Lauren "LaurenMC" C.

1/14/2020

• First to Review

Experience could have been a lot worse based on other's reviews, but overall, mine was fine. I was in and out in about 30 minutes; it's in an easily accessible spot, and they *generally* honored my appointment time.

I knocked a couple stars off, because this operation is clearly an assembly line, and they treat it as such.  There's no explanation of what to expect when you walk in the door. They just take your passport (or whatever documentation you have) and tell you to wait. It's in a weird shared space, so people are coming in and out of offices, eating lunch in the kitchen area, or just seated waiting.

The receptionist is apparently not affiliated with TSA....so she was unnecessarily annoyed when I told her I was there for a TSA pre-check appointment. She pointed to a woman at a communal table next to her desk and said, "That's what she just asked about. She's who you'll want to talk to." Jeez....

After a 15 minute wait, they called a group of four of us back at a time, and we were told to sit in a series of chairs outside two cramped offices. They take your name, fingerprints, verify your address, charge your  credit card, and you're on your way. I wasn't asked any specific questions; they just want to get people in and out. It did bother me that doors were left open, so people are rattling off personal information (full name, address, DOB) and answering questions about themselves in a very open setting.

So, overall a relatively painless experience. They just need to do a better job of communicating what to expect when you walk in the door and hand over your passport and handling people's personal information in a more secure manner.

11/24/2019

We started seeing Dr. Fusselman to take care of our family pup in 1996. Since then, he's been the trusted vet of my siblings' and my mom's dogs. He demonstrates the same level of compassion for each dog--from dachshunds to boxers. He's great explaining treatment options, has a wonderful sense of humor, and he's very reasonable about doing what's best for the animal. I'd trust Dr. Fusselman with any of my pets, and I highly recommend him to other pet owners in the Southlake area.

10/22/2019

Soooo good! This review is based on a delivery, but I'm happy to report the food holds up great even via delivery. This is some of the best Italian food I've had in a long time. The pasta is exceptional.

I had the cacio e pepe, which is a simple but delectable pasta dish! It's tonnarelli pasta, which tasted homemade. It'a topped with pepper and pecorino and a light buttery sauce. It's rich and light at the same time.

I also got a side of the meatballs which are heavenly! They're flavorful, rich and texturally perfect. I highly recommend the beef meatballs, but they have other meats, too.

While the pasta is really good, the one thing I have to knock this place for is price. Pastas start at like $18, and the meatballs were an additional $5.50. While the food is good, the value is lacking.

Overall, I highly recommend this place for tasty, well-prepared pasta. Just be prepared to fork out a bit more.

10/14/2019

Decent pizza! It's huge, floppy, NY style pizza, and I'm not mad about it. They go light on the sauce--which is a tad sweet--and when cuddled up with the mozzarella, it's darn near perfect. I've ordered delivery twice from this place, and both times it has been accurate and quick. I've only ordered cheese, and that's kept me happy. The crust is really light and chewy, too. I ate about 1/4 of the last pizza cold, and it was really good!

They offer 18 in. pies which leaves plenty to go around (and a couple days worth of leftover if you're taking it on solo). Downside is that's the *only* size they offer, which can make for a pretty pricy pie (even just cheese).

While the crust is good, timing may not be quite their forte. Like other reviewers, half the pizza was burnt on one side. Not sure why only half, but perhaps there are some inconsistencies in the oven's temp?

Overall, nice NY style pizza; I just think there are more budget-friendly and better-cooked pizzas out there.

• 

  Before we dug in.

  Before we dug in.
• 

  Scorched. :(

  Scorched. :(
• 

  A lovely cheese pizza...just for me.

  A lovely cheese pizza...just for me.
• See all photos from Lauren C. for Gabriella's New York City Pizza

8/24/2019

This place is fantastic! It's a small shop with amazing and authentic pastries and sandwiches. The staff is friendly and attentive; they're willing to answer any questions and clearly take a lot of great pride in the shop.

I highly recommend the croissants! They use real butter! Croissants with a curve typically have other fats; croissants made with real butter are straight. These bad boys are straight as an arrow, buttery, flakey and delicious!! The croissant au chocolate is my favorite.

The sandwiches are also delicious and come on their croissants. My roommate and I each got a different sandwich--she, a smoked salmon on a croissant--and I got a tomato and fresh mozzarella sandwich. Both were excellent!

The pastries are gorgeous to look at! My roommate got a strawberry shortcake for the road and it did not disappoint! The cake was exceptional--also buttery and decadent. Highly highly recommend!

Another surprising and nice treat is their iced coffee. The ice in the drinks are frozen spheres of coffee. De-licious!

Great spot for beautiful pastries and delightful sandwiches.

7/13/2019

This place is pretty good! We stopped in on a Saturday night. It was buzzing and quite noisy. My first impression was the surprising price point for pretty typical pasta dishes--even a classic like spaghetti and meatballs starts around $17.

We started with bruschetta; it's a good-sized portion. The toast was a bit crunchy for my liking, but it was alright...nothing extraordinary.

We each got a special from that evening: a white and green fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, tomatoes and mushrooms. My dinner companion is not fond of mushrooms, but they were very accommodating, and they allowed her to swap out the mushrooms for broccoli without issue.

The entrees were quite good! Hearty portion, piping hot fish and a nice, mild sauce. The chicken was a little sparse, and it tasted like processed meat. Besides that, it was still a worthwhile dish.

I think if they adjusted their price points a bit I'd be a bigger fan of this place. $22 chicken parmigiana?! $19.50 for our entrees?! Though the food is good, it's not $20 good.

Other notable quality is the good service. Our waiter was attentive, and even the gentlemen doing water and bread service were on the ball and extremely polite.

I'd be more inclined to come back if they'd up the quality to match the $20 price tag, or lower the prices a bit.

7/13/2019

Overall I had a really enjoyable stay here! I traveled to Detroit for business. Check-in was a breeze, location was great the room was comfortable and spacious. The restaurants are decent, and I like having a Starbucks in the lobby for early mornings.

My in-room safe wasn't working, so I had to call the front desk to get assistance. I appreciate that they got it fixed quickly.

A few missteps knocked a star off from an otherwise very pleasant experience. On my last night I had the unfortunate pleasure of being on the same floor as a group of high school students. Neither the chaperones nor the hotel did a very good job of responding to reinforcement of quiet hours.

My colleague, who was on a completely different floor, had a noisy group of guys next to her room. She had to call the front desk three times for security to do something. I guess they were just told to pipe down, because the partying continued well after 2 a.m. on a Thursday night.

Overall, good experience, but I wish hotel management was more responsive to noise complaints.

7/8/2019

I had a lovely experience here! I stayed three nights for work, and it was a terrific stay. I had a very cordial, easy check-in with a little personality from the front desk. (He teased me a bit, which I loved; he seemed to enjoy what he does and wasn't afraid to make the experience memorable).

The room was kind of unique shape, but they made the most of it! It feels spacious by having the bed set at an angle instead of parallel with the wall (smart!) The tv covering the Windows was a bit of a bummer, but it's not like I had an incredible view. :) It was mostly a pain to close my curtains around the tv. Most importantly, it was clean!! Everything from the sheets to the door knobs had been cleaned.

The bathroom was spacious, huge shower and everything once again clean and well-stocked.

Management also included a nice touch of texting me about an hour after I checked in to see how the room was--I'd never had that before, but it was much-appreciated! They also notified me when some work was being done above my room starting the following morning. They offered to move me, but since the work was being done outside hours I was in the room, I declined. But I really appreciated the heads up! Admittedly the charm wore off a bit when they kept checking in...including asking me to rate my experience 1-10. A bit much.

Ordered room service one night and it was a solid BLT!

Location is great--right along the river, close to a lot of public transit options, restaurants and shopping. I live in Chicago, but it's a good spot for tourists or those in town for business.

All in all, solid experience! I've stayed in a handful of Chicago hotels, and this was one of the best experiences I've had!

7/8/2019

Yeah, this location is a bit of a mess. I've had my drink forgotten (granted the delivery person offered to go back and get it), order messed up, and consistently late deliveries. Worst of all, I've never had a pizza arrive hot.

One of the most infuriating aspects of their speed is that their "tracker" function when you order online is never accurate. It some how always magically takes less than 10 minutes for my pizza to be made, and allegedly out the door, but at least 45 minutes for the pizza to arrive at my home when it's a 10 minute drive from my apartment.

Not sure if they're artificially padding their delivery time, or if it's a testament to their delivery people, but its only consistency as a business is late and cold orders.

What does work: I've never had an unfriendly driver experience.

Other than that: look elsewhere; there are too many other good pizza joints for people to be wasting their time or money here.

6/28/2019

Oh my gato! This place is excellent!! A reservation is absolutely necessary. We went on a Wednesday night and it was PACKED!

What worked:
Just about everything service was fine, but nothing took it over the top.

Cocktails are great! The pamplemouse G&T is exceptional! A nice, light summery drink!

The food was amazing!! We started with the eggplant spread which was fantastic! Mixed reviews from my tablemates, but I LOVED it! Soo many different flavor profiles, salty, sour and ends with a smoky flavor from the charred eggplant. Gorgeous dish!

We also ordered the curried mussels which were great! Broth was a tad sour, but it's a huge portion.

One of the favorites was the beet and berry salad, which sounds odd, but it works perfectly!! This is a must if you like beets. Beautiful combination of red and gold beets, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and a lovely but light dressing. They also sprinkled peppercorns on it which gives the salad some kick and crunch. Amazing!!

We also tried a couple skewers. We were accidentally given a salmon skewer, which we ate and was good! And we had a beef/lamb and chicken. Both were good but not anything groundbreaking or creative...just well-cooked meat. :)

The other star was the asparagus risotto; the rice was perfectly cooked, and it came topped with shaved asparagus spears and a few fresh herbs. So good!!!

We also got a side of Brussels sprouts which were super yummy!! The sauce on them is amazing!

Even though it's a shared plate spot, the portions are quite large. We couldn't finish the mussels between the three of us, all meat skewers come with rice....in hindsight we ordered too much food, but it was all good, and we took some home.

My only knock is just how quickly this place can add up. The mussels are good, but not $18 good. Just be careful about over ordering, and expect some larger portions than you'd think for a shared plate spot.