Miss B's Coconut Club — Restaurant in San Diego

It’s been several weeks since myself and my two children ate at this establishment. I was not going leave a review, but after telling dozens and dozens of people about this restaurant in particular—100% of them have encouraged me to leave this review.

It was late in the evening and after returning from the day at an amusement park my kids and I were starving. With the help of Google we found this restaurant.

Initially, the staff was friendly enough and sat us at a big corner booth. I’m on vacation and a handful of minutes walk from our Airbnb so I order a cocktail, an appetizer, the main course, which was that carved out of a pineapple filled with meat and rice, and a couple children’s entrées. The appetizer was pretty good and the drink as well, neither nothing special but not bad either. It comes time to order another cocktail and the waitress, after talking to the bartender, walks back to the table and tells me that the drink I ordered is notorious for having the cup stolen and I’m going to have to give them my card and let them hold on to it. What? Meanwhile, the bartender hasn’t taken his eyes off me as he’s seeing how this conversation is going to play out. I’m tired. I’m on vacation. I don’t have any energy to voice my concerns, so I hand the waitress my card with a big smile and with zero attitude say, “it’s okay, I get it all the time—I’m Mexican”. Mind you, that’s not true at all and this has never happened to me before. My response stopped her in her tracks and she started swearing that was not the case.

I went from having a fantastic evening and smiling, and expecting to spend an ungodly amount of money at this place on desserts and food and drinks… to being direct and very transactional.

What really upset me was that behind me to my right a woman sat at a table with her children, and had the same exact drink on her table. You better believe that the whole night I was waiting for her to get her check to see if they were going to produce her card or if she was going to have to produce a method of payment. And what do you know, they didn’t have any card in the back that they were holding on to for her because she produced a brand new card and paid the bill.

If the drink is stolen so often, why have it on the menu? Why is it posted nowhere in the store that pre-payment would be required? Why wasn’t the same policy being enforced on all of the patrons?

A few additional details: Myself and my children were the only minorities in the restaurant. We didn’t look homeless. I have plenty of money and have a great job, but of course there’s no way that they could’ve known these things. Was I just ordering too many things and made these people think that I wasn’t going to pay for it? Did this have anything to do with me being a Latino? I don’t know but what I do know is that I didn’t like being told, in so many words, “you look like somebody who would...

Miss B's is a Caribbean-themed watering hole that specializes in serving up secretly-potent vibrant cocktails on Mission Beach.

I'll caveat my review by declaring that I'm not typically a sweet-toothed drinker. My weekday idea of the perfect drink at a bar is scotch, served neat, with a saliva chaser. But after a day in the sun at the beach, all bets are off: Bring me ice-cold syrupy drinks with fresh fruit, umbrellas, and candy-striped straws in them! Bring me slushy frozen margaritas in glasses with sugar-brushed rims! Bring me your booziest blueberry-pom-acai mojitos!

My first time at Miss B's, I obnoxiously asked my bartender for the least-sugary drink on their cocktail menu and was given the "Bro Tai," which basically contains half a liquor cabinet of spirts, including bourbon, sherry, cynar, pistachio orgeat, orange juice, lime juice, pineapple juice, and orange bitters. I have no palate for these types of drinks, so it tasted a bit like what I actually remember of my last Hand Grenade in New Orleans.

I decided to push my boundaries a bit and ordered the "La Familia," an inebriating tipple containing tequila, mezcal, cinnamon syrup, lime juice, and grapefruit juice. This drink was strong with cinnamon and had a clearer and more on-the-nose flavoring scheme than the Bro Tai. I've woken up with enough brutal hangovers from cinnamon spirits like Goldschläger and Fireball that I should have hated this, but perhaps it's because I am such a bad drinker that this cocktail ended up being my favorite at Miss B's.

I've also tried their riff on the Rum & Coke, "Cuba Libre," bottled in-house and containing cane cola, spiced rum, and lime juice. The flavor was excellent, though the effervescence was weak. But once they figure out how to keep enough CO2 in the bottle, Miss B's may have a business selling these to liquor stores.

The "Crazy Joe Davola" is probably the most traditional Caribbean-style cocktail I've had at Miss B's, combining spiced rum, cold-brewed coffee, banana liqueur, coconut crème, and pineapple. As one expects, it is filled with delicious, tropical flavors, but it's also distinctly aromatic and has a more complex taste due to the coffee infusion.

My overall rating reflects what I think of Miss B's as a bar by the beach, not necessarily what I think of their food. I've had the "Curried Coconut Shrimp," which is closer in style to a southeast Asian curry dish than a Jamaican curry, and the smoky "El Cubano" with crispy fries. Both plates were good, though I'll still be eating at nearby Che Calavera if I'm in this area of the Mission Boulevard strip.

The great location, island décor, creative cocktail program, stellar service, and chill Mission Beach vibe makes this...

Updated review: July 2023

This time, I had all-around fantastic, delicious experience at Miss B’s. This time, I skipped the drinks to save room for grub. I bellied up to the El Cubano. It had amazing lechon asado and beautifully smoked ham, gruyère, bread and butter pickles, spiced mustard, cilantro garlic aioli on a cuban roll ($18.00) and came with a side of potatoe wedges. Holy heck this sando hit the spot!!! The two meats blended so incredibly well and the aioli was A+. Much more garlicky than cilantro which I loved. Lots of fresh, yummy pickles added an extra, satisfying CRONCH with each bite. The potato wedges were the freakin’ bomb. Wonderfully seasoned and served hot hot HOT. My tastebuds are screaming just thinking about how good this sandwich is. Wish I didn’t leave so far away. 10/10

Feb 2021: Service was a little slow on this day 02/27/2021 but it was 65°, clear skies on a Saturday so it’s no ones fault. Husband began with a Door of Faith (tequila, cantaloupe, grapefruit rattler and fresh lime, $9.00) and I with a House Jerk Bloody Mary (scratch made jerk seasoned and scotch bonnet infused bloody mary mix, $9.00). I didn’t think there was enough kick to my drink. I like my drinks strong. Another shot of tequila would have done the trick. My husband enjoyed his drink though I found it way to sweet for my liking.

We shared a Jerk Chicken Wrap (spinach tortilla, greens, cucumber, tomato, red onion, mango chutney, roasted garlic cilantro aioli $17.50. Served with fries, add salad for $3.00). Why restaurants charge extra for a salad beats me but I didn’t want fries. The wrap was okay. The jerk chicken was sweeter than expected and tasted more like curry flavoring than anything else, not spicy or savory. Wasn’t bad, but not...