Sidebar Cafe

This place is terrible! The food is crappy and expensive. Everything is really plain. They have very few options and half of the time they are out of stuff. The food is expensive for what you get, for $ 2 more I can walk a couple block to another deli and get a sandwich twice the size with all the things that they charge extra for here. Service is ok. One of the workers is in there talking on the phone every single time I go in there. I know all her personal stuff because she talks so loud. The school really needs to bring someone new in. It sucks when you are having a busy day and you are force to eat here because you don’t have the time to walk somewhere else.

Perhaps it’s different in the daytime, but I can only attest to the night scene.
Your typical douchey gaslamp bar where dudes think they can grab your wrist as you walk by, and the crowd is peppered with your occasional over-​the-​hill creepers.
The bartenders do what they can, bless their hearts.
But overall,
/​pass

They give you options for the sandwiches which is great, most places just have made sandwiches wrapped in plastic that have probably been there for days. They make them when you orders them how awesome is that. They also have soup. The breakfast is super inexpensive. They take credit cards now! Super! I would recommend it if you’re in the area.

Pros: Very inexpensive for the downtown area, made fresh to order as Leslie B. described, and fairly quick, as long as you don’t get stuck in the middle of the lunch rush. They also have veggie options like a quesadilla or a veggie burger.
Cons: Cash only. (BOOO!) Also, they do screw up my order more frequently than the average lunch joint. Last time I was there I received my tuna melt on wheat, when I had ordered sourdough. So be sure to check your order before you walk out with it!

There is a woman there who might make you think of the Soup Nazi, but she actually reminds me of a woman who worked in the lunch line in my junior high cafeteria… hairnet and all.
My coworker gave me money to get her a sandwich one day so she wouldn’t have to face the Soup Nazi. Basically, she had paid with a $ 20, but Soup Nazi insisted she paid with a $ 10 and gave her incorrect change. This was corrected after a long ordeal and my coworker was given some evil glares.
Well, I never had any bad experiences there, so I agreed, and went to buy both of our lunches. I often order just a half sandwich, as they are very large, but I was especially hungry that day, so I ordered (and paid for a whole sandwich). I sat and waited for my order. When they called my number, I was given a half sandwich. I told her that I ordered a whole sandwich, and she insisted that I needed to pay more. I insisted I had paid. They made me another half, but I could tell that Soup Nazi didn’t believe me.
Soup Nazi or not, this place is a great little find… tucked away in the Cal Western School of Law, and, luckily for me, about 3 blocks from my office in downtown San Diego. Sandwiches are cheaper, and generally fresher than most of the other nearby delis. They are made to order (you pick the cheese, add extra tomatoes, pickles, etc…). And what would a cafeteria be without the soup of the day and special of the day!
Do be wary of the lunch rush right around noon… gets pretty packed, and you may stand in a lunch line just like you did in junior high.