This was one of the vendors that came highly recommended by my wedding Planner. She could not stress enough how great and accommodating they were. From our first meeting with their Event Coordinator, we were lead to believe that MHI would offer outside catering if they were not able to customize our menu. We wanted traditional Laotian food. They said that this was possible and so we signed. Everything that transpired from that moment went downhill. They did not keep their promise and so we had to work with the Chef to prepare our dishes. After several tastings that we were billed for (it was never stated on our contract that we had to pay for these), the food came out ok. The final straw was 2 weeks before our wedding when we got the bill that was to be paid in full, which was completely inaccurate. They tried to explain to us and our wedding planner what the breakdown of cost was but nothing on that invoice made sense. My planner told us to hold off on paying until she spoke to Billy, the owner. She also mentioned that they had allowed a couple to pay on the day of so we should be ok. After several back and forth, we decided to proceed on the payment even though we didn't agree with the amount. MHI Planner emailed us midday and said the owner, Billy, would not accept our credit card and demanded we paid him cash or money order in full or our event would be cancelled. We told him that the contract explicitly states that a cc is an acceptable form of payment and that he could take. He said that he would take us to court and sue us if we didn't pay. We were under the notion that he was going to cancel our event b/c we refused to give in to his demands but two days later he ran our credit card w/o our knowledge and called our planner to let us know all is well & that we could have our wedding day. We never got our money back and we ended up not having our wedding there. I don't think any bride & groom who endured what we did would want to have their wedding there as well. We had to find a new venue at the last minute and rejigger our wedding day schedule because of Billy. Folks - there is something sketchy when a business owner demands you pay in cash when the contract doesn't state that. Please beware of this. I have all of our correspondences saved if anyone wants to see them.
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negative

We love this place! Have eaten here several times and experienced breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Food is fresh and prepared with care! Mia's pancakes are to die for! One small issue noted...we sat at the counter at our last visit, which is fun because you get to watch the going-ons inside the kitchen. We watched one of the chef's refilling a plastic squeeze bottle with some sort of sauce. He carefully poured the contents into the bottle and I noticed that the top had dried, crusted sauce around the edge. Sure enough, the chef finished pouring the sauce into the bottle, used his spatula to scrape the edges back into the bottle and put the top back on without wiping it. Wish I hadn't seen that! Guys...wipe the tops of the bottles before putting the tops back on! They get crusty and gross.
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positive

Portofinos on Park Road is one of the few places I go for good Italian cuisine in the QC. I'm not saying it's the best Italian I've ever had, but it certainly ranks up there as far as Charlotte goes. After living in New York for two years, I arrived in Charlotte less than satisfied with the pizza choices. Portofinos comes CLOSE to having a perfect New York slice of pizza. I say CLOSE because the cheese and sauce are deliciously tangy, with the perfect amount of spice and sharpness. The crust is also delicious, and you can tell hand made. The only reason I'm not giving this place 5 stars is because the crust is a bit thick. I think they could make it a bit thinner and truly have a winner. The atmosphere is casual and inviting, their pasta dishes are excellent and their house dressing is TO DIE for. It's a cross between a Thousand Island and a French dressing. If you're craving Italian, this place won't let you down.
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positive

Having just moved to Matthews, I wanted to find a great place to have a beer and watch sports. Kristopher's is just that. They have a good local craft selection and a nice hometown feel. I'll be back.
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positive