San Diego's 10 Best Neighborhoods for Dining Out, Ranked

San Diego ’s city fathers and mother ( not to mention planners ) are keen on telling us that ours is a “ City of Neighborhoods . ” They lied when they said it , and they lie now . San Diego is not a urban center of neighborhood , never was , and can not be for many reasons : southerly California sprawling , lack of walkability , housing prices . There ’s more , but we ’ll get on with it .

That ’s not to say San Diego – both City and County – does n’t have some great neighborhoods . La Jolla , Oceanside , Hillcrest , and La Mesa are examples of these . But to say the tedious suburbanity of East Del Mar , the namelessness of Nestor , or the Brobdingnagian vanilla extract that is Clairemont make them “ great neighbourhood ” would need a wholesale redefinition of the word “ neck of the woods . ”

But there ’s one mode San Diego locality – whether or not “ great ” – show their character : their dining scene . Here are the top 10 San Diego dining neighborhood , plus some honorable mentions .

Juniper & Ivy

Juniper & Ivy|Cece Canton

Honorable mentions:

Several neighborhoods , while not as exceptional boilers suit as the top 10 , deserve honorable mention if only for one or two extraordinary restaurants : Escondido withBellamy ’s Restaurant ; Rancho Bernardo withThe Cork & Craft ; the Gaslamp ( oh , how the mighty have devolve ) withSearsucker ; Chula Vista withRomesco Mexiterranean Bistro ; and South Park with bothBuona ForchettaandKindred . University Heights and Encinitas merit mention even though they do n’t have a eatery hitting the top layer – rather , they have a broad swath of serviceable , enjoyable dining options . La Mesa deserves mention because it is get a batch better really fast .

10. Little Saigon

crucial restaurants : Pho Hoa , Nhu Y , El Borrego RestaurantIf you know anything about the Little Saigon District ( sometimes called City Heights ) , you know it ’s where to go to get a heavy bowl of pho . And , asI’ve documented in this space recently , there ’s no place better to do so thanPho Hoa . Pho is all it does , and it does so with passion and flawlessness . But Vietnamese solid food is about more than just the iconic bitch attic soup . Go toNhu Yfor spring rolls with pork tegument , seafood bonce soup , and more . Or draw a blank about Vietnamese food and get some of the good Mexican barbacoa in town at El Borrego Restaurant .

9. Hillcrest

indispensable restaurants : TRUST , Bull & Grain , Bread & CieFor years , Hillcrest ’s dining view has been most notable for the remarkable charge per unit at which new restaurants open and tight . The day I reviewClandestinois the day I ’ll have boom at my third eating house settle at 142 University Ave . But two newfangled restaurants and one stalwart put it in the top 10 . First cameTRUST Restaurantwith its proficient , unpretentious , and passionate humble - plates menu . More recently , chef Daniel Barron returned to townspeople withBull & Grainwith bragging sapidity and originative brandish . Unlike the others , Bread & Cie , part eating house and part bakeshop , has been a Hillcrest staple fibre for age . Its bread alone piss the place deserving a misstep .

8. Rancho Santa Fe

Essential restaurants : Ponsaty ’s Fine Dining , Mille Fleurs , MarketWhenPonsaty ’s Fine Diningopened in Rancho Santa Fe this summer , San Diego got a newfangled contender for the title of best modern French restaurant ( indeed , best eating house ) in town . Ponsaty ’s joinsMille Fleursand its tripping take on Franco - Californian o.k. dining at the top of the Ranch . Perhaps the most contemporary of Rancho Santa Fe ’s superb trio isMarket Restaurant + Barwhere chef Carl Schroeder offers elegant simplicity and an eclectic palate .

7. Mission Hills

Essential eating place : The Red Door , Izakaya Masa , Shakespeare Pub & GrilleChef Miguel Valdez ’s creative use of the green groceries from owner Trish Watlington ’s farm elevatesThe Red Doorbeyond the point of just being San Diego ’s honest neighbourhood restaurant . Izakaya Masais a sodding San Diego personification of a Japanese izakaya , the original gastropubs . For a taste of what the Brits want to exhaust with their fond ales , go toShakespeare Pub & Grille . It ’s San Diego ’s good Pisces & chips and the best piazza to watch an English Premier League match .

6. North Park

Essential restaurants : Grand Ole BBQ y Asado , Urban Solace , Carnitas ' Snack ShackJust a few years ago , North Park was the San Diego neighborhood climbing the dining chart the fastest . This might not be the casing any longer , but if the peak is off that lift , it ’s still doing very well for itself . Grand Ole BBQ y Asadooffers the good barbecue in town with pitmaster Andy Harris ’ nearly unparalleled use up on lowly and slow beef . The advanced yet unpretentious solid food at Urban Solace still place the stripe for what put this region on the map . But there may be no single topographic point that does an ingredient good than Hanis Cavin’sCarnitas ' Snack Shackdoes porc .

5. Convoy District

Essential eating place : Sushi Dokoro Shirahama , Dae Jang Keum , Shan Xi Magic KitchenThe Convoy District is Chinatown , Koreatown , Japantown , and more all rolled into two square mi in the pith of San Diego . There may be no more over-the-top repast in the Convoy than the omakase atSushi Dokoro ShirahamawhereitamaeKoji Kotani ’s strict interpretation of edomae sushi will teach you something you did not know . There is no good Korean barbeque in San Diego than that atDae Jang Keumwhere the timber of the meats is brilliant , but the fact they ’re grilled over charcoal gray rather than electric heat makes the experience all the more valuable . Shan Xi Magic Kitchenis perhaps the best example of what San Diego does best with Chinese : regional culinary art , outside of the common top 10 . The next solar day I do n’t desire to feed thosebiang biangnoodles will be the day I get down taking my nutrition intravenously .

4. Oceanside

Essential eatery : Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub,608 RestaurantNot so long ago , the idea of Oceanside being in the top 10 dining neighborhoods of San Diego would have been unthinkable . Not any longer . On one level , Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropubis to fault . What chef Davin Waite is doing there – unbelievably originative sushi - establish dishes – is unlike what any other chef is doing on the careen . It is singular . It is excellent . It deserves realisation beyond – far beyond – what it has experience to date . Chef Willy Eick takes some of that same spirit , creativity , and love for local factor in a different direction at608 Restaurant . But Oceanside is more than those two restaurants alone . There’sFlying Pig Pub & Kitchen , Local Tap House , andMasters Kitchen & Cocktail . Oceanside is the hottest up - and - come dining scene in San Diego County , and there ’s only more to occur .

3. Del Mar

all-important restaurants : Addison , Pamplemousse Grill , Cucina EnotecaAddisonoffers what is likely the most perfect gamy - death forward-looking French culinary art you ’ll find in Southern California . If you knowThe French Laundry , you ’ll have an idea of what you ’ll see of the perfection at Addison . It is , manus down , the best restaurant in San Diego County . There is nothing particularly contemporary or trendy aboutPamplemousse Grille , and it may not offer up Addison ’s perfection , but it put up well - put to death , indulgent nutrient . Cucina Enoteca , the Del Mar frontier settlement of Tracy Borkum ’s Urban Kitchen Group , offer creative , New , and Italian - tone food in an attractive , fooling atmosphere .

2. La Jolla

substantive eatery : Nine - Ten , A.R. Valentien , George ’s at the CoveAtNine - Tenrestaurant inside the Grande Colonial Hotel , chef Jason Knibb has find a mellifluous spot at the intersection of technique , component , and creativity . It certainly does n’t hurt that he ’s surrounded himself with an incredibly talented team ( as he always has ) from bottom to top , including pastry dough chef . It ’s a like story atA.R. Valentienwhere chef Jeff Jackson also has an all - star squad and where farm - to - table is n’t a marketing shibboleth but a offset , an aspiration . Where Jackson ’s muse is the farmers market , George ’s at the Cove ’s chef Trey Foshee find his muse foraging the coast . The aspect of that seacoast from George ’s “ Table Three ” may be the only thing as expert as the food .

1. Little Italy

all-important restaurants : Juniper & Ivy , Bracero Cocina de Raiz , Herb & WoodLittle Italy propose its own trio of majuscule chef . But with names like Richard Blais , Javier Plascencia , and Brian Malarkey , the lightness shine even brighter . Blais ’ arriver in town withJuniper & Ivyshowed San Diego – and Little Italy – in a new light . It was , not to put too hunky-dory a period on it , the first clip a well - known chef select to come here to imbed his flag . And there ’s nothing at the eatery that disappoints . Blais ’ “ left coast cookery ” put a local twisting on the proficiency - driven cuisine that bring him to notoriety in the first stead , and never bores .

Plascencia’sBracero Cocina de Raizgives a high - visibility San Diego face to the New Cuisine of Baja that has transformed the dining scene to the south of the margin . There may be no two dishes in town intimately than Plascencia ’s corn whisky masa crispy perfect egg and the peewee and off-white marrow sopes .

And just when it seemed good to spell Brian Malarkey off as his “ Fabric of Social Dining ” unraveled , he plant a newfangled flag withHerb & Wood . This clock time , the cooking that made him a Top Chef has come to the prow or else of the ambition . His roasted branzino with lemon herb stuffing , olives , and chili tapenade roll in serrano ham is the salutary discourse of the Pisces I ’ve sample in this town , hands down .

Indeed , there really is n’t much that separates Nos . 1 and 2 on the leaning . Both neighborhoods are led by a trio of marquise restaurants helmed by top chefs . In both Little Italy and La Jolla , it would have been easy to go another two or three restaurants deep without much , if any , dropoff in the level of excellency . In both neighborhood , there is a immense regalia of additional eateries that , in another part of Ithiel Town , might have advance notice here in their own right hand .

There are really only two things that separate Little Italy and La Jolla . First is the sheer superstar power of Blais , Plascencia , and Malarkey ( and no , despite the proximity of Little Italy to Downtown , that is not a law house ) . Second , though , is the walkability factor . A Little Italy resident can get from one side of the neighborhood to the other on infantry , shaving , hitting a gastropub , brewery , or bar on the way .

It is , in light , a neck of the woods .

pho hoa