Restaurant Review, Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant

(Rough Draft)
Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant
Have you ever come across a Mexican restaurant that is shady, poorly put together, or one that is overdone and overpriced? Well I have found a Mexican restaurant that has the perfect balance. A nice, relaxed and modest place called Guadalajara.
Guadalajara is located in a small run-down shopping center off Laskin Road and First Colonial in Virginia Beach, VA. It is brightly lit up building between Buffalo Beach, and a large department store. The location and size from the outside it probably does not seem worth while. As soon as you walk in the door and greeted by the staff, your mind completely changes. The smell of freshly grilled chicken and salsa anticipates the short wait, and the small water well by the door sets the mood with the comfortable atmosphere and setting. The staff is dressed in bright colors, well groomed and ready to serve you. Immediately you notice the decorations and the color scheme clashes greatly to give off a great Mexican feel.
Mexican is preferably my favorite kind of food, and there are plenty to choose from. Guadalajara always seems to make everything taste just right. The menu is easily worded and organized by lunch, dinner, and the different entrees they have, so no confusion arises. The service is prompt, and you are never neglected by your waiter no matter how busy it seems to be. I could not wait to jump into my burrito Cali. The burrito took up my whole plate, length and width. Not even half way through it, I was stuffed. Even though I came in for dinner, I left with two nights worth of dinner, and a side of chips and dip, under $15.00 No dessert was offered there, but I had enough money left over to pay dessert for all three of us.
Your senses are awakened and your mouth is watering the moment you walk in the door! Yeah we all have a preference of which Mexican restaurant to dine in, and certainly enough to choose from. But, if you are looking for a small, relaxed, rarely crowded, and a non-smoking place so the kids can tag along and even the whole family for a good filling meal, at a good price, try Guadalajara.





(Final Draft)
Audience: First potential customers to a different Mexican Restaurant.
Thesis Statement: The perfect balance Guadalajara has, compared to some other Mexican restaurants found and experienced.
Audience Needs: Proof and evidence of how this Mexican restaurant is different with their atmosphere, food and service.

Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant

Every Friday night it’s a routine for some friends and I to get dressed up and go out for Mexican after a long day at work. It took us a while to find a Mexican Restaurant that we really enjoyed. A lot of places we found were questionable, run-down, too fancy, or overpriced. All of the looking finally paid off when we walked into Guadalajara. The atmosphere, the service, and the food give it the perfect balance between a casual and a fancier Mexican Restaurant. As soon as you walk in the door you are blown away by the setting and warm atmosphere they have to offer.
Guadalajara is located in a small run-down shopping center off Laskin Road and First Colonial in Virginia Beach, VA. It is a brightly lit up building between a small restaurant called Buffalo Beach, and a large department store. The shopping center does not get a lot of business and the buildings are run-down, so looking from the outside it probably does not seem worthwhile. As soon as you walk in the door you are greeted by the Mexican staff with a loud “HEEEYY Welcome!” The smell of freshly grilled chicken and salsa anticipates the short wait, and the small water fountain by the door sets the mood with the comfortable atmosphere and setting. Immediately your attention turns to the pictures and paintings on the wall. The colors and shapes blend harmoniously to give off a Mexican vibe. Not only is the atmosphere welcoming, the staff is friendly and the service is prompt.
Upon entering the restaurant you are greeted immediately, and feel important. Being their customer, you are never ignored. No matter how busy it seems to be, they always make you feel like you are their top priority. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable of their menu and products and helpful if any confusion arises. They are well groomed and look professionally dressed in bright yellows, reds, and greens. Although great service brings people in, the food is what keeps them coming back.
Mexican is preferably my favorite kind of food, and there are plenty of restaurants to choose from. Some cook their chicken differently, make their salsa too spicy or not, and some don’t give you a fair share amount of the cheesy white sauce. Guadalajara always seems to make everything taste just right. The burrito Cali is absolutely my favorite dinner entrée and I order it every time I come in. It’s a dinner with beans, rice, grilled chicken, and avocado dip put together in a stuffed burrito topped with cheesy white sauce. The chicken is grilled to perfection with a blend of herbs, spices and oils, not too chewy or undercooked. The beans aren’t too dry, and blend well with the rice. The avocado and salsa inside give it enough spice for a great zing in your mouth. The cheesy white sauce tops off the whole dinner and gives it the lasting flavor. You can’t help but take one more bite, and crunch on the hot, fresh tortilla chips served with the entrée. All under 15.00!
My girlfriends and I never miss a beat when it comes to Friday nights at Guadalajara. It’s almost too good to be true, but yes you can have a great Mexican meal at a fine restaurant with friendly staff, a welcoming atmosphere and delicious food for a good price.

I felt I was not all the way prepared for this essay. We did some free writing in class and then moved to a different topic, it was hard to keep up with the dates. The free writing and brianstorming lesson helped me best with this assignment. Set dates times, and more in depth lessons could have prepared me better for this assignment since we jumped around. I started with the free writing assigment and put all my ideas on paper. I actually dined in the restaurant again to get more of a feel for it, and write more things down while I was there. Peer review is always helpful especially when writing a paper for the first time in a few months. After my peer review I felt I had a better approach to a well written paper.

Me, blogging?

Since i was assigned to this whole blog thing, i kind of like it. I mean like my English professor mentioned it being a good stress reliever. It is especially in this time of my life. Going to college, just moved out of my parents house, and working full time. It's a heavy load and someone has to do it. If there are any pointers or useful tips let me know, so i can have a cool blog ya know?! Writing isn't so bad, i think it's just the whole process that scares us. Or like the 2000 word count, the work cited and how every little detail counts. It's not so hard, you just have to keep writing and looking for ways to improve yourself, and better your writing skills. (We all know there a little dusty!)

Can you see me now?

If I woke up one day and had the opportunity to obtain a superpower, I would choose to be invisible. I am the type of person who has to be “in the know” of things. I do not like ambiguous situations; so by having the option to turn invisible in different situations I would know everything that I felt unsure about.
I would use my invisibility powers in different scenarios. For example, as I am entering my first year of college, I am becoming more interested in politics and how the government’s officials run our country. When I watch the news, I find myself questioning our leader’s motives, decisions and ethics. If I could become invisible, I would place myself in our nation’s capital at the White House and wander around the halls listening in on conversations and attending important confidential foreign affairs meetings. This would give me the chance to see the scandals, corruption of power and the true political motives behind closed doors, that seem to blind our officials from the line of good and evil. Truly then, I could form an honest opinion on my political views and what kind of leadership I want for my country.
Every family has their famous kept secrets that the adults are forbidden to tell the children. Every year, my rather large family has the traditional family reunion where everyone comes together and pretend they all get along in harmony. It is quite comical to watch in my shoes. The gossip, the whispering and the awkward silences that take place at our picnics and so called “relaxful” vacations. Every year it’s always someone new that’s in the hot seat and up for the criticism, but most of the time I’m left out of the loop. I wonder if that’s because it has been me all this time. If I could be invisible I would always be up to date with the latest “top secret” family information. I know everyone makes mistakes and in my family’s case, dysfunction is forever. If I could turn invisible around my auntie Sue and watch her in the kitchen gossiping with my mother, I would finally get the scoop on Grandpa Joe’s history and why he’s so moody all the time and maybe they will slip a story about his Vietnam days that I can never get him to talk with me about. Then, maybe they will explain why Auntie Sue’s husband doesn’t get along with my auntie Jess which is something that my cousins and I have always been curious to know about!
If I could be invisible even just for a day, I would know everything that I wanted to know from how our government is being ran, to the sitcom series of my family’s drama. I could finally obtain information that I have been pondering on and use it to my advantage if I wanted. Boy, that would be some gift to have!

Informal Introduction.

English has never been my thing, blogs either. But i survived my first college English class! For me, its not easy to write papers. I come up with the best ideas when I'm not really thinking about what i need to write. Procrastinating has always successfully worked for me. I can't sit in front of my computer for hours typing up my paper unless its going to be due the next day. When i entered the classroom where i would be sitting in twice a week for an hour and fifteen minutes, i changed my thinking about English, and i despised it even more. No, really i was eager to learn new ways of approaching the writing process and if it would work for me. My English professor was a little on the nerdy side, but had a passion for what he taught, and you could tell. Our class was small, and that made me feel more comfortable. But he threw a curve ball when he mentioned he uses blackboard very often. I logged into my account maybe once or twice upon entering his class. The first paper of the semester is usually the hardest because i have to get my mind focused of the paper, and it's been a while since i've even thought about writing a paper. Your not really sure what to expect from your professor and vise versa. It's kind of like an introduction through a written paper, and from there on it's easier to open up. I strive to learn at least one thing daily, and hopefully more than that during a semester of school. But i left English 111 with a few things to carry onto Englsih 112. Rhetorical analysis, the use of blackboard, and the knowledge of how to blog. As we completed each paper throughout the semester, my writing became more acceptable as for college. I learned new ways to outline on paper, instead of in my head and going from there. Free-writing became a must, and i tried to work on it little by little, and not all at once. I had the opportunity to write about my favorite restaurant. I actually had dinner at this restaurant before i began writing. I felt like that would maybe help me write my paper by visualizing the place and being able to let my audience see the restaurant like i did. As the semester continued, my writing slowly improved and so did my computer skills.
Thanks for a successfull year Mr. Gasparo (your name is really cool by the way!) English is hard to teach, and keep students attention, but i survived!