Honestly

Written by on in Dinner, Reviews, Tidbits and Treats

Honestly, I am a big fan of Groupon. The deals may not be appealing every day, but every once and a while you come across one of your favorite restaurants or activities and it is wonderful. Or, in the case of a few weeks ago, you are able to try out a new restaurant that you’ve heard wonderful things about.

TANK Sushi is located in Lincoln Square, an area of Chicago that I do not get to explore very often, but that seems very fun and family-friendly. Bobby and I ventured there with our discount in tow and were excited to find an array of delicious maki rolls to choose from.

Honestly, I am a huge fan of salt so the fact that these edamame were loaded with it didn’t faze me in the slightest. Bring it on. A great way to start the meal.

We were delighted to order a big plate full of delicious, colorful sushi.

We tried the dragon roll, which was composed of tempura shrimp, eel, avocado, masago mayo, sweet soy sauce and sesame seeds and tasted absolutely phenomenal. Honestly, by far my favorite.

Next up was the crazy eel roll, which had avocado, cream cheese and sesame seeds topped with eel, sweet soy sauce and crushed peanuts. Another winner!

Last but not least was the California roll made up of the usual rock crab, masago, avocado, cucumber and sesame seeds. Honestly, I wish we would have been a bit more adventurous, but it’s always good to have a roll you know will taste good just in case.

The rolls were so good that we decided to order two more of the first. We thought that the first three were ordered in time for the 1/2 price special that night and that we had a bit of leftover Groupon to spare. Honestly, the only damper on the entire experience was when we later found out that you could not combine the 1/2 price special with the Groupon – very deceiving, since the menu specifically labeled what you “couldn’t” use with the Groupon and the 1/2 price maki special was not labeled as such.

In other words, we ended up spending the exact same amount had we not bought the Groupon at all.

Honestly, lame.

But that’s not entirely the restaurant’s fault. Yes, the menu was deceiving but we should have realized that the Groupon said in tiny print that it couldn’t be combined with other offers. Live and learn. It was still very delicious sushi and I quite enjoyed the Lincoln Square experience.

But honestly, the Groupon I’m most excited to share with you is the one I picked up last week. The one for $25 for $75 worth of wine at Wine Insiders.

Oh yes, you read that right.

We were able to get a dozen red wines for $50 total in spending. Not bad! We decided to be more adventurous than we were with the California roll and ordered the Mystery Reds 12-pack, which came with free shipping. They all arrived in their glory yesterday.

There are five more bottles where that came from, but as some of them were duplicates, I thought I would show you a representative of each. Looking forward to reviewing them one by one on the blog. 🙂

Other honest thoughts of the week:

  • I am truly excited to go to the BlogHer ’10 conference in NYC next week. Jill (my business partner) and I are honored to be leading one of the break-out sessions on Friday. It’s called “How to Make Your Passion ‘Work’ For You.” If you’re there, we’d love for you to come!
  • Bobby and I are wrapping up the final week of Insanity. I can’t wait to share the final results and reviews with you. If the Fit Test is any indication, it’s been a successful journey.
  • Today is Mara’s 30th birthday and I consider myself lucky to call her my friend! If you’re on Twitter, make sure to wish @imadedinner a wonderful day!
  • We recently reformatted the POP! Social Media website and I would love to hear your honest opinions! The content isn’t quite finished, but the layout is my favorite part.
  • August is almost here and it is going to be quite possibly the busiest month of my life. I am honestly so grateful to all of you for sticking with me through my somewhat disorganized posting schedule. One of these days, life will be less cluttered. “One of these days…”

Last but not least, I’m honestly thrilled to announce the two winners of the NAKANO giveaway:

#43 – Kate!

#6 – Lisa!

Congratulations, ladies! Please send me an email with your mailing address to eatingbender@gmail.com so that I can get you your goodies as soon as possible!

An honest thanks for reading, as always. Hope you have a beautiful Thursday!

Would love to hear one of your “honest” thoughts of the day. Do tell! :mrgreen:

Abrazos,

49 Comments

  1. I actually am really disappointed with Groupon here. I signed up for it about 4 months ago and haven’t got ONE thing that I would be interested in! Maybe I’m just hard to please? 😉

  2. i haven’t signed up for groupon, but i’m thinking maybe i should? i guess you never know what you might get out of it! and i’ll take 3 dragon rolls please…so what if they’re all for me? 😉

  3. Love this post! I’ve heard so much about groupon but have never checked it out. Maybe I should! The sushi looks wonderful.

    And HOLY WINE! I’m jealous times 3.

  4. I love Groupon, too! I haven’t made it up to Tank yet (although I was in Lincoln Square yesterday which is RARE for me) but I hear it’s great.

    Honestly- that’s the thing about Groupon. You get a good deal but you have to make sure you read the fine print and still control what you order (when it’s a restaurant deal) otherwise you end up spending a lot…sigh. 🙂

  5. My honest thought: As much as I love wine, I can never finish a bottle by myself. I get burnt out by the 3rd night in a row of having a small glass. But give me a six pack of good beer (such as a stout, porter, or IPA) and it will be gone by the end of the week! I am super classy, I know.

  8. you just gave me a huge craving for sushi! I love groupon- my dad’s store used it and sold out immediately! Such a good marketing tool! The other day there was one for skydiving- my friend chris is taking me! If you get the chance, take it! right? All thanks to groupon 😉

    p.s. Im in the burbs of your city right now. Falling in love [with the town] as we speak 🙂

    xo-Molly
    http://www.givinganythingbutup.wordpress.com

    • That’s so awesome that your dad used Groupon! Have fun skydiving, too – what a terrifyingly exciting trip 🙂 I hope you had fun in Chicago – can’t wait to see you for the HLS in a couple of weeks!

  9. I am obbsessed with NYC Goupon.. I think I buy something once a week.. haha..

    I wish I got a ticket to Blogher because I would love to attend your session.. O well maybe next year 🙂

  10. I LOVE groupon, and use it a lot…

    my favorite is the dragon roll also… SO good! those look delicious.

    CONGRATS to the nakano winners!! 🙂

  11. I’m not really a sushi person (and by that I mean I’ve never tried it haha)- but that sushi looks just gorgeous. Groupon or not- a great meal 🙂 And the deal on that wine? Heck yah! The pop website looks great. I love that it has a very simple & classy design and is easy to navigate. I hate when there is TOO MUCH stuff on a website. My honest thought of the day- I am HONESTLY dragging. I need a vacation like whoa

  12. AH THE WINE!! Haha, so glad you get to try so many new-to-you ones. And it is too bad about the maki rolls, but at least they were good maki rolls, right? 🙂

  13. I don’t go out enough to make Groupon worthwhile, but I’ve definitely recommended it to my folks – the deals where they live (near NYC) are pretty fantastic.
    Honest thought of the day (really, really honest) Am I mature enough to be a mom? My partner and I finally got a green card to start trying, and I’m having a bit of a “really?” moment… ah well. That’s what wine is for, and I better enjoy it while I can 🙂

    • Aw, that is such a meaningful honest thought. Thank you for sharing, Rachael. I think it’s one of those things where you are questioning whether you are mature enough until the day they are born – and then it’s easy 🙂 Enjoy that wine, girl!

  16. Sushi looks delicious! YUM> I wish we could go to BlogHer I would love to meet you and your business partner. You two are so inspiring, keep up the great work!!

  18. That’s too bad you couldn’t use your coupon for the sushi, but at least it tasted great right? Love me some good sushi 😀 Also looking forward to your Insanity recap.

  19. I’ve just discovered Groupon, too! So far, I haven’t taken up any of the deals– it’s tough in Los Angeles, when everything is so spread out and far away! Hopefully one of these days I’ll get a good deal that’s nearby!

    Can’t wait to hear your Insanity recap! I have the set myself, but had a hard time sticking to the exact schedule for more than 3 weeks… now, I’ve just added them into my workout rotation!

    • I can imagine it’s tough when things are spread out! Hopefully something great comes along soon! I think it’s great that you added Insanity to your workout rotation. I honestly feel after doing the program that it’s probably most effective when combined when other exercises, so you don’t overwork your body!

  21. First of all, I am in LOVE with all that sushi. And the wine.
    So funny that you are just wrapping up your Insanity training, I’m just about to add some Insanity back in to my mix! LOVE Shaun T and his “Dig Deeper!” mantra.
    He makes me think unclean thoughts WHAT? 😉

    See you chicks in NYC next week! WOOT!!
    XOXO
    @kellyolexa

    • Seeing a comment from you pop into my inbox was the highlight of my day! We ought to do a sushi + wine night sometime!

      I remember when you were doing Insanity – I think last year sometime, right?! It has been a wild couple of months – I think I am going to start incorporating it with other exercises. I’m a big Shaun T fan, too. Gotta love his…mantra! 😉

      Can’t WAIT to see you in NYC!! <3

  25. I recently just was introduced to Groupon last week actually–the closest deals I can get are for Minneapolis, which is 4 hrs away, but I visit the cities quite a bit, so I am definitely going to keep checking on it! Glad you got to enjoy a fun-looking restaurant with a coupon!

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