San Diego is a beautiful city that lies right along the coastline of Southern California. While the city may be more known for its world-class zoo, mild climate all year round, and stunning beaches, its restaurants are not to be overlooked. To break down this city’s culinary scene, we’ve spent hours hunting down the 10 best San Diego restaurants to share with you – from local favorites to award-winning spots. Let’s dig in!
Top 10 of the Best San Diego Restaurants
As soon as you sit down at one of San Diego’s many restaurants, you’ll discover for yourself that San Diego is so much more than just a city with eye-catching views and nice weather. Whether you’re planning a short business trip, family getaway, or you’re a local, our personal roundup of the top restaurants in San Diego can make your inner foodie smile. Here’s our roundup of the city’s 10 best eateries.
1. Casa Lahori
Let’s start the list strong with Casa Lahori, a San Diego-based restaurant that offers Pakistani cuisine. According to Casa Lahori’s website, they take pride in crafting a menu that showcases an array of flavorful Pakistani dishes, such as chicken biryani and a hot and spicy samosa plate. The menu also features a wide selection of vegetarian options, and all the meat served is halal and locally sourced and from a verified meat supplier. And if you’re hoping to cater a small or large local event, Casa Lahori offers restaurant catering
A satisfied Google reviewer even claims San Diego was missing good Pakistani food and Casa Lahori has filled that gap. And it seems that many others agree, because the restaurant has racked up a 4.6-star-rating on Google from over four hundred reviews. In short, it’s no surprise that Casa Lahori has earned a spot on our list of best restaurants in San Diego.
2. The Winery Restaurant La Jolla
San Diego has easily become a top wine destination for tourists and locals alike, so it was a no-brainer to include The Winery Restaurant La Jolla in our list of top restaurants in San Diego. The restaurant is known for its Californian regional cuisine offerings and rotating weekly selection of 450 wines.
While the wine selection is quite excellent, so is the team at The Winery Restaurant La Jolla. The team at The Winery, which includes JC Clow, William Lewis, and Chef Yvon Gotez, earned the title of “Restaurateurs of the Year” and “Restaurant of the Year” multiple times. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, Chef Yvon has also won an AAA Five Diamond Award.
Enough about the wine and the team behind The Winery La Jolla, let’s talk about the food! If you’re a sucker for a delicious prime rib, you’re in luck because The Winery’s restaurant specialty is only $59 on Sundays! The meal features a 14 ounce prime rib with your choice of soup or caesar salad, creamy mashed potatoes, and fresh garden vegetables – a perfect pairing for your choice of vino
3. Mia Trattoria
Sergio Torrisi, the owner of the Italian restaurant Mia Trattoria, is truly living his dreams after opening the restaurant in 2017 with the goal of bringing a taste of Rome to Bankers Hill in San Diego. As the restaurant’s website mentions, Torrisi and his family have over two decades of restaurant experience operating two well-known restaurants in Rome, Italy.
So if you’re eager to have a taste of Rome, Italy right here in San Diego and support a family owned and operated business, Mia Trattoria is the place to go. You’ll find authentic pasta dishes, saffron risotto, grilled octopus, and much more for both lunch and dinner.
4. Azuki Sushi
Has Japan been the bucket list destination on your list? Well, luckily you can enjoy a taste of Japan, right here in San Diego! Azuki Sushi is a quaint and modern Japanese restaurant offering exceptional quality fish straight from either Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market or local suppliers, ensuring only the freshest and most sustainable ingredients are being served. You can choose from the restaurant’s raw bar, chef selection nigiri and sashimi, specialty rolls, and even Miyazaki A5 wagyu beef.
Given how expensive it is to fly to Japan in this economy, dining at Azuki Sushi can be a great alternative, especially if you’re a San Diego local. However, don’t just take our word for it on why this is one of the best restaurants in Little Italy San Diego – you can see for yourself by reading through the hundreds of positive reviews left by past customers on Google. And if you can’t visit the physical restaurant location to dine-in? You can check out Azuki Sushi’s website and order from a selection of delicious Japanese eats for pick-up.
5. Ironside Fish and Oyster
With San Diego located along the Pacific coastline, you’d certainly expect a seafood restaurant to be on our list of one of the best restaurants in San Diego. And you’d be absolutely right! The seafood spot we’d like to highlight as one of the best places to eat in San Diego is Ironside Fish and Oyster, which is highly recommended by locals and tourists alike, with an outstanding 4.5 stars on Google and over 4,200 reviews. The customers’ positive sentiments are echoed on other review sites like Tripadvisor and Yelp, which easily makes it one of the 10 best restaurants in Little Italy San Diego.
As for what you can expect from dining at Ironside Fish and Oyster, this renovated warehouse turned restaurant space offers various seafood dishes on its menu, including fish n’ chips, lobster rolls, shrimps, octopus, and the list goes on. Drop in Monday to Friday between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to enjoy happy hour and snatch as many of those $1 oysters as you can!
6. Valle
Valle is a one-Michelin star awarded Mexican restaurant located right on the coastline of Oceanside, making it one of the best restaurants in San Diego with a view. The restaurant received its Michelin star for its tasting menu, which pays homage to Californian produce and boasts an extensive wine list. The tasting menu is priced at $185, plus an additional $150 for a Mexican wine pairing, or an additional $210 for a global wine pairing.
To take dining at this stunning restaurant to the next level, you can choose to enjoy an exclusive Chef Table Experience with Valle’s Chef Roberto. However, it’s important to note that if you’re looking to indulge in this experience, it is only available Tuesday to Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Impeccable food and service at one of the best San Diego restaurants with a view? You can’t beat that!
7. Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub
Co-founded over a decade ago by Davin and Jessica Waite, Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub is a sushi lover’s paradise with an impressive restaurant social media following of over 40,000 followers.
The restaurant’s website describes it as “a space for culinary exploration and collaboration,” and a perfect example of this is showcased on its menu, which highlights unique aging techniques and unexpected dishes like aged toro with shio koji orange juice. Chef Davin was recently featured by Chef Works in its Finishing Touch series, where he talks about using every piece of the fish and respecting all ingredients.
Whether you choose to indulge in Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub’s $80 omakase offering or its a la carte menu, you’re in for a treat. There are also plenty of plant-based options on the menu, including a plant-based version of its omakase that can be requested by guests. One thing’s for sure is there’s no shortage of delicious and high-quality sushi!
8. Fortunate Son
Fortunate Son is a cozy Chinese restaurant with rave reviews about its restaurant patio dining, food, and service, which makes it well-deserving of a spot in our best places to eat in San Diego list.
The San Diego reader also notes that it’s worth a visit to Fortunate Son to take in the restaurant’s stunning decor. The restaurant’s commitment to transforming both its indoor and outdoor space makes guests feel like they’ve been transported to China, despite the venue’s location in the heart of California.
Now, let’s talk about the food. One of the highly recommended dishes among customers is the honey walnut shrimp, which consists of crispy tempura shrimp, a milk and orange glaze, and a candied walnut crumble on top. Don’t forget to try one of Fortunate Son’s in-house specials, like its chongqing crispy tofu or cucumber salad!
Fortunate Son is only open for dinner between 5:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and 3:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday to Sunday. Our pro tip is to book a reservation well in advance, due to the restaurant’s popularity and notoriously long waits. So will you be fortunate enough to snag a table at Fortunate Son?
9. Nolita Hall
Speaking of a restaurant with a stunning interior, another place we’d like to call out as one of our picks of the best San Diego restaurants is Nolita Hall. This Italian restaurant was awarded an Orchid award for its stunning interior, as the venue features a u-shaped bar and 60 foot skylight. Nolita Hall. The restaurant is a bit of a media darling, which features including one of Axios San Diego’s “new favorite summer drinks,” one of the 10 best restaurants in Little Italy by LaJolla.com, and a feature in Eater San Diego for being one of the most fabulous restaurants with private dining rooms in San Diego.
You can enjoy the stunning space this restaurant has to offer while diving into its extensive Italian-American menu and trying one of the crisp wood-fire pizzas! Did we mention it has massive projectors and screens for top-notch entertainment viewing? Visit Nolita Hall and see for yourself if it lives up to the hype.
10. Neighborhood
Looking for one of the best restaurants in Downtown San Diego, with top-notch vibes and unique twists on some of your favorite comfort food? Neighborhood is San Diego’s local gastropub located in the East Village that serves everything from a classic mac and cheese to elevated charred bone marrow. The restaurant also serves its infamous caviar bumps for $20, where you’re served white sturgeon caviar, bump-style. Enjoy it with a beer shot for an extra $3 or half a mezcal for an additional $8.
Speaking of alcohol, hidden inside Neighborhood is a bar called Youngblood, which serves some of the finest cocktails not only in San Diego, but also in North America. In fact, it’s ranked no.49 on the list of North America’s 50 Best Bars.
And if our recommendation to visit Neighbourhood as one of the best restaurants in Downtown San Diego isn’t enough, check out the thousands of glowing four star reviews left by satisfied guests across many major customer review sites.
Which of the best San Diego restaurants are you heading off to first? Let us know or shoot us a message if you think your San Diego restaurant should be featured.
Megan is the Content Marketing Specialist at TouchBistro, where she uses her passion for food to write about the restaurant industry. She’s a big “foodie” at heart, and you can always find her enjoying a delicious meal at a restaurant with friends and family, or cooking one up at home. She also loves relaxing with a good book and making progress at the gym.
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