Karen Karenson Reviews Everything

  Rating: 0/10 Complaints - Delicious, Great Food, Pies, Cookies, Donuts, Coffee, Bagels, Healthy and Greasy Options, Nice Staff and Good Vibes, Edible Flowers, Choice Joe and Joy is one of those cute little pastel themed cafes tucked safely away from the main drag, and located very conveniently next door to a supermarket, kids playground and a library. I get such old school and comfortable vibes from this place, the food is truly excellent and it's the kind of place you can just turn up in your jeans for a Sunday brunch and have a nice breakfast outside in the sun, I find a lot of places now are on the pretentious or overly upmarket side but this place just seems to be about good food and friendly service. I'm not going to say the service here is overly quick as they are often very busy, but all the times I've visited, the staff have been so nice that the wait doesn't become bothersome in the slightest. This is definitely the place to go, I guess, for a cup of joe and ...

  Rating: 2/10 Complaints - Slow Service, Parlously Understaffed, Amazing Food, Sweet & Sour, Sizzling, Prawn Crackers, No Booze for Karen, Huge Fan, Chinese Food, BYO On Valentines Day this year, Mr Karenson and I tried out this restaurant with our mates Bob and Linda. These guys are great value, accompany us on a lot of food adventures and have introduced us to a lot of great restaurants so we went with their suggestion of China Beach. The place used to be located along the waterfront but has moved approximately 200m and is now tucked behind the beach shops next to the hulk of Brunch & Burger, which used to be another great restaurant until they replaced the menu with subpar fare and Spandau Ballet and eventually closed. RIP. I've heard it said that if a Chinese restaurant serves truly good food, they will most likely give all of their focus to the food and not fluffy things like the décor or service standards. This held true for China Beach, which had the pretty standard...

  Rating: 0/10 Complaints - Seafood, Delicious, Considerate, Espresso Martini, Fish, Oysters, Sashimi, Cheese  Once again we ventured out, this time to Ortega Fish Shack for a friend's birthday party. Another first for me. The restaurant was excellent, which is just as well since I turned up at dinner very late, having had the most hectic day and not exactly in the best state (getting up at 3.30am will do that). To tell that story, I have to tell this story. So had a work event that I had to catch a 6am flight for, the same day as the birthday dinner. Because I live at least an hour from the airport, this necessitated both me and the long suffering Mr Karenson getting up at 3.30am in order to make it to the airport before 5.30am, and still somehow managing to be late. That's the odd thing I've noticed about time as it pertains to airports - it seems to slow down and turn to treacle but you are still either late or 7 hours early, and there will always be a line and a very s...

  Rating : 0/ 10 Complaints - Delicious, Steak, Sides, Fancy, Lenin, Wagyu, Espresso Martini, Wine Mr Karenson, weary of cooking me a rare steak every full moon, surprised me with a wonderful birthday dinner out to Pravda with our two best mates. This is a place I've always wanted to try but never had the occasion or the spare cash you will need for a fulfilling evening at this restaurant.  Pravda is the sort of fancy restaurant that you've probably seen represented in movies and cartoons. It sort of has a classic old school feel with elegant surroundings, dark wood and floral displays, all of which I vibe with on a deep level. I was so excited to try the steaks here as I'd heard great things about them, and was not disappointed. There is a massive banner on the wall of Comrade Lenin as well, I was a huge fan of his in high school and it brings back good memories of learning about the Russian Revolution while doodling on the back of a notepad and being disruptive (revoluti...

  Rating: 2/10 Complaints - Delicious Food, Group Dining, Cocktails, Extensive List, Chill Staff, Noise, More Noise, Busy, Espresso Martini, Booze and More Booze When we were invited to a mate's work event at Monsoon Poon, I had only eaten there once before when I was 18, trying to impress some silly boy and ordered lemon chicken in a panic without thinking about the fact that I hated, and still hate, lemon chicken. So it doesn't count. Wasn't sure what to expect, was nervous as all hell about meeting a bunch of new people and had just been berated by some old guy for parking one of those e-scooters near his apartment so was definitely in the mood to sit down and have a cocktail. I'm so glad I decided to change out of my heels and into my Docs before arriving at the restaurant, in anticipation of a slightly legless end to the evening. Monsoon Poon was incredibly packed with diners, being a Friday night after all. It's quite a large restaurant with what seems to be ...

  Rating: 1/10 Complaints - No BYO, Amazing Food, Delicious, Friendly, Fresh, Healthy When this place first opened, the only kebabs I'd really eaten were obtained from Abrakebabra in the city, the flavour obscured by a haze of alcohol and queasiness and the fillings unrecalled due to aforementioned alcohol. These always made a good finish to a night on the sauce, but I can't say I've ever eaten one sober so it's impossible to say if they were any good, or whether my abused stomach lining was just so grateful for food that a salad from the New World would have done the job just as well. While the kebabs at Lokanta would definitely make as good a Friday night booze sponge as any, I think they are best enjoyed sober as they are transcendently delicious, very fresh and deserve to be appreciated beyond your standard kebab. To begin, this place is conveniently located on the main drag and is easily accessible by car, bike or foot. When I worked a physical job up the road fro...

  Rating: 0/10 Complaints  - Good Food, Funny Waiter, Friendly, Comfortable, Good Size, Delicious, Waffles, Black Pudding Anyone seen the "not bad, good size"fishing meme? Well this place has nothing to do with fishing apart from being at the beach, but knocks it out of the park each time with food that is both not bad, i.e excellent, and a good size.  I like to frequent this beachfront restaurant with the very patient Mr Karenson and our good friends (yes Karen has mates), we were attending just about every weekend at one point until the spiralling cost of living limited our visits somewhat. The first thing that stood out to me was the extensive menu. They offer breakfast, brunch and lunch (are these all essentially the same thing depending on how hungover you are?) and have a range of options for various dietary requirements such as vegetarian and gluten free. You can also swap out items and request adjustments if you're allergic to something or doing keto, which makes ...