Dockside 1953 — Restaurant in San Diego

My family and I were staying at the Bahai resort and we had been driving around looking for somewhere downtown and by the beach to eat. We couldn’t find anywhere to park so we decided to go back to the resort and eat at the restaurant.

We arrive to Dockside and speak with the hostess and we tell her we have 2 plus a high chair. I cannot remember her name but she had medium length brown curly hair. She tells us that since we do not have a reservation, the earliest she can seat us is at 745PM. We tell her to leave our names on the list and if we decide to cancel we will come back and let her know. We go to Airstream and see if they have anything hearty but they did not. We walk around the grounds and visit the blind seals. After roughly 20minutes we return to Dockside to let her know we are keeping reservation. So we wait out by the beach. The time is now 745PM. We are waiting outside letting our 10month walk around. As I look over a couple walks in and says they are needing a table for 2 - the hostess without hesitation tells them they can be seated right away. Another couple of 2 walks in and gets seated again. My husband and I are upset and wondering why we haven’t been called. We walk up to the host stand and let the hostess know we are checking in. Now she did get us seated after a few minutes However please teach your hostesses if they have names on a list that they take precedence over those not a list. I have been in the serving industry for high end restaurants for over 10 years and would make sure to go in order and availability for tables. I say that because she sat both the 2 -tops at a 4 person table where a high chair could EASILY fit.

As we get to our table we are greeted by our server Sarah. Sarah MADE our evening after such a distasteful start with the hostess. Sarah made sure everything was spaced out and also made sure to get our 10months food out as soon as possible!! Sarah was knowledgeable, patient, had a great personality, excellent service and I love the fact that she even talked with our little 10 month girl. It may not seem like a big deal but the fact that she took time to speak with our little one made me happy and felt like you cared. The quality of the food was AMAZING and the price point matches with what you are getting from great portions to the flavor. Even our drinks were delightful. My husband got the Rye experience and I got the Rosemary- Mint Collin’s. The drinks, food and Sarah made our evening!

Do yourself a favor and ensure you make a reservation especially on the weekends(to avoid getting by passed by hostesses) and ask to sit with SARAH! Sarah will take...

Overall it was a good experience, but unfortunately I felt it was not worth the price. I went on a December 31st. And when I made my reservation I was not warned that there was only a new year's eve menu and the regular menu was not available, that was a surprise I had after seating at the table. It was a $95 dinner that even though I can afford, I wasn't planning on doing based on the prices showed on the menu. The waiter when we complained that we weren't told about that simply said "well if it's not for you then 🤷🏻‍♂️" and walked away. We decided to stay since it was 9pm new years eve and we didn't want to risk going elsewhere and not finding where to dine. We all loved the food, except the beef which was slightly overcooked on each of our plates, usually that's not an issue, but given the price tag on it, I would expect better. All other dishes (salmon, lamb, shrimp, risotto, etc) were very good and we were happy, later on the waiter showed his friendly side and we enjoyed him the rest of the night. The last nite I had is that around the third course, my wife went to the restroom just to see there was no toilet paper, then the only restaurant employee she saw told her he couldn't do anything (he was a bartender) and suggested going to another bathroom which was confusing for her. I understand that can happen, the problem comes when the problem is not addressed. At the end of our dinner my mom and niece go to the restroom and also find out there's no toilet paper yet (that's a out 20 minutes later). The place was nowhere even close to be packed and there should've been someone just solving that issue. The final drop was that the menu mentioned that in parties of 6 or more would have an automatic gratuity added to the check, which is perfectly fine as we're all used to that being the standard, yet the check arrived with an extra 3% service charge besides the 20% of gratuity already added that we were also not made aware of beforehand and was not well received by anyone. It's a shame that such a great location and mostly great food was shadowed by negligence and bad communication with the customer, I know now if I wanted to spend over $100 per person on my new years eve dinner I'm definitely not...

This was our first time dining at this restaurant located on the Bahia Resort grounds in lovely San Diego! We wanted our reservations to be at 5 PM, so we went online that morning before they opened, but the choices started w 6:00 PM. So I would suggest that if anyone has a time constraint, requiring an early dinner, try to make your reservations 2-3 days ahead to ensure that you get the time slot that you require. Also, since there may be fewer key tables with great views inside than the many tables with views of the water & sun on the patio, the early the reservations the better!

What a memorable evening this was, thanks to the staff who made us feel like VIPs. Oh, I must tell you (so, like myself, you don't have to ask), that if some diners consider the dinner menu too pricey for their budget and/or too much food for those with tiny appetites, you only have to ask for a lunch menu which is always available upon request! 🧐

The pictures attached (we forgot to take a pic of the hummus w chips and veggies appetizer plus of the key lime pie ✅️) are of the lovely sea bass with risotto, 18 oz ribeye with gouda Mac 'n Cheese, flatbread w prosciutto, wedge salad w blue cheese, jumbo crab cake over tortilla chips, and the best clam chowder that this senior traveler has ever tasted! For desert, we had vanilla ice cream wo frills and with a strawberry glaze. I didn't see the bill because our accompanying guys split it; however, I can say that I personally assess that the "welcome to San Diego" & "thank you for being a friend" meal was very well worth the cost! Hmm-Hmm-Good!

Oh! Any tip given is routinely combined with an obligatory 3% that's added to the overall meal service bill is shared by all staff to cover the recent voter-mandated hourly wage increase as well as an incentive for the front of the house and the back of the house to unite in order to ensure that each customer has a great dining experience! Kudos to the entire staff, including the evening 'boss', who came out to thank us for trusting them to make our gathering of 1 San Diegan and 3 Kansas Citians memorable on Friday,...