I have mentioned on this blog sporadically that if I go to place to review it and what-whatever happens and I don't get to writing the review until much later, I will often just stash it away. The reviews tends to suffer with too much distance from the experience. I've been staring at this half-written review for a long time and I just recently found my notes again, so I'm going to give it a try.
A long, long time ago, I was in San Diego with #1DC Antoinette and her brother Alex. I had heard such great things about Hash House A Go Go, that I had to make a point of going there.
After a bit of a wait outside, we finally made it in. I was surprised at how upscale it seemed. I envisioned something more mod or flashy with a name that ended with "A Go Go." Art prints of tractors were not what I expected.
The menu offered a lot of intriguing options. Everything seemed to be trying too hard to get my attention. They were all yelling ,"pick me! pick me!" I did like that there was a lot of variety within the categories, like eleven different flavors of flapjacks or five different kinds of Benedicts. Nearly everything is served with mashed potatoes and a biscuit. I was trying to settle on one of the hashes or a pancake dish. I decided to go with whatever the waitress suggested.
She suggested the Sage Fried Chicken Benedict. I was surprised as that was not really at all close to either of the things I was considering. It did sound good, so I went with it.
#1DC Antoinette and Diner Lad Alex went for less frou-frou menu items. Or in #1DC Antoinette's case, what she THOUGHT was a less frou-frou item.
As soon as our food arrived, we learned that it was all about presentation at Hash House A Go Go.
It looks like someone has been watching too much "Dexter" on Showtime. This dish is a crazy mess. That's the simple sounding Granola with Milk and Fruit. Yes, that appears to be an whole unpeeled banana and a whole peeled banana. It looked pretty, but those splatters could prove disastrous for someones clothing.
(sorry for the blurry picture)
Diner Lad Alex ordered the Tractor Driver Combo. That's a big, big-ass pancake.
The first time they brought this out, I took a few bites and realized that the chicken was dangerously undercooked. Not quite squawking, but certainly kill-me-if-I-had-eaten-any-more-of-it level preparedness. The waitress took it away and soon returned with one that ended up not killing me.
Let me correct myself, at Hash House a Go Go, it's not all about presentation, it's also significantly about portion.
We couldn't finish any of our breakfasts.
I do wish that as much thought was put into the flavor of the food as was put into presentation. Part of why we didn't finish was that the food wasn't all that good. We could easily stop ourselves as there was no desire to get more of that flavor onto our tongues.
They very sweetly took my meal off the bill, which I did appreciate. If they hadn't the bill for the three of us would have been nearly fifty dollars. That's a bit pricey for the quality but not for the quantity. If you really want to go there, definitely order something to share.
Food: Not that good.
Service: Friendly.
Price: Expensive. 12.95-16.95
Pie: None.
Hash House A Go Go
3628 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 298-4646
While Las Vegas, I went with some friends to the Hash House A Go Go there. The food was only marginally better here.
I just really wanted to include the picture below since I find it hilarious and kind of gross.
This looks like a sombrero vomited up some scrambled eggs. Yum!
