Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Money Pit builds a burger cheap

In-N-Out it’s not

A flat bacon avocado cheeseburger and boring zucchini fries
A flat bacon avocado cheeseburger and boring zucchini fries
Place

Money Pit

1360 E. Mission Road, San Marcos

Drive-thru burger joints hold a distinct place in Southern California lore, but this being the 21st Century, the only burger I’m willing to eat in my car anymore starts and ends with the word “double.”

Then I heard about this place in San Marcos, the Money Pit, where the chief complaint among customers is how long the drive-thru takes. Since I was in the area, I figured I would find out for myself how well their on-the-go burger holds up. Since I wasn’t in a hurry, I parked and checked out the restaurant’s interior.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Drive-thru customers might never realize the Money Pit has an interesting interior.
Phone booth, stoplight, and kitschy posters

The dining room is clean and comfortable, with plenty of colorful décor — movie posters, kitschy mid-century marketing materials, and quite a few used license plates.

A basic hamburger goes for $1.98. I ordered one with bacon, avocado, and cheese for a mere $3.75. That’s remarkable in 2015. Even my side of zucchini fries cost $3.20. But let’s examine that for a moment: a pile of sliced, breaded, and fried zucchini costs nearly as much as a ground beef patty, avocado, and bacon on a bun with cheese. That’s actually a bit disconcerting.

When the burger arrived, the mystery was solved. For one, that’s American cheese, which does occasionally work but doesn’t add value to this burger. For another, the avocado wasn’t creamy in texture and had a little bit of a burnt flavor to it. The patty itself was thin and dry.

The zucchini fries came with a huge side of ranch dressing, which I soon realized was the only thing giving the partially crispy fried veggies any flavor. Obviously, zucchini’s not anybody’s favorite anything, but some seasoned breading and a good dipping sauce should make it worth three bucks.

I wanted to love this place — it’s clearly trying — but the quality of food tells me the Money Pit would have been better off with bare walls and better ingredients.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
A flat bacon avocado cheeseburger and boring zucchini fries
A flat bacon avocado cheeseburger and boring zucchini fries
Place

Money Pit

1360 E. Mission Road, San Marcos

Drive-thru burger joints hold a distinct place in Southern California lore, but this being the 21st Century, the only burger I’m willing to eat in my car anymore starts and ends with the word “double.”

Then I heard about this place in San Marcos, the Money Pit, where the chief complaint among customers is how long the drive-thru takes. Since I was in the area, I figured I would find out for myself how well their on-the-go burger holds up. Since I wasn’t in a hurry, I parked and checked out the restaurant’s interior.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Drive-thru customers might never realize the Money Pit has an interesting interior.
Phone booth, stoplight, and kitschy posters

The dining room is clean and comfortable, with plenty of colorful décor — movie posters, kitschy mid-century marketing materials, and quite a few used license plates.

A basic hamburger goes for $1.98. I ordered one with bacon, avocado, and cheese for a mere $3.75. That’s remarkable in 2015. Even my side of zucchini fries cost $3.20. But let’s examine that for a moment: a pile of sliced, breaded, and fried zucchini costs nearly as much as a ground beef patty, avocado, and bacon on a bun with cheese. That’s actually a bit disconcerting.

When the burger arrived, the mystery was solved. For one, that’s American cheese, which does occasionally work but doesn’t add value to this burger. For another, the avocado wasn’t creamy in texture and had a little bit of a burnt flavor to it. The patty itself was thin and dry.

The zucchini fries came with a huge side of ranch dressing, which I soon realized was the only thing giving the partially crispy fried veggies any flavor. Obviously, zucchini’s not anybody’s favorite anything, but some seasoned breading and a good dipping sauce should make it worth three bucks.

I wanted to love this place — it’s clearly trying — but the quality of food tells me the Money Pit would have been better off with bare walls and better ingredients.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Next Article

Taco Taco Poway still has 99-cent fish tacos

Tacotopia prizewinner is well known among Powegians
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.