Saturday mornings have become a time for Bert and I to explore new places.
Earlier today, we found ourselves with time on our hands after dropping off TC for a marathon dance practice. The troop is practicing for a major event in October. I remembered this new Korean wanna be Starbucks downtown...
It was early enough to not have to deal with crappy downtown parking, so we took a chance on this place...
called Tom n Toms. Yes, there is NO apostrophe in there! As much as it bugs me, I am leaving the punctuation (or lack thereof) as it is spelled on their website. Tom n Toms is a Korean coffee chain that I read about on Eater SD a few months ago. Then Kirbie posted on it and I should have reread her post before coming here. But that is beside the point. We had to find out for ourselves. It's on the corner of 9th and Market in the East Village. It's actually right across the street from Tavern Bowl (north side). On the east side of the coffee place is its competitor, Starbucks.
Aaaargh! Where is the apostrophe! Or maybe Tom is NOT a name then!
Bert and I ended up getting a hot coffee and a blended drink respectively. We also got a pretzel covered hot dog. Let's put it this way, Wetzel's Pretzel's kicks ass on their version.
I wasn't feeling it for the macs that morning; the flavors didn't entice me. I didn't want sweets either because we were planning to go somewhere else for that. The interior is very Starbucksesque, down to their badge logo and similar decor.
Our pretzel dog cut in half for us. The only good thing about this was that the hot dog was pretty juicy and thick (insert nasty joke here). The so-called pretzel breading was not even pretzel like at all. Again, this was noted by Kirbie during her visit. This was a big disappointment. Bert's caramel macchiato was weak. You could barely taste the caramel and my blended mocha was pretty watery. Their bathroom had TP on the floor and their toilet seat covers were all exposed and laid on top of the toilet tank. Nice. The guy who helped us, as nice as he was, didn't really project well. When explaining something on the menu to us, he turned around, mumbling the explanation and we could barely hear him. Perhaps that can be chalked up to youth and inexperience. Maybe we got him on a bad day or something. Anyhow, I think that this place may get customers for the "novelty" but if they are to stay in business, they need to step up their the quality of their offerings and service.
A pricy mistake but hey, now you know the bathroom code in case you're ever in the area and need to use the facilities!
Starbucks is across the street.
We noticed there were tons of downtown urban dwellers walking their dogs that day!
Who else went to Tom n Tom's (same location)
Kirbie went in May and tried a few more items than we did but we both had the same lackluster experience. :(
Tom n Toms Coffee
969 Market St., Suite 150
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) phone
en.tomntoms.com
I don't think we'll be back. The drinks were blah and the "pretzel" dog didn't really have pretzel bread and shouldn't be labeled as such. There are better places to go to for coffee and snacks. Went once. That'll learn me.
5 comments:
That pretzel dog looks pretty SAD. It also look nothing like a pretzel. It just looks like thin bread, like one of those pillsbury crusts. Too bad. Still fun to try things, though, right?!
Yeah, it really sucked. What business do they have calling these things pretzels anyways? Maybe the shape is a pretzel but the bread def. is not! FAIL.
This place sucked. What a waste.
ugh, the pretzel part looks so sad. Sucks this place hasn't gotten better. I had been wanting to come back and try the toast but now I don't think I want to
We had an eye out on this place before it opened and still haven't made it...now I think I will wait for a gloomy weekend morning when I have nothing better going on.
hi kirbie - seriously, save yourself a trip, time, and money.
cathy - ditto the above. not even worth a go.
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