What could have been a horrendous experience was saved to be a minor inconvenience because of the discretion showed by the service rep at DVNT. I took a chance, almost 8 years ago, when I bought a Hybrid. It seemed like a good idea at the time. "But the battery technology is unproven", I was told. It's a risk, for sure, but with an 8 year full warranty on the hybrid battery and Toyota's track record, I took the chance.

So, just months before the 8 years, and 40km over the coverage threshold, my battery needed replacement. This is such a rare occurrence that the service advisors at DVNT said they could count on one hand the number of times it has happened, and usually it's with a Prius used as a shuttle. To repair this is over $4,000. Hardly worth the investment on an 8 year old car, and then the car essentially becomes worthless for sale, since no-one would want to invest that kind of money into an 8 year old car.

So, the battery died on a Friday night and I was able to drive it to the dealership the next morning - they fit me in Saturday morning last minute without hesitation, and even before they knew the problem, arranged for a rental car until it could be fixed, which turned out to be five days. And despite being a few clicks over the warranty period, they covered almost the entire cost of the repair under the warranty. Only one other part needed to be replaced. Total cost - $300 for repair and $100 for rental insurance. Quite a difference from what could have been $4,500 repair and $250 for rental.

And all because an advisor used discretion to perform excellent customer service and retain a customer who has only purchased Toyota vehicles.

Well done, Don Chen and DVNT.

We eat at Maki Sushi on average once a week, (I'm embarrassed to say sometimes more than that). Sometimes we go for the all you can eat menu, which is a better value Sunday through Thursday since weekends are charged at a higher price, but the menu is the same.

If you order all you can eat, experiment. There's so much to choose from, even if you don't like sushi. We just discovered a new item (the dumplings) a year after we started eating there! if you order a la carte, there is good value, and a family of 4 can eat for under $50.

The food is excellent, the variety outstanding, the service is excellent, and the management very accommodating. It is often busy, so if you go at peak times, expect a wait or make a reservation.

I recommend the chicken, salmon, eggplant teriyaki, the typical Japanse fare, the Maki salad, the seaweed salad .. everything is yummy. The BBQ beef ribs are like Miami Ribs.

The only thing to watch out for is that the menu for a la carte and all u can eat is different. Some items are on both menus, but some are not, so try the all u can eat first, and when you're not so hungry, try something off the main menu, we recently got the vegetarian bento box.

They have a promotion: on Mondays kids eat free. It's even advertised on their website (http://www.bestchickenwings.com/comingsoon) and was advertised on the TV in the restaurant. We ordered a kid's meal. On a Monday. But the server told us their restaurant (just opened) wasn't set up for that promotion yet. Well, IMHO they should have honoured their own advertising, even if they couldn't figure out how to punch it into the register.
Strike One.
Then the wings came and although I think they're over-priced at $22 for 20 wings, I guess that's not so out there for people used to eating such fare. Soft drinks at $2.50 also pushes the limits for me. But the wings were not prepared correctly. For a wing place, the wings have to be properly coated (evenly) all over. The wings were simply not coated in the sauce (except for the Honey Garlic variety). There was just a bit of sauce drizzled on top of one side. The underside had absolutely no sauce. To me, this isn't the mark of properly prepared chicken wings. It should be tossed and coated to cover all sides.
Strike Two.
Then, considering we ordered 20 wings, we asked if we could try the dill dipping sauce (in addition to the ranch that came with the 2 celery and 2 carrot sticks). I understand that they can't give unlimited sauces to everyone, but for a restaurant open less than a week you'd think they could invest the 25 cents in potential future customers. Nope - that would be a 75 cent charge.
Strike Three.
They're out for me. At least the Heart & Stroke Foundation will benefit from all the fried foods by this review :)

Update: I did get a response from corporate when I mentioned all this via their website. Also, we gave them another try and this time the wings were done better (properly). So I've upped my rating.

Update Aug/2011: They're out of business. No big surprise.

Well, I do have a list of pet peeves about restaurants (see my profile neala), and this place violated 2 of them. Still, I can't complain.

Pet Peeve #2): When the ingredients are not all listed on the menu's description of the item.
Pet Peeve #3): When a restaurant charges for sharing.

1) Went with silver and had to send back my lunch twice. First time, it had cheese which was described on the menu but I had asked to forgo. Second time, it had mayo (or something like mayo) which wasn't described on the menu. However, each time, they replaced it with a no problem attitude.

2) I understand some restaurants provide large portions and so they want to discourage sharing (or else 2 people will buy 1 meal). But I think it's a bit presumptuous to charge for sharing a sandwich or an appetizer. After all, that's what appetizers are for, isn't it? Right on the menu it says you'll have to pay an additional dollar or two if you share. And besides, what business is it of theirs if I want one meal to share? On principle alone, it irks me.

P.S. - for another Pet Peeve, see the review of RUTH'S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE at:
http://www.n49.ca/dir/dining/l695/Toronto/d2283/Ruth's Chris Steak House/reviews#