Eat at Joe's-if you dare!

For very good reasons,  Joe's has closed.

Hi. I seem to have just been having some awful days lately, along with some really bad meals. Here is a post about another one...

The Mister had a coupon thrust upon him at work for this place called Joe's Pizza. and the wording on the coupon is "Because life is too short to eat lousy pizza"...well that sounds like well, maybe they know they have some *really* good pizza...or they are arrogant.

Its the latter.
The coupon was for a meal of a large, one topping pizza, a rosemary chicken, a large salad and a 2 liter soda for $20. OK. Let's begin.

Well, you can't particularly mess up a salad. It was good, plentiful had chopped mushrooms in it, tomato and shredded mozzarella. It came with a good Thousand Island dressing.

The chicken. Small (that is a salad plate, not a dinner plate-see the box of salad next to the chicken?). COLD (as in, it was refrigerated cold). Tasty with rosemary, and with the salad made a nice SUMMERTIME meal. Too bad it was another night of quite cold temperatures, and was not hot with crispy skin I could munch on.

Then there was the pizza.

Looks OK, eh?  Wrong.  The one topping The Mister chose was sausage.  It did not taste like sausage; it had no flavor, but it did have texture AND it was sliced sausage pieces, not crumbled like you usually get. The cheese was *sparse* and had no flavor. Oh and the crust...what can I say? Um...well, the texture was ...chewy,cardboardy, thin, in a bad way, like the pre-made crusts you get from pizza in airports...AND it had no flavor...the sauce was without herbs and spices...not salty, not tomato-y...more empty calories...

This, combined with the COLD chicken (The Mister said he heard one worker tell another worker to make sure the chicken was hot when he was getting ready to take it for delivery) which was not supposed to be cold...oh this was so not worth it. You can try it, if you'd like, but I am pretty sure we won't go back.

Joe's Pizza 5583 Clairmont Mesa Blvd 92117 (858)268-0093
website

Comments

[Chubbypanda]

I do not dare eat at Joe's.

[Birdie]

I do not dare, either! I love pizza. I could live on pizza. I work at a place that will soon be serving pizza. And the picture of pizza that you posted, Cathy, made me sad. I cannot even begin to contemplate the chicken!

[nhbilly]

I guess I wasn't the only one with food problems...my Korean soup today was so tasteless so sad of all the time I have eaten there today was "The Great Disappointment"

I know how it feels to take one for the team ;-)

[EJ]

Cathy,
I'm curious, where do you and the Mister find so many coupons for restaurants?

[Cathy]

Good idea, CP!
How eloquently put, Birdie. It was sad.
Hi Bill. Sorry about bad soup in definite soup weather.
Hello EJ- www.get1free.com has a lot of local coupons. We always pick up the free papers outside of grocery stores (Reader, Pennysaver coupon book, City Beat, etc.) All the Asian papers (San Diego Yu-Yu, et al)have coupons too. Also, The Mister works in the Convoy/Clairmont Mesa/Balboa area and sometimes in the lobby of where he works there are papers and coupon booklets dropped off. There are other online sites also. I think I can do a listing as part of a post...although, we don't really want to bother with any deals from Joe's, now do we?

[Trent]

Thanks for the tip, Cathy. I just threw my Joe's coupon in the trash!

[Cathy]

Good idea, Trent. I have really only blogged about good meals for the most part and can't believe the bad streak I am having. It does help me in keeping with a diet, though...

[Vicky]

Thanks for the head's up Cathy. I can see how they're super super generous with the cheese... =P

[Cathy]

Ah, yes, Vicky. I do so try to not complain, but also feel I have to be honest. Its a balancing act.

[Kirk]

You know what Cathy...It does look like someone ate the cheese off of half that pizza!

[Cathy]

and you know what, Kirk? That little bit of cheese was all I ended up eating off of that pizza, after taking two bites of the crust.

[bdizzle]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. I recently ate at Joe's Pizza, and to be honest, better than any pizza in San Diego. It's funny how every other review on the place is good and this one was bad. Maybe bias in some way? Who knows. After reading some of the other reviews, I'm blown away by your opinion. I have ordered from them so often and have never had a problem. I even had a party at the restraunt for one of my kids and Joe made it great and his kids, which run around, made it feel so much like a down to earth place!They did a great job with the place and I am not suprised I am hearing plugs on the the radio stations for them. I would say don't judge a pizza until you've eaten it. TRY THIS PLACE-GOOD STUFF!!

[Cathy]

Hi bdizzle. Well, this was my blogging of my meal this past February. That photo of the *cold* chicken is taken on salad(not dinner) plate- very small. It was cold. It had been refrigerated. You can see the skin had separated off. The pizza was made on the standardized (pinholed bottom-not with cornmeal)crust that was flavorless and chewy as well as all my other descriptives. Especially the lack of cheese. Look at the photo. It was a truly bad meal.

Perhaps after I blogged Joe's, they changed something. That would be good. You are reaping those benefits.

This is a blog, not a review site-it was my experience, documented in an online diary, of a meal that I paid for. There is no bias here, only a stating of facts. That was the meal I got when I ordered as a regular patron. It was not good.

Perhaps I will try Joe's again. If they are paying for radio ads, they may have a coupon out there. I don't want to risk paying full price for possibly another bad meal.

Thank you for taking the time to comment, and for reading our little blog.

[Zach]

Hey guys! I live down the street from there and have considered trying it out. Now, I have seconds thoughts. I thought I'd mention, if you really do like pizza, that also down the street from me is my favorite pizza place, Sorrentino's Pizza on Clairemont Mesa. You can't beat the pizza, and lasagna!

[Cathy]

Go with a coupon or order something small/basic for a first time, Zach. Maybe it has improved, but I blogged about my experience as a 'regular person' getting a 'to go' order. I was having a streak of bad food days for some reason that month, but it was almost laughable how bad stuff was from Joe's. Really. Thanks for taking the time to comment and welcome to the blog...and we do like Sorrtino's, I just haven't blogged it...yet.

[Omar]

Hi Cathy,

My wife works over that way. We'll check out Joe's one day and record our experience here. (n.b. The Wife is from Philly, and I grew up behind the counter of my dad's pizzeria in Washington, D.C. This won't be our first rodeo)

Meantime, please tell me: where would Joe's rate against Brooklyn (post Nunzio) and B...X (the pizza whose name shall not be said)?

[Cathy]

Did you read the post at all, Omar? I used the word 'cardboardy' to desribe the crust...please, go with a coupon or maybe the lunch buffet items are kept fresh(er)and that would be a good way to not lose much money. Then again, perhaps things have changed since that fateful February day and it will be OK...

[Omar]

Hi Cathy,

Yep, I read. As you said, though, the seven months between your visit to Joe's and the rave reviews posted by bdizzle leave enough time for the owner to have heard the negative feedback and fixed the problems. If so, I get to report the good news. If not, I get to write something different my usual: "wonderful", "delicious" and "this Carribean polenta sings!"

Different subject: I carried-out from Barnes' BBQ for last Friday night's Padres game, bringing food for several people in our section at Petco Park. Best BBQ west of Memphis, IMHO, due in part to their use of sweet-smelling hickory, not stinky, bitter mesquite.

Dinner included all homemade food: dry-rub ribs and pork shoulder, brisket, hot links, beans, greens and sweet potato pie. Outstanding food, as always, thanks to Big Donnie, the pitmaster, and Daunte, the front-of-house guy and owner. Lemon Grove Avenue just below Palm/San Miguel.

[Cathy]

I have had quite a few bad meals and have had more difficulty writing those posts,trying to be polite, than other, positive posts, which flow easily, Omar. Barnes is a different type of BBQ and good in its own way. I guess it is more what you grew up with. I am glad baseball season is over. Maybe I can find parking downtown a bit more easily at night. Maybe...

[Omar]

LOL...thinking about all the bad meals. I get to the end of one and don't just want my money back, I want the place to refund my time and anticipation.

Oh, who says baseball season is over? Padres can still play up to 24 more games, if I count right. Although, some of those may be in New York, or Philly, or *gasp* Boston. Fingers crossed, bbq grills at the ready...

Thanks for writing back on these comments, Cathy. I enjoy chatting with you and sharing information on the places we appreciate... and don't, as the case may be! Also, are you getting advance reports from Kirk as he eats his way through South America? I can't wait to hear what he's discovered.