The view south from Sunset Cliffs Park

Let’s say you are visiting San Diego and entertaining the thought, “What would it be like to live here?“ This is what our family does every time we go away for vacation. And we wonder what would our family do on a typical Friday night?

Here’s one of our families favorite cheap date nights. And if you are in town visiting you’ll get a glimpse of life as a San Diego resident.

First, go through the drive-thru at In-N-Out Burger on Sports Arena Boulevard. Sure, there are better burgers in San Diego, but nothing says Southern California family fun night quite like these classic burgers. Get a cheeseburger meal for everyone in the car and make sure not to steal a fry on the way to the ocean. If the kids have been extra good substitute their soft drinks for a shake! (About $6 each without the shake, $8 with the shake)

Next, drive over to Sunset Cliffs Park in Point Loma. As you wind your way through busy Ocean Beach on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard the hot food will burn your lap. Soon enough traffic will thin out and you’ll start heading up the hill and transform from busy Ocean Beach to sleepy Point Loma. Enjoy the jaw dropping views of the ocean on the right and dream of living in a big house on the left. Avoid the temptation to stop here munch on your burgers… there is something better to come.

Follow Sunset Cliffs Boulevard until it ends. (You won’t mind the drive!) From there, head up the hill a couple hundred yards on Ladera Street until you find the Sunset Cliffs Park lot. Park there and walk down to the park and eat by the cliffs while sitting on the ground or use the hood of your car as a table to enjoy your dinner.

While it is incredibly beautiful there, and you’ll be tempted to just eat and watch the surfers from the cliff… resist a bit more temptation for the ultimate payoff.

Sunset from the old softball field at Point Loma Nazarene University

Follow the trails south from the parking lot and find a bigger dirt path a hundred yards to the east of the ocean. Keep going south and you’ll technically leave the park and enter onto the property of Point Loma Nazarene University. The dirt path will head up a little hill and bring you to a road. (Lomaland Drive) Continue south on that another hundred yards and to your right you’ll see an abandoned softball diamond. (Locals use this as a dog park) Find your way down to the softball field and you’ll be at one of the most quiet and beautiful places to watch a sunset in all of San Diego County. Our family has been there several times and there has never been more than a handful of people nearby. It’s a fantastic place to take sunset pictures, family pictures, or just let the kids run in the big open field while you and your loved one steal a moment to cuddle near the electric current of the sunset and crashing waves.

Fair warning: Since this is private property, we can’t guarantee you will have access every day of the year. While we’ve never had anyone from the school say anything to us it is conceivable that they may be using their property.

As a border community, San Diego is filled with excellent Mexican eateries. From the neighborhood taco shop to the high end offerings downtown, we have lots to choose from. As you can imagine this makes it hard to stick out. Mario’s in La Mesa is unique enough to stick out. Let’s look at three things that make Mario’s an East County favorite.

Location: This spot takes “neighborhood restaurant” seriously. It looks like a house from the outside. Feels like a house on the inside. In fact, I’m pretty sure that this building started out life as a house. It also serves as a gateway to a neighborhood. There’s both a good and a bad side to a neighborhood location. With a tiny parking lot, you will likely have to find street parking. Also, the dining areas are pretty small. So expect a wait at high traffic times and if you have a group of more than eight… well, I’d like to see how they handled that. Maybe the patio?

Home-style: Before we went to Mario’s we had heard two must have items on the menu. First, the carne asada platter. Second, tamales. The former lived up to its billing while the latter was good but not superb. (Not sure why tamales were covered in sauce, we didn’t like it.) Besides the menu items there are a couple of things that make Mario’s amazing. The chips and salsa are fantastic. While it’s just an expected condiment at a Mexican restaurant these stood out as especially good. Also, diners were given a taster of fruit salad. The fruit salad was fantastic and added to the family-factor of our time there.

Also atypical on the menu is home-style Mexican breakfast. If you’ve never tried that it is worth the trip to La Mesa alone.

Service: The waitstaff was great! While busy during our visit I was surprised at the attention we were given. Courtesy, prompt, friendly, and knowledgeable. These are all words we thought of to describe the service we received.