04.04.10
Posted in Diary Entries, Restaurant Reviews at 1:57 pm by skay
Our first full day started off by deciding to get up early and go to Buffalo to one of the places featured in Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives on The Food Network. The one we chose was Sophia’s since it was apparently only 12 miles from our hotel. We crossed the border at around 730am and were at the restaurant by 745am. The food was pretty good, you can read our review HERE (once it is done and there is a link there!).
We left the restaurant and decided to fond out which one of the GPS entries we had put into the unit was which so we headed to Kohls and Walgreens. It wasn’t the one we were thinking of so after some unsuccessful shorts shopping and a little grocery pick up we continued on with our road trip. The next place we cam upon wasn’t even on our list but had a BabiesRUs, Carters, Chipotle and Target. I had more unsuccessful shorts shopping and Nicole didn’t have much luck either. We ended up at Burlington Coat Factory where I finally found a pair of shorts however not camouflage so I can’t throw my old ones out quite yet. Finishing our shopping we’d had enough and headed back across the border for nap time. After nap time we went down to the gym to work out. The gym is small as I already said, and not that well equipped so I was unable to do pull ups. Luckily tomorrow is a cardio day which should be easy. After the gym it was dinner time and we ended up at Romano Macaroni’s Bar and Grill. The food there was quite good, and I will do the full review HERE (eventually, obviously).
We spent some time (and money) in the casino and then decided it was time to get back to the hotel. The walk back home was interrupted by an impromptu sand storm down the main street which sent everyone scurrying for store entryways and any other sheltered area. After a short stay in the room we headed down to the Un-Starbucks downstairs and had tea and did some crosswords watching the people in the lobby.
Anyone staying here and expecting a Starbucks in the lobby should be warned, they may serve Starbucks coffee but apart from that it’s about as far from an actual Starbucks as you can get. They are painfully slow doing anything, even making tea.
That brought our day to an end so it was time for a soak in the wonderful tub and to bed.
However, I should note that I wore my iPod in the gym and forced something into my ear meaning I now can’t hear out of that ear. May have to sort that out tomorrow since poking around there with a Q-Tip hasn’t worked.
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08.24.09
Posted in Casino Reviews, Hotel Reviews, Restaurant Reviews at 7:27 am by skay
It is weird to read what someone else’s experience is about an event that you share. It really depends on what you contribute to it and how that colours how you enjoy it. For example, according to Nicole I seem to have napped most of the time this past weekend and her overriding memory seems to be of the casino. For me, the poor sod who has to drive the car, the experience is completely different. Mostly I like driving, but when it comes to having to drive in torrential downpours and endless traffic jams my enjoyment is diminished significantly. My overriding memory of the weekend then is not the casino, which was a lot of fun, especially since I didn’t really lose any money. It is not the room, which was amazing, a pass through window to the bedroom from the jacuzzi bathroom and a view of the falls and the Casino. It is not our discovery of a brand new shopping and restaurant area in Amherst (I guess this would be like driving from Etobicoke into Mississauga and discovering all the different stores there) including the same ring store where we can now take Nicole’s engagement ring to get cleaned. It is not even the enormous pile of nachos that I had at the British Pub style restaurant at the casino as outlined below:
Their description:
After a busy day in Niagara, come meet friends or simply relax in the warm and inviting pub atmosphere of The Falls & Firkin. Enjoy a wide selection of domestic and imported draught beer, as well as wines and cocktails, while you seek refuge in a variety of comfortable seating overlooking the Falls. Their extensive menu includes traditional pub fare and delicious daily specials, covering lunch, dinner, late-night snacks and weekend brunch.
My description:
After a busy day in the Casino losing all your money and getting bumped from your machine by grumpy senior citizens with menace in their eyes even though you only stood up to stretch your legs, come and relax in the comfortable but oddly low booth seating in the Falls & Firkin. Enjoy watching us eject unruly Asian people as they attempt to eat their own food on our patio and marvel at the inappropriately tight Lululemon pants on our (obviously oblivious) slightly portly waitress. Enjoy a wide selection of food as long as it is fish and chips, nachos or beans and mash since our understanding of British Pub cuisine obviously comes from The Simpsons or Family Guy. You can have a myriad of different beers but in order to do so you have to catch the waiter with the weird hair or try and track down the bartender who is occupied chatting up some pierced face weirdo who looks more like a pincushion than a fashion statement. But take our advice, have the nachos, it will make all the rest of the experience go away.
My overriding memory of the weekend then was none of the above, and no, it was not even the traffic. My overrriding memory of the weekend was how amazing it was to me (if not to her) that Nicole was able to read tiny street signs, to see wonderful cloud formations and to see the beauty of the falls from our room without her glasses or contacts. It took me right back to when I had my eyes done and the marvel it was finally to be without contact lenses for the first time in 20 years. I know exactly how she feels, something which for men and women is rare. I even know how she will feel as the days and weeks pass which is even more strange. But most of all I know that she is happy which to me is the best Anniversary present of all.
The hotel was nice, well appointed, comfortable and clean. The service was good, although we did not use any of the amenities. I would recommend the hotel but only of you can get a good deal on a room. There is no way I would pay $250 a night for it, but then again, there are very few places I would pay that kind of money for. The place is well built, pleasant to walk through which is nice, the lobby area is large and welcoming and the halls to the rooms are equally appealing and clean. The room itself as noted was very nice and interestingly laid out. However, the shower door seal leaked and the door did not close properly meaning that after I had finished showering the floor of the bathroom was completely flooded, not only a pain for me to mop up, but also extremely dangerous. The shower door has a full width handle on the outside but a very small and difficult to grip cylindrical knob on the inside. This makes it impossible to pull the door hard enough to close it should it not have been built properly, which our obviously had not. The windows were a decent size however I think that a flagship hotel overlooking one of the Wonders of the World could have full length windows or at least full width… Anyway, my enjoyment of the hotel was not diminished by these items. There was an amusing item as we walked from the parking lot to the hotel. Each floor has a “Hotel Events” large screen monitor encased in an expensive looking wooden display on which the hotel displays any conference information, helpful visitor tips and so on. The one on our floor however indicated that today’s Hotel Event was that “There are unused items on your desktop”. Maybe someone should call the helpdesk?
I am not sure if we reviewed the casino last time but the review is short and sweet. If you try hard you could imagine you are in Vegas. The casino itself is very nice, large and bright and well ventilated. It is not quite as loud as some of the Vegas casinos and certainly not as large but it is about as close as you will find anywhere around here. The machines play differently, there is no doubt that the payouts are less and that the variety is not comparable however it really doesn’t affect your enjoyment of the place. You can winn enough to keep playing which is the key and if you are very lucky like my wife (in more ways that one!) you can win enough to go shopping in Buffalo. One thing I did notice is that the Players Club works differently than in Vegas. They only bank points for the money that you put into the machine not for the time that you play. In Vegas you can put in $20 and play for an hour racking up credits enough to get you a free buffet in no time. At Niagara, unless you are putting cash into the machine you don’t get credits. Playing isn’t enough in other words, you have to pay! Their system calls for 100 points to get $10 play cash. However it notes that you have to put in between $40 and $60 to get ONE POINT!!! Enough said. Basically if you can’t get to Vegas and you want the next best thing go to Atlantic City. If you can’t leave the country then go to Niagara Fallsview. Just check the weather and the traffic before you go!
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07.08.09
Posted in Diary Entries, Restaurant Reviews at 7:55 am by skay
Don't expect anything like this!
So the idea seems like a good one. Take a wonderfully tasty treat that you can only get by paying exorbitant prices to go to Canada’s Wonderland and bring it to the public via a coffee shop type setup. I imagined a family friendly, kid-centric location which would remind you of the carnival atmosphere that you would associate with funnel cake. Instead, what FunLFun gives you is a stuffy, pretentious espresso bar setup with waitresses falling out of their skimpy outfits. The location itself is attractive but completely inappropriate for the theme. The owners have very little attention to detail and it shows. The menus that we were given were different, obviously printed at different times, one having the store logo as a watermark behind the type, the other without. The painting of the mural on the far wall was a little garish for my liking but not badly executed until they had tried to add their logo to the artwork. The logo, the one thing that you want perfect and to represent your entire concept in a picture looked like it had been painted by a 9 year old. The slogan for the store, “The World’s Best Funnel Cake” was so badly planned that they ran out of space at the end of the banner on the logo leaving what looked like “The World’s Best Funnel Cok”. Not great, but fairly representative of the place as a whole. The staff kept stepping out into the back room to eat their lunch, change their socks and shoes etc all the while leaving the door open so all the guests could see what was going on. The fact that the restaurant is quite dark and the back room area is white and lit with incredibly bright fluorescent lights didn’t help. On the table near us a person I can only assume is the owner’s son was conducting an interview with a prospective waitress, an eager but questionably dressed young lady whose large earrings and poor choice of makeup placed her firmly in the right category for the job. At one point Nicole overheard the guy say “I don’t care about experience, it’s waitressing, it’s not rocket science”. This didn’t seem to register as an insult to her however it was certainly another nail in the coffin of the experience.
The food. The funnel cake itself was apparently tasty although anaemic in its appearance. I was expecting thick ropes of batter intertwined just as you get at Wonderland however apparently the idea of bringing the same method of making the funnel cake as they employ at the park was something only I had thought of. If I had wanted funnel cake, I would have wanted funnel cake as I know it, not some wafer thin imitation. Chalk another one up in the disappointment column. The ice cream was very good, however Nicole’s funnel cake and my ice cream arrived almost 5 minutes apart which just goes to prove that while waitressing may not be rocket science, getting food to the table together may be. As we finished the meal and prepared to pay ($8 for a funnel cake!?) the obnoxious interviewer took exception to our waitress who was trying to give us some privacy while we signed her bill. “Can I help you?” he asked in a brutish and very rude voice. Our waitress was visibly annoyed by him, muttered a veiled insult under her breath and walked away. A spectacularly bitter and awkward way to end what was a hugely disappointing experience. We won’t go back, no matter what, and my money would be on the place being out of business within a year. Don’t rush to try it while it is still around, it is not worth the trip.
Bottom line, if you want funnel cake, go to Wonderland. Even with $50 for admission, it is still a better bet than FunLFun.
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07.21.08
Posted in Restaurant Reviews at 12:53 pm by Nicole
Breakfast – July 20, 2008
Order – Coffee, Cheddar Omelette, Homefries & Toast
What I really got was greasy coffee, processed cheddar cheese, frozen homefries and burnt toast.
The meal was hardly what I consider a filling breakfast, probably becasue I didn’t eat any of it! Our waitress wasn’t too impressed that we were there and it showed.
I had to clean the table myself after my arm stuck to it. The ketchup is in jars for everyone to stick their dirty fingers in.
My favourite part of the whole visit was the sink in the ladies washroom. Sad really.
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02.17.07
Posted in Restaurant Reviews at 8:29 am by skay
We went to Cynthia’s with Uncle Mike while he was staying with us basically becasue everywhere else was full and it was close by. We have eaten their take out many times and have always been happy with the food. As luck would have it, it was Chinese New Year and we were greeted at the door by a woman with the biggest hat I have ever seen. She looked like someone had strapped a christmas tree to her haid while she was sleeping…
We were served quickly and very politely, the hallmark of the Chinese Food Restaurant and the food arrived very quickly. Even though the restaurant was very busy, the service was excellent. The items we ordered were as follows:
Scallops and prawns
Chicken Balls (S&S)
Lemon Chicken
Chicken Fried Rice
Boiled White Rice
Vegetables with cashews
Spring Rolls
Egg Rolls
The food was excellent, far too much for us to finish. The flavours were well balanced in the seafood dish and went along nicely with the sledgehammer sauce that accompanied the chicken balls. The chicken itself was crispy and well done while the chicken balls were not at all doughy but were crispy and light. The rice was natural tasting without that chemical taste you get at some chinese restarants and you could taste the chicken in the fried rice. The spring rolls were not greasy and as far as I could tell the egg rolls were also crispy, not soggy.
All in all, a very good experience and one which we will no doubt repeat. The ambiance was very enjoyable, and I would bet it would be like that any time, not just over new years.
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01.15.06
Posted in Restaurant Reviews at 8:00 am by skay
I wrote this a while back:
Parking was a nightmare… I waited in line for 20 minutes which I expected, but once seated it took the guy 10 minutes to take my order and 35 minutes to get it. It was pretty good, but not worth that kind of pointless waiting. The only redeeming quality is that being downtown it was full of “colourful characters” (I prefer to call them freaks personally) and so there was plenty to keep me occupied. I had the pancakes and a bagel with coffee and juice, and the guy felt that I was in need of the DOUBLE priced “100% fresh squeezed” juice rather than asking me. Oh well, it came out of his tip, so who am I to complain?? Apart from the service being abysmal, the food was pretty good, good enough that I would go back again but it won’t deter me from embarking once again next weekend in search of the apex of the Toronto breakfast experience.
It seems as though it was good enough to return and since it is now one of our favourite places to go I can only say that my one experience was the exception to the rule. The service still leaves a lot to be desired, i guess that because they work “downtown” they have the right to be snotty, but in reality the reason everyone hates downtown is the attitude of the people who work and live there. Manhattan, I get it, downtown Toronto, stop trying so hard, you are embarrassing yourself.
Apart from the stupid potato cubes they serve for home fries the food is pretty good, and a fairly good deal. I suggest having the omlette or the french toast, both are excellent. We go back for the value and the good size portions, and I still refuse to tip for bad service.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
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Posted in Restaurant Reviews at 7:55 am by skay
Breakfast is not the time to be at Moxies. This morning (Sunday) I was told that they don’t do pancakes except on Saturdays. Fine, I thought, I’ll have the giant waffle, something for which they claim on the menu to be famous. Unfortunately, the menus are about of date and my dateless waitress told me that they no longer carry the waffles. I was stuck having scrambled eggs, which were remarkably forgettable, potato cubes with onion and toast. I told her I didn’t want meat with my food, but she billed me for it anyway because apparently it doesn’t pay to want less than what they want to give you either. I was certainly not thrilled, and even though I have eaten there before and had a pleasant experience I shall most likely not return after today’s fiasco.
Rating:3 out of 10
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Posted in Restaurant Reviews at 7:53 am by skay
A well balanced and healthy alternative to the regular fast food type joints. The cream cheeses are varied and come in regular or light and the bagels are usually excellent for freshness. My personal favourite is a toasted everything bagel, 2 slices of cheddar cheese, Dijon Mustard and nuke it! They have started carrying a breakfast selection now which includes nuked eggs on a toasted bagel which is excellent however when I asked whatever happened to the Bagel Dogs the pre-teen behind the counter looked at me as if I was asking him the 12x tables… The Bagel Dog was the holy grail of GCB at one point, sadly though it seems to have been put down while I was away and is currently frolicking in the doggie heaven along with Old Yeller and seven thousand Lassies…
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Posted in Restaurant Reviews at 7:49 am by skay
Just a quick word, the coffee is the best in the world, but I did once become addicted to the extra-large English Toffee Cappuccino. As for eats, the oatmeal raisin cookies are great, if you can find the oatmeal raisin muffins they are even better. Raisin Bran is a close second and they used to have oatmeal carrot raisin muffins which were the dogs bollocks, but they are really hard to find nowadays. Since they have started doing bagels and sandwiches and soups you can get a decent meal there any time, the 12 grain bagels are pretty good. The 9 rating is for the coffee, everything else you can find at almost any coffee shop.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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Posted in Restaurant Reviews at 7:45 am by skay
..at Victoria Park and Sheppard in Scarborough. They have the best burgers in the city, the most amazing Onion Rings and provide very fast in and out service. The Souvlaki isn’t bad either. There is no seating, except for picnic tables outside and you will be constantly barraged by hungry, fat seagulls. The prices are low and the food is good, but it’s definitely not gourmet. If you like barbecue, then take a chance, all the burgers are grilled while you wait and are custom built for you. In my opinion, the greatest burger experience you can have.
Rating: 8 out of 10 (on the greasy burger scale)
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