Gemma "GEMMERZZ" M.'s Profile

I don't let just ANYBODY touch my hair.  Why?  Because my hair is thin and my face is round.  Throw in a bad hair stylist and it's a disaster waiting to happen.  And it's happened a few times in my life.

My last hair stylist wasn't bad, but I knew a lot of people who went to her and we all started to look the same.  Almost 2 years later, I gathered the courage to let someone else cut and style my hair.  As if that weren't ballsy enough, I found him on Yelp!

Brandon is an AMAZING stylist.  He's super friendly, very meticulous, thorough, and extremely passionate about his work.  What I felt set Brandon apart from every other stylist I've seen is that he invested so much effort in educating me.  Hair education?  YES.  Products that are bad.  Habits that are bad.  Recommendations to better my hair.  And not just the typical stuff you'd find in Cosmo and not just the things that require you to buy the products in his salon.  It was informative without being salesy.

Getting one's hair "did" these days can get pricey, so consider it an investment and put your hair in the hand of someone who'll do right with it.  I'll admit -- it was a little pricier than what I've been used to, but I was so happy when he was done that it didn't even phase me.

I will preface this review with this:  I am eating the last bit of my buttery toast as I write this review.  I have never eaten AT Nini's -- I always order to go.  I just refuse to stand outside while a family hogs the benches because their dog needs to sit, too... and just to have breakfast that I could have made at home had I not been lazy and/or hungover.  While the wait is not nearly as long nor the prices as high as at Stacks, I equally enjoy the breakfast at Royal Donuts on Broadway in Burlingame, never have to wait, and love their hash browns... it's just a bit of a drive away from us.

That said, we still order from Nini's at least bi-weekly.  It's not jaw-dropping, but it's hearty and convenient.

PROS:  The food has consistent quality, the staff remembers the orders the way we like them, they're fast, and they're barely a mile away from us.  They love butter.  I guess this could be a con, but I love butter just as much.  (If you don't, definitely ask for your toast dry or with butter on the side.)  Their servings are well worth the prices and you can have a bloody mary or mimosa (or two or three) with your breakfast.  Need I say more?

CONS:  Their sausage links are dry and overcooked.  (Go with the chicken apple sausage instead.)  Personally, I prefer good ol' hash browns over their potatoes.  Their corn beef hash is a bit on the salty side and their breakfast sandwich is a little too greasy (due to their love of butter).  Since it is located in a residential area, parking can be frustrating at peak hours, but the neighborhood is nice, so most wouldn't mind a bit of a walk... unless it's raining.  They also serve coffee outside while you wait which may make it worthwhile.

RECOMMENDATION:  Omelets, pancakes, chicken apple sausage & eggs.

Okay, I signed up for Yelp just so that I can write a review documenting our experience at Osha (Embarcadero) this past Friday -- it was THAT bad.

I've been to Osha before.  In fact, I was at this same location and ordered the same exact things 6 days prior.  Looking at the majority of reviews, there is no question that the food is good.  My personal preferences?  The Green Tea Mojito and the Honey Duck.

The problem is that the service is poor and whether it be a "cultural issue" or a "language barrier", we live in the Bay Area and good food is not hard to find by any means, so good service is critical if you expect a 5-star rating.  From me, anyway.

We got there around 6PM on a Friday night.  I thought it was odd that it was half empty especially since the ice skating rink seemed to open up that same day and had brought in quite the crowd.  They sat the four of us knowing we had one more coming and they were kind enough to set us up with a table of five.

Our server's name was Suga -- yes, like "Suga, Suga how you get so fly?"

(pausing for laughs)

As the restaurant began to fill up shortly after we sat down, she asked if she could take the extra chair.

Us:  "Well, he's on his way here now."

Her:  "I'll bring you another chair when he gets here.  Is that okay?"

Us:  "Uh, sure, that's fine."

Well, why not, right?  Seemed harmless, but when the fifth member of our party showed up, she brought over a stool -- yes, a STOOL.  Errr??

Despite exchanging some weird looks around the table, we didn't let it bring us down and continued with a delicious dinner.  We placed our orders for dessert and were grumbling a little about how long it was taking.  This funny-eared fellow -- who may have been the manager or person in charge at the time -- approached our table.

Him (rudely):  "Umm, are you still waiting on something?"

Us:  "Yes, our desserts."

Him:  "Well, did you already order it and everything?"

Us:  "Yes, quite a while ago."

And he walks away.

OKAY.  We noticed that there was quite a wait at that point, but before you come to our table to not-so-discreetly ask us to hurry up, it is in your best interest to make sure your homegirl Suga has done HER part in attending to us... because now we're going to take our sweet time savoring our dessert just to piss you off.  Which we do.  Successfully.

When served the check which totaled out to about $200 including the tip, we gave her $155 in cash and provided her a credit card for $45.  We also gave her verbal instructions on what we were giving her and what she was to do.  She nodded.

Upon her return, my friend who paid the $45 using his credit card was given his slip to sign and, lo and behold, it's for the full total yet all the cash is gone, too.  For a $45 charge, his slip should say $45, no?  We flag down Suga but she doesn't see us (or ignores us).  The hostess approaches us and asks if there's anything she can do, so we explain the situation.  Suga comes back to the table as we're discussing and takes the check from the hostess without an exchange of more than 5 non-English words.  It appeared to us that Suga knew exactly what was wrong... or what she did.  But no harm done -- just fix it please, right?

She returns with a slip for $45.  Great.  My friend also asks for the slip crediting the first transaction of the full total.  She argues that it wasn't charged, so there was no credit.  There's a bit of back and forth and we give up and decide to take her word for it.  Bad move.  Upon checking his bank transactions, we found that the full total WAS charged to my friend's card and Osha (or Suga) also took our cash.  I'm having a hard time understanding how requests like this are never a problem at Denny's.

RECOMMENDATION:  Save yourself the trouble and order for take-out!

PS. The excess credit card charges are currently being disputed.