Case: A friend and I visited Pat Thai after I received a call from a man who said that if we mentioned his name we'd get two meals for the price of one.  He got my name from the owners of the previous restaurant (Sumantha), apparently, though I don't remember providing the number.\n\nAnyway, I figured I'd offer the free meal to my friend, so off we went.  First of all, the place is TEENY- like a large living room. When you walk in you are smack amongst the diners.  We were seated at a table that was so close to another occupied table that we decided to sit together on the same side to avoid interrupting the other diners.\n\nWe mentioned the man's name and the waitress nodded, saying that we would get a free appetizer. We said no, we would get a free MEAL, right?  She smiled and got some information and then agreed that we would get the second meal free.  \n\nWith that, we looked through the menu to decide on what we wanted. I decided upon mussaman, which is my favorite Thai dish (well, 2nd favorite dish. Tom kha gai is my favorite). My friend had yellow curry with seafood.  We shared a stuffed chicken appetizer which we named Chickchicken, as it was a chicken stuffed with chicken. In style, it looked like a giant fried drumstick with a roulade-looking interior. Unfortunately, Chickchicken was DRY and simply not very good. It gave the impression of having been assembled and frozen at a Chickchicken factory (it may be available at Costco).  Disappointing beginning. \n\nThen the entrees arrived.  My mussaman with fried tofu was flavorful, but after a few bites the overwhelming saltiness was too much for me.  It also had a very peanutty flavor that I thought was overdone.  In counterpoint, however, the potato chunks were UNDERdone.  I ended up eating a few bites and then calling it quits.  My friend's curry dish, which she ordered with a \""heat factor scale\"" of 4, was strangely bland.  No depth of flavor, whatsoever.  Not horrible tasting, just not a lot of taste to it.  She didn't finish her meal either, but we decided to take the meals home, as they weren't complete disasters\n\nThe friendly woman (hostess? Owner? She didn't identify herself) who eventually removed our plates and boxed our leftovers never asked if we'd enjoyed the meal, nor did she question the fact that we hadn't eaten all of the appetizer.  However, she made sure to mention at least eight times the fact that she wants us to return.  Then the bill arrived and of course we were not given a free meal -the waitress wanted to give us the appetizer free instead.  A little friendly reminder over the deal we'd been given over the phone eventually rectified the situation, but we were already disappointed with our experience, and this didn't help. \n\nAnyway, the hostess then wrote out two coupons for 15% of apiece as part of her campaign to get customers to return, and gave us each a brochure for the restaurant.  Then she talked about how important it is to get people to come back, told us she hopes we'll return, asked us to come back, told us she hopes she'll see us again... you get the picture. I was starting to feel uncomfortable.\n\nI hate to say anything bad about people- the staff were nice and I'm sure everyone working there is caring and hardworking, but I just want decent food and good service when I visit a restaurant. If employees see that the food is not being eaten but they want you to come back, they should ask what went wrong and at least give the impression that they care about your experience.  We aren't planning on going back.\n\nI asked my friend how she'd rate the place, and she said 3.  I would give it a 2, which would round up to 2.5, but since there is no 2.5 I dare not bump it up and make it look like I liked it more than I did.  Despite my negative experience, though, I don't \""hate\"" this place, and I'm willing to believe that some of their other menu items may be better than what we tried. Being a new establishment  struggling during a recession, they could be off their game right now. I wish them luck and really wished I'd enjoyed the food.
Classification: voluptas


Case: I was here on Friday night with 7 friends, 6 female, 1 male for my bachelorette party. I have very conflicting feelings about this establishment. The positives are that the men here are GORGEOUS. Incredible specimens. My mouth was ajar the entire night. One of the men in particular, Jimmy, was absolutely incredible. Not only was he the most attractive guy in that place, he was a total sweetheart and gave my friend the best lap dance in the history of lap dances. Ladies, invest in a Jimmy lap dance. It's worth every penny. We spent the entire night laughing. It was great. The minute we got there the guys swarmed us- I could see some people feeling overwhelmed, but we loved it. \n\nNow, on to the negative. This club is absolutely, positively homophobic. The 1 male we brought with our party (one of my best friends on this earth- he is an incredible human being and is drop dead gorgeous) was completely ignored the entire night. The guys on stage wouldn't even touch the money that he put out for them. When I inquired about getting him a lap dance, the dancers said that they were not allowed to dance for men. I confronted the guy running security, asking why my friend was being so poorly treated, and his response was that \""this is a straight club\"". That is segregation, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
Classification: voluptas


Case: I visited yesterday 11/15/2011 and ordered the 10 wing combo with ranch dressing. I mixed the flavors so I had 5 hot and 5 lemon peppers with a side of extra hot. \n\nThe wings were among the best I have had in the Charlotte area and I consider myself a wing connoisseur. I think I've eaten wings at just about every wing place in Charlotte lol.  I especially enjoyed the lemon pepper wings and the extra hot sauce.\n\nThey also carry draft beer at a very reasonable price. \n\nI would have given it 5 stars but I did not like the idea of eating breadsticks with wings and being charged a dollar more for french fries.
Classification: sputteringly


Case: The best pizza I have ever had. And I have worked at 2 pizza places. I recommend the thin crust basil pizza. It's good enough to not need more toppings than that! Also, the service is personal and they have a half-price wine happy hour. And we got a birthday cannoli!
Classification: sputteringly


Case: Came here last week with an old high school buddy since we decided to try out a place from the Montreal episode of Anthony Bourdain's series, The Layover. so we settled on trying this place since neither of us had gone.\n\nFirst up, we decided to order 2 appetizers and share, what came was a very tasty dish of fried chicken and a second dish of fried pork under a mound of fresh watercress and sliced radishes and onions. Both were very tasty and by appetizer-standards quite large dishes and very filling. We began to wonder if ordering mains \nmay have been a bad idea and overkill.\n\nI ordered the Green Tea spare ribs and my friend ordered a Ramen noodle dish with beef and eggplant. My ribs, if a bit dry, were OK, (FAR better than Bar B Barn, which I can't stand), and the green tea sauce at the bottom of the dish was very lightly flavoured with matcha. It's not the best ribs I've ever had but I'll give them points for originality. My friend however was very disappointed with his dish, he described it almost as if it was a Taco which they just threw into a soup with Ramen noodles and vowed never to order this again.\n\nThe d\u00e9cor is very funky and clever and yes, it does almost have a cafeteria-style and vibe to it. The service we received was friendly and casual. I'd come back here if for anything else to try out more of these appetizers!
Classification: sputteringly


Case: They severely lack in service. They love to sell you their two year alignment package, but they don't really want to do the alignments. They will not take appointments  so here I am at 11:30 am and must sit here until 5:30 pm to get my car aligned. All about the service, aren't they? Btw all locations are the  same.
Classification: voluptas


Case: I've been going to the Sugar Shack on 5th for about 3 months now to get my Steelers fix.  Yes, I said it, Loud & Clear - I am a Steelers Fan ! ! !   The Sugar Shack reminds of a few bars in the 'Burgh.  It is a Steelers bar and a Cardinals bar!  ?*$%@  how is that possible?  St. Louis Cardinals - think baseball...  Anyway, this place has the mandatory bar cuisine, burgers, French fries, etc.  The beers are reliable, not too diverse.  The Steelers Fans are here though!  If you are in the Scottsdale area and not up for drive to Harold's in Cave Creek, the Sugar Shack is a throw-back to real-deal, the Iron Curtain!
Classification: sputteringly


Case: Basic, easy, and filling....hangover food.
Classification: voluptas
Considreing the above, classify the following: This is pretty good buffet and doesn't get the recognition it deserves. They advertise that they were voted the #1 buffet in Vegas a few years back but most of my friends never think about going to Planet Hollywood to eat the buffet. They have fairly decent selection and the quality is higher than Rio's but a notch below Bellagio or Wynn.\n\nNice Middle Eastern selection, frozen custard, and king crab legs for dinner!