Going to San Diego in a few weeks, any recommendations?

[albionmoonlight]

I will be presenting at a seminar/workshop in San Diego in a few weeks. I am staying at the Westin on W. Broadway.

I imagine that most of my meals will be with the seminar folks. And most of my time during the day will be at the seminar.

But, I may have a meal or two to myself and/or some time to do something.

Any recommendations as to good food and/or attractions/activities would be most welcome.

[Doug5984]

I went a couple years ago and it was awesome- it was pure vacation though.

We did get some BBQ at Phil's BBQ - it was really good.

Went near the beach one day and had breakfast at The Mission.

For attractions- we did all the big stuff- zoo, wild animal park, sea world, lego land, disney land, the uss midway

[wade moore]

I've been to San Diego 4 or 5 times for conferences now. So, I've done the work tourist thing.

The Zoo and Sea World are fantastic, but unfortunately if you only have evenings to go out I really don't think it does them justice. Sea World you need 1/2 a day, the Zoo you really need a full day in my opinion. So, depending on your schedule, that may or may not be good.

I keep hearing about Phil's BBQ, but have not been. There was a great Mexican place that was a little more... "foodie"... than your normal mexican place (i.e. I had a filet mignon fajita) that I could look up if it would interest you.

But, if you're going with work buddies.... I'd hit up The Tilted Kilt in the Gas Lamp (Tilted Kilt | Pub & Eatery (http://www.tiltedkilt.com/)) district. Kind of like Hooters, but with kilts and San Diego quality servers.

As for other stuff to do.. I am a dog lover, so I thought it was a blast to just drive out to Dog Beach and walk around for an hour... watch all of the dogs off leash having a blast.

I went to a Padres game, if they're in town it's a really nice park - and not exactly hard to get tickets.

There is a small little waterfront town/restaurant/shoping area in Coronado that is good for an evening. It's a neat drive, the Coronado bridge is an impressive site, and there's eats and stuff there.

[JediKooter]

Since you'll be staying off of Broadway....

Horton Plaza isn't far at all - shopping, some food. If you like the theater, there is a theater there as well. Not sure if any performances are scheduled though.

Petco Park isn't too far either.

The zoo, air and space museum and natural history museum isn't far at all

The San Diego Sports Hall of Fame (small building) is in Balboa park near the zoo and museums

The USS Midway museum is at the very end of Broadway

If you like mexican food, screw the restaurants...go to a Roberto's. You won't be disappointed. Not sure if there's any down town though.

Phils BBQ has been mentioned. That's in Point Loma right by the Sports Arena and if you like Chick Fila (however it's spelled), that's just a couple of blocks down the street on the same side. With traffic lights and drive time and depending on familiarity of the area...15 minute drive from downtown, if that.

Wild Animal Park is in Escondido. From downtown San Diego, it's about an hour drive.

Sea World is about a 15 minute drive.

If you go to Sea World and find yourself in Pacific Beach...Garnett Ave has a ton of bars and drinking holes. The Tavern is good. Parking sucks in that area though.

There's Seaport Village not very far from downtown. Shopping, some food and touristy stuff.

There's Cabrillo National Monument. There's a lighthouse and a very good view of San Diego. From downtown, it's about a twenty to thirty minute drive due to traffic lights.

Not sure when you'll be there, but, if the horse racing season is still going on and you like horse racing, check out Del Mar. It's about a 20 minute drive from downtown.

Old Town has some of the best mexican food restaurants if you can't find any Roberto's. 10 minute drive at most from downtown.

[Glengoyne]

One of our favorite vacation spots.

Phil's BBQ has been mentioned. Pretty good stuff.

There is a bit of a dive seafood place called "Blue Water". In fact we saw it on Diners Drive ins and Dives, so it is more than a bit of a dive. Killer seafood, an eat with your hands kind of place with fish tacos, sandwiches, and some amazing sauces to top it off. Chipotle, Lemon butter, Garlic butter, and more. Plus there is a coffee shop/gelato place just down the block.

A place I haven't been, but have also been recommended is Luigi's Pizzeria. I think it is downtown.

For Pizza and Beer, there is the Pizza Port. There are multiple locations, so one might be close. Great pizza with an award winning micro-brewery on premises. They also brew their own root beer, and make root beer floats.

It sounds like I need to add Roberto's to our list of places to check out.

Oh and if you do have a free day to blow. I'd suggest the Wild Animal Park, even moreso than the San Diego Zoo. We enjoyed both, but even the kids prefer the animal park.

[albionmoonlight]

Conference was fun. I didn't make it for sushi or In-N-Out, which were the two on my list that I missed. Have to do it next time.

But got some really good tacos at La Puerta in Gaslamp. They were not bashful with the spice and heat, which I really liked.

And the beer at Karl Strauss (right by the hotel) was very good. As was the Mac N Cheese. (I'm always jealous of my son getting to eat it off the kids' menu. So it was cool to see it on an adult menu).

The first night for dinner, we went out to Ocean Beach and had fish tacos at South Beach. Since I have never had good fish tacos, that was cool. And there was a place right next door with ice cream sandwiches made with fresh waffles as the bread. Such a simple, yet awesome, idea.

Lucy's taco shop was right by the hotel, so I hit that for lunch/breakfast a couple times. Not great, but good considering it was two blocks from the hotel.

Had lunch one time at a forgettable sandwich shop.

Final dinner was at this hole-in-the-wall Persian place called Darband that some cabbie recommended. Good stuff.

Didn't get to do too much tourist stuff, but I did make a point of walking down by the harbor and seeing some of the Navy memorial stuff. And ended up mistakenly walking through a homeless shanty town that was, for some reason, lined up along the Coast Guard building. Not where I would expect the homeless to be, but it was fine in kind of a "make no eye contact" sort of way.

Oh, and a comment about airports. I don't know what advances in physics and/or materials science are responsible for those skin-tight sweatpants with sassy words written on the ass that seem to be such a hit with the young women. And I don't know what breakdown in basic American morality/values/self-respect/class is responsible for making it acceptable for these young women to consider this acceptable attire for airports. But, I guess my point is, I'm not really complaining.

[cuervo72]

I dunno...I seem to remember spandex shorts and pants being pretty popular in HS. Admittedly, most didn't come with sassy words.