Unique dining and activities in San Diego
 

My husband and I will be in San Diego in a few weeks to celebrate my 50th birthday. I am usually the planner but I want him to "surprise" me by setting up a special day. I need some suggestions on unique things to do and great restaurant for dinner. We have been to San Diego before and are staying in la Jolla. We will have a car so we can drive anywhere. We tend to be "foodies" and enjoy tasting menus and fine dining. We are looking for "off the beaten path' activities/tours, etc.
Thanks!

Maybe not "exactly" what you are looking for, but if you are down by the Gaslamp district for dinner one night and would like to enjoy an after-dinner drink... I highly recommend Top of the Hyatt. I was steered towards this bar on my last trip to San Diego and it was such a treat. My wife and I wound up going there almost every night! It was easy, since we stayed right next door. It is not a very big bar, but a very nice bar with low romantic lighting. Top floor of the Hyatt on the water, floor to ceiling windows, and amazing views of the city. It was just the perfect spot to quietly enjoy the end of some nice evenings and I strongly recommend it as a special spot on a trip.

Croce's in the Gaslamp district for good food and great Jazz [yes, That Croce as in Jim Croce; it is run by his wife]

http://www.croces.com/

I agree with the Top of the Hyatt - it is lovely -

If you are staying in La Jolla I would recommend George's patio dining - great views and good food. Be sure you go to the patio part up the stairs - not the fine dining.

Not sure on what you are looking for unique wise..?

Agree with MomDDTravel's post about George's. Make reservations, it's very popular.

The top of the Marriott Courtyard has a great bar and amazing firepits! It overlooks the ballpark and is a great place to people watch and catch a game, but too late for that part.

George's - yup!

Lots of great
San Diego info here:

http://www.localwally.com

Thanks everyone!

<b>We tend to be "foodies" and enjoy tasting menus and fine dining.</b>

Addison at Grand del Mar is the highest rated "fine dining" restaurant in the San Diego area. It's a short drive north of town at a resort.

This is one of 22 restaurants in the US to receive five stars from the Forbes Travel guide. We dined there last summer and would agree it belongs on the Forbes list.

http://www.addisondelmar.com/
http://www.forbestravelguide.com/fiv...estaurants.htm

I would add La Jolla's Tapenade as one of the finest dining experiences in greater San Diego, with Provence's Chef/owner Michael Diot still keeping it at the highest level.. see: http://www.tapenaderestaurant.com/

Whisk'n'ladle - also in "the village" - has fine dining and is a fun place. http://whisknladle.com/

George's of course gets high marks - great atmosphere - as does the Addison, and Jeffery Strauss' Pampelmousee is also tres bien. http://www.pgrille.com/

As for things to do - plenty, including walking around the Village, down to the Cove, over to Coronado, seeing the Wild Animal Park (where the animals are in more of a natural habitat although the SD Zoo is good too), checking out the cute village of Del Mar, driving up the coast to say Carlsbad, having Mexican food in Old Town (Old Town Mexican Cafe you can see the women making tortillas through the front window) and of course, fresh fish - such as Top of the Market/Fish Market downtown - next to the USS Midway - which also has a great Naval museum.

LOL - was just taking a shower and thinking about all the great places in the Village of La Jolla - where I had an office for years. Just walking along the main drags - Prospect and Herschel - will offer a number of options - including the classic Whaling Bar in the La Valencia, Jose's - which has good Mexican food, Roppongi for goos Asian/fusion food, Manhatten for fine dining, the Cottage for a good breakfast, the revamped 922? room in the Colonial Hotel, the French ? on Herschel for a good sandwich/classic French deli, and the list goes on. Oh yes, for a real classic with a gret view overlooking the beach - down by the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is the venerable Marine Room, still a huge local favorite.

Couple quick corrections/additions. The other main drag is Girard and the Girard Gourmet is the cute French Deli I was thinking about, and there is also the Karl Strauss Brewery and Grill (next to Wisknladle), the Sky Room at La Valencia for a great view, The Spot on Prospect for good burgers/onion rings loaf, and the list goes on and on. see: http://www.urbanspoon.com/ps/27/9352...d-Wall-St.html

Yes to George's at the Cove, their upstairs patio at sunset is spectacular. Food is wonderful, too!

In the Gaslamp area of San Diego, there is Acqua al 2 (I think pronounced like "Aqua al Duo") http://www.acquaal2.com/
We went there because we'd had a spectacular dinner at their original Florence, Italy, location. It is authentic Italian and quite nice.

And the Nine-Ten is the restaurant I was think of in the Old/Grand Colonial Hotel. see: http://www.nine-ten.com/home.php

Also downtown is Ocean Aire, which was owned by celeb chef Brian Malarky - and while I think he has gone on to other opportunities, it's still very good.http://www.theoceanaire.com/Home.aspx

BTW - walking around the Gaslamp downtown is also fun, mainly along 5th Ave - but 4th and 6th also have some good places, and you can park in Horton Plaza - and also do some shopping there if you like. :)

Oh yes, since on another threat - somebody was calling into question one's experiences at the places they are discussing, I have had the pleasure to dine at ever place I have mentioned - with the partial exception being Addison - but have had drinks and h'or d'oeuvres there several times (after meetings and it was excellent) and have been through the dining room and the dishes were visually quite appealing and the patrons all seemed very content.

It received the highest reviews from one group - but I don't know that I would necessarily put it head and shoulders above the others that I have mentioned.

That should read "thread" - as in restaurant review. Pardon my typos.

Regarding the restaurant ratings, I like to check OpenTable (an online reservation service) when going to a new area because the site posts a lot of user reviews and gives a summary of the scores. You have to actually eat there to write a review, and reviews over 6 months old roll off, so the info is relatively recent.

We've found a few restaurants with overall OpenTable scores as high as 4.9/5 or 4.8/5 and these have typically been exceptional, like Per Se (NYC) or French Laundry in Napa (there are two with scores that high where I live, for example, but only 2 out of 1,100).

Usually 4.6 or higher indicates an excellent restaurant; many of the Michelin 3* and Forbes 5* restaurants are in this range (we recently dined at Daniel and Jean Georges in NYC, both Michelin 3*s and both with 4.6/5.0 OpenTable user ratings, for example).

A lot of places with 4.2 or higher ratings are very good, especially if cost is factored in. I wouldn't dine at a place with a rating much under 4 myself.

Here is OpenTable's list of the "Best Overall Restaurants - San Diego": http://www.opentable.com/best-san-di...ia-restaurants

Addison is their "Best Overall", also "Best Ambiance" and "Best Service". You can scroll thru the categories on the left to sort by other criteria (Best Service, Best Ambiance - George's makes the top 10 on Ambiance, while Pamplemousse and Whisknladle do well on "Fit for Foodies", as examples). While these are not gospel and can change monthly as 6 month old reviews roll off they do give you an idea of what literally hundreds of dinners thought about their meals.

Here are the OpenTable "Overall" ratings for most of the restaurants mentioned thus far. I also included the Gayot rating since it's on the OT page ... for the most part Gayot and OT are in agreement. None of these are bad but there are clearly differences in diner satisfaction.

Addison at The Grand Del Mar 4.7/5.0 OpenTable, 18/20 Gayot
George's Ocean Terrace 4.5/5.0 OpenTable, 15/20 Gayot
Tapenade 4.4/5.0 OpenTable, 16/20 Gayot
Pamplemousse Grille 4.3/5.0 OpenTable, 14/20 Gayot
Whisknladle 4.2/5.0 OpenTable, 14/20 Gayot

http://www.opentable.com/addison-at-the-grand-del-mar
http://www.opentable.com/georges-ocean-terrace
http://www.opentable.com/tapenade
http://www.opentable.com/pamplemousse-grille
http://www.opentable.com/whisknladle

We went there because we'd had a spectacular dinner at their original Florence, Italy, location. It is authentic Italian and quite nice.>

Me too!! That place was around the corner from our most amazing apartment in Florence.... ahhhhhh sweet memories!

***Oh yes, since on another threat - somebody was calling into question one's experiences at the places they are discussing

That should read "thread" - ***


Tomsd,

I think you had it right the first time. :)