Teri Cafe - You Coulda' Been a Contenda'...

*** Update - This location of Teri Cafe is closed, it is now Katsu Cafe

....For my rotation, if not for food shortcomings. Located in a strip mall on Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Teri Cafe serves up Ramen, Yakisoba, and other standard Japanese fare like Teriyaki(of course!!!).

The decor of Teri Cafe goes for a "surfer - Hawaiian" flavor; with surfboards mounted on the walls, surf videos playing on the two plasma televisions with "Jahwaiian" (Reggae flavored music from Hawaii) music playing in the background, there's a definite tropical influence in the decor. The menu is quite extensive with over 50 items, from Teriyaki and Udon, to Soba.

But what drew me here were the locally made noodles, sold from the Teri Cafes Owners other business, a company called Nihon Seimen. Sounds pretty close to saimin, huh? So I decided to order the Chicken Teriyaki and Yakisoba ($5.70):

The dish consisted of a good portion of noodles, stir fried vegetables, and a small piece of chopped grilled chicken with "teriyaki sauce" on it. The noodles were as advertised, thin, slightly chewy, with a nice pull to it. The problem starts with everything else. The noodles were way over-dressed, making the noodles, cabbage, carrots, et al, very, very, sweet and salty. So salty that I finished my bottle of water with my meal, drank another in the car, and had two glasses when I arrived home. Some of the sauce's personality should have been saved for the chicken, though nicely grilled was basically tasteless, and the teriyaki sauce was the smokey/mild type, that lacked any sweetness or saltiness, in a word; bland.

But those noodles were great! So I thought I'd give Teri Cafe another shot; and this time I ordered the Banzai Ramen ($5.45):

This was a bowl of noodles with "Tonkotsu" style broth - basically deeply and fiercely boiled pork bones, but in this case I'm pretty sure it was made from a "base". Topped with stir fried vegetables and chicken, some Kamabuko (fish cake), and bean sprouts. The noodles again delivered, and if anything was even better suited for Ramen than the Yakisoba. Everything else again was a bit of a let-down. The broth was just plain salty, and not the rich, almost creamy Tonkotsu broth. The stir fry was bland and also some of it was burned; you can see the black specks in the soup. So again I was left with basically mixed feeling regarding this dish.

There's alot to like about Teri Cafe, the facility is clean, well-lit, and I kind of enjoy the atmosphere. The prices are good, and the service is excellent; even though you just place your order, pay, and the food is delivered to your table; there are little things that makes Teri Cafe a bit different. If you purchase fountain drinks, the "Girls" refill them for you for free; they also check on every table at least once during the meal. And of course I think the noodles are very good, even though it's not Saimin noodles, so good that I'm thinking of just purchasing the noodles. Unfortunately, the rest of the food does not live up to the quality of the noodles.

Teri Cafe
7305B Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Mon-Sat 1030am-9pm
Closed Sunday

Comments

[Rachel]

**First to post yaay!**
Hi Kirk ! Looks like those noodles keep falling into the wrong hands. I am sure if you got a hold of some you could coach them to their full potential and help them to acheive the purpose they were called for on this earth. :) The textures does sound dreamy. Pity about the other let downs. Wow the teriyaki one did sound very salty. scary!

[Kathy]

There's nothing quite like good saimin noodles. One of the places I miss most back home is Jimbos! It's crazy how food is so powerful in its potential to conjure up the most wonderful memories!

[Kirk]

Hi Rachel - Yes, the first!!! Wow, that sauce was really salty! But I really like those noodles, so I may try to purchase some from them.

Hi Kathy - Food and scents, do amazing things. Sometimes I'll walk pass a Cypress, and the smell will get me walking pass the Cafeteria on my first day of school!

[Jo]

diesel... the smell of diesel exhaust from a passing truck... ::sigh::

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

Too bad it wasn't good. *sigh*

[Kirk]

Hi Jo - Diesel exhaust???

Hi Reid - I had gotten my hopes up for this one, all for naught.

[Candice]

Hi Kirk - Was the ramen there better than Tajima? I don't know if I'd rather have good noodles or a good broth - hopefully we can find the best of both worlds in one!

[elmomonster]

Even before I read your review and saw the photos, I got the impression that the noodles would have been too salty. Too bad. The place looks pretty nice.

[Kirk]

Hi Candice - IMO the ramen is better at Tajima, and I guess I'm sticking with Tajima and Chopstix, unless I find a better noodle house. Restrospectively, I maybe should have just ordered a Shoyu Ramen.

Hi Elmo - The place is nice and gives off a good vibe. And I guess you're right, I look at the picture of the Yakisoba, and you can tell it's been over-dressed.

[Beth]

Great report, as usual. Don't you hate it when a place has all of the potential in the world and you want it to be great, but it just doesn't deliver! :( At least you found a good place to buy noodles.

[Pam]

That's too bad about the tonkotsu ramen (one of my faaavorite things in the whole wide world...). Your photo made it look good though!

[Kirk]

Hi Beth - Yes, I guess it's all about the noodles here....but unfortunately, I don't live on noodles alone.

Hi Pam - You bring up a good point! I take all of my photo's before I taste my food. Maybe I should figure out a way to do taste-a-photo-ism....

[Jo]

::laughs softly:: Yep, deisel exhaust... puts me in Spain. The best food on a consistant basis, Spain... ::sigh::

[brian]

hello I have been a customer of Teri Cafe in Oceanside for over 15 years and love the food and finally one in san diego their ramen and teriyaki Chicken plates are one of the best i have had in all san diego. Definetely speaks for its self go try. Even the Union Tribube did an article on them http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050512/news_lz1w12food.html

[Kirk]

Hi Brian - Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm glad you enjoy the food at Teri Cafe, and I'm sure they appreciate the loyalty. For me, they have excellent noodles, but the teriyaki, and evrything else was not to my taste. In fact, I've thought of purchasing just noodles from them.