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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Just can't stay away
 
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I dined here on Friday, and thought the food and service were top notch. However, the ambiance is a bit strange as it coexists as an upscale eatery/trendy club/sports bar. Would prefer if the TVs stayed out of the dining area!
Posted on: 2013/12/2 20:25
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
 
Joined:
2006/9/14 18:57 Last Login : 2020/1/27 22:17 From Hamilton Park
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Made it to lunch here today (because Azucar is closed Mondays ). It really has a lot of flatscreens, but no BeIN Sport channel? I asked the manager, he was very helpful but wasn't subscribed - I guess we can;t watch Barcelona play here.
Anyway the bartender Diana was cute and very engaging, always a plus. Pumpkin seasonal on tap was very tasty. We shared a crispy boneless chicken pizza and a smokehouse burger. I was surprised at the quality of both, the pizza was crisp and flavorful, burger was moist, fresh and well seasoned, meat was top quality and the fries were excellent. Would definitely be back.
Posted on: 2013/12/2 20:13
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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They do have a great mushroom pizza... but the story was never about the food... just service, and if you talk to some of the people in the episode, they say that much of the show is staged. Quote:
Posted on: 2013/12/2 1:51
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Quite a regular
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I'm not a huge fan of the location or decor, but the pizza at VB3 is fantastic and well-priced.
I've always found the staff friendly and professional, but then I mostly order take out, so my interaction with them is limited.
Posted on: 2013/12/1 17:49
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Not too shy to talk
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if you like hoboken sports bars mixed with a 1995 lounge feel you'll be satisfied.
Posted on: 2013/11/25 14:46
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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I agree with this. The waitstaff wasn't very refined (I don't mean high end refined, I just mean the etiquette normally associated with someone serving you). It seemed brash and club-like (a place you could bring your rowdy co-workers for happy hour). The staff was sloppy with service, didn't pour the wine properly, neglected the table for long periods of time, then would over do coming to the table - it felt like they weren't trained, but they also all congregated at the end of the bar and talked amongst themselves as thought they were entertaining each other. I didn't go back. But if I ever had rowdy coworkers, loud clients or friends with children, I'd probably go there as I don't think anyone cares.
I was very surprised it was in the Top 10, it made me not trust the other reviews because my experience was nothing special. I wish they'd improve, it would be nice to have another place in that area.
Posted on: 2013/11/24 22:33
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Stakeout! I love Willie Degel! Uncle Jacks is a nice restaurant. I just watched the episode on TiVo. This guy Joe looks like a real dummy and appears never even to have worked the FOH let alone run it. Having said that, the show is rigged and I couldn't disagree more with the premise. That is, the only way to run a successful restaurant is to spy on your staff 24/7. Anyway, it's great entertainment and nice to see a JC restaurant featured on Food Network.
Posted on: 2013/11/24 21:26
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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I ate there last Saturday after noticing they were on the list of top NJ restaurants.
Our food was pretty good and it did not take too too long to get our food. But the other patrons were complaining about the service. However, we made reservations. But when we arrived there was no host(ess) to greet and seat us for a good 5 minutes. I thought that was odd as the place was not terribly crowded. I was not thrilled with all the huge TVs in addition to the club music. I definitely thought that combination suggested a lack of direction in genre. The furnishing and decor was most definitely on the tacky side. Their food is good enough where they could have kept their decor simple and classic. I don't know what they were going for with the loud thumping and 25 tvs. Fortunately, the TVs and the music are easy fixes. Service downtown JC has traditionally been an issue. I suspect it's hard to get good staff when the patrons are cheap tippers. Still there's room for improvement. I hope these guys do well. They seem to be trying hard and have some talent. I want a restaurant I could bring out of town guests to to show off JC. Marco Pepe used to be that place for me, but the quality of their food has dropped dramatically.
Posted on: 2013/11/10 14:10
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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Just had lunch there to day... the food is good, the bar was crowded and people were leaving saying their lunches were great... talking with one of the server "celebrities" , that person said most of that show was staged reality TV.
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Posted on: 2013/11/8 23:20
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Quite a regular
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they have an identity crisis for sure
Posted on: 2013/11/8 20:25
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
Joined:
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After all the buzz and looking at their menu, decided to dine there last weekend. We walked in and walked right back out. Another party of 4 did the same while we were deciding where to go instead. This place is LOUD. Dance music is not my idea of a nice dining atmosphere. And they had so many TVs that you could see them from across the street (not exaggerating). In the takout section alone (seperate from the restaurant) there are 5 HUGE TVs! I won't be back.
Posted on: 2013/11/7 18:43
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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Quote:
I don't think anyone here gave it bad reviews. My experience there was excellent and I'd highly recommend it. Others seem to say it was good but with a few flaws. Definitely not a place to avoid, IMO.
Posted on: 2013/11/7 18:36
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Quite a regular
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Quote:
To add to the list, I've had to wait at Marco & Pepe's, Roman Nose, and Satis. I was just about to try VB3 after they made that top ten list, but will probably avoid after hearing all these reviews.
Posted on: 2013/11/7 17:48
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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Quote:
And PANCAKES!!!
Posted on: 2013/11/7 16:45
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Home away from home
Joined:
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Quote:
The Brownstone Diner does one thing well: DINER. They are not trying to be a diner and also a sports bar, is the point I was trying to prove. By nature, diners serve a large variety of food. But existing as a diner is "being one thing".
Posted on: 2013/11/6 17:12
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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I have to agree with Tommy C on that one. On Fri/Sat nights in JC you can't get into 30 Acres without an hour or 2 long wait. I've also waited for Park and Sixth (Grove), Razza, Presto's, Taqueria, and GP's to name a few. While it's nowhere near as frequent as NYC, we're getting there.
CdeCoincy wrote: Quote:
Posted on: 2013/11/6 16:51
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Founder of Lafayette Nextdoor
https://nextdoor.com/invite/dfsvrptuttjtfvumjafn |
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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[quote]
tommyc_37 wrote: If you look across not only Jersey City, but the entire inner NYC area, and you'll see that the restaurants and bars that have lines out the door and are always packed pick ONE thing and do it really well. [/quote Since the only place I have often waited for a table in DTJC is the Brownstone Diner, I'm not sure I agree with you.
Posted on: 2013/11/6 16:41
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
Joined:
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Unfortunately VB3 is yet another example of a place not really knowing what it wants to be, and trying to be several things.
Case in point: the menu reflects that of a higher end Italian restaurant, but then there are a LOT of big screen TVs, and loud pop music playing. You can't be a high-ish end restaurant and have a large number of TVs - it just won't work. You might be able to pull it off in the suburbs, but not here. I have eaten there twice and I was somewhat impressed by the food, but really turned off by the cheesy decor and the music - to me, ambiance is a pretty important part of a dining experience, and this place is awkward. If you look across not only Jersey City, but the entire inner NYC area, and you'll see that the restaurants and bars that have lines out the door and are always packed pick ONE thing and do it really well. Whether it's a higher end restaurant, a divey bar, or a hole in the wall taco joint, you really have to pick something and go with it, versus straddling the line. And of course, once you pick something, doing that one thing well. I do feel bad because the food at VB3 is pretty good and I honestly hate to see anybody's business failing (unless of course they are a real jerk).
Posted on: 2013/11/6 15:29
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Quite a regular
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wasn't this restaurant just voted top 10 new restaurants in nj?
http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index ... urants_in_new_jersey.html
Posted on: 2013/11/6 13:38
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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Sorry to hear that. I don't know if it is unorganized staff or being in a bit of a no man's land. I've thought about going there a bunch of times, but it's just not somewhere that I'm likely to walk to and I'll never be just passing by that spot and stop in.
Good luck to them.
Posted on: 2013/11/6 12:49
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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I've eaten at VB3 once and thought it was excellent. Had a spicy calamari appetizer that was dynamite and their personal pizzas were terrific-- on par with Razza, IMO. The service was friendly, attentive and prompt. Overall, it was a really nice meal and I'd definitely go back. The decor might have been a little too trendy and sleek for my tastes, but that's a minor quibble. I think they really deserved their placement on the top 10 new restaurants in NJ list.
That being said, it looks like the restaurant is being featured on a show called "Restaurant Stakeout" on the Food Network this week, and their prospects sound... less than promising. Here's the episode summary: Willie swoops in to VB3 in Jersey City to come to the aid of two cousins that opened up a high end Italian restaurant a year ago. Chef Mike is running the kitchen with precision, but his cousin Joe is having difficulties operating the restaurant and managing an unorganized staff. Without Willie's help, the doors will close and the cousins' million-dollar investment will disappear along with their business. Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurant ... ns/index.html?oc=linkback
Posted on: 2013/11/6 3:11
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Just can't stay away
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This place is pretty cool. I went into the bar to grab a bar pie. They are very good. Also, this place has a ton of TVs. Good setup for sports watching. And the bar is cool.
Posted on: 2012/9/8 13:32
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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I tried the pepperoni pizza and the white pie both are very good
I'm tempted to go back later today and have em again.
Posted on: 2012/9/7 20:42
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Thanks for the headsup.
Posted on: 2012/9/7 18:30
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
Joined:
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What is the crowd like on a weekend night? Worth checking out?
Posted on: 2012/9/7 15:51
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Re: VB3 - RESTAURANT, PIZZERIA & BAR
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Home away from home
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VB3: Sophisticated but not stuffy
September 07, 2012, 6:59 AM By Teresa Politano The Star Ledger The party, ladies and gentleman, has officially moved to Jersey City. The party translates, of course, as outrageous food, as the magnetic remake of this city attracts not just one big-name maverick chef after another, but New Yorkers, who get on the PATH train for no other reason but to eat here. VB3?s chef, Michael Colletti, comes to Jersey City from the same town (Elizabeth) as Tom Colicchio, via Asbury Park (culinary school), New York (Le Cirque, Mai House), Vietnam (culinary research) and Washington, D.C., where he gathered a far more intimate collection of connections. He worked alongside Spike Mendelsohn (Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza) and their success led to Iron Chef and Rachael Ray competitions. Then the Obamas, who so loved his pizzeria that they extended personal invitations for Mendelsohn and Colletti to cook at the White House. At 29, the earnest, hard-working and soft-spoken Colletti already has been well vetted by the food oligarchy, which may explain that star following. Why Jersey City? It?s logical for a Jersey boy to choose a Jersey location for his own restaurant. The current swirl of Jersey-centric television shows only made the choice that much easier. ?Right now, everything?s Jersey,? Colletti says. Still, a food geek could be forgiven if he or she does not immediately recognize VB3 as a newly ordained culinary epicenter. This looks like a party place, a burger disco, not a fine-dining establishment. The walls blink with flat-screen TVs, the seating is sleek and leather-like, the music is incredibly cool dance tunes from the Jackson 5 era. You want to kick off your heels, order some pizza and have fun. You aren?t exactly anticipating sophisticated cuisine. But Colletti slyly surprises you. He makes his own b?chamel sauce for his white pizza ($12), for example ? one of the tricks that turns this pizza into something far more elite. (Even many fine-dining chefs don?t do b?chamel anymore.) Meanwhile, the Biellese pepperoni makes that pizza sing ($12). They?re outsize circles, impossibly thin and addictively subtle; they come from a local salumeria that does amazing charcuterie using heritage Berkshire pork, Colletti says. Colletti?s gnudi ($14), a personal favorite of his, are plump and soft, homemade clouds of pasta that begin with homemade ricotta and are then receive first-class treatment with cherry tomatoes. Pizza is still pizza, no matter how stellar, but the gnudi is the dish that will get you ? a bowl of fine food exquisite enough to quiet the wrestlers and the football players on the television sets behind you. Cod ($22), silky white with a slightly crisp edge, is outstanding alone (proof again that VB3 is really about serious food), but then the chef sasses it up with some salty proscuitto vinaigrette and a caponata. Hanger steak, ($20) the new, intense favorite of skilled chefs in any town, fulfilled its mission. A Sicilian cheesecake ($8) proved a velvety end to a lusty dinner; the pine nut financier ($8) also impressed. VB3 also offers an abundant selection of creamy homemade ice creams and intense gelatos. It?s so unprecious here that gushing is entirely unexpected. But VB3 offers food good enough to lift a rainy day funk, good enough to mitigate a Jersey attitude when the waitress forgets an entree, good enough to impress the food geeks. Even better, you can dance to it. VB3 475 Washington Blvd., Jersey City. (201) 420-4823, vb3restaurant.com Hours: Open daily for lunch and dinner. THREE AND A HALF STARS http://www.nj.com/entertainment/dinin ... ticated_but_not_stuf.html
Posted on: 2012/9/7 15:05
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Re: VB3 opens in Downtown Jersey City
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Newbie
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Did I forget to mention the air conditioning is cold chillin as are the beer taps? I was sippin on the Allagash and the Purple Haze last week, both very refreshing on a hot summer night.
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Posted on: 2012/6/29 16:58
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Re: VB3 opens in Downtown Jersey City
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Newbie
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Hi JCListers,
I'm kicking off a new DJ event this Friday at the Bar at VB3. The theme is OLD SKOOL- Summer Session and I will be breaking out the vinyl for this tribute to 80s and early 90s hip-hop. I will be doing this event every Friday from 10:30pm to closing (around 2:30am) all summer long. No cover charge. So if you are a fan of RUN DMC, the Beasties, Eric B & Rakim, BDP, A Tribe Called Quest and the like, this is your night. I'll be looking forward to taking your requests, my policy is if I have it in the crates, I'll play it. They clear out some tables so there is room to dance if you are so inclined. DJ Astronaut 
Posted on: 2012/6/20 16:48
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Re: VB3 opens in Downtown Jersey City
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Quite a regular
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I went for lunch yesterday. I got a pasta dish that was ridiculously small for the price they charged. However, everyone else I was with got a pizza or sandwich and the portions were generous.
One thing to be aware of when eating in the restaurant is that you can't order from the pizzeria and you can't bring anything in from there. You're stuck with the restaurant menu, and the pizzas on there aren't your average pizza, they are "fancy" pizzas.
Posted on: 2012/5/30 19:41
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Re: VB3 opens in Downtown Jersey City
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Home away from home
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well, i got a flier in the mail today: their delivery menu with prices! guess i can try them out soon after all
Posted on: 2012/5/20 19:29
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