It’s been over four years since I posted about Lucky’s Golden Phenix Restaurant back in 2011.
I’m happy to report not a whole lot has changed. Jake and I brought T here for breakfast one recent Saturday morning. It wasn’t too crowded in the restaurant and it didn’t take long for Lucky to swing by and say hi to us.
[2015 interior]
A few things on the wall have been added or swapped out but the rest of it looks about the same.
[2011 interior]
I especially liked the addition of this cool utensil clock!
The other change we noticed is that Lucky has new menus. Yes, it’s spelled “Phenix”!
[2015 menu at Lucky’s]
The prices have raised a little since our last visit, but not by much.
[2011 menu at Lucky’s]
For comparison, above is the menu from 2011. The most “expensive” item on the menu is still under $5. One hot cake costs $.50 cents more while the price of coffee has raised a mere $.10 cents.
The coffee is average, but it’s hot and fulfilling for $0.95 cents. You get one refill with your breakfast. Additional refills are $0.25 cents.
[denver omelet with cheese / $4.80]
We let T “go crazy” and order whatever he wanted. I joked that he’d probably pick the most “expensive” thing on the menu but my predication was right. The Denver Omelet with cheese is the crazy price of $4.80 and comes with a mound of hash browns and toast. I had a couple of bites, but all I could taste were the green peppers. You still can’t beat the price of this filling breakfast.
Jake and I were going to share hot cakes and eggs and ordered two different plates and told Lucky we were going to share. He was nice enough to just split the breakfast for us. Adding it all up, our breakfast plates were about $4.28 each.
The sausage had a really nice, crispy exterior that Jake and I thought was awesome. I ate all the white part of the egg and then moved it over to Jake’s plate to finish off. The hash browns had a nice crispy-ish edge to them and the hot cake was decent. Drizzle a little syrup on it and it tastes just fine.
Here’s Lucky serving some of the customers near us. He’s such a cool guy, making jokes and greeting his customers. It’s a one man show here – Lucky does all the order taking, cooks the food, busses the tables, etc.
Once we were done with breakfast, Lucky stopped by and dropped us off some fortune cookies to finish our meal. We asked what we owed him and he said “$20”. We left him $25, bid him a good day, and was on our way.
It’s nice to see that some places just don’t change that much.
There’s a nice article about Lucky and his restaurant over on Eater San Diego that I recommend for a quick little read.
Lucky’s Golden Phenix Restaurant (FB)
3804 Grim Ave
(between North Park Way & University Ave)
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 297-2760
Hours:
Mon-Sat 7:15am-12pm
Closed Sundays and Holidays
Cash Only
I love that you did a comparison shot of the interior! That place is in a time warp! (I say that in a good way). The ONE time me, Bert and TC tried going here, it was closed. It was the day after Thanksgiving. We did see Lucky himself through the windows but they were closed. 🙁 We ended up eating at Lil B’s instead and paid three or four times more than we would have had Lucky’s been open. One of these days, we’ll have to return. I love cheap breakfasts!
I remember one of Kirk’s old posts where he noticed that Lucky doesn’t like to deal with change and just rounds up everything. I hope he doesn’t get pushed out due to the increased rent that comes with gentrification. Ten years ago, North Park was still kind of a S#%@hole area and now it seems all of the young moneyed hipsters want to move here.
Hi CC – Lucky’s is totally up your alley – simple, cheap, hardy food. You’ll make it someday! Yeah, I actually added up our total and it was a little less than $20 but we were happy to to just give him the rest – he’s a very nice gentleman and I love that he does it old school. Don’t find many places like this one anymore.
wow can’t believe he does everything himself including cook! sounds like a wonderful place to have a leisure and inexpensive breakfast. thanks for sharing about this place!
Hi Lynn – It’s a slower paced experience but if you have time to kill and want to enjoy a cheap breakfast it’s a nice spot to hit up. Nothing fancy but it’s a cool spot to hit up once in awhile. Lucky is a cool guy!