I've been seeing Dr Zielinski since they had the practise on the old corner of south road...before it became a tunnel! So a few years!

Dr Zielinski is reasonably priced and does excellent dental work. I've never had any problems after seeing him (another dentist botched a filling so badly I had to have a root canal afterward - thanks West Lakes Dental for the pain and expense).

The hygienist is also lovely and does a very thorough job.

I've also seen the new dentist at the practise though his name escapes me at the moment - he was also very good.

Can definitely recommend this dental surgery.

The pasta factory is a refreshingly unique business - no franchised carbon copy store, just a family company! They supply fresh/frozen pasta meals, pasta sauces etc.

The service is very friendly, when you go in they give you a loyalty card (buy x meals, get 1 free) and they're happy to help you out checking ingredients, for example, if you can't eat onion.

The pasta itself was good - I'd been hoping for a fresh-out-of-italian-kitchen type pasta but my expectations were too high, I don't think its possible to get that outside an actual italian (home) kitchen! The pasta is fresh, you can identify the ingredients, and tastes good. Good meal sizes and there's instructions on how to reheat on the container.

Definitely give them a try and support VIBRANT LOCAL business instead of vanilla corporate!

Approximate cost: $10.00

Spices is a little thai/sushi place in the West Lakes Mall food court - it's the smallest and the only regular-priced food outlet in the whole court. Well - it's still a tiny bit pricier than normal, but reasonable.

The sushi is good, quite average taste/size/variety, though they do have fried sushi which is not available at all places. Fried sushi is evilly delicious and I'm happy to say I didn't try theirs, but stuck to the fresh stuff.

The service was very fast and had to be as there was a queue for food.

I haven't tried any of the noodle type dishes but I'll definitely try when I get the chance.

Approximate cost: $5.00

This cafe is in the food court @ West Lakes shopping centre. I was going to order coffee + cake but ended up only ordering a peppermint tea. I was ignored at the counter so long by the 3 chatting ladies in front of me I nearly walked away altogether, and I wouldn't have missed much.

The liptons peppermint tea bag was thrown into boiling water along with a splash of cold tap water and put down in front of me, when the lady realised the cup was dirty. She exclaimed 'oh, no it's dirty' and I presume she went and made a fresh cup; though I couldn't see what she was doing with her back to me and may have just cleaned the rim of the cup or something. I drank it anyway - I'm not so delicate and fastidious will never be my middle name - but still, they might have put a better customer service face on things?

The prices were very high, like all the outlets in the food hall since West Lakes was refurbished; I suspect Westfield are charging an absolute fortune for that retail space.

If you're after a nice cafe you're probably not cruising the shopping malls in any case - but don't rush to try this place out.

I've tried Bing Boy twice now. They call their fare "Urban Asian Street Food", the veracity of which I have no way of verifying, but I do know it tastes good!

They have a menu of about 10 different 'rolls' - they're not bread rolls but a kind of savoury fresh toasted crepe with a range of fillings. The rolls don't have 10 different ingredients, just a few: but the combination of flavours work really well and so the paucity pays off.

Price seems fair from 6.90 to 8.90. They've only got a small drinks fridge so not a huge selection of drinks to go with your meals.

Service is ok; it's just an order then wait for your number to be called type set up - so there's not necessarily much 'service' necessary or much that can go wrong/right...

The rolls come in a very funky wrapping, that is perforated at intervals for you to tear a few cm's off the top of the wrap as you eat down the roll...very cool.

Overall, definitely worth a try, check them out!

Approximate cost: $6.90

I used Stanley Samuels for property management for a few years. It was reasonably priced according to the market - around the 8% mark.

I used them to obtain and manage tenants. When first renting out my property they gave me an estimate of what I could charge; I asked them to list it for $30 a week more than what they'd recommended and they grudgingly did so, telling me a cautionary tale of landlords reigning over empty houses when they name pie-in-the-sky weekly rents. We had plenty of applicants and it was tenanted within the week...

I had an issue with a particular property manager as well; turns out the tenant had moved on and sublet the house without the property manager knowing and the rent wasn't being paid. The new tenants weren't discovered until I visited the house with the property manager in tow; we signed up the new tenants but I still had to pay for a residential tenancies hearing that wasn't needed in the end as the former tenant was gone. I believe that property manager no longer works there.

On the good side, they are quite responsive and happy to assist with quotations/providing keys etc.

OK company to deal with, just make sure you keep on top of rent payments/inspections being done on time and thoroughly etc. Maybe do a ride along inspection once a year just to keep an eye on things.

I had my car cleaned twice by Spectra with a scoopon voucher. It was a great price for an inside + out clean.

The first time I didn't get charged a 4WD surcharge; the 2nd time I did...? Usually in the fine print of these offers they say only full sized 4WD get the surcharge - I figure mine's a mini 4WD but it's always hit and miss whether I'm hit with the surcharge or not.

The procedure was fairly good, staff were helpful enough. The attached cafe is actually quite nice, reasonably priced and the lady serving was nice as well.

The cleans on both occasions were ok, though I think I'm a bit of a harsh judge as I always seem to see dirt that was missed in a few spots. I wouldn't have been happy if I'd paid full price, but since it was a good priced scoopon it was ok.

A bonus with this carwash is the location for city workers: when you drop the car off in the morning you can generally leave it there all day, so it's a free day's parking along with the clean.

Just be careful that they do book out, so you might want to plan in advance to ensure that you can get your car in; especially if you've bought a coupon.

Good inner city cafe. It's never really too busy so you don't have to wait long, there's generally always tables available but it's more of a take away cafe.

Prices are reasonable and they are generous with their sandwich fillings.

Try the thick toast; they cut it fresh from whole loaves and it's a fun, cheap breakfast!

Service is prompt and friendly.

Approximate cost: $3.00

Grass roots provide very healthy lunch/snack foods. The soups in winter are fantastic and taste truly home made. They regularly have salads and things like frittata/tuna patties - yum!

The food tastes great, is just a bit on the pricey side to be able to have lunch everyday - but you do get what you pay for.

Oh - in winter they do porridge as well!!

Definitely check it out for healthy, vegetarian food.

Approximate cost: $12.00

This fruit and veg shop is very tidy and has a good range of locally sourced F&V. They also have a small section of organic F&V and items like organic butter etc.

The prices are generally cheaper, and the produce fresher/nicer than what you find in Woolies in the same mall. Organic food prices are fair though you can't check the F/V individually as it's all gladwrapped for sale.

Service is always nice and friendly, the only business I've seen lately who give regular customers a calendar for the new year :)

Recommend for shoppers in the area!