Hip Hip Hooray for Humphry's - CLOSED

Humphry's Sandwiches

800 Avenida Pico

San Clemente, CA 92673

I had some unexpected time off due to a minor health issue, and I decided to use my time off by writing up some restaurant reviews and, of course, trying some new places. After a week and a half of being in bed, it was time to get out and get moving again. I decided it was time for a stroll along the beach in San Clemente and enlisted my parents to accompany me. After our three-mile walk, or more precisely, stroll, we definitely had worked up an appetite. We made our way across the freeway to Humphry's Sandwiches.

Humphry's is across the street from San Clemente High School in the Albertson's-anchored shopping center. It has been around for about eight years now and is owned by Tim and Nicole Humphry, former San Clemente High School graduates.

Arriving here a little before noon on a Friday, I was nervous that the place would be overrun with obnoxious high school students on their lunch hour. Still, when we walked in the door, we had the run of the restaurant, but it became pretty busy as our visit went along. The inside of the restaurant was clean and comfortable. Ordering is done at the register; you are given a number, and the food is brought to you. I was surprised that they have a bar here that specializes in craft beer, which we saw more than a few people enjoying at this early hour. No judgments. After being with my parents for a few hours, I also needed a drink. Kidding.

The menu at Humphry's was more extensive than I imagined it would be. Predictably, it is sandwich-focused, but it also features a good selection of salads, burgers, hot dogs, and a breakfast burrito, which I hear some good things about. Prices hover around the ten-dollar mark, with nothing eclipsing that price point. Enough talk. Let's check out the food at Humphry's.

As my dad has gotten older, he's getting less predictable when guessing what he will order at restaurants. I thought the Reuben would be his choice here, but he threw me a curveball by getting this Frisco Burger ($9.95) instead. Good choice. This half-pound burger came with lettuce, tomato, swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing on sourdough cheese bread. It's way better than the version I get frequently at Marie Calendars. This was less greasy, had a good amount of Thousand Island dressing, and the beef patty was seasoned nicely. Very rare to find a sandwich shop that does burgers well.

It was not the most photogenic of sandwiches, but my mom was very pleased with this Half Chicken Salad Sandwich ($5.95). She had wanted this sandwich on wheat bread, but the girl at the counter told her they did not have wheat and steered her towards the squaw instead. No worries, my mom went with the flow and enjoyed this chicken salad sandwich with light mayo. My mom claimed that this chicken salad was fresh and had a good flavor. She loved that you could get a half sandwich at Humphry's, which was great for light eaters like herself.

Before coming to Humphry's, I did a little research about the most popular items on their menu, and two kept coming up, the meatloaf sandwich and the one that I ultimately got, The Rachel ($9.95). For those of you that are not aware, a Rachel sandwich is a Rueben, but instead of sauerkraut, it employs the use of coleslaw along with sliced pastrami, swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing. This sandwich was awesome. It utilized the same parmesan-grilled sourdough bread that came on my dad's Frisco burger, and the inside of this sandwich was also excellent. Plenty of coleslaw and Thousand Island dressing kept me interested throughout the short life of this sandwich. The pastrami was sliced nicely, and they included plenty of it here. A very well-balanced sandwich and one that I can see myself getting again. I also wanted to note the chips here, which reminded me a lot of Kettle Brand chips. They had a good crunch and went well with the sandwich.

When I was driving home from San Clemente, I could not help but feel a little jealous that the people of San Clemente have this excellent sandwich shop so close by to enjoy whenever they want. I was impressed with Humphry's. The Rachel and the Frisco burger has excited me to try their meatloaf, cheeseburger, and famous BLT, which features eight pieces of bacon, on future visits to this sandwich shop. Prices align with the portion sizes you get here. Service was satisfactory on this visit. Glad I finally got out and about, but even more excited by the sandwiches at Humphry's.

Out of five Tritons (because that's the mascot of San Clemente High School located across the street, and also the alma mater of the owners of this restaurant), five being best to zero being worst, Humphry's Sandwiches gets 3.5 Tritons.

For more information about Humphry's Sandwiches, head to their website here: https://www.humphryssandwichshop.com/home.html