10/9/2013

When you work in Manhattan and you buy your lunch every day, you learn certain rules. Nobody tells you these, you learn them the hard way, from your own mistakes. You also learn to follow these rules religiously. Because if you disobey the rules - perhaps you think that you just got unlucky the past few times - it will cost you.

One of these rules is: when buying lunch from a pizzeria - do NOT order anything that is not on display in front of you. You may not get your order.

The only explanation why I decided to get a meatball parm hero is that the devil told me to do it. It's not as…Read more When you work in Manhattan and you buy your lunch every day, you learn certain rules. Nobody tells you these, you learn them the hard way, from your own mistakes. You also learn to follow these rules religiously. Because if you disobey the rules - perhaps you think that you just got unlucky the past few times - it will cost you.

One of these rules is: when buying lunch from a pizzeria - do NOT order anything that is not on display in front of you. You may not get your order.

The only explanation why I decided to get a meatball parm hero is that the devil told me to do it. It's not as crazy as it sounds. After the financial crisis it was firmly established that Wall Street is the devil, and I work in the Financial District.

I told my order to the bossy looking guy behind the counter and paid $7.55. I remember thinking that it was a good value, because I've been charged ten bucks for hot heroes in shops west of Broadway.

I first sensed that something was wrong after 10 minutes of waiting, when the guy who ordered a chicken parm after me got his order. The bossy guy asked me what was I waiting for, yelled "meatball parm" into the kitchen door behind him and continued serving other customers.

What followed was a vicious in my face demonstration of what happens when you don't learn from your past lessons. In another 10 minutes a lady ordered a lasagna. Her order came out in less than a minute. The bossy guy assured me that my meatball parm was coming.

Then a young mom with a little girl ordered meatballs and spaghetti. It came out instantly, wrapped inside a paper bag, but the bossy guy shoved it in MY hands. "Here's your meatball and spaghetti", he said. Both me and the young mom were puzzled. We unwrapped the paper bag, and it indeed was her order.

At this point I told the bossy guy that I was waiting for 1/2 an hour already and I wanted my money back. He gave me $7. As you can see, I disobeyed the rule I learned previously, and it cost me 55 cents.

Again - nobody tells you these things, so please learn from my mistakes. If you decide to get your lunch from a pizzeria in Manhattan, be sure to follow the process carefully as I explain it:

1.   Join the line, view items on display.

2.   Tell the guy behind the counter what you want. Try to stick to slices of pizza. Avoid items that need lengthy heating, because those tend to get lost inside the oven.

3.   Have the guy wrap your purchase in a paper bag and hand it to you. Only then head over to the cashier.

4.   Be sure you are holding your food in your hands before paying. This is the most certain way of not losing your money.

Remember: you must be moving through the pizzeria like a piece of product on an assembly line in a factory. If you sense that something is wrong, perhaps the rhythm of the process was interrupted - leave immediately. You will leave hungry, but you'll still have your money and hopefully you'll still have time to grab lunch somewhere else before you have to be back for your meeting.

10/9/2013

Meh. Like the most Meh ever. We ordered Thai salad, calamari, eggplant basil, and pad pak. All were bland and heavy. Sauces were mediocre. When nahm is right down the street, there is literally no reason to ever go here.

10/9/2013

One word:  awful.  So unorganized.  I hate how once a track is announced it becomes a race to the gate.  And people here have no problem stomping on small people like myself.  If only somehow this station could take some logistics advice from Grand Central...then again, it'd probably have to be rebuilt to do that.
Oh, and this place always seems dirty, though the cleanliness and efficiency of the bathrooms have been improved over the past few years (that's where the second star comes from).  If I didn't have to come here to visit friends in NJ or take Amtrak to CT once in a while, I'd…Read more One word:  awful.  So unorganized.  I hate how once a track is announced it becomes a race to the gate.  And people here have no problem stomping on small people like myself.  If only somehow this station could take some logistics advice from Grand Central...then again, it'd probably have to be rebuilt to do that.
Oh, and this place always seems dirty, though the cleanliness and efficiency of the bathrooms have been improved over the past few years (that's where the second star comes from).  If I didn't have to come here to visit friends in NJ or take Amtrak to CT once in a while, I'd just avoid Penn Station.

10/9/2013

Just moved my child from California to Columbia. Couldn't pack everything into a couple of suitcases. As a result, we needed a bunch of things to help set up the room.

This place has everything for the apartment dweller and student! Every inch from floor to ceiling and front to back is packed. Friendly, helpful, smiling staff are ready to help you find what you're looking for. Great selection of hardware and housewares between the two neighboring storefronts. While prices are not like the big, boxy, warehouse stores, they are very reasonable.

Furthermore, we didn't need a couple of…Read more Just moved my child from California to Columbia. Couldn't pack everything into a couple of suitcases. As a result, we needed a bunch of things to help set up the room.

This place has everything for the apartment dweller and student! Every inch from floor to ceiling and front to back is packed. Friendly, helpful, smiling staff are ready to help you find what you're looking for. Great selection of hardware and housewares between the two neighboring storefronts. While prices are not like the big, boxy, warehouse stores, they are very reasonable.

Furthermore, we didn't need a couple of items that we bought. Still in original packaging though. Misplaced the receipt. Didn't think that we would have a shot at returning the items for store credit, but we decided to try nonetheless. To our surprise, we got our cash back.

Great selection, reasonable prices, helpful staff, generous return policy. This place rocks!