, thank you for calling _____, please hold"). I waited for 20 minutes, hung up, called back and got someone right away. Bad.

They said they would talk to their plumber who is assigned to the job and he will call me back. Haven't heard from him. It's been 2 days. Bad.

I am not looking forward to basically stalking this company until the job is finished.

Like another Yelper said, this company must get all its jobs through the warranty company so they've become lazy.

Nice little tiki bar. Tiki cups. Tiki masks on the wall. Flaming tiki drinks with paper umbrellas. Yeah, just enough tiki-ness for tiki enthusiasts.

No food, just drinks, but they let you bring in outside food. Lots of great little restaurants in the neighborhood.

Bartenders know the regulars by name. That's pretty cool.

The jukebox plays old school NIN, Sublime, and James Brown.
There are a couple of pool tables.
Mellow crowd.
Free street parking and is in downtown El Segundo, which is really quaint.

To really get in the tiki spirit, try one of the volcano drinks in a huge tiki bowl with a flaming center and foot long straws and paper umbrellas. Try not to let the umbrellas catch fire.

Great room with nice modern touches. The bed was super comfy and the bathroom had a great big shower. Nice wood accents in the room including a room divider (between the bed and couch) that had a nifty rotating TV so you can switch it to face the bed or the couch. Hint: there is a message on the back of the TV rotator that you can read from the mirror over the headboard (since the letters are backward). Nice views too and windows that actually open.
The front desk was super friendly and eager to help.

Make sure to get your parking ticket stamped. The parking structure is next to the hotel across one of the small side streets.

The highlight was the rooftop pool and bar. Nice strong cocktails and an awesome view of the water and downtown buildings. Not a bad way to spend the day. It's cozy and feels exclusive. If you get there early enough, you can snag a cabana. If not, there are tables and chairs too. They have a happy hour up there so make sure to check it out. The hotel is within walking distance of downtown and all its restaurants and bars too.