Offshore Tavern & Grill Revisited (Bay Park)

So, I needed to find JJ a groomer. The folks that used to do Sammy and Frankie had a shop in Point Loma, but moved to a home in Lemon Grove which is just a tad far for me to take him for grooming. So, we decided to try one of the groomers in the neighborhood and it's been working out super. What I usually will do is to try and make JJ's appointment for around lunch time; we'll walk down to the Morena area and I'll drop him off. While waiting, I decided to grab something from Superbloom, but the place was, well "super busy". So I walked on back to Morena and went over my options.

In the end, I decided on revisiting a place I hadn't been to in 17 years (!) Offshore Tavern & Grill. I really wasn't too impressed with the chain/corporate style of the place when I visited. But somewhere around 2012-2013 the place went under new, more local ownership, though I just wasn't motivated to revisit.

Well, I guess it was time to rectify that situation.

I walked in and there were already several groups of older gents at the bar having beers. Looking at the hours, this being a Friday, the restaurant opens at 11, but the kitchen hours don't start until 1130. Well, lucky me as it was just past 1130. It was a seat yourself situation and I walked on over to the covered patio.

A nice gentleman came by and dropped of a menu. So, now there's everything from Poke (of course) to Hummus to Burgers and Tri-Tip Sandwiches....to stuff that's so 90's like Seared Tuna. A Chicago Dog here will run you $14. But, there was something that really caught my eye.

Hmmm..... "Hawaiian" plate lunch? I guess they need to make sure folks know....because is there such a thing as a "UnHawaiian" plate lunch? I wanted to know so I Googled "plate lunch" and this is what Wikipedia came up with. Anyway, this did catch my attention....though I wouldn't call "pulled pork & cabbage" typical plate lunch material....though they are obviously faking Kalua Pork and Cabbage. At least they aren't calling it that, right?

I decided to just trying the Chicken Katsu ($16).

    This was interesting. The katsu had been sliced lengthwise and were as long as my fork. Rather unwieldy to eat.

The rice was cooked decently.

The chicken had been over fried; the breading on the hard side instead of crisp. The seasoning was fine; but the chicken was super tough and on the drier side.

    The katsu sauce was very "local", being ketchup based, tangy and perhaps on the sweeter side of the scale. The mac salad was quite "local" tasting as well, having a touch of vinegar and some shredded carrots. The macaroni was nicely cooked, but unevenly coated. This was probably my favorite item on the plate.

This was ok, not terrible, not anything to go out of the way for. Service was very nice. And of course I managed to kill time while JJ was getting groomed, right?

And there was one other item I noticed when I flipped over the menu that caught my attention.

And no, it's not the Poke Bowl or Grilled Mahi Plate........ You can figure it out, right?

There's this strange phenomenon going on in Bay Park; the locals are making loco moco!?!? I mean Fast Times has a version, as does the High Dive. Heck, I've even heard that The Pub is making a version? Must be the loco's version of biscuits and gravy? To be honest, it's probably convenient to make rice, hamburger patty, gravy, and eggs, right? But to make it well....that's another story. But, during JJ's next appointment, I couldn't resist.

  One big minus was no mac salad, which I kinda liked on my previous visit. One big plus; they have Tabasco! Tabasco sauce has been the condiment I've used for loco mocos since small kid time!

Well, even though this isn't a plate lunch place, I thought I'd go ahead and use the Modified Rubio Scale just for the heck of it. In case you haven't read any of my Loco Moco posts (can you believe I've done 61 of them???), here's a summary.

"The original Rubio Scale measured each item on the Loco, I decided to take the "base" items, the Burger, Gravy, Egg, and Rice. To this I added "Stuffs", that include macaroni salad, Spam, or any other item that comes with the Loco. All items are graded on a scale between 1 through 5, with 2.5 being average."

Oh-kay, here goes:

BURGER: Good sized, lean, but not overly tough. Good beefy flavor. 3.0

EGGS: Decently runny yolks, would have enjoyed some crisp edges, there was a mild fishy aftertaste. 2.0

RICE: Was not good. Undercooked with some hard grains. 1.0

GRAVY: Good consistency, decent beefiness, a by-the-book gravy. 3.0

STUFF: Gotta give points for the Tabasco. Bummah no mac salad. 2.5

Well, 11.5 a tad under average....which kinda describes this. It ain't terrible, but I'm not ordering it again.

In fact, I'm going to hit a different place during JJ's next appointment. Enjoyed the service; looks like lots of older local guys hang out at the bar.

I actually should visit places in my neighborhood more often than once every 17 years, right? I actually saw two folks I know eating here! I'll try to do a better job of that in the future.

Hope your having a great week!

Offshore Tavern & Grill
2253 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Comments

[kat]

bummer but at least you have them another shot (17 years later) ;)

[Kirk]

Yes, 17 years later Kat! Been doing this so long now!

[Peter]

Ha ha -- saw the loco moco on the menu and just KNEW that was it! Too bad it underperformed.

[Soo]

Bummer the dishes were not that good. I like the menu options.

[Kirk]

Yes, I'm so predictable Peter! ;o)

The menu is quite varied Soo!