Rachel R.'s Profile

This is average or slightly above average sushi.  Last time we ate here, my husband said his hamachi (yellow tail) was poor but his maguro (tuna) was excellent.  The avocado rolls are always delicious, but they don't carry my favorite vegetarian sushi filling: kanpyo (dried gourd).

I like going here because they are relatively uncrowded, they make it easy to order food to go, and they are usually open on holidays.

Vegan Report: They have some vegetarian offerings but be sure they don't put dried fish on your spinach or tofu.

This park was first described as a park with a lot of ants.  That sounded awful to me, because I didn't know they meant giant ant sculptures.  At the intersection of Monroe Street and Rip Miller Way, you can find the War Memorial Playground, more commonly known as "The Ant Park".

Surprisingly, my daughter is totally uninterested in the ants.  But she loves the play structures here, which are very new and unusual.  There are swings, including a "big kid's swing" that is low enough for a toddler to get on.  The baby swings have short chains and are therefore annoying to push your child on.  But the climbing structures are great.

This park is worth a trip to explore.

I believe they put this where the Washington Park swimming pool used to be.  It is part of the larger Washington Park complex.

I went to a pre-opening event here thanks to Kathy (http://www.yelp.com/us...) and was impressed with the airy quality of the restaurant.  New eateries are always so delightfully clean.  This location was showing the attention to detail you would expect of a soft opening.  The bathrooms are nice, with paper towels and a trash right by the door.  The tables have ample walking room around them.  They have a special contraption for holding your infant car seat instead of using an upside-down highchair, which I always hated.

The staff is tries very hard.  If you like this Americanized version of Mexican food (nothing is spicy), then I would recommend this location.  It is at the far end of the Market Center from the freeway (opposite end from Trader Joe's).  The top shelf margaritas are huge and yummy.  You get a choice of beans.  And the rice seems more tasty than at other locations.

Vegetarian & Vegan Report: Staff here doesn't yet know how to advise people.  Cheese enchiladas are made with a meat sauce.  Fajitas are made with butter.  Tortillas are made with whey.  Know what you can and cannot eat before coming here, because they will not necessarily be able to warn you about what foods are appropriate for your diet/allergies/etc.

I believe they officially open on Monday, June 23rd.

I gave birth to a healthy girl here in June 2008.  The worst part of the experience has to be that they take you to a preliminary room, have you undress, have you pee in a cup, and examine you just to be admitted.  Then you have to be transfered to an actual delivery room.  Being transfered, and wasting time, when you are in labor, is not fun!

The delivery rooms are nice.  There is a big chair for your partner to sleep in, but my husband said it was very uncomfortable (though not compared to squeezing out a baby).

They would not let me wear my t-shirt for delivery and absolutely insisted I change into a gown (I wore my t-shirt when I delivered at El Camino Hospital).

They handled it well when my epidural wore off completely and I was very unhappy and very vocal about it.  Ouch!

The nurses were very nice, but as with my other delivery, they wanted to give me medicine I didn't need, so I had to keep asking what they were doing, and saying "No" to anything I didn't want.  One nurse tried to give me Petocin without asking me.  Petocin artificially causes contractions, often more intense than natural ones, and thus increases the chances of fetal distress (and thus the need for additional interventions).  When I said I didn't want it, she asked why.  I shouldn't have to explain, so I said, "Because I don't want it."  I had been in labor for a week and I wound up having insanely intense contractions naturally (baby was delivered with 15 minutes of pushing as opposed to 2.5 hours with my first one) and I kept thinking afterward that I was so glad I had turned down the Petocin.

In the recovery room, I had to refuse more medicines I didn't need.  When I said I didn't want the stool softener, I was again asked why, and I was told, "It makes the poopie soft" as though I was some idiot who did not understand the concept.  I do not want any medicine in anticipation of a problem I don't yet have!

The recovery rooms are decent, with a little, noisy cot for your partner to sleep on.  The staff comes in frequently, to the point where I was averaging 3 people an hour!  These visitors included nurses checking your vitals and baby's vitals, people bringing food, people asking if you're done with your food yet, records recorder, person asking about special "celebration dinner" menu, person soliciting for "first photos", pediatrician who checks on your child, person coming to administer biliruben test,  person coming to administer hearing test, etc.  We opted to leave the hospital a day early in favor of getting some extra rest at home.

The food is terrible (particularly compared to El Camino Hospital) and they could not understand my vegan diet.  I had to continually explain that Ranch dressing and whatever dessert they were serving were not vegan.  They had no soy milk nor any non-dairy substitutes.

What I really liked about delivering my baby here was two things:

(1) When I asked around about this hospital, I found that the main complaint people have is that they have you keep your baby with you the whole time and make you feel guilty if you want a break.  I hated that El Camino kept taking my baby away to the nursery; I wanted her with me the whole time, so I really liked that O'Connor let you keep your baby and did almost all procedures in front of you, in your room.

(2) With my first delivery I got in serious trouble for sleeping with my newborn next to me in bed.  I got in trouble for going to the bathroom without calling the nurse.  I got in trouble for going to the bathroom by myself when I did call the nurse and she didn't show up after 15 minutes.  Here at O'Connor, I didn't get in trouble for anything.  The whole attitude was less scolding (besides the pressure to take medications I didn't want) and that was a welcome relief.

The Mission City CPA is a fabulous theatre.  It seats 360 and all the seating is at one level (no balcony).  We saw a Roberta Jones Junior Theatre (