Jason "Waste of Space" G.'s Profile

I  used to buy from their catalog.  Then they went electronic and I purchased via their website.  Now I find there is an actual store front right there in Falls Church.  Some of the highest quality and freshed spices you can find anywhere in the US, all sourced from places around the world.  Outstanding prices too.  If you continue to buy spices at the wholefoods or giant, you are severely missing out.

I know this is a Yelper favorite, but in the Pre-80s night dancing Churchkey event, I'll say my experience was much less than ideal. I ordered a "prawn club" which was not a club, had shrimp not prawn. Need I say more? The panini style sand-witch had shrimp, avocado, and bacon on it. How can you loose right? Well the shrimp were ok, the avocado was a little soft, but I can cope with that. But then the bacon was very soft. So basically the mid-firmness of the shrimp, the softness of the avocado, and the soft bacon made for a very unappealing mess. Oh, and for the "club" part, it wasn't anything like a club, since it just had one layer of this mush. The impression of many of my fellow yelpers on their food, which is the same as I had on mine, is that the food had been sitting around for a while. Not really what you are looking for in a place that is a "gastropub" even though I think they are avoiding use of that term because its likely deemed to be to trendy. Odd at a place that is attempting to be trendy, without actually meeting the criteria of what makes something trendy, in all the positive ways. Its possible they misfired this one time, but they misfired bigtime.

I have now gotten the tacos.  The pollo is ok, but the beef and lengua is whats up!!!!  Seriously awesome.

This should have been four stars, but there was a crazy bunch of scenarios that happened when I shopped the store next door, which shouldnt impact the food stars, but it sort of does since its all part of the same shop.  Anyway, the Lamb kabob was pretty decent, some pieces were dried out, some where good, but all the acompanyments were awesome and well prepared.  The pickled radishes and cucumbers were awesome, the rice was well spiced, the little semi raw marinated onions with sumac were great with the kabob, the sauce with it was good, and the grilled veggies were a good compliment to it all.  If you are getting the platter, you do NOT need an appetizer.  However, that did not stop Mike T. and I from ordering it.  They were out of the normal humus with pine nuts (OUT OF PINENUTS?!!??!) but they offered to substitute hummus with meat?  Who heard of that before, not this guy, but we got it and it was crazy awesome, meat juices mixed in with the meat, on top of really good hummus.  So ok, that was all good, now begins the crazyness.

So while going next door to pay, and get some turkish delight, they were sweeping up the floor.  And trying to sweep me up too.  They were kind of sweeping like right onto me.  I gave them a nasty look, but the dude kept on sweeping kinda onto me and towards me, like in a shoo, get out gesture almost.  I finally found said turkish delight, and went to pay, and found myself semi-interrupting a very lengthy discussion about receipts and sales.  It was all in Arabic, which I dont understand, but let me tell you, I do understand that it went on for nearly 4 minutes as I stood there, literally waving my box of sweets around saying I want to pay.  It was so surreal that if my Mike hadn't been there I would have thought I was totally insane.  If that wasnt weird enough, a delivery guy from the local hallal delivery truck was dropping off an entire skinned animal and was having a heated discussion with the butcher there about how he couldnt use it because it was a goat, not a lamb.  The butcher was pointing out to the delivery guy what the difference was, as he touched the skull and stuff right around the eye that was staring right at me across the counter.  Its a bucher shop, so that was actually kind of cool, but tie that into the sweeping onto me and the ignoring of my attempts to pay, and it was kind of crazy.  For good measure, on the way out, yet a different guy kept sweeping crap onto my feet as I went out the door.  So 4 stars for the food, but one star for the asshats running the store (where I had a previously very good experience a few years ago.)

I am going to have to update my review here.  NOT based on Tina R.s review, although we did eat here together.  The last three times I have been here its slid steadily down hill, so I feel like a jilted lover.  The pork used to be perfectly cooked, the food much fresher.  But the last two times (time before didnt order the pork) the food was just sorta eh.  So, instead of being the hidden little gem it used to be, its more like a rock that fell off a cheap ring that you dont care about much anyway.  Weeaaaaak.  One upside is that we briefly met Kendall, and even though I knew this already, confirmed that she isnt the same kendall I dated a bit ago.  BONUS!

Yo I am going to dial the Hardcore kid in me back to 2001 and get one.  That and the sideways baseball cap and new balance will totally complete my look.

I have a simple philosphy, my things should live for me, but I should not live for my things.  To this end, Ikea is perfect medicine, since as the price goes up for objects, we tend to get more and more tied to them, as if they live and breathe and have personalities.  This is understandable since we invest our money in things and in a "lifestyle", and since our time, energy, blood is used to make money, the more we spend, the more we are invested.  Ikea doesnt make the best furniture.  No, certainly it isnt the best quality.  But the design style, while stolen from many sources, is affordable, pleasing, and very very functional for small spaces, as well as large.  Perfect furniture for modern living, they have multiple styles, not just the funky and clean style I prefer, they also now carry furniture that is more basic and traditional looking.

For me, somebody who grew up surrounded by very old and very expensive (in todays dollars, not when I was around with my parents purchasing them over many laborious hours in antique shops as a child) massive traditional colonial furniture, Ikea was an amazing awakening when I went to one of their first stores as a child.  My parents hated it, I loved it.  When it came time to furnish my own place for the first time, I returned, making the jaunt all the way from central PA to the philly store.  I was amazed then as I am now by the low prices, great style, and now over time, very suprised by the longevity of allot of their stuff.  

An additional benefit is, if you want to change up your style, you arent out thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.  So for bringing great style at very affordable prices, and never compromising in that end despite the fact that you see their stuff on tv, and in design magazines from time to time, I give five stars.

Decent for what it is, inexpensive, open late ect ect. But lately I have noticed that the kabobs have gotten much much smaller, more dried out, with less of the radish or other types of things they used to put in. Also, the people running it seemed to have gotten more surly over the years, and less caring about the overall quality. Oh, and no more bathroom either, a necessity if you are there late-night because everything else is closed anyway. All good things must fade, and fade quick pita has indeed.

Ok, its totally hyped up, and I hate this return to cupcakes trendy thing that makes everybody feel like they are back in elementary school.  I may be an old curmudgeon, but I hated elementary school, and middle school, and high school.  BUT, its undeniable that these cupcakes are awesome, not just as cupcakes, but as pastry.  Yes there is a long line much of the time, but as long as people aren't being complete buffoons in front of you by waiting in line forever, then forgetting that people just like them are still waiting in line, it moves pretty fast.  Oh, and the people working the counter are very efficient and friendly, major points for that.

DUDE, lets totally go to this brickseller place, they have like 5.243 bazillion beers.  Totally sweet dude.  We can totally relive our college pub crawl years.  Then we can play DARTS!!!!!  Maybe later we can go to the strip club, thats awesome bro!!!!

Yeah ok, if you want to experience being told that they dont have any beer on their extensive menu in stock, then go for it.  If you ran a restaurant where 85% of your beers werent available, you would be out of business very quickly.  

And now the definition of menu, you will note, the word availability.  Maybe the Brickseller owners will read this, but I am sure they will want to still be the restaurant with the "biggest beer menu" in the world, not realizing that it ceases to be a menu when the majority of the items on it are in fact, not available.

menu  (mn'y)    
n.  
1.A list of the dishes to be served or available for a meal.

2.The dishes served or available at a meal.