CombatCritic™ ... World traveler - 42 countries and counting; Military Leader - Four combat operations; Amateur chef; Published author and producer - over 4 million visitors on seven platforms!
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Rizzo’s Restaurant 2200 Graham Avenue Windber, PA 15963 Phone: (814) 467-7908 Website: rizzosofwindber.com
A little over 20 miles from Interstate 70 and Somerset, Pennsylvania where we stayed in a quaint B&B, we found Rizzo's when nothing in Somerset looked very interesting for our anniversary dinner.
Al large building in Eastern Windber, the family lives upstairs and the restaurant is downstairs. The restaurant itself is somewhat nondescript with bright lighting. The bar has a little more ambience, but we were seated in the "hallway" behind the bar, a high traffic area with little charm.
The service was friendly and efficient. I started with the house Burgundy ($4.50), coming in a small glass, it was chilled and somewhat sweet as expected of most inexpensive burgundies. My wife ordered the Fettucine Maria ($13.50), homemade fettucine noodles with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and peas in a light alfredo sauce. The noodles were perfectly cooked, but the sauce was rather bland. My wife, who is Italian and rarely adds grated cheese to her pasta, had to resort to the shaker of parmesan (parmigiano) in order to add some flavor. I had the Veal Parmigiana ($17.95), a large and very tasty cutlet topped with a delicious homemade marinara sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese and baked or broiled until melted.
The New York Cheesecake ($4.75) was rich and delicious, as good as any I have had whether or not in was made in-house. The owner's son stopped by to chat briefly, then brought me a small glass of homemade orangecello (orange version of limoncello) as a digestivo (after dinner drink to aid in digestion).
My only gripes were the small, inexpensive, cold glass of burgundy (I was expecting something different), no soup or salad with the meal, the rather bland fettucine sauce, and the absence of much atmosphere in the restaurant. However, for under $50, Rizzo's was a very good value and well worth the nearly 30 mile drive.
CombatCritic Gives Rizzo's 7 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!
Seven Bombs Equates To:
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Title: Windber, PA: Not The Best Italian I Have Had, But Well Worth The Drive Key Words: Rizzo's, Rizzo, Italian, restaurant, food, pasta, parmigiana, veal, alfredo, Windber, PA, Pennsylvania, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zomato Translation for Civilians: S&G = "Shits & Grins"
A somber visit punctuated by graphic reminders: crash relics, tearful and fearful passenger phone calls home, emotional video and photos, the massive memorial, and the crash site itself. This memorial is definitely worth a visit if for nothing more than to pay respects to the victims and families of the ill-fated Flight 93 that ended here on September 11, 2001.
In such a peaceful and beautiful setting, one of the most violent and horrific events of this millennium took place. A place to honor to remember the passengers, the National Park Service has done a superb job on ensuring their memories are recorded for the ages. The displays are thoughtful, yet graphic and the massive memorial itself is laid out in such a way that you enter on the final flight path of Flight 93.
I will not go into detail about the exhibits, but will leave it to say that you will be extremely impressed and very emotional as there was hardly a dry eye in the place. Unlike most National Parks, entry to the Flight 93 National Memorial is free as it should be.
CombatCritic Gives The Flight 93 National Memorial 10 Bombs Out Of 10 And A Spot On My WALL OF FAME ... More Bombs Are Obviously Better!
And A Spot On CombatCritic's "WALL OF FAME"
Ten Bombs Equates To:
"Phonetic spelling of the acronym HUA, which stands for 'Heard Understood Acknowledged.' Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More recently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response." - Urban Dictionary
"The Department of Military Science and Leadership, University of Tennessee claim HOOAH 'refers to or means anything except no' ... Regardless of its meaning ... the term is an expression of high morale, confidence, motivation and spirit." - WarChronicle.com
"The U.S. Air Force stole 'HOOAH' from the Army because we were part of the Army until 1947 and rather than waste a bunch of time coming up with something new and unique, we said 'to heck with it, let's go with HOOAH' ... thanks Army ... HOOAH! - CombatCritic
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Title: Flight 93 National Memorial - A "Must Visit" If In Or Near South Central Pennsylvania Key Words: Flight 93 National Memorial, Flight, 93, National, Memorial, 9/11, September, 11, 2001, South, Central, Pennsylvania, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, attraction, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor
First off, thanks to Josh, owner of BurgerFi-Lawrence, for hosting such a great event and to Adam for FINALLY bringing an event to Lawrence ... HOOAH! It was so close to home that my wife and I were able to walk to the event.
Good wine, spirits, and beer, provided by BurgerFi (4 oz samples of each draft), a local winery (Chardonnay), and a Parkville distillery (vodka and gin) got the evening off to a roaring start. Then the food began to arrive and arrive and arrive and arrive. Two kinds of French fries (regular and Urban Style) and scrummy onion rings to share, then half of a BurgerFi Burger, half of a Breakfast All Day Burger, half of a VegeFi Burger (no bun), and 1/3 of a Chicago Style Hot Dog. Then it was time for dessert ... a small Key Lime or Coffee Mocha shake and a Red Velvet Concrete.
The food was plentiful and good and the drinks kept flowing for two hours. We were stuffed by the time it was over. The company, excellent as always, it was great to see some of my old Elite friends (Adam, Scott and Billie) and meet a few new ones (Bill and Sara).
I gave BurgerFi an average (3 Star/6 Bomb) review on my first visit, offering some suggestions for improvement, and was impressed by the owner's and corporate's willingness to reach out and ask for more feedback. I am even more impressed that they apparently took some of it to heart as they are increasing the size of their burgers and buns in the near future ... WOO-HOO! I look forward to trying the NEW AND IMPROVED BurgerFi Burgers when available.
CombatCritic Gives The "Burger Bash At BurgerFi" 10 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!
Ten Bombs Equates To:
"Phonetic spelling of the acronym HUA, which stands for 'Heard Understood Acknowledged.' Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More recently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response." - Urban Dictionary
"The Department of Military Science and Leadership, University of Tennessee claim HOOAH 'refers to or means anything except no' ... Regardless of its meaning ... the term is an expression of high morale, confidence, motivation and spirit." - WarChronicle.com
"The U.S. Air Force stole 'HOOAH' from the Army because we were part of the Army until 1947 and rather than waste a bunch of time coming up with something new and unique, we said 'fuck it, let's go with HOOAH' ... thanks Army ... HOOAH! - CombatCritic
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The Lawn & Sprinkler Guys Parkville, MO Phone: (816) 741-7101 Website: TheLawnAndSprinklerGuys.com Look at their name, "The Lawn & Sprinkler Guys", and it will tell you a lot about their professionalism.
I asked them to provide an estimate for major damage to our sprinkler system caused by a lightning strike and to install a backflow prevention device required by the city. All they did was come to the house, look around, and tell us "here's our hourly rate ($70/hour) and we'll figure it out when we start". No formal bid for our insurance company, no phone call, just an email form their admin person. I asked to have the owner call me to discuss details of the job, but he never bothered to contact me.
Like most of the dozens of lawn, landscape, and sprinkler companies I have dealt with since moving to KC in 2008, The Lawn & Sprinkler Guys are irresponsible, unprofessional, poor communicators and I would not hire them if they were the last company in Kansas or Missouri. They must have more business and money than they need if they can treat customers like that, so I recommend you not waste your time contacting them.
CombatCritic Gives The Lawn & Sprinkler Guys 1 Bomb Out Of 10 And A spot On My Quickly Growing WALL OF SHAME ... More Bombs Are Better!
One Bomb Equates To:
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Select Homes - KC Team Real Estate Real Estate Agents, Real Estate Services 8500 W 95th St Overland Park, KS 66212 Phone: (913) 660-0822 Website: kc.selecthomes.com Part of traveling includes trips to exciting new places and the possibility of picking up and moving to a different city. We visited Kansas City in 2007 never expecting to move there. Now it is time to move on, so we are selling our home. After hearing Martin Taggart, Team Leader and Lead Listing Specialist for Select Homes - KC Team Real Estate, on a local radio show, he seemed to say all of the right things so I asked him to possibly list the home we are planning to sell. During our first meeting he seemed personable and savvy, but a couple things he did and said did not sit well at gut level. For example, after viewing the house the tenant had to get her kids to their soccer game, so Martin invited us to Caribou Coffee to make his pitch and, hopefully for him, seal the deal. When it came time to pay for my, my wife's, and his coffees, about $11 total, Martin did not even attempt to pay, hanging back while letting me pay and deliver his complimentary coffee to him. What kind of professional lets a potential customer capable of generating over $20,000 in commission pay for their own coffee AND HIS after extending the invitation? I should have listened to my gut and parted ways then and there, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
His Gold and Platinum "Worry Free Listing Addendum" scheme is nothing more, a scheme to get another 1% commission out of sellers (for a total commission of 7% - Platinum). The Worry Free Listing ADDendum also ADDs an ADDitional $595 "Transaction Fee" on top of the already exorbitant standard 6% real estate commission (or 7% in the case of Martin's Platinum scheme) charged on all real estate transactions, something I have never seen in all my years of buying and selling houses. When I asked him why I had to pay a transaction fee on top of even a standard 6% commission, he quickly told me "I'll waive it and pay it out of my own pocket", as if it were something he would owe someone else rather than an invention to produce more profit for his company that it actually is.
Martin was anxious to get the house on the market within two weeks, so he promised to help us expedite the listing and sale by referring contractors he claimed he has "special pull with" to perform needed work on the home in preparation for sale, but none of them panned out, either not following-up or not being available to perform the work soon enough to list the home according to Martin's recommended timeline. Clearly there was no communication between he and "his contractors" about the schedule, wasting my time with numerous phone calls, emails, texts, and a 100 mile round trip to meet one at the subject home in Kansas City. In the end, not one performed as promised, another indication that Martin's words carry little weight.
He also led us to believe that Select Homes - KC Team Real Estate located in Overland Park, Kansas is #9 in total units sold in the US and #1 in Kansas, "according to the Wall Street Journal", but upon closer inspection of the link he sent me to confirm these supposed "facts" (see table below), I found that it had nothing to do with the Wall Street Journal at all and the numbers he was quoting included sales for four offices throughout Kansas, including Hutchinson (219 miles from Kansas City). Newton (182 miles from Kansas City), and the home office in Wichita (199 miles from Kansas City).
How can someone include home sales in cities 200 miles away in the numbers that lead people to believe that their Kansas City Team is one of the "top-10 teams in the country"?
Here is Martin on KMBZ Radio, leading listeners, as he did me, to believe that his "Kansas City Team" sales numbers include those of the franchises' offices in Wichita, Hutchinson, and Newton, Kansas:
I followed-up in an email, asking Martin:
"You claim being one of the top (#9) teams in the country according to the Wall Street Journal and Kansas’ #1 team, but you don’t mention Kansas City. Why?
Why can’t I readily find these accolades on your website?
Where can I find the sources for your claims?".
His response was "Our team outsold the #2 team in the Metro last year by several hundred units", referring to a team whose sales numbers included ONLY the Kansas City Metro area, not the entire State of Kansas.
When I held his feet to the fire and questioned him about the authenticity of the data he was quoting, requested that he provide objective comparative data in regard to sales in Kansas City alone, and asked him to answer numerous other questions I had, including why he was comparing apples to onions (a Kansas-wide franchise group compared to a single Kansas City based real estate team), Martin refused to answer and quickly replied "I respectfully withdraw our offer to engage in the listing of your home".
There is an old saying in the military about talking the talk and walking the walk, and Martin Taggart can clearly "talk and talk and talk the talk" ... I will leave it at that.
Martin Taggart and Select Homes - KC Team Real Estate Get One Bomb Out Of 10 And A Spot On My "WALL OF SHAME" ... More Bombs Are Better!
One Bomb Equates To:
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Title: Select Homes - KC Team Real Estate "Talks The Talk", But Does Not "Walk The Walk" Key Words: Select Homes, KC Team Real Estate, Martin Taggart, Martin, Taggart, Kansas City, select, homes, real estate, realtor, agent, real, estate, TravelValue, travel, value, service, review, Yelp Translation for Civilians: FUBAR = "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair"
Rizzo’s Restaurant
