I love how San Diego is filled with little neighborhood eateries. Here’s one very apropos to its name tucked away in a strip mall in the San Carlos area. Trails doesn’t look like much from the outside, but upon entering, you’ll find a cute, modern interior definitely not expected.
After a bit of research, I found out that this restaurant was part of a Robert Irvine’s Restaurant Impossible makeover. No wonder!
The menu consists of breakfast and lunch items and you can enjoy these between 7am and 3pm daily. I’ve only visited for breakfast and lunch, although they serve dinner only from Wednesday through Saturday from 5pm to 9pm, I’ve not yet visited — it’s on my ‘to-do’ list.
From the breakfast and lunch menu, we tried the Pulled Pork ($7.59) sandwich, a grilled bun topped with smoky slow roasted pulled pork and Pop’s famous BBQ sauce. The pork is tender and decent.
You can choose a cup of soup or alternatively, salad or French fries with your sandwiches. Soup is $2.79 a cup or $3.99 a bowl. French Onion Soup is watery and weak, I don’t suggest choosing this. They have other soups available which are far better.
The Potato Soup with bacon is delicious! It’s a cream soup and packed with flavor.
Alternatively, the Black Bean soup is also very tasty. It is smooth and possesses a smoky taste. It is drizzled with sour cream for an added punch. This was absolutely lovely.
Eggs Benedict ($8.49) is no-nonsense, a simple English muffin topped with grilled ham and poached eggs. The Hollandaise sauce is average, but passable and your breakfast is served with home fries. The eggs are perfectly poached to my ideal runny consistency. That always makes me happy!
Chorizo and Eggs ($8.29) were not anything special, not anything you would get at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, but suffices — barely — when you’re not willing to drive to National City for it.
The Cuban ($8.99) sandwich is pretty good. The bread is nicely toasted, the pickles, mustard on the ham come together rather well. This is a really decent sammie!
If you are a fan of fries like I am you need to get a side of the fries here or choose as your side. It’s really good! They arrive at the table piping hot and firm and stay crispy for a long time.
This little place has become a little “to-go-to” place whenever I visit friends down in San Diego. You can see the warm interaction between the staff and the regulars and it’s endearing moments like these that make me want to return over and over again.
The Trails Neighborhood Eatery
7389 Jackson Drive
San Diego, CA 92119
Tel: 619-667-2233
I love Cuban sandwiches! This one looks pretty good.
The Cuban sandwich was actually pretty good 🙂 just don’t get the French onion soup haha