Subterranean Coffee Boutique

With TC and myself on break, it was time to get out of the house...

and have some coupon lunch adventures...

So off we go!

Got this coupon from the locally based communitymagazines.biz. If you click on the link and register, you can get all kinds of coupons online. There used to be three magazines, but now there's two: Uptown and Downtown; looks like they don't do Coastal anymore. Anyhow, you can click through the pages and print most of the coupons. I noticed that many of these are the newer places. Gives me a chance to see what's out there, even if it's just once.

This particular day I wanted to check out this place and use the top coupon (one free item with equal or lesser values + the dreaded two beverages). I parked off of Iowa and we walked it to 30th. It's a tiny bit past the Linkery.

When I talked to the owner, he told me that he and his wife bought the place last year and have only been open for four months; the previous shop was an African smoothies/juice place.

TC and I knew what we wanted already...

They also had pastries, cookies, muffins, and bagels here.

Every table was occupied by ONE PERSON with a $#& laptop. Damn table hogs.

We ended up taking the lone empty table...

which had a mesh top. I think that's why no one wanted to sit there. I was really deathly scared that I'd knock over my HUMONGOUS chocolate coffee. I did not expect it to come in this huge glass. Since this place presented itself as a 'coffee boutique', I thought I'd get coffee. Well, it was so damn hot that by the time it cooled down, it turned into swill. This was probably the worst coffee I've ever had. Very watery and very thin.

TC, on the other hand, chose wisely with her POG spritzer (pineapple, orange, and guava juice with Sprite).  Our drinks were $3 each.

The service here was really nice. The owner was really friendly and came by periodically to ask how things were. Other than the coffee, which remained untouched during the whole meal. I ended up taking the coffee in a 'to go' cup but was irritated later by having to hold it and my camera, so I dumped it into a trash can. What a waste of $3. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing, but maybe I was used to the nice, smaller coffees from Calabria and Eclipse. The amount of coffee was overkill.

TC's Italian Stallion  ($6)- filled with pepperoni, salami, lettuce, tomato and "secret sauce" on toasted sourdough.

My Baja Club ($6/FREE) - filled with turkey, bacon, guacamole, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and again, that "secret sauce" on toasted sourdough.

We liked both of our sandwiches, trading halves with each other. I thought mine was a little healthier. TC's sandwich was more on the salty side because of the cured meats. I thought the bread was a little too toasted and ended up not eating the crusts. Ouch. Overall, they served us well as "brunch" for the day. On their window, I admred the turntable design.

The view from across the street.

I wasn't thrilled about my coffee experience but maybe I got the wrong thing. I'll chalk it up to a bad choice. I'm not a coffee expert/connoisseur so another shot is in order. The atmosphere was very chill but I still felt self-conscious snapping shots even while others were wrapped up in their own little laptop world.

Subterranean Coffee Boutique
3764 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 780-0916

www.subterraneancoffeboutique.com

Articles:
"North Park Coffee Shop Keeps Things Grounded" (Thrillist>
"Subterranean Coffee Boutique" (SD Reader, Nov. 1, 2012)

Across the street we went to check out a store that caught our eye...