Sometimes, when people enter a retail store, they don't really have a specific purchase in mind. Sometimes, it's fun to walk around and look at stuff to get ideas, or browse cards, imagining certain people that might enjoy them. Not here. The owner of this store and many of the employees target you upon entering. Seriously, the owner will approach you in a very direct, aggressive way, ask you exactly what you're looking for and practically pry-- example: Owner: ""Hi, what are you looking for today?"" Me: ""Oh, I'm just browsing..."" Owner: ""Anything in particular? Cards for mom, dad?"" Me: ""uh..."" Owner: ""Funny or Serious?"" After getting her to leave me alone, about 5 minutes later, another employee approached and asked if I was doing okay and ""don't hesitate to ask"" for help. Still looking at cards, deep into thought, probably about 10-15 minutes later the owner RE-approached me and jokingly said, ""Wow, you just don't know what to buy today!"" After that, I was so annoyed at the constant badgering, I left the store without purchasing a single item. I've seen the employees act this way with EVERY customer, not just myself. Also, the owner has such a loud, obnoxious voice that carries throughout the whole store, it's hard to hear yourself think. If you want a shopping experience very much akin to a ""retail assembly line"", where upon entering, your needs are immediately assessed and defined, are expected to purchase whatever you are directed to within 15 minutes, all the while workers follow you around the store like stalkers, go directly to Linda's Hallmark on Bell. The store is run directly out of an 80's Retail Handbook. All in all, an extremely ANNOYING experience.

My boyfriend and I decided to eat here Christmas night. I had called Jade Palace in Scottsdale (both locations) only to find the wait for a table was around an hour at either one. We arrived at Autumn Court around 5:45 pm. and were seated immediately. The atmosphere was very intimate, warm and cozy-- perfect for a cold December night.\r \r \r \r Our order included an appetizer, Paper Wrapped Chicken & Dinner Specials Kung Pao Chicken and Shrimp w/Lobster Sauce as our main entrees. We joked, we laughed, we waited. And waited. And waited... We were just about to leave at around 10 till seven when lo and behold, (slow restaurants must have some kind of irritated customer sensor) our 'appetizer' came. Paper Wrapped Chicken turned out to be 6 aluminum foil triangles with tiny pieces of chicken (I'm talking a normal size spoonful of one piece of chicken) wrapped in them, no vegetables, just chicken that apparently was marinated in some greasy, oily black-flecked substance which didn't taste like anything. One chicken blob I opened was completely burnt and black... My boyfriend started laughing at the situation-- the irony of waiting over an hour for an appetizer that was about as appetite-whetting as six peas on a plate. We started joking about how the chef and waitstaff must be into some kind of dinner-torture thing.\r \r \r \r We laughed, we joked, we waited... We ran out of stuff to talk about. I became so bored I began unintentionally listening to other people's conversations. I felt like I was drifting in and out of consciousness waiting for our food. Waiters scurried past quickly the entire time, not making eye contact; not offering a single apology about the wait. Then a little after 7:15 (!) --remember, we were seated and our order taken 1 1/2 hours ago-- our food finally came. Just the entrees. No soup or egg rolls like we had ordered . Both our dishes were lukewarm, very salty and not worth the wait at all. Won't be returning.

I had a lot of fun at this bar-- reminds me of an old punk club. If you go in expecting a 'normal' (translation: boring) pool/darts/mostly domestic beer on tap bar, you will be disappointed. Actually, it has all that plus live bands. It has 'grotto' right in the name, so don't expect some upscale club atmosphere either. Likewise, if you're looking to impress some bimbo or mimbo to hookup for an evening of gonorrhea, this is definitely not the place. They book mostly local bands and have an open mic night, so if you keep that in mind (preferably of the open variety) you can't have a bad time.