Small Business Spotlight - Guadalajara Mexican Grill in Tucson!

 

When we go on trips, we always try to stick to local restaurants instead of big chain restaurants & I love being able to share them with my readers after we visit. On a recent trip to Tucson, we had originally set out to visit a small old school diner, however there was an event going on and it was packed, so we drove back to a Mexican restaurant we had spotted while driving through town. That restaurant was called Guadalajara Mexican Grill. We ended up arriving at just the right time! After we had been seated there was a big rush of people who came to eat as well, however one of the servers had called out so many of the people who came after us had to wait for a table to open up.

Even with a smaller staff our waiter did a good job at keeping up on our drinks and making sure our table was alright. It was a lot of fun having someone come around to handmake salsa & guacamole at our table, and it is nice you are able to choose your spice level on both. We went with the medium on the salsa & are glad we did, as it was pretty spicy so I can't imagine how much hotter a higher level would have been. Both dishes were quite delicious, especially the guacamole! It always bugs me when I can taste the lime/lemon a lot of spots use to keep their guacamole fresher, and this one didn't have any since it was fresh. 

The margaritas were quite large & if you had a party with you that wanted to drink, they had a fun margarita fountain you could purchase. The menu was quite large & there were a ton of delicious entrees to choose from. We all ended up with a dish we were quite happy with and everything was cooked just right! Everyone left feeling happy & full, but not over stuffed. We would happily stop by and visit this spot again the next time we were in Tucson. 

If you are in the Tucson area & want to stop by for a visit, this location is located at 4901 E Broadway Blvd Tucson, Arizona 85711.

Looking for more adventures in Tucson? Type in "Things to do in Tucson" or "Things to do in Arizona" (You can also click the link) in the search bar of my blog.

💗This post is not sponsored. I love sharing awesome new spots I find with my readers!

Metro City Restaurant & Bar in Sunnyvale, Ca Review!

 

When traveling we like finding local restaurants to dine at, it is always lovely to get to eat at locally owned restaurants & spots we do not have near us. One a recent trip to California we stopped by Metro City Restaurant & Bar in Sunnyvale on one of the nights we were in town. It was a last minute decision on where we wanted to eat, but I am glad we ended up picking out Metro City because the food was pretty tasty. So, I wanted to share just a short review & some photos of what we had while at Metro City. Their address is 151 S. Murphy Ave Sunnyvale, California 94086. 

It was located in an old heritage district tucked away in a little alley like street with several other restaurants,  dessert spots & shops to browse. We visited on a Sunday evening, so most of the shops were winding down for the night which meant we had a nice quiet dinner experience. Our food arrived quickly, our service was wonderful and we all really enjoyed the dish we had selected for dinner. They had quite a few different appetizer options, but we didn't want to fill up before our main dish arrived so the only app we shared were the brotatoes which were loaded potato wedges. 

They offered a lot of traditional dishes & comfort foods like chicken and waffles or spaghetti & meatballs, so there is something for everyone. As our main courses our party of six ordered the parmesan chicken tenders, spaghetti & meatballs, New York steak & prawns x2 along with the California pasta x2.  My mom is not a big fan of seafood though so she gave the prawns to my step-dad. I had picked out the California pasta and it was so good! The sauce was creamy but had a bit of a kick to it, it also had green onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and tiger prawns in it. 

All of the portions were filling & cooked just right, even the pickier eating in our group were pleased with how their meals turned out. All of the prices on the menu were fair for the portions you received & their drink list was great as well for anyone looking to have an alcoholic beverage with dinner.  We were in California just before Christmas so the restaurant had the inside decorated for the holidays which was nice. Over all we had a pleasant experience at this restaurant and I would visit again if we happened to be back in this area. 

If you are planning a trip to California & are looking for other activities to do feel free to type in "Things to do in California" in the search bar of my blog so you can find some other great activities in California. You can also click the "Things to do in California" link located on the right hand side of my blog/in this post.

🟊 This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this ourselves. I just enjoy sharing awesome spots with my readers. 

Benihana Las Vegas Westgate Review!

 

There are quite a few spots in Las Vegas that really do go all out with their theme and the décor! There are so many spots that feel like you walked into another country or even world sometime. I've visited tableside grill spots before, but the décor inside of the Benihana location in Westgate is crazy. From the outside of the restaurant to every detail inside feels like Japan including koi ponds, a water feature and more. We stopped by to have dinner here on our last vacation to Las Vegas & it will be a dinner to remember. How could I not share this spot with all of you? It is a must visit restaurant when visiting Vegas. 

Our host & our chef were both phenomenal and helped make the experience the best that it could be. There are eight seats open at each table and depending on the size of your party, you may be seated with other people. We had six people in our group so there was only one other couple at our table with us. 

If you've never been to this type of a restaurant, they cook all of the food right, there in front of you! The chef will be making jokes and even doing tricks while cooking everything and the food goes straight from the grill to your plate. They have plenty of options to select from along with appetizers, drinks and dessert. You can even request for your drink to arrive in a souvenir cup for an extra charge of course. 

Everyone in our group had their food cooked exactly to their liking & was quite delicious. Everyone is given a small portion of veggies, some rice and two shrimp with their main entree. We all also received a small salad and a bowl of onion soup, plus depending on which dinner combo you get, it may also come with some ice cream at the end. The food portions were great sizes, you are sure to be full and might even have some leftovers to take home at the end of the night. 

Does this look like a spot you'd enjoy eating at?

🎲 I will be sharing some other family friendly spots around Las Vegas including FREE things to do, so if you want to check them out keep an eye out for more posts or type in "Things to do in Las Vegas" in the search bar of my blog. I also have posts on some great places to check out in California & Arizona. 

🟊 This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this ourselves. I just enjoy sharing awesome spots with my readers. 

Take a look at the One Piece Cafe in Las Vegas!

 

We love watching the anime One Piece together as a family, I even did a cosplay of Chopper for a anime convention/Halloween last year, so of course the One Piece Cafe in Las Vegas was on our list of places we wanted to stop while we were in town for vacation. They are located at 5600 Spring Mountain Rd Suite A Las Vegas, Nevada 89146. The whole cafe is decorated with the show in mind and the menu is created with different characters in mind. Our visit was alright, we wanted to visit to see all of the decorations along with trying the food. The food was delicious and made it worth the visit, but it was a bit crowded and some things slightly overpriced which I will go over below. When we arrived the entire place was packed & we unfortunately didn't end up with a table as someone who came in after us had snatched a table opening up before we even had a chance, so we just ate in the car.  

The vibe of the cafe is a lot of fun, they decorated it to make you feel as if you were on a ship. You'll also find a wall which shows all of their wanted bounty posters, a wall that has giant cut outs of the characters and more that you can snap a photo with as long as no one is in the way. Along with their food menu they have a bunch of merchandise for sale from clothing to purses and collectable pins. The drinks come in sturdy plastic cups that were able to be saved & reused so you can take them home as a cheap souvenir from your visit here.

Menu wise they had a decent selection for small bites to eat to fully loaded entries like the Mighty Meats Pirate Platter that was absolutely loaded with food to eat. Most of the prices aren't too bad, for example the Zorro Onigiri was $8 and came with two good sized onigiri and the meats platter was $30 but had enough meats in it for two people to be able to eat plus rice. Other prices weren't so great, mainly the desserts which I believe is mainly due just to the looks. Both the Chopper hat cake & the Gum Gum devil fruit desserts were $25 each! Yikes! The Chopper cake was about the size of a slightly large cupcake. My mom knew everyone kind of wanted to try them, so she bought one of each for everyone in the group to try despite the semi high price. The inside of the Gum Gum Devil Fruit has a vanilla sponge cake and bites of assorted fruit, and the inside of the Chopper hat had sponge cake as well both the insides were alright nothing overly fancy. The menu states the shells of both are made from chocolate, but they were kind of hard and semi flavorless it tasted more like a hunk of fondant so they aren't something we would buy again. 

Food wise the onigiri was something to write home about! It was so good; I was very happy it was what I had selected for lunch, and I wish we had a replica of this cafe near us because I'd stop by more often just for the onigiri. My daughter has ordered it as well & was quite happy with it. The beef skewers were also a favorite of our party, two different people had ordered them and enjoyed them. The meat platter was a bit hit! My stepdad had ordered it and was a big fan of it but was quite full after several pieces of the meat, so he shared part of the meal with my husband because as I mentioned there is enough in this meal for two people to enjoy it. My mom had ordered the Franky Burger & Fries and was quite pleased with that as well.

For Drinks I had ordered an All Blue Mocktail & my husband ordered the Dragonfruit strawberry punch. Both were delicious. The blue mocktail featured blue pea flower tea which gave the drink a pretty ocean color & it came with a small container of lime flavoring that could be mixed in that also changed the color to more of a purple hue. For just my husband, two kids & myself we had ordered four food items, a mochi cookie and two drinks which came out to about $60. Merchandise wise, we skipped out on snagging anything as I wasn't wanting to spend $75 for a crewneck shirt or $10-$12 for a sticker, we usually find our One Piece merch as conventions from local sellers. A good thing to know before heading to this location is they take debit or credit card only, no cash will be accepted. 

🎲 I will be sharing some other family friendly spots around Las Vegas including other FREE things to do, so if you want to check them out keep an eye out for more posts or type in "Things to do in Las Vegas" in the search bar of my blog. I also have posts on some great places to check out in California & Arizona. 

Krazy Cajun Review! (Phoenix,AZ)

 

Not too long ago my family & I stopped by Krazy Cajun in Phoenix together for dinner and it was quite a delicious meal. We loved it, so I had to share it with my local followers so you can check it out as well. They are a Seafood & Hibachi spot that is perfect for the whole family. Location wise, they are located at 24 W Camelback RD Unit H Phoenix, AZ 85013.

This spot works out well for us because not everyone in our party enjoys seafood, so they were excited about the non-seafood options. Before our main course arrived we decided to get some appetizers to share which included some spicy garlic butter edamame peas which wow! I've never tried them like this before and they were a huge hit. We also ordered the crab puff wontons, and pot stickers. The wontons were large & the consistency of the filling along with a fried outside were the perfect consistency plus the dipping sauce was delicious. There were six of us in total so we ordered two of both the wontons and the dumplings so there was enough for everyone to enjoy. 

You can create your own seafood boil or select one of the family meals they have already pre-priced, some of the items you can select for your boil will change in price depending on the season so instead of finding the price on the menu, it will be on a board at the front of the restaurant. We decided to create our own boil which three of us shared in, we picked the headless shrimp, scallops, snow crab, a king crab leg, sausage, potatoes & corn with garlic butter and mild spice. Everything turned out perfectly and the spice was just right. They will bring you a bib if you choose to wear it along with some tools to open the crab legs & a wet wipe for when you are finished, there are also paper towels at the table as the meal can get a little messy which makes the meal quite tasty and a bit fun! Everything we ordered arrived to our table pretty quickly, the only thing that took a little longer than the rest was a lobster tail my step-dad had ordered. 

Our non-seafood party members went with one of the hibachi selections! Two went with the chicken and one went with the steak option. Each plate comes with some rice, a portion of protein and grilled veggies. They have a wide range of other options to order & they also have several different flavors of sake plus desserts, however we were too stuffed to order dessert and ended up taking our leftovers home to have as a second meal the next night. The staff were friendly & came by when you needed them, otherwise they leave you be to eat your food in peace which is always appreciated. 

The inside of the restaurant has a fun seaside theme. The restaurant is located inside of a small shopping center & the parking lot can fill up rather fast so it is best to get there right before the dinner rush to make sure you have a spot to park. If you are a lover of crab boils or seafood and are in the Phoenix area, I suggest stopping by at least once to try this spot out. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

★ This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this on our own. I enjoy sharing new places we explore with my followers.

Corvette Diner - A fun spot to eat for families visiting San Diego,CA!

 

Going out to a fun themed restaurant can be a lot of fun for the entire family, when we heard about the Corvette Diner in San Diego, we knew we had to stop by. Not only do they have a fun classic theme to the restaurant, but they also have a long hallway that leads you down to an arcade complete with tons of games to play and a prize area. The diner can get quite busy so depending on your party size there may be anywhere from a ten minute to an hour wait for a table to be ready, so having the arcade to visit is a huge plus. They also have a lot to look at around the diner including photos of celebrities, themed areas like the soda bar and an old school car right in the middle of the restaurant. 

We were seated in an area that had a groovy 60's feel to it. The entire section had black walls adorned with black light posters & paintings, we loved it and were happy to be seated in that section especially because it isn't a section you can see from the front when you first arrive to it was a mini surprise for us. They have an extensive menu with classic meals and also menu items inspired by celebrities such as the burger inspired by Elvis which has peanut butter on it. Our server was very sweet & very energetic, she was very helpful with answering any questions we had about menu items. 

Our food didn't take long to arrive to our table & everything looked fantastic. The food portions were pretty large for the price of each dish, a few of us even had leftovers that we took with us back to the hotel room. We were all quite pleased with the dishes we decided to order, everything was cooked perfectly. We also had some entertainment while eating, when certain songs come on all of the staff wait staff will perform various dances and sing along with the songs. There was also a balloon artist creating awesome pieces for birthday children. 

I thought they did a fantastic job on all of the décor and the way they had different sections of the restaurant set up. It is a great spot for some to reminisce about how diners used to look and for younger kids to experience what it was like. If you know ahead of time you'll be in the area, they also have party packages which might be a good idea for larger families while on vacation. Overall, this spot is a lot of fun, and completely worth the visit! Price, wise they have some pretty good prices compared to other diners and restaurants we've visited, so between the price and the wide range of food options this is the perfect spot for families to stop. It is also located near a shopping spot and a small park where you can walk around with your family. 

★ This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this on our own. I enjoy sharing new places we explore with my followers.