Nick's Del Mar — Restaurant in San Diego

Let me be clear the rating is for my most recent experience here. I have been to this restaurant (and their other location in Carlsbad) several times and always had a top-notch experience. However on Tuesday last week I was with a large party (7) for my in-laws' anniversary. We were unable to book online due to party size, so just walked in around 6:30pm to put our name on the list. Unfortunately, one the folks working at the host stand was new and quoted a wait of approximately 30-45 minutes. This was not an issue for us so we began our wait. However, after awhile we requested an update and were told the first person was new and misquoted us, that it would be at least another 25 minutes. At this point I opted to place an order for the child in our party, hoping it would be ready around the time we were seated. I was told I could place an order with the host, like to-go order. I ordered a cheeseburger, and she asked me if I would like a kids cheeseburger. I said I didn't realize there was a kid's menu, so she pulled out a handwritten menu from a drawer and read off to me the other options. I decided to stick with the cheeseburger and placed the order.

After more than an hour of waiting so far, the manager (Brittani, I believe) comes to tell us that unfortunately due to the size of the restaurant, limited seating options for a party of 7, and that one of their large tables was also a special occasion, it may be another 30 minutes. She let us know they were on their dessert and coffee course so hopefully would be wrapping up soon. She did offer to put in some appetizers for us. While waiting for the appetizers, our to-go order came out and I paid for it (without noting the price). The burger and fries came to ~$22. Shortly after, the appetizers we ordered came out. Mind you, we are eating this food in the waiting area at the front of the restaurant. Someone also let us know that the large party table had paid and would hopefully be leaving soon. But we didn't see anyone exiting the restaurant.

Finally, around 8pm (1.5 hrs of waiting) the majority of our party is hungry and tired of waiting so they decide to go somewhere else. My husband asked about the cost of the burger, so I checked and realized it seemed high for a kids burger. So I went to inquire with the host about the price for the kids burger and the other person at the front, a young man, tells me there is no kids cheeseburger. So of course, now I'm wondering why I was offered one. At this point, I asked to speak to the manager again.

I calmly explained our situation, and how we have historically had excellent service and experiences at Nicks. She was very apologetic, explained the young lady at the host stand was new and she had been corrected already on a few things and would need to be spoken to tonight as well. She also explained again about the misquote of the wait time and apologized for the miscommunication. She said she already planned to comp the apps and offerred to refund the burger as well, which was appreciated.

I won't let this ruin my opinion of Nick's forever, but it definitely doesn't make me want to rush back there. I think they could have been more transparent after the misquoted wait time and maybe just suggested they would not be able to seat us. Also, if you have a brand new person working at the host stand, maybe don't leave them unattended. I hope they can learn from the mistakes and improve...

My wife and I have been coming here for a year now. The first review I left was five stars across the board because they so deserved it. My wife has to come down about once a month for work and I tag along. We are down for two weeks this time and were able to go twice. I have to say that we were disappointed on both visits.

The food was excellent as always, however with the loss of a couple of the dishes, the menu feels really fish and salad heavy. There is a large steak, that is way too much meat, Baby Back Ribs, Chicken Piccata, and Fried chicken along with a few sandwiches. Even the special was fish on both a Sunday and a Thursday.

Even this would have been okay but the service was really off. First of all, on both visits we were not told they were out of the Prime Rib Dip until I tried to order it. If you take the time to inform the customers about the specials, it is also important to let them know what you are out of. You leave the customer in the awkward position to try to quickly figure out what it is that they want to order instead of what they wanted. I actually come for the Prime Rib Dip. It is a perfect version of it in my view. While I understand it may not always be available, I would like to know before I'm being asked for what I want that it is not available.

When my wife then tried to order the Bistro Plate but wanted to sub out the salad for the Market Vegetables, she was told that there were no substitutions except for double salad if she didn't want the soup. I get this might be a special plate but it's a bit much to not even have an option for an upcharge substitution, especially after being out of the Prime Rib Dip.

Both visits had various issues. Most were nit-picky things that if nothing else was off, I would put off to just being busy. An example being slower refills than I've experienced in the past. As I said, this would not have caused me to bat an eye if it hadn't been for everything else.

From the moment our waiter greeted us, on the second trip, it felt like they were a bit resentful for some reason. I get everyone has a bad night from time to time. If it were not for the other bit's as well, I could have overlooked this but it really ruined what can be a spectacular experience.

I've said it many times, customer service can elevate an mediocre experience into a great memory or make what is otherwise a stellar experience into a terrible evening out. Unfortunately, this was an example...

Nick's reminds me quite a bit of Hillstone Group restaurants (Houston's, Hillstone, Bandera, etc). The menu is similar in that it is on the small side and also they share a number of common items. Houston's was always one of my favorite places in L.A. and they used to be a few we could go to, but most have since closed.

Nick's follows the Houston's protocol of having a limited number of items but doing all of them superbly well. I have tried the Prime Rib French Dip at Nick's, as it was my all time favorite at Houston's. It is pretty close but not quite there. The old Houston's one was a little bit bigger, but nevertheless, the one at Nick's is still phenomenal.

Last night we visited again and they were out of the French Dip so we ordered the Spinach & Artichoke Dip (another Houston's favorite) for starters, then a Aged Top Sirloin and Buttermilk Fried Chicken for my wife and I, respectively. The Spinach & Artichoke Dip was amazing and much better than we remember it at Houston's. My wife loved her steak and thought it was cooked perfectly. I was amazed at the fried chicken, which was basically two large boneless, flattened schnitzel/cutlet patties with a great breading/batter, covered in gravy and served with mashed potatoes and a biscuit. It was huge. The same price as the French Dip but much larger. I had to bring half of it home and I am a big eater, but maybe the Caesar Salad and appetizer slowed me down a bit. Our son had the kids chicken fingers, which he loves (he is quite picky).

The prices are on the high side, but unlike nearly everything else in One Paseo or Del Mar Highlands Town Center, the food is actually worth it. I would say this is probably the best restaurant on this side of town. I go to Urban Plates much more and I love it, but Nick's is in a different league (in quality, ambiance and of course price).

Highly recommended. They do fill up quick on weekends but it's work trying to book a table online as we were able to get one an hour earlier than quoted by...