The Metaphor Cafe

I helped open this place up when Jim Nemish took over the dry cleaning shop when they went tits up. Jim had lots of good ideas, but not lots of money, but give him credit he had a happening place. He helped a ton of drug addicted kids find a way back in to society, some there was nothing anyone could do but Jim tried. He was a friend to everybody and that is probably what did him in. Jim fixed the best pirogis and cabbage rolls and his breakfast with kielbasa and eggs was over the top. Sadly the Metaphor is closing. RIP!!!

Awesome music venue, been here many times and have played here twice. All ages, no pay to play and a great spot for local music acts. Both times I played we actually received money. I’ve yet to hear valid testimonials in which the owners or the promoters have short nickeled anybody.

I’ve only been here once and there was an open mic theme goin for a group call hood roc. The venue was pretty small as was the bar but from the looks of it, it could be good on a night where the people are dancing and there are DJ’s mixin some tracks. As far as drinks, they had 2 different kinds of beer (corona and somethin else) and I think there was some other kind of beverage as well. There are also some seats out in front of the establishment for those who want to smoke. All in all this place isn’t a place I would come to often for entertainment but the staff seemed cool, the coronas weren’t exspensive and the crowd seemed pretty chill.

Definitely one of a kind place. I’ve gone with my friend here several times to see him on open mic night and a few other times when certain bands were playing.
It’s very small and can get super packed easily. They have a bar and food which isn’t exactly pricey but I wouldn’t waste my money.
There’s always sketchy people there and the locals are most of them. I gave one of them and my friend a ride to pick up a guitar and the local guy promised me anything I wanted on the house. He avoided me the whole night and when my friend asked him about that offer for me, the guy said later and then dipped out.
It’s cool to see some of the legit punk bands here for cheap but it gets so crowded it’s almost too dangerous to be there.

If your looking for a place to taste fine wines, listen to smooth jazz, and stick your nose in the air then you shouldn’t be in ESCO in the first place. If you want to drink a PBR and listen to some underground music in a judgement free enviroment then welcome home fool! Because the Metaphor has more heart and soul in it’s men’s room toilet, then all the other venues around combined.
Heres a challenge for all you «negative reviewers» next time your there find a staff member and ask them about the metaphor, ask them what we stand for and what we represent. Ask them why they do what they do, or why they work so hard to keep this place alive. And I guarantee you their answer will drastically change your opinion, and maybe make you a little more generous with the «stars».

The Metaphor café is more than an average café. The metaphor is an iconic piece of Escondido’s history! It has always been a hip and cool place to go, epeacially for music lovers! I personaly love going there, grabbing a beer and enjoying a show or the fun company! :0) The oweners are super cool and the shows are great! And you can drink on the patio! :0)

PBR for $ 4 bucks a (tall) can. Hahahaha, you can go to vons and get a 12 pack for 12 bucks with tax. That’s a dollar a beer. You can even get soda’s that cheap anymore.
This is for you people that don’t know what PBR is.
Pap’s Blue Ribbion, the beer that your great great granpa was drink when he was a kid, lol.

5-​stars.
There is no way this venue can last in it’s current state. Rampant underage drinking, drug-​deals, grindcore and crust-​punks, lawlessness. It was the most punk-​rock, third-​world venue I have ever been to.
I just saw Anal Cunt there for $ 10. It was awesome. Vegan and vegetarian options available for food.

I drove all the way from LA to this place cause my buddy really wanted to see a band that plays near us once in a while. The place is tiny as fuck. I like my venues like that. From the outside you can see the full bar, arcade machines, pool table, etc. The other room which has the stage is covered. Find it really funny cause u can hear the bands perfectly from outside so then it would be a free show. The old door lady was lame. And i wonder if the local drinkers had to spit $ 8 out cause teenage metal bands were playing. The stage is tiny but fun. I really liked it. There are some serious crack heads outside claiming to be satan himself. But theyre cool. If I really have to drive 3 hours again for a show to happen here maybe I will. Id go more if I lived around there.

The Metaphor Café will always have a place in my former San Diegan heart. I don’t know how it is now. But I remember good music, chill folks, and cheap brew. What more could a simple girl ask for?

This place sucks and pretty much everyone knows it. It smells like crap, the bathroom smells even more like crap and it feels like they are trying to nickel and dime you every chance you get. On top of it all they make you pay a cover charge pretty much every night.
Also, the Billy V guy who has the shit eating fetish (?) actually runs the place. Maybe that’s why the place smells like shit all the time…
One last thing, don’t even bother asking for change, they never have it or pretend they don’t so you have to buy more shitty drinks/​food.

the metaphor is the shit! and to all you MOTHER FUCKERS that talk shit! we will find YOU and make you eat our shit, and then when you shit, we’ll make you eat your own shit made of our shit that we made you eat!
YOUR ALL GONNA PAY!

The Metaphor is not a fancy restaurant, like I guess everyone else who wrote a review expected it to be. It’s a little privately owned venue/​café/​great place to get a beer and watch free live bands. There is usually only two people working the bar/​kitchen which there is NOTHING WRONG WITH. Some of the best food I’ve had in my life has been from little mom and pop restaurants that have one person working and only use what ingredients they have. If you have a problem with real people and real food, then go back to McDonalds for your assembly line made ecoli burgers. I wish there was a place like the Metaphor in San Diego because all ages venues with cheap beer & tacos, free shows, in’s & out’s, a patio to drink on, plenty of parking, etc, are very rare, if not obsolete. Actually I cant even think of one venue I’ve been to that has all of that and costs under $ 10 to see a popular touring band. Plus the Metaphor supports local musicians and doesn’t make them sell tickets to play.

I’ve only been here a handful of times for punk shows, and its always been legit. i saw millions of dead cops for like $ 7, and the drinks are mad cheap (almost as cheap as buying them at the store).
Anyone who doesn’t like this place is probably
A. a pretty boy /​clueless girl
B. a yuppie
C. an elistist dickhole.
D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
im actually adding more to my review after reading everyone elses:
how the fuck do you expect an independently run, cheap venue that lets almost any artist play stay in business? were you looking for gourmet cuisine? were you looking for a fine bottle of aged wine?
everyone who 1 starred this place should probably have never come in the first place. go back to LA, go sniff some coke with your pornstar and rockstar buddies and drink some fuckin $ 8 bottles of Heineken douchebag.

This place sucks. The food sucks, but we’re told by the owner, «We have a wonderful menu.» Maybe the menu is nice, but the food sucks. The sound sucks. They put on local shows, which is cool. Unfortunately they usually charge as much as 8 bucks for a local show. And does the band see any of that? No. Don’t give this place any of your business.
I’m actually adding more to my review just like Dylan M. 1. The venue isn’t cheap. At least the times when I’ve played there and gone to support my friends playing there. If you’re charging more than 5 bucks to get in and forcing a 2 drink minimum, that’s taking advantage of your customers and people tend to not like that. Make it five bucks OR two drink minimum, good deal. Those are my reasons for a 1 star. It’s not because they have freakin’ Gordon Ramsay making me a cheeseburger.

This small dark little joint set on the corner of Juniper and 2^nd Ave in the downtown area of escondido, is just ok.
A tiny little venue where they offer a nice stage for musicians to come and preform. I recently came here for an open mic night which my friend was playing at. she set up her stuff that she needed and played her set. Since there was only three people who showed up to the open mic night, she was able to play whatever she wanted.
they have a bar here, but there’s no full bar. They have one beer on tap, which is stella, but when I went, it wasn’t working. The beers are the usual, coors, bud, corona, etc. all from bottles. They also have the typical soft drinks. Notice in the name, they have Café… WHERE ARE THE COFFEE DRINKS!!! they have all gone a missing from this place.
The Metaphor also provides food, but if you would want some better food, I would recommend coming to my house cause I could make better food than this place. My friend son ordered Sweet Potato Fries, and the fact that they heated them up in a toaster oven kind sucked, but the fact that the seasoned them with salt and pepper, causing the sweet potato fries to lose flavor and have a weird mix of taste in my mouth sucked more, and they didn’t have ketchup which just blew even more!!!
the cracked out of her mind lady behind the bar was such a trip. she barely even noticed that I was at the bar ready to order my drinks and took forever looking at my ID to figure if I were 21+ or not. I’m pretty sure that after this, I will most likely not coming back here again.

Looking for a place to eat where the atmosphere is as if a bunch of 8^th graders decided to run a restuaraunt out of their moms garage, while they are all trying to hang out like its a party at the same time? Come to the metaphor! «Hostess» sat us down to eat, then proceeded to tell us 10 minutes later that it was the chefs birthday and there was no food. I guess thats why I put off coming here since it opened, and I’ve lived in Escondido 28 years. The vibe you get makes you wonder how much roach turd or rat fur must be in the food. Only the very brave would even think about eating here. And its not clear what else there is to do here. Is there a bar? Its so dark and the employees are so incredibly unprofessional that you cant tell who works here because they are just sittin around at tables hanging out like they are customers.
Its a metaphor for A BAD EXPERIENCE.

What could one say about the Metaphor that hasn’t already been said about your childhood teddy bear? Sure, it’s dilapidated, cliché ;) and smells like a haunted mental institution, but if you grew up with it and know it like it’s a living thing with its own character, flaws charms and all, you can’t help but love it.
It’s hard to say what the menu is at any given time. Like a living thing, it’s always changing and menu items come and go. The food is fried though, and were I you, I wouldn’t trust anything there that hasn’t been purged in 400° canola.
The drink selection is minimal, but anyone who’s a usual just orders his or her own made-​up drink anyway.
The Metaphor is not really a café, it’s not a restaurant, and while they have pool tables, I wouldn’t call them anything more than conversation pieces, like the shabby old piano I assume is still there by the pool tables.
Don’t go to the Metaphor expecting anything. Just sit and experience the oddities and quirks of the place: let it grow on you.

I used to make fun of this café because it was known to attract all the Escondido goths, but the café has changed hands of late and the new owner is hellbent on turning it into a karaōke bar. The Metaphor doesn’t have very good coffee, in fact, I would barely call it a café because the coffee drink selection is so sparse. Also, the food items on the menu are pretty minimal, but they do sell pirogi, which is kind of unique for a café.
There really is very little about the place that makes it worth going to, except for the fact that it is a different atmosphere than most cafes. It is not really an art-​house coffee shop, in fact I don’t even know if it is a coffee shop. It is more of a local hangout that is morphing into a karaōke bar and by god there really isn’t enough bad coffee shops /​cheesy karaōke bars.
So I say go to the metaphor, not for the food or entrainment, but go because there is no other place like it.