Kamon Craft Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in San Diego

This place is everything. We had so much fun trying all the drinks here, they were all SO good, sophisticated, well balanced, and unique. The service was tip top checking on us frequently and bringing food and drinks out fast! I was most surprised at how amazing the bar food is! The only downside is the parking! Street parking downtown is not fun - but thats not their fault.

Here’s what we got: The stash - good balanced but boozy, sour with a tangy aftertaste. Keylime pie seems like an accurate description of the flavor 7/10 Tokyo banana - SO smooth, like I could sip this all day! Nice refreshing banana taste, but smells like graham cracker, a little tangy at the end of the sip. There’s just so many layers to this drink. The banana cream on top was also yummy. The salty cracker thing on top was good too 10/10 Umeboshi sour- love the sour foam and the presentation, can definitely taste the campari, but it is fairly fruity and surprisingly good for campari 6/10 Trash panda - can taste coconut well, the durian is also very noticeable but refreshing like a piña colada, not much pineapple taste in my opinion, very cinnamon-y, very creamy 8/10

Food: Tuna tostada - creamy, salty, crunchy, this is sooo good 15/10. The large tuna piece is hard to bite but I suppose kind of keeps it from falling off the tostada Bougie fries - smokey curry ketchup is pretty unique and delicious. Nice shaving of parmesan (although could use even more lol), spicy mayo sauce was also delicious! 10/10 Karaage - good tangy but not as crunchy as expected. I love a nice crunchy outside, its probably because the sauce was poured over rather than separate for dipping. I give it 8/10 for amazing flavor though, the cut is chicken thigh Wagyu surf and turf roll - very good, a little smokey taste from the seared beef on top. Nice sauce, doesnt need any soy sauce because theres already so much flavor. Really nicely balanced flavor 10/10

We will definitely be coming back in the future...

Outstanding drinks, outstanding service, and outstanding atmosphere, what more else is there to say? Definitely on par with or -- more likely -- superior to the top bars in San Diego. We were greeted at the door by their hostess and immediately seated at the bar. I can't speak highly enough of our bartender, who made our outstanding drinks with attention to detail, but also pretty impressively quickly, while also offering some friendly conversation. We had the Stashe and an espresso martini. As far espresso martinis go, it was absolutely ace. A depth of coffee flavor I've not experienced before. The Stashe answers your "what if" a citrusy dessert pie was turned into a drink. It was very easy drinking after our dinner. As far as atmosphere, it's very relaxing and tastefully done. I lived in Tokyo for two years, and while there I went to a number of their Taisho-styled, roaring 80s/90s bars. They're the sort of elegant places you could find on an movie set, with dark lighting, beautiful furniture, and attention to service -- where memberships or seating fees are a given, and where they pick clarified ice from a block and then spend five minutes carefully sanding it into a single perfect cube for your scotch on the rocks. I can see a lot of that same detail in the vibe at Kamon, all the way down to their professional uniforms that remind me a bit of Japan. We noticed our bartender was making some interesting new concoctions that might make it into a future menu, including something resembling a gin martini with a strawberry Amaro, meaning this place doesn't rest on its laurels. We look forward to returning, when perhaps I can try out a Kyoto Smoke...

Cocktails 5 stars; food 3 stars, reservation process and attempting to change it 1 star. Ambiance was great, but the music was waaayyy too loud, even for my subpar hearing.

The scallops were well cooked and seasoned, but tasted a little fishy. The chicken karaage had great flavors, but not crunchy. Truffle fries were good, could've used a little more salt. Crispy spicy tuna with caviar, just yes!

The yam master flash had viscosity and I could taste the yam when I closed my eyes and focused on the sip. The sesame in the old fashioned was notable. I liked the perfect sake martini, but was a bit too floral for hubby.

My favorite was the Negroni where I could taste the coffee liquor and chocolate bitters, and comes with a piece of chocolate. My recommendation is to try the Negroni, then take a bite of the chocolate, chew a little but not completely, take another sip of the Negroni. Definitely an experience!

Lucky goat has has goat cheese gin and I could actually taste goat cheese in a good way .

Now to the reservation part. Made reservations on open table, it said I could change it up to 24 hours ahead. Tried to change the time over 72 hours ahead, but was told I couldn't. Open table was no help and the bar never responded to my messages. Worst part was they had my credit card and would charge me if I didn't show. So be...