San Diego restaurant review Archives • McLarenblog

Zanzibar Café, Pacific Beach part of San Diego

12/31/2008 Score Card

Zanzibar Café

Pacific Beach of San Diego
976 Garnet Ave.
San Diego, Calif. 92109
Phone: 858-272-4726
Web site: www.zanzibarcafe.com

Reviewed 8-6-08 for breakfast.

Food: A
Menu: B+
Service: self serve
Ambiance: C+
Restrooms: C

This restaurant is for breakfast and lunch only.

The menu costs range for breakfast of between $2.25 for a toasted bagel with plain cream cheese and $9.95 for egg specialties.
The menu ranges in cost between $3.50 and $9.95 for lunch.

My wife thought the inside of the restaurant looked to be old town. The ceilings were high with exposed beams, old looking inside and out. There is very interesting artwork on the walls. You walk inside the restaurant to the counter cash registers (left one for take out orders only), and place your order. You are given a number to place on the table you sit at so the servers can deliver your food correctly.

Reviewing any restaurant for breakfast is difficult because the preparation of the meals is no challenge, in my opinion. The items we ordered were too simple to list here. What did impress me was the claim that this restaurant tried to promote is they “serve only the highest quality food and beverages available” and it seemed this was the case. There were two problems I spotted. As I ordered our meals at the cash register I noticed flies in the kitchen and one fly landing on what appeared to be toast lying on a kitchen table. When we sat to eat I noticed flies in the dining room. The doors were left open with no overhead air blast fans to keep flies out. The second problem was a plumbing problem in the men’s room. The urinal did not flush, could not flush.

The only parking we spotted was along the streets. During the week, we found plenty of parking spots near this restaurant.

Parking tip for Promenade

08/07/2008 Score Card

Parking tip for The Eggery Etc., World’s Famous Restaurant, and parking for the Promenade in an underground parking garage.

This tip is intended to show you where to park for the following restaurants:

The Eggery Etc.
World Famous

There is a parking garage under the shopping complex of stores called the Promenade. This very large shopping center is a very large shopping center up against the boardwalk street, Ocean Blvd. The south end of the Promenade is where you enter an underground parking garage. The north end of the Promenade is Reed Street and this is where you exit from the underground parking garage.

To enter the garage, come to the intersection of Mission Blvd and Pacific Beach Dr. Turn west, toward the ocean on Pacific Beach Dr. Just a short way down Pacific Beach Dr. you should notice a driveway cutting into the Promenade and as you get closer you should make out the driveway going under the buildings. See the images provided.

Tip: If you intent to eat at the World Famous Restaurant, ask for a parking card from the hotel concierge which also serves to get you at the head of the line if there is one at this restaurant. The card will give you free valet parking (saving you $3). I spotted the valet booth going up at about 11 am at the Worlds Famous. The hostess at the Worlds Famous will stamp the card to give you free parking in the Promenade parking structure if you decide to park your own car in this garage. (Note that the Worlds Famous Restaurant is not part of the Promenade, not in the Promenade but must have this arrangement which is good for you and me).

The image above was taken on Pacific Beach Drive as it approaches Mission Blvd, driving toward the ocean (west). The buildings seen right of center are the Promenade.

This image shows the south side of the Promenade. This part of Ocean Beach Drive is one way with a building in the middle and a one way street going east further off to the left. Just follow the arrows. The second arrow indicates that as you get to the back part of the Promenade you can turn into a parking lot drive way (seen below). Drive slowly or you might pass the parking lot. By the way, at the end of the street above is The World Famous Restaurant. If you like to use valet parking, just continue down this street and the restaurant will be on your right hand side.

The picture above shows the parking lot entrance located at the south west corner of the Promenade. Inside the Promenade is The Eggery Etc. Restaurant.

Kaiserhof Restaurant, San Diego

08/06/2008 Score Card

Kaiserhof Restaurant

2253 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.
San Diego, Calif. 92107
Phone: 619-224-0606
Fax: 619-224-3567

Reviewed 8-6-08 for dinner.

Food: B
Decor: B
Service: A
Restrooms: B

This is a German food restaurant. The menu offers categories of sea food, steaks, veal, pork, chicken, sausages, beef and deserts. Prices range between $15 and $28. From 5 to 6:30 early bird specials might be offered for a savings of about $2 but with only one side dish. When ordering non early bird menu items you get a choice of two sides in addition to a salad or soup. The side dishes are as follows:

German fried potatoes.
French fries.
Mashed potatoes.
Potato pancake.
Red potatoes.
Potato salad.
Bread dumpling.
Wide egg noodles.
Spatzle (home made German noodles).
Sauerkraut.
Red cabbage.
Vegetables of the day.
Apple sauce.

The meal started with rolls, which my daughter devoured and loved. She could not stop commenting on how good they tasted.
My daughter had only goulash soup. My wife had chicken gruyere ($15.95). I had sauerbraten, Bavarian style ($19.75). As side dishes my wife and I both had asparagus soup and spatzle. I also had red cabbage.

The rolls for me were good but not special. The asparagus cuttings in the soup were way too tough and could not be chewed. The soup seemed too salty and slightly harsh in flavor. I sampled my wife’s chicken gruyere and it was rich and done very well. My daughter’s soup was very good and had a mild flavor. My sauerbraten was very good. The sauce was a slightly sour and hinted with vinegar just a bit too much. The meat was tender.

The waiter was perfect. My back was to the center of the dining room so I could not see any staff approach our table. The support staff did quite well because I still could see arms reaching past me to place rolls and refill drinks on our table.

This restaurant is quite close to Paradise Point Resort & Spa and I recommend that if you stay at that resort or any other hotel in Mission Bay, you consider trying this restaurant out.

There is a parking lot behind the restaurant but if you arrive late, you might have to park at a gas station as it seemed there were not enough parking spaces for the number of tables in the restaurant. We also found the streets in this area to be quite busy just before 5pm during week days.

Red Marlin Restaurant at The Hyatt Hotel

08/05/2008 Score Card

Red Marlin Restaurant Review (at the Hyatt Hotel)

Breakfast

Food: A++
Ambiance: A++
Service: A
Value: D

As we left the Blue Pearl Restaurant, to find another restaurant, I suggested we drive across the street to the Hyatt Hotel. My wife was driving and I suggested we drive up through the front of the hotel so we could ask a bell hop the restaurant situation. One of the bell hops, a blond young man, approached our car and told us that there was a restaurant on site that served breakfast. We asked where to park out car and were told to drive around the side of hotel and park as we would be much closer to the restaurant.

Our unfortunate experience with the Dana turned out to be a wonderful discovery. The Red Marlin Restaurant was indeed expensive but for good reason. The restaurant was very large, spacious, up scale. I was really struck by two factors. Everywhere you looked windows from ceiling to a short wall around the outside of the restaurant offered a wonderful unrestricted view of the marina. The views were wonderful. I do not think there was any bad seat in the whole restaurant. The second factor was there was so much space to move around.

Our waiter showed up carrying shot glasses of berry flavor smoothie and a coffee creamer. Starbucks coffee is served. My wife and I love yogurt parfait so we ordered two at $8 each. One milk for my daughter cost $4. Coffee costs $3. My daughter ordered pancakes at $12. My daughter remarked about the presentation of the pancakes as they were ringed with raspberries. She said the pancakes were very good. Our parfaits were perfect.

Summary: This restaurant is very relaxing, spacious, entertaining views, good food, wonderful service but you will pay for this ritziness. This is now one of my favorate places to dine.

The Blue Pearl Restaurant at The Dana at Mission Bay

08/05/2008 Score Card

The Blue Pearl Restaurant Review (The Dana at Mission Bay)

Breakfast
Rating: (Unable to rate, disappointed)
Today we drove up to The Dana at Mission Bay to have breakfast at their restaurant. Years ago I remember having their yogurt, fruit and granola parfet. When we arrived, we noticed two separate couples waiting to be seated. No one was at the front desk. Tables to the right and left of us were empty. The restaurant had been redesigned since we last had a meal at this place. We waited for the receptionist to come and more people came into the restaurant. A family was ahead of us and when the employee manned the front desk we overheard that there would be a 15 minute wait. My wife really gets upset when she sees a number of empty tables and being told here will be a wait. I agree with her. We left. As we drove out of the restaurant parking lot, we saw another family who had just arrived before us leave the restaurant. My wife and I both felt that because this restaurant is part of a very large hotel, away from competition, and associated with a marina they just might think they do not have to achieve an acceptable level of proficiency.