Back from Vacation (Reviews)

Mr. B and I got back from our wonderful vacation super early (1 am) Friday morning. We stayed 3 nights at an all inclusive in Montego Bay and 3 nights at a really small boutique resort in Negril. I think we booked the trip two weeks before we went, which is so out of character for the both of us. We did it because we've both been so overwhelmed with work commitments, school work, house selling stuff and everything else in between that we just needed some time for just the two of us to do nothing. And we did do absolutely nothing for a week and now I'm finding it hard to get back into the groove of things. Tomorrow is Monday and I'm dreading it so much that I want to call out. Is that bad?

So on to the trip details, pictures and reviews...

We booked our trip with the help of Orbitz.com and Kayak.com. We kind of started the whole booking process backwards in a way. We wanted to stay at this fabulous boutique hotel, The Rockhouse Hotel, but they only had 3 nights available due to an upcoming wedding. So we snatched up those three nights in an amazing premium villa and decided that we needed to tack on 3 nights to the end of the trip or 3 nights to the beginning. We looked for hotels within an hour or so cab ride from Negril and found so many nice looking hotels. We settled on the Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton and Jamaica Resort. The reviews from Trip Advisor were wishy washy, but it was relatively inexpensive and seemed nice.

I won't bore you with the details of the multitude of things that went wrong before we actually made it to Jamaica. All that stress melted away once we got to the resort. We booked a transport from the Montego Bay Airport to Grand Palladium (GP) with Clive's Transport Service, which was one of the recommendations we got from Trip Advisor (TA). The rates were much cheaper than other places and we didn't want to get stuck on a bus with a million other people. Before we left for GP, we set up the rest of the pick ups for the trip with the airport representative.

Grand Palladium Review

It took about an hour or so to get to GP from the airport and it's actually right outside of Montego Bay. We were greeted with some complimentary rum punch at check-in. Our room wasn't ready yet, so they strapped some wristbands on us (which you had to wear the entire time...woo-hoo weird tan line) and told us to get some lunch, go to the bar and come back in a few hours. We went downstairs and had some lunch in one of the buffet restaurants. There are three huge buffet restaurants on the resort and they all pretty much serve the same food, although some of them are open at different time slots. The food was pretty good. Nothing amazing, but nothing really gross. They had a good selection of healthy and not-so-healthy foods and the fruit was amazing. We've never had such good pineapple in our lives!

We went back to see if our room was ready, and it wasn't...no big deal, so we went to one of the bars. We had just sat down with our drinks and a group of 4 people come in and start playing cards. Guess where they were from? South Jersey. Unbelievable...we travel thousands of miles and see people that live a few miles away from us. Strange, huh? After a few drinks, we went to check on our room and it was ready, but at this point it had started to rain. We took a nice, soggy transport ride to the Lady Hamilton side of the resort (even though we booked with the Jamaica side...both on the same resort, just split on different sides). Our room was on the first floor of villa #35 (3504) and we had a nice view of the ocean, some mountains in the distance and one of the resort's three beaches.

The room was nice, but we did find a few critters during our stay which included a cockroach, some spiders and lots of gnats and mosquitoes. Bring bug spray and try not to bring anything scented because the bugs will eat you alive at night. The room had air conditioning, but it never seemed to get really cool in the room and our clothes always felt damp. Nothing really dried in the room.

Our Room

View from our room

The grounds were gorgeous including the massive pool. Thousands of people could fit in there without it feeling crowded. We went to the beach one day and Mr. B got so burned snorkeling that we sat at the pool the other two days. There were plenty of chairs at both the pool and the beach, but towels were scarce. We went and picked them up around 9am and always had one, but I did see people walking around complaining they didn't have any left. I didn't think that the grounds were so large that it was hard to walk them. Alot of people on TA complained about walking everywhere, but I think they were just super lazy. We did go to the gym 2 days while we were there and it was sufficient for a quick workout. Nothing fancy, just a handful of treadmills, 2 ellipticals, some mats, a few benches, a set of dumbbells and some universal machines. It was so hot in there though; like a fricking sauna, so we never stayed longer than 30 minutes.

One of the beaches


Massive pool

In addition to the buffet restaurants, they also have 'a la carte' restaurants. The lines for all the restaurants were out the door anytime after 6 or 6:30. All of them require reservations you make that night and it's included in the all-inclusive price. We only went to the Mexican restaurant and it was just ok. Nothing spectacular, but good.

Overall, we had a pretty good time here. The drinks were pretty strong, although they are served in small cups. The food was decent and it was much better than what I was expecting from the TA reviews. We'd definitely go here again, maybe with a group of people next time. I'm glad we went here first before going to Rockhouse Hotel (RH), because it was alot more lively and more of a party atmosphere.


Rockhouse Hotel Review




Let me just say that I already had extremely high expectations of this place from the amazing pictures on the website and TA, as well as the reviews. This place just looks like it oozes sexy solitude and relaxation from every inch. We used Clive Transport to take us from GP to RH and they were on time. We had the car to ourselves and the ride took about an hour. The driver had the windows open, so by the time we got to RH we were drenched and cranky. The front desk staff greeted us with a complimentary glass of rum punch and told us our room wasn't ready (we got there at about 1pm and check-in is at 3pm). They said to go hang out by the pool, get some lunch and they'd call for us. So we took our drinks and went off exploring.

One of the pathways on the property

The grounds here make you feel like you're in some kind of secluded jungle. It was kind of a maze to get back to the pool from the front desk area, but we made it and hung out in the pergola they use for yoga in the morning. It was so nice to just sit there, relax and overlook the ocean. After we finished our drinks, we did some more exploring of the property and took tons of pictures. A guest even came up to us and asked if we wanted him to take our picture....this was already much different than GP, everyone was so friendly.

Twenty minutes after we got to Rockhouse and I already felt uber relaxed. Could it have been the rum punch?!

After exploring, we decided to take a dip in the saltwater pool and grab some lunch from the poolside bar. We split the BBQ chicken sandwich, which was delicious and made right there. Eventually, the front desk called the poolside bar and told us our room was ready. We were in Premium Villa #5, which is on the other side of the resort past the Rockhouse Restaurant. Our room was exactly how I expected it; rustic and romantic and pretty minimalistic. I didn't expect that the windows would only be shutters, no glass, and the doors would not shut tightly, but it all added to the rustic feeling. The bed had a mosquito net that we used every night, but we still ended up with lots of bites on us from sitting outside after sunset. We had a nice little porch outside of our room that had two wooden chairs and it overlooked a sunning pad that we shared with our neighbors. Our room was situated in a little cove of the property and we had 3 different accesses to the water, which any of the other guests can also use. There is no TV in the room, but there is a mini-fridge with beer, water and some sodas (for a fee). Most people go to the local supermarket called the Hi-Lo and just pick up some beer to stock up the fridge and save some money. A cab ride there will run you about $5.

Our room

Premium Villa #5


Sun pad


The cove right by our room with access to the crystal clear water


Mr. B jumping off a cliff. I am no where near as crazy and did nothing of the sort!

The shower and the toilet were both outside in separate rooms. It was nice to shower outside, but it was a little distracting because the road is so close to the back of the rooms. There were constantly people zooming by in cars honking their horns and yelling. You couldn't really hear it inside the room though. There was also a small issue with hot water...there basically was none. After a day or so, we kind of got used to it. It's pretty hot outside, so you really don't need scorching hot water when you shower. Having the toilet outside was strange and I wish it were inside. The backs of the rooms are pretty much right on the walking path to other rooms and Push Cart, so people are constantly walking back and forth just a few feet from where you're trying to use the facilities. It's not a high-traffic area by any means, but still something to consider. The sink and dressing area were situated behind a half wall that the bed backed up to. It was a decent-sized space and we had plenty of room for our clothes, etc. We did have a little incident with a cockroach that crawled into a gap between the sink and the stone countertop. That was the only huge bug we saw inside the room and Mr. B took care of that with the quickness :)

It was really amazing how close everything is to the water and it is so unbelievably relaxing and beautiful. You can't help but fall in love with this place. We explored the water a little bit and then got ready for dinner. We made reservations for 6:30 at the Rockhouse Restaurant when we checked in (definitely recommend making reservations!) and we sat down just in time to see the sunset. Dinner was great; I had the Old Time Synting, which was a soup of sorts of different fresh seafood and Mr. B got this when we ate at Rockhouse Restaurant on our last night.

Every morning we ate breakfast at the Rockhouse Restaurant. It was a little on the expensive side, but it was within walking distance and what the heck, we were on vacation! I don't drink coffee...at all, and every morning I had at least a cup of their Blue Mountain Jamaican coffee. It's delicious!!! I also suggest trying the callaloo, which is a leafy green veggie that is amazing. We had lunch every day at the poolside bar; Mr. B always got the BBQ chicken sandwich and I got the grilled snapper sandwich. The drinks were pretty good here; Mr. B stuck to the Purple Rain drinks and I fell into a groove of getting the Lime Daiquiris...I love rum and lime together :) Our second night at RH we ate at Push Cart, which is another restaurant that's right next door and adjoined to the property. We got a jerk sample platter with chicken, pork and shrimp and the shrimp was by far the best thing we ate. The drinks were just ok here...don't get the Watermelon Cooler! It was horrendous!!!!

Dinner at sunset at Push Cart

I honestly can't say enough about how beautiful this place is. I had to keep pinching myself because it didn't seem real or even possible that a place is gorgeous could exist. Everything just seems so well thought out and planned and natural...simply amazing.

Sunset over the pool our last night at Rockhouse :(

We got massages together at the spa and I was expecting a little more. I've had plenty of massages before and this was probably not in the top 5. I don't know what it was that made it just ok or what could have made it better. Both of us prefer to be in our own rooms when we get massages and I had asked for separate rooms, but they put us together anyway. It's just kind of distracting with other people in there and hearing them talking/moving.

The staff here was friendly, but I was expecting more of a personal touch due to the smallness of the resort. At full capacity, it only holds about 60 people. We said 'hi' to them more than they said 'hi' to us, which was quite different from when we were at GP where all of the staff greeted us when they saw us. Chevon at the poolside bar was definitely the exception; he was super friendly and always added a little extra rum to my drinks ;-) That could be why I liked him so much!! They have a happy hour from 5pm till sunset at the poolside bar where you can get 2 for 1 drinks. This made me happy!

Mr. B and I would definitely go back here again and we'd probably try to stay in the same vicinity near PV #5. I'm not sure if it's really worth staying here if you're not in a villa or a premium villa. Next time we go, we'd probably venture off the property more. We thought about going to Rick's or some of the local restaurants, but really just wanted to relax and do nothing. We had such a relaxing time at RH that it felt like we were there for weeks and we were only there for a few days. I wish we could have stayed longer and I can't wait to go back!

Open House #2 Results

After I finished my post yesterday about going to take pictures, I went to get my camera and the batterry was dead. Figures. I played some games on my phone, stalked the neighbors from the front window and before I knew it, it was 10 till 2 and Mr. B was calling me. He was stopping at Cosi for some eats and wanted to know if I wanted anything. He said he'd be home in a few minutes.

At this point, no one had come and I was beginning to think no one would. I even put a fake name on the sign in sheet to make myself feel better and to somehow make the people that may come think that people were really interested in our place and they should act fast. Lame, I know.

A couple of minutes after I got off the phone with Mr. B, a car drove by slowly and I could see the people in it looking at the sign. They turned around and parked and I ran frantically from room to room turnig on lights and making sure everything was perfect. The couple that came in were really nice. They just moved to the area and are living in the apartment complex that's within waking distance to our place. They seemed to really like it and ask alot of questions. I sent Mr. B a quick text to let him know not to come inside.

They left and Mr. B was already on his way up with the food. I told the whole story while stuffing my face with my delicious Cosi sandwich and keeping a look out for more people. I had just decided to leave and let Mr. B start his shift alone when I saw 2 cars pull up. One appeared to be a realtor and one looked to be a daughter and her parents. I quickly made my way downstairs and made sure to give a nice friendly 'hello!' to the girl and I walked past her. I then watched as they all looked at our sign and then up at the condo and continued to the middle section of the building. Eff! My guess was that they had a scheduled showing at the place that's for sale next door. It's a middle unit with pretty much zero upgrades. Blah if you ask me.

I called Mr. B and gave him a quick rundown of what to say because they were most likely going to come by afterwards. And they did. Mr. B said they loved the place (which I was pretty sure of compared to that nasty middle unit) and that they loved my cookies. I'd like to think that's a great sign, because no one else has taken any cookies at either open house. The Nestle swirls chocolate chip cookies always come out tasting amazing.

So yesterday went really well. We now have 3 realtors that are willing to work with us and the weather for next weekend looks amazing. 50 and sunny, which should mean more people out and about and more people looking for houses.

- Mrs. B

Good Eats

Last weekend Mr. B and I were snowed in with over 2 feet of snow. The news warned us early on in the week that we would get hit with a pretty bad snow storm, so I went and got some supplies to make two recipes that had been sitting in my Google Reader forever. They both looked delicious and I figured what better time to corner Mr. B into eating something than when there was nothing else to eat but that :)

The first recipe was from A Year of Slow Cooking. Steph always has great, easy recipes that pack a bunch of flavor and are great for leftovers. Since it was so chilly outside, I decided to make her Chicken Enchilada Chili. The picture looked delicious and the ingredients were relatively healthy. The only thing I had to pick up was the enchilada sauce and the celery. I stayed true to her recipe, but cut it in half since we put our large crock pot in storage. The verdict is that the chili turned out amazing! Mr. B was asking for seconds and he's already requested that we make it again. I love that you don't even have to cook the chicken...you just plop everything in the crock pot and let it do it's thing. The chicken came out so tender that it was practically falling apart.


The second recipe we made last weekend was from Good Things Catered. Katie has such an elegant way of putting together flavorful menus and her pictures make me drool. When I saw her recipe for Sesame Chicken I made sure to keep it in my Reader for a rainy (snowy) day. This dish was super simple to make and had tons of flavor. I was worried that it would be too spicy for Mr. B, but the heat was actually pretty mellow. I ended up using regular sesame seeds instead of the black sesame seeds the recipe called for because they were no where to be found in the Superfresh by work. I put the chicken on a bed of cabbage and carrots with a sherry wine lemon-honey vinaigrette. The verdict is 2 thumbs up! The chicken was really yummy and so easy to make. Next time I'm going to try Katie's Sesame Noodle recipe with the Sesame Chicken. It looks equally delicious and I'll be sure to post about it.


Let me know what you think about these recipes if you try them!

Frustrated

I've been trying to shed some of the 15 lbs I've put on since our wedding almost 2 years ago. I was good over the holidays and didn't gain any weight. And I've relatively good with eating well and working out. Alas, I haven't lost any weight or inches.

What gives?! I work out a minimum of 4 days a week for at least an hour each time. I try to lift 3 days a week and do some form of cardio 3 days a week. Nothing. Nada. Not even the satisfaction of my clothes fitting better. I mean I have been eating 3 girl scout cookies a day (oops) but, really?! Really?! That's what's making me stay exactly the same weight? I even started a killer new workout called the "skinny jeans" workout and I've seen absolutely no progress. I'm starting to wonder if my body has begun the dreaded 'change'. Where my metabolism slows to a crippled limp and I can't so much as look at a dessert without my thighs expanding.

I eat so well during the day that I thought 3 cookies wouldn't be a big deal, but obviously I was fooling myself. My thighs and buttocks were not fooled, so now I must limit myself, yet again, to only treating myself to a cookie once or twice a week. I should really buy a vault to keep those puppies in becuase man are they tempting. Damn you Girl Scouts with your delicious treats!!


- Mrs. B

Teavana

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. B and I went to the mall and I saw a store offering free samples of tea. I love tea. All kinds of tea. So I weaved my way through the massive amounts of people and had a sip of my first sample. I was in LOVE. Mmm...Matevana Rooibos Chai.

I bought a quarter of a pound and it wasn't cheap, but I don't regret it at all :) It has the spices from the chai and a little sweetness from the Mate. It's actually a blend of the two teas and it's fabulous!

Coincidentally, my grandparents got me this neat little tea pot that brews loose tea. I've made at least 15 cups of it. Its a caffeinated tea, so it's been great on those 'I don't want to get up, let alone go to work' days. I can't stand coffee so it's a total lifesaver. Oh, and it doesn't give you the jitteryness and doesn't have the same addictive qualities as coffee. I can't wait to finish this batch up so I can find something else to love.

Another plus of drinking tea that I recently found out is that people that drink 3 or more cups of tea a day live longer. I highly recommend checking it out!

What does this look like?

Hmm....which one of these things is not like the other? I really don't think that's appropriate for work ;-)




- Mrs. B

What's for lunch??

Mr.B and I experimented with leftovers last night. We had some frozen shrimp, heavy cream, whole wheat ziti, asparagus and mushrooms. It turned out to be delicious but I couldn't get the sauce to thicken.

Today I had some of the leftovers for lunch and I'm full and satisfied. Mmmmm


- Mrs. B

Restaurant Review: Tinto

Mr. B and I also visited Tinto, which is owned by the same guy that owns Amada. We were a few minutes early for our reservation, so we stopped at Whiskey Village next door for a drink. Whiskey Village was alot of fun and the food and drink menu looked great. We wanted to just stay there....ha ha ha.

At Tinto, they stuck us in a far corner right above the stairs. Every time someone went up and down the stairs they ran and it sounded like a herd of elephants. Not very pleasant. The tables were so small that when they brought food, which they practically threw at us, the table was overflowing and we could barely pick our glasses up to drink.

One of the memorable dishes was a light salad with fried goat cheese on the side. I could have eaten a million of those goat cheese things. So delicious! We also got a pitcher of sangria, which always makes the food taste good :)

Mr. B got some mussels in a Basque (red tomato sauce), which was just ok, but the huge stones that I got in 2 out of the 3 mussels that I had were not good. I literally thought I broke a tooth. That kind of thing kind of takes away from the experience.

I'm not going to go through the rest of the food, because nothing was really that great (except for the goat cheese and sangria). I don't think we'd ever go back here again. I'd much rather go to Amada or Bar Ferdinand or just stay at Whiskey Village ;-)

2 stars (if only for the sangria and goat cheese)

Restaurant Review: Branzino

Mr. B and I went to Branzino in the city for Restaurant Week with 2 other couples. The restaurant was really cute and you could tell it used to be an old house; complete with old, ornate molding and trim.

The hostess was really nice and let us sit down at our table even though we were 20 minutes early and the rest of our party hadn't shown up yet. She was not as nice to the rest of our party when they tried to come back to our table and reprimanded them for walking in without her showing them in. The waitress was kind of cold and not very observant or friendly.

The food was very, very good. I got the Tuna Carpaccio as an appetizer and a Shrimp Fra Diavlo with squid ink pasta for dinner. The tuna was ok; it really didn't taste like much but the shrimp dish was AMAZING! I could have eaten an entire pot of that....it was pretty spicy and the pasta was al dente. For dessert, we had a choice of about 5 different things and Mr. B and I both chose the cheesecake, which was just ok.

Branzino is BYOB, which probably adds another half star onto my review. Overall, I'd give it 3.5 stars. We'll definitely go back again when it's not RW.

Restaurant Review: Le Bec-Fin

Mr. B and I went here on Wednesday for Restaurant Week. We took the train into the city and it was a quick walk to Le Bec-Fin. We made the reservation on Open Table, which I highly recommend.

As soon as we got in the door, the hostesses were very nice and took us right to our table. The restaurant was pretty empty at 5:45. Everything about Le Bec-Fin screams posh and don't-you-dare-spill-a-thing. The carpet was super plush and there were waitstaff everywhere you looked.

On to the food...I had a 'flight' of sparkling wine and a red and Mr. B just had the red. The sparkling was really good and the red was decent. For the first course, I ordered the Forrest Mushroom Ravioli with Ivory Sauce and Mr. B had the Burgundy Snail Cassolet with Hazelnut Champagne Butter. Mine was decent; the ravioli was really thin and a tad bit mushy and overcooked. The inside of the ravioli didn't really taste like much, but the variety of mushrooms underneath were delicious! Mr. B's snails were much better and made me wish I had gotten them. I'd definitely get them again over the raviolis.

Between courses, we were refilled on bread several times and the waiters were very quick about removing plates. For the second course, I had the Seared Diver Scallop with Beluga Lentil Salad, Saffron Grapefruit Vinaigrette and Mr. B had the Olive Oil Poached Salmon with Toasted Cous Cous, Red Wine Emulsion. My scallops were cooked to perfection and they were huge--the biggest scallops I've ever seen. The grapefruit vinaigrette added just enough acid to the dish and the lentils really helped to balance the flavors. Mr. B's salmon was just ok. I wasn't impressed, but he loved it. I thought that it tasted kind of bland.

For dessert, we both had Le Bec-Fin's signature Gateau Le Bec Fin. It's a super dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling. It was topped with a super tart and yummy raspberry sorbet. All in all, it was a great dinner and we can't wait to go back. We've already planned to celebrate our next promotion there :)

Thank God for tapas and sangria

Mr. B and I went out to dinner at Bar Ferdinand last night and it was amazing! They put some new items on the menu and we got a pitcher of sangria 1/2 price for happy hour.

One of the new things on the menu that we absolutely loved was Octopus Medallions. They were grilled and they had a spicy BBQ sauce on them. The dish came with a really good spring mix salad with some fried potatoes and crispy chorizo...yum!

Look how amazing the cookies turned out!

My mom's surprise 50th party is coming up and we wanted to do a cute little favor for the guests. After seeing how cute Brown Eyed Baker's sugar cookies turned out, I thought I'd give them a try. Friday I made the dough and she wasn't kidding when she said that it was a sticky dough. I had to put the dough and the trays in the freezer every 5 minutes to keep it from sticking to the wax paper permanently.

I made a double batch and split it into 4 balls of dough and it only made 37 cookies...WTF? I had to make a third batch and that gave me another 17 cookies. All day Saturday, sis and I outlined and then flooded the cookies. We literally worked from 9am to 5pm. I was going stir crazy!! Thank God Mr. B helped out too or we would have never finished...

I think they turned out amazing though, and I don't think I'd ever do it again unless I was getting paid for it. LOL

Here are some pictures of us slaving over the cookies and some of the results...please ignore my bedhead.

PSA: Free Donuts!

Today is National Donut Day and Dunkin Donuts is giving out a free donut with purchase of a coffee. http://www.yumsugar.com/3249306

I'm obssessed with guacamole

I just made my second batch of the week and I ate it all by myself. It was delicious!! I'm pretty proud of myself because I've never made it before and although it wasn't rocket science (which I might be good at) it took some skill. I might have cut myself (twice) but it was so worth it!

I took the avocados and cut them in half long ways around the pit. Then you twist the halves and pull them apart. Put your knife into the pit and carefully twist the knife to loosen the pit and pull it out. Make a grid inside each half with the knife and scoop out all of the flesh with a spoon. Add lime juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Mix everything together while mashing the avocado with a fork until smooth.

Enjoy!

Restaurant Review: Caffe Aldo Lamberti

I'm not even going to bother posting the address/link because it was that bad. We went here with 4 other couples for Restaurant Week on a Sunday night. Our original dinner reservation was at 4pm and they called the day before to move us back 2 hours to 6pm. Everyone arrived by about 7pm and up until then the service had been horrible.

We had at least 3 different waiters come over and take drink orders, but none of them ever came back. We didn't get any water on the table until after 7:30 and the bread didn't show up until after we asked for it. The bus staff was horrible too; half of the table ended up with wet laps from the way they were tossing the water into glasses.

We all finally ordered by about 8pm and some of the people at the table still didn't get their drinks. We actually had to waive a waiter over to specifically tell him to bring the drink orders he took at 7pm. The first course wasn't bad. I got roasted red peppers with mozzarella and Mr. B got Caesar salad. Nothing to write home about...

For our second course, I got lobster ravioli in a blush sauce and Mr. B got homemade gnocchi in a cream sauce. My ravioli was good, but it was cold by the time I got it. The gnocchi was really soft and kind of gross.

For the third course, I got the salmon and Mr. B got the short ribs. The salmon was so dry...completely overcooked. It was also a really small portion with barely any side dish. Mr. B said the short ribs were good, but there was literally a teaspoon of mashed potatoes on the plate.

Dessert was horrible. We got two sampler plates and there weren't nearly enough cannoli's to go around. Everything was warm. Warm cheesecake tastes like a dirty foot...very gross. One of the desserts was a mousse and it was so warm that it turned into a puddle when you touched it.

Overall, I would never go here again. Service was horrible, food was poor and the chairs were unbelievably uncomfortable. Don't go here because it's an absolute waste of money. Taco bell is better.

0.25 stars out of 5

Restaurant Review: Bar Ferdinand

Bar Ferdinand
1030 N. 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123

Mr B. and I went to Bar Ferdinand after a particularly hard week at work. We had both heard alot of good things about the restaurant and wanted to try it our ourselves. Getting there was pretty easy and there was plenty of parking on 2nd and some side streets.

The inside of Bar Ferdinand really reminded me of Spain. It was very rustic looking and the walls and floor all had tile and some of it was even Moorish. We didn't make a reservation, but at 7pm on a Thursday it wasn't that crowded. We got a seat in the back room right by one of the big french doors. I can't wait to go back in the summer when it's warm enough to have them open!

We both ordered a glass of red wine; I got a Rioja and Mr. B got a Tempranillo recommended by our waiter. We started out with Patatas Bravas and Gambas al Ajillo. The Patatas Bravas were amazing...they tasted just like they did in Spain. I could have eaten the entire plate myself and then ordered another one! The Gambas (shrimp in garlic) were also very good and they came with some toasted bread to dip in the garlic oil.

After that, we ordered Calamares Rellenos (Grilled squid stuffed with shrimp, leeks, and brown sage butter) and Pollo Asado(Roast organic chicken, spiced applesauce and wild mushrooms). The calamares rellenos was my favorite dish of the night. It was absolutely delicious! The chicken was good, but a little on the dry side. The applesauce it came with was really chunky and had really good flavor. The wild mushrooms were very good too.

Our next order was for bocadillos. I got the vegetarian and Mr. B got the chicken with chorizo. Mine was very good, but I think Mr. B's was a little better--the chorizo made it. Our final tapa order was the Mejillones con Chorizo and Fidoes (Mussles, chorizo, tomato, fried capellini pasta and beer). This wasn't my favorite dish, but the mussels were very fresh and the chorizo was scrumptious.

Our waiter brought us the dessert menu and we got the Fried Cider Bread with Cinnamon Ice Cream and Candied Orange Peel. It was one of the best desserts I've had. Ever. The bread was nice and warm and it melted the ice cream just enough so that it started to soak into the bread, but the outside of the bread was still crispy. The orange peel added just enough tartness to the dessert.

Overall, we had a really good meal. The service was also really great and the waiter didn't seem to mind that we took 2 hours to eat and ordered 2 tapas at a time. The bill was pretty hefty for just the two of us and half of it was the wine. We're looking forward to going there for a happy hour soon because the sangria is half price :)

I would give Bar Ferdinand 4.5 bulls out of 5. As compared to Amada, I liked the atmosphere here better but the food might have been a little bit better at Amada. We'll have to go back to Amada for dinner to be able to make a true comparison.