McLarenblog • Page 114 of 137 • Evaluate products and politics for you.

Apple On Line Store Has Problems.

08/21/2008 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

I ordered a new Mac Book Pro for my self with apple care and a iTouch for my daughter. My E-mail notifications for this order came to be a bit weird. The order was cut into two. The iTouch was on one order while the laptop was on the second. The iTouch arrived extremely fast, with gift wrapping that I do not remember ordering, and was charged $5. The iTouch qualified for a rebate but I never was notified how to get the rebate. I called customer service and was told to got to a web site and that process went really smooth.

I thought I had paid for expedited shipping for the laptop but the iTouch came extremely fast while the laptop took way too long to arrive. It appeared to me that they applied the expedite shipping, $18, to a $100 iTouch and NOT a $2,487.00 laptop. That made my daughter real happy but I am paying the bill, they did not know that, and I had to wait.

I never got any E-mail or snail mail or package for the Apple protection plan. I finally called two months later and was told that indeed the tech support computers did show that I had paid for the plan. I was told that a package should have been send with a certificate and a CD inside. Their records showed the package was sent. Well, I am still waiting for it for over two months. I had to call another number and was told that they would send a certificate but no CD! I would have to go to a web site and download the software and burn my own CD! Incredible. I went to the web site and it did not work. I called Apple technical support again and they approved sending me a CD. That was cool. I was given another web site address, a longer one to try out and it did not work either using Firefox or Safari. Funny thing, tech support told me the hypertext transfer protocol was “HTTPS” but I found I could only get response using “HTTP”. Tech support told me the address they gave me worked on their machine. Https indicates a secure site and a number of issues need to be set correctly and working correctly with your browser as follows: SSL settings, proxy settings, security software such as firewalls.

Boston University offers a wonderful test to see if your web browser is set correctly for proper SSL operation: http://weblogin.bu.edu/troubleshooting?cmd=ssl

All my testing revealed nothing wrong, so my assumption was there was a problem with the Apple web site.

Here are my issues with Apple:

If the customer pays for expedited shipping, pun intended, deliver! This issue is not just a problem for Apple but I experience this problem with most Internet businesses. You pay for expedited shipping but for some cockamamie reason, you don’t get it.
I should have been sent an e-mail telling me how to complete the rebate process for the iTouch.
I should have been sent an e-mail telling me that I should expect to receive, in the mail, a package offering the Apple Protection Plan certificate and CD.
When I was directed to a secure web site as a backup option for me to get a copy of the software, make the site work.

Here are the positive aspects of these problems:

Apple does have a wonderful support infrastructure that seems to come to the rescue when problems need to be resolved.
I had to put Windows XP into my Apple laptop for ham radio and astronomy applications using Boot Camp . The frustrations arising from the Windows operating system are so apparent and significant, in comparison to the Macintosh operating system. This validates, in my mind, the huge cost I paid for the Mac laptop. If you like to tinker, get a Windows machine. If you like to get work done, get a Mac.

Summary: I recommend that you buy from an Apple Super Store instead of through the Internet store. It seems to me that almost all these issues and dissapointments, I had, would not have happened if I had walked into a store and dealt with Apple sales people. Next, if you buy on line and want expidited shipping you will naturaly pay more, just make sure you will get the item(s) the exact day you expect or sooner. My recommendation is to not pay for any expidited shipping.

World Famous Restaurant, Pacific Beach, San Diego.

08/07/2008 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

World Famous Restaurant

711 Pacific Beach Drive
Pacific Beach area of San Diego.
San Diego, Calif. 92108
Phone: 858-272-3100
Fax: 858-272-3189

California coastal cuisine.

Reviewed 8/7/08 (Thursday) at about 9:45 AM for breakfast.

Food: B (Once it arrived, quite good.)
Service: C (Food took a long time to arrive. we ordered fruit and got potatoes. I had to ask for my coffee cup to be refilled.)
Menu: B (Scored high for some unusually nice offerings.)
Value: B (Not bad prices for what you get.)
Ambiance: A (See text below.)
Restrooms: C (a serpentine path to get to)

The concierge at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa, Jeff, recommended we try World Famous as it was one of his favorites. He recommended the eggs Benedict. Getting to the restaurant from the resort was extremely easy, Jeff showed us on a map he provided. We went north on Ingram Street to Crown Point Shores and made a left on Rivera Drive, which turned into Pacific Beach Drive. He said just go past Mission Blvd and look carefully for an underground parking lot at the Promenade shopping center. He said parking in the beach area can at times be difficult but few people know about this particular garage because the entrance is practically hidden. We have offered a web page that we hope shows you how to enter this garage. <Promenade parking garage>

The restaurant is right on the boardwalk and the longest segment of the restaurant runs along the boardwalk and offers a wonderful view of the ocean and people moving up and down the boardwalk. There is a patio area that has a half wall and on top are windows that offer an unrestricted view. Just behind the patio is a large, rather dark dining room from which very good views of the ocean are available.

We were luck enough to get a table, actually two side by side, on the patio with a wonderful view of the ocean. My wife and I sat at the table closest to the windows to the internal dining room and my daughter sat at her own table but next to ours. Her table rocked. I asked the waitress for something to wedge under the table, she said she would get something but never returned. My daughter took 4 Sweet and Low packages and wedged them under one leg of the table. The tables were wood tops with wonderfully rounded edges. The chairs on the patio were wood slats on a metal frame, not too bad for comfort.

My wife, daughter and I did a three way split of the following two menu items:

World Famous Wipe Out $8.75.
3 eggs
3 buttermilk pancakes
Choice of ham, bacon or sausage.
Choice of potatoes, refried beans or fresh fruit.

Famous Bread Pudding French Toast $7.55.
Home made bread pudding sliced, egg dipped, pan griddled, topped with diced bananas and caramelized pecans.

The coffee, I was told it Boyd’s Coffee and it was very good. The second cup was excellent. Boyd’s Coffee is so much better than Starbucks.

The waitresses were another visual attraction (for me), all cute, wearing short shorts and skirts and all seeming possessing killer tans. I gave the ambiance score a high mark for having three wonderful visuals to keep me occupied, ocean, boardwalk traffic and the waitresses.

Here is the meal analysis:

Eggs = perfect.
Bacon = perfect.
Potatoes = really good which is unusual. My wife thinks they were cooked in butter, nice flavor, quite a surprise.
Pancakes = light, fluffy, bland.
Bread pudding French toast = quite good.
Coffee= excellent!

I tried the Famous Bread Pudding French Toast with no syrup and they tasted just a tad better than good. When syrup was added they really achieved a step higher in flavor.

I have a recommendation for World Famous Restaurant. Why not offer a new menu selection and label it “Word Famous Wipe Out PLUS”. Keep all the items for Wipe Out but substitute, for the pancakes, the bread pudding French toast. After comparing pancakes to the French toast I just could not figure out why anyone would want pancakes.

Parking tip for Promenade

08/07/2008 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

Parking tip for The Eggery Etc., World’s Famous Restaurant, and parking for the Promenade in an underground parking garage.

This tip is intended to show you where to park for the following restaurants:

The Eggery Etc.
World Famous

There is a parking garage under the shopping complex of stores called the Promenade. This very large shopping center is a very large shopping center up against the boardwalk street, Ocean Blvd. The south end of the Promenade is where you enter an underground parking garage. The north end of the Promenade is Reed Street and this is where you exit from the underground parking garage.

To enter the garage, come to the intersection of Mission Blvd and Pacific Beach Dr. Turn west, toward the ocean on Pacific Beach Dr. Just a short way down Pacific Beach Dr. you should notice a driveway cutting into the Promenade and as you get closer you should make out the driveway going under the buildings. See the images provided.

Tip: If you intent to eat at the World Famous Restaurant, ask for a parking card from the hotel concierge which also serves to get you at the head of the line if there is one at this restaurant. The card will give you free valet parking (saving you $3). I spotted the valet booth going up at about 11 am at the Worlds Famous. The hostess at the Worlds Famous will stamp the card to give you free parking in the Promenade parking structure if you decide to park your own car in this garage. (Note that the Worlds Famous Restaurant is not part of the Promenade, not in the Promenade but must have this arrangement which is good for you and me).

The image above was taken on Pacific Beach Drive as it approaches Mission Blvd, driving toward the ocean (west). The buildings seen right of center are the Promenade.

This image shows the south side of the Promenade. This part of Ocean Beach Drive is one way with a building in the middle and a one way street going east further off to the left. Just follow the arrows. The second arrow indicates that as you get to the back part of the Promenade you can turn into a parking lot drive way (seen below). Drive slowly or you might pass the parking lot. By the way, at the end of the street above is The World Famous Restaurant. If you like to use valet parking, just continue down this street and the restaurant will be on your right hand side.

The picture above shows the parking lot entrance located at the south west corner of the Promenade. Inside the Promenade is The Eggery Etc. Restaurant.

Kaiserhof Restaurant, San Diego

08/06/2008 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

Kaiserhof Restaurant

2253 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.
San Diego, Calif. 92107
Phone: 619-224-0606
Fax: 619-224-3567

Reviewed 8-6-08 for dinner.

Food: B
Decor: B
Service: A
Restrooms: B

This is a German food restaurant. The menu offers categories of sea food, steaks, veal, pork, chicken, sausages, beef and deserts. Prices range between $15 and $28. From 5 to 6:30 early bird specials might be offered for a savings of about $2 but with only one side dish. When ordering non early bird menu items you get a choice of two sides in addition to a salad or soup. The side dishes are as follows:

German fried potatoes.
French fries.
Mashed potatoes.
Potato pancake.
Red potatoes.
Potato salad.
Bread dumpling.
Wide egg noodles.
Spatzle (home made German noodles).
Sauerkraut.
Red cabbage.
Vegetables of the day.
Apple sauce.

The meal started with rolls, which my daughter devoured and loved. She could not stop commenting on how good they tasted.
My daughter had only goulash soup. My wife had chicken gruyere ($15.95). I had sauerbraten, Bavarian style ($19.75). As side dishes my wife and I both had asparagus soup and spatzle. I also had red cabbage.

The rolls for me were good but not special. The asparagus cuttings in the soup were way too tough and could not be chewed. The soup seemed too salty and slightly harsh in flavor. I sampled my wife’s chicken gruyere and it was rich and done very well. My daughter’s soup was very good and had a mild flavor. My sauerbraten was very good. The sauce was a slightly sour and hinted with vinegar just a bit too much. The meat was tender.

The waiter was perfect. My back was to the center of the dining room so I could not see any staff approach our table. The support staff did quite well because I still could see arms reaching past me to place rolls and refill drinks on our table.

This restaurant is quite close to Paradise Point Resort & Spa and I recommend that if you stay at that resort or any other hotel in Mission Bay, you consider trying this restaurant out.

There is a parking lot behind the restaurant but if you arrive late, you might have to park at a gas station as it seemed there were not enough parking spaces for the number of tables in the restaurant. We also found the streets in this area to be quite busy just before 5pm during week days.

Red Marlin Restaurant at The Hyatt Hotel

08/05/2008 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

Red Marlin Restaurant Review (at the Hyatt Hotel)

Breakfast

Food: A++
Ambiance: A++
Service: A
Value: D

As we left the Blue Pearl Restaurant, to find another restaurant, I suggested we drive across the street to the Hyatt Hotel. My wife was driving and I suggested we drive up through the front of the hotel so we could ask a bell hop the restaurant situation. One of the bell hops, a blond young man, approached our car and told us that there was a restaurant on site that served breakfast. We asked where to park out car and were told to drive around the side of hotel and park as we would be much closer to the restaurant.

Our unfortunate experience with the Dana turned out to be a wonderful discovery. The Red Marlin Restaurant was indeed expensive but for good reason. The restaurant was very large, spacious, up scale. I was really struck by two factors. Everywhere you looked windows from ceiling to a short wall around the outside of the restaurant offered a wonderful unrestricted view of the marina. The views were wonderful. I do not think there was any bad seat in the whole restaurant. The second factor was there was so much space to move around.

Our waiter showed up carrying shot glasses of berry flavor smoothie and a coffee creamer. Starbucks coffee is served. My wife and I love yogurt parfait so we ordered two at $8 each. One milk for my daughter cost $4. Coffee costs $3. My daughter ordered pancakes at $12. My daughter remarked about the presentation of the pancakes as they were ringed with raspberries. She said the pancakes were very good. Our parfaits were perfect.

Summary: This restaurant is very relaxing, spacious, entertaining views, good food, wonderful service but you will pay for this ritziness. This is now one of my favorate places to dine.

The Blue Pearl Restaurant at The Dana at Mission Bay

08/05/2008 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

The Blue Pearl Restaurant Review (The Dana at Mission Bay)

Breakfast
Rating: (Unable to rate, disappointed)
Today we drove up to The Dana at Mission Bay to have breakfast at their restaurant. Years ago I remember having their yogurt, fruit and granola parfet. When we arrived, we noticed two separate couples waiting to be seated. No one was at the front desk. Tables to the right and left of us were empty. The restaurant had been redesigned since we last had a meal at this place. We waited for the receptionist to come and more people came into the restaurant. A family was ahead of us and when the employee manned the front desk we overheard that there would be a 15 minute wait. My wife really gets upset when she sees a number of empty tables and being told here will be a wait. I agree with her. We left. As we drove out of the restaurant parking lot, we saw another family who had just arrived before us leave the restaurant. My wife and I both felt that because this restaurant is part of a very large hotel, away from competition, and associated with a marina they just might think they do not have to achieve an acceptable level of proficiency.