Tickled Trout Seafood Grille

I’ll be honest, I didn’t go here for the food, I went there for karaōke. To be sure, this place is a super-​dive, but it had a packed house on a Friday night. Maybe it was just the good friends I was hanging out with, but I had a blast. Bartender was cool, drinks were cheap, everyone was friendly. If it was in a better location, it’d be five stars. I believe they also do karaōke on Saturdays and Tuesdays, maybe? Either way, it’s a fun place if you don’t want the stuffiness of downtown.

Desperately seeking good singing spots in San Diego. Okay, maybe I’m not that desperate.
First, the positives.
–The clientele appeared to be having lots of fun and most seemed to be regulars (they wouldn’t keep going back if the place didn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities, right?)
–The KJ was VERY nice. He was supportive of all those who performed on the «bathroom stage.»
–The woman who played the tambourine was good.
–Though the service was slow (the place was pretty packed), the staff was friendly.
Now, the negatives.
–The «bathroom stage.»
–The place is a dive, which is its right. It’s just that most hotel bars decorate more often than once every three or four decades.
–The sound was NOT good.
–The microphones were the worst I have ever used. I don’t expect studio quality sound because this is dive-​spot karaōke, but time to buy new mics. Even the really drunk participants will sound better.
–Tipsy woman dancing on the «stage» during nearly every song scared me.
–Rotation. What’s a rotation? Precisely.

(07÷12÷08) Was hell night for us. We came with three friends that left after an hour as they felt so embarrassed by others actions. We are self– proclaimed professional karaōke bar hoppers so we thought why not add another notch on the Karaōke belt. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of Karaōke. This place was as bad and as ugly as it gets. The D. J. was drunk, so was his group of drunk friends that hogged the mic the whole night. There was not a good voice in the house. One girl got totally drunk and tried to go home with some old man in front of her mother who by the end of the night was hysterical (way to go bartender). The older white woman bartender on that night was rude, unfriendly, and irresponsible over serving several individuals. Then at some point that night two real drunk chicks from San Francisco (they kept going on and on about it on the mic) started a 30 to 45 min tirade on the mic cursing, using the n– word this, the n-​word that, I ‘m the realest n– word in this B!@$,# as they went on and on over an old Salt n Pepper track and I though this song was about men o.k. then. It is a weird set up with limited seating and a dark corner that looks as creepy as the people seated there. One word to describe this place Yikes!!!

There’s something about hotel bars that are rad. They bring such a wierd mix of people together that sometimes, if the stars are aligned, makes magic.
Such was my first experience to the Tickled Trout bar (and I guess they serve food too) located in the Ramada Inn in the Hotel Circle area.
It’s a sleazy, old, dingy dive bar with karaōke.
Lots of my friends have been going here for karaōke for awhile, and since I don’t like to leave East County much, I have put off going. Well, MY BAD. I will be back for sure.
Quick summarry of the awesomeness:
3 $ Gin and Tonics. I asked for a double tall and it was still 3 $. ALL NIGHT. The place totally filled up around 10, with random business people, tourists, frat boy types, and hot older women with loose morals. There was about 15 people in my crew, for a birthday party, so we were in good company. Also, its a slightly older crowd, we were the youngest people there for sure.
The karaōke was great. You gotta sing on the floor, right in front of the bathrooms, so it makes for comedy. The guy running it was great, and he had a good selection of songs. And a fog machine. that made the place smell like old dick when he turned it on, the bar only holds 49 people legally (as posted). He also had a tamborine that got passed around, plus he sang backups/​harmonies from behind the soundboard on almost all the tracks. Sweet.
There were regular «characters» there, which I LOVE. The black guy who wore sunglasses inside the whole night and sang sweet old school jams like he was Al Green. The 4 foot old Asian man sipping his Bailys and coffee who sang old Shangri La’s and 4 Seasons tunes as if his life depended on it, and made sure to make the hottest girls there uncomfortable with his stage interaction. There was the fat white trash bro who yelled «faggot» at me when I ROCKED the house with some Akon (he was jealous cause i was KILLING it), and then proceeded to sing «Rock Star» by Nickelback, but was so hammered his eyes werent opening right. No hard feelings BRO! There were the two female bartenders who kept doing semi decent Carrie Underwood songs while serving. There was the huge Italian who sang Bön Jovi better than ol Jon himself. …I love characters!
Then me and my friend Derek sang HINDER and the place really went nuts. Straight erupted like a 16 year old virgin on prom night the first time he gets his wiener wet. Damn I’ve been playing in the wrong type of bands all along, I don’t think I’ve ever touched people with my music like I did singing «Lips of An Angel» to strangers… I need to re-​evaluate my musical career path.
And that pretty much sums it up: Getting hammered on 3 dollar drinks singing Hinder to screaming fans at the Tickled Trout. God I love life.

this didnt tickle my trout at all!
breakfast.hell i cook as good as i look. jeebus, the bacon hard, like slats of wood you would find at home depot. about the only thing they did get right was the room number when this monstrosity was delivered to.
ramada over priced piece of… ooooh girl shut yo mouf.

Keeping with my stellar review of the Ramada Hotel this is attached to. .. this place needs to a serious lesson in service and/​or staffing. We did breakfast here because we had coupons for free meals each morning with our rooms. They never had more than 2 people working the entire floor. This morning, we stood up front waiting to be seated even for about 15 minutes. We tried to salvage some of that lost time by immediately placing our food & drink orders but the woman wouldn’t take our order because «there were 2 other tables ahead of us». I took to calling her a half-​waitress because of this and the fact that she mostly just did drinks and set tables and seated people. .. eventually. The breakfast food itself was good. .. but seriously when a hotel is sold out for a bowl game or any function for that matter you can’t expect one waitress and one half-​waitress to handle the whole place. Common sense people. .. common sense.

There’s nothing like a trout being tickled off the 8 freeway on a Saturday night.
That pretty much sums up the greatness of all that is the Ramada Inn’s sleazy little dive bar.
I think the place is actually a seafood grille by day and a mixed crowd watering hole by night.
There’s karaōke Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and let me tell you, the karaōke guy is ridiculously funny.
He’s seriously obsessed with singing and with himself, as he proves by singing like 12 random karaōke songs in a row while buzzed up patrons wait patiently for their turn to show off their pipes.
In between tunes like ‘no woman no cry’ the karaōke king flashes digital pictureson the bar tv’s of himself, friends, himself, bar regulars, himself, San Diego, and HIMSELF… just in case you forgot who’s running the show and who is truly responsible for tickling this infamous trout.
The drinks are made by typical hotel bar bartenders, sweet but not exactly educated in the finer art of drink making. It’s OK though cause all the bartenders are very nice and appreciate it when you teach them a new drink.
The prices are reasonable, the room is tiny, and this place is an overall damn good time if you’re in that dive bar, giggle-​your-​ass-​off, get-​trashed– off– shooters kind of mood.
I love you trout.