Northern Colorado Reviews

(970) 223-9455
4235 S College Ave Fort Collins, CO 80525

carinos.com

****4 out of 5 stars****

One of the best Italian restaurants in Fort Collins, Johnny Carino's provides something for everyone. It is a great place to grab some lunch, or go to a formal dinner.

Each meal at Carino's starts out with a loaf of their fresh baked bread that is served with an infused olive oil and walnuts. It is so good to pull of a hunk of the bread and dunk it into the oil mixture. We also had salads which were okay, and two different appetizers (we had a larger party). They have a new crab and cheese dip that is served with toasted bread slices. This was so good, and very rich. We also had an order of calamari, which was a bit dissapointing because it was chewy. I prefer it to be sliced thinner and cooked crispier.

After all of this food, our meals came. I was so full, I was wondering how I was going to make room. But after taking a bit of my Gorgonzola Chicken Pasta, I could not help myself and ate half of the serving. Carino's serves very large portions, so be prepared for leftovers. They are very good with service, and will box up your leftovers for you.

Johhny Carino's is a great restaurant. They have great service, food, and ambiance. I would suggest making your way to Carino's for your next lunch meeting or classy supper.

(970) 226-5134
4015 S Taft Hill Rd Fort Collins, CO 80526

***3 out of 5 stars***

Since the weather has been nice lately, I decided it was time to wash my dirty truck. It really needed a bath, and the inside was needing to be vaccumed out. I needed gas too, so decided to stop at JJ's on Taft and Harmony.

I have never been through JJ's carwash before, so I was a bit nervous. But they are running a great deal now - when you buy 10 gallons of gas, you receive a good discount on a car wash. The car wash normally runs under $10, but for this "deluxe" car wash it was only $3! The carwash was great, I have some weird love of riding through them. It must stem from when I was a kid.

The "touchless" carwash was actually touchless and really cleaned the exterior well. It took less than 12 minutes, and was well worth the $3. For a dollar extra, I vaccumed out the truck cab. They do also have car wash stalls, where you can wash your car yourself if you are nervous about going through a carwash.

JJ's is very close to my house, and thus it makes it an ideal place to stop for gas. Since the carwash was cheap, quick, and of good quality - I will be visiting again.

(970) 223-4247
135 Bockman Dr
Fort Collins, CO 80525

jcpenney.com

***3 out of 5 stars***

With the holiday shopping season quickly approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to do a review on the new JC Penney's store in Fort Collins. They recently moved from the Foothills Fashion Mall into its own unit on South College (the building that used to hold Shopko).

The store is so much nicer than the Shopko or its old location in the mall. The store is huge, and provides greater space and selection than the mall. It looks very trendy and was already decorated for the Christmas season. It was fun to walk around and see all of what they have inside. The format reminded me of Kohl's and made me wonder if they are trying to mimic Kohl's success of a department store outside of the traditional mall setting. They have everything from clothes, shoes, kids stuff, bedding, and they moved the Beauty Shop as well. There is a large parking lot and the store is very wide open with tall ceilings.

The prices were surprisingly good on this visit, as they were doing a special "Buy one at normal price, get the second for .99". I was able to pick up two pairs of jeans for less than $30 and also got some Christmas shopping in as well. There was not a department in the store that was not running this special. I'm not sure if it was a national sale, or one for a "grand-opening" for this store.

Make sure and go to the new JC Penney's store. You will be pleasantly surprised with the look of the store and the prices it offers.

(970) 223-3952
3301 S College Ave
Fort Collins, CO 80525

www.redlobster.com

***3 out of 5 stars***

As a bonus from work I received a $25 dollar gift certificate to Red Lobster. Since my Mom was in town, I decided it would be a good time to use it. I love a good, free meal.

Although we went on a Sunday afternoon church crowd, the restuarant is big enough to accomodate a lot of people, and thus we were able to sit right down. The staff was very nice and very friendly. Right now they are having their "Shrimp Feast". This annual feast is your choice of shrimp prepared in half a dozen ways. You start out with a salad and some awesome cheese biscuits! Then you get to choose shrimp prepared in two ways - I chose Shrimp Scampi and Shrimp Alfredo. It also came with a choice of side (I had a baked potatoe). You can keep asking for more orders of shrimp, and after these two were done I had Fried and Coconut. The fried was great, but the coconut shrimp was burned and did not taste good after the others - so I gave up. My mom had Stuffed Flounder - which is a flounder fillet stuffed with a rich shrimp, crab, and lobster cream sauce. It looked great.

Red Lobster is pricier than most places, but is a nice restaurant to visit on special occasions. Because of the gift certificate, our meal ended up being less than $10 including tip. But expect to spend up to twenty dollars a person when you go.

(970) 484-6048
2160 W Drake Rd # 6
Fort Collins, CO 80526

www.safeway.com

***3 out of 5 stars***

I always have a terrible time grocery shopping. Partly because I am a man and party because I never have a game plan. But like it or not, I must go to the grocery store like everyone else.

I like the Safeway on Drake because it is close, the parking lot is never hectic (like Walmart or King Soopers), and the line inside are not outrageous. I will let you debate about which grocery chain is cheaper, but for me - its about convenience.

I went into the store, knowing that I need everything - but not sure what to get. The staff is very friendly, and many stopped me to ask if I was finding everything okay. I was just confused by what to buy, not where in the store to find it. But eventually I made through and guess I turned out okay (although I know now that I forgot some stuff - D'oh!). The store is laid out so that shopping is easy and the ailes are wide and comfortable to maneuver.

If you don't already have one, make sure to get the "Club Card" (and this goes for any grocery chain). You just save so much money with one that it is worth the 5 extra minutes. I saved over $20 with my Safeway card.

(970) 203-0584
1617 E Eisenhower Blvd
Loveland, CO 80537

www.arbys.com

***3 out of 5 stars***

I rarely go to Arby's, because the locations are usually dirty and the food quality is bad. The one exception is the Arby's located in east Loveland. This is the cleanest fast food restuarant that I have ever been into. The place is spotless and the staff is overly friendly.

I splurged for some junk food (always helps a hangover) and decided to get a Beef N Cheddar with Bacon and a large order of curley fries. I was so hungry that I even got some jalepeno poppers (which are jalepeno peppers halfed with cream cheese on the inside and deep fried). The meal was not that cheap for fast food, but it was very good. My biggest complaint about fast food is that its greasy and thrown together. This meal was not that way.

This Arby's is one of a kind. Even the bathrooms are spotless and the food is good for "fast food". I would suggest giving it a try next time you are in the mood for some fast food.