My wife just wrote an unpaid review of Ollie Koala’s in Jacksonville, FL. I’m just pointing it out because I wasn’t aware of this little bit of self-affirmation from my youngest daughter: She put on pink sparkly sunglasses, a scarf, and jewels and announced to herself in the mirror, “I am sooooo fashionny”. I also [...]

I don’t know if I can adequately describe how bad my Father’s Day brunch was today. But, I’ll try. We arrived at 10:50 a.m. and were told “5 to 15 minutes”. Ok, weird window, but whatever. It took 25 minutes to get a seat. Again, whatever. The server popped by the table after we’d been [...]

The kids are in a vacation bible camp this week that meets from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Can you say dinner and adult conversation? We can. My wife wanted steak, but I had a taste for Chinese food and wanted to try a new place in Mandarin (Jacksonville). Let’s start with the atmosphere: Think [...]

My wife, our eldest daughter, and I stopped by Chili’s in Mandarin (Jacksonville, for those of you not from here) for dinner the other night. I was having a craving for some baby back, baby back, baby back ribs. I tried the half-n-half – a half rack of honey BBQ and a half rack of [...]

Stopped off at Firehouse Subs in Fruit Cove on the way home. If you’ve never eaten at Firehouse, you’re missing some good stuff. The company was founded by firefighters and has franchised in over 270 locations so far. Each restaurant has a firehouse theme, and the kids all get plastic fireman’s helmets with their meal. [...]

Time for another restaurant review. My wife and I had the opportunity to go out – on a Saturday night – without kids – for an actual dinner date. Wonders never cease! We made the drive to St. Augustine to try Amici’s Italian Restaurant. For 7:00 pm on a Saturday night, we were surprised they [...]

We mystery-shopped Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille in St. Augustine last night. Harry’s has always been a favorite of ours, so we were looking forward to the visit. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to our previous trips. We arrived at 5:00 and were offered the choice of sitting inside or outside. It was still a [...]

My wife and I are experienced Mystery Shoppers, primarily for restaurants, hotels, and theme parks over the last 13 years. In my professional life, my background is in marketing and operations, so I have the diverse skills necessary to assess a wide variety of product and service offerings. Additionally, my wife has a strong background [...]