Little Lion

All I can say is I wish this place was closer to me. I’d probably be here every other day. Outstanding food & service one block from sunset cliffs.
We dined off the brunch menu this morning. We had the baked eggs, egg salad on croissant, fresh fruit with whipped cream and lemon curd, Belgian lion potatoes and avocado on toast (with a poached egg). While everything was delicious, it also somehow tasted healthy.
I can’t wait to try their lunch and dinner menus.

Welcoming staff offered us to order our drinks while waiting. The wait was awhile– which was expected and understood. Our order was taken once the server knew the table would be open for us soon. (Smart girl!!!). Our food was ready quicker than expected due to the order being placed before sitting.
We ordered 4 items to share: kale salad– delicious the pomegranate seeds gave it perfect balance in taste, shrimp sandwich– yummy on ciabatta, power bowl with added 2 poached eggs on side, and super yummy potatoes. We were all super hungry and left with food to take home.

Finally tried this cute bistro. Wonderful service! We sat outside and they even gave us steak treats for my doggies. Food was delicious, savory, right portions, we had some crispy cauliflower, omelette and chocolate mousse. Love the cozy decoration and all the details.

Update. It Appears that the menu has changed and taken on a more veganish theme. No complaints about service, but if your hungry man, you may want to consider somewhere else. The portions are small but very well presented. Great for woman and children, but just doesn’t offer a very filling dish for someone looking to feel satisfied in my book, perfect for the healthy skimpy eater.

The Little Lion is a true Ocean Beach gem. Limited seating but I’ve never had to wait more than 5 min for a table. So much care and detail go into choosing the menu items. All the beautiful servers and charming and kind. You cannot get a bad meal at the LL. I have not yet been for dinner but breakfast and lunch are wonderful. Enjoy this special place.

Great food. Great service. Cool hole in the wall. Very honest healthy style prepared perfectly.
I have driven by many times.
Can’t wait to come back for dinner!

Little Lion far exceeded my expectations: simple, fresh, pretty small (ish) shareable plates, with attentive servers in a clean but welcoming joint that reminded me of my fave neighborhood restaurants in certain parts of Brooklyn or lower Manhattan… Homey but somehow chic. Nothing was over done and yet I felt taken care of, which is the best sort of eating. How they created such a welcoming space out of Point Loma Beach Café’s interior, I still don’t know. But it works something special.
Enjoyed the steak sandwich, that night’s special bruschetta (burrata, romesco and olives) and the heavenly spinach gratin, plus a few beers. I look forward to having breakfast here before future cliffs hikes.
What a gem to have here in OB. I hope it sticks.

I hate writing reviews about places like this
Because it’s just a matter of time that I am going to be waiting in line
keep up the what your doing
Great Scandinavian touch I had the smoked salmon plate with a shaved egg was perfect

This is a cute little café right by the water. I originally ran by it during my morning jog, which is how I came upon it. I went back the next day with 2 friends fro brunch and it was just fabulous. We ordered the mexican candy drink, superfood bowl, and eggs benedict. Everything was amazing. I loved the flavors in the superfood bowl, quinoa, broccoli, avocado, beets (and other things i cant remember lol). Omgoodness, before i continue i have to emphasize how the mexican candy drink is a must! I’m pretty biased bc i love mexican tamarind candy in general but this drink though!
P. s. staff is amaaaazeballz nice. for real though.
P. s.s. the restroom is in the kitchen, dont be weirded by this. It’s super cute. Just be comfortable walking into a commercial kitchen with the patron restroom smack dab in the middle hehe

Stopped here for a first time for lunch on a Saturday. Note, they only have the brunch menu on Saturday. I had the Tuna Bowl and K had the burger. Very well executed, thoughtful flavors and balance I each dish. Small, quaint, quiet place, good vibes. K commented on the color scheme and branding inside. Definitely a neighborhood gem.

Such a cute little brunch spot! The menu was quite small which makes me think that every option is well-​thought out. We had the superfood bowl and the waffles (but I was super bummed because the smoked salmon plate was out and that’s what I was craving). Waffles weren’t an obnoxiously large portion like some breakfast joints, so beware if you’re a man/​super hungry that it may not be enough. The superfood bowl was full of flavor and very healthy! Price was decent, after food, coffees, tax and tip we paid about $ 18 each. As others have noted, it can get quite loud inside, presumably because it’s such a small space. Again, because of the small space you’re likely going to wait for a table if you’re arriving at prime meal times; we waited for about 30 min at noon on Sunday. I’m excited to see that they’re open for dinner and will absolutely come back!

Dinner and a show for beach dwellers.
We love to walk down there for a wonderful dinner then watch the sunset at the cliffs.
What a great little place. Everyone there is SO nice and the food! Amazing!
The food is really top notch.
The bruschetta is always an inspiring and delicious starter.
I’ve had some great, creative, fresh dishes I would have never thought to make for myself.
Thank you for being there and making such great food!

***3.5 stars-​ambiance and service***
****5 stars for FOOD****
Went for lunch with a friend had the «Super Food Bowl» with a poached egg. Was fantastic! We also shared some Peach Kombucha which was tasty too. Over all I liked it, and will come back. Only thing that was a downer was because its so tiny and the acoustics are bad– I literally couldn’t hear myself think. I felt like I was on LSD. Cackling baby boomer women next to us on the right, laughing so loudly and obnoxiously with wine in their hands it seriously took my breath away. Then we had some Sunset Cliff sweaty joggers to our right who sat so close I could literally feel their breath on my arm. They must have ran into someone they knew because he came up to «their table» and was speaking to them with his back to me-​so literally his ass was about 6 inches from my face as I was trying to eat for a few minutes. Pretty obnoxious.
The waitress was «ok» not bad service but not great either. Example: I had to wait an unusual amount of time to get water put on our table. However since I was in a 300 square foot room all I could do was watch her every move to see what was more important than my water, and it seemed to be doing «side work» and flirting with the other guy that worked there. I eventually got my water, which she slammed down so hard on the table it made me jump.
I felt like I needed a Xanex after I left to be honest! Too much stimulus. Maybe drink some wine it will help.

I am totally blown away by this place! Two sisters own this charming little restaurant and I can’t begin to tell you how delicious this place is! Vanilla latte is not just a vanilla latte — they make their own syrup with vanilla beans and it’s to die for. The poached eggs were perfectly done and the greens perfectly flavored. The croissants flaky, tender and buttery. The fruit was flavorful and fresh — let’s not forget the lemon curd and vanilla bean whipped cream that came with the fruit. OMG. These girls know what they’re doing and are sweet as can be. Perfection!

Absolutely amazing food. The exterior is very unassuming and the building is tiny but definitely the place you will want to go for wholesome food with LOTS of flavor. The organic drip coffee was delicious.
We had the salmon plate and the power food bowl. Fantastic!

I had never been here before and a college recommended it. Its a quaint hole in the wall on sunset cliffs. I love the location and the food was really good!
I ordered the salmon… A dish I’d reorder.
The only thing I would say was hot and sticky in the restaurant. It was a really hot day… OK it was a blasted hot an humid week. They had the door and windows open and fans on but it was sooooooo ughhhh hot. Other than that, I enjoyed my meal. I can’t wait to go back and try out more on their menu.

Incredible dining experience!
Ambience — The beachy vibes were off the charts. Inside is very cozy and quaint. Excellent wall décor including a beach map. One must walk through the kitchen to reach the bathroom, which a bit weird, but at least I know the kitchen is clean. On an unusually hot day, the inside of the restaurant was sweltering, so I wish we had a table outside. Great for a casual meal with friends or an intimate date.
Service — Our table received a good deal of attention and the servers were knowledgeable about the menu (which had some inscrutable descriptors for us lowly diners). Some of the staff even engaged in a French conversation with one of my mealmates.
Food — If it’s possible to taste quality ingredients — you can do it here. Everyone in my dinner party enjoyed their meal. My salmon burger was filling, not greasy, and even the buns were prepared well. In addition, my side of greens were fresh. Someone’s sister had an overstock at her bakery, so all of the patrons got free cake! As if I could give anything less than 5 stars for a free heavenly dessert.
I could taste the love put into each dish. Can’t wait to go back!

Whoa… What a lovely little find. We walked over here for dinner before watching the sunset on the cliffs. It’s ambience is so cozy and casual, but the food was out of this world. I was blown away. We ordered the spinach gratin and the soup of the day, which was a beef stew. The gratin was simple, but had some complex flavors from the prosciutto, which I love. The beef stew was so tender and melted in your mouth with intense flavor from the herbs. Such simple and fresh ingredients and executed so well. Even the side salad was great. Who raves about a salad?!
The location is awesome as well because the sunset cliffs are within minutes, walking. The only negative thing I will say is it gets fairly warm/​humid inside so we should have sat outside for a nice breeze. We had some wine in us too so we were sweating bullets on their chairs. Kinda gross.
The food says it all though so I can’t really complain. I hope you’ll give this cute, little place a shot. I’m sure you’ll love it!

If this was in my neighborhood, I would get very, very fat. They would know me by name. For better or worse, it is in San Diego, where I definitely do not live. :)
This tiny restaurant does the best justice to its ingredients of almost any restaurant I have been to. Too many places over-​season or over-​prepare things. Little Lion keeps it simple, elegant, beautiful, and above all, delicious. Their homage to the ingredients is comparable to much more expensive and famous restaurants. We came here between lunch and dinner when they have a different menu, which was pretty fantastic. I wish we had come back again!
Our server was also fantastic. He was very friendly and attentive, offered helpful recommendations, but didn’t hover. Plus, it’s always nice to see an attractive man shelling fava beans.
Things we tried:
Tuna tartare (delicious with a California twist of avocado– but I like that the avocado is separate so it doesn’t goop up the tartare)
Fried potatoes (perfectly seasoned with tasty aioli)
Aioli platter (perfectly cooked veggies to dip in aioli)
Salad (super fresh and apparently grown in the chef’s dad’s garden with great dressing, they just need to perhaps double check it for garden friends first :))
Charcuterie platter (house made sausage was yum and I loved all the tiny little bits of everything– it was like a fun treasure hunt)
Sparkling chardonnay (bottle served in a bucket of ice, very nice)
Main downside of this place? A little hard to find parking nearby. So worth it, though.

Great location, very cozy, and an intimate but relaxed atmosphere. Seems like a hotspot for OB locals. Limited tables/​seating because it’s such a small place. Perhaps if I went again I would enjoy my time there more, my first visit to the little lion was for a work meeting. Tables were just too close and I don’t tend to like when tables can over hear each other.
As for food, I thought plating and presentation was absolutely beautiful. Food itself was also delicious. We ordered the shrimp louie sandwich, avo toast, cheese plate, and a side of potatoes. Staff was very friendly also, very family oriented. I would love to go back.