Q: negative

A: Atmosphere is obnoxiously loud and bright with the overhead lights and the blaring TVs. Burgers were good, but nothing about makes them stand out amongst all the $$$ burger joints. Service was slow.

Q: positive

A: Ok, so here's how last Friday goes, I hit the airport, taxi to the hotel, drop my stuff in the room and hit the tables. For about an hour I had a killer run at blackjack and craps and decided to cash in my winnings and treat myself to a first rate steak. I see Cut online, and though I'd usually classify the place a bit too expensive, I figure "hey, we're eating on the house's money tonight!" So we walk over to the Palazzo and settle in for some beef. I started out with the tuna tartare appetizer. The avocado was perfect, the tuna was succulent, just a very good appetizer all around. My entree with the Kobe style filet and the Yukon Gold potatoes with the bernaise sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly, tender and juicy but not overly charred on the outside. The 6oz cut was just right. The bernaise sauce was thick, but just seemed a little flat in flavor. Something was missing, but it surely was no distraction from the meal. The potatoes were a home run, light yet buttery... oh so good! I had the strawberry shortcake dessert. Again, good, but not great. I should give a tip of the cap to the barkeeps there. I had a couple of very fine Manhattans there, and I can't think of a better cocktail to compliment a fine steakhouse meal. Many bartenders don't seem to know how to make a Manhattan, so it's always good to get one done right.

Q: negative

A: I'm going to start off by saying that every Pita Jungle review I will do will be based on how high the Tempe location set the bar. It is the ONLY Pita Jungle I will return to. They're the only location with consistently good flavors, portions and service. I waited almost a year to eat here after this location opened, because I learned my lesson after going to the location in Scottsdale on it's opening weekend. That experience was horrible. Because of that experience, I like to give a place a while to work out the kinks before I visit. If you want more info, check out that review. So this location. Okay. Well, It's usually dead in there if you go anytime after 7pm on a weekday. Mostly because it's downtown and it dies down here after everyone gets out of work. I live in the area and this location always looks really busy at lunch time, so I opted to go in for dinner, twice. Visit #1- I went in with a friend and we shared a plate of hummus and pita for an appetizer. Meh. It was okay. The hummus tasted like it was old or something. And the pita was cold and almost hard. Usually any place will warm up the pita for you (which I know to be true of other PJ locations), but they did not. We asked our waiter to warm up our plate of pita because ours was cold, and he kind of huffed about it and reluctantly went and got us another plate. So then out came our entrees. I got the Caribbean salad, and my friend got the Broiled Fish Sandwich. For those of you who don't know, the Caribbean salad is pretty much just a big fancy fruit salad on top of mixed greens with coconut and raisins. Well, that's what it's supposed to be. Mine was just mostly a bunch of grapefruit on top of iceberg lettuce. The apples looked to have been cut long before they were put on top of my salad because they were turning brown from being exposed to air, the bananas were also turning brown and didn't taste fresh at all. I kind of picked at my food, but I don't even think I ate 1/3 of it. Waste of food and money. My friend seemed to enjoy her sandwich but she added that it tasted really fishy. I know, I know. It's a fish sandwich. But anyone who knows anything about seafood knows that fish shouldn't be FISHY. Whatever. I tried. Round 1 at this place wasn't a total disappointment, but I wasn't planning on rushing back in any time soon. Visit #2- I went in late one night to place a to-go order after I had gotten out of school. I was REALLY hungry, as I didn't have time to eat before going into my 6pm class. I got out of school around 9, headed home and looked for a place to eat. Unless you want fast food, your choices are slim when you're downtown at night. I headed inside, the place was almost deserted. There was 1 couple sitting close to the front door, about 3 or 4 wait staff that I could see and that was it. I went up to the counter and ordered a greek salad and a side of pita and hummus. The girl who took my order was very sweet but a couple of the other employees (including one of the cooks) were just staring at me angrily. I guess it offended them that I would walk in and order something so close to the time they closed. Anyway, a couple (literally) mins went by and my food was ready to go. The nice girl who rang me up wished me a good night and was very polite to me. I got home, so excited to sit down and eat my salad. I opened the box and everything just looked thrown in there. I know I got it to go and all, but where's the presentation? It literally looked THROWN into the box. Whatever, I'm gonna eat it anyway. I took a few bites of my salad and then opened the hummus up. Guess what? THE PITA WAS COLD. AGAIN! I live a total of 2 driving mins away from this place there is no way it was heated up and got cold by the time I got there. Ugh. Just ugh. Maybe I'm being too picky, I mean this isn't really authentic mediterranean or ANY kind of food I guess, but I just wish people would try a little harder to keep people coming back. I realize this place gets most of their business from the downtown business crowd, but where's your sense of neighborly love? It's been about a year since my last experience there. Maybe I'll go back, but only if I'm being taken there by someone else and they're paying for my food. I'm done giving this location my money. The Tempe location is better, and they're really only about a 15 min drive from downtown.

Q: positive

A:
Yogurt's good, but I wish there were a real ice cream store around here. They's all gone the way of "healthy living," it seems. Menchie's has good yogurt, but serving oneself can be expensive...it's all weighed.