Tod M.'s Profile

I guess it was my own fault for assuming men's hair cut prices were more or less the same.

My last cut was from Zinc, and while the fellow was polite enough, it was the longest (in time) cut I've received and cost $60. For a simple men's "make it shorter" hair cut. Worse, it was far too short -- wasn't given any of those "how about THIS length?" breakpoints until I finally had to say that was enough.

To summarize: Cut took too long, the hair was too short, and it cost much more than prices for a similar cut elsewhere (around $30).

Granger Grocer just keeps getting better and better!

The owner, Connie, is super-friendly, tries to learn everyone's name, and is really very responsive to suggestions.

She and her partner are currently in the process of updating it with a makeover, adding fresh fruit and vegetables, local foods (like sandwiches from Commercial Drive, home-made pizza), and even some of Connie's own cooking. (Tip: Ask for "Connie's Rice" -- packaged frozen flat in a simple zip-lock bag, it contains 12 different grains. Break half of it off and nuke it with some garlic butter. So good!)

Every time you go in there are new surprises. I swear my property value went up because of the work they're doing there.

REALLY, REALLY BAD ROOM SERVICE MEAL...
I ordered a 10oz roast prime rib of beef with Yorkshire pudding.  I spent the better part of five minutes cutting and prying into it, trying to find any actual beef to eat. I can almost guarantee the kitchen didn't even look at the beef before it went out because one piece of fat -- literally as large as a key fob -- was just dangling on the edge; they didn't even bother to cut it off before serving it.

Of the 10oz (which didn't actually look as large as 10oz to my untrained eyes) served, I could only find about 1-2oz of fatty meat to eat. It was lukewarm, to boot.

The Yorkshire pudding came room temperature and was either stale or made of cardboard. I couldn't quite figure out which.

MANAGEMENT REACTION = FAIL
Because the kitchen had closed by the time I got the meal, I decided to ask for my money back the following day. The check-in clerk was polite enough, but obviously hadn't been given any kind of front-line decision making authority because he said he'd have to check with the dining manager.

The clerk calls back. His first question: "So, are you staying here with anyone?" I thought this was an odd question. (Truth is, I was the keynote speaker at a conference being held at their hotel. Since I figured this might factor into how they treated me, I decided to hold off on that info.)

"Well, I've talked to the manager and he can only offer you breakfast tomorrow in compensation." I don't usually eat breakfast, so this wasn't going to do much for me. (You can see the hotel's penny-pinching logic in play most clearly here -- let's refund him the cheapest possible meal.)

But the fact is I paid for a dinner, it was barely edible, and I wanted to have that dinner refunded.

The clerk said he thought they could offer me "some kind of discount" and would call back.

Hours pass. Nobody calls. I call back and am told that this they're planning to take the price of the prime beef off the bill at checkout.

LOCATION
The hotel is located in a rather bleak, industrial part of Calgary. There's not much around. The Chinook Centre, Calgary's biggest mall (apparently) is about a $10 cab ride or 30 min walk away. I did chuckle when I was asked if I wanted "a mountain or city view" -- both the mountain and city are really quite far away. It was like being asked if I wanted the "extra-liquid-ey" water or just the regular water.

ROOM
This is your average, servicable budget hotel room. You can control the heat/cooling (yay!). Like most hotel rooms, it has JUST enough power outlets for the lights and alarm clock in the room. You'll be unplugging one of them if you want to plug anything more than a laptop in. There is both a Giddeon bible AND a book about the teachings on Buddha in the bedside table.

INTERNET
The Internet is free and, while a little slow, works fine. But there's a cap on the bandwidth and if you exceed it, you've got to call the front desk to get the cap lifted.

THE BAR
There's a sports bar attached to the hotel. Your average mediocre fare here. I ordered nachos and paid extra for "spicy beef." I couldn't detect even a hint of spiciness in the beef when it came -- it tasted like they'd simply heated up ground beef. When I say I couldn't taste anything, I mean NOTHING -- no chile, no peppers, not even salt. The nachos themselves were okay. I mean, how can you screw up nachos? (Don't answer that.)

I was there during the gold medal game of the 2010 Olympics. A local radio station was there giving out caps, t-shirts, etc. One of the contests was -- and I am not kidding here -- "Who drank the most alcohol?" the radio guy asked the sports-bar staff. Some guy, who I presume paid the most for booze, was given some kind of prize.

There aren't many options in Yellowknife when it comes to hotels, and the Explorer Hotel is most certainly the largest. On par with any decent 3.5-star hotel in urban centres.

The rooms won't win any design awards, but they get the job done. Very comfortable pillows. A desk and fast wireless Internet access. And in-room control of the heat -- you can take it from air conditioned (though, in Yellowknife, why?!) to very warm.

A couple of things didn't make the stay perfect. Beware the shower! The temperature can fluctuate instantly and drastically. One second you're enjoying a refreshing lukewarm shower, then, without warning, you're nearly scalded by very hot water. I had to jump out of the water's way several times.

Asked on check-in for a late checkout (2pm instead of 1pm) and was told that would be fine. But when I confirmed it the next day, was told the policy was for 1pm strictly and they had someone booked into the room (who was arriving right at 1?!). I ended up staying until about 1:45 p.m. in the room and there didn't seem to be any problem. (Or any guest looking for their room, for that matter.)

Though the hotel has conference rooms, I found the A/V support quite lacking. Asked ahead of time to provide a wireless lapel microphone, we arrived to find only a handheld mic available. They ended up havin to go to the local A/V production firm to get one; it arrived too late for the first session.

We also had to ask for a VGA extension (another thing they'd been advised to have there, from what I understand). From the same provider, they proudly brought a long cable -- but not an extension cable and without the right "ends" to plug into the projector. {sigh} Both of these affected the presentations.

The room service menu is varied, though nearly no dinner options for vegetarians (hope you like salad! again...). A few false starts with the staff -- brought soup but no spoon, brought fries but no ketchup, etc. -- but the food itself was fine. (Although who puts smoked salmon in a club sandwich?!)

All in all, a comfortable stay, and about what I had expected from a city of Yellowknife's size. I'd hoped to be pleasantly surprised, but I wasn't. Just adequate.

Disappointing stay.

No room service menu in the room (though a dinner-menu copy was brought up quickly). Very limited options on the menu and arrived lukewarm and, in some cases, cold. (Though the Belizean Cobia Tacos were delicious and cheap. Only wish they were hot.)

The fellow who delivered it couldn't speak a word of English and it took four tries for him to understand "on the bed" (my desk was used by my computer), then he left without closing my door. I didn't find that it was ajar until an hour later.

The room's thermostat was broken so it was pumping out very cold air. The engineer on staff, a very friendly and apologetic fellow, went away to get some kind of special tool, which seemed to have disappeared from the hotel. They don't have any space heaters as a backup. Never heard back from the engineer or anyone from the hotel.

It was a cold night. Cold and loud. The window is actually a sliding glass door (bolted permanently shut) which is thin and is not sealed. Now I know why the hotel puts earplugs on the bed. That's not a joke; they really do.

In the morning, trying to order breakfast was a nightmare. They only brought me a dinner menu the previous night, so I had to go through the game of asking them to bring me their breakfast menu. Tried to order, got voicemail, so I left my room number. 20 minutes passes with no response. I left a second voicemail. Another 15 minutes passes. Finally, after calling the hotel operator and explaining the situation do they call me back -- too late at this point to eat without missing my morning commitment.

On the plus side, the rooms are nice: large flat-screen TV and a duvet (a little thin for a duvet, actually, but still... points for effort). Free wireless wifi that didn't need a gateway -- just turn on and surf.

Centrally located. Only about a 6-8 minute walk from Dealey Plaza. Many restaurants and clubs located nearby.

Kind of a sad update to this tale.

Turns out, the follow was shot and killed by police over the weekend.

http://www.theprovince...

Meh. That's all I can say about Mazuya. The service was friendly, but slow -- took about ten minutes after we closed our menu before anyone took our order... and there was nobody else in the restaurant! Maybe that should have been a tip-off. The place was empty on a Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

The gomae was slimey and barely had any peanut sauce on it. Tasted as if the spinach had just thawed.

Speaking of inappropriately thawed things, it was very obvious that the tuna (used in the tuna sushi) had just been thawed as well, because it was quite cold and, um, a little frozen in the middle! I also found the texture to be a bit slimey with a peculiar aftertaste.

On the bright side, they do have a brown rice option and they did an excellent job with it. Making rice for sushi is something of an art so making it with brown rice must be an extra level of artistry. The banana tempura was also good. Nothing to write home about, but a nice little post-dinner treat.

Won't be going back.

I love this place. They've got a nice little semi-private nook for quiet or private conversations (great for impromptu business meetings), air conditioning, a varied and tasty menu (real food, not just a smattering of pastries and squares), air conditioning, free and fast wi-fi, and air conditioning.

They've got a small library of actual books, newspapers, magazines... some outdoor seating (three tables), and a cozy area with couches and coffee tables.

Wednesday night they host a jam session and then an open-mic.

Frank, the owner, is a very nice guy, gets to know you by name.

P.S. Mango smoothie. To die for. That's all I'm saying.

Didn't let me down, but didn't blow me away either. Only a few small round tables... difficult for any more than three people to sit together.

The WiFi costs money (Telus) #fail.

Air conditioning works, though. So, 10 points. ;-)

I was impressed with these guys. I spilled a whole lot of coffee on my off-white carpet, called them, and they showed up within the hour. At first, I was nervous about this -- in my mind: Ability To Respond Fast = Few Customers. But the job they did was great.

At least it was when they were here.

The carpet appeared to have all the stain completely out. But a day later, it came back up. Not nearly as bad, of course, but clearly visible.

I am going to call them back and see if they honour their work and redo it.

They also treated the rest of the apartment and spent a lot of time on specific areas... they seemed to be something of perfectionists.

Very friendly guys, stuck to the price they quoted on the phone, and it's a family-run business. The main guy had 30 years in the business with Sears, and is now out on his own. They've got a brand new huge professional-quality machine.