Truluck's

Date of Dining: 8/20/2012
Price: $26-42 entrees, AYCE market price
Location: 8990 University Center Lane, San Diego, CA 92122
website

The Quick Bit:

+ great preparation of seafood dishes

+ nice happy hour options

+ wine flights are interesting and well-priced

Δ atmosphere could feel more modern

Δ pricing could be cheaper

Truluck's is a seafood chain restaurant with 11 locations nationwide. However, that has not stopped affected the quality of the food served at the restaurant. While I'm not usually a fan of chain establishments, there is a lot of good press about Truluck's by many local San Diegans.

I decided to check out Truluck's because of their all you can eat stone crab claws. For a market price on Monday evenings, you can order an all you can eat stone crab claws that also comes with unlimited soups and salads.

Another great part of Truluck's is their high quality wine list and their program of getting a flight of wines.

chardonnay showdown wine flight

I chose to try the Chardonnay showdown, and I was very impressed by the wines that were poured; they were both of high quality and a great value. 

Appetizers

lobster bisque

The lobster bisque was a well executed standard bisque. It was perfectly seasoned and contained some chunks of lobster as well. 

tomato and watermelon gazpacho

This soup was the highlight for me. I ordered this after having several crab claws and the acidity and balance enabled me to down a few extra plates. There was an excellent balance of sweet and sour along with the herbs to really bring a refreshing quality to the plate.

mesclun greens salad

The salad was a nice mix of several elements including olives, pecans and goat cheese. All of these elements combined to enhance the salad into an enjoyable one.

Entrees

miso-glazed chilean sea bass

This dish was really pushed by the wait staff and is probably their signature dish. For clarification, the sea bass was a sustainable version from a farm in Georgia. However, being farmed did not take away any of the flavor of the sea bass as this was excellently prepared. The fish was cooked perfectly and had a great balance of miso flavor to really bring in that umami punch. While I didn't think I would like the fried rice, I surprisingly enjoyed it. This was definitely a well-executed dish that even surpasses some of the entrees of celebrated local chefs.

stone crab claws

To start, a plate of nine claws is brought out. The stone crab claws are all pre-cracked so they are easy to eat. Lemons and dipping sauce are also brought, but I didn't waste any time with the sauce. While the crab claws are the the really big claws that you can order a la carte, they still contained a great flavor. 

additional plates

After the initial plate, all subsequent plates contain three additional claws. We queried the waiter and he said that he believed the record was 93 claws in one sitting.

Overall, I was very impressed by the quality of the claws, but for the price, you will definitely need to come prepared to feel that you got your value out of the purchase.

Dessert

chocolate cake

To drive home the old fashioned restaurant vibe, plastic desserts are brought out on a tray with each dessert a humongouse portion. We elected for the chocolate cake, which was rich and a nice end to the meal.

Conclusion

Although Truluck's is a chain restaurant, it is an easy recommendation for a great seafood restaurant. The dishes are prepared extremely well, and they execution is consistent. There is also a great wine list to accompany the meal. Perhaps the only problem with Truluck's is that being the chain restaurant restrains the heights to which can be achieved.

For the great execution of seafood dishes, Trulucks gets the megabyte award.