Chan's Place

We like Chan's place a lot: have been to both the Woodinville and the Kirkland locations several times, and we were always delighted by the food quality and the staff courtesy. Highly recommend this.

Big 5 Sporting Goods

I went to Big 5 in Kirkland several times. I found them to have a nice selection of sporting items, always there are a lot of things on sale. The only complains I have: they seem to be short on staff (admitedly, I only went there on weekends), and they don't seem to carry rain jackets (which is surprising, given that it rains pretty often around here).

Petco

I visited Petco for the first time today, with my daughter. We don't have any pet and wanted to get some ideas. I found Petco to be a very nice pet store: they have a lot of "knowledge sheets" about various pets, and the staff was very helpful and knowledgeable. I bought a Betta fish as our first pet, but I'll definitely be back for more.

Air Ductors Inc.

We had the air ducts cleaned - I made an appointment with them after reading several good reviews about this company. They came on time, did an excelent job. With every air ducts cleaning they inspect the furnace for free - and they do the job very thoroughly. We had the dryer vent cleaned- and they gave us 50 % off because the duct was short. We ended up paying less than 200 $ for all the ducts cleaned, the dryer duct cleaned, and the furnace inspected. And we asked for an estimation for a new furnace and they gave us by far the lowest estimation. Highly recommended.

PROS: great customer service, great job, great prices
CONS: none

Honda of Kirkland

Indeed the customer service is very good. The check up is pretty thourough - and they guaranty their work. After the appointment they followed up with couple of phone calls, to see if everything is OK and we are (still) happy with the work done. And we still are very happy with the work and with their customer service.

PROS: 5 stars customer service
CONS: none known

Home Furniture

First of all, the "map and direction" for this store is wrong. Here is the website link http://www.greathomefurniture.com/. They were recommended by a friend- and we did get our furniture from them. The prices are on the high side - but the higher tag does come with quality furniture. Pretty good customer service.
One BIG problem: The sales are heavily advertised on the local TV stations but the actual price reductions are really small.

PROS: nice, quality furniture
CONS: misleading TV ads for sales

Bally Total Fitness

I had a free membership, otherwise I don't think I would have got to this Bally. From outside- it looks old. From inside it looks old and small. On the plus side- the staff is friendly and NOT pushy. (from previous experinces I know the kind of gym staff "auto-dealer" like, trying to push you to get a membership today, 'cause tomorrow will be too late. It's not the case with this gym. The staff is nice and really helpful)
They have lots of free classes. The pool is large, but didn't look very clean.

PROS: nice, helpful staff
CONS: small, old

Fresh Vitamins

This is a small store with lots of health products and a quite knowledgeable staff. They have a rewards program, and very often I can find coupons for the store in the local coupon mailer. Some of the products can be pretty expensive, but you can find a large variety so very often I can find something in my price range. The store is in the same plazza like Trader's Joe, so I can do all my "healthy shopping" with just one trip.

PROS: nice, large variety of products, coupons
CONS: not many products on sale

Totem Lake Kindercare

I am so happy I found this school! The kindergarten program is very nice and interesting (with math, reading, science), the teachers are very nice, the classrooms are very well lighted, the kids have lots of toys... Overall: very, very nice school, at a very reasonable price.

PROS: good teachers, good programs, very good management, affordable
CONS: don't know any

Helen Keller Elementary School

My daughter started kindergarten this fall. At first I was pretty upset that the only class I could get in was the afternoon one, and decided to "go" with Keller only untill I will find a full day program. But the progress she made at school, the teacher, the parents involvement and overall quality of the school made it very hard to take my daughter out of the class even after I did find a very good private school with a full day program.Helen Keller IS a very good school.

PROS: quality education, very good teachers
CONS: only one full day kindergarten class