Tag: burgers

San Diego County, Mary, Multiple Locations, Liberty Station

slater’s 50/50 / liberty station – san diego, ca

It was high time for me to visit Slater’s 50/50. Jake and I had heard kind of mixed things about the place – some people really liked it and some didn’t and some just thought it was okay. I had to decide for myself though and after a few failed attempts at visiting, Jake, T and I went on that hella hot weekend we had a few weeks ago – when it was in triple digit temperatures. We went next door to Ace Hardware just for the A/C while waiting for our table. I do like their notification system – which sends you a text message to let you know when your table’s ready. Very neat!

We were seated in a corner table. Pretty much my thoughts were, “Gee, do they have enough TV’s in this place?” Must be an ADD person’s heaven. Me? I thought it was distracting. But maybe I’m the only one (or maybe that’s the point).

[combination plate – onion strings, french fries and panko fried mac n’ cheese – $6.95]

We decided to get the combo plate for appetizers. Jake and I both thought we were getting regular mac n’ cheese, since it was further below on the menu – we both didn’t notice it was fried mac n’ cheese. Oops.

We each got one mac n cheese ball. It was very crispy on the outer, with a melted, cheesy middle. A little on the bland side. Not as great as I thought it would be, especially since I was expecting just mac n cheese… but that was my fault for not reading the menu properly. These were okay.

The onion strings/rings things were good, I dug those. French fries are french fries. I will say though that we were hoping for fries on our plates, but when we realized we didn’t get more fries, we ordered 2 more orders. One order tasted like they dropped a salt shaker on it, it was so salty that it was inedible. We had that one taken off our order after we told the waitress though but did not get another order – wasn’t necessary. Besides, the fries weren’t that awesome.

[build your own burger – starting at $8.95]

All three of us did the “Make Your Own” sandwich thing. This is T’s creation – which had fried chicken instead of a hamburger patty.

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San Diego County, Mary, Mission Beach

sneak joint / mission beach – san diego, ca

The Sneak Joint in Mission Beach is definitely a dive bar. No doubts about it. I don’t mind dive bars, really. I think they’re fun, kitschy and sometimes are very, very surprising. Other times… well, other times you realize the meaning of a “dive bar”.

I bought a groupon for this place but I could not for the life of me remember why or what seemed appealing about it. It was on the verge of expiring so Jake and I went down to Mission Beach one weeknight to check it out.

[sneak joint – menu]

Why, yes, there is sort of s mud flap looking girl on the menu. That’s… charming? The menu is pretty basic – just a few burgers and sandwiches. We went on a Thursday night and the special was “All You Can Eat Spaghetti” for $5. Hmm. They also have a $0.25 wing night if you’re into that (I think… on Wednesdays?). All of the waitresses here are dressed in bikini tops and short shorts. I’m sure a certain mindset is really into this idea.

[well drinks]

My groupon was for dinner and drinks for 2 – any two items and two well drinks (or beers). Jake got a rum and coke and I got a whiskey coke. Nothing to write home about.

[spicy chili guacamole burger – with applewood smoked bacon, provolone, guacamole (on the side), jalapenos, & fresno chilies – $12.95]

Jake ordered this Spicy Chili Guacamole Burger – but with the guacamole on the side, which he promptly handed over to me for my burger. He upgraded to tater tots, which costs an extra $1. You can also get sweet potato fries for an extra buck or stick with regular fries or a salad.

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Mission Valley, San Diego County, Mary

dave and buster’s – mission valley / san diego, ca

I hadn’t been to a Dave & Buster’s in years, but I was recently invited to swing on by and to check it out again. I was looking forward to taking Jake, Chris and T for a night out to try out Dave & Buster’s newest menu items and to try out some of their fun, new games this summer!

Let’s get crackin’. There’s a lot of food to cover.

Looking at all of these photos makes me feel the fullness again. Oof.

We were greeted by some of the assistant managers who took very good care of us that evening. He had everything under control – ordering the food and drinks for us, asking if there was anything else we wanted and catering to our needs. I wish I could dine like this all of the time. Totally, totally spoiled. Oy.

[The Lawnmower Salad – layered using fresh romaine and green leaf lettuces, grilled chicken, diced garden vegetables, boiled eggs, bacon bits and bleu cheese crumbles]

We started the dinner off with a salad – a salad unlike any other I have seen before. They call it the “Lawnmower Salad” and it comes on a huge plate with all of the veggies and greens layered out in pretty little rows. The nice part about this is you get to kind of build the salad the way you want it – grabbing the veggies you like and scooping them onto your own plate. The lettuces are underneath all of the toppings, so as you grab some, you also get the lettuce underneath.

By the time you scoop what you want onto your own little plate, it manages to get all tossed and mixed up and ready for your waiting mouth… don’t read into that.

You get your choice of dressing on the side to pour over your own mini salad. Perfect for sharing with a crowd!

[The 5:15 – Comes with 5 Buffalo Wings with your choice of Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing; 5 Chicken Quesadilla Wedges with salsa; 5  Pretzel Dogs; and 5 Crispy Fried Shrimp with spicy habanero sauce; complete with a stack of fresh BBQ potato chips]

Next we had the “5:15” appetizer platter brought out to us – this is geared towards the “after work” crowd who’s ready to get the evening started after a long day at work. It comes with a little mix of everything – wings, quesadilla wedges, pretzel dogs, fried shrimp and plenty of freshly made BBQ potato chips.

I got to eat all of the shrimp, because boys are weird.

Well, at least the ones I know are. Who cares though – more shrimp for ME!

The shrimp is a basic fried shrimp, but the spicy habanero sauce gives it a hefty kick to the seat of your pants, if you like that kind of thing. The pretzel dogs were my next favorite item – they were encased in a soft pretzel dough which paired nicely with the dogs. The boys were all seriously digging the potato chips which had Dave & Buster’s own BBQ seasoning dusted over all of the chips. They had a good crunch and flavor – though not my favorite, simply because I don’t dig BBQ chips all that much.

Maybe I’m just a weird girl.

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San Diego County, Mary, La Jolla

la jolla brew house / la jolla – san diego, ca

I don’t usually document negative experiences but:

A) I’m tired
B) I decided I don’t care
C) I’m doing a service for you guys, right?
D) I’m too tired to think of a D.

Anyway. Bear (bare? no, definitely bear. I’m definitely tired if I’m leaving these inane comments in) with me for a few minutes.

I had a Groupon for the La Jolla Brew House and I dragged Jake along with me since the coupon was about to expire. It seemed like a really good deal – two burgers, plus desserts and two beers or sodas for $18.

There was a little bit of a wait so I put my name down on the list and we wandered over to a couch to sit for awhile. It was a nice evening and we were out on a patio. The garage doors were up and people were enjoying the evening. I got a kick out of seeing puppies on the patio. Dog friendly! I love it. We kind of bugged out for awhile waiting for our table. We were told the wait would be about 20-30 minutes. No problem.

[playing the waiting game on the patio]

I kept peeking over to the hostess stand and noticed there were less and less people over there, but still, we were never called. It was over 30 minutes later when I poked Jake and asked him to go check. A few minutes later he came back and sat down.

“She said we’re next. She skipped us.”
“What?”
“When I asked, she said my name was already called. Then I told her the name put down was Mary and she kind of freaked out a little.”
“She got caught lying, that’s why!”
“Yeah, that was obvious. She just skipped us.”
“Lame.”

Not an impressive start if you ask me.

[page two of stapled together menus]

We were given these stapled together menu’s to look over though since I had the Groupon, there wasn’t much choice. We could have a classic cheeseburger, a mushroom swiss burger or a BH burger. Both came with either fries or sweet potato fries and either 2 pints of beer or 2 16-ounce sodas (+ dessert).

[sunset trivia]

They were doing trivia that night, hosted by Sunset Trivia. The guy came over and quickly explained the rules to us. They were over halfway through the trivia, but we did it anyway. It was totally fun! They have three different categories each round and you put down the amount of points you want to bet for each round. You write your answer down plus the points you’re betting. The guy calling out the questions also keeps score for you.

I didn’t even have to suggest a something for our team name. I just looked at Jake and he wrote down the above. Jake knows me so well!

[mushroom swiss burger / regular fries]

I got the mushroom swiss burger. You can see that my cheese is just slightly melted on my burger. The burger was only warm to the touch. It tasted okay, nothing special really. Standard button mushrooms that were slightly sauteed, mild seasoning on the burger. It was cooked to medium rare per my specifications. The burger was just really lacking… something. Flavor. Oomph. Heat. Something! The fries were not very hot, not very crisp and not very good. The best I can say about my meal was that it was “meh”.
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Banker's Hill, San Diego County, Mary

bankers hill restaurant / banker’s hill – san diego, ca

Bankers Hill Restaurant has been on my “to-visit” list for quite some time. Ever since I took a pie making class last fall with Rachel Cayhill, the pastry chef there, I’ve been wanting to indulge in her desserts again. I was finally able to come in for a visit with a few friends (Laura and Heather) in tow to check out Bankers Hill for happy hour!

I totally drove right by the first time. It sort of looked like any old building as I was driving by, but that’s not really the case. There are multiple crazy doors you can open in the front and the whole restaurant has a bit of an industrial feel to it. I dug it.

I came in early and snagged this table in the back, near the bar and this fun table with this awesome wine glass chandelier thing. The decor was very simply stated and I really enjoyed it.

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