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Eating Since: Aug 9, 2006

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turtley

is currently eating chicken bun

"Eating my way to enlightenment =D"

I like burgers, chicken dishes (like at Claim Jumpers!), quality chinese food, breakfast, and … pretty much everything. I eat almost any quality of food, but i will not eat taro.

Cuisines:
American, Breakfast, Family Fare, Asian, Sandwiches
Locations:

Stats

Reviews 74
Helpful Votes 329
Friends 38
Fans 29

Honors

Recent Activity

April 04
Turtley reviewed Lolita's Taco Shop 07:32PM
Turtley reviewed Phil's BBQ 07:25PM
Turtley reviewed Confidential 07:05PM
November 15
Turtley reviewed Trattoria Acqua 11:57AM
Turtley ate chicken bun 11:34AM
October 14
Turtley ate apple jacks 08:59AM
October 13
Turtley ate footlong tuna sandwich 05:29PM
October 11
Turtley ate teriyaki chicken and cheese sandwich 04:12PM


My Reviews (74)    rss feed

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1 - 10 of 74
*****
San Diego, CA

Lolita's Taco Shop

Apr 4, 2009 Link

High quality fast food mexican

Now some people might argue that my title is an oxymoron, since fast food is normally not very high quality. Lolita’s layout is similar to many of the mexican fast food places in San Diego (Roberto’s, Sergio’s, etc…), but differs in its quality. Lolita’s has acquired a devout following of people who make pilgrimage to it for the California Burrito and Carne Asada Fries.

Everybody loves carne asada fries, but there is something about the carne asada at Lolita’s that makes it amazing. The California Burrito is a little bit overrated, as there is too many fries in it. I personally try to get something new everytime, and it has paid off. I tried the 2-in-1 burrito, which is an epic burrito with 2 rolled tacos in a carne asada burrito. They also make a good tortas (though not nearly as filling as their burritos) and amazing chimichanga. Also, don’t forget to the red sauce/salsa; it is almost a requirement to take your food to the next level.

If only it weren’t so far from campus (i’m lazy)

What I ate:
  • *****

    Fried burrito, where can you go wrong?

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*****
San Diego, CA

Phil's BBQ

Apr 4, 2009 Link

Amazing BBQ

This is the best bbq in San Diego. The beef ribs are the best I’ve ever had, and VERY filling. They are fatty, meaty, and reminiscent of the dinosaur bones you see in the Flintstones. The porks ribs are equally good. You get a choice of some sides; I would probably pick the fries and beans. I haven’t tried their sandwiches and other stuff, since you don’t go to Phil’s for that (but I am sure they are great too).

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****
San Diego, CA

Confidential

Apr 4, 2009 Link

Trendy and fancy atmosphere, good food.

Just one look at Confidential Lounge, and you can tell that it is pretty upscale place, with a crowd consisting of well-dressed post-college graduates to after work professionals. I definitely felt underdressed in flip flops, jeans, and a hoodie (not to mention my bright light blue shirt). Fortunately for me it was Tuesday, since on the weekend, I think it converts to a club. My second impression of the place was not so good: we made reservations for 8:45pm, and were not seated until 9:30. At least our waiter was very friendly, and made our actual dining experience good.

After seating, the fact that it was Tuesday happy hour really paid off. EVERYTHING is half off, which is always a great thing. We ordered a bunch of dishes (tapas style), and most of them were really good. The food’s quality can probably be partly attributed to the fact that the head chef was on Top Chef. If it were not happy hour, I would have felt the prices to be way over the top, but if you are there during happy hour, it is a great place to eat some delicious food in a trendy location.

What I ate:
  • *****

    This is a great dish for sharing with many people. It comes with the pizza base, and 3 sides that you can add onto it (goat cheese, tomatoes, and garlic). Just adding the goat cheese alone is really good, but obviously everything together is the best.

  • ***

    The fries that come with it are really good. The sliders themselves were okay; the yogurt didn’t completely match with the lamb flavor as I would’ve liked. Still a solid dish though.

  • ****

    Really does taste similar to an irish car bomb.

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*****
La Jolla, CA

Trattoria Acqua

Nov 15, 2008 Link

Shoreside Italian

Trattoria Acqua is a top 10 eating destination according to USA Today (as it says on its site). That claim, with the recommendation of a friend too, set the bar of expectation higher than a normal restaurant. We found the atmosphere to be quite classy, which is always a plus in my book. The layout of the restaurant is definitely non-traditional, since it is like the 2nd floor of a building (but still with outdoor seating in the middle).

The food is the most important part of course. The bread they serve before the meal might the best i’ve ever had. The bread was super fresh and served with.. hummus! Needless to say the bread was consumed quite quickly, and multiple baskets were eaten. Unfortunately, they did not have the meal i wanted, lamb shank, so I got a wild boar pasta (it was game and truffle week – crazy!). The wild boar pasta was actually very good, but if the meat alone (without any pasta) was a little bit too salty. I tried some lobster ravioli, which was not as good as I expected (but it grows on you). The restaurant offers some other crazy dishes, but they are really expensive, such as lobster pot pie.

The best part of the meal was the dessert (and the reason it was recommended to me). I got a molten chocolate souffle, which came with blueberry gelato, and a raspberry sauce on the side. It was reallly good, with a nice tinge of alcohol in the souffle and sauce. The tiramisu was also very delicious; my friend thought it was amazing. Too bad we couldn’t order more desserts, they have a big menu of tasty sounding items.

Anyways, the rating breakdown would be this:
bread – 5 stars
entree- 4 stars
dessert- 5 stars

What I ate:
  • *****

    Super soft, and crazy MOLTEN in the middle. It has a bit of alcohol-flavor on the bottom, because of the molten chocolate, but if you like that, then you’ll love this.

  • ****

    4.5 stars. The boar was good, and the pasta was perfect – it had a nice chewiness and thickness to it. The only minus was that it was a bit too salty sometimes when there was too much of the boar/sauce. I don’t want to have to think hard to get a good balanced bite.

Extras:
I came here for
fun with friends
My meal cost
between $25 and $50
I tipped
between 15% to 18%
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***
La Jolla, CA

Daphne's Greek Cafe

Oct 5, 2008 Link

Decent, fast Greek food

Daphne’s a fast food Greek restaurant chain. It has pretty average food, but its a nice change from eating burritos everyday. The wait for the food, after ordering, is usually only like 5 minutes.

What I ate:
  • ***

    Satisfying enough. The spanakopita was a little bit too oily. It also comes with falafel and hummus. You can replace the spanakopita with dolmas.

Extras:
I came here for
a meal on the go
My meal cost
less than $10
I tipped
no comment
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***
San Diego, CA

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot & Grill

Sep 25, 2008 Link

Unique Hot Pot Experience

Little Sheep Hot Pot offers a different brand of eating hot pot: mongolian style. Instead of just having a big ol’ pot of piping hot water which you throw water in, the pot is split into two halves: a spicy side and a non-spicy side. Each side is filled with herbs and spices, which is what flavors the meats and veggies that are cooked inside it. Rather than having sauces (such as Satay or Peanut at a chinese hot pot), you just take a scoop of the soup in the pot or just eat straight out of the pot.

The food is pretty good, although I personally prefer chinese hot pot (which I’m only on decent terms with). There is a bit too many peppers in the spicy side (the better-tasting side), which start to invade your bowl and you’ll inevitably eat some (not fun). The non-hot pot items, such as a meat pastry or fried bun are good though. It was nice that when we were there, we got a 15% discount since we had birthdays in the month of September (I don’t know if they do it for every month). I’d recommend this place if you want to experiment with a new take on hot pot, or are just plain tired of chinese hot pot (and trust me, its easy to get tired of).

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*****
San Diego, CA

Corvette Diner

Sep 17, 2008 Link

This place is crazy!

So the Corvette Diner is a 50s or 60s themed diner, featuring, upon entrance, a nice corvette. It has continuous oldies music playing, and you can request songs. The waiters/waitresses are all RIDICULOUSLY nice and dressed up in fun costumes. They also go dance at random times. Anyways, this is a high energy and very fun place to eat.

Now the food. Since it has a 50s era theme, the food it is best known for are the burgers and shakes. They have some cool sounding burgers, but their well-known one is called the Rory burger, which has bacon and peanut butter on a patty; it’s unique and delicious.

This is great birthday location. For girls, they will put straws in your hair to make it all crazy; for guys, they make a silly hat with a balloon on it (hopefully i will get the pictures soon). There is also a balloon animal guy, which is always good times. Go to this place with energetic friends, and i guarantee you’ll have a great time. And don’t forget to try some of their Bazooka bubble gum they just throw around.

What I ate:
  • *****

    A normal burger… with bacon, peanut butter, and stuff inside it. It sounds crazy, but it actually works quite well. The peanut butter gives the burger a different texture and makes you chew it a bit more; but thats not a bad thing.

Extras:
I came here for
fun with friends
My meal cost
between $10 and $25
I tipped
more than 18%
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****
San Diego, CA

Crab Hut

Sep 15, 2008 Link

A fun time cracking open some crustaceans

I decided to hang out with some friends and we were having some trouble deciding on a restaurant. While driving around, we noted how whenever we went to Yogurtland, we would see the places nearby but never actually ate at any of them. Incidentally, one friend happened to try Crab Hut once, and told us about how you peel your crab and stuff and that it was pretty fun, so we headed there.

Despite being a Friday night group of 5, we got a table immediately (fortunately we had a table of 6, not a table for 4 like the previous reviewer got =( ). There are about 8-10 things on the menu that you actually crack and open yourself; stuff like crab legs, shrimp, crawfish, dungeness crab, etc…) I was feeling pretty darn hungry, so I got a whole dungeness crab and some gumbo (shrimp and crawfish in tomato base). You get the choice of 5 different sauces for your meal to be cooked in, though I went with the “full house,” which is a combination of 3 of their sauces.

Anyways, eating the meal is completely different than a normal restaurant. They give you a bag with your crustacean/seafood cooked in your sauce of choice, and you open it up and peel it. You throw the shell anywhere you want. They also give you a bib to wear, and roll of paper towels to maintain a respectable level of cleanliness. It was pretty fun to open that up, and the more people you have, the higher chance that some crab will end up flying into people’s faces, which is always a good time. The price for my whole dungeness crab was a little bit expensive (more than I thought was advertised, but whatever) and it was a lot of work (even if fun), so it gets 4 stars. I wouldn’t suggest this place if you were eating alone =P.

By the way, if its your bday (or close to it, as my friends justified), you get a funky crab hat to wear.

What I ate:
  • ****

    Good in the “full house” sauce, but you won’t get full value if you don’t really eat all of the weird organs in the crab. There is still a ton of meat, but perhaps crab legs would’ve been a better choice. Its sweet to crack open a whole crab though.

  • ****

    A large bowl of tomato-based soup with shrimp, crawfish, and the other gumbo-y foods. It wasn’t too salty, and had a lot of stuff in it, so thats a plus.

Extras:
I came here for
fun with friends
My meal cost
between $25 and $50
I tipped
between 15% to 18%
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*****
Aliso Viejo, CA

Original Pancake House

Sep 1, 2008 Link

Food that doesn't fall flat

There aren’t too many OPHs in a given locality, but that doesn’t stop people from going to them. There is almost guaranteed to be a wait if you go in the late morning or lunch-time, especially on a weekend. Nonetheless, it is so worth the wait, since the food is amazing and the service is solid.

Despite all the people, the service is consistent and you won’t wait too long for your food. You’ll have to hold your hunger for a bit as you watch your neighbors get their food and you wonder to yourself “wow that looks so good, i wonder if i should’ve ordered that..” Your wait is rewarded with amazing food, though. There are a million different pancakes available to order, as well as omelettes, eggs benedict, and corned beef hash. Normally I wouldn’t bring up corned beef hash, but it is one of their specialties here and a popular dish. The omelettes are HUGE, fluffy, and filled with goodness. The pancakes are complex, big, and more than just a sloppy addition of some syruppy fruit to pancakes. This place just puts other breakfast places, like Dennys or IHOP, to shame.

What I ate:
  • *****

    This is probably the best corned beef hash i’ve had. Its topped with some egg (I suggest over easy, so that you can get yolky goodness intermixed with the hash) and is a fan favorite. It also comes with some potato pancakes (accompanied with sour cream and apple sauce), so its a winner.

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*****
Los Angeles, CA

Chosun Galbee Restaurant

Aug 27, 2008 Link

Good Korean BBQ

The BBQ here was very good, especially the Kalbi (or galbee), which was juicy and tender. The pajeon is a MUST; it is way better than many others that I’ve tried. If this restaurant was near where I lived, I’d probably just order it as a meal for myself. The restaurant itself is very clean and nice, with a modern-looking outdoor seating as well as indoor. The pricing is about what I’d expect from Korean, a bit more expensive than other restaurants, but good-sized portions and plenty of side dishes.

What I ate:
  • *****
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Aug 28, 2007

dang you went without me! we're going again after i get back. i usually email pics from my phone, but since you have tmobile you might be able to use a wire to transfer pics.

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