Top Asian Fusion Restaurant in San Marcos
Onnys Thai Restaurant
1903 W San Marcos Blvd #100, San Marcos, CA 92078, United States
If you are seeking the most authentic, the best and most adventurous Thai dining location in all of upper San Diego county, this is the spot u need to go!!! This location is fairly new, having been open roughly three months shy of a year from when this review was published. The restaurant is fairly small and is smack on the corner of very busy, intensive traffic intersection, yet whenever I go (which is when I see the rush of vehicles originating from palomar airport road heading into my city of san marcos, coinciding with their happy hour) the restaurant is almost vacant! The general manager and I have come to agreement that those big circular decals they invested in for the purpose of sticking on the windows and the fact that they chose the location right in the corner of said busy intersection do them absolutely no good. It seems like the rush hour traffic is just so bent and focused on getting home or doing plenty of other things besides having adventurous Thai dining. Despite the fact that the place is right out of the corner of their eye, those people are missing out by not checking this place out! Seems like social media and the web may be better marketing strategies for them. As far as the food is concerned, it is by far the best thai food i have ever tasted, a complete foodgasm for lack of a better term. I usually get the chicke pad see yu with no spicy because i am not a big fan of spicy, but if you love spicy then they can make your entreè as spicy as you want it. The spring rolls complemented by the sweet sauce are also a really good appetizer. I usually attend this establishment for their happy hour and craft beers on draft. Their handles are usually rotating so do not be surprised if a couple weeks later you see a craft beer that was not there before. Due to the fact that this is a Thai restaurant, you can always find their signature Thai lager Singha on draft, which is very delicious by the way. Back then they only had four beers on draft but now they added two more for a total of six! My favorite one is the latitude 33 ipa. They also have a bunch of other crafts in bottles as well as wine. I highly recommend going during happy hour which is from four to seven post meridian pacific standard time because there beers are only three bucks a pint, which is almost a steal for quality craft beer. I also love the owners because they are very friendly as well as the staff that works there, that is another huge reason I go. I hope their business thrives so eventually they can sell the restaurant and move to Thailand, I can only hope for the best. Team pink always supports team purple!!!im out for now, peace!
Sayulitas Mexican Food
630 Nordahl Rd Suite Q, San Marcos, CA 92069, United States
I want to start by saying that we are huge fans of this restaurant. My wife and I have traveled all over Mexico… And this menu has a unique twist in both preparation and presentation.However…!…we were very disappointed when we got home and opened the bag with our order in it only to find it wasn't there. We only ordered one burrito and I ordered it online, hours in advance, and when I picked it up at the designated time, there was great service from the gentleman behind the counter. I signed the receipt as he requested, however, when we got the order home and opened the bag, it was not what we ordered. (Even after a month of waiting and not going back, they still have yet to rectify this mistake or even bothered to make amends.)The real unfortunate part is that we were given what seems to be a surf and turf burrito instead of the Salchichon. Normally we would just take it and move on, but my wife is allergic to shellfish. We would've happily brought it back if we did not live 40 minutes away all the way over on the far east side of the county.We were both extremely disappointed. She had to order delivery from somebody else out and that caused a small argument and an unpleasant evening. I called and wrote to the staff, which responded to both of my inquiries with the same reply: we apologize, and we will take it up with local management. What does that even mean? Did they ever do it? We have no idea. Not the customer service or even the apology we were looking for. They seem to feel this kind of thing happens, but thats just tough, and bad luck for us. =(We wanted to write a review to make sure any future client MAKES SURE TO CHECK THE CONTENTS of the bag before leaving with your order. Because they couldnt care less after the fact. Our order was not complicated. However, paying $20 for a burrito and then not even getting what we ordered is more than irritating. =(
Poki Poki - San Marcos
635 S Rancho Santa Fe Rd A, San Marcos, CA 92078, United States
This place has been a regular in my rotation since they moved into this location. Throughout the pandemic they have been doing well, but recently it has gone downhill.New employees arent trained on health code (mask on chin, hair untied and long - dangling over food, and didnt change gloves after handling money). This new employee who I have encountered twice now also is on their own to serve all customers which is not in her ability. It took me 45 to get a bowl with just two people ahead of me.Also, my bowl today was sooo spicy I couldnt eat it. I asked for mild/medium.Im gonna take a break from here for awhile until I see some new faces and protocol in place.
Top other services in San Marcos:
China Bros
137 S Las Posas Rd Suite 150, San Marcos, CA 92078, United States
Youre average joe Chinese spot in a pretty easy-to-get-to location. I had the lunch special which comes with egg drop soup, which was perfect for the sore throat I had going on.I had the hot garlic cause with chicken option which was definitely hot enough to cause me to sweat but definitely not overpowering. Im a spicy eater, so it will definitely be on the spicer side for some! Lunch Special was enough to fill me up when I was hungry ?The experience would be about middle of the road between what you would have at Panda Wok off Rancho Santa Fe and Panda Express. Not as expensive as panda ex, but food is still good compared to the lower quality you would get at Panda Wok.With some of the cooks having a laugh/singing here and there, and exceptionally fast service with a clean dining area. Its much preferred over the cheaper establishment @ Panda Wok. Ill definitely be back!
Pizza Nova
141 N Twin Oaks Valley Rd, San Marcos, CA 92069, United States
I want to first point out that my typical review of this establishment is a solid five stars...until yesterday. BF and I always sit in the bar area because in any restaurant, that usually equates to better/faster service, AND we are usually fortunate enough to get Emily as our server. Emily is THE BEST there is. We were not lucky enough to have Emily yesterday. We sat down and were soon greeted by Madelyn who took our drink order - two glasses of wine, two waters. The easiest/fastest thing to get on the table, right? We waited a solid 10+ minutes to get what is the easiest drink order because the bartender, Regina, was nowhere to be found...oh, wait...there she is at the hostess station yacking it up. We later overheard Regina tell another guest that it was her last day on the job so that explains a lot. She was definitely already checked out. There were times during our visit that we would look around for a server and no staff were to be found. Like everyone vanished all at once for several minutes at a time. We ordered a pizza to share, fettucini alfredo with shrimp, and lasagna. Madelyn said to me, You realize lasagna takes at least 25 minutes to come out, right? I almost always order the lasagna and no one has ever said that before and it has never taken 25 minutes before, but it did yesterday. When the lasagna arrived it was a giant puddle of noodles and sauce instead of its usual solid rectangle of deliciousness, almost like they tried to pass off a Stouffers frozen lasagna as their own. Madelyn dropped the food off and never came back to check in on us. She was very robotic; not UNfriendly but definitely does not have the personality to be serving the public. Maybe it was her first day on the job? All this to say our dining experience yesterday was 180 degrees from past experiences. We will return to PN, hopefully to find it has returned to the great place we have been accustomed to. Fingers crossed....
Shores Bar Kitchen
1001 W San Marcos Blvd #195, San Marcos, CA 92078, United States
Penny Lane is dead, stamped out like those elongated pennys you buy at amusement parks, but turned into something better.Inland Tavern has redone the entire place, gotten rid of the grungy British theme and gone for a Carlsbad laid back almost surfer vibe. Contemporary lighting, furniture and a beer menu to be proud of. Where they are lacking is in the food department. When they say small bites, they mean small. The layout is bigger and more spacious.Service is always good when the 90s music comes on for the 30 somethings and it makes the 20 somethings uncomfortably young. Bartenders are great (Evan), friendly, so is the barbacks, regularly mixing it up. Price is ok, it sits between Church and Bellows. The menu I gave a fair shake at and it came up lacking. Its all bark and no bite.You see Poutine on a menu and you get it, but when you realize its got less fries than you find at the bottom of the bag when you go to a fast food place, your pretty unimpressed. They skimp on the gravy and the curds which are really supposed to be the star of the dish. Fries are good, crisp and fluffy. Gravy is only ok, the term demi just means half, but sounds fancier than it is. Flat bread is really quite good, but the entire dish is about the size of a Samsung Note 4/Iphone 6 Plus. Mind blowingly small. The bread is good, toppings varied, but missing the freshness of a herbd sauce like pesto or fresh herbs in the tomato sauce used. Fried chicken skins, hell yeah. Super good and super bad for you. Im a ranch fanatic and this does not go with fried chicken skins. Salt and vinegar would be the only real flavoring for this, maybe some cayenne. The ranch is runny and lacks the freshness of top notch ranches. Go with the hummus, its cauliflower and light, the best value of the apps. Escabeche is great because they use fresh herbs and they use COP fish, shout out to Tommy Gomes.Bahn Mi is far more torta, than bahn mi, not that filling or worth $12, thats a steep price increase considering down the street they serve the real stuff for 1/3 the cost. Wings are good, not over fried, of good size too. The sriracha buffalo is too sweet and Im kind of sad they are missing a lemon pepper. Ginger teriyaki is mellow as is the habanero pink peppercorn. The dry rubs fall short on each flavor, not that the wet are amazing, just pretty good.They have decent tacos, thats what I think they will be known for. They are large and meaty, but not all that well put together. The salsas arent specifically matched to each. Shrimp has great crunch, but is missing seasoning on the shrimp. Carnitas is interesting taking pulled pork, calling it carnitas, peanuts and kung pao seasoning. Carne asad is rich, various colors, textures and probably the best overall flavor. I like the pickled onions on the fish taco, the tempura battering is also nice, but wasnt that impressed with the fish itself, but Im also not a fan of white fish. Personally I prefer shark for authenticity.Beer menu is pretty legit with some ones you wont find around here or at many other gastros. The cocktails are good, but not craft, strong and well made. They are supporting local Ballast Point spirits which I really like.The crowd is a mix of the old drunk locals and the younger CSUSM crowd along with the Craft crawlers looking to change from their usual brewery runs. They arent very busy midweek, or weekends and see the occasional party bus. Plenty of parking and a cleaner front façade is very inviting. TVs dont detract or make it feel like a sports bar. Enough side space for dinner, patio space for bunch and a side stage for karaoke.They lack the signature dishes of other places down SMB, but they do fill a spot that finds Church too grimy, and Bellows to anti social. They are still finding their identity and its a place filling in the evolutionary gap east of the coastal cities. While I hesitate to call them a gastropub its a nice local fusion.