I stopped in for dinner while on a business trip to San Diego. It’s a nice place, friendly staff. I was seated right away.
I asked about their beer offerings, and the hostess seemed to struggle over what they had. I had asked for a red or brown ale and was told they didn’t have any at this time. She did get me a sample of one type of beer (I think it was a Shock Top seasonal), which I didn’t really like. It seemed odd to me that everyone kept saying they had an IPA on tap. It almost seemed like they weren’t really familiar with the different types of beer. Finally, the waiter told me they had Moose Drool on tap (it’s a brown ale brewed in Montana).
I ordered a Moose Drool and an Italian meat pizza.
The waiter asked if I would like some garlic bread balls. I hadn’t eaten since early in the morning, so I thought it might be a good idea to have something with my beer while I waited for dinner.
If you have ever read any other reviews I’ve written, you know I take issue with covering hamburger buns and other breads with any kind of oil or butter. My main complaint is I have a beard and mustache. Any oils/grease on the outside of breads gets all over facial hair and causes a most unpleasant situation.
So, instead of doing what hundreds of other Italian Restaurants do, and providing a plate with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, they coat the outside of the bread with oil. It causes anyone with facial hair to run to the nearest bathroom for a quick face wash.
Dinner came pretty quickly, but I can’t decide about the pizza.
On the plus side, the toppings were really good, however, they didn’t distribute them evenly across the pie. The result was large piles of one single topping, not a homogeneous combination of flavor.
The big issue was the crust. The pizza is wood fired at a pretty high temp. That is great for the top of the pie. The issue is when you place it on a plate, all the steam and grease from the meats pools up under the crust and causes a soggy mess in the center. In this case, the center of the pie almost returned to a liquid state. Just a bit gross.
Not my favorite pizza.
BTW Skip the bread balls, the bread isn't bad, but instead of serving with olive oil and balsamic, they coat with oil, just plain messy.
