Restaurant Week Review Deaux – The Chart House

So my second extravaganza of a meal for San Diego Restaurant Week 2014 took place at “The Chart House” in Cardiff, CA. Went there with a friend and her boo.

If any of you are a “Landry’s Select” member, you are familiar with the chain that The Chart House belongs to. I have only ever dined at “Peohe’s” (on Coronado Island, San Diego, CA) before.

Overall Rating: 8

This rating is on a scale of 1-10 and here are my thoughts:

1. Parking – This was interesting in a couple of ways. First, we went on a Tuesday evening for dinner so it wasn’t busy, lots of open parking spots. Yay! BUT THEN the second half of that came…in the form a valet boy who told us we were not allowed to self park, so he would need to take our keys and give us a ticket. We were a little surprised, as it was not busy and there were lots of open spaces, and not one but BOTH sides of their lots were valet only. Odd. Upon our departure, we really had to go play the valet “game” and give him our ticket, only to end up walking to the car on our own and driving out on our own. What a waste! That was ridiculous and I would think that a place so nice could afford to not charge for parking, at least if it is just not a crazy busy evening or time!

2. Atmosphere – Great view of the ocean. Would have been better I think if it wasn’t already dark out though. We could see the ocean, but not very clearly. The décor of the bldg. itself was very nice, and had the same carpet as Peohe’s on Coronado. Classy décor and a very nice ambiance. The only thing I would say in a negative is that it felt a bit dark. I sort of wanted to go to sleep, as the lights were dim to the point of sleep rather than “romantic” feeling.

3. Service  – Waitress started out a bit “rushed” feeling but opened up and was more helpful as the evening went on. Service is generally pretty good at this chain, so I would really expect nothing less. Also, less than half the restaurant was full, so servers would have no reason to be less than 100 percent.

4. Portions/Price – This was a restaurant week menu (see it here: http://www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com/restaurants/chart-house-cardiff)

The portions were very good, so good that I had to give half of my appetizer and soup to my friend’s boyfriend since I KNEW I was going to be too full to eat all of the entrée AND a dessert if I didn’t. Only negative I had was the tilapia (I ordered the surf & turf) and it was just really less than desirable. The steak and the shrimp however, were AMAZING and honestly, I think the portions were good enough they could have just 86’d the tilapia from that plate altogether and still seen a smile on my face!

Would I go back? Probably only for a very special occasion since their prices are very steep regularly. Overall, I think it was a nice evening out, with a price fixed menu, and a lovely restaurant by the sea.

The Chart House – Cardiff
(Seafood)
Price (out of scale of $-$$$): $$$
2588 South Coast Hwy 101
Cardiff, CA 92007
http://www.chart-house.com/Locations/cardiff/

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