Hodad's in San Diego, CA

Rating: You Might Like It

We found Hodad's while searching for a place to eat near Sea World.  This place had good ratings and had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives so we thought we'd give it a shot.  It's a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant very close to the beach in an otherwise slightly shady part of San Diego.  They have a simple menu featuring different sizes of burgers, fries, and onion rings.

We had to drive around a bit before parking opened up, but we weren't very hungry yet so we didn't mind.  It was a good thing, too, because the line for sit-in was down the street and around the corner.  We weren't bored for the 45 minute wait, though; a man dressed as Elvis serenaded us from across the street.  It was fun just to see all the different kinds of people the congregated around there.

When we got to the front, we were seated right away at a bar looking out onto the street.  I preferred this because we could see the sun setting to the right of us.  The inside was covered in band posters and had loud music, but it was just good rock music, not too hard.  The waiter took our orders very quickly and brought us a small basket of potato wedge fries (order the small if there's just 2 of you, the large is for 4 or more people).  The fries were tasty but not always cooked all the way.  He also brought out ranch with the fries, which I was excited about because I always have to ask for that.  I ordered a single cheeseburger (which is 1/3lb of beef).  The mini is 1/6lb and the double is probably 2/3lbs.  The burger was very good (and I still wasn't that hungry when we started eating so it's not just the hunger talking).  It was only $4-$9 a burger, but remember to consider the long wait if you go.

Fun Fact:  According to the menu, a Hodad is a non-surfer who likes to hang out at beaches masquerading as a surfer.