Becky F.'s Profile

Great yoga studio in downtown Downers Grove. I live in London, but when my husband and I are visiting family in the Chicago area, we come here to practice. Challenging classes and skilled instructors make this studio a real treat to visit. Definitely a studio to check out if you are interested in a power/Baptiste style of yoga class.

I really liked Mela. The location makes you think it's going to be boring Indian food in a tourist-trap location, but it is a huge step up from your run of the mill curry house. The dishes are inventive and unusual. The mixed vegetable, fruit, and cheese tandoori plate was utterly delicious. Tandoori grilled pineapple is a revelation in food. The prices are a bit more expensive, perhaps partially due to the location, but my husband and I both thought the food was worth the price and not unreasonably expensive. This is a really good place to know about in the Leicester Sq/Covent Garden area. Definitely would return.

If you like spicy food and you are an adventurous eater, this place is for you. The lotus root hot pot was especially yummy and memorable, but all of the dishes we ordered were good. It's fairly priced, and for the price, I don't think you'll find much better food in Chinatown (the nearby Bar Shu is much better, but far more expensive. You get what you pay for). They get knocked 1 star (or maybe 1.5 stars) for truly appalling service, which was at best unattentive and disorganised (they brought out the wrong dishes several times, and forgot our dumplings, which only came after several requests for them, about 30 minutes after everything else arrived), and at times, bordering on rude. They would do well to improve the service, but otherwise, I would go back if struck by a craving for spicy Chinese food.

Seriously good stuff going on here. Nice ambiance. Good salads. Delicious pizzas with plentiful interesting toppings. Lots of choices for both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. I really liked the cornmeal crust and thought it was a nice change of pace from a traditional crust, while still tasting like a pizza. In my opinion, this place is WAY (WAY) better than the nearby Mulberry Street. I don't really know why anyone would go to Mulberry Street, where the pizzas taste mostly like cardboard, when Otto is in the neighbourhood.

I used a Groupon for a mani-pedi here and was satisfied with the treatment for the price I paid. The women who work in here were all super friendly and nice, and I liked the selection of colours they have. The entire place was very clean and sanitary, which is, obviously, very important.

There were a few things I didn't like. I thought the pedicure was nice, but I wished there had been more water in the bowl so that my feet could have actually soaked. Also, the application of polish was a bit uneven, particularly on my hands. Their regular prices are pretty steep, and to be honest, it seems somewhat overpriced. Also, the place is pretty small and when I was in there, two technicians were working. If you wanted to come with several friends, I think they would have a hard time accommodating more than 2-3 people at once.

Other reviewers compared Nail Girls prices to NYC prices, which is just not fair. The bottom line is you cannot get a mani-pedi in London for the same price as in NY. I don't know why, but you can't. So you have to compare it to other London salons. Nail Girls is still more expensive than many other places I've gone (most places I've been to are £40 for a mani-pedi, and Nail Girls is £65 full price (I think)). As I said above, I don't think the quality of the service warrants this price.

I'm not sure I'll return to Nail Girls, but that's primarily because of the price and the location, which is not super convenient for me. If I lived in the area and they ran another Groupon-type deal, I would probably use it because I think the service there is "A-OK."

I think 3 stars is about right for Kopapa, but unfortunately, some aspects of this restaurant are worth 1 star, and others are more like 4-5 stars. In general, I was extremely underwhelmed by the service. We booked a table for 7:30 but when we arrived, our table was not ready. We ended up waiting about 30 minutes for our table, but they did offer us free drinks while we waited. So, one major bonus point for the free drinks, but they should have had our table ready when we arrived. Onto the food.

Some dishes were outstanding. The tempura dal and encrusted tofu were both delicious. And our desserts were very tasty. The peanut butter ice cream that comes with the sticky banana pudding was amazing. Other dishes were less remarkable, but nothing was downright "bad." But again, service throughout dinner was slow and our waiter was not very attentive. However, they did very good job of checking on ingredients for our friend who has a nut allergy.

At the end of the night, when the bill came, we realised they had charged us for a bottle of rose that the next table had ordered. By this point in the evening, that seemed somewhat typical for our experience.

Would I go back? Probably. But I'm not in a huge rush.

Came here with a group of friends after reading the positive review in Time Out. We had an absolutely fantastic experience and I'd highly recommend Ariana II for tasty, inexpensive Afghan food in a friendly environment. The manager/owner is an absolute riot and works hard to make you feel at home. This sort of service is so hard to find in London so I found it a really welcome change from the norm. The food was very tasty- similar to Indian food (at least among the vegetarian options) but somewhat less spicy. When the bill came, we were all delighted that our huge feast of food was such a steal. Definitely recommended, especially if you are lucky enough to live nearby!

I really like the Bill's in Brighton, so it is somewhat reluctantly that I give this Bill's only 3 stars.

Things I love about Bill's in London:
-tasty, reasonably priced food
-diverse menu with plenty of choices for vegetarians, omnivores and carnivores alike
-friendly servers who allowed our large group of friends to completely take over the big table in the centre of the restaurant and set up shop for 3.5 hours.

Things I feel reservations about:
-It feels like it's becoming a chain. The interior is just TOO much like the Bill's in Brighton, and in this setting, it feels contrived for some reason. I wish there was something a bit more unique about the inside that distinguished it from the other Bill's.
-The location is sort of dreary. It's in a bit of a mall-like establishment just off Long Acre, squeezed between a Jamie's Italian and other chain establishments. This worries me.

Still, I have no complaints about the dinner we had at Bill's. It really didn't let me down, and it was a good spot to gather with a big crowd.

Adding to the lovefest going on here about the Peasant. I think this pub is doing a lot of things right. We enjoyed a truly lovely dinner upstairs in the restaurant part. The starter vegetarian mezze was delicious (and a huge amount of food) and we completely demolished it. The pub has several good vegetarian options on the bar menu, which they were willing to serve us upstairs in the restaurant. My husband had a vegetarian kedgeree that was very tasty, and my vegetarian haggis was equally yummy. All in all, we were very pleased with The Peasant, and I would definitely come back if I'm in the area.

Interesting spot, all told. The pub portion downstairs was hopping on a Sunday night and seems to be a pretty solid place for a drink. Upstairs, it feels like you are walking into a totally different place. Dim lighting, modern decorations, and Thai food aplenty. The food was definitely good- the curries were appropriately spicy and flavourful without being greasy, and I liked the abundant selection of veggies in my red curry. I think pad thai may be slightly better than the food at Churchill Arms, if we are looking to compare pubs in the area that serve thai food, but Churchill Arms is much less expensive.