Week 115: Honeybees
- elenalilamartin
- Mar 16, 2025
- 5 min read
Week 115: March 9th-15th, 2025
After the torment of losing an hour during Daylight Savings while also wanting to fully appreciate that we are on our way out of the Dark Ages (AKA Winter...), my boyfriend and I decided to take a day off of work together. Of course, as any sensible person would, I wanted to go to brunch. As I explained to my mom, I feel that brunch is what keeps the world going. It is the societal glue keeping us together in these hard times.
After a quick scroll through Instagram, I came across some promising posts about a new, bee-themed restaurant in Pacific Beach called Honeybees. Given that I love bees, have a nickname of "Bee" that only a select few special people call me (shoutout to my sister!), and am a sucker for a cute, trendy brunch spot, Honeybees was the perfect place to go.
Despite the dreary weather and rain clouds looming, we headed out on the standard 15-minute drive that gets you anywhere in San Diego. Parking was pretty easy even though Honeybees is on Garnet Ave., one of the busier streets in PB. We walked in and there was a sign at the front that said "Please seat yourself." Surprisingly, all of the tables were filled, so we waited awkwardly in the entryway and read the menu. There wasn't a waitlist to sign up on or anything. I will say the decor was great, very on theme with the whole bees and honey thing.
I noticed a couple tables were close to leaving. I saw numbers on each table, like the ones you get when you order at a counter first and sit down, so I went up to the counter and asked if we ordered at the counter or at the table. The woman behind the counter, a bit flustered, asked if we wanted to eat, or if we were just ordering coffees to go. If we wanted to eat, we needed a table.
I felt a little embarrassed, but to be fair, it was a bit unclear and no one greeted us when we walked in or explained how things worked. The numbers on the tables turned out to just be table numbers with a QR code for the menu on the back. Thankfully, a table opened up and they quickly cleared the empty dishes and cleaned the table for us to sit down.
At the beginning, there seemed to be only one server waiting on all of the tables. She was a young woman who was a little frazzled, trying to manage all of the full tables while holding a cute kid on one hip and the handheld POS system in her other hand. I thought it was nice that no one seemed bothered by the server having to juggle the kid and taking orders. I figured it was a family business, and they probably had no choice but to bring their kid to work that day. The kid was super cute and decently behaved, so that helped. I can't imagine having to care for a toddler while opening a brand new restaurant, so my heart goes out to them.
We ordered quickly, but did have to wait at least thirty minutes for our food. During this time, we were able to do a lot of people watching. Two more servers entered the mix, which I was relieved to see. While we waited for our food, each of the new servers came by and asked if we were ready to order. We kindly explained we already ordered and were just waiting for our food. They didn't seem to have sections assigned or a set table management method figured out yet. I noticed their servers weren't communicating with each other and seemed a bit scattered. I felt bad and wanted to help somehow, but didn't want to add to the chaos or confusion.
We watched one single diner move tables after ordering, and then a larger party took her table. One of the servers then brought what the first woman ordered to the original table and was very confused who the drink was supposed to go to. I watched her take the drink back with a puzzled look and re-check the orders on the computer. I was about to go up to the counter to explain the table mix-up myself, but thankfully I didn't have to. I felt a sigh of relief when a guy from the larger party went up to the counter and explained that they took over the table from the single woman. Things worked out, thankfully, but I did feel a sense of second-hand panic when I saw the server's confusion.
A grandmother and kid duo next to us requested a larger table, as someone was going to be joining them. One server gave them permission to take a booth table that just opened up. However, another server came and asked them to move again, because the booth table was for the party waiting by the door. It was a little uncomfortable to watch, but in the end everyone got the right size table and things worked out.
Finally, our food came and it looked great. It smelled sweet like honey, which made sense because that's their thing. I ordered the Monte Cristo sandwich and a coconut matcha. My boyfriend got the French toast and a side of crispy potatoes.
Sadly, they only brought us one water cup to the table even though I asked for waters, plural. I didn't want to be a bother, so I was content with just my coconut matcha as a drink.
I noticed the table next to us never even got the waters they asked for, so I was glad we got at least one. I think a good solution to this would be to have a self-serve water station, or jugs of water for each table to reduce the need for refills.
They had a hilarious wallpaper in the bathroom with a sort of evil-looking Winnie The Pooh. I also appreciated the honeycomb-shaped tile.
While we were eating, I overheard one server say Honeybees took them three years to build, and finally they opened up just two months ago. A brand new place, open for just two months, having every table filled on a regular Friday morning was impressive. The server told me they have been getting a lot of customers from popular Instagram and TikTok posts from accounts like @sdfoodies. I told her that an Instagram post was how I found out about Honeybees and she laughed. It must be great for business to be booming so quickly, but probably a bit stressful. Apparently, they want to eventually expand into dinner service with an outdoor seating area in the back. I think they should focus on ironing out the wrinkles in their brunch service before doing dinner, but I'm honestly hopeful for them. They were super nice and I think over time they will get everything worked out and learn better restaurant management. Here is their Yelp page if you'd like to check it out.
Bonus: I am extremely excited about this OXO mandolin, grater and slicer kit I got. It comes with a couple slice options and has a hand guard for safety. It is supposedly even dishwasher safe!
I know I'm getting old when I get excited about kitchen gadgets but hey, its fun to find joy in things.
See you next week.
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