California Grubbin'

food: 2.5/5 experience: 3.5/5 overall: 3/5 I decided to have a birthday party for myself randomly because I was craving pizza and didn't wanna finish one off by myself. It was just gonna be a pizza party at first but then I remembered my birthday was the next week so I figured it'd be a good enough excuse. And I figured why not combine it with the beach since it's my favorite thing so I came here, to Stoney's, a place I constantly pass by on the PCH coming to, from, and through Sunset Beach. Take-out only, of course. They still offer by the slice during the scamdemic but I ordered a whole pie. The large 18" because I presumed I'd be feeding about six people. Only two of us ate about half of it and the ants got the rest, but not before all the sand got in it first. Sigh. Never make plans without counting on everything going wrong. Anyway, here it is: Half white, half Mr. Hand. The white pizza has mozzarella, ricotta, romano, oregano, pepper, and garlic oil with ...

 I'm reviving the pumpkin spice special because we need some holiday cheer with all the craziness going on.  Everyone knows that come autumn, allll the pumpkin spice goodies roll in. They sweep the grocery store shelves, they line the offers in your spam folder, and if you're a foodie like me, a lot of them make their way into your mouth. Here's a list of everything pumpkin I could get my hands on. First and foremost... Battle of the Pumpkin Spice Lattes! Starbucks: 5/5; 2.5/5 (not pictured); 5/5 The basic bitch of fall specialty products, the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. This started it all. And I have to say... it's actually really good. They're in the lead for good reason. There isn't an overpowering sweetness and it's got just a hint of spice, but you can still taste the signature Starbucks flavor. Now available in a bottle. My local 'bucks had a special pumpkin chai latte on the menu with coconut. I guess this was a bad choice. It tastes mostly li...

food: 3.5/5 experience: 3.5/5 overall: 3.5/5 Wow. Well I can't say my first experience here was that great but I'll get to that in a second. I always give places second chances though (yes, so thoughtful) but we did get off to a bad start. We decided to come here after I was getting tired of the current restaurants in rotation (and also felt awkward repeatedly going to the same places weekend after weekend). It's Mexican so it's bound to be at least decent (hard to get cheese and meat wrong), plus it has a gorgeous view of either Main Street or the beach. Thankfully our waitress seated us in front of the beach this time. So we were off to a good start. We shared a bunch of appetizers first. First we opted for the ceviche to start with, plus the queso dip. Ceviche is cold shrimp and white fish with salsa fresca - usually tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, and red onion - plus avocado on top. Served chilled, this tastes super fresh and super healthy. The queso dip on the other ...

food: 3/5 experience: 2/5 overall: 2.5/5 Agh. This dumb website changed its formatting again. Oh well. 2nd Floor. It's like a tattoo parlor in the form of a restaurant, and it is located - you got it - upstairs, on the corner of downtown Huntington Beach. They specialize in bar food, so... American, basically. But their menu is pretty damn huge. Starting with the best of the appetizers... Quesadilla: 3/5 Pretty big for seven bucks. It's like seven slices, which is weird because I don't know how you cut in seven. But I digest. You can get chicken or steak in it for a few bucks more and I suggest doing that because otherwise its pretty plain. It's crispy but very one-note. Seems like they only use one kind of cheese (probably jack). The guacamole, as expected, is from a package and tastes like it. Mac & cheese: 5/5 The mac and cheese however. Hoo boy. It's a five cheese mac and cheese so you know it'll either be really good or really underwhelming. A lot of ti...