Frederick "justfred" H.'s Profile

Grabbed a half-rack of beef ribs for takeout.  The guy at the counter was friendly and helpful, suggesting the combo rather than the a-la-carte, but since they still don't have many low-calorie sides, I stuck with the ribs.  Had a beer while I waited.

The half-rack turned out to be 5 medium-sized ribs, which is pretty generous; other places often have 3 large.  Not a whole lot of meat on them, but they were cooked well and the sauce was great.

Went for lunch today, had the spicy roast beef sandwich.  It was nicely spicy - thanks to pepperoncinis, mostly - thick slab of good roast beef, crispy grilled torpedo roll, and came with a side of au jus for my dipping pleasure.

The place was packed, standing room only, at 12:00 - pretty much as you might expect; took about 10 minutes to get my sandwich.

Stopped in for lunch with the crew.  Despite the location in a strip mall behind a Jack-In-The-Box, the atmosphere inside isn't bad; they've got Japanese-style table seating, with a raised floor with cubbies for your feet, as well as a standard sushi bar.

Had a hard time deciding between the $19 all you can eat, and ordering singly - most of the menu seems to be on the all-you-can list.  I opted for just two items, since I'm going out tonight.

The salmon sashimi was tasty and well-prepared.  The spicy tuna tempura roll wasn't bad, but I don't think I'd order it again.  Three refills of iced tea means that between the caffeine jitters and having to visit the gents room I won't get much work done this afternoon.

Very nice place to have a picnic overlooking San Diego Bay, Coronado NAS, and the downtown skyline.  There seems to be enough parking so I can find a space even on weekends.  The trees are nice, the grass is well-kept; the restrooms are tidy (even though there are no doors on the stalls!)

There are a lot of fisherman, so keep your eye out for overhead casting.  This is also a popular place for weddings.  The boardwalk runs about half a mile, so it's a nice place to take a walk, too.

Saturday, we picked up sandwiches from Point Loma Seafoods ( http://www.yelp.com/bi... ) and hung out here for several hours watching the fisherman, the wedding, the sailboats, the military helicopters, and the sunset.

This is also a great place to catch your breath while you wait to pick up someone at the airport.

A short walk from my office, but I'd never tried this before.  I'll be back!

Aside from (or you could say due to) its proximity to my office, the location isn't anything special - yet another office in yet another concrete building in yet another industrial park.

Counter guy in an Ed Hardy t-shirt was very friendly, even stopped by as I ate to check up on me.  Most things on the menu sound good; they're a little more expensive than the deli next to my office, and look a bit tastier.  I ordered the french dip, it arrived quickly.  Perfect size - not too large so I'd have to take some home and try to find a place in our nastydisgusting office fridge to save it for tomorrow.  Very tasty sesame bread, good roast beef and swiss, fine au jus.  The iced tea was empty so I had hot tea poured over ice, which was fine.

(Note about stars: I'm trying to fight Yelp's star inflation.  Nothing wrong with this place, three stars means it was fine!  If I start coming here every week or two it'll go up to four.)

We stopped here for lunch in the middle of a furniture moving road trip.

The table tents and wall ads feature items which are frankly sickening in their excess.  The italian burger - with mozzarella sauce, slices of pepperoni, and a bunch of cheese sticks on top.  The apple caramel "smoothie".

I had the Santa Fe burger.  I couldn't detect any zing, there were a few sorry green peppers.  My wife had the salmon "burger" which was some strange color and largely inedible.  I don't recall what our dining companions had, but they didn't stand out.

I ordered the melon instead of fries, but got fries.  Endless fries.  So many fries, they have to bring some of them first, before your meal.  Soon they will begin bringing them before you order, while you wait for a table, perhaps even before you enter the place.  Someday they will bring a big basket of fries to your home if you consider eating here; later they will bring them whether or not you've ever heard of the place.

The staff was artificially friendly and attentive.  The bathroom was cramped and gloomy.  The other patrons were corpulent.

The ever-fill sodas made the rest of our road trip somewhat more uncomfortable.

At least it was quick off- and on- the freeway.

Stopped in for Tom's Tuesday Trivia Night, hosted by Tom, a friend from work.  7PM every Tuesday, Tom reads trivia questions and teams answer them trying for the best score.

The beer selection was fine, I tried the Local 3730 (pale but sweet and flavorful) and the Smithwicks (darker, more flavorful, less sweet, harder to pronounce - something like "Smithix") The grub I saw others enjoying looked and smelled great, especially the enchilada soup - next time I won't be full before arriving.  The staff did a fine job of attending to patrons and not getting in the way of the trivia.

When I sat down by myself, the group at the next table immediately invited me to join them.  The trivia was difficult, I probably knew less than half of the answers, so it was more fun to play with a team, and I hope I helped them out more than I misdirected them.  I know a lot more about World War II than about Disney Animation.  Good variety of questions, friendly camaraderie, good beer.

I've been driving by this place for years, and I love prime rib, so I keep meaning to stop.  Finally made it in last night, and I can check it off my list.

The decor and atmosphere feels like a family restaurant from about 30 years ago.  Cozy booths crammed tightly together, aging decor, lots of older people.  The bathroom was a little creepy, with a shower curtain instead of a stall.  Lots of televisions playing baseball - I hadn't noticed that so many baseball players still chew tobacco, so I was a little sqicked by that on several big screens while I was trying to eat.

Overheard: "I'll have the steak sandwich, rare - if it's not rare I'm going to send it back!"

The back of the menu claims they make their own salad dressing, but the salad seemed like it came out of a bag; the bread was pretty but underwhelming.  The menu story went on but the waitress grabbed it away after I'd ordered.  I'm here by myself - at least leave me something to read while I wait.  Otherwise the waitresses were friendly and attentive enough.

The prime rib was great.  I ordered the 16oz "full" prime rib, menium rare, and it came in a pool of juice, cooked right, with sharp creamy horseradish  on the side (could have had more of that).  Big fat steak fries, and the great American spice, Ketchup, counting as a vegetable.  I do like a place that doesn't top off the ketchup between customers.

The beer was fine, though I'd think they could have a little wider selection of beers on tap.

It was fairly cheap; dinner around $30 with tip.

I'm torn between two and three stars.  One one hand, the meat was good, on the other hand the atmosphere wasn't.  Plenty of other places in Carlsbad to try.

Had dinner here last night.  We came in at around 6 and it was fairly empty, but filled up as we were there.

I had gone online and checked the menu before going, and it sounded good but pricey, but the menu we were given didn't match the one online - shorter, with a lot fewer expensive items.  Did they retrench because of the economy?  There were certainly some items on both menus, so I suspect that was the situation.

The staff were friendly and attentive.  

My Caesar salad was great - plenty large enough, with a big shell of Parmesan cheese, the house salad was okay.  We had the two specials, cioppino and grilled sea bass.  The cioppino, mixed shellfish and fish over linguine, was very meaty, and the fish and sauce were fine.  Her sea bass was very mild, the way she likes it.  I had a glass of the house Chianti which was tasty; the bread was good too.

The bill was a bit more than I expected, about $90; I guess we should have asked how much the specials cost or checked the receipt.

Three stars because it was just fine and seemed a bit expensive for what we got; may earn another if we end up back there again.

Stopped in for lunch with some guys from work.

Three of us had rolls (Samurai, rainbow, something else), one had a spicy chicken bento box.  Everything seemed fresh, tasted fine.

Now back at work, my fingers are sticky and I smell like tempura.