Nicky Rottens Bar & Burger Joint / Coronado

Recently I was invited to dine at Nicky Rottens in Coronado. I had never been before so Jake and I went on an early Saturday afternoon to try it out.

We got there around 3PM. Pretty early for a dinner, but I wanted to go when the light would be better! Nicky Rotten’s has got a “neighborhood hangout” feel to it. There are tons of TV’s to watch sporting events. We saw a family all dressed up in Seattle Seahawks gear to watch the game that evening right before we left. 

We got a cool corner booth and I was able to peek out the window at the San Diego skyline.

Here’s the first side of the Nicky Rottens menu.

The flip side has cocktails, liquors, and information about the happy hour at Nicky Rottens. 

There was a bit of a snafu with our reservation – in that there wasn’t one – so I wasn’t sure if the manager knew about our visit or not. Jake and I played it safe and ordered the Sampler Platter [$13 – half] to start while we waited for the manager to get in to talk to us.

The sampler platter is true to it’s name by having a few chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, and fried zucchini. The fried stuff tasted like pretty standard – nothing I was really impressed with. The wings were pretty decent – they had a nice crunch on them that Jake and I both enjoyed. 

We were able to meet with Aaron, one of the managers at Nicky Rottens, who gave us some great information on Nicky Rottens and made some suggestions on things we should try.

Aaron had two drink suggestions for us. The one on the left is the Elder Coronado [$9], a drink with brut champagne, elderflower liqueur, lemon peel, and a splash of soda water. Aaron told us this is a drink he recommends to people who “don’t really like to drink”. Jake and I both commented that we thought it tasted a bit like a wine cooler! 

Aaron also told us about the Cavner Mule [$11]. The Cavner Mule is named after Navy SEAL Brad Cavner who used to frequent Nicky Rottens back in the day. This is the drink he’d like to order and they named the mule after him. It’s made with Jameson, fresh lime juice, angostura bitters, and topped with off with ginger beer. In honor of SOC Brad Cavner Navy Seal, $1 of every drink sold goes to the Navy SEAL Foundation in Brad’s Name.

The Cavner Mule is a delicious drink and I loved every sip of it. The combo of Jameson (one of my favorites) with the lime and ginger beer was an excellent choice. It’s served in a kick ass copper mug which makes you feel cooler immediately. 

When Jake and I were eating that sampler platter, we both spied this Honey and Pineapple Chicken Lettuce Cups [$14] at a table near us and wished that we had ordered it instead. Jake asked if we could try it and Aaron ordered one for us to share. These were really good! I loved the flavor of the chicken which had some teriyaki sauce on it. The cups came with peanut sauce for dipping as well. The way the cups are made, you can pick them up and eat them like a taco. It’s kind of a fun twist on eating a salad! 

Nicky Rottens is known for having killing burgers so of course I had to order one and try it out for myself. My eyes bugged out when my Bacavo Burger [$14] with sweet potato fries arrived at the table. I mean, look at the size of this thing! The Bacavo Burger comes with bacon and avocado making it the perfect choice for me. I had to take off a bunch of the lettuce to make this sucker easier to eat.

The burger was a perfect medium rare with a nice juicy pink center to the burger. I loved the creamy avocado on top with the layers of bacon and perfectly melted swiss cheese. I only managed to eat half of this sucker since it was a BEAST. A really tasty beast, but nonetheless a complete and total monster beast burger! 

Jake opted to get the Beer Battered Fish and Chips [$15] with garlic tater tots as his side dish.

They use Cod for their fried fish at Nicky Rottens. The fish has a beer battered dredge on top which was nice, light, and quite crispy. The batter was not super thick so you could still taste the creamy white cod inside. 

What I really loved were the tater tots!! Man, they do not mess around with the garlic on these tots – they come with LOTS of garlic on top which Jake and I both loved. It’s hard for me to ever say something has too much garlic and I did NOT say it in this case – it seemed to be a lovely amount in my eyes. The tots were wonderfully crisp with a nice creamy texture inside. Not over fried and oh so crunchy. Love!

Aaron had already ordered dessert for us and my eyes got wide when this spectacular looking Cookie Bomb [$7] was dropped off at our table. I wasn’t sure what it was at first since all I could see was mounds of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and strawberries. But lurking under all of that is cookie dough!

It’s a chocolate chip cookie dough that is half baked in a cast iron skillet. Since it’s half baked, the cookie dough has this partially gooey consistency to it. It’s cooked but super soft and needs to be scooped up with a spoon. There’s a little crispiness due to the cast iron skillet. I really loved that it was half baked – I used to bake cookie dough in a toaster oven and only partially cooked it since I loved the gooey consistency. This dessert was killer and I’d love to have it again! 

All in all, Jake and I had a pretty solid meal at Nicky Rottens. The only thing I’d really skip would be the sampler platter as there are much better things to try out on their menu. 

Nicky Rottens Coronado
100 Orange Avenue
Coronado, CA 92118
619-537-0280
11AM-10:30PM

Disclaimer: I was invited to dine at Nicky Rottens Coronado on behalf of the restaurant. Our meal and drinks were complimentary. I was not further compensated for this post and all opinions here are my own.