San Diego restaurants from Gaslamp
 

Staying at the Westin in the Gaslamp Quarter for a week. Looking for restaurants within easy walking distance and/or relatively easy/short use of public transportation. DH and I like a good variety of foods, but we're not looking for anything very expensive. Maybe one night at a more upscale location. Most nights would like to stay under $30/person. Suggestions?

Croce's is popular ( the owner is the widow of Jim Croce) and they have great jazz musicians. I like the Fish Market on the Embarcadero. Around the baseball park (PetCo Park) are a ton of restaurants, nightclubs, bars but check w your hotel as to the neighborhood and take a walk to see what places you like. Everything is walkable. One place we like is Athens Market.

Ingrid Croce closed Croce's in the Gaslamp 12/31 and moved up to Banker's Hill:

http://crocesparkwest.com/

I really like Dobson's, still slinging upscale American cuisine in one of the coziest, warmest rooms in the Gaslamp:

http://www.dobsonsrestaurant.com/home

Nearby is a very good, not too expensive Italian joint called Operacaffe:

http://www.operacaffe.com/

Lots and lots of choices-- chain and non-chain-- in the Gaslamp. I haven't stayed in the Gaslamp in years (and usually stay with friends in Balboa Park when I drive down to SD), so I only have these meager suggestions. I'm sure the SD natives will have tons of ideas. Do try to explore the city-- it's a lot of fun.

For great pizza and red sauce Italian head to Little Italy and eat at Filippi's Pizza Grotto - http://www.realcheesepizza.com/ You can take the trolley and then it's a short walk.

For the splurge - it's also reachable by bus, and worth the trip:
http://www.bertrandatmisteras.com/

http://www.gaslamp.org/dining

Isola, pizza and wine bar, in Little Italy won best pizza in San Diego recently.

As said Croce's has moved to Banker's Hill. So the Gaslamp location is closed

However, in that location Cafe 21 has moved in and it is a good restaurant with good food at decent prices. Not expensive.

http://cafe-21.com/

Also note that many restaurants have great Happy Hours. You can get a great steak sandwich for $7 at Lou & Mickey's for example. And some also have a late night HH and all day Sunday HH's. Many places have Taco Tuesday.

I like Spike Africa's on 4th Ave across from the NBC bldg. Almost across the street in the Sofia Hotel is Currant. I've had good food at the Hopping Pig as well. It's really hard to narrow down. There are so many choices.