Texans coming to the Springs (Colorado Springs, Nederland: credit, homes, public schools)

[goolsbyjazz]

OP, seems like you left Houston just in time!

[BenBoosted]

Originally Posted by goolsbyjazz

OP, seems like you left Houston just in time!

I've said that several times to my wife since the whole Harvey thing happened.

[MsMetal]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

I have no complaints about the grocery selection. I think it is good.

My wife and I are vegetarians, and many of the places you mentioned have no real vegetarian options (except for GOG Market -- their menu looks good). Blue Star Group also owns La'au's Taco Shop, which is delicious. I didn't say there was NO good food here. It's just that the ratio of good food to mediocre food when we try new places is too low.



n case anyone is interested, here are some places we've checked out:

• Crystal Park Cantina in Manitou: Our favorite restaurant so far. Delicious.
• La'au's Taco Shop: Delicious fast-casual food. Some of my favorite tofu of all time.
• Azada: I love this place. Maybe too much. It's like homemade Chipotle but better in every respect than Chipotle. Nice people, too.
• El Super Taco: Great breakfast burritos
• Adam's Mountain Cafe: We had high hopes for this place, but we also thought it was sort of middling.
• Everest Nepal: Also 5/10. There are probably at least ten better Indian joints in Denver and Boulder.
• Bahn Thai: The worst Thai food I have ever had. No exaggeration. Good spring rolls, though.
• Willamette Market and Deli: I made my first visit the other day, and their patty melt was quite good. I'll be back.
• Hacienda: I know it's a local chain, but it was actually really good. Their portabella fajitas are tasty.
• Rasta Pasta: Also so-so. It smells so good, and the menu looks great....but the food was just sort of blah.
• Rooster's House of Ramen: Similar to my Rasta Pasta thoughts, but maybe slightly better.

Thanks for posting the tips! I am also veg, moved here from a much larger city & have found it very hard to find decent food here.

The Filipino place mentioned above, on Carefree & Powers is ok, but limited veg options. Sorry Mike, but the Thai place by the Albertson's on Research & Union is some of the worst Thai I've ever had. Adam's Mountain is good, but pretentious & can be very mixed.

DH is a carnivore & we love Salsa Brava, though they took my favorite veggie item off the menu, they will still make it (roasted veggie burrito). One of the owner's wives is either veg or vegan, I forget which & so they really pay attn & know what they're doing.

Someone just told me about a place called the Burrowing Owl? Burrowed Owl? I haven't tried it yet, so I can't say anything about it, but she raved about it for veg, vegan & GF. She said it's in a bar though.

[otowi]

I've been to the Burrowing Owl. It is not exactly a restaurant but it has vegan food that is kind of like junk food veganized - like vegan nachos or sloppy joes, etc. I think it is worth going for the experience but I don't know that I'd consider it a true dining experience. I liked the food, but most of it was a bit spicy for my mom who had her gall bladder out and has to be careful about that.

[Jonesie14]

Hey! Your post was fantastic. We are from So Cal but have lived in Katy for 2 years. We're on our way to check out Colorado Springs. We've entertained the idea of Colorado for maybe the past year (Houston just doesn't feel like home for us) and Harvey put us over the edge... 😕 You mention the schools - how did you go about researching them? Zillow makes it look as though all of the schools are terrible, and I know that can't be the case! Any advice? Thanks so much!

[wilberry]

OTOWI will know which schools are the best ...

[otowi]

General consensus is that most of the schools are pretty decent, but some are favored more than others. As far as what school I would recommend, I would want to know more about what you value in a school. Are test scores the most important thing? Certain programs? Certain philosophies? Etc.

[abcdefg567]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

I have no complaints about the grocery selection. I think it is good.

My wife and I are vegetarians, and many of the places you mentioned have no real vegetarian options (except for GOG Market -- their menu looks good). Blue Star Group also owns La'au's Taco Shop, which is delicious. I didn't say there was NO good food here. It's just that the ratio of good food to mediocre food when we try new places is too low.




I-25 to Denver is a different story. I sometimes find myself doing 90+ and just keeping up with traffic in the left lane. I'm referring to I-25 through town, south of Woodmen or so.



Yes. 5/10. Maybe 4/10.



I have not. I may check it out. Thanks.



My wife and I prefer El Super Taco. I really want to like Alfonso's because it is close to our house, but we thought it was just okay.



In case anyone is interested, here are some places we've checked out:

• Crystal Park Cantina in Manitou: Our favorite restaurant so far. Delicious.
• La'au's Taco Shop: Delicious fast-casual food. Some of my favorite tofu of all time.
• Azada: I love this place. Maybe too much. It's like homemade Chipotle but better in every respect than Chipotle. Nice people, too.
• El Super Taco: Great breakfast burritos
• Adam's Mountain Cafe: We had high hopes for this place, but we also thought it was sort of middling.
• Everest Nepal: Also 5/10. There are probably at least ten better Indian joints in Denver and Boulder.
• Bahn Thai: The worst Thai food I have ever had. No exaggeration. Good spring rolls, though.
• Willamette Market and Deli: I made my first visit the other day, and their patty melt was quite good. I'll be back.
• Hacienda: I know it's a local chain, but it was actually really good. Their portabella fajitas are tasty.
• Rasta Pasta: Also so-so. It smells so good, and the menu looks great....but the food was just sort of blah.
• Rooster's House of Ramen: Similar to my Rasta Pasta thoughts, but maybe slightly better.

Thanks for the heads up on some of these. I would've never tried the taco place, just assuming it was mostly meat. It looks really good though.

My husband likes Rasta Pasta a bit more than I do, well the pasta. I like that they'll put tofu in my pasta dish and it's cheaper than Olive Garden.

Then again, I've never had a great experience at Hacienda. The fajitas I didn't even eat more.

[abcdefg567]

Originally Posted by Jonesie14

Hey! Your post was fantastic. We are from So Cal but have lived in Katy for 2 years. We're on our way to check out Colorado Springs. We've entertained the idea of Colorado for maybe the past year (Houston just doesn't feel like home for us) and Harvey put us over the edge... 😕 You mention the schools - how did you go about researching them? Zillow makes it look as though all of the schools are terrible, and I know that can't be the case! Any advice? Thanks so much!

You can look at the websites, but also on Great Schools you can look at each school under each district. D12, D20, D49, D11, D2....and Widefield/Security & Fountain.

Initially I looked at all the websites and feeder schools. Also, you may want to check options for Kindergarten, PreK, etc.

D49 has preK for $300/month in the neighborhood schools (some) which I really liked. D11 & D2 has full day Kindergarten....D20 has some very high rated schools. D12 is really good, but more expensive.

D2 has one K-8 school that is an 8 on Great Schools that feeds to Harrison High School (a 7) & a magnet school. We just bought a new house here & I'm honestly skeptical about the accuracy of the rating, but planned on homeschooling potentially anyways. Its a charter for those outside of our developement. The other schools are in poverty stricken areas & lowly rated. It doesn't mean bad though. Initially we said no last year, but changed our mind.

In D49 our house fed to a 7 elementary school, but middle was 4 & HS was 5 because they fed from other areas.

We also looked in D20 where outside of townhomes we could afford schools that were only a 4 or 5 on GSs, but fed to 8 or whatever highschools.

You really just have to look at a map feature within your budget and sort of go from there. Keep in mind, there's also lots of charter schools.

Fountain seems decent overall. We visited and it was nice, but almost everyone we saw appeared to be in the military. We also considered Security/Widefield because they have recreational centers and some other things too...not all of their schools are lowly rated and there's some newer areas that are really nice.

I've also heard from some people that their kids go to some sort of church school & there's a large amount of homeschooling families and D49 and maybe other places have programs for their kids too.

[orngkat]

Harvey put us over the edge

I bet there will be quite a few considering a move north.