Crystal's Card Smart

At Crystal's Card Smart all cards are half-off every day, and the original price of the cards before the sale price are even low. When I first went to the store, I asked to be sure they have cards at a discount because the store was so nice I questioned it. They have a larger selection than most stores too--there was a selection of about 5 Christmas cards for Uncle (most stores have about 2) and about a dozen for Mother . . .. I found the store to have a better selection than Factory Card Outlet even though it is a smaller store. There is also a store in Palatine. This Northbrook store is a little out of the way but worth it if you like to buy cards in advance to keep them on hand.

The Wellness Institute

If you call the Wellness Institute and tell them where you live they will refer you to hypnotherapists in your area. They train therapists in "heart-centered" hypnotherapy, which seems to me to be more effective than regular/traditional hypnotherapy. They referred me to a hypnotherapist who helped me quit smoking with one session--you take home the audio tape and listen to it for a few weeks after the session, and that's it. You may have to call them a few times to get a good list of therapists because they only like to give out a few names at a time and sometimes the ones they give you have disconnected numbers etc.

Bjb Partners Llc

BJB Partners has two nice/decent buildings that I am aware of but I saw one in Chicago that seemed run down . . . they remind me of slum landlords. I lived in one building and during my last year there they bought the building and became the new owner-manager. They put up a cheesy green sign with a big sketch of a top hat or something on the front of the building to advertise vacancies. As I remember, it was a family business, so if you got upset about anything no one really cared because they were all family. While I was there, they took out the filter from everyone's kitchen faucet and then provided instructions on how we could put the filters back in ourselves, which as I remember wasn't an easy task and I just didn't do it; it would have been nice if they had put the filters--or even new filters--back in. I would avoid renting an apartment in one of their buildings. In fact, I would be interested in the two nice/decent buildings except for the fact they own and manage them.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

Cracker Barrel makes excellent pancakes and is always in my top 2 choices of places to have breakfast. They also make an excellent Reuben and good onion rings. I didn't like the brownie dessert I had there. They have good prices.

Homemade Pizza Co

I have ordered delivery from Homemade Pizza Co. many times--I got 10 punches for the free pizza . . .. I have tried different pizzas from there and they are good, but I noticed that all the different pizzas I tried from there basically taste the same. They have good salads. Don't forget to ask them to punch your card (toward the free pizza) because in my experience, they never offer to on their own.

Zengeler Cleaners

I have not had many problems with the cleaning services of Zengler cleaners. However, I have stored some clothes there and at least two sweaters were missing when I went to get my clothes out of storage. The company did reimburse me for the sweaters. I recently took a very dark brown suit there and it came back a bit lighter. I took some very old pants there to be hemmed only, not cleaned, and when I picked them up I found that they had been pressed (dirt and all) very "hard" without my asking them to do this, which was upsetting because I like to have my clothes hand-pressed and I would have preferred to not have these pants pressed at all; so be sure to tell them not to press your clothes if you take them for alterations etc because they will press them automatically.
Recently, they accidentally overcharged me (told me one price but rang me up for another price) and I didn't notice until I left the cleaners. When I went back to get my money back, the manager told me they could only give me a store credit (!). They gave me my money back only after much effort. Also, Zengler no longer cleans bags.

Mount Everest Restaurant

An associate of mine suggested that we go to lunch at Mount Everest for their buffet (only about $7.50 on weekdays), they said that their boss and coworkers go here all the time as they work right there in Evanston, it is usually her boss's first choice of places to go for lunch. We scheduled lunch weeks in advance, so for weeks I was looking forward to a delicious Indian buffet (I love Indian food and hadn't had it for awhile), and this place was a let down. The food was pretty bland, not tasty. My favorite Indian restaurant is Gaylord India in Chicago, and they may be pretty hard to measure up to, but . . . I wouldn't even go back to this place.

Chestnut Tower Apartments

I lived in this builidng for a year. The apartments look nice-- lots of white; light-colored carpets; modern high quality appliances every where, washer and dryer in the unit. These apartments were initially built (on a former parking lot) to be condos, but after much of the building was done, it was decided that they would be apartments. There are only about 8 units on each floor. There are many nice amenities--the best cable package I've ever had included in the rent, a computer room with Internet, an exercise room. Parking wasn't too bad--there was permit parking on the block and you could park on LaSalle and side streets west of there--but I drove only about once a week or less.

However, there were some serious drawbacks to living there. This sewer smell would waft in from the bathroom every so often, a few times it became severe and the engineers did something to the toilet to remedy it. I lived in a studio, and my neighbors could hear everything--TV, cooking, phone conversations, yet somehow I could hear nothing in their apartment, it was very strange. There was something with the air flow throughout the building--a building staff person explained it to me--that made it so that fumes from all over--the other apartments, etc.--would enter your apartment. Everything was fine as far as this for almost a year until a smoker moved in next door, and it was just like they were smoking in my apartment too. Once I saw in the stairwell someone wrote in huge letters on the wall "I hate this building", so apparently other people had issues with the building too.

Spacio Spa

Spacio spa has bought what used to be Terrain, a store/spa, and it and now carries the Terrain line of hair products. The Terrain hair products are excellent and can be ordered at this salon's web site. The Vegete shampoo and conditioner are excellent for conditioning.

Chateau Ritz

I went to an event at Chateau Ritz, and the room was dark or dimly lit; it looked very little like the pictures on their web site, which shows crisp-looking, bright rooms and gorgeous views of gardens from the rooms. I didn't enjoy the food.

PROS: Location, parking
CONS: