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Steve B.
Hometown:
Woodinville, WA, 98072First Reviews: 0
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Mora Ice Cream Company
Okay, here's your choice: you can either trust the review by "Insider Guru", Leslie, who seems to feel that there is some pressing need to see the ice creams she's about to eat and who has, evidently never tasted a chestnut in her entire life (those "small chewy chunks" that were so offputting? That's chestnuts.) or she would know that the flavor of chestnut is very delicate and bears a distinct resemblance to vanilla. Or you can trust the other two of us. I've had the marron glace and it was amazing. I've made ice creams and gelatos for over 35 years, in my work as a chef, and I've used chestnuts hundreds of times. Mora is the ONLY ice cream company I've ever tried that's gotten this tricky flavor right. Folks, this is the best ice cream I've EVER eaten. Period. And ice cream is my passion. I eat every single brand I can find. This stuff is so superior to Haagen-Dasz that it's not even close. The flavors, the textures, the purity of the ingredients, everything. I find it curious that Leslie formed this sniffy opinion based on ONE tiny tasting sample. It sounds like she went there having already decided she wasn't going to like it. Maybe she was put off by the prices - it's pricey, alright - and wrote this as sour grapes, but I've taken several chef buddies there for the ice creams and they've unanimously raved about it. I urge you to try it and I urge Leslie to sample things like this a bit more thoroughly before dumping on a great company like this one and, by extension, the efforts of the two lovely people who run it. You don't have to like it but you might try being fair.
Amanda's Cleaners
I recently brought in two tablecloths to Amanda's for cleaning. I made it clear that they were not special, not high priority items and were just used in my business. The owner, Mark, initially balked a bit at even working on them, saying that Indian fabrics frequently faded when dry cleaned. Well, I asked, should I just take them home, wash 'em in Woolite, and take my chances? No, no, he replied, we can do them. No word such as "but it'll cost ya"; in fact no discussion of price at all.
When I returned, the bill was $44.17. I had paid $30 for both tablecloths. I expressed shock. His reply: "Well, if they had been linen, it would have been ten dollars more!" Non sequitir aside, he did absolutely nothing to address the issue of my shock at the bill. Clammed up, took my debit card, and shoved a receipt back across the counter.
In my business, wine sales, I have a vital interest in seeing that every customer leaves happy. If they don't like the price (which I tell them every time) of a wine I recommend, I show them other wines. I've even been known to dicker a bit, if the wine is important to them. And if they come back with a complaint - ANY complaint - I take special steps to make sure that they leave satisfied. Apparently, at Amanda's, that's not the philosophy. Seems like a shaky business practice. You can score off a customer once and enjoy your $44 or work with them and make $30 five-ten times a year. I hope they enjoy the $44 but it's the last they'll ever get from my company, when they could have easily made a couple hundred in '07. Sad.