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| - I took a group of out-of-towners (from London, specifically) here as I thought it would be the perfect blend of Southwest style without the cheese and all of the kitsch. And I have to admit, it was less pastel-pink-stucco-and-bleached-cow-skulls and more twisted-Old-West-mining-camp. You'd be more likely to spot a chupacabra lurking in the shadows here than a mint green gecko stenciled on the wall. So score on that one Carlsbad.
I was mildly disappointed in the patio area - but my expectations were probably too high to begin with. Like when everyone and their mom raves about how amazing Avatar was, then you finally see it and go, yeah, I mean it was cool or whatever.
The food was pretty good, and the blend of familiar (burgers) with New Mexican/Mexican variety. Makes it hard to find a diner who couldn't find something to eat here. After dinner, some of the party headed home and a small group of us moved to the bar area to have a couple more drinks and chat it up in a more lively atmosphere. Also a score for that change up in vibe.
The one major complaint I have to share is that the server ran one card for the entire bill (we had two cards and the rest cash, with it clearly marked which card should be run for which amount) accidentally, before charging the card correctly. That wouldn't have been so bad, but he didn't bother to mention it, so my poor friend had quite the surprise when she checked her bank account to see that it was about $290 less than it should have been. I think it took about 3 business days to get that money back, and that's a long time to wait for almost $300 of your own money to get back to you. I'm sure it's a fluke and I doubt it's a common occurrence here, but sure was a bummer and not exactly handled professionally.
If I come back, it would probably only be for day drinking and snacks or happy hour, or if I had more out of towners to entertain. I wasn't impressed enough to make my way out there for a regular dinner.
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