Does anyone recommend a plugin that would enhance or allow for more styling with this themes menu buttons? Or, are there any tricks in styling the buttons that someone without a lot of css experience could utilize.

I'm looking for shading, gradients, perhaps some various flash options. The drop down flash option in ata is nice but I get reports that it's buggy (collapses or pops up and down).

Thanks

What you want will require some knowledge. Even with the the menu plugins there is a learning curve to styling and may require getting into the CSS especially with gradients and flash. Your best bet is to search through wordpress.org and try a few menu plugins on for size.