I genuinely don't understand how Scotty B's has 4.4 stars on Yelp. The service was great. Our…read morewaitress was friendly, attentive, and clearly excited about the food. She made us feel like we were in for a treat. Everything is fresh, nothing is microwaved, and by her account this was going to be a whole experience.
Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to the sales pitch. Not even close.
We started with the IB Twinkies, which are basically bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers stuffed with cream cheese. They were mid to mediocre at best. Think about the ingredients: Fresh jalapeño, bacon, cream cheese. That's already a winning combination. But there was some kind of ham or other meat stuffed inside that just got in the way. A good jalapeño popper doesn't need much. Give me the fresh crunchy heat of the jalapeño, salty crispy bacon, and cream cheese to mellow everything out. If you're going to make a jalapeño popper, just make a really good jalapeño popper.
Next was the Scotty Doesn't Know smash burger. For around $15ish, this thing was SMALL. My friend and I split it and we're talking maybe three or four bites each. The spicy ranch was basically ranch and Tapatío, and the whole burger was just kind of... fine.
Smash burgers work because of their simplicity. Crispy beef, cheese, bread, sauce, balance. Once you start complicating that, whatever you're adding better make the burger more interesting. This didn't. I wouldn't pay that price for it again.
Sadly, the BBQ Chopped Cheese was the real offender.
I don't know what this was, but it wasn't what I think of when someone says "chopped cheese." Instead of chopped hamburger and cheese, the meat had this weird thready pulled-pork or pulled-beef texture. There were large chunks of green bell pepper, an off-putting barbecue flavor, and then the entire thing was slathered in this cheese roux where I swear I could taste the flour.
It was basically a pile of pulled meat, peppers and onions covered in floury cheese sauce. I couldn't get past one bite. Our waitress didn't ask us what our thoughts were. Mercifully.
And that's ultimately my problem with the food here. If you're going to make classic dishes, make them outstanding. If you're going to play with expectations and reinvent something like a chopped cheese, make sure you've mastered what makes the original good before you start introducing new flavors and textures.
The location is cool. It has that beachy, surf-bar vibe, you can see the ocean, and the service was stellar. I take nothing away from the atmosphere and our server. That's honestly what pulled this review up to three stars.
But the food? Mediocre to gross and all things in between. And considering the four-and-a-half-star rating and the expectations we walked in with, genuinely disappointing.
I don't blame the wait staff, and I don't blame the cooks in the back. I blame management or the owner. If THEY think those dishes are delicious, that's fine. I can't change someone's messed-up taste buds. But I CAN say, as someone who has eaten some of the BEST food San Diego has to offer, it's very easy to recognize what isn't.
Fix the food and I'm SO down to give y'all another chance.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheFoodSleuths_SD
