Donovan’s Steak and Chop House

Exceptional Meal. Our server, Brandon, was the best in the biz. A wonderful ambassador of the restaurant!
Drinks– A, Pearl Drop, French Pear
App– Oysters Rock– traditional, B-​in flavor
Salad-​House Chopped– A, fresh ingredient and homage dressing. The bleu cheese was a treat
Entrée– Ribeye– A. Wonderful! Great quality meat will prepared, Chicago style. Outstanding
Overall a great meal!!! The service is what really pushes this from 4 to 5 stars. Top notch!

We have waited for so long to get our order, we already lose our appetite by the time we had it. It is not worthied for expensive place like this

Had dinner Saturday night with my wife and another couple. All big steak fans. I’d been there a few years ago and remembered it being quite good. Service Saturday was average at best. Restaurant was not crowded but attention to detail was lacking. Party of 8 girls arrived about 8pm and all attention was on them. My wife’s steak was over cooked. Sent it back and came back ok but no sorry no let me fix that for you. They did remove the cost from our bill but never told us that. Luckily I noticed a credit at the bottom. Food was good but they lack in service.

We came here for a special occasion and were somewhat disappointed. Started the evening with drinks and calimari. It was perfectly seasoned and cooked; perhaps the best I’ve ever had! Next came the entrees and we both ordered filet migeon. Both were equally disappointed and agreed that I had better flavored tri tip from my backyard gas grill than these $ 50+ each filets. Burned on the outside and no flavor or «pop» to the taste buds. Not even close to Ruth’s Chris and, dare I say it, closer to Sizzler quality meat… The portobello mushrooms were fantastic as were the potatoes au gratin. Mashed potatoes were flavorless.
At this price point you expect a great meal and that wasn’t the case and could never recommend going here.

My brother was searching Unilocal for a nearby steak house and this restaurant popped up. After reading the reviews he made a reservation. The restaurant is very nice. Provides valet parking which is very convenient in this part of Gaslamp. Service is very good and extremely informed. Nice to ask for recommendations and to get it from people that seem definitely credible. My kids loved the bisque and onion rings. I ordered a rib eye and it was very good. Overall, a very satisfying meal.

Really cool place to eat. We were here for a game and decided to have a dinner here. The atmosphere is awesome, the food is delicious and customer service was great. The bartender lady did not seem like she wanted to be there at all. I ordered the salmon with filet mignon, mashed potatoes vegis and cheesecake. It was so so so good!!! The very best.
I would highly recommend this place.

Ribeye oscar style was amazing! The steaks are huge so I split the order with a colleague and it was still more than enough. I highly recommend this place if you are Downtown San Diego

I came here for a business meeting. I was a bit disappointed at the lack of veggie options but thankfully they had ethically sourced shrimp… wasn’t quite what I had in mind but they cooked them very nicely and served it with some very tasty smashed potatoes. All three of my friends who ordered steaks were very happy so this is a good option for your beef-​lovers.
They make some nice drinks too, at the bar before my friend had a perfect Old Fashioned whereas I enjoyed a nice local specialty called the Ten Fresh (gin and lime based)
Service was inobtrusive and prompt, nice setting.

Thank you, thank you for a wonderful evening! This is the 2^nd time we have dined at Donovan’s and both experiences were over the top great! Martin, thank you for making the birthday celebration special. Everyone in the group had a great time. The room off the main dining area was perfect. Thank you for bringing Jason in to say hi. He was great when we dined on NYE.
We will be back and will continue to recommend to our friends!

Visiting San Diego for a work, we wanted to try several steak places in the area. This place was rated the best steak place in San Diego so we definitely wanted to make this a place to go. I must say that they definitely live up to their ratings. The food and atmosphere was great. The ambiance was perfect.
The steak was cooked exactly the way I wanted it and the portions was larger than expected. This is a higher end of the price list, but was definitely worth the every cent. I wish I took photos of our food, but I guess I was too hungry to even wait.
My friend ordered cocktail shrimp and WOW the shrimp was extremely large! He definitely could eat it as an entrée…
I definitely recommend this place and will go back whenever I am in town.

I’ve been wow-​ed at other steakhouses for the same price, maybe even less.
My buddy and I ordered 16 oz rib-​eyes. It was cooked exactly how we wanted (medium rare) and was tasty in certain places, but we were largely unimpressed with it and felt we could have done better ourselves with the same pieces of meat.
Also the potatoes au gratin were equally unimpressive and looked like a square cut from a 13×9 pan.
The sauteed mushrooms were really good and complemented the steaks well.
The crème brûlée felt like it was under prepared. I love it when the custard is cold and more solid, this one was slightly cooler than room temp and consistency was more like pudding. Although I will say it was a pretty sizable portion compared to other places.
The ambiance was nice and the service was good.
Pro-​tip: For first timers, look for the white walled construction site and the valet parking. It could be hard to fine, but their $ 10 valet is cheaper than any of the self-​parking available in the local structures.

Donovan’s gave me such a memorable Valentine’s dining experience. It has been almost a year since I have had any type of meats and it was by far spectacular. The Filet Mignon was cooked to the right temperature, the Seasonal Vegetables were crisp and flavored deliciously well, and the Baked Potato was topped with the right amount of condiments. The ambiance was romantic and quaint and our server Joseph was great. He had a great sense of humor and was knowledgeable about the dishes and much more. I would definitely return in the near future on my next visit.

A wonderful experience for our 7 year anniversary!
Booked via Open Table, which was very easy. Their concierge called the day before to verify that we were still coming and also to find out what our special occasion was, if any.
Parking was to be expected in downtown San Diego. Valet parking is $ 15, but we got very lucky to catch one of the metered parking right outside. One of the valets pointed it out, which was really nice of him to do so.
We were taken cared of from start to finish, and it felt genuine. Service was amazing, and very prompt. My wife started off with a glass of moscato and I had a Green Flash pale ale.
So, the highlight for me was the 16oz Prime Ribeye! It was cooked medium plus (pink all the way through). Freaking delicious! I love the fact that ribeye is a good marbled fatty cut of beef. Donovan’s does such a great job making an already amazing cut of steak one of the best I’ve ever had. You can count on the steak here will melt in your mouth.
The sides were decent. I had the garlic mashed potatoes with the medley of veggies. I think I could have gotten more veggies for sure. I would have probably preferred all veggies (like 3 times what they give you). Wife had their shrimp scampi that was pretty good. She had their baked potato that she said was made perfectly. Good to please the wife, that’s for sure!
The best surprise is they brought out their crème brûlée. Tasted awesome and very nice of them to acknowledge our special day.
Overall, I’d love to come back on another special occasion. Thanks Donovan’s for a great evening!

Came here for our anniversary tonight! This is the second time we have been here for our anniversary and they did not disappoint. I had moscato and my husband had a beer. They honestly have 30+ wine varieties here. I got the shrimp scampi and my husband had the rib eye. I’m not a huge steak hence my menu choice. I had a bite of his steak and it was very good. I choose the baked potato cause I don’t normally eat them and it was cooked perfectly. They have sour cream, butter, chives and bacon bites you can add onto it. My husband had the garlic mashed potatoes which are nothing special. Just your regular garlic mashed potatoes. The veggies they give you are good again nothing special. The bread loaf they gave us was piping hot and real butter which is a bonus. The parking downtown of course sucks so valet that thing. I mean seriously if you are paying 50+dollars a dinner you can afford the valet. The service was on point. The server brought us a complimentary Crème brûlée which was good. Come here for the meat the sides are just so so! On a side note the bathroom was very clean which lets be honest we all care about or I hope we all do!

After living in San Diego for a year and my fiancé and I visiting there at least 8 times. I can say hands down that this is the best steakhouse I have ever been to. We currently live in south Florida and have yet to find a place that can even hold a candle to this place in terms of service and food. (Trust me we have tried). We celebrated our engagement here. The steaks were always well cooked. The potatoes au gratin were always on point. We are planning a Vegas trip and will be spending 2 nights in San Diego ONLY to have dinner here. And yes we will be visiting them at least twice. If you want a steakhouse that will not disappoint than pay them a visit.
I give them 5 stars. I travel often they are worth a trip.

My favorite petit filet mignon in San Diego extra scrumptious with the blue cheese crumble, done medium rare with potatoes au gratin on the side… The bacon-​wrapped scallops are absolutely perfect here, too.
Donovan’s is hands down the best steakhouse in San Diego and this location is so convenient.

Went to Donovan because I was in the mood for a great steak. Ordered the 24 oz rib-​eye chop, medium, and it was delicious. They cooked it so that the middle was just right, bright pink, not bloody, but no where close to medium-​well.
Why I give it a two stars… I don’t like to fill up with sugary drinks and was not there to drink alcohol. I asked for hot water and lemon. They put hot water in metal french press and serve it to you. The water didn’t taste «clean», so we figured it was tap water (not filtered water). When we got towards the bottom, we poured out some more hot water, and black stuff came out of it. When we showed it to the server, she told us that they use it for tea, so it was apparently tea leaves stuck in the french press they didn’t clean out.
Food was delicious, price was reasonable for what we got, but I will never come back. The server apologized but she didn’t really seem to care we drank out of an unclean french press. Uncool… especially for a $$$$ place.

We hosted a work dinner here for seven people two weeks ago. This was our 2^nd time hosting this dinner and for the crowd that we were hosting to (attorneys), this is the perfect place.
Typical steakhouse vibe, Donovan’s is a classy joint in the Gaslamp. Very dark interiors and the usual steakhouse menu. Service was impeccable and they even granted my request to have us seated in the private area upstairs even though we did not book for a private room.
The bill also did not come out to be too expensive. For seven people with a few apps, two glasses of wine each & an entrée, we got out of there for less than $ 1200.
My only real complaint was my lobster. It was quite chewy.

My boyfriend took me here for my birthday, and my stomach was definitely happy by the end of the night. Loved their service too! They clean up your bread crumbs w/​crumbers! LOL
Try their crème brûlée and bacon wrapped scallops! The fillet mignon was also very good.

This was a special family dinner occasion.
My brother and his girlfriend came down for Christmas and one night we were in search of a place to spend Christmas Eve.
We happened to stumble across Donavon’s and it was getting pretty late in our search
that we were about ready to go home and make something simple at home.
Let me tell you this night wasn’t
planned
well but all of us ended up really enjoying ourselves and having a nice night.
When we arrived it was packed but they were still able to squeeze us in.
We didn’t even have to wait.
They put us in a really nice spot at a table in one of the dinning rooms.
I ordered the grilled salmon with some sort of crusted topping that was really bitter.
It was bitter enough that I couldn’t eat it.
It was inedible.
My mom felt bad and she gave me a few things to try that were on her plate which was very nice of her and thoughtful to do.
My mom had this delicious concoction of
the BEST Macaroni & Cheese I have ever had.
She knew I was hungry so she gave it to me. The taste of it will always be a great memory between us and I wouldn’t mind
going back and getting it to eat sometime.
Especially with her.
We all started sharing plates and we all became so comfortable together that we were asking each other –
Do you like this? Do you like that?
Do you want to try this?
We had a really nice time.
My moms food became the star of the show! Haha!
The service was really slow but it was getting to be the end of the night.
I even think our waiter may even forgot about us a couple of times because
we needed drink refills and it took forever
to get our check and paid for. The menu could’ve been explained a lot better and
he could’ve helped to make better
decisions especially since it was our first time there.
I would really like to go back with
my mom and try the
Mac & Cheese.
I know at a steak place?
YEP —
It would so nice and YUMMY!
Hopefully one day we will be able to go!

We were at a convention here and looked for a place to have dinner. I’m happy that a friend found this place. We were a party of 8 and enjoyed great food with perfect service. The waiters are very professional. The whole experience was a true Wow!

Best Service In San Diego. Best Filet In San Diego.