Q: negative

A: It makes me sad to write this update, but it has to be done. My very good friend Brenda celebrated her 50th birthday yesterday and she wanted to do two things to celebrate it: have her favorite VPN pizza down the street at Village Square and then have her favorite chocolate cappuccino here at Sambalatte. Simple, right? Well, no, apparently not. Anyone who knows me knows that I've been a big fan of Sambalatte since it opened. I've been coming here for a while and I even introduced Brenda to this cafe and to my favorite drink, the chocolate cappuccino, which then became her favorite drink. Now, I'd noticed already on prior visits that if you arrive close to closing time, your drink will be served in a to-go cup, which I thought made sense because they were about to close in a few minutes. However, we arrived at precisely 7:54pm and they were closing at 9:00pm. When Brenda placed her order, she was told that her beloved chocolate cappuccino would be served in a to-go cup. "Why is that?" Brenda asked. "Because we're closing in an hour. It's the owner's policy," replied the Samba lady. "OK, but it's 7:54," Brenda replied. (We know this because the three of us all checked our cellphones right then.) "It says 8:00pm on my clock," "says the Samba lady. "OK, but it's only 7:54pm AND it's her birthday," I chimed in. "Sorry, but it's the owner's policy. We can't change it. If we serve the drinks in the porcelain cups, people hang around." Is this not a cafe? If we wanted to-go cups, we could have gone to one of the chains. If you don't want people to "hang around," why are you in business? Is it too much trouble to wash your cups at night? Now we know. Brenda placed her Sipping Rewards card on the counter, we turned around, and went to the cafe at Tivoli Village. They served us pleasantly and Brenda got her birthday chocolate cappuccino just like she wanted. This may not seem like a big deal to anyone but us. Brenda just wanted to enjoy her drink with the leaf design and hang out for an hour as she's done on several prior visits. There are lots of people who love Sambalatte as I have. They won't notice that they lost us as customers. I get it . But, you don't treat loyal customers like that, especially if they're my friends. End rant.

Q: negative

A: Servers were clueless! No menu knowledge. Terrible service! Disgusting food. Soggy fries. Expensive for quality. Will never go again.

Q: positive

A: I love this trail, it's especially good for early morning hikes with my dogs. It's not too steep and doesn't require an immense amount of rock climbing at any point... So my little chihuahua and dachshund are able to do it without any problems. My favorite part about this hike, is going off trail, you get great views of the entire phoenix area and you can do some serious rock climbing if you want. Like everyone else has said, keep an eye on which way you came from.....you can get lost and it's a pain in the butt trying to find your way back. I like this trail cause I rarely see it getting very busy (unlike camelback) and it seems like a peaceful/mild hike. Definitely one I'll be coming back to.

Q: negative

A:
[ This is a combination review for both the tables and for hotel rooms. ] What an awesome deal for the new year: 50% off almost all rooms for the weekend of 1/6-1/9 and i cant complain especially for the awesome price for two standard connecting rooms. The rooms are clean and neat. Wish they had a bigger TV tho. Suites aren't that big, but big enough for two roll away beds to fit in there. I enjoyed the two standard connecting rooms though. Housekeeping here are really nice and friendly. Front desk check in took a while due to complications w/ the computers but the lady Connie was real nice, shes AWESOME. Besides that, no windows for fresh air = weak. Shower is weak, i need some stronger water pressure up in there. Their irons suck, leaked water all over my clothes when I try to iron. Lastly, the black jack tables. Whoever the asian male manager is down there, that fool is a trip. The dealer already checked my friends' ID's and my ID too, then this fool comes over and asks if the dealer checked our ID's and she said YES. No shets sherlock. Then this oompa loompa went ahead and asked us if we were even 21. REALLY? we already got carded and you still trippin about it? damn idiot. A few of the girls may look young, but we're all at least 22. With crappy luck at the table, my boy Brian head over to the next table and played one on one with the dealer, and this trip of a manager, started speaking vietnamese (no racial) to the dealer for a good two minutes on and off about something. Obviously I dont understand, but it felt like they were talking smack about something. Then he goes ahead and stood behind the dealer and watched us play as if we were going to pull some illegal crap in vegas... Thanks bro, If I see you again I'm gonna get you fired