Pat and Oscar's-and what Cathy always orders

Pat and Oscar's has closed most of their locations. They will be missed. 

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food.  Today, Cathy is back with a short post.

Hello once more. I'm still here blogging and Kirk and His Missus are still enjoying their adventures in Vietnam. I did get an email from him when he was going to be away from the internet for a few days. They are enjoying their vacation immensely and you'll get to see all about it in due time.    SO ANYHOW...There is a local "chain" here in San Diego, called "Pat and Oscars".  It is semi self serve in that you order, pay, grab plates/silverware/napkins, seat yourself and then have the food delivered to your table.  You can put together a bunch of tables for a large gathering and the prices are reasonable, especially for groups. You can see their menu on line at www.Breadstick.com.  They make a variety of items, yet after trying everything from the menu over the years, The Mister and I end up ordering the same thing.  Always. 

The chicken meal for two ($16.99).  It includes a choice of a Cesar or Greek salad.  I always choose Greek.  You can see it has onions, beets, green pepper slices, feta and olives.  I really crave this salad.

The meal also includes an order of 12 breadsticks- fresh made, topped with olive oil and a touch of garlic flavor.  {The website address is breadstick.com: Pat and Oscar's are *known* for their breadsticks.  Sometimes if the line to order is long, they are passing out samples to those waiting: sometimes they had out breadsticks to people in front of the restaurant...it is *the* reason a lot of people eat here. }   

Of course, included is a whole rotissiere cooked chicken- either Lemon or BBQ.

Always the Lemon.

The items are always good, fresh, hot and  taste great.   

You can see The Mister makes open faced sandwiches with his breadsticks and chicken and I eat my salad with breadsticks and enjoy the chicken by itself.

Seriously, we have tried the pizza, ribs, sandwiches, pasta, soups and the BBQ chicken and they are not as tasty as this particular combination. {If the pizza dough were made from the breadstick dough, then *maybe* I would like the pizza here.  It isn't}

When you go to the website, sign up for the promotional emails and you occasionally get a coupon for $5 off of $15, and this meal fits in that category.

Hope you all have a nice, uneventful weekend.

Comments

[Gob Bluth]

really?

[RONW]

a "variety is the spice of life" to you. I've never seen that combination before.

[nhbilly]

I love there bread sticks just not sure about everything else...

[Tommylovebottom]

Those bread sticks seem oddly "Porn-ed up" they look like they could use a hanky.

[Dan]

Ummm-groso! Definitely not food porn.

[cathy]

Yes, really, Gob. I like consistency.
Hey, Ron- salad, bread, chicken. A sort of balanced meal, except for the plethora of breadsticks, which I always end up taking home.
Seriously, Bill. The Greek salad and the lemon chicken. That is it. They will put out some new salads for the summer, again, I am sure...and I might try them, but I will come back to this standard meal.
Haven't you ever been here, TLB? The breadsticks always look like they came from Chernobyl.
Sorry my photos don't show how good the food is here, Dan. Thanks for commenting and reading our blog anyhow. If you have never been to a Pat and Oscar's, you should try it. Even though a 'chain', it is quite good.

[nhbilly]

I guess I'll give the chicken a shot but I sure do love there bread sticks.

[clayfu]

They have some of the tastiest breadsticks out there. Everything else is kind of hit and miss for me. Sometimes the chicken is dry, sometimes its not.

My meal from there is almost always breadsticks + meat sauce. That's all you need!

[cathy]

Yes, Bill...the lemon chicken is nice, and the Greek salad is something I really like.
So -you do understand me a bit, clayfu- I just eat what I like...I don't overly like the meat sauce, but maybe with the breadsticks it would work...I will try a side of sauce next time. :)

[TomS]

I didn't think it was food porn. I thought it was just great camera work to have the contours of the bread sticks highlighted by the glistening of the olive oil that had been softly caressed with garlic, leaving but a faint whisper, or a brush of a kiss from the garlic.

[cathy]

I need to take a cold shower, TomS-as do you.

[Sandy]

We've been going to Pat & Oscar's for years (back when it was just called "Oscar's"), although we don't dine there as often. The company contributes often to community groups and events.

Even though it's sort of self-serve, the service at the restaurant is quite good. A manager usually walks around the dining room and asks tables if they need anything.

The breadsticks are yummy especially when they're hot and fresh. We usually get the pizza or pasta, Greek salad & breadstick meal. I prefer the lemon chicken, my husband prefers the BBQ chicken so pizza/pasta is the compromise.

[cathy]

Ah, yes, Oscar's. Apparentl got sued by the Motion Picture Academy or something, so the name change. I do see many events catered by Pat and Oscar's and didn't mention it, Sandy. The Mister and I used to get half BBQ/Lemon chicken and then one day decided we only liked the lemon and have stuck to it. I agree, the service and attantion are excellent.

[Rosemary]

I was ashamed and embarassed by the ir-responsibility of the staff at the Buena Park Pat & Oscar this past weekend. I personally witnessed their management REFUSE to allow an handicapped woman eat at their facilities. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the employee DEMAND a doctor's note detailing the nature of her disability and specific limitations her disability caused. We had already ordered our food; if we hadn't, we would have left.

HASN'T A LARGE USA BASED COMPANY HEARD OF ADA (American Disability Act). THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEIR POOR BEHAVIOR (probably illegal behavior).

I'm wondering, what compensation did this company offer? Has anyone else heard about this incident?

[sandra sanfilippo]

To answer your question about the incident at the Buena Park location: I am the woman the forced to leave their restaurant. They offered NOTHING in compensation for their refusal to comply with ADA mandates. All they did was call me and tell me that they were planning to have someone give a lecture on how they can be more ADA compliant.

[Cathy]

Wow, Rosemary and Sandra- Please know this is just a blog and not a website for Pat and Oscars. Also know that there are so many ways computers and comments can be traced. It is more than coincidence that both of your comments came from the same exact IP address ten days apart. Don't bother giving me the old "I am writing from a computer in the Public Library" routine either. There is no large chain restaurant in the United States that is not aware of the ADA act and in making its restaurants and facilities accessible to everyone.

[Dale]

I can't stand their caesar dressing. What happened to their old drerssing? It was the best salad dressing and my friends and family went almost twice a week until the dressing change. Now it's creamy and too tart. I liked the old oil mix and you had to shake the heck out of it at your table and the taste was out of this world. Now, it just plain sucks. I tried Costo and purchased the twin pack, threw it away it sucked so bad. I wont eat their again.

[Cathy]

Wow- is the Caesar salad the only thing you ever ate at Pat and Oscar's, Dale? I had the Caesar salad exactly once. I didn't like that Caesar dressing even then-when you apparently did. It sounds like maybe they have made it more "healthy" using less oil and more vinegar though. As I wrote in the post, I like the Greek salad with the dressing that comes on it. I never felt the need to add more. I didn't even know they sold the Caesar one inside of Costco-only have seen the original. It is interesting the last three comments that have shown up on this post are all negative. I do thank you for taking the time to comment. Please try other items at Pat and Oscar's. I don't think the salad dressing is a deal breaker.

[John Dorm]

Pat & Oscar's has a huge cockroach problem that they fail to address.
I recommend that you read the following: http://www.marlerblog.com/tags/pat-oscars/
Dozens of people have been hospitalized because of them. Eat at home, unless you want to take the risk.

[cathy]

Pat and Oscars had an e.coli problem in 2003 (as noted in the link you provided). That was corrected and every location has passed the County Food and Drug inspection in the last six years. I would think someone else would have noted a cockroach problem in the interim. Thanks for visiting our blog. Not that many people read it. If you think there is a problem, you should report it to the proper authorities.