I found Nelson Locksmiths @ Clovelly Park very friendly & competitively priced. The work they've done for me has always been top quality, & the one time I had a small problem (which was totally my fault), they couldn't have been more helpful. I've been going to them for over 6 years & wouldn't go anywhere else.

I bought a Scoopon voucher for "Boneshaker" (worth $40) for only $20. I took a friend there for a birthday lunch on a Tuesday, & we arrived about 12.30 p.m. There were 2 people already eating, no line-up of customers, 2 serving staff & 2 people working in the kitchen. We placed our order for 5 items - Grilled Fish Tacos, Sweet Potato Fries, Chilli Cheese Potato Gems, Full Aussie Burger & a flat-white coffee. While we waited for our food, 2 other people came in & ordered food to take away, & 2 people ordered take-away coffee.

About 20 minutes after we placed our order, the Sweet Potato Fries, Potato Gems, Burger & coffee arrived. All of them tasted o.k. (nothing outstanding), but they were also all luke-warm at best. The Burger was poorly put together & very messy to eat, the Sweet Potato Fries were in clumps & the topping on the Potato Gems was minimal. Even the coffee was only warm.

15 minutes later, as we had eaten at least half of the food they'd already brought us, we asked when the Grilled Fish Tacos were coming. We were told that it would be another 10 minutes, as "they hadn't been prepared earlier" (???). We were offered a refund of the cost of the tacos, or a drink, so we asked for a coffee.

10 minutes later the Grilled Fish Tacos & coffee arrived, by which time we had finished the rest of our food. I wish I could say that the Tacos were worth the wait but I can't. We got 3 small half-circle pieces of soft tortilla wraps, each with some sauce, cabbage, onion, & a luke-warm (4 cm x 1 cm) piece of steamed fish (not grilled). Why it took so long 2 get the Tacos to us & how any of it was reliant on "being prepared earlier" is still a mystery.

The staff were pleasant enough, the decor was very average, but the food was a real disappointment. I take no delight in leaving a negative review, & even though we had, in effect, paid half-price, it wasn't worth it. And would we go back or recommend it? ... Sadly no, not even if the meal was free.

Approximate cost: $46

Absolutely delighted with this business. They took care of everything with the insurance company, their communication with me was great, the work on my car was faultless & done quickly, the staff (Kate, Jasmine & Stewie) were friendly & professional, my car was cleaned inside & out before being returned to me, AND they supplied a little pot of paint for any touch-ups I might want to do in the future. I seriously could not praise them highly enough - if it were possible I'd give them 6 stars! They should be the template for how a crash repair business is run. Thanks guys for a job well done!

A relaxed & informal get-together on a Sunday afternoon saw 20 former workmates catch up for a few drinks, some laughs & reminiscing. 9 of us decided to stay for dinner in the Bistro. All at one table, with a lovely view outside over the beach & sunset, and a short-ish but pleasant menu to peruse.

The dining room wasn't even half full, and we've all worked in the hospitality industry. These last two points are particularly relevant, so that you know that we all understand what it can be like working in a busy hospitality environment. And I'll also add that this is the first time I've ever been so disappointed with the food and service when I've been eating out, that I felt the need to write a negative review.

We all went up & ordered our meals in the space of 5 minutes. Two of us chose to have Starters served as our Main Course, and we mentioned this when we ordered and paid for our meals. So far, so good.

15 minutes after ordering, one Starter (Mushroom Bruschetta), came out, along with the Share (Tasting) Plate. Two large pieces of bruschetta had half a dozen specks of fetta, which you really had to search for. And the "warm pita bread" on the Share Plate was toasted to within an inch of its life ... it was burnt black on over 50% of each piece. And "antipasto vegetables" usually means more than a few slivers of capsicum. I politely asked if the pita could be replaced with something less "well done", and this was done with very bad grace. And it took a further 10 minutes to bring the fresh pita to the table. I'm glad that I hadn't commented that it look like it had been cremated, or they may have done a "Fawlty Towers" on the replacement.

Just after the replacement Pita came to the table, a Hamburger, a Balsamic Glazed Lamb Salad, and a couple of Steaks were brought to the table. This was now about 1/2 an hour after we'd placed our orders. The hamburger was fine, the steaks average, and the Lamb Salad was tough as old boot leather. The person who ordered the Lamb Salad asked for it to be replaced, and they brought her a Chicken Schnitzel within 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the other 3 people at our table were still waiting for their dinner.

I went to the bar and mentioned it to the barman, who said that he would find out what was happening to the missing meals. A waitress then came over and asked very grumpily "What's the problem?", to which we said that we were still waiting on 3 meals. By this time it was over 1/2 an hour after the first meal was brought to our table.

The "missing" meals were brought to the table after a further 10 minute wait, and the Mussels were apparently quite nice, the Beef Schnitzel was a tad over-cooked, and the t-bone steak was pretty average.

Had it been a frantically busy Friday/Saturday night, or Sunday lunch, then we could have been a bit more forgiving with the delay in getting meals to the table. But it wasn't ... it was a pretty quiet Sunday night. 45+ minutes from ordering to when the last dishes were brought to our table is not acceptable, especially when there is something wrong with several of the dishes.

So, in summary, would we go back to the Henley Hotel for a meal? No, not even if the meal was "on the house". It was a really disappointing finish to a fun afternoon/evening reunion of old work-mates, and none of us would recommend going there again. And I take no joy in giving a less-than-positive review, but it really was an unpleasant experience.

Approximate cost: $22

I love the WOMO site, as a way of finding particular types of businesses and reading what other people think of them. It's great for small businesses to get their name out there, and good to be able to share our good & bad experiences of the businesses we review.

Until recently, I think that most people used the site with these points in mind, and viewed the gift cards as a lovely bonus for sharing their opinions.

I know for a fact that over the past few months, some people were taking advantage of the WOMO system to use it simply to get free gift cards. It was publicized on several FaceBook Free Sample pages as a way to get gift cards, with people boasting about getting 6 cards in a week, etc.

And I would imagine that was to a large extent why the recent changes to the WOMO points system was implemented. It's such a shame that selfish people with only their own interests at heart can spoil things for honest folk. WOMO isn't a bottomless pit of money, so the system had to change. Shame on the "dishonest" people who posted reviews only to get gift cards, because your greed has impacted on a lot of genuine users of the site.

WOMO is still my first port-of-call when I'm looking for a particular business, and I do love to share my experiences when using small businesses, especially if the business goes out of their way to give good service. I do have problems with sharing bad experiences, but to date I've been fortunate in not using a business that has been so unpleasant that I thought "never again".

I recommend WOMO to all my friends and family, even if they only want to use it to find businesses, and not to personally review them. Keep up the good work, WOMO team, as there are an awful lot of us out here who really do appreciate the site.

Who would've thought an innocent day at home could lead to such pain? ... "Let's go and do some gardening" he said. "It will be fun" he said. Yeh, well it was until I tripped over the dog and fell into the lemon tree (yes, I said into, not out of).

When he stopped laughing at me, the other half said perhaps I needed to see someone if I'd hurt myself. A few scratches weren't worth worrying about, but I knew I'd done something to my lower back, because it felt like every muscle around that part of my spine was on fire.

Our neighbour heard me wailing, and she volunteered that she'd had great results visiting Southside Osteopathy, rather than a physio, when she'd hurt her back. I would have gone to see a Witch Doctor, I was in so much pain. So we gave Southside a call, and I got an appointment later that day.

I was a bit sceptical, being more of a "traditional medicine" sort of person, and I didn't really know what to expect. What I found was almost a combination of physio and chiropractic, with a bit a massage in the mix. My Osteopath Courtney was thorough, alternately gentle and firm as needed, and when I mentioned previous shoulder injuries, she worked on them as well as my back. At the end of the consultation, I walked out almost upright, with only a little discomfort in my back.

I went back for a follow-up appointment a week later, and by the end of the second treatment, I was virtually pain-free. Was I happy? You betcha I was. Would I go back to Southside if I needed to? Absolutely. In fact I'm booked in next week, so that we can work on reducing the number of migraines and headaches I get. I've got high hopes that they can help me with this too.

The practice is located on Unley Road, near the corner of Hughes Street, and there's limited parking out the front, with lots more in Hughes Street. There's lots of choice with appointment times, prices are reasonable, and they use HICAP so that you can claim from your health fund on the spot, and only pay the Gap yourself. I certainly don't look forward to injuring myself, but now I know that if I've got aches and pains, there's somewhere to go that can help me without costing an arm and a leg.

I'm an animal lover from way back, and I've always said that I'd go without before my pets ever would. On three occasions over the past couple of years, I've had an after-hours emergency with my two elderly dogs, and I thank God for this animal hospital being a 24/7 business. On all occasions, my dogs would have died without the care of the vets and vet nurses at this practice.

Obviously the prime consideration for a good vet is the way they care for the animals, but I firmly believe that vets and their staff also need to be good with the pet owners too. For me, and a lot of people I know, our pets are like our four-legged children, and we can become extremely emotional when our animals are injured or ill. The staff at this vet clinic were absolutely wonderful with me, as they tried to calm me when I couldn't stop crying at the thought of losing my "babies". When I had to leave one of my dogs there late on a Friday night, for treatment including IV fluids and oxygen, they were so patient with me, when I rang every couple of hours during the night to see how my dog was.

Although the business is on the corner of a major intersection, there's parking right out the front, and also around the corner, which is important if you're trying to get a distressed animal out of the car and into the building. You don't want to have to trek a distance with a dog in your arms.

I admit that their services are not cheap, but they are extremely thorough and knowledgeable, and their compassion and caring for the animals they treat cannot be praised enough. And you're paying for after-hours vet care, so I couldn't put a price of the well-being of my pets. They do give detailed invoices, so it's easy to claim on your Pet Insurance.

If you need to seek after-hours vet care, I'd recommend this business, as they really will look after your animals AND you!

When we moved house, we were only given one set of keys for the new house. So of course I had to get some extra sets cut, with 3 people in the house (and needing a couple of spare sets, in case one of us lost ours). All up, I was looking at 18 keys, and I also wanted some extra keys for a padlock that we use on the side gate.

I went to a Key-cutting stall at the local shopping centre and I was horrified with the price they quoted. Thankfully a friend recommended Nelson Locksmiths, so I went straight there to see if it would cost any less. The guy who served me was so helpful, and the price for all the keys was only 2/3 of the quote I got from the other business. And he said that it would be cheaper for me to buy a new lock with keys, rather than copy the padlock key that I had, so that saved me even more money. I was well chuffed, as not many businesses suggest less business for them so that it saves you money.

I took the newly-cut keys home, and tried them on all the doors to make sure they worked. As the lock in the front door is an original (the house was built in the 1950's), I was told that I might have trouble with the new keys cut for that particular lock, but if I did, to bring the keys back and they would cut new keys. Well, as luck would have it, two of the keys for the front door wouldn't work, so back I went. They guy made me two new keys, and said if I had any further trouble, to ring him, and he would send a locksmith out to have a look at the lock. I asked him how much that would cost, and he said it wouldn't cost me any more money, as all they wanted was to make sure I was happy with their service!

The new keys worked fine when I tried them in the front door, so I gave the guy a call to let him know, and also to thank him for looking after me so well. I won't be going anywhere else for key-cutting from now on, and I couldn't recommend them highly enough. As well as Clovelly Park, they also have branches in the city, and at Port Adelaide, so I hope their other branches are as good as the one I visited.

A refreshing change to go to a hairdresser who actually listens to what you want. The salon is in a small group of
shops, with easy parking at the front or back. The interior of the salon is fresh, clean and modern, and the chairs are so comfortable that you could easily nod off. The owner Natalie is friendly, knowledgeable, very talented and versatile. She won't push you to have cuts or colours done to your hair just because they're in fashion, and if you ask her opinion on what you think you might like to have done to your hair, she will tell you honestly if it's right for you. She's very gentle, and the head massage that you get at the basin is Heaven with a capital H. Prices are extremely reasonable, with colour, cut and blow-dry under $100, which is rare for a salon of this quality. I'd thoroughly recommend Sculptured Scissors, for friendliness, quality of the work, and value for money. But be warned, there is a little bakery next door, so if you're hungry when you get to your appointment, you can always nip into the bakery for a snack, even with curlers in your hair!

Approximate cost: $90

Let's get this clear from the very start ... I am NOT a fan of going to the dentist. Never have been and never will be. I've been going to the same dentist at Glenelg for over 30 years, but a change in circumstances for me meant I had to find someone closer to me, who didn't charge such an enormous gap payment. A friend recommended Cross Road Surgery, and I checked with my Health Fund, and it's one of their "preferred Dentists", so I knew the gap payment would be minimal.

I put off making an appointment for a check-up, but two broken fillings in a week meant I had to see a dentist quickly. I was able to get an appointment in 2 days, which was great.

The surgery is easy to find on Cross Road, and parking nearby is a breeze. Inside, it didn't have that distinctive "Yuk-I'm-at-the-dentist" smell that can be so off-putting, the waiting room was bright and modern, and the receptionists were very friendly.

My name was called and I went in with some trepidation, clutching my Walkman music player, ready for it to drown out the sound of the drill. Dr Laura Siebels, my dentist, was lovely, and put me at my ease immediately. I said I was a sook, a "born-again" coward, and allergic to pain, which considering my age is quite sad. She laughed and said she didn't know anyone who liked going to the dentist, but she promised to be gentle with me.

And off we went, me with Jimmy Barnes blaring in my ears, and Laura and her assistant taking care of what needed to be done to my teeth. She was as gentle as she had promised to be, explaining things as she went along, and before I knew it, she'd finished. I couldn't believe that, for the first time ever, I didn't have sore fingers from the "white-knuckle" grip I usually inflict on the chair arms.

Now all I need is to go back for a "clean & polish", and I'm seriously not nervous this time. And I know I don't need to take out a personal loan to pay the gap fee. It's reassuring to know that, from now on, my annual dental check-up is in such good hands, and while I'll never look forward to going there, I won't avoid it like I have done for years.

As dentists go, I'd highly recommend Laura if you're looking for someone in the south-western area of Adelaide.