Dee "-licious" I.

7/21/2019

I'm not a coffee drinker but my friend had to send her coffee back and request another cup because she said it was so bad. We ordered a half order of biscuits and gravy to share and not only were they not good, the gravy amount was the stingiest I have ever seen. It was the same with my friend's French toast slices. They were the tiniest, saddest little serving of French toast ever. After our food came we were ignored for about 30 minutes until we could flag anyone that worked there to ask for some water. When we asked, we're pretty sure that server rolled his eyes at my friend for asking. After that we had to wait another 10 minutes or until another server, anyone, came by again to ask for our bill to pay and then we waited again until our server finally came by to offer us our bill only to realize another server had already give it to us, but, again, no one had come by in that time to collect it. The bad service was not because they were busy. They were all busy when we were seated but the breakfast rush had passed by the time we were served and they did not seem to be understaffed.

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  Tiny, sad slices of French toast.

  Tiny, sad slices of French toast.
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  Bad Biscuits and gravy with almost no gravy!

  Bad Biscuits and gravy with almost no gravy!

6/4/2018

Our company hosted a 1978 themed annual party since this year is our 40th anniversary and we had Video Amusement provide some 1978 arcade games for the event. The games were in great condition and a HUGE hit at the party. They were played with and enjoyed the duration of our party. Video Amusement staff was great to work with as well. We received a quote in a timely matter, with a straightforward contract and payment terms. They delivered and picked up the equipment on time and their delivery staff was also courteous and good sports about moving one of the games from one room to another when we decided last minute that we did, in fact, want it somewhere other than where we'd originally told them. Video Amusement has quality, well-preserved video arcade games and great service over all. We would work with them again in a heartbeat.

1/5/2018

Where to begin..?I expected more from a Fairmont property. I feel awful that my husband paid for us to have this as a relaxing birthday treat and it just sucked on on EVERY level.

Check-in:
When we checked in, we were lead like cattle in a big impersonal group to the locker room/spa area to a rude and inattentive attendant who greeted us not with a normal greeting, but with a "We're not quite ready for you yet," and asked us our shoe size, gave us sandals, a robe,  and keys and pointed us to the locker rooms but did not bother to tell us what exactly the amenities were in the facility. I was doing a couple's massage with my husband for my birthday, but I was not given instructions AT ALL  to where/when I should expect to meet him after I suited up for us to get our massages when the time came. I asked for an attendant to go find my husband for me in the men's locker room just to see if he maybe knew what was going on (maybe his attendant actually did their job and told him what the process was going to be) and I wasn't given a clear answer on if someone had gone to find him or what.
The Facilities:
In the lounge, the furniture was dated. The chairs/sofas were way too deep and the cushions thin and uncomfortable. There was no way to properly lean back and relax with how deep they were and how scratchy and bad the sofa material was.
-The locker room was tiny.
-The overall facilities were SO DATED. The showers were hard to start and there was no way to stand there, tug on the knobs and start them without being directly in line for hard blasts of cold water until the water warmed up.
-The bathroom stall doors slammed easily. There was no way to open and shut them without them swinging around and slamming.
-The Whirlpool...I didn't bother to go in, just the sight of it was awful.
The amenities:
The lotion smelled so strong. Gross! What kind of 1980s cologne scent is that?!
The spa's policy on phones/recording device use in the spa:
I think it should go without saying that you do not use your phone or any other recording device to record anything in a bathroom or locker room. Nothing is posted but apparently, people don't have common sense because I saw another patron recording on her phone (maybe for her snap chat story?!) in the bathroom with mirrors that directly reflect to the locker room!  
The customer service:
I deduced where the lounge was and sat and waiting for what I assumed was going to be someone coming to call me for my massage at some point and while I was waiting, an attendant came and called me back to the desk where a man named Fernando who had checked us in originally was asking me if I was the person that was part of the couple's massage that had requested a specific therapist or a therapeutic massage. I was confused because he was not clear and he was very impatient and borderline rude that I didn't really know what he was asking at first. I clarified that to my knowledge we had just booked a regular deep tissue massage (again, my husband booked this all as my birthday treat and when we first checked in with him at the front desk my husband was the person he dealt with, so why, knowing that clearly my husband was managing this, would he come to the women's spa and ask to speak to me instead of my husband?!)
The masseuse and the massage:
After waiting for a long time in the uncomfortable lounge, I went to the bathroom and my masseuse came for me while I was in the bathroom. I obviously wasn't in the lounge to meet her so she walked around the facility yelling my name and mispronouncing my last name. When I finally met her, I said hello and pronounced my name correctly for her. My husband had specifically asked for a masseuse or masseur with strong hands because I wanted a very deep, deep tissue massage. Before she started she said she was going to do a strong deep tissue massage (which is what we'd requested).  I did not get a deep, deep tissue massage. It was just meh.  By the time she asked me in the middle of my massage how it was going I just said "fine." I didn't have the energy to say please make this harder because I didn't think she could. If she had led with a disclaimer that it would be a firm deep tissue massage, and what I got instead was just light to medium, I assume she just couldn't actually do anything harder/deeper.
The customer service at check out:
When I exited the spa and went to wait for my husband in the front lobby, Fernando asked me how my visit was and I responded "Okay." "Just okay?" He inquired further. "To be honest, it wasn't the best..." I responded. He looked at me and said, "I'm sorry you feel that way." SO AWKWARD and passive-aggressive. ANYONE in the hospitality/luxury services industry who cares about what they do would have asked what exactly was wrong with my experience instead of putting it back on me and saying "I'm sorry YOU feel that way." Shirking all responsibility. THE WORST.

10/17/2014

I've been eating here for years...and I make any excuse to come here anytime I'm driving up or down the 80 but I don't think I'll be back after tonight. Why? First, while eating a piece of jalapeño naan, I chomped down on what upon further examination I discovered were hard little pebbles. Then, to my utter horror, while eating my Baingan bharta I found a fingernail! At first I thought it was something with a weird texture in the eggplant mix...so I pulled it out of my mouth and set it on the table. I took a closer look at it, and that's when it set in what it was.

We wanted to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt--I've found other weird items in my food at restaurants over the course of my life. So we discretely told a server--not our original server who was inattentive and bad--this server apologized and said she'd check with the chef to see what the items could be.  She came back with our check and said that the pebbles had been spices since they grind their spices in the restaurant. It was not spice, I'm sorry. I know when I chomp down on rocks vs. unground spices. She also denied that what I'd  found in my Baingan bharta was a fingernail.

My problem with all of this, other than that there were things in my food that CLEARLY should not be in food, is how this was handled. I understand that places might have to deny when you find things in your food that don't belong there for legal reasons to cover their butts.  But any restaurant with decent customer service will be apologetic enough, or at the very least embarrassed by your experience, to not charge you for that item. In this case it was two items in two different dishes we were eating and one of them so beyond unacceptable to find in food! But the server felt that denying anything was wrong was the best way to handle this, which is just the poorest form when providing customer service in my opinion.  

I'll be contacting the local dept. of public health and asking them to pay the restaurant a visit.

5/19/2014

I've gotten to know Antoinette through volunteering with La Cocina and have been lucky enough to enjoy many of her products at different festivals and La Cocina events. Other than having a really inspiring story of how she worked with La Cocina to start her food business, her funnel cakes, caramel apples, and kettle corn are to die for! The caramel in the caramel apples has lovely hints of vanilla and is smooth and thick, a nice contrast to the fluffy, rich homemade whipped cream she dollops on top. The apples are cut into perfect two-bite portions so eating them is not messy. Her funnel cakes are all truly incredible but my favorite is the one topped with fresh cut strawberries and homemade whipped cream, although the plain one with dusted powered sugar comes in a close second. I look forward to trying her infamous corn dogs and other products as she expands her product line.

5/12/2014

I've eaten at Straw, and I think the food is good but this review is specifically for their catering. I recently contracted Straw to cater a work party I was hosting and I can't say enough how great it was to work with them!  Their catering coordinator  responded quickly to my inquiry for business. I had a budget and  they kept their quote within my budget, they worked with me to come up with a menu that met the needs of my event (we had gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian requests), and on-site they were professional and wonderful! Another great thing about Straw, which people may not know and is the reason I was interested in hiring them to begin with, is that they offer cotton-candy as one of their dessert options AND they'll make cotton-candy on-site for you at your venue.

3/22/2014

For the cookies alone! But the staff & coffee are awesome, too.  So happy to see a second outpost of my Fillmore favorite in the trendyloin.

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  COOKIE!!

  COOKIE!!

11/6/2013

Mediocre food that was served entirely cold when supposed to be hot by inattentive yet pushy server.  Congealed nacho cheese (I'm sorry that is not queso fundido, please call it what it is and don't trick your customers by calling things by something different than what they truly are on the menu) and cold sweet potato fries and  pulled pork tacos?

I asked our server for water and was told it was self- serve but when I went to the self-serve station it was out of cups.  I went to the bar and had to wait for a long time to ask for cups of water and was told by the bartender that I could get water at the self-serve water station. I told him they were out of cups so he gave me two cups. He did not fill my cups with water so I still had to go fill them at the self-serve station and they did not replenish the cups at the station. Seriously? All this for water.  

Additionally, it was way too loud in the space. I was yelling to talk to my friend who was sitting right next to me.

Definitely not impressed and not going back.

10/2/2013

It's with a heavy heart that I write this review. I am a HUGE fan of Mi Pueblo Markets and I am a regular shopper at both the Fremont and San Rafael locations but the Palo Alto location is sub par on SO many levels.

Where should I start? How about with service in their prepared foods/deli section. I went in last night and service was so slow, and disorganized. It wasn't entirely clear to me why a handful of us were waiting in line (as marked by signage and a roped-off line) for almost 30 minutes and they only had one staff member helping us OR why other people were just bypassing the line altogether and going straight up to the register to order their food and getting their orders rung up and completed by the gal, Viri, at the register before those of us who had been waiting in line for a while. I asked Viri twice why she could not help people who were currently in line before she helped people just walking up to register (cutting the line) instead. She replied that she could not leave her post at the register but this made no sense because she was leaving her post at the register to complete the cutters' orders. Also, at no point, even after a few of us in line asked if the staff could get additional help  from other staffers to fill food orders, did they actually call/ask for help. All customers had to continue to wait for the ridiculously slow staffer to attend to us one by one.

In the bread section, there were no tongs with which to select bread. A customer asked for tongs and the staff member behind the register did nothing to find tongs for him or make more sets of tongs accessible to other customers (who were waiting on tongs as well). He was also the only person at the register and this created quite a queue of customers waiting to have their bread bagged. He also did not call for help as his queue got longer.  

In the deli meats/cheese section, I also waited in line because there was only one staff member at the counter to help customers.

I'd like to point out that I saw plenty of staff throughout the store, but most of the staff was not appropriately staffed at counters where customers needed service. I really don't feel that this is acceptable during rush hour. It was 6pm after work on a Monday and this trip to the store took 1 hour instead of 20-30 minutes it should've taken.

As far as customer service goes, no one greeted me during my visit, no one on the floor asked me if I needed help finding anything, and no one minded when lines got long or stepped in to help at any counter where lines were long.

The icing on the cake was at the register when a gal wrang up the party before me and then left the register without notifying me that she was leaving the register or that she or someone else would be back to ring me up.

To add insult to injury, I got home with my purchased items and the whole roasted chicken I bought for dinner was way too dry, gross and unedible and the salsa  that had not been properly packaged by the gal at the deli had spilled.

7/29/2013

Vynce is amazing! We could not have asked for a better wedding DJ. Vynce is responsive, punctual, professional, communicative, and most importantly, a wonderful DJ!

I had some crazy asks as far as the diversity in genres of music I wanted him to play from du-wop oldies and songs by the rat-pack during our cocktail hour to Spanish bachata during dinner time and electronica and 90s hip-hop during dancing hour at the reception and Vynce managed to make them all flow seamlessly, flawlessly, and keep the party going. The sound quality was great and his song selection was extensive and right on point with our requests and tastes in music. He honored our "do not play" list and was polite with guests songs requests, incorporating them as he saw fit into his overall playlist.  We loved the music and the corresponding light set-up and our friends and family stayed on the dance floor until the very last song. There was no point during our wedding where the dance floor was empty due to a dud-song. ALL the songs had everyone moving all night. Also, this was in part due to his flawless transitions. There was no dead-air or silence. He DJ'ed all night. The mash-ups were great, too. I'd  like to point out that this is no small feat when you have a multi-generational and mixed ethnicity/multi-lingual crowd.

That's not all, either. Vynce and his assistant worked with our wedding planner to make sure events stayed on time and they helped provide that perfect pacing and maintain the overall (smooth) flow of our big night. All the announcements and introductions Vynce made sounded incredible and clear. He commands the attention of guests, effortlessly, without being cheesy like other DJs often times can be. Past that, he was so personable and a joy to work with. On such an important day as your wedding day, it's nice to now you can count on the outstanding service and professionalism of such a great vendor.