Home Destinations USA California San Diego Restaurants

San Diego Restaurants

Read our San Diego restaurant reviews. Or post your own.

San Diego Restaurant Reviews

San Diego's status as a vacationer's paradise and its growth into the eighth-largest city in the United States have made it a magnet for restaurateurs and chefs from around the globe. The city now takes for granted cuisines such as Cambodian, Ethiopian, Afghan, and Laotian. But a good deal of the new talent also is homegrown, and it's not unusual for local cooks to attend leading culinary academies and return home fired by the desire to remake San Diego cuisine. The county's growing corps of innovative and cutting-edge chefs (many based in the northern suburbs) includes William Bradley of Addison at the Grand Del Mar, Jeff Jackson at A.R. Valentien, and Carl Schroeder at Market Restaurant + Bar. The leading point of view is that a region this blessed with gorgeous locally grown vegetables, fruits, herbs, and seafood should make a culinary statement.

Downtown is always an obvious for great dining. The über-trendy Gaslamp Quarter delights visitors looking for not just good food, but a good (if not rowdy) time as well. Near the waterfront on the upper western edge of downtown, the gentrified Little Italy district has become a center for affordable, traditional, and contemporary Italian fare. The area offers surprises, too, such as an authentic English pub, a fine Argentine-Italian steak house, and a jazz supper club. Adjacent to the Gaslamp, diverse and trendy restaurants and cafés thrive in the East Village neighborhood, an urban-feeling area of luxury condos to the north and east of PETCO Park.

San Diego's neighboring enclaves share a sense of energy, fueled by a collective caffeine high acquired in the coffeehouses that the city is known for. The uptown neighborhoods centered by Hillcrest—an urbane district with a San Francisco flavor—are marked by increasing culinary sophistication. Mission Valley, the heart of the city's shopping district, abounds with big restaurants of varying quality. And scenic La Jolla, with many of San Diego's most expensive restaurants, offers some of the best dining in the city. In Chula Vista you'll find authentic Mexican fare, while Coronado—the peninsula city across San Diego Bay—has both casual, neighborhood-style eateries and extravagant hotel dining rooms with dramatic water views. Great cooking blossoms beyond the city's official borders; to the north, Del Mar's, Solana Beach's, and Rancho Santa Fe's elegant surroundings have attracted good cuisine.

Less »