Restaurant Review: Reddstone

Last night I went to Reddstone in with some friends to celebrate a birthday.  Located in Battery Park, I've heard good things about this place.  Unfortunately, my experience left a bit to be desired.

Courtney, was our server and I'm not sure if she was new or not but she definitely struggled throughout the night.  When we first got got there my friends and I ordered drinks.  After a bit of a discussion about what my friend T was ordering Courtney still brought the wrong beer out.  I ordered my standard vodka and tonic and was definitely given vodka and soda. 

It took us about 20 minutes to be given menus but we ordered quickly.  I will say she got our food orders correct.  I ordered "Just a Burger" without cheese of course.  It was delicious but at least three times I bit down on something hard- like tiny pieces of gravel- too hard to be gristle.  The fries were good but heavily seasoned with what I believed to be rosemary.

My two friends and I were part of a larger group, but were leaving before them so we asked for our portion of the check.  Courtney told us, "I can't split the check because then I can't put the 20 percent gratuity on there."  We told her we still planned on tipping her.  She said, "Yeah, but this is a $350 check and the tip will be like $46."  It went back and forth for awhile but finally she came back and told us it was fine, she could put us all on one and still put the 20% on and brought us the check.  We certainly didn't give her anything about the 20.  It was one of the weirdest experiences I had ever.

The bar itself was crowded though I heard a rumor that there is more of a restaurant area upstairs.  There was a good size patio, but as it's January and we're in Cleveland, that wasn't an option last night.

I'm not sure if I'll head back to Reddstone anytime soon, but I hope they work on training their servers a bit more.

Eddy's and Iggy's Take 2

My ladies and I went to Eddy's and Iggy's again on Wednesday!  I don't know why more ladies in Lakewood don't flock to that bar for the free drinks!  This time, as promised, we all indulged in some $0.50 tacos!  They were good- but I like Merry Arts' better.  BUT they were $1.50 less... so I think really it's a wash.  Be warned though- you can get sour cream, but one side of it is 50 cents! Still, the five of us all ate and drank for I'd say around $20 with tips!  Not a bad night out, not bad at all.

Have you tried the Eddy's and Iggy's happy hour?!

EDIT 2/2/11: Apparently we were just lucky that the two times we went they were offering the fifty cent tacos.  Follow them on Facebook to find out when they're doing the special because they do not do it every Wednesday!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

It's time for me to consider what my goal/resolution for the month of February should be.  Upon some  reflection I've realized that I have not been very happy recently.  I've felt stressed, lonely, worried, and a host of other not so pleasurable emotions. My natural instinct when feeling like this is to just wallow in it and not really make any changes.  So I have decided I need to make an effort to BE HAPPY.

A lot of what has been weighing on me is completely out of my control, so I have to stop thinking about it, stop worrying about it, and just find ways to be happy in other aspects of my life.  In October I was feeling a little down and out and I set a social activity goal for myself, and it worked out really well.  I'm going to do that again. 

Here's my Happiness Plan:

1. Accept all reasonable invitations to do something.  In October my goal was to do at least 15 social activities.  I'm going to aim for 12 in February due to the shorter month.

2. Start a new "happy thoughts book."  In high school I had a book that I, and many many friends, all wrote down lists of things that made us happy.  I still have it and my tastes have changed, so I think an update is in order.

3.  Be proactive.  Whenever something is bothering me I will deal with it as directly as possible. 

Hopefully by the end of February I will be in a great mood all the time! Well, at least most of the time!

What makes you happy?

A Little More Green part 2

I think I did a good job of getting off of a lot of snail mail lists in January, but really only time will tell.  I have failed majorly on the using reusable bags when shopping, and I never got around to researching composting.  Maybe I will in the next three days- we'll see.  Obviously as 2011 plugs along I will keep trying to maintain the drive to be more earth conscious. 

Stay tuned for my February goals!