Last week we went on a road trip to Oceanside, CA for a wedding on the beach (Congrats again Karter and Becky). Road trips always mean too much fast food and too much time in the car, but other than that the trip was a lot of fun. The weather was great, the beach was beautiful, and it was great to spend some time with all the family. But that is not what this blog is about, so I am going to talk about the one fun place we ate out.
Our first night in Oceanside the whole family wanted to go out to eat somewhere. They decided on Ruby's Diner, right out on the end of Oceanside Pier. I figured a '40s themed diner in a tourist area at the end of the pier would mean two things: overpaying for mediocre food. I was not real excited to go.
Fortunately I was wrong. Prices were a little high, but not egregiously so, especially not considering it was southern California and everything is more expensive there. It was about $10 for a burger and fries, and a little more for other meals. The fries that come with most of the meals are "refillable". That's always fun.
My wife and I ordered the Seafood Combo, Rubyrings and shakes. She got a Turtle shake and I got Strawberry. The onion rings were just okay. Breaded, rather than battered. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. The Seafood Combo was great. It was fried shrimp and battered, fried cod. Too often when you order fish and chips the fish ends up really greasy and not very good. Not the case here. Not too fishy, not too greasy, just crunchy fried goodness. The shrimp were good too. The fries were good, but not so good I had to order a refill.
Then there were the shakes. They were the old fashioned kinds of shakes that are blended up shake in a metal cup and then poured into a glass for you, but they leave the metal cup and there is enough left to completely fill your glass again. And they were good. My strawberry shake had chunks of strawberry, not just strawberry flavoring. I finished my whole glass, refilled it with what was left in the metal cup, finished that, and almost wished I had a little more. My wife loved the Turtle shake (not made with actual turtles, just chocolate, caramel and nuts) as well.
The service was good, the atmosphere was fun and the location was great. When I said it was at the end of the pier, I mean the ocean end, not the shore end. It is about a quarter mile out into the ocean, 20 feet or so above the waves. Great view. Kind of fun too. A lot of people were out there fishing off the pier. One had caught some starfish that he let my daughter hold before throwing it back. That was the highlight of her trip. Overall, it was a pretty good experience. Much better than I had anticipated. Good food at tolerable prices, with a great view of the ocean.
