Yes, as they obviously have an agenda, good or bad.

Ours (Hoover, AL) switched in the last month as we noticed on Saturday. I prefer diet coke but can live with diet pepsi. It would be nice if they had more tea choices like at Sam's. I don't go for their hotdogs (I prefer grilled as the mushy steamed dogs are not my gig) and their pizza is so greasy lately that we continue to just get a drink.

Ours did this about two months ago and at first it was a pain to learn where everything had moved but we are getting used to it. They did change out the fridges and add more cheeses, plus more sliced loaf bread options. As someone else noted, their original plain wheat must have been primarily comprised of sawdust but the newer (and slightly more expensive whole wheat) is better.

Not food related, but we grabbbed one of those 10 ft offset umbrellas for $60 last week. This is a great price compared to the box stores and/or online vendors if the quality is reasonable.

Vittoria's Facebook page says it is open as of today.

http://www.facebook.com/VittoriaMacel...

yeah, I'm not really lumping CH into the mix as the mods are pretty quick to delete them unlike on other sites.

I do believe some such reviews (on other sites) have some validity. I am just annoyed that most such posters wait to spam the internet until they have a beef. Where are the ones that while not obvioulsy glowing, read like the poster signed up because their experience went beyond the norm and they enjoyed their night out.

I have been on CH for over 10 years now but since moving away from a major metropolitan area to a much smaller town (albeit still one with a population over 1M) with less of a CH presence about 6 years ago, my perusal of UrbanSpoon and Yelp reviews has steadily increased to assist in augmenting my local restaurant knowledge. I read CH more now for other boards than my local one but read Yelp and US only for local reviews.

Now, I have never been one to give much credence to a solo glowing review or slam of a restaurant either way, but it seems to be that there are a LOT more disgruntled one time "reviewers" out to slam a restaurant based on a single dining experience than previously over the last few years. It almost seems that the individual is so affronted by the single (worst) experience that it becomes his/her mission in life to slam said place on the innerwebs (sometimes with the exact same review on Yelp and US). Is it just me or am I just getting more cantankerous in my old(er) age? And what really jerks my chain is when the "reviewer" starts off with "I have been here x number of and formerly loved it" or "I eat all over the world" or even "I'm a foodie (ugh)" yet the person has never written any other reviews, good or bad, on the site(s). This drives me bonkers.

Alternately, there are a few “reviewers” that provide glowing reviews of a place which come off as shilling. I can deal with that. What really gets my goat is some reviewers only review the same place over and over and over, making that one place sound like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. And those tend to be for places that basically suck.

/rant

CJ's was sold? That is my favoite old school pizza on the Island by far.

I love our 800XL and we cook in it 90% more than the regular oven (which has has convection) since we purchased it. This is huge as the weather gets warmer. Between the Breville and the NG Geneis outside, our kitchen stays relatively cool so far.

Jarred oysters? Tell me more. Are these like smoked or just shucked oysters? Does costco sell tubs of shucked oysters to use for frying? If so, any idea on price?

An order of beef carpaccio (which I assume is served as an appetizer) makes a few meals for you? How is this possible? That's probably only like 3-4 ounces of protein and typically a few dressed greens.

nailed it.

Aw that sucks.

In Alabama, our bags are right under the conveyor and are self-serve and they never ask if you need any.

The vegetable produce shelf life is about a 2 weeks unless a) bagged (ie cheap spinach, sometimes as low as $.99/bag and pre-washed) in which case maybe 3 weeks or b) avocados which can change in about 2 days. Fruit lasts fine.

Their kettle chips are good as are their knock off wheat thins (even the light ones) and triscuits.

The cheapest loafs of bread at $.99 are weak but they're "upgraded" ones (not sure what they are called) at around $1.79 are a good bit better. They're also $2-3 less than name brand loaves of bread. The English muffins are fine for about $1 if you like toasted English muffins.

The pizzas are pretty bad, at least the regular mama cosi ones.

Their whole grain mustard, which they don't always carry at mine, is a steal at around $3 compared to Maille (~$6) which we also devour by the jar (mostly for vinaigrettes, salads and with good salumi)

You can apparently return anything for a full refund and they also offer some type of replacement (ie probably a refund on the bread plus another loaf of your choice) but I have not returned much.

I thought that McDonald's divested their Chipotle holdings back in 2006?

This is pretty much my experience there, although we find their whole wheat pasta to also be decent but do not care for their brown rice.

Also like the Donut Store coffee.

I have never purchased their tuna. Which canned one do you like?

Their avacados are frequently less than $.50 each but can turn black inside practically overnight so check their firmness daily.

We'll be down the week of 6/22.

My brother likes Tup Tim (and so did I on my one visit). Is that closer to the Island? It takes a while to get there from SSI otherwise.

A growler store willbe good too.

I read about Halfshell on Yelp, will have to check it out.

Have you been to Palmer's for their dinners?

Headed backin June for the annual trip. I know all of my old favorites, but if you can point out something new (or greatly improved) that does not break the bank, I'd appreciate it.

I hear Palmer's is good (which is great as Dresners seemed to coast for years) but I have never been and don't make it out for breakfast much as we rent a house. Will they do those prix fixe dinners?

Looking at you beetez!

Same isle and pretty close to the peppers at mine in Alabama.

We like those along with the artichokes for salads, both in the same size container. It always seems about $10 for both jars combined.

They are called "Dreamland Bar-b-que Ribs" and the first page of their website reads: "Since 1958, we've been serving the best bar-b-que ribs you could ever hope to eat!"

To me, barbecue means smoked, low and slow. I know they go on to say they are grilled over hardwood. Semantics I guess.

Edit: I'm definitely not a "fall off the bone" guy and like a little pull to my ribs, but I feel like I'm a dog gnawin' an old bone when trying to get the meat off of the BHM Dreamland ribs.

The Aldi I go to in Birmingham, AL (Crestwood Blvd not Greensprings) did not have any dubliner or kerrygold yesterday. Boo. They did have the Jarlsberg for about $6.49 but it's a little too boring for me (although ok on sandwiches). I think their black wax sharp cheddar is pretty good and it seemed to be on special yesterday but I was in a rush and left without it.

I do like their bagged spinach and grabbed a couple of bags on sale this week for $.99

Was trying to convince myself to buy the gazebo/tent with mosquito netting for $119.99 ...

I actually like the pulled pork and ribs at Jim and Nicks even though it's a chain. And their habanero sauce is delicious when mixed in with their regular sauce.

Brick Pit's pulled pork was really damn good the one time I went, but the sauce was so thick and sweet (even the spicy one) that is was worthless. Luckily I requested unsauced and although I prefer a little more vinegar, was still good without the sauce albeit a little dry.

Have not been to the Ttown Dreamland, but the one in Birmingham is weak unless you like chewy wood grilled ribs, rather than real barbecued ribs.

Fair enough but I have eaten at the 3 Saw's locations about 10 times and only one had a bad meal.

Rusy's over Saw's is a load of horse manure. Saw's has them beat in every category (note, I don't really include "barbecue chicken" as barbecue - must be swine or cow in my book).

Yeah, I assume they keep very tight records there (although their POS system seems antiquated) and they probably have some magic percentage/amount before they flag your membership or something along those lines. I mostly only return items due to quality issues (bad/spoiled/moldy) although I did return the seaweed salad as it was too sweet. I know I don't abuse the system as I appreciate the ability to try something new and return it without a ton of questions.

I understand they are trying to keep the freeloaders out who would just consume and return for a refund, but when something is off/spoiled the 2/3 request is annoying. Costco is a 15 minute drive for me across town in the best of traffic so I can rarely return items immediately and I also hate them taking up room in my fridge/freezer until I have time to return them (and remember to take them back). I am awful about saving the receipts.

I returned the mussels yesterday. When I handed her my 1 lb bag, she asked where are the rest. I advised that we had a couple of people over that night for mussels so we ate the other four lbs (and they were delicious). She advised that typically they will only refund a purchase if 2/3 of it is returned. I said well hell, I wasn't going to waste the good ones on a return when we had people over that night specifically to eat mussels and she agreed but noted the 2/3 remainder for future purchases. I understand the intent behind that but 20% of the mussels should not have been dead in the first place. I actually requested only a partial refund and she advised that costco cannot provide partial refunds. Anyway, then she took the bag with the bar code label and looked up my purchase history (I did not have my receipt) and came back a few minutes later to ask if I had purchased mussels elsewhere that day as that was not the costco barcode? I advised that was the only place I had bought mussels in the last three months! Whatever, she refunded the $13 but the whole experience was kind of annoying.

But only auto (liability mostly) insurance would apply in the event of an accident occuring during delivery (while operating the vehicle).

Those bags are able to keep them hot but they don't stop the pie(s) from sweating in those cardboard boxes sealed within those (mostly) enclosed bags.

And those bags must be kind of expensive as (way back) in college a friend who was also a delivery person left hers at our place following a pizza delivery so I called her back and she let me know how awesome that was as she would have been docked the apparently considerable cost had she not returned with it.

They are both delicious and easy to cook, but I had an issue with possibly dead ones in my last bunch and forgot to take back the 1/4 of them (frozen) for a refund when I went two weeks ago. Maybe this weekend.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/892002

Wife says they were called Chocolate Soldiers and she remembers the cans but advised it was more like chocolate water (ie Yoohoo).