Comment by William Bailey on July 7, 2010 at 9:41pm

"The bar has a symbolic 'J' shape to it".

What does this mean exactly

Comment by eCoronado on July 7, 2010 at 10:22pm

The owner's name starts with a 'J'. Good thing his name didn't start with an 'X'. :)

Comment by William Bailey on July 13, 2010 at 5:21pm

LOL

Comment by Nancy Michaels on July 27, 2010 at 10:41pm

I drive by often and have been curious to know the opening day. Thanks for posting this! Can't wait to give it a try.

Comment by Kerry Prochaska on August 2, 2010 at 5:01pm

Nice replacement for the old Mexican Village Restaurant. I look forward to stopping by when I come back home to visit family.

Comment by Janet Smith on August 3, 2010 at 8:39am

Looking forward to another fine eatery in my neigborhood, but I am curious about who the owner is and whether of not he/she has a Coronado connection. A nice background article as follow-up would be appreciated.
Janet

Comment by Leila Worthy on August 4, 2010 at 9:11pm

Our family went tonight and I went with a positive attitude and with the understanding that they just opened their doors a few days ago. To make a long story short, our meal was on the house. Our section was understaffed and our waitress was busting her tail to keep up. The biggest disappointment was that we noticed that during the busiest part of the night, when hostesses were helping to run food back and forth and managers were "comping" meals, the owner was sitting in a booth for over 45 mins talking, seemingly unaware.

I will go again - food was fine and atmosphere was great. But the display of leadership during opening week was disappointing.

Comment by MIKE GAPP on August 26, 2010 at 3:22pm

To Miss Worthy - the owners are friends of my family's - without jeopardizing their privacy - one just had some surgery, so that might've been the reason they were (apparently) cooling it. They are up from dusk to dawn though IME, so they might just have been pacing themselves - I can't keep up with these people. LOL.

They work harder than anyone I know in town, and my kids have known theirs since they were toddlers. Glad it turned out okay for you though, I thought you were very kind about the new restaurant going through typical growing pains for such businesses.

Sorry to go on about them, but I think folks benefit to know that a good family works hard running this restaurant and Chance Bistro - don't even get me started on all the unselfish things they do regularly.... absolute saints, in my book.

Coronado needs residents like them, and we are lucky to see an apparent increase of such folks who care, that reside here.

Good food don't hurt neither.


Here are my experiences so far;

I went in to the Coronado Firehouse with some family and had a very nice late lunch a few weeks ago.

I had a dark beer, which was excellent and I split a Hawaiian Pizza with my lovely bride.

My 13-year-old had some Mac and Cheese from the children's menu, if I recall correctly (don't quote me) and it was a great homemade taste, with lots of steamed veggies on the side.

The Matriarch had herself a big burger with some peppers on it that was a huge hit - which the 13-year-old took a huge bite of while Gramma wasn't looking.

Chicken fingers for my 6-year-old, and the new baby had Mom for lunch LOL.

While that might sound like fairly-standard fare - I think what sets the Coronado Firehouse apart from similar venues isn't so much what's on its menu, as how it is made

- The owners are sticklers for fresh ingredients, and presentation and taste, and I think it shows at the Coronado Firehouse, just as it does at its sister restaurant; Chance Bistro, which is a greatly-overlooked culinary gem in town IMHO.

(Just stop by Chance for a late afternoon coffee and try not to eat something when the smells start coming from the kitchen LOL. Their breakfasts are one of my favorites during midweek when I want to make visiting friends feel loved and special. Dang, now I am jonesing for a plate of their special pancakes....)

At any rate -

Back to the Coronado Firehouse;

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of sitting back in the back of the Firehouse with the front open, as it usually is; the high sky-lit ceilings, mixed with friendly staff and good music gave rise to sort of a temperate party atmosphere, ...and the tunnel-like view of Orange Avenue from the back vantage was kind of unique, but very welcome.

This would be a great part of the restaurant to cater a party of 25 - 100 folks, in my opinion.

Add a pool table and keep that great pizza pie flowing, and you'd never get rid of me back there.

I'll go again soon.

HTH.

Mike Gapp

Comment by Jamie Edmonds on August 26, 2010 at 6:16pm

Thanks for the review, Mike. I agree it is VERY important to give a new business--especially a restaurant--a great deal of latitude as they get their feet under them. Just think about it: everyone there is new and trying to figure out how everything is going to work itself out.

My wife and I went there for the first time last Friday. FABULOUS food!

The clam chowder was as huge as it was tasty, with chunks of fish as well as clams. Chicken quesadilla was tasty with different ingredients and spices vs. just your typical boring chicken and cheese. My wife had the Carolina BBQ (mustard style) pulled pork which was also excellent. She said it didn't have as much vinegar as she expected for Carolina style (which is different than other "typical" BBQ and hard to find out west), but I'm sure that's just a regional variation and it was still great. The Chipotle spinach artichoke dip appetizer was also REALLY yummy. The only thing that was not truly outstanding was that my wife's BBQ beans were undercooked and too al dente, but there was so much food it didn't matter.

I will definitely be back!

Comment by MIKE GAPP on August 26, 2010 at 9:18pm

Now I am hungry, Brother Edmonds....


Mike Gapp

Comment (keep it clean & on topic)

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