Sage Hill Ranch Garden Greens at Addison
Photo Credit: Eric Wolfinger
Browse This Year’s List by Category
Overall | Specific Cuisines | Specific Dishes | Ambience | Drinks
This year’s “Top Five” is a chronicle of obsession. When Callie chef and San Diego native Travis Swikard learns local boats have fresh spot prawns, he drives to Scripps Oceanographic Institute, secures optimal seawater, and keeps the prawns swimming in his kitchen until dinner service.
On the other side of downtown, fellow hometowner Tara Monsod and her three main chefs at the heavy-draped, softly opulent Animae are Filipina a major local culture represented at the height of San Diego restaurant life.In Mission Hills, truckfuls of American red oak are stacked and set aflame at Fort Oak.
Live-fire chef Brad Wise is among the city’s most active and ascendant talents, and his surf-and-turf haven—charred bones with one of the best pokes on the planet in an Atomic Age car dealership—is still the one to beat. The gravity in Little Italy still leans toward Born & Raised, where F. Scott Fitzgerald meets rap culture, a maximalist revolt against old steakhouse tropes and warehouse minimalism.
And, finally, this year has to be Addison’s. They hauled in their third Michelin star, making them one of only 14 restaurants in the country to hold that esteem. No matter your feelings about the tire company, chef William Bradley put San Diego on a mythological culinary map. People who travel the world for food will come here—and, in the process, discover tiny charms like Muzita Abyssinian Bistro or Wolf in the Woods.
This is the 2023 “Best Restaurants” list. Not the ultimate list. Just mine. A notebook scribbled in and adjusted and fine-tuned all year—my fifteenth year of eating the city, obsessing over its details.
Overall
Top Five Restaurants
Critic’s Picks
Reader’s Picks
Best New Restaurant
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Reader’s Choice:
Runner-Up:
Chef Brad Wise showing off a cut from Rare Society
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
Chef
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Reader’s Choice:
(Trust, Fort Oak, Cardellino, Rare Society, Wise Ox)
Runner-Up:
(Bad Boyz of Culinary)
Service
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Runner-Up:
Hamachi Sashimi at Nine Ten
Hotel Restaurant
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Caterer
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Runner-Up:
Chef Kelston’s Culinary Experience
Restaurant in Baja
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Cheap Eats
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Healthy Eats
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Runner-Up:
High Steaks at Kindred
Photo Credit: Arlene Ibarra
Vegetarian/Vegan
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Farmer’s Market Food Vendor
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Breakfast
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Runner-Up:
Youngblood bar interior
Photo Credit: Arlene Ibarra
Bar
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Brunch
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Pastries at Wayfarer Bread
Photo Credit: Airyka Rockefeller
Bakery
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Seafood
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Barbecue
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Runner-Up:
Rare Society, San Diego
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
Steakhouse
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Desserts
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Food Truck
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Chain Restaurant
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Runner-Up:
Chicken Inasal at Animae
Photo Credit: James Tran
Specific Cuisines
Asian Fusion
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Runner-Up:
Caribbean
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Chinese
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Ethiopian
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Runner-Up:
Lechon Kawali at White Rice
Courtesy of White Rice
Filipino
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French
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Greek
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Indian
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Italian
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Runner-Up:
Turnip Chawanmushi at Matsu
Photo Credit: Leo Cabal
Japanese
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Runner-Up:
Korean
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Mediterranean
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Runner-Up:
Valle, San Diego
Photo Credit: Audrey Ma
Mexican
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Runner-Up:
Middle Eastern
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Peruvian
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Southern
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Spanish
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Thai
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Runner-Up:
Smoked Dry Aged Duck at Kingfisher
Photo Credit: Kimberly Motos
Vietnamese
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Specific Dishes
Donuts
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Ice Cream/Gelato
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Reader’s Choice:
Runner-Up:
Shank & Bone
Courtesy of Shank & Bône
Pho
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Ramen
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Wings
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Burrito
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Chips & Salsa
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Birria
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Fries
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Reader’s Choice:
Runner-Up:
Variety of poke bowls at Blue Poke
Courtesy of Blue Poke
Poke
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Runner-Up:
Sushi
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Runner-Up:
Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub
Fish Taco
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Taco
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Sandwich
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Pizza
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Burger
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Runner-Up:
Steamed Buns and Appetizers at Din Tai Fung
Courtesy of Din Tai Fung
Soup Dumplings
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Reader’s Choice:
Runner-Up:
Dumpling Inn & Shanghai Saloon
Pasta
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Ambience
Design
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Date Spot
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Patio Dining
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Dog Friendly
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Diner
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Best for Big Groups
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Restaurant at Petco Park
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Best View Water
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Best View Urban
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Runner-Up:
New Dining Room at Mister A’s
Photo Credit: Kimberly Motos
Reinvention/Rebirth/Remodel
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Runner-Up:
Juarez Weekend at Swan Bar
Photo Credit: John Schulz
Drinks
Dive Bar
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Runner-Up:
Bloody Mary
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Margarita
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Interior of Wolf in the Woods
Photo Credit: James Tran
Wine Bar
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Brewpub
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Coffee
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Cocktails
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Runner-Up:
Variety of cocktails at You & Yours
Photo Credit: Haley James
Distillery
Critic’s Choice:
Pacific Coast Spirits & Kitchen
Reader’s Choice:
Pacific Coast Spirits & Kitchen
