Tommy C.
Yelp
Swagyu in Poway : "B+ or 4 stars" meaning "Very good, and a little bit of driving is fine."
I wish my wife loved burgers as much as I do, and my metabolism is like it was 30 years ago. But for those reasons, I haven't visited as many burger spots as I'd like in the 2.5 years living in San Diego.
Swagyu has been on my hit list for a while now and finally had an excuse to go yesterday with a couple friends. It's a small restaurant, not too many seats, and a very simple menu. Definitely a quality over quantity situation, something more restaurants should do!
Double Cheeseburger, American Wagyu...i.e. The $12.50 one (B+ ) : Simple, tasty, burger that's nicely cooked, hot and juicy, with good seasoning & char. The cheese and the secret sauce went very nicely with the meat. Burger bun was nicely grilled, and the veggies tasted fresh. Easily the best burger I've had so far in SD, but really, that doesn't mean too much as I've only been to 3 or 4 non-fast food burger restaurants.
Onion rings (B+ ) : Crunchy, nicely seasoned onion rings. If the batter was a bit thinner so that the onion to batter ratio is higher, I'd give it higher marks.
Fries (B- ) : They're decent fries, and others might like them a lot. I like fries with more crunch, and these had a very high ratio of soft potato to outer crunch, so they didn't match my preference. But if they were sitting in front of me, of course I'd eat them!
I still have quite a few burger places I need to visit, including highly rated spots like the Friendly and Rocky's Crown Pub. But if I wanted a burger and didn't feel like driving far, Swagyu would be high up on my list.
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Food Grading Scale:
A+: Life changing. You remember these bites for the rest of your life. Occurs very infrequently and when it does, you'll know it. You don't even know how to further improve it with a magic wand.
A: Wow! Excellent. You felt happy biting into it. You're considering whether it's life changing, but know it misses the mark.
A-: Very very good. Whatever it is, it's one of the best, but you can think of further improvements.
B+: Very good. Very enjoyable, not to the point of "impressive," but worth revisiting.
B: Good. A solid example of whatever it is, offering enjoyment, but not enough for making an effort to get.
B-: Not bad. If in a pinch to eat something, this offers some enjoyment and is a reasonable option.
C+: Mediocre plus. Pretty average, but with one or two positive characteristics you can identify.
C: Mediocre. "Meh". Very average. Not bad enough to make you angry, but nothing good about it at all.
C-: Bad. You recognize it for what it is, but a very bad rendition. Your foodie self is a little pissed, and feeling like a dummy you ordered it.
D: Awful. Whoever cooked it should be ashamed of themself. Somehow, you still managed to swallow a bite.
F: WTF is this? Inedible. One chew, you had to spit it out. Fire the chef.