I was working in San Diego for a couple of days, and on my second day there, I wanted to get lunch…read morenearby. As I was scrolling through Google Maps to find a suitable lunch spot, I spotted this Urbane Cafe on the southwest corner of Mira Mesa and Camino Santa Fe.
I started going to Urbane Cafe when they opened a location early last year close to where I live, and I've tried making a habit of visiting different cafes to see how they compare to one another, offering my support in good ways and, sadly enough, bad.
I had more than enough points on my rewards account largely in part due to a catering order from last year, and after a few more orders, I had enough points for a free sandwich, salad, or bowl.
My usual go-to at any Urbane Cafe, especially on my first visit to a new location (to me, at least), is a Salmon Bowl, which happens to be their most expensive entree on their menu. However, they had a special for the Garlic Sesame Steak Bowl for the same price as the Salmon Bowl. Having tried the Salmon Bowl several times this past year, most recently at Long Beach Bixby, I welcomed the change and was intent on ordering the Garlic Sesame Steak Bowl.
Well, I tried to do it on the app, but for some reason, it wasn't letting me use my points for the special bowl even though the word "bowl" was present in "free sandwich, salad, or bowl". I then swapped out the special bowl for the Salmon Bowl, but again, the ordering platform run by Thanx wasn't letting me use my points for even my go-to!
I almost thought about going somewhere else for lunch, but decided maybe I should try going there to see if the reward could be redeemed in person.
As soon as I entered, I was facing the order counter, but nobody was behind it. I did hear Sienna say she'd be right with me as she was handling the orders by the pickup shelves. She came over and asked if I was picking up an order, which I would have been if the app were functioning properly. With the Garlic Sesame Steak Bowl being advertised vividly in front of the register, I asked Sienna if I could redeem my points for that bowl. Sure enough, it did, but why it wouldn't work in the app completely befuddled me as it was the first time I've ever experienced such a discrepancy at ordering the same item online vs in person.
I ordered for here, and Sienna gave me a numbered stand. I also got a water cup to supplement my meal.
The drink dispenser is located at the rear of the cafe. However, they only had lids, but no cups for the sriracha and cholula sauces! Wait, didn't this happen before? Oh yes, at the Oceanside location when I visited late last year! So it seems a lack of cups for their hot sauces isn't uncommon at Urbane then. As a result, I chose to sit at the community table closest to the rear counter so I wouldn't have to walk far to retrieve a sauce bottle.
No joke, my order was ready within 5 minutes as Sienna simply turned around and handed me my Garlic Sesame Steak Bowl alongside a fork and a few napkins.
Usually when I get my order this quickly, I get a little skeptical about the flavor in the bowl. Luckily, there was still a good amount of sesame flavor in the bowl, but I still had to go up not once, but twice to retrieve a bottle of sriracha sauce to add to the bowl. And the sauce was pretty liquid-y that I probably should have chosen the cholula instead. I feel I could have enjoyed the bowl more had I waited a minute or two longer, but I was satisfied with the bowl nonetheless as the steak tasted fresh off the grill; the veggies and rice tasted fresh too. They could have added more Japanese chili dressing though.
As for the focaccia bread that supplemented my bowl? Well, there's room for improvement. Out of the 6 Urbane Cafes I've now been to so far, I'm sad to say this was the second worst bread I've had. The flavor was at a bare minimum, and I even chomped on something pretty hard in the bread, though since I was scooping up some of the leftover sauce from my bowl, I'm willing to say the culprit came from the Garlic Sesame Steak.
Since I ordered for here, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to take the empty bowl to the waste bin, so I asked Precious, and she simply took it for me. Didn't actually answer my question, so next time I dine in, I'll have to ask again lol. Precious did seem precious from my little interaction with her.
Service was good overall, but kind of slow since they seemed short on staff. Neither Sienna nor Precious checked up on any other customers who had ordered, but I do know they were handling customers' orders both at the front counter and by the pickup shelves. There were a lot of pickup orders, so it'd be understandable, though there was some down time that they'd just chat with each other as well as another employee on the other side of the counter.
Overall, I was satisfied enough with my lunch that I'm willing to give 4 stars, but the little things like the lack of sauce cups and even the app glitching can be bothersome...