TASK DEFINITION: You are given a review about a place. You need to provide a rating from "1 star" to "5 stars" for this place.
PROBLEM: Customer service sux...and that's a nice way of putting it. Rude and unhelpful, uninterested management with the ever-so-obvious "we could care less about you 'cause there's always another with $$ next in line" attitude. Oh, and don't even try to use your VIP card - folks....they give you one and tell you all you need to do is just hand it over at checkout with your purchases to earn reward points. However, when you try to redeem?? You will be informed by some smug twenty-something, on an $8.50-an-hour power trip, that you need to activate it online in order to use it. And this, folks, is something YOU should have had a crystal ball and known beforehand. Because it makes total sense, right?! Give a customer a rewards card, swipe it, send them on their way....then expect that they'll think they have to activate it online? WHY EVEN BOTHER? If you want to make it a challenge or try to screw people out of the rewards they earn then JUST DON'T OFFER A CARD!
Oh, and when you do go online to activate the card??? And place an order with http://Lego.com??? Get ready to be charged TWICE, have two of the same orders show up at your home, and then have the entire debacle blamed on you - the customer! Yeah - living the dream! They send me and order TWICE, charge my debit card $150 TWICE, then try to claim I am at fault? REALLY?? You know, in all my years of online shopping, funny how this has never happened with any other company; I never received two order confirmations....or shipping confirmations....yet, this is my fault. It could never be something they did, right?! So, more aggravation Lego Co. Now I have to waste time tracing shipments and wondering when the hell they are going to refund the money they pretty much stole from my debit account. They sure take it quick enough, though.

I spend a lot of money on Legos. I was planning on going to their theme park this summer. I think my plans will change. It is very clear that this company isn't hurting for money and they aren't afraid to show it to you: the customer....they could care less about complaints, their careless errors or their customer's in general....you know, why should they?! - there's always another person with $$ standing in line. Poor way to execute a business: anger enough people, do it enough times and you just may find a "store closing" sign on your shop and your clients shopping Amazon or Target....or perhaps your smugness as a CS rep will land you on a layoff line after your irreverence comes back to bite you on the butt after your product sales slow.

Yeah - maybe one doesn't matter...but, judging by how I've been treated by this company, I suspect I'm not the only one....probably one of many.

SOLUTION: 1 star

PROBLEM: This place is interesting.

For the most part I really liked it here, and would totally stay again under the same circumstances I stayed here this past time (I'll get to what I mean by that). However there were a couple of issues I did have (one of which was eventually smoothed over).

My birthday fell on a Saturday this year so I decided why not take advantage of the cheap summer rates at AZ hotels and have a "pool day" in Scottsdale before heading out for the night. When I say "circumstances" under which I would stay here again, this is what I mean. I think this is a great option for locals looking to do a night or two in Old Town. This place is a lot cheaper than the other hotels in the area (and yes, it should be) & basically if all you care about is a decent room & really nice pool area you're set. However, I DO think if you're someone from out of town (or I guess even local) & you're looking for a multi-night stay at a "resort," thinking you're getting a steal here I think you'll be disappointed.

The fact that this place doesn't have all that much to offer guests other than rooms & a pool actually works to its advantage. Basically, you can do & bring whatever you want to the pool (okay, within reason obviously, but you get my point). Everyone here (including our group), brought our own big coolers full of beer & other alcohol and it was totally cool. They have a few nice cabana areas set up (first come, first serve), plenty of lounge chairs, and a couple of gas grills set up for guests to use if you want to bring your own stuff to grill (all of the rooms have full kitchens as well). Oh yeah, there' s a peacock as well. The day we were here there was a mixture of families, youngish people partying (our group was set up in a big cabana next to another group with a guy doing a one day/night thing for his birthday as well), and a even a slightly older crowd living it up & having a good time. I really liked the freedom of doing whatever I wanted compared to other Old Town resorts on a Saturday. No organized pool parties with fees for guests, BYOB, grills to bring your own food, AND a nice pool? Yeah, I'll take it.

Now as far as the rooms go, at the end of the day I was okay w/everything, but my feelings were kind of mixed. I was able to get a good deal on a two-room "luxury" suite through Travelocity. I thought the living room/dining room/kitchen were nice enough. The furniture & decor was kind of minimal, but everything was nice & I liked the wood floors. I really liked that there was a full kitchen (including stocked w/kitchenware). However, I'm not sure how "luxury" the bedrooms were. One was still carpeted (I was told all the "luxury" suites were fully wood-floored), and in the other one the closet door was kind of loose & about to fall of tract. There was also no drawer space in either room. For us this was fine, but if you're planning on staying here a few days this could be an annoyance. This was not one of the luxury suites shown on the El Dorado's website so I do have a feeling the other ones are probably a bit nicer. It's my understanding that both the "traditional" & "luxury" suites have the same set-ups for one & two bedrooms so the fact the this place has this distinction tells me the traditional suites might not be all that nice (and it sounds that way from the reviews). I should also point out this place doesn't have an elevator. Our room was on the second floor, which made transporting stuff down to the pool a little annoying.

I should also mention I had a little snafu with my payment. I booked the room through Travelocity, so when I booked it I paid. However, when I got to the hotel to check-in they asked for my credit card (honestly, I should have questioned why since I had already paid) and discovered after checking out I was charged again (and a different amount, which confused me even more). I contacted the El Dorado immediately & they were very apologetic. The matter was resolved within a couple days. It was kind of an annoyance that it happened, but I can't complain about how things were handled. Oh, and speaking of the check-in...this place has a pretty minimal staff so things can move a bit slow.

All in all I think this place is kind of a hidden gem in Old Town depending on what your expectations are & how you plan on using it (if that makes sense). If you're not looking for a "total" resort experience & just want a nice pool area and a room that's nice enough, but mostly a place to get ready in & then come back to and in sleep in after going out in Old Town you should be satisfied.

SOLUTION: 3 stars

PROBLEM: I had been anxiously anticipating when I was going to be able to try this place. I had heard so many good things from reviews and friends but I was underwhelmed with the food and the service.

We went during happy hour after we did the Yelp Shopping Crawl so the place was packed and the atmosphere was nice. We sat outside but the space heaters kept us nice and toasty.

We didn't have to wait to long before we got our drink orders in and we started off with an order of the soft pretzels and fondue. I have had this same dish at Culinary Dropout and they are so good (plus during happy hour they are a discounted price so even better).

I ordered the Turkey Sloppy Joe which was pretty good (I did like it didn't fall apart like crazy), but I wished they noted that it comes with mayo on the menu. They didn't mind giving me a fresh bun that was mayo free. I really liked the side salad that came with it.

A friend ordered the beef burger and they got his order completely wrong and our server didn't seem to care. I hate making a big deal out of messed up orders since you never know if it was the kitchen or the server and people make mistakes, but I think they could of been a little better about it.

Everybody has a bad day occasionally, so I think I need to give this place another shot. The crabbed stuffed chicken sounds particularly tasty.

SOLUTION:
2 stars