Flame Broiler — Restaurant in San Diego

Date of visit: 4/3/2017

The Flame Broiler is a lunch staple when you want simple food that is served quickly and warm. This food also always reminds me of getting lunch with my mom since she used to take us here (the La Jolla location) during her lunch breaks.

For those that aren't familiar with The Flame Broiler, this is basically a quick rice bowl place. First off, choose your bowl size, which corresponds with how much protein you get - mini (3 oz.), regular (5 oz.), or plate (7 oz.). Then you choose rice (white or brown) or steamed veggies, or a mix of both. Finally, you get your choice of protein - chicken, beef, or tofu (or a combination of two if you cant decide). If they ask if you want onions, they're asking if you want green onions sprinkled on top.

Today I got the chicken plate with white rice and steamed veggies. Since I was taking this to go, I also grabbed a container of Magic Sauce, Hot Sauce, and Triple Hot Sauce to pour on top of my meal. The Magic Sauce is basically like a Teriyaki Sauce. You can definitely eat the protein without this sauce, but I like the extra sweetness from the Magic Sauce. I also used the Hot Sauce to give it a bit of a kick, which was definitely noticeable, but I think I would like the Triple Hot Sauce better.

I opted for the plate because I can definitely save half of it for another lunch (or dinner). I paid $11 with tax and tip, so it comes out to about $5.50 per meal, which isn't too bad for eating out. I'm not a huge fan of the salad since it's basically just raw green and red cabbage topped with shredded carrots, but the dressing was pretty good. Since I got my plate to go, the dressing was on the side, which was nice since I don't like overdressed salads. My fruit was half an orange, which did pick up some of the savory flavors since it was packaged in the same container as my food, but since orange is such a strong flavor, I don't mind it so much.

Overall, I really like The Flame Broiler and it's definitely one of my go to comfort food spots in the area. The staff here was also super nice and got my food out within minutes, so it was nice to not have to wait a long time. I would recommend coming here for lunch if you're in the area and want something...

You wanna smell like magic sauce? Why not just step inside any Flame Broiler.

That’s the price you have to pay in order to get some solid rice bowl-esque food. It’s not teriyaki in that the rice is more bland. Those beloved vegetables of yours are boiled and not steamed. Your 50/50 which is marketed the same way “frings” are somehow as some sort of magical effect on people thinking it’s genius. Like before Flame Broiler no place had ever offered half chicken half beef.

I like the magic sauce, but don’t like smelling like it. I don’t like their hot sauce since it’s basically Louisiana vinegar heavy. The location is tiny, basically fast food to go since it’s in a food court.

Get in, get out, better yet, hand your buddy cash and let them buy it and smell like sauce. It’s a problem that plagues ALL FB’s is that ventilation is probably to code, but still inadequate. You can’t hide that you just went to KBBQ in the same way you can’t hide coming here. The beef can be a little chewy and the chicken overdone(breast), I prefer not getting that as the chances of dryness are lessened with dark meat. I wonder if they ever decided to use a pork chop or pork belly bowl. I’d buy that, because chicken, beef and even ribs can get boring, but let’s face it this place isn’t wowing anyone.

Service is fast though the line can be long. For feeling so corporate you’d think the training would be better for the staff as they can’t be a tad rude. The sauce cart design needs serious improvement for speed and optimization, like it hasn’t had a redesign in years. Prices are still decent. It’s not that I like downgrading places and yes I’ll still eat here, but the amount of room for improvement still far outweighs the improvements they’ve...

2023/08/22: This place is pricier than $. Should be $$. Quality is so so, definitely has gone downhill since i first when there. In order to get the food out faster, it's now pre-made.

2022:Hard to find behind another place that is out of business. Brought my daughter here and got the largest plate for each of us. Plenty of food. Maybe a little pricey, but that is how things are these days. The food was...