Derek W.'s Profile

There is no way that this is a 5 star yogurt place.  With frozen yogurt on so many corners nowadays, it takes a lot to make your mark.  And Endorphin doesn't even come close.

Bad things that I experienced:
1) They ran out of waffles in the middle of the day on a Saturday in July.  If this is one of their best things, they need to do better than that.  A LOT better.  It wasn't even crowded!
2) Their selection is extremely limited.  They have less than 10 flavors and none of them stand out.
3) Some of the flavors were empty.  I would try them and nothing would come out.
4) I'm not sure if it's worse but some of them I would try and liquid would come out.  Yum, frozen yogurt without the frozen!
5) Workers are unfriendly and hate their job.  Not even a smile or a thank you.  Lovely.

Yeah that about sums it up.  It attempts to be cool and chic with its glass walls and single bladed ceiling fan.  But it needs to get back to the heart of the matter.

The only reason that it's not 1 star is because the yogurt that I did get wasn't that bad.  It definitely wasn't great, but it wasn't bad.

As someone who lived in San Diego during my college years, I think that I have a little bit to say about what San Diego has to offer.  And if someone asks me what they have to see, Phil's is definitely on the list.

I remember people telling me that they would make special trips down from Los Angeles just to have the BBQ food at Phil's.  I thought that was crazy, but that made it at least worth the effort to try.  On my first attempt, they were unfortunately renovating their previous location.  That was a pretty big disappointment, but some of my friends brought me here for my birthday since they knew that I wanted to try it.  While I had initially been disappointed because I didn't get to try it on the previous trip, I can definitely say that I was NOT disappointed once I put some of that food into my mouth!  

At the previous location the seating was pretty bad because the restaurant was so small.  However the current location on Sports Arena Blvd has plenty more seating.  The old location had, in my opinion, more flavor and character.  But the past is gone, and Phil's is still good.

The beef ribs are huge and a much better deal for a single rib (3.95) over a single baby back rib (3.75).  Personally I'm a fan of the baby back ribs, but I can definitely enjoy the beef ribs as well.  Opt for the fries (on the firm and crunchy side) along with the cole slaw (fresh and mild compared to most slaw).  Put on a plastic bib if you're messy and get ready to dig in.  The sauce is finger-lickin' good.

You should definitely put this place onto your list of things to do if you're in San Diego.  You can expect nothing, and you'll receive an awesome meal.  But even if you do come in with some expectations I think that you will leave satisfied.  Just don't come at peak hours lest the swarms of people ruin the meal.

I've been here a couple of times.  The first time was probably about 5 years ago, and it was a pretty enjoyable experience.  However, this past time I went was pretty bad.  It was bad enough that it made me want to blast it on yelp.

The quick rundown:
1) It was freezing cold (it was post-dinner in December), but not all of their heat lamps didn't work.  Or they didn't want to turn all of them on.
2) They seated and took our order fairly quickly.  The food and drinks, though?  Yeah those took 45 minutes.  For straightforward milk tea drinks!
3) The servers were fairly brusque with us, as if we were intruding on them somehow.
4) For the large party that I was with (over 10) they tacked on their extra gratuity.  They didn't deserve it at all.

I'm not from the area so I don't know what the other places near there are like.  I just know that I didn't like Guppy Teahouse.  The goods were alright, even if a bit overpriced.

Oliver, the owner, has been great whenever I've gone in.  He takes his time, but he gets it done in a reasonable amount of time.  Shock of shocks, he actually seems like he's a good and reputable mechanic.  He won't nickel and dime you for everything, and he sincerely seems like he follows the philosophy that he'll do okay if he treats his customers well.  He doesn't bring up random parts of the car that need to be replaced every time you bring it in.

The shop is located with a number of other shops, so there isn't a whole lot of place to wait around.  Expect to have someone pick you up and take you back.

Bravo, Oliver!  Writing you a good review is the least that I could do.  And while I don't currently have an Acura or Honda, I know where I'll be going to for automotive services if I do.  Heartily recommended!

Went here with a group of 4 for lunch, and while it is not a place that you'll initially be awed at (it's in some random strip mall) the food makes up for it.  The decorations are fairly random (we saw aluminum cans that had been sliced and made into wind spinner decorations), and the whole restaurant does not at all have a swanky type of atmosphere.  In short, it's a hole in the wall.

Checked out the menu, and we went with a Tom Khai Gai soup, the Chicken Satay lunch special with Pad Thai, a Beef Salad, and Pork Green Curry.  When we asked for a little guidance from the waitress, we didn't get too much help.  She only spoke passable English, but she didn't understand what we meant when we asked what was good.

We waited a bit while sipping on our huge glasses of Thai tea.  There's not too much to see so you better go with people that you want to talk to.  they do have an old television in the corner, but that was about it.  First the soup came in a huge steaming container that is meant to keep the soup hot.  And it was pretty good soup!  It was piping hot, and there were numerous flavors in the soup.  Next the beef salad came, and that was pretty much as expected with a decent amount of beef for the salad.  The Chicken Satay and Pad Thai came as 3 skewers and a plate of Pad Thai.  The Chicken Satay was just fine.  And while Pad Thai is usually pretty standard, theirs was a little soggy for my tastes.  It wasn't horrible, just not as good as others.  By the time the Pork Green Curry came out, there wasn't too much appetite left for most of us.  I still had at it, and it wasn't bad.  It was a little watery, but it was decent.

So in sum:
Tom Khai soup good
Beef Salad good
Chicken Satay fine
Pad Thai eh
Pork Green Cury fine
Thai tea good

Total came out to be $33 (before tip) for 4 people, all with drinks.  For a pretty good bit of Thai food, that's not bad.

Just say no to the carnitas.

The chicken burrito isn't all too great either.

Opt for the Hollenbeck or the Okie (both wet burritos) as they seem the most consistently decent.

Prices are alright, but not everything here is awesome.  The place is pretty small, and it's randomly in a commercial area.

While I haven't been to Sierra Summit in at least a few years, I can still remember enough things to write a review for it.  Since my experience isn't very recent, I'm going to make this short and direct.

Good:
Fresh-carved sandwiches
Coldstone-style ice cream
BBQ Ranch Chicken Pizza
Stiry Fry

Everything else is most likely normal dormitory food.  Acceptable, but you're going to get tired of it before the year is up.

Service is going to change constantly as the majority of the workers are students so it's hard to really gauge what kind of an experience you're going to get.

I'll be honest, I wouldn't go here if I had to pay cash.  But since you need to get meal points, you might as well go here!  

Oh and there's plenty of seating whether you want to study while you eat or hang out with some friends over a meal.  The ambiance is the same as you would expect at any cafeteria.

While Mattern Sausage & Meats doesn't look like a whole lot from the outside, it's definitely got a colorful interior.  It's a pretty small place with most of the establishment taken up by the counter and the convenience store.  Besides that, there are a handful of tables.

Going in, you grab a number to be served from an old-school meat counter dispenser and wait until you've been called.  And while that sometimes can take a really long time, it's part of what the shop is like.  It's like a small town place that got transplanted into the middle of southern California.  Anyways when you're called, you can talk across the counter to tell them what you want.  Choices range from all sorts of sausage to cured meats to cheese.  I had questions about sausage to buy (incidentally I was getting some sausage to make a pizza), and the girl who assisted me was pretty helpful.

As for food it was lunch time and we had intended on getting some sandwiches so we tried the warm pastrami sandwich as well as a roast beef one.  We got both with cheese for $4.90 each (as of the date of this review anyways).  Ah and those sandwiches were pretty delicious!  And you can't beat that price.  I would definitely get the pastrami again.  The roast beef was pretty good, but it wasn't as inspiring.  

I also tried the cole slaw, but that was fairly normal.  The pickles that came with the sandwiches were also rather different than the usual.  I'm not sure what it was, but they seemed sweeter for some reason.

Overall, this is definitely a place that I'd try again.  Whether for getting some meat to cook with or a sandwich, it's a great place.  It's the kind of local spot that you don't find often enough.

Oh and I'm not sure what people mean about taking only cash and checks as I charged my meal with a Visa today.

While not exactly the perfect place, I think that it's better than the usual 4 star place on Yelp.  So I guess if I could go for it, it would be a 4.5 star place in my book.

I used to go to this place quite a bit while I was going to college at UCSD, but unfortunately I'm not in the area very often now  So I apologize if any of this information is out of date (since I graduated in 2006).

It's a pretty tiny place (probably seating for less than 20 people) in a pretty cozy place.  I love Sorrentino's for their lunch specials.  I usually go for the sandwich special, which consisted of a 6 inch sandwich, soup or salad, and a drink for a little over $5.  It's not going to stuff you, but it will be satisfying.

I usually like to go for the soup as it's a bit more unique than their house salad.   They have soup specials that change each day, but my favorite is the Tomato Florentine.

I've also tried their pizza and breadsticks, and I can say that I do enjoy them.  This place isn't one to knock your socks off, but it grows on you.  It's comfortable and great.

While the food wasn't bad, the whole experience was just strange.  Walking in we weren't sure whether to sit at a table or go to the counter (you sit at a table).  It's like the restaurant didn't know whether it was a sit down place or a fast food place.  It seems like it wants to be an Asian restaurant, but most of the menu is straight American food.  Identity issues, anyone?

The food was overpriced at about 10 bucks for essentially fast food level goods.  Oh and by the way, combos are not available for dinner.  The food itself though was not bad.

Everything just felt strange.  Eating there was like those times when you go home, there's nothing available to cook or eat so you scrounge something up by digging through the freezer.  While it tastes good, it doesn't seem like a cohesive meal.  That's what BBQ Chicken is.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to go back.  I'd rather experiment somewhere else.