**** Yes! Pingo has closed
For some reason the name of this place just didn't motivate me to visit. After reading posts by Kirbie and Jinxi, I did feel a bit more motivated. I really hadn't had decent Taiwanese food in San Diego, so I recruited my buddy Candice, to see if Yes! Pingo would fill the bill.
For some reason, the name of the place makes me think of the Hello Kitty gate at Taipei Airport. the interior has that fast-casual, boba/tea shop look.
I liked the menu which was full of standard Taiwanese "snack" items, many of which were familiar to me having spent five years living in the SGV.
So where to start? Well, I thought the classic oyster pancake (omelete) would be a decent choice.
My preference is for a bit more egg and a bit less flour/starch, which made this gummy. The usual ketchup based sauce could have used some flavor as this was kind of bland and runny. The oysters were decent, though rather sparse.
I like a good Ba-wan, pretty much a glutinous meatball, called Taiwanese Meatball on the menu.
This had a couple of large chunks of pork, tasteless and tough. This also lacked flavor and was rather disappointing. I never thought I'd be wishing for something from the now defunct 168 Restaurant.
Looking to improve our luck; I went with another Taiwanese standard that almost never fails. The fried pork chop.
Loved the texture, crisp and light. But whomever seasoned this must have dead tastebuds because this was extremely salty….unpleasantly salty.
One of my favorite Taiwanese dishes is Three Cup Chicken……
Loved the color, but this was also way too salty…almost bitter in flavor. I was wondering who was in the kitchen?
We met our final dish with trepidation…..Niu Rou Mian, beef noodle soup.
The best thing about the broth was that it was hot……other than that…well where to start. The noodles were overcooked, the beef tough, dry, and cold in the center. The worst was the soup, which was insipid, tasting like a beef bone was merely waved over it. This needed more of everything….
At the end of the meal I asked Candice what she thought the best dish was. Her response? The pickled vegetables that came with the pork chop! I also asked an acquaintance of mine who is from Taiwan about the place. He laughed and told me the owner is a well intentioned recent University Grad with no restaurant experience and that the kitchen doesn't have much either. It just seemed that the dishes here were really skewed on our visit; either very bland or way too salty. It wouldn't be too bad if one or two of the dishes were this way, but all five were. I know other folks really like the place, so perhaps it was a bad day. I really don't know what to say…..
Yes! Pingo
4813 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111