Rustic Root — Restaurant in San Diego

Where shall I begin? I guess I should start off by the greeted from the front desk, I introduce myself and let the young lady know I had reservation and the table no#. This was a pre-planned birthday arranged by myself and Rustic Roof months advance. The lady immediately zoomed in and says to me, there is going to be a cover charge for outside cake and I said no problem I will pay, mind you we haven't step foot in the restaurant.

My few guess and I made our way upstairs to the rooftop to the reserved table.

Sorry, if I forgot your name a manager came to me and I explained to her this was a 25th bday celebration and I was not aware a charge for the outside cake. She said she would waive the charge, since I have a minimum $1000. My sister and I order Crandberry Lemon drop martini, but the bartender tried to trick us and instead of lemon drop it was grapefruit as if we would not notice. My sister immediately said it taste like grapefruit. The waitress offer to take it back, but I said that's okay.

What if I or my sister would of had a bad allergic reaction?

I was asked twice how many guess was I expected and I said around 11 to 13. So far it was only 5 to 6 were present. By the end of the night it was 11 of us, instead of 15. The waitress brought one of each appetizers meatball (serving size 5 to 6) and same serving size for the firecracker shrimp for those who arrived early which was 6 to 7. As all the guess finally showed up 11, I request to order more appetizer and again offer to pay, but it appears the waitress ignored my request. However, there was no problem with her taking plenty of drink orders. It felt rushed and she begin to take the main course order. I really wanted to try the lobster pappardelle, but because some of my guess did not eat pork or beef Rustic Roof accommodated by switching out the lobster pappardelle for salmon, but again I would have paid. The waitress says to me you cannot order because the chef has a set menu for your table.

I was told in advance the guest could order something different from RR menu.

As the evening progress, I notice Jason Momoa look-alike(Security Guard) begin to monitor our table. I whisper to my sister our table is being watch as if we were going to skip out and not pay.

We wasn't loud or making a any type of scene, we was just enjoy the evening and happy to get together as a family should. It was dishearten to say the least, but he did offered to take a group pic.

The first waitress who waited on us, I gave her her a gooooooooood tip and it was only 5 to 6 of us. The second waitress I was not please. The security guards was busy watching our table.

The food lack flavor, not served hot (more like warm) the portion size is not going to make you full, and at the end of the night the bill was over $1500 ( I paid cash w/except of $50 on my cc) a little expensive.

Rustic Roof don't judge the book cover without reading the book. There are some good wholesome African American families who just want to have...

Food is pretty good here (just some tiny complaints here and there) But service is great!

Also really really love the aesthetic you! We were seated on the rooftop and it was really vibey with the music and all of that. No wait time for brunch either!

I got the Kale Caesar Salad with Chicken (baby kale, shaved parmesan, roasted tomatoes, pine nuts, sourdough croutons, caesar dressing) And it went much above my expectations. Some of the kale salads I've had recently at restaurants have all been with the shredded kale and grated Parmesan all over it. But this was so much better. Soft baby kale with shaved Parmesan on top and some really good roasted tomatoes to go with. This was a very good triple threat! I usually ask for no tomatoes on my salad but the roasted ones here were so good. The flavor went together very well with the kale and the Parmesan and the dressing together. That dressing was also really nice and creamy. A housemade Caesar dressing I think. As for that chicken? Oh man, this chicken was so soft! So perfectly cooked. I wouldn't mind having it just plain with that dressing and some bits of kale.

I also asked for extra greens on the side and the server gave me a side salad worth of baby kale topped with even more roasted tomatoes and croutons. All of this at no charge. Really great service here!

One complaint here though was the sourdough croutons. They were extremely oily! It was like they were deep fried in oil or something. So even though they were crunchy all I could taste was oil and not bread. I ended up eating only two or three pieces of croutons and leaving the rest out.

My husband got the Greek Chicken Wrap (sun-dried tomato tortilla, grilled chicken breast, romaine , roasted olives, garlic hummus, cucumber, marinated tomatoes, feta, greek dressing) And he loved it. He was very impressed by how all the flavors went together, and also how much vegetable there was in there. I tried some of it and it was pretty good. Just not the flavor combination I was going for that day. I asked him later again and he said he actually loved that wrap a lot.

The hummus inside there was really nice as well. I took some out to have plain, and it was good.

He also got a side salad instead of potatoes or fries. It came with mixed greens and the same Caesar dressing from my salad. A good portion for a side salad.

Husband also got the Passport (Pineapple & Passionfruit Hard Cider) for the drinks. I'm definitely not a fan of beer because of that harsh bitter taste, but It was a hard cider so I gave it a go. It was like a rich juice with a punch because of that alcohol. Definitely not close to a beer and something I could actually sip on. He...

Rustic root was mediocre for my husband and I. We have lived here for over 3 years and had never been so we were excited to try it!

Limited food menu. Not many options, we ended up getting the burger and fries + added a Caesar salad. The Caesar was great, had amazing flavor! The burger felt a little sad and honestly wasn’t anything special. Same with the fries which unfortunately came out cold. We added ranch on the side, which was super herbal so that also wasn’t that great. But I will admit - i’m a huge ranch snob so I’ll give that one a pass!

Service was so slow when we first sat down. Even the waters took forever, we just kinda sat for a very long time twirling our thumbs. No one even came by for a while to just acknowledge us. Going to give the restaurant credit for this one though because it was Comic Con. So totally understand the bigger crowd than normal!

One thing that did stand out was our server Tyler G. He was so sweet and kept apologizing so that was definitely the highlight of our experience. Just to be acknowledged and know that he was working hard running around like crazy! So I’ll give service a pass because of the busy weekend and Tyler being great! Just felt like maybe the restaurant was short staff so I felt bad for him, but he was very professional.

Ambiance was ok. We sat downstairs and everything just felt kind of bland? The chairs were SUPER uncomfortable. We first sat at the bar at first waiting for our table and I swear that seat was literally able to break. After moving to our table, I couldn’t even sit in the booth because it was so sunk in and I was so uncomfortable. I switched seats with my husband and it was a little easier for me. Being 7 months pregnant, I know this was probably a me thing but all of the little things were adding up.

If it was just one thing then I would Have probably given it another star but between the mediocre food, slow service when we first sat down, uncomfortable seating, bland ambiance, I unfortunately would not recommend. I have friends coming to visit and I was hoping it was a good spot downtown to recommend but it really needs more food options.

I do very much appreciate what a hard worker Tyler was with everyone and how sweet he was with us! That definitely made us feel comfortable and taken care of. I left there feeling happy because of his professionalism. Also, my husband did appreciate the great amount of drink selection (cocktails, beer, wine, mocktails) and enjoyed his beer!

Maybe next time, just a stop at the bar (when I’m not pregnant). Good location...