<p>My husband and I are going on a trip (business for me) to San Diego in late Sept. We are staying downtown close to the convention center.
Looking for restaurant recommendations - definitely Mexican, but open to touristy, traditional or upscale. Also Italian. Seafood is OK, but we get good seafood at home, so it should be indicative of the Pacific Coast. This is our first just us getaway in years, so romantic would be good. We haven’t decided on a car yet, I would love to go up the coast a little, but I will be tied up in meetings most of the days, and DH already has some excursions planned in SD, so we will probably forgo the car. We’re going to a padres game.</p>
<p>5th street downtown (in the Gaslamp District) is a restaurant row and has many fine choices and will probably be walking distance from your hotel. </p>
<p>My recommendations (you will need a car for all of these except George’s):</p>
<p>Italian
- Lorna’s – My favorite place. 3945 Governor. Moderately priced. It’s a caf</p>
<p>‘Old Town’ is close to downtown and you could get there on the trolley (light rail). It has a lot of Mexican restaurants within walking distance of each other. It’s where San Diego started and has some of the original buildings that are setup as museums. It’s worth walking around. One Mexican place there I’ve been to a couple of times that we liked is the Cafe Coyote -
[Cafe</a> Coyote: Authentic Mexican Food in Old Town San Diego](<a href=“http://www.cafecoyoteoldtown.com/]Cafe”>http://www.cafecoyoteoldtown.com/)
It’s about next door to the Old Town Mexican Cafe -
[Old</a> Town Mexican Cafe - Sign On San Diego . com](<a href=“http://www.oldtownmexcafe.com/]Old”>http://www.oldtownmexcafe.com/)</p>
<p>As coureur said, there are lots of restaurants in the Gaslamp area which is walking distance to the convention center.</p>
<p>Also downtown is ‘Seaport Village’ which is a shopping area on the bay. There are some restaurants there and it’s a decent place to walk around. You can walk there from the convention center and the couple of large bayfront hotels. A bit further up (a few blocks or so) is where the San Diego Bay tour boats are berthed. I recommend doing this tour. They also have nighttime dinner cruises on the bay you might enjoy for something different. </p>
<p>If you can and have time, rent a car for at least a day and head north from downtown and check out the Mission Bay area as well and head up to La Jolla - around La Jolla Cove. La Jolla Cove is very scenic. Walk along the waterfront there. Just south of the cove (walking distance) is the ‘Children’s Pool’ which is really another cove. It’s now typically frequented by lots of seals. That whole area is very scenic. From the cove you can walk a couple of blocks to downtown La Jolla which has a number of more expensive restaurants and shopping. </p>
<p>Make sure you try some fish tacos here if you haven’t had them before and like fish okay. Rubios is a fast food type of place that has some good ones. When you look for Mexican places there are zillions of small places in strip malls, etc. and some of them are very good. My family like Robertos (the local chain coureur mentioned) but I only like some of their stuff (bean tostadas, machaca burritos).</p>
<p>Oh, and when you fly in, sit on the left side of the plane if possible. The descent into San Diego airport is one of the most scenic airport landings (and I’ve been to lots of airports). You can see the Coronado bay bridge arcing from downtown over to Coronado and you come in almost right next to the tall downtown buildings. You also have a great view of the bay as you come in.</p>
<p>Coronado is another interesting place to go. You can take a ferry over there. Once you’re there head to the Hotel Del Coronado (> 100 years old, DisneyWorld modeled one of their hotels after it) and that area but you might need to cab it from the ferry landing or rent bicycles. For romantic, a lot of people like the restaurant in the Hotel Del (but I’ve never eaten there - haha).</p>
<p>For a special meal, we really enjoyed The Marine Room in La Jolla.
For Italian, try Jack and Guilio’s in Old Town San Diego.
We like the quaint atmosphere at La Pinata and the food was great at Zocalo Grille for Mexican.</p>
<p>I second Cafe Coyote. 
Ate there on a trip I took to SD last year and it was EXCELLENT. And moderately priced, to boot.</p>
<p>Try chowhound.com for oodles of reviews written by foodies. Chowhounds favor lesser known restaurants that serve outstanding food, but also also acknowledge well known restaurants if the eats are good.</p>
<p>On our recent trip to Italy, we found chowhound to be dead on.</p>
<p>As a bonus, you could spend almost as much time on chowhound as on CC. :)</p>
<p>Thanks ya’ll! You are making me hungry, and making me rethink the decision to not rent a car.
How many minutes is the drive to La Jolla? Worst scenario with traffic?</p>
<p>Okay, maybe this is too touristy. But I do love sitting outside at one of the restaurant cafes on the beach at the Hotel Del. (Hotel Del Coronado). Lovely on a lovely day. And I think it would qualify as romantic ;). You can walk on the beach before or after.</p>
<p>Agree with all of the above suggestion as well. </p>
<p>Drive to La Jolla = “half hour”. (This is an inside joke with my San Diego friends; the drive to ANYWHERE in the area, in our minds is “half hour”).</p>
<p>cangel:</p>
<p>It should only take about 20 minutes to drive to La Jolla - it’s not all that far. You just go straight up the freeway (I-5). Traffic’s not generally that much of a problem. If you really don’t want to drive you could take about a 50 minute a bus there (the 'Silverado/Herschel stop is downtown La Jolla from where you can walk to the cove - about 1/3 of a mile or so).
[Route</a> 30 timetable](<a href=“http://transit.511sd.com/Services/TimeTable.aspx?r=30&d=North&display=V&tod=wd]Route”>http://transit.511sd.com/Services/TimeTable.aspx?r=30&d=North&display=V&tod=wd)</p>
<p>jmmom-rather like driving anywhere in LA County takes 20 minutes. :)</p>
<p>We had a great meal at El Agave in Old Town last spring. Very cute, rather romantic decor. Expensive but not hideously so.</p>
<p>Thanks for the chowhound.com recommendation. Turns out that I have been driving near a restaurant that has some of the best salsas in San Diego and I never knew it. Now I’ll have to try it the next time I’m down in SD.</p>
<p>I like to check the places covered by the weird guy from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives</p>
<p>[Diners</a>, Drive-ins and Dives: TV: Food Network](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_dv]Diners”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_dv)</p>
<p>You can play with an interactive map and find the few places in San Diego.
[Google</a> Maps](<a href=“Guy's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives - Google My Maps”>Guy's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives - Google My Maps)</p>
<p>The locals experts might have an opinion on Hodad’s or El Indio. :)</p>
<p>Hodad’s
5010 Newport Ave.
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
Tel: (619) 224-4623 </p>
<p>El Indio
3695 India St.
San Diego , CA
Tel: (619) 299-0333
Website: [Bienvenidos</a>! El Indio, Mexican Restaurant & Catering. Family Owned and Operated Since 1940](<a href=“http://www.el-indio.com%5DBienvenidos”>http://www.el-indio.com)</p>
<p>Athens Market in the Gas Lamp district is also quite good if you like greek food. I always order the lamb chops.</p>
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<p>That was the line from the movie “Clueless,” but the reality is driving anywhere in LA county takes about 50 minutes to an hour.</p>