My husband took me here for a special birthday dinner on 5/15 and I really wanted to like this place, but it just didn't work out that way :( . Maybe it's because we aren't "gourmet" foodies? I dunno. We found it strange that this upscale restaurant is situated in a strip mall, but it IS a nice strip mall (lol) with a pretty water fountain and cute furniture/home goods shops nearby. The interior of Cork is small, yet really cool and modern with a chain mesh curtain running down the middle and suede seats in the booths. When we were seated, we were given menus that read "Happy Birthday, Rebecca!" at the top which I thought was very sweet. All items are tapas style (essentially lots of small meals) which I enjoy because I love to sample several dishes. We started with salads. The Baby Arugula had fried goat cheese, pieces of watermelon and strawberries, cashews, and a blood orange poppy seed vinaigrette. The Organic Green Salad had blue cheese, spiced caramel popcorn, slices of pear, and a balsamic vinaigrette. Both were tasty, but I liked the Arugula the best. Next, we decided on Cork's Mac and Cheese which consisted of BBQ pork belly, smoked bacon, and cheddar (normally comes with mushrooms too, but my husband hates them). It was good, but nothing special. Especially in comparison to Fleming's drop-dead delicious mac 'n' cheese. Finally, we ordered the Honey Glazed Duck Breast (mango sopapilla, duck confit, and cantaloupe gazpacho relish) and the Surf & Turf (tempura shrimp, honey lavender glazed ostrich, coconut milk, chorizo fried rice, and spicy mustard) These dishes were hugely disappointing to us. Let me mention that I've never had duck or ostrich so that could have been part of the problem. The ostrich tasted like cheap stew meat and the duck was just nasty. Our super nice server (forget his name, sorry!) was very thoughtful and did say he could bring us something else, but we were pretty much done by then. We shared the banana creme pie for dessert and that was incredibly creamy and luscious. The 2 major reasons we will most likely never come back to Cork is: Number 1) The food made my husband really crabby......he was seriously grumpy afterwards. and (***WARNING: the following will be TMI for some of you***) Number 2) Literally!!! About 15 minutes after eating here, I had the WORST squirts of my life. It was sooooo bad, UGH!
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negative

I had been wanting to come here for so long and finally on my birthday last week we drove across town to have a delicious birthday dinner, or so I had hoped. I can't begin to describe how disappointed I was with the experience and the food. I waited a week before writing a review because I would have annihilated them had I written the review at the time.... It started off with them seating us in the noisy bar area even though my husband had told them it was my birthday when he made the reservations. I thought it inappropriate for them to seat us in the bar when you are celebrating a special occasion. We moved into the dining area and I was ready for an amazing meal. We started with the goat cheese won tons and ahi tuna appetizer. They were both slightly above average but both needed more sauce. We also tried 2 specialty cocktails and neither were very good, and tasted watery. Now for the entree, I ordered the Alaskan halibut (btw- what I was served looked nothing like the other reviewer's pic of halibut) thinking it would be absolutely divine, my husband had scallops. What a disappointment!!! My halibut was not fresh caught, tasted like it had just come out of the freezer, AND was overcooked to the point of being completely dry. I had to eat the weird sauce that came with it just to be able to eat the dry chunk of fish. What a waste for the most expensive item on the menu. The scallops were not cooked properly either and were mushy, instead of having a nice crisp on the ends. Both meals came with mashed potatoes that were clearly yesterday's leftovers as they were cold in the center and tasted like a blend of instant and real mashed potatoes. They didn't have flavor and came with an unappetizing gravy that tasted canned. The entire meal was a disappointment but I scarfed down the food just so I could get out of there. Their only saving grace and reason I gave them more than 1 star was that they brought out a birthday dessert for me. This is the 2nd year in a row that I had a crappy birthday dinner from trying a new place based on Yelp reviews. I have found many amazing restaurants based on other reviews but I seem to be unlucky on my birthdays. I think next year I will just go somewhere I already know is good.
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negative

Don't let the exterior fool you! It's quite a hip dive bar inside. They play awesome music because they don't waste their time with crappy modern music, they have plenty of games to choose from so you're never bored, and they, and they staff are very friendly. I love coming here every time I'm at stand up scottsdale because everything (except comedy) is of better quality here. Thanks guys and keep up the good work!
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positive

I guess you get what you pay for. Cheap hotel room during a weekday for 29 dollars! The sheets had a hole and tear in them, the bathroom had a crack on the floor and the toilet had a quirk that you had to hold down the lever for it to flush. The bed and pillows were okay. At least there was A/C! The variety of pools was good. It seemed like Goldilocks. One with the waterfall was freezing, another one closest to the entrance was cold, and the last one closest to the bar was regular temperature. The waterfall was a nice touch, though. I like that they have two jacuzzis. The worse thing is that I thought this hotel was supposed to be new!? It seemed like they took over an old crappy hotel. The elevator was ugly and bad, only one of them worked the whole time. Worst of all, no A/C in the elevator! The casino was very small, but all of the dealers and waitresses I had were nice. This casino is too far from the center of the strip, I will definitely consider a closer hotel.
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negative