NOTORIOUS SPORTS BAR & GRILL — Restaurant in Carlsbad

We gave Notorious Burgers another try after a bad experience during the pandemic when we were served RAW burgers not once, but twice. I figured the lack of available qualified staff in the kitchen and on the floor during 2021 was the issue. Well, it's been over a year, people are back, but the only good food on our table was the fries. It seems this place changed ownership or management a few years back and it's been on a downhill cost-cutting slide ever since. The burgers were hand-made in the beginning. Always cooked to order, always thick 'n juicy, and full of flavor.

What we had today tasted like cheap, flat, greasy, dry, no-name, boxed and frozen patties from a discount warehouse. The only distinctive flavor came from the charred grease on the outside, with little to no difference between one cooked to medium-rare and another ordered as medium-well. All the patties were dry inside. It's especially disappointing when I can cook a much better burger at home using quality ground beef and hit the right temperature. Every. Single. Time. There's just no excuse. None.

To boot, they are always understaffed by kids with little to no training in: Making sure drinks are served BEFORE the meal comes, getting orders right, following up on orders after they reach the table, and asking if everything was okay with the orders a few minutes later. The place was over 80% full and yet only 2 servers ran every facet of the floor including service, the registers, the bar, and cleanup. We got our dry, overcooked, tasteless burgers and didn't see our waiter until it was time for the bill. We finally had a chance to ask for our bill only to be left waiting another 15 minutes before I went up to the bar to remind the kid. "Oh, sorry, I forgot." Yeah, we know.

Not being able to review the bill details at a glance, unless you ask, just adds insult to injury. Then the tipping selections are scaled for after tax, starting at 18%. You didn't earn 11%. And you don't tip on tax, end of story. This all reminds me of a song. It goes:

🎵 "Tip getting small, tip getting SMALLER..." 🎶.

Find much better burgers and service somewhere else. Or make them at home, invite some friends over, have them bring some beer and wine, and save yourself some...

What an absolute true artist the head chef is & his mouth watering menu! I've eaten here since it opened and every single meal is always the same, completely perfect 🥰! The Notorious secret sauce is something that you can dip just about anything they serve into. It's so good that I use it on everything and for me the meal would be missing something without it. Remember that we are dealing with young adults who work here and will make mistakes. I recommend to ALWAYS check your to go order for that sauce. They are all human and are bound to make a mistake here and there. That is my one and only complaint, if you can call it one. The foods so damned good that no matter what it's going to be epic. Just not so much when all the sauce you ordered isn't there when you get home, LOL. I have settled on one item that is my all-time favorite. The Philly Mob sandwich. Philly Cheese steak sandwich that's made with Rib Eye steak. That's right ✅ Rib Eye, WHAT? I couldn't believe it and the sandwich was overflowing with steak and cheese while dipping it in the Secret sauce 😋. I take my steak and cheese sandwich serious and this place has gone above and beyond and is the best one I've ever had. I find myself eating there once a week now. I know I'll break away and try something else soon but it's So Hard when I know what that Philly Mob is like 👍! You definitely can't go wrong with this place. The owners are dear friends and neighbors of ours. Long after I had started eating there they moved in our little neighborhood. I'm so grateful that my whole family has had the opportunity to get to know them and become great friends 🙏! And no I am not getting free food for review. I've just been eating so much Notorious lately I figure I'm over due for a review! Cheers 🍻 and have a Merry Christmas...

Good food, bad service.

Food: Great bacon wrapped wings, although they were overpriced ($13.50 for 10 wings). We all enjoyed our burgers — they were creative and tasty. Once again, though, they were overpriced. $15 for burgers and fries. A glass of unsweetened tea was $3.50. Paid $70 for three burgers, an appetizer, and one glass of tea. I’d rate the food/price combo as 3/5.

Service/environment: We walked in and it wasn’t immediately clear whether to sit ourselves or wait to be seated. When my fiancé asked “should we seat ourselves,” the greeter flatly said “no.” He grabbed menus, led us outside, slapped the menus down and pushed his way past us before even seating us. Our burgers came out only 3 minutes after our appetizer, and when we brought that up to the server (same guy who sat us), he just looked at us and walked away. He’s an awful guy to be around, and he clearly has no incentive to care for his customers. He shouldn’t be paid to be in the service industry. Finally, dogs are allowed on their porch, but they’re not very well policed. The folks sitting next to us had their dog throw up all over the floor and then proceed to bark for the reminder of the meal. The wait stuff noticed but didn’t bother to help clean it up (I can’t say that I blame them, but it would have been a nice gesture and good business). I’d rate the service a 1/5, and the only saving grace was our waitress, who was neither here nor there.

Overall, it was a 2/5. Not a pleasant lunch experience. I’d be surprised if this place stayed open with that level of service though. I hope they turn it around, but they certainly won’t get my...