Favorite San Diego restaurants (Los Angeles, La Mesa: hotels, Home Depot, price)

[veg8]

My Favorites

Brunch/Lunch
-Cavillon
-Whisknladle - Everything made in house
-George's Ocean Terrace - excellent view good desserts

Asian
-Sushi Ota - Best quality sushi in SD
-Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ - Japanese take on Korean BBQ
-Santouka Ramen - famous ramen chain, inside of the Mitsuwa food court.
-Little Sheep Hot Pot - Famous hot pot chain with locations worldwide (Northern Chinese)
-Emerald - Cantonese (Southern Chinese) best in SD next to LA or Vancouver, BC
-Korean - Buga Korean BBQ, good for SD not close to ktown or garden grove in LA.
-Surati Farsan Mart - Great place for indian snack food, same chain as the one in LA
-Annapurna- New place, can be inconsitent but on par with some Indian buffets in LA

Mexican
-Too many to name they are everywhere but I like El Agave for something different.

BBQ/Pizza
-Phil's BBQ - one of most famous places in sd, both locations are great.
-Bronx pizza - great if you're looking for thin crust pizza

French
-WineSellar & Brasserie - new french, huge wine selection
-Tapenade - classic french

Steakhouses - Nothing that special in SD unfortunately
-Flemings - has great sunday prime rib special for $30 (salad, side, prime rib and dessert)
-Donnvans - hit or miss, great when a hit
-Mortons - pretty consistent chain on par with the one's i've tried outside of SD.

[Snort]

Japanese- Ohzen Sushi in Oceanside
Thai- Thai Garden in Oceanside
Fine Dining- Terra in Hillcrest
Fish- Bluewater near Old Town, King's Fish House in Carlsbad
Pizza-Bongiorno's in Solana Beach
Beer- Pizza Port (the pizza blows, however. Sorry!)

[sdurbanite]

Favorites in my Little Black Book:


Cantina Mayahuel
Jayne's Gastropub
Urban Solace
Burger Lounge
Neighborhood
La Puerta
Chilango's
Phil's BBQ
Yakitori Yakyudori
Amarin Thai
Taste of Thai
Bombay
Royal India
Khyber Pass
Tajima
Restaurants at Mitsuwa Marketplace and 99 Ranch
Ciro's Pizza
Sombrero
Toro Sushi

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by Carrieg11

Haven't been to Blue Boheme...but heard good things. Anyone been to Burger Lounge?

I've been to the Burger Lounge location on Coronado Island off Orange. It's grub!!! They use high quality and organic ingredients. Their turkey burger patty has basil in it. Fries are good too. Milk shake is decent.

Madras Cafe (Mira Mesa) - best Indian food you'll ever have in your life (besides actually eating in India), vegetarian but you won't miss the meat because it's so tasty, be sure to order the vegetarian samosas as an appetizer, the giant crepe (dosa) seems to be popular too

Buon Appetito (Little Italy) - best Italian food, fresh, high quality, good wine and not expensive, nice ambiance but the secret is out and it has become quite popular so expect to wait for a table if you have a group of 3 or more

Little Sheep (Clairemont) - Excellent Mongolian Chinese Hot Pot, if you don't know what hot pot is, you should try it

Silver Ark (Mira Mesa) - want good dim sum and tired of waiting for a table at Jasmine? This place is quiet and serves up quality dim sum. Choices are less than Jasmine, but the fact that you don't have to wait and will have tranquility around your table while you eat makes up for it, this place used to suck but they got a new chef from what I heard and since then it has been good

Mitsuwa Marketplace cafeteria (Kearny Mesa) - authentic, delicious ramen, the best in San Diego and comparable to Japantown in Los Angeles

Spicy City (Kearny Mesa) - best authentic szchewan style Chinese cuisine

Pho Hoa Cali (Mira Mesa) - best pho and Vietnamese cuisine in San Diego

K Sandwiches (Linda Vista) - best Vietnamese sandwiches in San Diego, also has a good variety of drinks (including boba) and other dishes/desserts

Tea N More (Kearny Mesa) - best boba hang out, play free board games with friends, even better than the chain Tapioca Express or Tea Station

Yogurt World (Kearny Mesa, Mira Mesa, and UCSD coming soon) - excellent yogurt and good alternative to the pricier Pink Berry... their plain tart flavor truly has that signature tartness

Island Spice (Grant Hill) - good Jamaican food, order the oxtail stew

I consider myself an expert on quality authentic Asian cuisine. I practically grew up in the SGV (Asian oasis) in Los Angeles, an area famous for it's authentic Asian food and culture. So I have high standards (at least I think they are) so I think my recommendations above for Asian food are highly reliable and I find my opinions are often shared by others. Also I cook at home too and can detect unfreshness with my taste buds and nose. Too bad I haven't found a good Korean restaurant in San Diego.

[sdurbanite]

^^Great list, mini_cute!

How could I forgot about K Sandwiches? I love their banh mi's! There's a place in East San Diego called Baguette Express that works for me since it's closeby. And I'm also a big fan of Yogurt World (can't beat being able to add as much toppings as you want), but do admit to liking the plain tart at Pinkberry and Red Mango better.

[ajnsd]

Brazil By The Bay in Point Loma. This is the best Brazilian food I've ever tasted.

[jagIV]

El Zarape for Mexican

Leucadia Pizzeria for Pizza

Pizza Port(either one) for beer

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by sdurbanite

^^Great list, mini_cute!

How could I forgot about K Sandwiches? I love their banh mi's! There's a place in East San Diego called Baguette Express that works for me since it's closeby. And I'm also a big fan of Yogurt World (can't beat being able to add as much toppings as you want), but do admit to liking the plain tart at Pinkberry and Red Mango better.

Thanks Sd Urbanite and thanks for posting up that photo. That is a nice location for PinkBerry in Hillcrest.

[Akama]

Originally Posted by mini_cute

I've been to the Burger Lounge location on Coronado Island off Orange. It's grub!!! They use high quality and organic ingredients. Their turkey burger patty has basil in it. Fries are good too. Milk shake is decent.

Madras Cafe (Mira Mesa) - best Indian food you'll ever have in your life (besides actually eating in India), vegetarian but you won't miss the meat because it's so tasty, be sure to order the vegetarian samosas as an appetizer, the giant crepe (dosa) seems to be popular too

Buon Appetito (Little Italy) - best Italian food, fresh, high quality, good wine and not expensive, nice ambiance but the secret is out and it has become quite popular so expect to wait for a table if you have a group of 3 or more

Little Sheep (Clairemont) - Excellent Mongolian Chinese Hot Pot, if you don't know what hot pot is, you should try it

Silver Ark (Mira Mesa) - want good dim sum and tired of waiting for a table at Jasmine? This place is quiet and serves up quality dim sum. Choices are less than Jasmine, but the fact that you don't have to wait and will have tranquility around your table while you eat makes up for it, this place used to suck but they got a new chef from what I heard and since then it has been good

Mitsuwa Marketplace cafeteria (Kearny Mesa) - authentic, delicious ramen, the best in San Diego and comparable to Japantown in Los Angeles

Spicy City (Kearny Mesa) - best authentic szchewan style Chinese cuisine

Pho Hoa Cali (Mira Mesa) - best pho and Vietnamese cuisine in San Diego

K Sandwiches (Linda Vista) - best Vietnamese sandwiches in San Diego, also has a good variety of drinks (including boba) and other dishes/desserts

Tea N More (Kearny Mesa) - best boba hang out, play free board games with friends, even better than the chain Tapioca Express or Tea Station

Yogurt World (Kearny Mesa, Mira Mesa, and UCSD coming soon) - excellent yogurt and good alternative to the pricier Pink Berry... their plain tart flavor truly has that signature tartness

Island Spice (Grant Hill) - good Jamaican food, order the oxtail stew

I consider myself an expert on quality authentic Asian cuisine. I practically grew up in the SGV (Asian oasis) in Los Angeles, an area famous for it's authentic Asian food and culture. So I have high standards (at least I think they are) so I think my recommendations above for Asian food are highly reliable and I find my opinions are often shared by others. Also I cook at home too and can detect unfreshness with my taste buds and nose. Too bad I haven't found a good Korean restaurant in San Diego.

I do don't recommend Madras Cafe, their quality is not consistent and I've had the pleasure of getting some soggy Dosa and old sambar there.

[Carrieg11]

A couple more to add...

Urban Solace - I checked it out for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I love the outdoor patio, food is very good, and great beer/wine selection

Olivetto on Washington in Mission Hills. I've sat at the bar and ordered appetizers, but plan to go for dinner sometime this weekend. It's a fairly new restaurant, but I really like the atmosphere...a nice neighborhood Italian restaurant.

This turned into a great thread...thanks for all the awesome input.