O perfil de Ginasusie

Open since 1938 - the ghost of many a hard drinker is residing here I’m sure! Ask for Guinness and they pop the cap of a bottle of real Stout. No three part pour here! But with a $3 price tag, who’s complaining. This is the kind of place where working men come to get their drink on after they quit for the day! Dart boards and pool tables in an adjoining room, table shuffleboard along one wall opposite the bar. Ample parking in their own adjoining lot. Just a spit in the wind from the I-95. A working toilet with paper which is always a plus in a dive bar. TV’s playing sports, an old style Juke Box playing loud. Some computer games in the corner. Smoking allowed. Sneaky back door into parking lot which I’m sure a lot of guys appreciate!

Great Happy Hour Spot on the water in South Beach. Food not so good.

Best Mall in South Florida, you have the great parking, a great movie theatre, excellent restaurants and a good choice in the food court. Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, Sears and JCPenney. They have some nice art pieces scattered throughout. My favorite store - the Body Shop. Favorite restaurants are Bella Luna and Rosalia’s.
I love Aventura Mall. They have great restaurants, a movie theater, valet parking, a place to have your car washed and detailed, free wi-fi and over 280+ stores.
Always a busy place but especially so when its raining and the beaches empty.

This review is primarily for the Annual Chocolate Festival held here in January.
I had never visited Fairchild’s Tropical Botanic Garden ever before, mainly because I never thought there would any attraction for kids in a botanical garden. Well, we had the opportunity this year to attend the 3rd Annual Chocolate Festival at Fairchild this year and let me tell you I was blown away. I knew I was onto something big when I walked into a pub in South Miami on Saturday afternoon late and lots of people were talking about it so I resolved to go on the Sunday and check it out and I am so glad I did. It’s a very laid back atmosphere and full of beautiful Miami people.

1. Try to get there early if you plan to go next year. The traffic from US-1 to the gardens at about 1:30p.m. on the Sunday afternoon was WOEFUL to say the least, but once inside there is sufficient parking throughout the property though you will have to walk a bit.

2. Wear comfortable shoes and clothing…Manolos won’t cut it here ladies. You will be walking on grass, mulch and gravel paths.

3. Bring cash for vendors selling snacks, water and ice creams.

4. Bring a small packed lunch and a light blanket or towel if you like. The lines for food were long and I have two kids, one of whom doesn’t eat meat. They would have been more comfortable if I had brought with us what they are familiar with. Lots of people were sprawled on the lawns just chilling.

The gardens here are beautiful but I know I didn’t see all of it because the place is huge. The kids were fascinated with the different fruit trees and the size and maturity of the specimens. They ran and ran along the lawns, they giggled at some of the statuary. They had fun watching chocolate getting made. They danced to the music. They ate ice cream…and so did I…CHOCOLATE Ice cream of course .

Saturday night after dinner in this beautiful city of ours…children’s thoughts turn to dessert. So after dinner and a Disney on Ice show…rather than spending $10 on junky crap that will end up being dumped in the garbage, I made a deal with my boys that we would go out for ice-cream. It was a toss up between Walls and Swensens and after driving by Swensens to drop the daddy man back at work, the guys decided they wanted Walls instead (and “yay” screamed my wallet).
Well, when we got there we were hard pressed to find a parking spot but after a minute or two one opened up and out we got into the balmy beautiful Florida Saturday night wonderfulness.

Outside at their little patio area they had a DJ playing music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Tables filled with college students, families and old couples making googly eyes at each other over banana splits. Inside was a line to the front door. And one table with about 6 teens tackling the great wall of ice cream (a special).

Three scoops of ice cream (which really is two scoops each - they’re not mean here) came to a little over $11 - $12 with a buck in the tip jar.

(a) the outrageous super hero - guaranteed to turn your kid into a Smurf in 10 minutes. After seeing what the big brother was having, it was upgraded to a “with dirt and worms”.

(b) cotton candy dirt n worms (crushed Oreo cookie crumbs and gummy worms)

and© for me…after ingesting an entire fillet of cod - battered and deep fried with fries…I had already had my fat quota for the week so I went with the raspberry sorbet.

Its nice sitting outside with your kids on a Saturday night at about 10:30…just chilling, talking about life beyond our galaxy and listening to music from bygone eras…knowing that at the time that song was top of the charts…families were doing the exact same thing. Enjoying ice cream and each others company. Thankfully in this ever changing world of ours some things don’t change and some of those are good conversation, music and ice-cream. Preferably all three at the one time!

I just LOVE this place and have been waiting for a recent return to it so I can review it.

I’ve been to many an event here but not recently.
Tonight I went to Disney on Ice with my family. Drove up and drove into the parking garage and for $15 parked right underneath. OMG I hear you say….$15 for parking!!! Well all around its about $10 minimum for parking in some outdoor scrappy parking lot. I much rather have my car in a secure underground parking facility than a lot on the street with one guy who may or may not give a shit.
Please don’t review a venue based on nearby parking facilities out of their control. Thats an issue with the city.

Up we go in the elevator and find our seats in minutes because the signage is great and despite the fact the place is full of people who don’t know where they are let alone where they should be sitting.

They don’t rob you in this place for food though we didn’t get any food or drinks. But the husband comments that he has been here for many a Heat event and never felt gouged as much as he had elsewhere.

I love the whole architecture of the place. I love that its accessible by both land and sea. I love come out at intermission and walking around the “smoking area” and having great views of the city lit up. I never miss a chance to bring my kids out there and showing them how beautiful Miami is when the sun goes down. They love it too.

I’ve been to Heat games here…at clubhouse level (thank you my super Boss who likes to share the wealth)...the staff are so great and attentive for those occasions.

I brought my son to his first ever concert here..U2. Totally awesome.

I love how the police and the Arena work together in orchestrating a very smooth and fast exit from the place. This evening from leaving our seats until getting onto Brickell Avenue must have taken all of 20 minutes MAX.

Such a fantastic addition to Miami.

I went here with my boss and a former coworker for lunch. Its a nice place, nice decor. Piano in the corner by the window. Two bar areas. Not what I would call a rocking joint, but possibly a nice place to come for evening cocktails and dinner.

We were greeted very pleasantly by the hostess and immediately shown to our booth with little pillows - a cute touch.

Then the waiter weirdness began. There was one table behind us with a couple of people and three in front of us with some people seated also. The three tables in front were being served by a very “present” server. When I say present, I mean as in “there”. We sat for about 10 minutes before our server bounced up to ask us if we wanted something to drink. So my boss orders a bottle of flat water for her…and before anyone else can order something off bounds Mr. Happy. We sat stunned.

After a few minutes we get the bus boy to go find him and bring him back and my boss scolds him for not asking what everyone else wanted and we finished our drink order.

When he came back with the drinks we had decided in advance to order our lunch before he disappeared again and so two of us were going to split a Cobb salad. So we got our order in and settled down to some nice focaccia like bread which was served with a bulb of roasted garlic (YUM).

The food was excellent. The Cobb salad was a great mix of lettuces, chopped chicken, avocado, tomato, bacon and served with a very chunky blue cheese dressing. More than enough for two people. Coming to the end of our lunch one of the girls decided she wanted the apple pie and so began the search for Mr. Happy again. He had come to our table when the food had been delivered to make sure everyone was ok….(didn’t ask if anyone wanted black pepper and someone did so we had to again ask the bus boy to help). Well Mr. Happy was nowhere to be seen and we had to get someone to go find him. And when he appeared he was inundated with requests, apple pie, boxes to go, check please and anything else we had decided that may be required before he disappeared into the great abyss. The guy had TWO active tables to cover. TWO!!!!!!!!!

The apple pie was delish. I’m not a big dessert eater but when I saw this I had to try it. A layer of very flaky puff pastry, on top of a bed of Carmel sauce, topped with some cinnamon apples and served with a scoop of ice cream. It was delightful and delishis!!!

An hour and a half for what should have been a 45 minute lunch makes me leery about going back here for lunch. But the food was good and so its a possible dinner spot. Tables outside for people watching.