FIRST avenue bar & grille

Long day so stopped in for a quick bite. Bartender was great waiter — I decided to over indulge in the burger which was tasty.

Quiet, lovely and comfortable interior. Great service. Nice menu. Easy valet parking!

You would not guess that this place is what it is. For a hotel restaurant it is off the chart good. Start with the brussels sprouts. I normally would not eat them but the way they prepare them here is amazing. You can not go wrong with the salmon or the chicken entrée. Eric the bartender was very nice and fun to talk to. I always enjoy coming in here to eat when I am downtown.

I went in for lunch and had pepsi a bloody mary, for lunch i had the bussel sprouts a a salad with salmon. The food is very tasty, and a very descent portion size and filling. That was a plus! The environment was calm and chill really enjoyed that. My server was cery nice and proffesional. His name was Nick.

Had a bad experience here a while back, ordered food to go and I was charged gratuity on a to go order, realized and called to complain and at the time they said the manager named Christian would call me back, never got a call back and never gave them my business again.

Went here for breakfast a little while ago since I was staying at the hotel. I had the burrito, and my wife had the omlet. The food was good but they refused to put tomatoes in my wife’s eggs! I can’t imagine why not. And I mean, you can get breakfast pretty much anywhere else and I suggest you do because the service was just awful. My servers name was Joann and she was, if not just impersonable, kind of rude and standoff-​ish. She wasn’t very busy but instead of checking on us to see how our food was or refilling our empty coffee’s, she just sat in the bar area on her phone. The other server for the restaurant did the same.

I haven’t written a review for anywhere before, but I am for this place, and mainly for the exceptional service.
Bartender was great: experienced, attentive, and all-​around fun to interact with. Knew how to make pretty much anything, and had lots of great stories. Enjoyed everything I drank.
Kitchen was awesome as well. Ordered some fried pickles to snack on while I was there, and the chef came out 15 minutes later apologizing for the delay, along with a complimentary plate of Brussel sprouts for while I waited! Got way more food than I expected, and it was all great.
Overall, great place to go if you want fast, friendly service combined with great food and drinks at a very fair price. Which I assume is everyone.

First time here in a while. Wow, really enjoyed ourselves. The bartender has a great personality, super nice without being overbearing. The beets appetizer was off the chain, and the prime rib Thursday special was the best I’ve had in a long time (usually not a huge prime rib fan, but this was delish).
Looking forward to coming back here for some happy hour fun.

Some friends and I went here for dinner before walking over to the Civic Theatre to see Wicked.
It’s on the ground floor of the Brisol Hotel. The restaurant itself could use some renovation. It just didn’t look great. The food was fine enough, but the service was lacking. We had a beet appetizer that I would recommend, but other than that — nothing to write home about. It wasn’t very busy when we were dining, maybe 6 of the tables had people dining, but our waitress still only stopped by our table to take our drink orders, food orders, and then to bring the bill. I wasn’t impressed.

Mark was such a nice bartender. We had a lady come after, but Mark was the best! Just stopped in for a night cocktail before heading up to our room. Love the hotel and the bar area.
It got a bit busy as we were leaving and apparently this place closes fairly early (contingent on the crowd).

We wanted to try someplace new, before heading to the Civic Theater for «Once». We were drawn here by the reviews and by the pictures.
My husband called the day of, and was told that they were experiencing a «higher than normal volume due to ‘some play’ at the theater down the street.» (Side note — I wanted to spit when I heard that. «Some play», indeed…) Despite that, she was able to provide us with a reservation for 6 pm, which would have given us ample time to dine and get to the theater before the doors opened.
We got to the Bristol Hotel fifteen minutes early, but thought we could hang in the lounge, or stroll the lobby before our table was ready. When we walked in, though, we could see that the hostess stand was unoccupied, with a sign that said, «Welcome! Please seat yourselves!» posted on top.
Curious, no? Not sure how a restaurant that was expecting a high volume would have an empty hostess stand and a sign out front, but what can you do. We were on our way to a booth when the sole waiter came out and basically confirmed that the seating was a free-​for-​all. We mentioned that we had reservations for 6 pm, and he acted like he’d never heard of such a thing.
We snagged a booth in the back (the restaurant had three other parties in it when we arrived, and never got anywhere close to full in our almost hour and a half there.) The waiter handed us the menus and left.
I was immediately disappointed. I had expected a more expansive menu, with a bit more refinement to it. Not that I wanted or expected «hoity-​toity», but I guess I was looking for something with a bit more polish. By then, though, neither of us wanted to try to sneak out, or find another place to have our pre-​theater meal, so we decided to stick with it.
We each ordered a drink (glass of wine for me, beer for the hubs), and two happy hour appetizers to start (the Griddled Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp and the Red and Gold Beet Fries), as well as our entrees (the Grilled Salmon for me and the Prime Rib Melt for him).
We had a chance to people watch while we waited (and waited, and waited) for our food to come out. Like I mentioned, the restaurant never really got packed, but the handful of people that came through there were interesting to watch. It was also interesting to see that, though they expected a busy night, they only had one waiter and one bartender on duty. There were six tables/​booths occupied by the time our order was placed, and a few people at the bar, but only the one waiter who, eventually, ended up ignoring us because he couldn’t handle the load.
The appetizers came out after an unacceptable amount of time, and while the shrimp was decent (good flavor, large shrimp, and the pesto-​ish dipping sauce was delightful), the beet fries were a huge miss. Now, I know that beets are a polarizing food. I happen to love them in all forms, but a lot of people don’t. I call them «earthy»; my sister-​in-​law says they «taste like dirt». I acknowledge that, but expect that if you’re offering beets on your menu, you will know how to prepare them. This dish did not prove that out. They were supposed to be «fries», which I took to mean that they would be deep-​fried and cooked all the way through. The things on the plate in front of us were barely warmed through, and raw in the center.
Our entrees came out much later, and again, I was underwhelmed. The salmon dish was actually fairly large, which I can appreciate, but the flavors were off. They claim it was served over a bed of «roasted garlic potatoes purée», but it didn’t taste like garlic at all. I couldn’t even taste the mustard from the «mustard jus» that surrounded the whole thing. And the micro-​greens that they served on top of the fish were way too strong for the dish. And this is coming from a girl who will make a salad out of nothing but arugula — I like zingy, I like zesty, I like spicy. But what they had topping that salmon just did not work. And besides all that, the fish was overcooked.
My husband said his sandwich was okay, but it was suspect to me from the start. I mean, come on — they serve Prime Rib on Thursday nights only, and then Prime Rib Melts on Friday nights only. My husband doesn’t even like leftovers when we cook at home, so I was surprised to see him order that, which is so obviously last night’s leftovers. But, whatever — he said that the meat was good, and that the bread was toasty and buttery, but that he wouldn’t order it again.
And that’s pretty much where we ended our night with this place. Our server was apologetic the very few times he hit our table, but it didn’t stop the fact that he was unable to maintain any level of serviceability with all the tables. The food was marginal, and the décor a little too… dark…for my taste. I doubt we’ll ever go back.

FIRST Avenue Bar & Grille surprised us — in a good way! Why were we surprised? Upon entering the restaurant, there was one other table of diners, which did not bode well for a Saturday evening. Their menu was very limited, as well. They must have used this limitation to fine-​tune their food, though, because everything was delicious.
We ordered the roasted Brussels Sprouts and the tomato flatbread to start. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten Brussels sprouts that quickly before. I make a damn good sprouts recipe at home, and FIRST’s version with an Asian flair (sweet & sour sauce) was a great rendition. I would’ve enjoyed more of my husband’s flatbread, but I was too busy inhaling the Brussels sprouts.
I ordered the Angel Hair Pomodoro with shrimp for my main entrée: delicious! The shrimp was perfectly seasoned and grilled. The angel hair pasta was nicely al dente — not an easy thing to do with such a thin pasta. My only small criticism was the Moscow Mule cocktail, which I thought could’ve been more «gingery.» All in all, a great restaurant with friendly service.

First off, if you’re a guest at the Bristol Hotel, you will receive 50% off the meal — which makes every meal very affordable!
I came here three nights in a row when I was in town and got to try a lot of the menu items. I didn’t have anything that I didn’t like, but my favorites were definitely the Red & Gold Beet Fries and the Angel Hair Pomodoro with Salmon. The Asada Fries were also very good and they were more than happy to put the meat on the side when requested.
Service isn’t the best, but it’s good enough. I would like to see more items on the menu because the chefs here are talented.

If you are a guest of the hotel, you get entrees for 50% off!
Let’s start off with the food:
For appetizers, we had the prosciutto wrapped shrimp. It was served with a pesto dipping sauce. It was good. really good. We also decided to try the deep fried pickles. My daughter who doesn’t even like pickles thought they were mighty tasty.
My wife and I had the steak. It was served with mushrooms in a Worcestershire-​based sauce and some bacon mashed potatoes. It was an excellent choice.
One of my daughters ordered their version of a BLT. The name escapes me, but I think it had avocado in it. It didn’t last too long on her plate, so I know she liked it. I sampled some of her fries. They were delicious. Expertly made.
My other daughter ordered the angel hair pasta. She thought it was really good, until she added the leftover pesto to it. Then she thought it was just insanely scrumptious!
The service:
The service was EXCELLENT! Our waiter was fast, attentive, polite, precise, and informative. Two thumbs up!
We walked in 30 minutes before closing time, and we still received a very high level of customer service.

I came here for a late lunch with my boyfriend. When we entered, we seated ourselves and a server brought us our menus.
As an appetizer, we ordered the brussel sprouts. I actually really liked the way they cooked it except I didn’t really enjoy the sauce that much. It became a little too saucy toward the end.
As for our entrees, we both ordered the BB burger. It was really yummy!!! Very flavorful. The fries that came with it were suppose to be thyme fries but I didn’t really taste the thyme. It tasted like normal fries.

This gem is hidden under the Bristol Hotel in Downtown San Diego. A couple friends and I went to San Diego for vacation this past spring and stayed at the Bristol Hotel. We were getting ready to go find food somewhere when the hotel receptionist told us about a great special First Avenue was having for hotel guest. The deal was 50% off so we couldn’t pass it up. I was recommended the Skirt steak and it was perfect! The steak was very tender and flavorful and was complimented by garlic mash potatoes. I also ordered the steak fries that were full of medium cooked chunks of steak, bacon, tomatoes, cheese, and some great sauce lol. If you’re staying at The Bristol, take advantage of this hotel guest special. You won’t regret it!

Food was good. Definitely will come back here again!!!

I came here with a group of 6 for a lil pre-​theater dinner before Book of Mormon at the Civic Center. Each couple had travelzoo vouchers, spend $ 30 for $ 60 between each which was a good deal.
When we walked in, there was a sign to sit ourselves which was a little interesting at the get go. I wondered what happens if people had reservations and there were no seats available? It seemed a little unorganized and some of the décor needs some updating as well. Our table and chairs were not in the best of shape.
Now onto the food. Having that $ 30 for $ 60 deal was sweet but to also allow us to order from the happy hour menu? (Translation: order hella booze for hella cheap) We ordered a couple of mules, couple of beers, brussel sprouts, flat iron steak, and shrimp angel hair pasta. The steak was very good and the brussel sprouts were absolutely delicious. Overall a good hefty meal for what we ended up paying. This restaurant has a lot of potential if some things were tweaked/​updated.

Really bad customer service experience. Went to see Book of Mormon last night, and this is right across from the Civic Center.
In defense of our waiter, he was running around like crazy. I don’t think it was his fault. I think the restaurant got caught off guard and did not staff properly.
When a new musical opens and it is sold out, you need to staff properly!
I am guessing there was only one chef too.
We watched 2 tables just get up and walk out.
No one came to talk to us for at least 15 minutes. We did end up with the spicy Brussels sprouts and prosciutto wrapped shrimp before we had to just cancel our orders.
P. S. The Brussels sprouts were yummy!
It was pretty frustrating, we allotted an hour, but apparently that wasn’t enough time.
Happy hour drink prices are great. But I wouldn’t go back since it was so frustrating.
Our waiter did comp some of our food, but I have no idea what since our receipt had no toner and I couldn’t read it.

Just came here after finding a Amazon Local deal for $ 30 in food credit for $ 15 charge. What the hay right? Try something new.
So I came in at about 815pm on a Wednesday night, found the place dead, 3 people dining. I assume its mostly all those staying at the Bristol who dine here or maybe weeknights are slower. Residence staying at the Bristol get 50% of the menu if your staying there so remember that nice perk.
I got the flat iron steak ($ 19), fire grilled sprouts ($ 5) and prosciutto wrapped shrimp ($ 9) as my meal. The meal was not bad at all but my steak (the main item) was not how I expected. I ordered it medium but I would say it was more medium rare. It was also maybe at best 6 oz and for a $ 19 cost outside of a fillet mignon, I expected a bigger portion. The shrimp skewers were spot on, sprouts were very good as well. My bill would have been $ 34 which would have been a small disappointment had it been full price, being my discount deal knocked it down to a whopping $ 4 tab I cannot wine at all. My server was very nice, very friendly and most helpful I should note.
One drawback was that the server (bless her soul) did not seem to know how to apply the Amazon Local discount from my cellphone as it was the first one she had seen or been made aware of for the restaurant. When she called to check with her manager he/​she did not seem to be clear on what the deal was either despite its clear reading right on the voucher listed on my phone. After 20 or so minutes I was given my discount in full and was able to pay my bill. Bit of inconvenience yes but hopefully they get things straightened out on this for others sake who have bought the same deal I did.
Cant say I would go back here willingly given the other options right around broadway in dt SD.