San Diego is the place to be if you like food and with this guide you won’t miss a bite of everything you have to try while in the city. Tacos and beyond!
Hope you enjoy it, we really did:
- Best breakfast & brunch in San Diego
- Tacos & Cali Burrito
- Sushi & California Rolls
- Craft Beers & Cocktails in San Diego
- San Diego´s Epic Burgers
- Sweet me
- Map to find everything you need in San Diego
Best breakfast & brunch in San Diego
Breakfast Burritos
Scrambled eggs, sausages, avocado and red chilly sauce in a freshly made corn tortilla. It’s like the Mexican version of a full english breakfast! I would have never expected myself to eat so much in the morning, but once you try it, you will love it. We went to Pipes Cafe and I actually thought about moving to San Diego after I tried it!
Açaí and Pitaya Bowl
I know, breakfast burritos are not for eveybody and definitely not the healthiest option for every morning. Thankfully San Diego offers infinite options: Let me introduce you to the Pitaya & Açaí Bowl! Pitaya is also known as Dragon Fruit and Açaí is a typical Brasilian fruit that looks like a berry. It is composed by a foundation of pitaya or açaí frozen puree, normally mixed with coconut water and topped with all imaginable fruits. I can tell you now, after eating this, any constipation problems will dissapear. Absolutely recommend trying it!.
Tip: In America you can expect big portions to be served. Unless you are starving to death, I would advise sharing. Not only is it fun to share, it will also help with managing your budget.
Tacos & Cali Burrito
Fish Tacos and many more Tacos to try in San Diego
Being in San Diego and not eating tacos is like going to Ibiza and not going to party. We therefore went to The Taco Stand in La Jolla. Their Camaron taco (spicy shrimp) was superb!! I was a bit sceptical about eating fish or seafood tacos as I am more used to eating meat tacos, but I can tell you now, they are reeeally good. We also tried the Baja Taco (battered fish), which doesn’t have the fresh flavour of the shrimp as it is deep fried, but as it has cilantro, tomato, onions and chipotle sauce it is good anyways. Also tasty, although not so “iconic”, the Carne Asada Taco and the Al Pastor are good choices. All of them cost between 3 and 5 euros and are pretty big. Awesome if you are traveling on a budget.
Lobster Tacos, Spicy Tuna, Carnitas and al Pastor Tacos
We had heard good reviews about “Puesto” and as we were in the area of Seaport Village, we decided to visit. We were expecting a cheaper taco place, however it turned out to be a really nice restaurant. This is definitely not the cheapest place you can go for tacos and if the only thing you want to try is the lobster taco, it might look a bit weird to order just one. That being said, the taste of the food was really good. The place and the waiters were very nice as well.
California Burrito
The cali burrito is essentially fries with meat and a creamy cheese sauce. Basically what you know as “Carne asada fries”, but wrapped in a tasty tortilla. We decided to go to Lolitas, which is close to the Petco Stadium, as we were going to a Padres match. If you decide to do the same, remember going way before the match starts, as they are reaaaaaally slow. Written on the door it says: “Patience is the essence of fine Mexican food” and so it is, you are going to need lots of patience. What is also true is that the cali burrito was really good. So if you have time, go for it! The tortilla of the burrito was awesome, very fresh and tasty as well.
Sushi & California Rolls
Sushi & California Rolls
Are California Rolls actually from California? I really don’t know. Some people say they were invented in California, while others spin the theory that the first ones were made in Canada… What I can say it’s true though, is that you can find lots of them in San Diego and they are veeeery nice. So if you like sunsets, the sea shore and of course sushi, I recommend the CannonBall at Mission Beach.
Craft Beer & Cocktails in San Diego
Craft Beer
If you like beer, then San Diego is the place for you. They have lots of breweries and I can say they are really good at it. I love IPA and I found paradise in this city. In the map below I left some breweries for you to visit. We went to the one in Little Italy called Bottlecraft and after a pint or two you can go bar crawling. If you like cocktails you can make a jump to Starlite, which is close to Little Italy. Otherwise you could once again go to Canonball. Their Dirty Martini is really nice and they have happy hour for food and drinks from 4pm to 6pm during the weekdays. I think this place is awesome for seeing the sunset & sea breeze while chilling with a drink. If you like going out, the Gaslamp District is also a great option.
San Diego´s Epic Burgers
Hodad’s Burger
This is basically the best burger I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. The queue, as every where nice in San Diego, can be massive so try to do a reservation up front.
In-an-out San Diego county
In-an-out is one of most known burguer places in the west coast. I admit that I liked more the Hodad’s Burguer but you need to try In-an-out. They are known by its fresh ingredeants, I asure you they are fresh as there are sooo many people going there everyday. Also if you want to try something knew they have the “protein” burguer which instead of bread has lattuge which I thought it was preety good.
Sweet me
Donut Bar, San Diego
This establishment is a chain and you will be able to find it in other cities as Vegas. But in San Diego the queue to get one of this is massively huge! If you want an advice to “jump the line” order on their facebook site. We did it and in 15 minutes we were done and thanks god! because we thought we were going to spend there the whole morning. On Facebook you won’t be able to order coffee but c’mon remember you are there for the doughnuts. On the other hand the donuts were nice, we tried the Homer (which was big as my head), Bacon Maple Bar (yes, it has bacon) and the chocolate doughnut. All of them between 3 and 5 dollars which is kind of OK for what you get.
Ice cream Sandwich
This is absolutely what I loved the most and I can tell you I’m more a salty person. Basically it works so you choose the cookies (two, top and botom, as they can be different). They have a huge range of them, withe chocolate, red velvet, etc and then you choose the kind of ice cream. As I love blue and weird things we went for it. Then they ask you if you want them to heat it up which I felt strange as it is an ice cream but it was definitely delicious! So I completely understand the queues here.
Map of San Diego
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