Nuts About You
The Rum Runner

The Rum Runner

816 Ocean Ave Sea Bright, NJ 07760, 07760-2136, RUMSON, United States

Pizza • Steak • Venues • Cheese


"Second time for dinner there with my wife and daughter. The place is always well kept, well lit, and well decorated. Noise level was okay and the live musician wasn't too loud from where we were sat. The food is always excellent. Last time I was there, I got a burrata ravioli dish that was delicious. This time I got skirt steak as my entree and it was perfectly cooked and seasoned. I also ordered a corn poblano chowder that was great. I don't remember my wife's orders, but she really enjoyed them. We were a bit disappointed in our waiter this time out. He wasn't particularly friendly or warm. Perhaps it was a long day and he may have been new, but he definitely could've been a bit more engaged. We were not given a list of specials (perhaps there weren't any) and we had to ask to see the dessert tray. We ordered a cheese board and were not told what each cheese was. For $30, they could tell you. I'm not sure if that's a waiter issue or just how they do it as Rum Runner. My wife is slightly allergic to blue cheese and it would've been great if I could've known which one it was. We also ordered the $6 bread app. I'm okay with paying for bread which really amounts to 5 rolls or so because they normally come with cinnamon butter, a fig jam, and oil. However when our order arrived, there was only oil and butter that was in those little rectangular packets. I asked about the butter and fig jam and was told they were out of both. 2 things. 1. Whipped cinnamon butter can't take more than 2 minutes to make. You mix cinnamon and butter and whip it. Whatever. Maybe it's not made in house for some reason. 2. It would've been nice to have been told about this beforehand. I might have ordered something else. He could've also told us when he brought the order over. I shouldn't have had to ask. A $6 comp would've gone a long way there. Otherwise, we had a very good meal. We'll be back again but if this would've been my first time here, I might go elsewhere next time."

Madeline Garden Bistro Venue

Madeline Garden Bistro Venue

1030 E. Green St., Pasadena, United States

Cafe • French • Dining • High Tea


"Ambience/surrounding: We requested to be seated outside because we brought our dog along with us. Although they have mosquito repellents hanging on the trees, it still wasn’t enough to keep the mosquitos away. My partner and I got bit a few times throughout our time here, which made the overall experience a little bothersome. Food Value: The food SUCKED. My partner got the champagne brunch. He chose the French toast as his main course and we both strongly disliked it. I personally feel as if they overcomplicated their recipe for their French toast, which only resulted to it having a weird off taste. On the other hand, I got the English high tea. For the price I paid, i personally didn’t think it was worth it. The portion sizes were way too small and every food item on the tier tasted whatever/nothing special. I’ve paid around the same amount at other high-tea services and those places give you a better bang for your buck as opposed to this place and their tea sandwiches were a lot better (such as Morning Lavender in Tustin and Tea Rose Garden in Pasadena). I also ordered the strawberry lemonade on the side — it was definitely nothing special. I regretted spending the $12 on it. If there is something good to say about the food, it would just be that everything was served aesthetically nice, but that’s about it. Service: The service was good and the employees are friendly. One of them went out of their way to bring a small bowl of water out for my dog. Overall, I had my hopes high for this place, especially since I love high-tea experiences. But, I wouldn’t be coming back to this specific place."

Pidgin

Pidgin

350 Carrall Street Vancouver, BC V6B 2J3, V6B2J3, United States

Asian • Korean • French • Japanese


"We went to PiDGiN for dinner on an evening with a group of friends. It is an asian fusion restaurant near chinatown in downtown Vancouver. There is street parking near the restaurant, but the neighbourhood is pretty sketchy so we parked in an easy to find nearby garage. Walking felt safe but not pleasant, and the doorway of the actual restaurant had a very strong smell of urine which isn't a great way to start a fancy meal. Some of our party had the tasting menu while I and some others picked some a la carte elements to try. The menu has quite a wide range of dishes and there were several things I wanted to try though at least one turned out to be too spicy. Portion sizes were not huge but decent. Prices were high but not super expensive. Service was odd. At the start of the meal our server was occasionally unhelpful and argumentative. Several people commented on it. Perhaps he had something stressful going on elsewhere. Later in the evening he settled into a more positive service posture. Food quality was very high, with most dishes being well received and delicious. I especially liked the gochujung wings, mushroom tempura and the bavarois. Service speed was terrible. We had an approx 7pm table and had made tentative plans to go to another event that meant we needed to leave around 9. With a 7 course tasting menu it didn't occur to us that timing would be a problem (and we did not ask the restaurant to accelerate). However, in the end it took over 3.5 hours to complete the tasting menu a time that we have previously taken to consume a 15 course menu at another restaurant. The meal felt slow to everyone, and doubly so to the folks who had just picked a few a la carte items. It was very surprising that we weren't warned about the service speed when we ordered, but perhaps even more surprising that the meal didn't just move faster with shorter pauses between the small courses. This restaurant wasn't as good as we had hoped, and the combination of service and speed mean I wouldn't come back soon, but if you like fusion surely this is worth trying once."

Madeline Garden Bistro Venue

Madeline Garden Bistro Venue

1030 East Green Street, Pasadena, 91106, United States Of America

Tea • Bistro • French • Coffee


"Fantastic place! I was scared to go because most of the reviews say the food is not that great. But they were wrong. Everything me and my friends ordered was delicious! Also, the ambiance was beautiful! They had a lady playing the harp. The waitress did such an amazing job! She was polite and patient with us. We were there for about 3 hours and no one told us it was time to leave. The waitress took several pictures of us. About the food: we ordered the honey chrysanthemum flower tea, and French press coffee, oh my those were so good! We also ordered virgin margaritas and cucumber lime, they were good but too sweet. We got the European and Madeline high tea. Pretty much everything tasted very good. There was only one item, bacon date, I didn't like from the European high tea, the waitress noticed and replaced it with another item I liked! The other people in the party ordered Brunch, the egg Benedict were great. The French toast was good except the bacon was too thick which it made it hard. The sea food quiche was good but if you're not used to smoked salmon, then it might not be a good choice, since smoked salmon looks and feels raw. Last but not least the scones were delicious! The only sad thing is that is only one per person. I wish we could order more. I had a great time! I would definitely come back. Dietary restrictions: One of the people in my party is allergic to gluten. They had a few gluten-free options and did their best to accommodate her."