My FAVORITE place for lunch by our office.
Great atmosphere, great service and GREAT FOOD.
I only order the teryaki chicken sandwich (with curly fries)/companion had buffalo chicken wings.
Always $25 for 2.
Rating: 10
Dec 5, 2008
The Bar, The Peninsula Chicago
It Sucked.
Over hyped, unfriendly, pretentious service.
Tables marked with "reserved" at 10:30 pm on a Wednesday night, told we couldn't sit there, when we left they were still open.
1 chocolate martini and 1 "312" beer (a good one from Goose Island) = $25.
Drunken, older crowd, I WILL NEVER RETURN.
The hotel was very pretty and well decorated.
Rating: .1 (only in the positive because of great decorations)
Over hyped, unfriendly, pretentious service.
Tables marked with "reserved" at 10:30 pm on a Wednesday night, told we couldn't sit there, when we left they were still open.
1 chocolate martini and 1 "312" beer (a good one from Goose Island) = $25.
Drunken, older crowd, I WILL NEVER RETURN.
The hotel was very pretty and well decorated.
Rating: .1 (only in the positive because of great decorations)
Park Hyatt, 800 N Michigan, Chicago
AWESOME.
AWESOME.
AWESOME.
Finally a place in the Hyatt chain that values a diamond member. I used a "fast and free" night, and we were upgraded to a suites, and when I choose the campaign as my "gift", they sent up 2 bottles and a cheese plate.
The room was great, quiet and AWESOME!!!!
Rating: 10
AWESOME.
AWESOME.
Finally a place in the Hyatt chain that values a diamond member. I used a "fast and free" night, and we were upgraded to a suites, and when I choose the campaign as my "gift", they sent up 2 bottles and a cheese plate.
The room was great, quiet and AWESOME!!!!
Rating: 10
Dirty Dancing, Cadillac Theatre, Chicago IL
It was OK, first seat was really good with lots of dancing, second set was LONG and BORING, I would have left early, but Katie said it was "just like the movie" and she LOVED it.
It began at 7:30 pm and didn't end until 10:15, including 20 min intermission with a $6 beer.
Theatre was 30% full and the $125 tickets for 14 rows back and center were too much, when you could have bought the cheapies and walked down to sit anywhere.
Rating 6
It began at 7:30 pm and didn't end until 10:15, including 20 min intermission with a $6 beer.
Theatre was 30% full and the $125 tickets for 14 rows back and center were too much, when you could have bought the cheapies and walked down to sit anywhere.
Rating 6
Ditkas, 100 E. Chestnut, Chicgo
I love the bar here, especially at Christmas - great decorating and love the "vibe". We ate in the bar, I had "fridge burger", Katie had salad and turkey Chili, and we ordered the wings (HORRIBLE, I couldn't eat even one---funky garlic/breading taste). She had a couple of wines and I had several Hacker Pshorrs.
$105.53 with tip
Rating 9.6
$105.53 with tip
Rating 9.6
Dec 2, 2008
Catch 35, Naperville - Saturday 11/29
Returned to the scene of the crime again on Saturday November 29th. Party of 8, and we arrived around 8 pm. The entrance was busy/crowded, although there were seats at the bar. It took them 5 minutes to seat us, and there were empty tables.
One big change from our visit from last Saturday, they didn't have the 24.99 laminated special menu on the table this week. Someone in our party had to ask for it.
The service was great, and I had the swordfish special and it was awesome. They are now 2 or 2 in terms of us having a great meal there. And it was even better due to the service.
Almost everyone in the party (except me) had the special, lots of wine and Hacker Pshor for me, and the bill with tip was 122.98.
Rating 9
One big change from our visit from last Saturday, they didn't have the 24.99 laminated special menu on the table this week. Someone in our party had to ask for it.
The service was great, and I had the swordfish special and it was awesome. They are now 2 or 2 in terms of us having a great meal there. And it was even better due to the service.
Almost everyone in the party (except me) had the special, lots of wine and Hacker Pshor for me, and the bill with tip was 122.98.
Rating 9
Sugar Toad, Naperville IL 11/28
2139 CityGate Lane, Naperville, 630-778-8623
A brand new place located in the Arista Hotel at 59 and Butterfield. It is a strange layout, with a small bar right in the dining space and a long slender room overlooking the parking lot.
There was only one other table in the place, it was Friday night after Thanksgiving at 8 pm, and it was strange to dine being able to hear the conversation at the table next to us. The service was good, they used 6 waiters to deliver all entrees at the same time, but the wine guy felt compelled to listen/join in on our conversation.
I drank beer and was bit disappointed they didn't have Hacker Pshor, just Blue Moon, while everyone else drank wine. They did provide a complimentary appetizer, their "famous" crab cakes which were good.
Our party included a master chef, and his wife who is also a chef. Her comment was "this guy knows how to cook". The menu was a bit limited, and I had the Kobe flat-iron steak. It was really interesting, I have had Kobe steaks before, but this cut was new to me. I liked it, but it was really different.
It was a long meal which was strange since there was only 1 other table, it was also on the expensive side, total bill with tip came in at $204.03. We had a couple of bottles of wine, several beers, salads, entree and desert.
Everyone else in our party of 6 really enjoyed the meal, while I thought it was better than average. I would return if I had to.
Rating 8+
A brand new place located in the Arista Hotel at 59 and Butterfield. It is a strange layout, with a small bar right in the dining space and a long slender room overlooking the parking lot.
There was only one other table in the place, it was Friday night after Thanksgiving at 8 pm, and it was strange to dine being able to hear the conversation at the table next to us. The service was good, they used 6 waiters to deliver all entrees at the same time, but the wine guy felt compelled to listen/join in on our conversation.
I drank beer and was bit disappointed they didn't have Hacker Pshor, just Blue Moon, while everyone else drank wine. They did provide a complimentary appetizer, their "famous" crab cakes which were good.
Our party included a master chef, and his wife who is also a chef. Her comment was "this guy knows how to cook". The menu was a bit limited, and I had the Kobe flat-iron steak. It was really interesting, I have had Kobe steaks before, but this cut was new to me. I liked it, but it was really different.
It was a long meal which was strange since there was only 1 other table, it was also on the expensive side, total bill with tip came in at $204.03. We had a couple of bottles of wine, several beers, salads, entree and desert.
Everyone else in our party of 6 really enjoyed the meal, while I thought it was better than average. I would return if I had to.
Rating 8+
Nov 24, 2008
Catch Thirty Five, Naperville IL - 11/22
ok, so it wasnt a bidness dinner, but it was excellent. In fact, they now have a special menu, soup/salad, entree, desert for $24.99. I had the 'special" and the salmon was the same size as the regular entree (along with 2 beers), Katie had the grouper special and 2 wines, total bill $103. About 1/2 of what we normally spend
Rating 8.7
Rating 8.7
Nov 21, 2008
AA 1996 11/19
American has a surprising nice Admirals club in Atlanta, located right by the main departure gate. Flight was on time and not very crowded. Smart Car home was excellent as always
Locos for Dinner in Buckhead 11/18
Went to dinner at LOCOS and it was a GREAT sports bar/wings/beer spot. Excellent service and awesome wings!! Beer was good also, $110 for a group of 4. Rating of 9
Nov 17, 2008
BrickTop's, Buckhead in Atlanta
11/17- 3280 Peachtree Rd, adjacent to the Grand Hyatt - sat at the bar to have dinner and watch Monday night game.....crappy place to watch the game (1 tv on that, other on something else)......had 1 Blue Moon, and the grilled salmon for $30.24.....crummy service from the bartender, decent food. 6 rating
Don't think I would go back
Don't think I would go back
11/17 - Atlanta
AA 1359 - ORD to ATL - plane was about 1/2 full......no meal service, only drinks and small snack bags. AA terminal in ATL is awful and it is hard to get to rental car buses.
Hertz - sucks again, no upgrade of car.
Grand Hyatt Buckhead- hard to find entrance to hotel, but service is excellent and rooms are nice. 9 rating so far!
Hertz - sucks again, no upgrade of car.
Grand Hyatt Buckhead- hard to find entrance to hotel, but service is excellent and rooms are nice. 9 rating so far!
Hertz Sucks
Nice message from Hertz......being in the "Presidents Circle" is no big deal anyway, there were only a few airport locations where I would get upgraded. You have to have 40 rentals in a year to qualify. In this tough economy, its not surprising that this message would come from a company that was owned by Ford....
It has been our great pleasure serving you as one of our most valued members. We hope you have enjoyed your year of elite Hertz #1 Club Gold® President's Circle® benefits. We have reviewed your rental activity and unfortunately, you did not qualify for another year of President's Circle membership and you are scheduled to be assigned Five Star status effective December 1, 2008.Before that date, we want to give you the opportunity to purchase an upgrade to extend your President's Circle benefits through December 31, 2009. An e-mail will be sent within approximately ten days with instructions on how to do so. We hope you decide to remain a distinguished President's Circle member. We thank you for your continued membership and for making Hertz your #1 choice for car rentals worldwide.
It has been our great pleasure serving you as one of our most valued members. We hope you have enjoyed your year of elite Hertz #1 Club Gold® President's Circle® benefits. We have reviewed your rental activity and unfortunately, you did not qualify for another year of President's Circle membership and you are scheduled to be assigned Five Star status effective December 1, 2008.Before that date, we want to give you the opportunity to purchase an upgrade to extend your President's Circle benefits through December 31, 2009. An e-mail will be sent within approximately ten days with instructions on how to do so. We hope you decide to remain a distinguished President's Circle member. We thank you for your continued membership and for making Hertz your #1 choice for car rentals worldwide.
Nov 14, 2008
11/13- Midtown to LGA
Steal of the day in a hard rain with a long line at the Hyatt Grand Central, I asked the doorman if they had any cars for LGA and I bypassed the line for a town car at $45 + $10 for tolls (way too much for tolls but who cares in the rain) and made it to the airport in 1/2 hour after leaving at 1 pm.
AA - flew standby on the 2 pm flight and almost every middle seat was open.
Smart Cars home - easy trip, they are awesome
AA - flew standby on the 2 pm flight and almost every middle seat was open.
Smart Cars home - easy trip, they are awesome
Nov 13, 2008
NYC Dinner - 11/12
RARE Lexington - 303 Lexington Ave - Really cool bar/restaurant.....got there just after 7 and got lucky with a table in the bar. There were 4 of us. Menu is burgers, but they also have a "prime rib" burger, it is basically ground-up prime rib served as a burger, it was good, but too much food. For an app we had the fry basket - really good.
Beers were a bit much at $7 a pop for a bud, and total bill for the 4 was $200. Great place to have a few after dinner.
Rating 8
Beers were a bit much at $7 a pop for a bud, and total bill for the 4 was $200. Great place to have a few after dinner.
Rating 8
Nov 11, 2008
Grand Floridian - Nov 4 - 10
Fox Valley limo to the airport - very friendly, older lady driver who could not carry bags from door step to the car, or load them into the trunk. $96 for the stretch with the 5 of us. 8 rating
AA 1562 - ORD to MCO - on time and easy flight. AA has a new entree for dinner - a cheese burger that was excellent. 9 rating
Hertz rental - bus ride sucks, its about 10 minutes and off the airport property - I prefer when you can walk from terminal. Didn't have my name on the board and had to go inside, great service and put me in a town car. Rental rates are CHEAP in Orlando, so that was great. Overall rating of 7 because of service at gold counter.
Grand Cypress (Hyatt) - front desk help really made me mad. I asked for a room on the Regency (club) level, but was told I couldn't have one because I was using my points for a free night. WHAT HORRIBLE SERVICE, made all the worse by the fact that the staff told me they were 14% occupied, and had a conference that put total occupancy below 50%. The least a hotel can do for its Diamond members is put them in the best room possible. Instead we got a small, crappy room with old yellow wall paper. The staff is friendly, property is very nice, but I wont EVER stay there again, and I hope you avoid it also. 0
Grand Floridian - AWESOME. Beautiful property, great people, awesome service. Loved being able to take the monorail 1 stop to the park, and take the ferry directly back to the hotel. Excellent food in their 24 hour cafe (breakfast there every day). Pool is kind of weak, but there is a nice white sand beach next to it. More to come on parks and dinner places. 10 rating.
Disney Magical Express - transport from the hotel to the airport - easy to use since we checked our bags at the hotel in the morning prior to heading to the park. Really rude customer service who would not allow me to get on a later bus (they had us leave 3 hours prior to departure). Easy because the GF is the last stop before the airport, and at 12:55 departure there were only 2 other families on board. Because of the awful customer service they get a 6 rating.
AA 1299 from Orlando to Miami (that's a free ticket for you) - the Orlando airport sucks if you fly AA. Looks like terminal is under construction and that's good because the current is a mess. Especially if you want to buy Mickey items, wife and kids had to take the train back to the main terminal and go back through security to get a wide selection of items. The flight was crowded and full.
AA 1253 MIA - ORD. The service sucked at the Admirals club and especially at the gate. The three agents were crabby, nasty, women. The flight was delayed for 30 minutes due to the crew getting in late. Service was ok on the flight, the dinner selections horrible (cheese tortellini or some chicken-thing), and the dessert was worse (some frozen chocolate thing) or decent cheese plate.
Fox Valley Limo - when I called from the airport they had our reservation for the next day, and told me there was no way their "triple check" program could have had the date wrong. After holding for 6 minutes, they found a ride for me. Good driver (he didn't talk), and $95 on the way home. Pretty good service, 8 rating
AA 1562 - ORD to MCO - on time and easy flight. AA has a new entree for dinner - a cheese burger that was excellent. 9 rating
Hertz rental - bus ride sucks, its about 10 minutes and off the airport property - I prefer when you can walk from terminal. Didn't have my name on the board and had to go inside, great service and put me in a town car. Rental rates are CHEAP in Orlando, so that was great. Overall rating of 7 because of service at gold counter.
Grand Cypress (Hyatt) - front desk help really made me mad. I asked for a room on the Regency (club) level, but was told I couldn't have one because I was using my points for a free night. WHAT HORRIBLE SERVICE, made all the worse by the fact that the staff told me they were 14% occupied, and had a conference that put total occupancy below 50%. The least a hotel can do for its Diamond members is put them in the best room possible. Instead we got a small, crappy room with old yellow wall paper. The staff is friendly, property is very nice, but I wont EVER stay there again, and I hope you avoid it also. 0
Grand Floridian - AWESOME. Beautiful property, great people, awesome service. Loved being able to take the monorail 1 stop to the park, and take the ferry directly back to the hotel. Excellent food in their 24 hour cafe (breakfast there every day). Pool is kind of weak, but there is a nice white sand beach next to it. More to come on parks and dinner places. 10 rating.
Disney Magical Express - transport from the hotel to the airport - easy to use since we checked our bags at the hotel in the morning prior to heading to the park. Really rude customer service who would not allow me to get on a later bus (they had us leave 3 hours prior to departure). Easy because the GF is the last stop before the airport, and at 12:55 departure there were only 2 other families on board. Because of the awful customer service they get a 6 rating.
AA 1299 from Orlando to Miami (that's a free ticket for you) - the Orlando airport sucks if you fly AA. Looks like terminal is under construction and that's good because the current is a mess. Especially if you want to buy Mickey items, wife and kids had to take the train back to the main terminal and go back through security to get a wide selection of items. The flight was crowded and full.
AA 1253 MIA - ORD. The service sucked at the Admirals club and especially at the gate. The three agents were crabby, nasty, women. The flight was delayed for 30 minutes due to the crew getting in late. Service was ok on the flight, the dinner selections horrible (cheese tortellini or some chicken-thing), and the dessert was worse (some frozen chocolate thing) or decent cheese plate.
Fox Valley Limo - when I called from the airport they had our reservation for the next day, and told me there was no way their "triple check" program could have had the date wrong. After holding for 6 minutes, they found a ride for me. Good driver (he didn't talk), and $95 on the way home. Pretty good service, 8 rating
November 11 - NYC
Smart Car to the airport. They are GREAT, always 15 minutes early and best of all they DON'T TALK on the ride to the airport!! Always a 10
Scheduled on American 360, but caught stand-by AA 366 (first class seat still open - 4E);
actually arrived 25 minutes early (surprising since it was light rain in Chicago).
Taxi to Hyatt Grand Central (midtown)- 35 minutes, $36 with tip.
Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Nice room on the Regency level. Great rate due to 21% off offer from Hyatt (had to prepay in full).
Scheduled on American 360, but caught stand-by AA 366 (first class seat still open - 4E);
actually arrived 25 minutes early (surprising since it was light rain in Chicago).
Taxi to Hyatt Grand Central (midtown)- 35 minutes, $36 with tip.
Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Nice room on the Regency level. Great rate due to 21% off offer from Hyatt (had to prepay in full).
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