FOTB- The Neighborhood

This is where our journey begins...

The Neighborhood (http://neighborhoodsd.com/) is a little establishment located in East Village on 777 G Street. This is downtown SD for those not aware and too lazy to use Google Maps.

We spent a bit of time, 10 minutes+, looking for parking in the area, and eventually had to park a couple of blocks away. No big deal, we can walk off some of the burger and beer... Only to find ourselves missing Happy Hour by 5 minutes!

Coincidentally, we arrived there on the day their new menu was unveiled, so my review is actually relevant! Our waitress brought us all menus and we began to scour over their good selection of beers. All except for one of our friends. His boyish good looks earned him the "kiddy" menu, the menu missing the entire beer selection. I'm guessing that the menu was priced pretty reasonably for being in downtown San Diego and it offered a reasonable variety of food choices.

The Food: 3.5/5 Stars
The food was pretty good. We split the fennel frites for an appetizer and it was good, kind of a mix between onion rings and fries. I split the Spicy Cajun Rubbed Burger and Jalapeno Mac and Cheese. The burger was pretty good, but not a conventional burger; served on a ciabatta- like bun with a side of potatoe chips, you won't find this combination too many other places. It was a tasty burger with a little bit of spice. The Jalapeno Mac and Cheese was a solid dish. It was thick pasta covered in melted Velveeta and the jalapenoes provided a nice kick, so wussies beware.

The Drinks: 5/5 Stars
The drink selection was awesome. It had quite a large selection of beers on tap and bottled beers to choose from. Not your most common selection either. It had some familiar faces, but there was quite a new selection with accompanying descriptions of what you were about to taste. The descriptions of the beers were longer than the descriptions of the food, so I have to give it to them that they've got their priorities straight.

The Atmosphere: 3/5 Stars
Urban hip with a casual crowd. The place had a bar and a smattering of tables. The crowd was mainly dates along with a group conversing over a couple of pints. Clean and nice, nothing wowed me except for their table decorations: a box of grass and these really cool table lights. The table lights were a soft rubber feeling, a little larger than a baseball. They put off a nice red glow, but apparently pretty expensive at $60 bucks a pop.

Overall: 3.5/5 Stars
I recommend this place as a date location. With a good selection of beers, you will both find something to your liking. The food is good and won't run off anyone, but it won't blow away your tastebuds. The decor is modern and the crowd isn't boisterous, so you don't have to yell over the crowd to woo your date, Cassanova.