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Mango
Category:
Retail Shopping
163 Bellevue Square Bellevue
Bellevue, Washington 98004
(425) 455-1555
If you love shopping at Mexx, Zara, and other European clothing stores, you must visit Mango. It's a company from Spain a direct competitor of Zara. Mango is located in Bellevue Square on the...
If you love shopping at Mexx, Zara, and other European clothing stores, you must visit Mango. It's a company from Spain a direct competitor of Zara. Mango is located in Bellevue Square on the first floor. The clothing is very trendy and fitting. When I was in Europe I actually bought quite a bit from this store. I was ecstatic when I found out that they were opening one in Bellevue Square. You must visit this place if you want to find trendy outfits for work or to go out with a European flame to it! I was just there last night and bought a pair of skinny jeans for $79. The clothing style is a mix of Zara and Express. The pricing is pretty good if you compare to boutique and department store prices. You can find a wool jacket for about $150 which is not bad if you compared to Banana Republic and other stores. You can also shop online too, www.mango.com.
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If you love Chinese food with a mix of trendy flavor and a yuppier crowd, you must stop by Shanghai 1930 near the pier in SF. The decor is definitely much nicer then your normal Chinese restaurant....
If you love Chinese food with a mix of trendy flavor and a yuppier crowd, you must stop by Shanghai 1930 near the pier in SF. The decor is definitely much nicer then your normal Chinese restaurant. It's definitely not a whole in a wall. The place is dimly lit with and a big open space.
We were greeted with enthusiasm when we arrived. We reserved a table for 12 people. We decided to break the into groups of 4 and order separately. For our table, we got the egg plant (which was a bit salty), the fish on the vine(fried and served with a tamarind sauce on top, this was my favorite), the lion king meatballs (this was decent, but not great), crispy chewy Sichuan beef (they weren't kidding when they said chewy). The entrée ranges from 14-25 per dish. The price we paid after our meals and gratuity was about $27/person. However, I must say the food here is much better then Empress China in SF Chinatown. After eating our meal, we asked for our check.
My least favorite part of the night was wen we asked our waitress to split the check according to the 4 groups and we also gave her credit cards to charge. She wasn't happy, as a matter of fact, she rolled her eyes! That was just rude. Another complaint I have about this place is that the restaurant is located at the basement of a building so it was a bit hot and humid underneath. I don't understand why they can't afford to put some AC on.
Over all the dining experience was just ok, the food wasn't bad, the place is nice, but the service was pretty bad. I doubt that I will ever return to this place again. If you want to find out more about this restaurant, visit http://www.shanghai1930.com.
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If you're looking for a nice spa to go to on the east side, look no further, Sun Spa in Woodinville has an array of services for you to choose from! They have body wraps, facials, massages,...
If you're looking for a nice spa to go to on the east side, look no further, Sun Spa in Woodinville has an array of services for you to choose from! They have body wraps, facials, massages, microdermabrasion, endermologie (a very new technology that guarantees you losing a couple of inches around the trouble areas), and body scrubs. The pricing is like any other spa however if you subscribe to their newsletter, you can get discounts. They send out last minute specials almost every day. The facility is very nice, it has a warm feeling to it. The customer service was great.
I was there this past weekend for a microdermabrasion treatment (my first ever!). Let me tell you, it hurts (the five minutes that they apply the crystals). If you can endure the discomfort for 5 minutes or so, it's not so bad. After the microdermabrasion, they apply a cooling mud mask and also massage your feet and hands. Since I subscribed to the newsletter, I got their October special, so it only cost me $50 for the treatment (the normal going rate is around 95-110!).
Overall the place is pretty good and I highly recommend those who live on the east side to go. It's a bit out of the way for me I doubt that I will be there regularly. For more information, visit www.thesunspa.com.
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Last week my friends and I were at the Purple Cafe in downtown celebrating a friend's birthday. We wanted to try this place because it looks pretty cool with the nice wine rack in the middle of the...
Last week my friends and I were at the Purple Cafe in downtown celebrating a friend's birthday. We wanted to try this place because it looks pretty cool with the nice wine rack in the middle of the restaurant. The place was pretty busy on a Thursday night. It's pretty easy to get reservations for the place. We were seated quickly, and water came soon after. The atmosphere is definitely a mixed crowd of all ages. It's one of those place where you dress up to be seen, very trendy.
Our waitress, gave us 3 menus. One for the wine list, another was the dinner menu, and then there is a small one of appetizers that you had to order in trio. We three different cheeses to try from the appetizer's menu, and they were all pretty tasty. I also ordered the Carpaccio, and some duck. Both the duck and Carpaccio were just ok.
My friend ordered a bottle of wine. When our waitress came to let us taste the wine we didn't like it at all. We asked her to recommend us another bottle but our waitress didn't know much about wine. She then calls on the wine expert from the restaurant to help us pick another bottle, which she did, and we liked the recommendation.
For our entrée, we all ordered the 4 course prixe fix meal. My first course was the beef tenderloins, second was the apple, Gorgonzola salad, the third course was the seared tuna, and lastly the dessert which was a brownie. The beef tenderloins weren't as tasty, it was lacking a little salt and seasoning. The salad was pretty simple and pretty good, but you can get this kind of salad any where. As for the tuna, it was dry, overcooked and did not taste fresh. I love tuna, but I barely touched it since it tasted pretty bad. The dessert was pretty good, two pieces of brownie sprinkled with some confetti sugar.
Overall? The food was really just ok. If you're there for wine and appetizers, I think it's a better deal and the selection is much better. The service was pretty good minus the inexperienced waitress. You can check out their webiste at www.thepurplecafe.com.
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My recent weekend trip to San Francisco was great. I was there to watch a friend do her marathon and also a little getaway for myself! My coworker once brought back truffels from XOX Truffel store...
My recent weekend trip to San Francisco was great. I was there to watch a friend do her marathon and also a little getaway for myself! My coworker once brought back truffels from XOX Truffel store in SF and it was to die for. I remembered exactly how it tasted, soft, melts in your mouth and in so many flavors! The best thing is it's not overwhelmingly sweet like other truffles I've tried. When I was there this past weekend, I made an extra effort to stop by the store to pack up! The little store front with about two tables inside and two outside was just darling. It's ran by a French family and all the truffels are of course, made from scratch by him. They have the most interesting flavors, I think there were about 15 different flavors. I tasted quite a bit of it. Each individual truffle costs 75 cents and if you were to buy a box of 20, it would cost $8. Pretty affordable. I bought the soy/vegan/hazelnut truffles, which was just heavenly! It's chocolate thats healthy! Can you beat that? I also bought the earl grey truffles. I also like the champagne, raspberry, soy/dark chocolate, and many more. If you're ever in town you have to stop by and get some truffles! They also have a website, and you can order online too at www.xoxtruffles.com. Great for gifts during the holiday season!
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I was at Boka kitchen last week for my birthday dinner. I saw that this place has great ratings and the place looks pretty cool. The atmosphere is definitely very trendy and posh. I was excited...
I was at Boka kitchen last week for my birthday dinner. I saw that this place has great ratings and the place looks pretty cool. The atmosphere is definitely very trendy and posh. I was excited to try the food.
We were seated quickly and water followed. The food is pretty diverse, I can't point out if there is one particular theme they were going for.
Their menu has a urban bit section which is pretty much tapas. We ordered the pigs in blanket, figs salad, duck confit, can some sashimi. The pigs in blanket were very cute looking, it came with shredded pigs on top of two mini wheat hamburger buns. The duck was my favorite, very tender and served on top of two mini waffles with glazed cherries, yum! As for my entrée, I ordered the grilled pork chops which was a bit dry and tough. I was quite disappointed with my meal. My friends ordered the lamb-chops which looked great but it was overwhelmingly seasoned! It was a little strong.
Overall, the food was decent, really just the urban bites. I think the place itself is a bit overrated and I wasn't wowed. For a preview of their menu go to www.bokaseattle.com.
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Marquesa
Category:
Restaurants
7575 E Princess Dr
Scottsdale, Arizona 85255
(480) 585-4848
I was staying at the Scottsdale Princess Resort last weekend and decided to have brunch at the Marquesa. We actually caught it at a good time, it was the first Sunday they opened for business. ...
I was staying at the Scottsdale Princess Resort last weekend and decided to have brunch at the Marquesa. We actually caught it at a good time, it was the first Sunday they opened for business. Apparently this place shuts down seasonally. Anyhow, the price tag was $70/person! Definitely the most pricey!
We decided to seat outdoors since it was a gorgeous day out! The patio overlook the pond and grassy area of the resort.
The brunch had a theme, they featured food from 3 different countries, France, Italy, and Spain. I don't think I've been to a place with so many variety. They had their past section, cheese section, crepes and foie gra station, their meat station had the fresh catch of the day, lamb, rib eye and much more, they also have a tapas section, a cured salmon/crackers station and also caviar! My favorite was their fruit section, they exotic fruits there such as the dragon fruit, rambuten, and others that I haven't seen or tasted. They had a huge dessert station too! Who can complain about that!?
The service was exceptional! Our waiter always paid attention to us by filling up our drinks. They had an array of drinks you can have. They first gave us champagne and bottled water (which was great! since I don't like the tap water there). We also had their fresh guava juice (this was my favorite), apple cider, and fresh squeezed orange juice. When it was getting sunny, our waiter came and moved the umbrella to give us shade! He was absolutely polite and great!
I highly recommend this place for special occasion or if you just want to splurge! Check out their website at http://www.fairmont.com/scottsdale.
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Crush
Category:
Restaurants
2319 E Madison St
Seattle, Washington 98112
(206) 302-7874
My fiance took me to Crush last might for my birthday. I've been wanting to try this place out for a while now and was looking forward to it. I've heard great things from people and was hoping to...
My fiance took me to Crush last might for my birthday. I've been wanting to try this place out for a while now and was looking forward to it. I've heard great things from people and was hoping to have a fabulous meal!
I made reservations the day before and was able to get one for 8pm (which was later than I hoped but we went for it anyhow). When we got there, we were quickly seated and our server came with water. The place is very small, it had a maximum of maybe 15 tables? Everything was very white (from tables to the seats), it felt a little cramped to me. The seats were plastic and the booth had hard white leather. I was hoping for more of a warmer atmosphere, but I thought it was a bit uncomfortable for me.
Anyhow, our server came offered us an array of beverages and we decided to just have water since we don't really drink. The menu looked really good though.
We ordered 3 appetizers, the blue cheese tart topped with Asian pears, seared foie gra steak (we really love this stuff!), and grilled octopus. For our entrée, I ordered the duck and my fiance ordered the sea bass with a butter and caviar sauce.
The appetizers came fairly quick. I was disappointed with the foie gra, it was dry and over cooked. It didn't taste as fatty as it's supposed to. I did however, like the huckleberry sauce that was drizzled on the foie gra, that was delish! The grilled octopus was pretty good, different, I didn't think it was going to be soft, but it was. My favorite was definitely the blue cheese tart. The blue cheese was not overwhelming and the combination of the flaky pastry and the sweat pear was to die for!
We were pretty full, but our entrée came and I must say the presentation was pretty. My duck though, didn't taste like duck. It was a bit rubbery, not as soft as I imagined it to be. Overall, it was ok. The sea bass was pretty tender, but it was fishy because of the caviar. We didn't like that as much either.
To sum it up, the food was ok-good, but not great. The service was excellent but I think the food was a bit over hyped. I would come back, but not that I'm dying to come back for seconds!
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Over the weekend, my fiance and I both received treatments at our resort, the Willow Stream Spa! It was the biggest facility I've ever been in. If you were getting any kind of treatments at this...
Over the weekend, my fiance and I both received treatments at our resort, the Willow Stream Spa! It was the biggest facility I've ever been in. If you were getting any kind of treatments at this place, you can use their facility which includes the rain shower (co-ed) which is really cool. It totally feels like you're in a rain forest! The spa also have a swimming pool at the top of the third floor overlooking the whole resort with private cabanas as well. You also have access to their steam room, fruits, tea, and water. The private showers are very clean and nice.
My fiance got the massage which he loved. I got their signature facial and boy was it relaxing. They did a really good job with the facial. Afterwords, the gal also told me what she thought was the problem areas and didn't even try to sell me any products! Definitely the best spa I've been to in a very long time! I came out of there feeling great! For more information go to www.fairmontspahotelsandresorts.com.
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Over the weekend, my fiance and I took US Airways flight to Scottsdale. I didn't realize that they now have merged with America West. We were pretty confused because we bought the tickets from US...
Over the weekend, my fiance and I took US Airways flight to Scottsdale. I didn't realize that they now have merged with America West. We were pretty confused because we bought the tickets from US Airways, we were expecting to take their plane. However, we were flying on an America West flight. Anyhow, the experience was less then mediocre. The pilot did not do a good job stabilizing the plane. I got motion sickness because his landing was so shaky! That was our flight there.
Our flight home was even worse I thought. We were delayed because they did not service the lavatory! I mean, how can you not do regular maintenance on the plane? That delayed our flight for about half an hour which made us really late when we came in! I was not a happy camper! Overall, if given a choice, I don't think I would fly US Airways again! I also think their website is very slow, www.usairways.com.
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