Update: This restaurant is now closed.
This little cafe is attached to Boston’s Salon and Day Spa, off Mira Mesa Blvd. It’s in a funny little spot that you can’t really see from the road. The first time I actually heard about this place was from a flyer laying around in the break room at work. I decided to visit this place a few times for lunch while I was at work to see what it was like. It was after all insanely close to where I work and gave me the benefit of thinking of Boston again.
The actual cafe is around the back of the salon, so you have to drive to the other end of the parking lot to find the entrance. Since it is attached to the salon, it’s not a very big place, but they make the most of the space. They’re got about 5 TV’s up on the wall, all playing something different and usually sports related, since they do bill themselves as a “sports cafe”. The waitstaff is super friendly. On my three visits so far, the waitress learned my name after the second visit. I had given her my credit card to pay for my meal and after signing it she looks at it and says, “Hey! We have the same name and almost identical signatures!” She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled her signature on it and showed it to me and I agreed. I found the whole incident amusing. After that, she knew my name as soon as I came in on my third lunch visit. Might have to do with the whole “same name” thing, but it’s still cute!
Here’s the items I’ve tried in my visits to the cafe. I had the Caesar Salad (half size – $5.95) and Onion Rings ($4.29) one day. The Caesar salad was good – nothing spectacular about it, decent and good sized meal. I wasn’t feeling super hungry on that day but really wanted to also have some onion rings with the meal which was a wise choice. The onion rings were tasty and fried to a crisp. I also totally dig their serving plates. Cute, square and simple!
On another visit I decided to really splurge and take on the cafe’s name by ordering the Whole Belly Fried Clams ($18.95). Yes, they’re expensive. They’re flown in from the East Coast (Ipswich!) to be served right here in San Diego to satisfy my whole belly clam’s cravings. Whole belly clams are different than the clam strips you usually see on the menu. They are sweeter and larger portions of clam and you can really taste the clams more than the dinky little clam strips. These particular whole belly clams were simply battered and fried (you can also get them steamed for the same price and same side orders) and came with not only fries but also onion rings and is a bit heavy on the deep fried side, but hey, you should know what you’re getting into when you order this. I thought this was good but a little overdone, but still good with a squeeze of lemon on top.
Someday I’m going to try the Clam Chowder ($7.95) but haven’t yet. The last item I’ve had is the Chicken Caesar Wrap ($8.95) – its in a spinach tortilla with all the fixings of a chicken caesar salad. This was pretty good and tasty. It also kept well the next day since I ate the second half of it for lunch the next day. This day the fries will a bit underdone and greasy so I didn’t eat very many of those, but maybe it was just a fluke fry day.
All in all a cute little cafe tucked away at the edge of Mira Mesa. I like to go here for lunch because the food is good, the service is excellent and it’s a nice quiet little place at lunchtime. They have a happy hour from 3P-7P (pints – $3/pitchers – $12/bud pints – $2.25/bud pitchers – $8) and they put on the Red Sox games when they’re playing. After all, how could it be a Boston Sports Cafe without the Red Sox?
A Taste of Boston Sports Cafe
(Behind the Salon, on the west side)
6625 Flanders Dr.
San Diego, CA, 92121
(858) 200-2101
Hours:
Monday: 7am-2pm
Tuesday-Friday: 7am-9pm
Saturday: 11am-5pm
Sundays, during games
Great idea… revewing Southern California food and restaurants! I am living in Temecula but used to live in PB pacific Beach….When possible I will try out some places you have reviewed and tried… some sounds delicious…never had or heard about Belly fried Clams…
http://celinescuisine.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Celine. We hope its useful to people who frequent all parts of Southern California! And try the whole belly fried clams sometime – they are totally delicious!
Great place to host your party or meeting:
I have been a very long time customer of Boston’s Salon. When she opened the cafe I asked if I could have my sons wedding rehearsal dinner there. It was spectacular, they set us up with incredible food: horsedeouvers were Macadamia nut/coconut fried shrimp (they were the best I have ever had and large shrimp) and lumpia. The dinner served was short ribs and slaw….. so much food we had to take some home ummmm ummmm good. They had a podium and mic for us to use for our toast as well as a screen to run video if we wanted.
The service was also terrific, so friendly and attentive. The chef even came out to address my guest and they loved it.
What a great place to host your party or meeting….
I ate at “A Taste of Boston” about a month and a half ago for the first time. The food was wonderful. Sadly I was not able to make it back again until last week (september 20) and the food was unsatisfactory to say the least. The waitress was sweet, but the food took forever to be served. When my Philly cheese steak (I think they call it a steak bomb) finally arrived it was too salty, the meat was over cooked, the vegetables were almost raw, and the bread was falling apart. It was a complete disaster of a sandwich. My coworker who came in with me ordered a chicken caesar wrap. Her wrap consisted mostly of lettuce and dressing with an excess amount of cheese. The small amount of chicken that was in it was again salty. The tortilla itself had stale spots, and fell apart after a couple of bites.
The setting is really cozy and the tables are close together which isn’t a problem at all. I spoke to a couple of men sitting near by who refer to themselves as “regulars” and they informed me that the head chef had recently been forced to quit. They also said that although they once loved the food, now they only go there for the beer and will occasionally brave through ordering a simple fried snack. What a shame. I had once a wonderful memory of the place and its delicious food, but now I would never recommend the place to anyone, nor do i have any plans of returning.
I love freid belly clams-I must have them!! I live in long beach Ca –anyone know where I can get them within 50
miles from LB ? Thank you,
Marc Brenner
562-843-4901c
Sadly my 2 experiences here mirror exactly what Sandra above had. Without going into details the food took a terribly long time to get out(over an hour for burgers and salads), and was not satisfactory by any standards. Dry overcooked meats, greasy fries. The clams I had were good however that is not enough for me to return which is sad as I know the owner, Boston. She needs a competent chef in here.