The Groupon was 10 for $20 worth of food so I thought I'd give it a shot when I first bought the deal months ago...
Parking was street and metered. Got a space right in front. Below, a whimsical and colorful mosaic nearby...
and the accompanying mailbox...
The decor was eye poppingly catchy with Dia de los Muertos skulls, paper flowers, religious candles and such. I thought that the white banquette looked amazing. However, we chose to sit by the window (better light for taking food shots, heh)...
I didn't get a chance to check out the pink room but the women's bathroom has red and pink walls and white tile with a few strategically plced red bubble patterned tiles.
See more of their menu here...
We shared a Mexican Coke, which the waiter also served with a separate bottle of syrup! As if we needed more sugar! I normally don't let TC drink soda with caffeine but today was an exception.
TC got the Cinnamon French Toast, which was obviously a breakfast item (or perhaps dessert if you want to think of it that way). This was three slices of grilled cinnamon bread served with fresh fruit, butter and blueberry puree.
What, is that another kid? No...it's still TC. She felt overheated so she removed her white tank top which was layered over the turquoise. As for her food verdict? She liked how the bread was soft and sweet. She really loved the blueberry puree squiggles. It made it fun for her to swirl her bread pieces onto the design.
I got something more savory, the Salmon Tacos. I wanted to try something different. Below, you can see the small side of beans (I was given a choice of black or pinto; I chose the latter) which had a tiny sprinkling of white cheese and a green puree encircling the cheese (not sure if it was cilantro or something else). The beans were so good that TC ended up eating half of it.
The tacos had blackened wild salmon with a pineapple and jicama salsa with thai slaw (red cabbage, onions, diced red pepers), and chipotle aioli. I didn't really taste the chipotle flavors in here but I really liked the fresh flavors of the salsa along with the texture from the slaw and jicama. The salmon was nicely seasoned and was delicious when paired with the salsa and slaw. The sauce (in the metal container) had a bit of heat but I used it sparingly because I wanted to taste the individual flavors.
The tortillas were made in house and were thick and flavorful. Well, not thick like a hockey puck but thicker than what I'm used to but much much better because these were fresh. The size of the tacos were rather small and it was difficult to fold it and eat it without it falling apart. I ended up using my utensils to pick at my tacos. Although the portion size is small, in retrospect, it turned out to be just right since I wasn't there for a full on pig-out meal.
The view of the church from our table...
Who else at at Barrio Star?
Paul from SD Urban tried it out when they opened last year when they didn't have their liquor license yet...
Reviews and articles about Barrio Star:
Urbanist Guide
SignOn San Diego (in which the reviewer gets skewered for his faulty reporting)
The SD Reader (a vitriolic review)
The GLT
and Yelp
We wanted to see if this British place was open in University Heights, so off we went...
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