No. 219

Joe's Crab Shack

We've eaten at Joe's a couple of times, when we first moved here. We didn't write about it then as we hadn't yet discovered blogging...

I've been meaning to get over there again for several months now, in order to check out their steampots, specifically the Corona Beach Bake which has two small lobsters, half a dozen fair sized shrimp, clams, sausage, potatoes and an ear of corn on the cob. I'm not supposed to have shell fish (and a whole lot of other things) so this was mainly for the wife's benefit.

She's not a fan of crab and this is the only steampot they have without it.

It's not cheap ($42.95) and we were disappointed all across the board, with the food (cold, tasteless & chewy), service and more specifically, with the food handling practices or almost total lack thereof.

We saw numerous health code violations (I quit counting after 5) and were thoroughly disgusted by the time we left. I won't go into it here but we'll never go back.

And I'm thankful that we didn't get sick as the wife has been food poisoned twice since we moved here, once at the Fish Market and again at Brigantine. These instances were several years apart as it makes you "gun shy" after the first time and in both cases, it was from the cioppino...

No. 218

Slater's 50 / 50

NOTE: This entry is out of order (we actually did this several months ago). I had intended to visit a second time but never got around to it.

We just got back from Slater's 50 / 50 in Liberty Station (formerly Naval Training Center San Diego).

That's the place whose specialty is burgers made with 50% bacon mixed right in with the ground beef.

This time, we got there just as they opened but it wasn't planned that way and I didn't have my camera with me.

It was probably just as well as it didn't go well. I passed on the 50 / 50 burger (with Bacon Pretzel bun) as the bacon inside doesn't cook long enough to change color (I'm just not eating it).

And as it was, they delivered my well done burger still pink in the middle so I ended up grabbing a McDouble at the drive thru on the way home.

The wife did enjoy her third pound burger, rating the meat possibly higher than Smashburger but the bun was too chewy for her (bad teeth).

Fries are a la cart there and they delivered ours to the table almost immediately, without bothering to ask if we wanted them separately or with our burgers.

Predictably, the 20 minute rule kicked in and we weren't really all that hungry by the time the burgers arrived (I do mean a real 20 minutes), especially fortunate for me as it'd be almost an hour by the time we made it back here.

We ordered the fries well done and they were perfect but generic, frozen pre cut potatoes. The fries were presented with bacon catsup (couldn't taste it) and the wife's burger had bacon on it, which she removed.

Management removed the untouched 50 / 50 burger from the bill and it was still $18 and coin for a third pound burger, small fries ($4.75!) and an iced tea...

I should also mention the 150 draft beers on tap (a wall o' taps) and at least 21 large, flat screen TVs ($20K worth of TV, maybe more) all around the walls, anywhere you look. I should also mention the 7 or 8 different games, etc they were tuned to...

We were out taking care of a little business when we realized we were close to Slater's and decided to check it out, without the camera. We had wanted to photograph the giant bronze burger sculpture in the patio and the place also has a lot of food stuff (posters, etc) on the walls, nothing spectacular.

The web site: https://slaters5050.com/locations/san-diego/