Chef PonSALTY! Would still give it another chance & hope feedback would be useful for the reopening in 2019! 5 stars for The Lemon dessert. 2 stars for excessive saltiness in 3 out of 3 appetizers--Mushroom Ragout, Calamari Steak, & Octopus Tower--overpowering the umami of the key ingredients. (Note: The lobster bisque--which we also had at Ponsaty's, was good but the natural sweet lobster flavor was unfortunately overshadowed by too much salt.) (2 Entrees, Venison Chops and Veal Cheeks were fine.) Dined here with dear hubby on Dec 25 & 4 days later on Dec 29 just to taste the "Michelin" menu available thru Dec 30, according to its website. We even told the restaurant that we were going back soon & were assured the "Michelin" menu would be available then. To our surprise & disappointment, the Michelin menu was no longer available after Dec 25. A restaurant of this level should have informed the customer in advance of important changes rather than disappointing the customer upon arrival.
Jennifer G.
This was amazing! We had the 5 course meal with wine pairings. I've eaten at European Michelin star restaurants and this was equally as good! It did not disappoint for the price. And be forewarned the price was hefty ! But well worth it my kids also enjoyed their meals, but hubby and had had near orgasmic experiences with each course that was presented. You just have the Lemon desert with its suggested dessert wine! Too bad it's in the hotel Del Coronado I did hear however that they are closing soon to remodel for a new restaurant, so hopefully this amazing chef can find a new location and venue to present his art.
Sally M.
The best of everything from the view, food, and service. My husband made the reservation for our party of four to celebrate my birthday when we stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado. Everyone was fry and greeted us warmly. We had their two course meal which included appetizers, main entrees, and desserts. All were beautifully presented and tasted amazing. The bread guy brings a few different fresh and hot breads to the table a couple of times and that was delicious.
Mark R.
Booked this dinner to celebrate Christmas (on Christmas) while enjoying the ambiance and history of The Hotel Del Coronado. It is the first time I have eaten at this restaurant. Upon our arrival we were greeted with a smile and quickly escorted to our table. The view from the table to the ice skaters and patio diners was slightly obstructed but nice and warm while it was in the 40's outside. We were presented with a pre fixe menu that had 2-4 choices for each of the four courses. For the first two courses we selected the arugula salad and lobster bisque which were both beautiful and delicious. Unfortunately this is where the rest of the meal went sideways. My date ordered the scallops and I ordered the Breast of Lamb. Presentation for both dishes were exceptional but minimal in substance for a meal priced at $145/ea plus $30/glass for our basic champagne and chardonnay selections. The (two) scallops were good but the pairing of clams and other decorations did not measure up to the claim the dish was "to die for". The lamb was the most disappointing element of the evening. While the sauce was rich and a perfect pairing to the lamb breast and polenta side, the lamb breast was unedible and could barely be cut due to a massive gristle vein in the middle of the breast serving. While I tried to cut and eat around the gristle it proved to be a futile effort. At these prices diners should not have to deal with cuts like this. We moved on to the dessert course and were equally disappointed. Like the main course, the Chef clearly focused more on the presentation than the taste. Both desserts were disappointments. The chocolate cake was tasteless and the hazelnut "football" wasnt worth cracking it open. We closed out the meal with some strong coffee I needed to swallow the $500+ tab.
George H.
Excellent indoor/outdoor location at the Dell. Great steaks, wine selection isn't bad either. Give it 2 hours minimum time to enjoy. Can be busy at times. I recommend reservations. $$$$
Paula S.
Over the top amazing is an understatement. The chef did a marvelous job from the delicious taste to presentation! Excellent customer service and beautiful restaurant with plenty of seating indoor or outdoor. Looking forward to our next visit.
Meredith R.
3rd time is the charm for my entree. 2 Prime rib. 1 over cooked, 2nd blue. Went with the salmon. Fingers crossed. Eating now... haha. Update: salmon was great
Alyssa S.
It was the best of meals, it was the worst of meals.... Luckily for 1500 Ocean the best came after the worst, so they're ending up with four stars instead of one. Evening did not start well. I've been here before - the food is pretty good but definitely not spectacular - the view is the star and it's very special. We made a reservation well in advance to celebrate our anniversary and requested the patio. We arrive and are told we can sit in the dark interior of the restaurant - they won't have a patio table for us for 30-45 minutes. I'm sorry, but no one drives down to the Del from other parts of San Diego to be shoved in the dark inside part of the restaurant. (If you're staying at the Del and didn't make a reservation in advance, you might not mind eating inside). Not pleased. After about 35 mins., we get our patio table. EXCEPT....it's literally inches away from a table inside. We might as well be at the same table. Super awkward. We try to move our table so we are a foot from them instead of 3 inches. And then it gets worse. After about 1 minute, the man whose table we have been seated on top of starts screaming and cursing at his wife. He calls her an a****** and tells her she shouldn't have f***** bothered to celebrate her anniversary if she was going to be such an a*******. The stream of screamed expletives continues and we can't believe what a disaster our 1500 Ocean experience is turning out to be. My sweetie goes into the hostess and says, "You just seated us on top of a table where the man is screaming and cursing at his wife." Her response? "Ok, thank you for telling me." Meaning, she's not going to do a damn thing about it. This is not Denny's, this is the Del. Was shocked. At this point, I'm going to give one star, call the hotel general manager the next day, etc., because it's much too late to make a reservation anywhere else in Coronado. And I am HANGRY. Luckily, at that moment, Maya and Brett arrived at our table. Brett asks sweetly, "How are you doing this evening?" To which I replied (audibly, since the man a few inches away was still cursing but at this point I didn't care), "Not very well, since this man is cursing and yelling at his wife and we had to wait 35 mins for this table." They looked shocked and went into action. My saying that also seemed to shut the man up finally. He remained behind us lurking for about 5 super tense minutes before they finally left, but at least Maya gave us some of their excellent BREAD in the meanwhile (yummy butter and sundried tomato-garlic spread) and I stopped being as hangry, and as soon as the couple left the evening got better. Brett gave us excellent advice, and got our entrees out FAST. I had the spectacular SALMON with black forbidden rice and smoked salmon consommé. You can imagine that after the meal's start I would not have been inclined to call any of the food fanastic. But Patrick Ponsaty has upped the food quality here considerably since his arrival. Really amazing dish. And then Brett comped us some gorgeous desserts. The chocolate ganache was what one expects at a restaurant with an acclaimed French chef, "correct" and yummy, but not anything to tell the world about. But "THE LEMON" was a shining star - one of the most spectacular and original desserts in San Diego right now. It looks like a lemon (see my picture) - but it's a trompe d'oeil. It's actually a hard chocolate shell with gold dust, with a custard inside of lemon, mint and other incredibly delicious stuff. I don't normally like lemon but this was so well balanced. Clearly the food (and service) must have been really amazing for me to still give four stars after an absolutely awful first 45 mins. One of the workers mentioned that it has been "like this all summer" regarding people not getting the tables they
Sandy S.
Had dinner here for our wedding anniversary it was pretty good! We had the oysters and crudo to start. Presentation was beautiful. For dinner my husband had the steak (amazing!!!) and I had the halibut plate (good, but wouldn't order again. I'd want to see what else is good on the menu). One slight negative, I did not like how they (as per protocol) only bring out the bread once the appetizers are served. (But what if you're in the mood for bread?) When apps come out, I like to just enjoy the apps I don't want to necessarily eat them with bread. I even asked our sever to have bread before, he said it will come out with the apps... their bread and butter is amazing, would have been nice to enjoy them with our drinks while we waited to be served. Anyways not a big deal but I love my bread and butter! For drinks everyone on the island who had been to the restaurant raved about the blackberry margarita was alright but it wasn't like "OMG this is the best thing ever!"
Cynthia H.
The dining here in Coronado Island does not suck! So far we've to Leroy's and now 1500 ocean, both places have left a very good impression on the family. We are from LA so having good food around is commonplace for us. Ocean 1500 has some modernist elements yet doesn't lack in flavor. The Carlsbad oysters were impressive! Had the sweet brininess of easy coast babies
Great location, excellent bread, then pretty much downhill. Wife's birthday and I don't mind spending money on a high end restaurant, but this was not worth the cost. Potential nice setting on veranda overlooking main lawn and ocean behind it. Only problem was that there was an event on lawn earlier and chairs and large platform (stage) were not broken down, so hundreds children of all ages were jumping on and off platform as if were school recess... anything but romantic. Basket of bread was delicious, and I soon found out why they pushed their complimentary bread basket... main course portions were extremely small so they want you to feel full (hence the bread) after your meal. Opah Crudo as an appetizer was good, but not worth $24. Wife's Maine Scallops and my Sea Bass were good as well, but for $45 and $42 respectively I've had much larger portions at many other fine dining establishments for less cost than this. Also, the artichokes that accompanied my Sea Bass were tough and chewy... so much so that I had to spit out the stringy pieces as they couldn't be swallowed. Bryan, our waiter, knew it was my wife's birthday but tried to push the regular dessert menu on us until I reminded him (again) that it was her birthday. Only then did he (grudgingly) bring out a complimentary dessert. Bottom line, we didn't feel much appreciated during our entire dining experience.
Caroline T.
This was one of the best seafood restaurants I have ever been too. We had met the maí®tre D' earlier that day to set a reservation and he was so friendly and accommodating. The atmosphere is upscale and definitely somewhere you would want to skip the flip flops and wear heels or flats. The menu seems slightly confusing if you haven't been to this type of restaurant before, however our waiter explained it to our table extremely well and I personally ended up getting the 3 course tasting meal. The only issue was someone at the table's filet mignon was tough and when they asked for it to be fixed, the waiter was almost stunned as if he didn't think this could possibly be an issue. The maí®tre D' offered salmon as a replacement, however collectively all the waiters around us seemed to be amazed that there was something wrong with the steak. I'm still giving this 5 stars because that was one hiccup from the whole night. Despite that, the chef was very understanding about allergies for me and everything was so delicious. I was thrilled to come there and see how friendly the whole staff was. I would recommend this restaurant to everyone who comes through Coronado, I even saw a family with five children from ages 0-7. Very impressed!
Lorie N.
Thumbs ups 5 course dinner experience. The service from everyone besides our server were on the normal side; this is not a fine dining experience, it's a more upscale dining experience. The food was good but not find dining good. I recommend doing the wine pairing with the 5 course dinner. Wine pours were generous and the wine selection were excellent. The sommelier did a great job in pairing the wine with different dishes. Our server, Amy was wonderful and relatable; she definitely elevated our dining experience. The view was fantastic. The fireworks took it to another level....perfect timing and view. Amy took us to the side where we could enjoy the fireworks even better and offered took pictures for us. If we didn't do the 5 course and with wine pairing, I would say, this restaurant was normal. Kudos to Amy and the sommelier! We can't wait to come back!!!
Vanessa B.
This is our second visit to San Diego. This time around, we decided to bring a couple of friends to enjoy and see how much we love SD. Two of our friends had t leave town early so we decided to take them out for one great meal in town. 1500 Ocean surely did not disappoint! We of course opted to their 5-Course Tasting with wine pairing. Stellar food to go with an outstanding service. The perfect way to end my friend's visit.
Wendy R.
We did the full 5 course with wine pairing. Truly an exceptional experience within a stunning environment. Happened to be be there during a HS Prom night, while none of the kids were dining at the restaurant, they were walking by on their way to the ballroom and watching them all dressed up was fun! I digress... The chef's amuse bouche was superb and as the wine poured freely, each course brought us more and more deliciousness. I have to be honest, by the time the desert course came around, I am not quite sure I remember exactly what chocolate happiness I enjoyed, but wow, what an AMAZING MEAL! Best to uber if doing the wine pairing as the pours are generous and the wine very top notch.
Chef PonSALTY! Would still give it another chance & hope feedback would be useful for the reopening in 2019! 5 stars for The Lemon dessert. 2 stars for excessive saltiness in 3 out of 3 appetizers--Mushroom Ragout, Calamari Steak, & Octopus Tower--overpowering the umami of the key ingredients. (Note: The lobster bisque--which we also had at Ponsaty's, was good but the natural sweet lobster flavor was unfortunately overshadowed by too much salt.) (2 Entrees, Venison Chops and Veal Cheeks were fine.) Dined here with dear hubby on Dec 25 & 4 days later on Dec 29 just to taste the "Michelin" menu available thru Dec 30, according to its website. We even told the restaurant that we were going back soon & were assured the "Michelin" menu would be available then. To our surprise & disappointment, the Michelin menu was no longer available after Dec 25. A restaurant of this level should have informed the customer in advance of important changes rather than disappointing the customer upon arrival.
This was amazing! We had the 5 course meal with wine pairings. I've eaten at European Michelin star restaurants and this was equally as good! It did not disappoint for the price. And be forewarned the price was hefty ! But well worth it my kids also enjoyed their meals, but hubby and had had near orgasmic experiences with each course that was presented. You just have the Lemon desert with its suggested dessert wine! Too bad it's in the hotel Del Coronado I did hear however that they are closing soon to remodel for a new restaurant, so hopefully this amazing chef can find a new location and venue to present his art.
The best of everything from the view, food, and service. My husband made the reservation for our party of four to celebrate my birthday when we stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado. Everyone was fry and greeted us warmly. We had their two course meal which included appetizers, main entrees, and desserts. All were beautifully presented and tasted amazing. The bread guy brings a few different fresh and hot breads to the table a couple of times and that was delicious.
Booked this dinner to celebrate Christmas (on Christmas) while enjoying the ambiance and history of The Hotel Del Coronado. It is the first time I have eaten at this restaurant. Upon our arrival we were greeted with a smile and quickly escorted to our table. The view from the table to the ice skaters and patio diners was slightly obstructed but nice and warm while it was in the 40's outside. We were presented with a pre fixe menu that had 2-4 choices for each of the four courses. For the first two courses we selected the arugula salad and lobster bisque which were both beautiful and delicious. Unfortunately this is where the rest of the meal went sideways. My date ordered the scallops and I ordered the Breast of Lamb. Presentation for both dishes were exceptional but minimal in substance for a meal priced at $145/ea plus $30/glass for our basic champagne and chardonnay selections. The (two) scallops were good but the pairing of clams and other decorations did not measure up to the claim the dish was "to die for". The lamb was the most disappointing element of the evening. While the sauce was rich and a perfect pairing to the lamb breast and polenta side, the lamb breast was unedible and could barely be cut due to a massive gristle vein in the middle of the breast serving. While I tried to cut and eat around the gristle it proved to be a futile effort. At these prices diners should not have to deal with cuts like this. We moved on to the dessert course and were equally disappointed. Like the main course, the Chef clearly focused more on the presentation than the taste. Both desserts were disappointments. The chocolate cake was tasteless and the hazelnut "football" wasnt worth cracking it open. We closed out the meal with some strong coffee I needed to swallow the $500+ tab.
Excellent indoor/outdoor location at the Dell. Great steaks, wine selection isn't bad either. Give it 2 hours minimum time to enjoy. Can be busy at times. I recommend reservations. $$$$
Over the top amazing is an understatement. The chef did a marvelous job from the delicious taste to presentation! Excellent customer service and beautiful restaurant with plenty of seating indoor or outdoor. Looking forward to our next visit.
3rd time is the charm for my entree. 2 Prime rib. 1 over cooked, 2nd blue. Went with the salmon. Fingers crossed. Eating now... haha. Update: salmon was great
It was the best of meals, it was the worst of meals.... Luckily for 1500 Ocean the best came after the worst, so they're ending up with four stars instead of one. Evening did not start well. I've been here before - the food is pretty good but definitely not spectacular - the view is the star and it's very special. We made a reservation well in advance to celebrate our anniversary and requested the patio. We arrive and are told we can sit in the dark interior of the restaurant - they won't have a patio table for us for 30-45 minutes. I'm sorry, but no one drives down to the Del from other parts of San Diego to be shoved in the dark inside part of the restaurant. (If you're staying at the Del and didn't make a reservation in advance, you might not mind eating inside). Not pleased. After about 35 mins., we get our patio table. EXCEPT....it's literally inches away from a table inside. We might as well be at the same table. Super awkward. We try to move our table so we are a foot from them instead of 3 inches. And then it gets worse. After about 1 minute, the man whose table we have been seated on top of starts screaming and cursing at his wife. He calls her an a****** and tells her she shouldn't have f***** bothered to celebrate her anniversary if she was going to be such an a*******. The stream of screamed expletives continues and we can't believe what a disaster our 1500 Ocean experience is turning out to be. My sweetie goes into the hostess and says, "You just seated us on top of a table where the man is screaming and cursing at his wife." Her response? "Ok, thank you for telling me." Meaning, she's not going to do a damn thing about it. This is not Denny's, this is the Del. Was shocked. At this point, I'm going to give one star, call the hotel general manager the next day, etc., because it's much too late to make a reservation anywhere else in Coronado. And I am HANGRY. Luckily, at that moment, Maya and Brett arrived at our table. Brett asks sweetly, "How are you doing this evening?" To which I replied (audibly, since the man a few inches away was still cursing but at this point I didn't care), "Not very well, since this man is cursing and yelling at his wife and we had to wait 35 mins for this table." They looked shocked and went into action. My saying that also seemed to shut the man up finally. He remained behind us lurking for about 5 super tense minutes before they finally left, but at least Maya gave us some of their excellent BREAD in the meanwhile (yummy butter and sundried tomato-garlic spread) and I stopped being as hangry, and as soon as the couple left the evening got better. Brett gave us excellent advice, and got our entrees out FAST. I had the spectacular SALMON with black forbidden rice and smoked salmon consommé. You can imagine that after the meal's start I would not have been inclined to call any of the food fanastic. But Patrick Ponsaty has upped the food quality here considerably since his arrival. Really amazing dish. And then Brett comped us some gorgeous desserts. The chocolate ganache was what one expects at a restaurant with an acclaimed French chef, "correct" and yummy, but not anything to tell the world about. But "THE LEMON" was a shining star - one of the most spectacular and original desserts in San Diego right now. It looks like a lemon (see my picture) - but it's a trompe d'oeil. It's actually a hard chocolate shell with gold dust, with a custard inside of lemon, mint and other incredibly delicious stuff. I don't normally like lemon but this was so well balanced. Clearly the food (and service) must have been really amazing for me to still give four stars after an absolutely awful first 45 mins. One of the workers mentioned that it has been "like this all summer" regarding people not getting the tables they
Had dinner here for our wedding anniversary it was pretty good! We had the oysters and crudo to start. Presentation was beautiful. For dinner my husband had the steak (amazing!!!) and I had the halibut plate (good, but wouldn't order again. I'd want to see what else is good on the menu). One slight negative, I did not like how they (as per protocol) only bring out the bread once the appetizers are served. (But what if you're in the mood for bread?) When apps come out, I like to just enjoy the apps I don't want to necessarily eat them with bread. I even asked our sever to have bread before, he said it will come out with the apps... their bread and butter is amazing, would have been nice to enjoy them with our drinks while we waited to be served. Anyways not a big deal but I love my bread and butter! For drinks everyone on the island who had been to the restaurant raved about the blackberry margarita was alright but it wasn't like "OMG this is the best thing ever!"
The dining here in Coronado Island does not suck! So far we've to Leroy's and now 1500 ocean, both places have left a very good impression on the family. We are from LA so having good food around is commonplace for us. Ocean 1500 has some modernist elements yet doesn't lack in flavor. The Carlsbad oysters were impressive! Had the sweet brininess of easy coast babies
Restaurantji Recommends
Great location, excellent bread, then pretty much downhill. Wife's birthday and I don't mind spending money on a high end restaurant, but this was not worth the cost. Potential nice setting on veranda overlooking main lawn and ocean behind it. Only problem was that there was an event on lawn earlier and chairs and large platform (stage) were not broken down, so hundreds children of all ages were jumping on and off platform as if were school recess... anything but romantic. Basket of bread was delicious, and I soon found out why they pushed their complimentary bread basket... main course portions were extremely small so they want you to feel full (hence the bread) after your meal. Opah Crudo as an appetizer was good, but not worth $24. Wife's Maine Scallops and my Sea Bass were good as well, but for $45 and $42 respectively I've had much larger portions at many other fine dining establishments for less cost than this. Also, the artichokes that accompanied my Sea Bass were tough and chewy... so much so that I had to spit out the stringy pieces as they couldn't be swallowed. Bryan, our waiter, knew it was my wife's birthday but tried to push the regular dessert menu on us until I reminded him (again) that it was her birthday. Only then did he (grudgingly) bring out a complimentary dessert. Bottom line, we didn't feel much appreciated during our entire dining experience.
This was one of the best seafood restaurants I have ever been too. We had met the maí®tre D' earlier that day to set a reservation and he was so friendly and accommodating. The atmosphere is upscale and definitely somewhere you would want to skip the flip flops and wear heels or flats. The menu seems slightly confusing if you haven't been to this type of restaurant before, however our waiter explained it to our table extremely well and I personally ended up getting the 3 course tasting meal. The only issue was someone at the table's filet mignon was tough and when they asked for it to be fixed, the waiter was almost stunned as if he didn't think this could possibly be an issue. The maí®tre D' offered salmon as a replacement, however collectively all the waiters around us seemed to be amazed that there was something wrong with the steak. I'm still giving this 5 stars because that was one hiccup from the whole night. Despite that, the chef was very understanding about allergies for me and everything was so delicious. I was thrilled to come there and see how friendly the whole staff was. I would recommend this restaurant to everyone who comes through Coronado, I even saw a family with five children from ages 0-7. Very impressed!
Thumbs ups 5 course dinner experience. The service from everyone besides our server were on the normal side; this is not a fine dining experience, it's a more upscale dining experience. The food was good but not find dining good. I recommend doing the wine pairing with the 5 course dinner. Wine pours were generous and the wine selection were excellent. The sommelier did a great job in pairing the wine with different dishes. Our server, Amy was wonderful and relatable; she definitely elevated our dining experience. The view was fantastic. The fireworks took it to another level....perfect timing and view. Amy took us to the side where we could enjoy the fireworks even better and offered took pictures for us. If we didn't do the 5 course and with wine pairing, I would say, this restaurant was normal. Kudos to Amy and the sommelier! We can't wait to come back!!!
This is our second visit to San Diego. This time around, we decided to bring a couple of friends to enjoy and see how much we love SD. Two of our friends had t leave town early so we decided to take them out for one great meal in town. 1500 Ocean surely did not disappoint! We of course opted to their 5-Course Tasting with wine pairing. Stellar food to go with an outstanding service. The perfect way to end my friend's visit.
We did the full 5 course with wine pairing. Truly an exceptional experience within a stunning environment. Happened to be be there during a HS Prom night, while none of the kids were dining at the restaurant, they were walking by on their way to the ballroom and watching them all dressed up was fun! I digress... The chef's amuse bouche was superb and as the wine poured freely, each course brought us more and more deliciousness. I have to be honest, by the time the desert course came around, I am not quite sure I remember exactly what chocolate happiness I enjoyed, but wow, what an AMAZING MEAL! Best to uber if doing the wine pairing as the pours are generous and the wine very top notch.