Trining's Bakery & Cafe - San Diego, California

William B.

Trining’s is “in transition” and it shows. The front is a bit disorganized, but well divided into baked goods and ready-made take out products. The menu is hand-written on a wall-mounted white board (see pictures), but is easily understood and clearly legible.

Now, for the food—Very good! Loved the lumpia. The sweet chili sauce had just a hint of heat to it. Perfect!

We also got chicken adobo and pancit. Both were excellent. Since I ordered two combos to go, I was very careful not to tip the containers and tried to avoid contaminating the pancit with adobo sauce. All for naught. I must have leaned on the brakes a bit too heavily because the very fluid adobo sauce obeyed the laws of physics and colored both the pancit and lumpia. With dark, rich, peppery adobo flavoring. But—it was still great! The chicken adobo was tender and tasty, and the pancit was yummy, even though it tasted more like adobo than pancit. The lumpia, as I expected, was to die for. Crisp and crunchy with a hint of heat from the chili sauce. So good!

Well done Trining’s. Get your front together and I’ll be back. Can I bring some friends with me? I’ve got some East coast buddies who think egg rolls are the bomb. Your lumpia can easily blow that theory out of the water…

Mr. A.

We have been here quite a few times to pickup warm and fresh pandesal as well as a few other times for lunch. Service is consistent, energetic, welcoming and always smiling faces to take your order. Depending on the time of day you visit, there could be a short line or none at all.

As for the pandesal, it is good! They’re not the traditional smaller sizes that you would find back home but almost tastes the same and is also packed in brown paper bags. The dough is somewhat airy and not too thick like another local place. As for the dishes, we have tried a few off the regular menu and they’re ok, nothing too fancy, more on the mediocre home cooking side.

What prompted me to give a review today was this was the first time we tried their “silogs”. I’m a big breakfast person and always give credit where credit (and props) are due, so my small amount of criticism is not an attack on any establishment or the cook for that matter. Maybe it was not the regular cook today but breakfast was not enjoyable at all.

You are asked “how do you like your eggs” when placing an order for any silog platter. To my surprise, all of the eggs in our orders were cooked the same, over hard; a far cry from sunny side up or over easy. The tosilog, tapsilog and longanisa were dry and hard with little to no fats (taba). Not sure if it was old meat, leftovers from the previous day, I don’t know, just speculating. Now one can argue that they were in to go packaging so the steam overcooked everything. But the food was opened and consumed within 5 minutes of leaving Trining’s.

Some in our culture might say that I’m being “maarte” and to be thankful and just eat. But there is a certain expectation that when we eat out, the food will be somewhat better than your own home cooking especially when the prices for eating out have gone up. The sinangag ( garlic fried rice was bland), I did not taste or see any garlic and felt like it was fried in old oil. Although the portions were large but unfortunately, the meats or “ulam” and eggs were too dry and overcooked which made for a disappointing breakfast.

Generous with the 5 Stars for service with a smile and warm greeting and also for the pandesal always being consistent. But it’s 3 stars for the silogs since it could be better, a lot better.

Marilin M.

Came to try Filipino food for the first time and safe to say it was amazing. Me and my husband had the tapsilog plate. I had a chicken empanada and my husband had a beef empanada. The empanadas were so good and flavorful. We also had a mango juice that came from a pouch that was sooo good. The tapsilog was so flavorful it combines so well with the white rice and the over easy eggs. Staff were super nice and we went when it was not packed so we dined in and it was nice.

Marc P.

Pretty good breakfast. Got tocino and the longanisa which were both good and the rice was very flavorful, had a nice garlic taste. Lots of depth to the flavor in both dishes. Also got the Ube cheese rolls which were very good.

Angie A.

This is my favorite place to go when I miss my childhood. The food is yummy. Tastes just like home.
My favorite thing to order is the karekare with rice. The portion is large, this can easily be shared or split into two meals.
The silog is also good. I always get longsilog, because it reminds me of childhood.
Every time I go I also get cantaloupe juice!

I've had their pan de sal and desserts as well. Best pan de sal in the area in my opinion. The flan is also very good and flavorful!

Jay K.

Nice small bakery and restaurant in Mira Mesa strip mall serving traditional Filipino breakfast, lumpia, among other things. I love their Longsilog (longanisa sausage, garlic fried rice, and fried sunny-side up egg). Low key and unassuming, a great nook for breakfast.

jon G.

Probably the last time I'm coming here, 2nd time they let the soup spill out of its container

T.S. Y.

Lumpia tray for my kid’s birthday party was amazing! It was the finest example of Lumpia I have ever eaten.