Kingfisher — Restaurant in San Diego

If Kingfisher is your introduction to Vietnamese food, I would applaud you for foraying into a world of fragrant flavors, fusion-before-fusion-was cool tastes, and nuanced textures. Then I would tell you that Kingfisher falls short on these expectations and that you should - no, must - try other restaurants that serve Vietnamese food to understand that there really is no need to westernize Vietnamese food to the point that it has lost much of the charm and soul of Southeast Asian cooking. The major issue for me with Kingfisher is that it appears, conceptually, to be built on what the Vietnamese think that non-Vietnamese would imagine French-influenced Vietnamese would taste like, and in doing so, relegates Vietnamese flavors, ingredients, and methods of cooking to a secondary role. What results is a mishmash of flavors, ingredients and textures that is more akin to Napa Valley/California cuisine with some Asian (not necessarily Vietnamese) touches. Take the fried chicken wings. They were ok, but they were essentially Korean-style fried chicken with a sticky sweet sauce (I'm looking at you, Bon Chon chicken). The duck pate was smooth but lacked depth, and was easily overpowered by the kumquat preserves. Perhaps unforgivably so, the baguette served with the pate was insipid and flavorless. Unforgivable. Inexcusable. If there's one shining example of French colonialism (and there are few, sad to say), it's that the Viets adopted and some would say perfected the baguette. The same sad baguette re-appeared alongside our curry dish and we were equally unimpressed. In the spirit of full disclosure, my maternal grandparents were bakers in Hanoi and Saigon so bad baguettes in a Vietnamese restaurant are really disappointing. The vegetarian curry dish, which was among the simplest items we ordered for dinner, was also the best dish of the night, with the roasted carrots full of flavor and savoriness to compensate for the pedestrian kaffir-lime-tinged curry sauce and claggy blobs of fingerling potatoes (at least cut the potatoes up so that more surface is covered by the sauce, for goodness sake!). As for the baguette that came with the curry, it sat unloved and untouched. We moved on to the dry aged duck platter, which turned out to be an example of style over substance. Beautifully presented, the duck platter consisted of sliced duck breast seared rare/medium rare, one confit duck leg/thigh, a swirling mass of slippery cold rice noodles and an assortment of radicchio and butter/romaine leaves for wrapping. The duck breast was fine, but it pretty much tasted like a maigret duck breast served at any French bistro with a tinge of funkiness from the dry-aging.The duck leg confit was tender but when served at room temperature, it did not have the velvety texture of the meat nor the crispy richness of the skin that we love so much in duck confit. We were told that to eat the duck leg confit, it was best to pull the meat off the bones and then mix it with the noodles. We did so and thought it tasted like - well - duck leg confit bits mixed with cold rice noodles. The two sauces served - a variation of nuoc cham and some funky soybean paste - and the bitter radicchio leaves did little to enhance the appeal of the dish. For us, this entree came across as disjointed, with the duck breast, the confit leg, the noodles, the lettuce leaves, and sauces never really melding together. Perhaps another visit to try the other items on the menu might change our impression of this restaurant. Before that, however, I think we'll try another one of the many mom&pop Vietnamese restaurants that serve some of the most satisfying and, more often than not, inspired and skillfully prepared dishes in the Vietnamese culinary repertoire. I suggest you do the same to establish the baseline, if you will, of what good solid classic Vietnamese food is like, and then compare...

I grew up in San Diego and used to live in Golden Hill a number of years ago when I was in my mid 20s so it was great to be back in the old neighborhood. Drove down from Los Angeles specifically for this dinner and met a few friends and we all had a great meal. It’s great to see an upscale restaurant being added to the sleepy Golden Hill neighborhood. I would say this has to be the best restaurant in Golden Hill. It’s Asian fusion complete with a really cool and upscale bar. The flavors and item combinations are very unique here. For instance, Beef Tartare is done Asian fusion style so even though I order Beef Tartare all over the place, these flavors were extremely different for this classic dish. It was like that for all the dishes that we tried. They recommend ordering 3 to 4 dishes per person and then sharing as most of the items are share portions, except for a few of the entrées at the very bottom of the menu. They have a very large drink section as well with a lot of great options. Our server was very polite and so was the hostess. We were able to be seated right after arriving and didn’t have to wait for our table. It’s very dimly lit on the inside, but in a very romantic way. It’s definitely the sort of place that is designed for dinner with friends or family or a date. Not so much for a work dinner but I believe it would be possible. Parking in the area is fairly easy although they don’t have a parking lot. It will be free street parking.

They have a lot of great options on the menu as mentioned, so it was hard to choose what we wanted. I wanted to order the Beef Carpaccio to start, but they had run out of it an hour before we got there. Instead, I started with the Beef Tartare, which was fantastic. I followed that up with the Duck Liver Pate, and it was very smooth and tasty. Sometimes pate can be a bit too strong flavor wise, but this was light and very rich and flavor. For my entrée, I chose the Striped Seabass and really enjoyed it. The skin was very crispy and the fish was cooked perfectly. The flavor combinations were very unique and it really added a nice new spin on a classic dish that I order often.

Overall, I would say that Kingfisher is now my favorite restaurant in Golden Hill and I would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a great dinner in San Diego. They fill up their reservations fast so I would recommend booking out as far as you can. We wanted to do indoor seating, but it was already filled three weeks prior to making our reservation so we had to sit on the heated patio, which was nice because it allowed us to people watch. I plan to be back during one of my next trips down...

This is really a wonderful Vietnamese-French upscale restaurant that has a great sense of both flavor and smart vibes all across its menu.

For us, we usually come to Kingfisher via rideshare which is a quick ride from downtown SD, but if you do drive, there usually does seem to be street parking.

We also commit to reservations each and every time as well although it has been a bit easier to nab a reservation in recent months.

Coming into the restaurant, it's a beautiful area with a bar in the center and tables surrounding the area. It feels like a modern interpretation of Metropolis - art deco vibes with moody lighting. There's also a small patio area which is where we sat in our first visit with heat lamps during the colder months. When it gets noisy inside, I think the patio is a great option.

Service is also pretty great across the board. Our server on our first visit (apologies, we forgot your name!) was amazing. He walked us through the menu and gave us nice food hacks throughout when possible.

We've hit a lot of different menu items now with our various visits - here are some highlights:

*Dry aged duck: This is a dish we had to actually go back a second time because they sold out. Would come either early or try to denote in your reservation notes. We thought it was definitely worth getting and meaty. Love the crisp of the skin. Love that you can construct your lettuce wraps with lots of fun side dishes.

*Kurobata pork collar: This was the entree we went with our first visit as the duck had sold out. And we were pleasantly surprised. Definitely the easier dish to eat between this and the duck - gotta love the tamarind puree and herbs to really give the dish a wonderful vibrancy.

*Tail snapper crudo: A really solid appetizer to start with. Love the acidity and brightness of the dish.

*Beef tartar: Also amazing. It has a slight kick to it as well as a crunch that is a bit different than the typical beef tartar. Loved that it came with sesame rice crackers and watercress.

*Duck liver pate: A solid pate dish with a tiny bit of spicy/kick. The baguette is delicious as well as the wonderful fruit.

*Vanilla flan: Such a freakin' good dessert - a delicious play on Vietnamese flan. I love the Vietnamese coffee the they pour all over the flan and that you can use throughout the entire meal to continue and coat the dessert. Best of all, you can ask for ice as well to truly get the Vietnamese feel.

We've also gotten many of the cocktails which are all pretty good. Believe my favorites are the Sesame soirée and Saigon Moped.

A fantastic find that I think is worth a...