The Butcher Shop

Whoa, a dark interior, photos of movie stars, red leather booths, white linens, very old school. Well, Hell, I’m very old school, and I felt right at home.
Three old school guys here for lunch, and there are some great lunch selections available. Especially the $ 12 Special, which includes soup or salad, a choice of one of six sides and a great sandwich.
I chose the sirloin steak sandwich, which was a soft buttered bun stuffed with lettuce, tomato, aioli and cubed sirloin, so tender and mouthwatering. The side was sweet potato fries, of course, and a nice fresh Caesar salad. Surprisingly a soft drink, tea or coffee was also included in this outstanding meal. Pepsi, no Coke. Ouch, that hurt.
My meal capacity is such that I brought about half the sandwich home, along with a load of fries for consumption at a future time.
Our server promptly delivered our drinks and a generous bowl of garlic toast to keep us busy while the lunches were prepared. The restaurant was bustling during the traditional lunch hour, but was literally vacant by 1:45 PM. Our car was one of two or three left in the rambling parking lot.
A great lunch at a great restaurant with some great guys. Old school, all the way. I’m a fan.

My wife and I decided that for our anniversary we wanted to indulge our carnivore nature. The Butcher Shop had been on our list of places to try for a while now and we thought this the right time.
My wife had the filet mignon and I the prime rib. Both were very good but not to the level others had made out that it would be… maybe a bit oversold! Either way quick, flavorful and enjoyable.
Those who read my reviews know that they are usually much longer and in more depth. This just didn’t stand out for me. It was just good quality food and a bit on the expensive side.

This past experience at the Butcher Shop wasn’t very good. It was my husband’s birthday and he wanted prime rib. We had a party of 12 and this was the only place we knew that served consistent, good quality prime rib. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype this time. Four of us in the party got the $ 40 prime rib and 3 others got the smaller cut prime rib. Half the prime rib that came out was dry and tasteless. Usually the service is excellent, but that night, the service also sucked. We couldn’t find our waitress so scarfed down the prime rib anyway since we were so hungry. They didn’t refill our drinks in time. In fact, my kids were complaining in the very beginning (very loudly) that they were REALLY thirsty and the waitress just stood there and continued to take our order without even acknowledging them. I know she heard them. We’re hesitant to return although I emailed the manager and he assured that it was a one time occurance.

Never again. The Butcher Shop seems like it’s going downhill. I went here back in my undergrad days (maybe 6 years ago) and it used to be pretty good. My fiancé and I’s most recent experience was not good.
What we had:
Piccata Veal: Veal tasted like maybe it was spoiled. I took one bite and couldn’t eat anymore.
Filet mignon medium rare: Seemed undercooked. Some parts looked bluish and gummy like. I was unable to finish this. The steak was so under seasoned and bland that it kind of tasted like paper to me. My fiancé and I make better filet mignon at home honestly.
Garlic bread: It was okay, but the bread was panfried pretty unevenly.
Spinach salad: average, pretty decent
French onion soup: average, pretty decent
Rice pilaf: average, but far from great. Tasted like it was cooked from a box.
Service: below average. We had three different servers during our evening. None of our servers were very professional. The guy who took our order didn’t seem knowledgeable about the menu. He seemed like he really didn’t want to be there. No one check on us periodically during our meal. The young man who brought us our check took forever and definitely seemed like it was his first rodeo there.
Price: Cheaper than most steakhouses in the area, but still not cheap. We probably spent about 80 dollars after tip. Not worth it in our opinion.
Ambiance: outdated. The restaurant is older and so it doesn’t have that sleek modern clean feel like other newer steakhouses. Floor is carpet, so there is a bit of smell. Restaurant is dark and has a mobster era/​roaring 20s/​speakeasy feel.
Overall, we won’t be back here. I recommend spending the extra money to go to one of the newer steakhouses or staying in and making your own steak. Georges California Modern has the best steak filet mignon I’ve had in San Diego and Ruth’s Chris Del Mar is a close second.

The steak is delicious here. There isn’t much to say the food speaks for itself. I happened to be in the area that day and thought I would check it out, I am so glad I did! I would definitely drive two hours to go again. Ambience is quiet the candle lighting makes the place intimate. I guess the only downfall was that service was a little shaky considering that it wasn’t a busy night.

I wanted to patronize this restaurant a few different times before giving my review. Overall I like this restaurant and will continue to come here for Friday happy hour and Saturday evening. I cannot speak to the table service because I like to drink so «meet me at the bar, it’s going down.» Isha is usually the bartender on duty and she is great. She is very friendly and works hard to keep everyone with a drink in their hand.
Regarding the food, there are clearly different cooks depending upon the day you eat at the restaurant. When eating here on a Friday or Saturday evening, I am satisfied with the quality of the food and preparation. This is not Ruth Chris so my expectations are lower and at least half of the available cuts are choice. I am not requiring melt in your mouth, tender steaks. However, when I dined here on a Monday I was extremely disappointed. This is not surprising to me though because 94^th Aero Squadron is their sister restaurant and they have the same consistency issues with their food.
The patrons are older but everyone is friendly. There are about 15 seats at the bar and they fill up in waves. There will be no one at the bar one moment and then suddenly all of the seats are full.

This eatery is located in the center of Kearny Mesa off the 163 freeway in San Diego.
Upon entering, you’re greeted by a host and taken to your table or advised on the wait time.
Right away, you’ll notice the dim lighting therefore, expect it to be mostly dimer, if you visit. I personally enjoyed the dim lighting as it sets the mood of romance and relaxation. Less people tend to talk I find in these dim light settings.
The waitress came over right away, reported the soups of the day and specials. On my particular visit, I ordered the 12 oz. Sirloin steak, with vegetables and rice for about $ 22.
The food took about twenty minutes to arrive, but came out sizzling to the table. The presentation was wonderful. The rice turned out a little different taste wise than i expected, but apparently others thought the rice was perfect. The mashed potatoes were wonderfully tasty and fresh looking.
Next time when visiting, I will get the mashed potatoes. The waitress was receptive during the visit to assist with refills of water and ensuing the meal was as expected.
Overall, I would return, highly recommend it for their tasteful, tender steaks and their attentive staff. The lighting and professional look internally also is very pleasing to the eye.

I had such high hopes for this restaurant!
I came here for Mother’s Day. There was valet & the guy said it would be $ 2 & that I had to do it. After trying to reason with the guy because I hate people driving my car (half the time they end up revving the engine for an ego boost), the guy allowed me to park myself. But when I met up with my parents, they said they had no problem parking themselves on the other side of the lot. What?!
The restaurant is dark & we were seated in an area with a fireplace. Very intimate, so intimate that you had to use your indoor voices. Our server was okay. I get it that you are trying to sell bougie water, but I just want free water. Also, it seemed like she was in a rush all the time. When we left, we were in the front area taking a photo & she rushed up to us demanding that I sign the receipt when I had already done so. She did not realize that it fell on the floor when she picked it up…
Beef Tenderloin Blue Cheese Medallions (3)(Caramelized shallots, bleu cheese, ruby port wine sauce), served with =
Garlic Bread: So good, I wish they offered more!
French Onion Soup: Salty…
Yukon Gold Mashed Potato: Good.
Fresh Vegetables: Good.
The medallions were super salty. Like so salty I could not even enjoy my food. I do not know if it was due to the wine sauce or what but it made me grab for my water after each bite. I could only eat a third of the meat. I knew it was not just mine because my parents were complaining about the same thing with their meal: too salty. The meat was tender & juicy, but salty!

Really cool old school, mobster type décor. Dark lighting, red leather booths, sunken bar, old Hollywood pictures and heavy wood accents.
Service was good, food was great. 6 of us went and everyone was perfectly happy with their meals. Not cheap, but about regular steakhouse prices and fair for what you get. Really love that your soup/​salad, veggies and a side are included with the entrée, none of this a la carte crap.
A nice, quiet place for a date or intimate family get together.

Recommended to try by a good friend who’s opinion I trust. I bookmarked this place and was really looking forward to eating here. But…
Now that the wait is over. Not the dim lights nor, the old school red pleather seats. Not even the nostalgic pictures of actors & actresses on the walls will warrant me taking my buddy off of my «do not call» list.
Outrageously expensive and a below mediocre meal is what my family and I experienced. «That’s all I got to say about that.»

Came here yesterday with my best friend. The group we went with really wanted to go to Phils, but for a while we both were craving some type of steak. This was the only place that offered for meat selections rather than seafood, since he doesn’t eat seafood.
I chose to come here regardless if he wanted to. When I told him I already made reservations he thought I was gonna spend a lot on him and felt kinda bad, but excited all at the same time.
Reservations here are super easy to make and super flexible. Because my best friend was being indecisive as to if we should go to a brewery first or not, he made me change our reservations two times. I just changed it online. It was super easy and convenient.
I love that the environment here is super laid back. We both showed up very casual. He wore t shirt, jeans, and sneakers, I wore a baseball jersey, leggings, and boots. A lot of people were also dressed in shorts and random shirts. So do not feel obligated to dress up the way you usually would at a steakhouse.
For a Sunday night, it wasn’t busy at all. The crowd mainly consisted of the elderly.
Anyways, he ordered the bone in rib eye with a side of mac & cheese, clam chowder soup, I ordered the chef’s cut prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes and Cesar salad. We both also got the sampler. The sampler was delicious. My favorite was the fried zucchini. Haven’t had it like that since idk, never have. It was so good! My prime rib was cooked to perfection and my mashed potatoes, my golly, best freaking garlic mashed potatoes I have ever had! His rib eye steak was absolutely amazing too. The color on it was absolutely gorgeous. The mac and cheese was mediocre, I have had better. He was pretty disappointed there wasn’t a beer list, considering it is in SD with so many local breweries around.
None the less, the meal was super cheap compared to the other fancy places we usually dine at. We were both so satisfied with the meal. We left SD that day with the most satisfied bellies ever! We were both so happy we went here instead of Phils BBQ.

I really enjoyed coming to this restaurant (even the old location in Chula Vista)
Lately everytime I go I tend to get the same waitress that seems to be upset and fed up with her job. But wait, she’s not the only employee that seems fed up. The hostess (the hardest job to sit someone down and hand them menus) makes you feel so un-​welcomed. Literally has no customer service skills. I hope the butcher shop gives these two employees a course on customer service. It would improve people’s dining experience dramatically!

It took me 3 or 4 meals, but I decided this place has a mean prime rib dinner and paired with a lobster tail, dinner can be quite amazing. I ate prime rib about half a dozen times last December while in Vegas and when I came back to this place, it dawned on me that they have something awesome here. I come here often for work lunches so I’m quite the regular! It’s a cool place because it reminds me of a mafia Chicago style steakhouse with pictures of all of the badass gangsters.
Great prime rib for a decent price — mid $ 20s to $ 30s per plate.
Great garlic bread, Caesar salads, and soups.
Great service!
Amazing ice tea, haha!
Valet for $ 2.
Check it out!

Sat at the bar Saturday evening after a few rounds of shooting at the shooting range. The place is DARK and very cozy. I felt like the only person under the age of 60 there. Definitely not a hip and cool spot. More on the formal side.
The bar has a weird layout, as in under the floor level. So the poor bartenders have to look «up» to talk to us. Our bartender was probably new and not so friendly. Didn’t know much about the menu and made me the worst old fashioned I’ve ever tried. I actually had to tell him to put less club soda on my second one as the first one tastes like a glass of watered juice. It breaks my heart when I see a bartender smashing a cherry on an old fashioned. He broke my heart twice.
Food was actually pretty good. I had a peppercorn filet mignon with fries and a house salad. Steak was delicious and so were the fries and came in a timely manner. Their prices are good too, for a steakhouse.
I’d give this place another visit, but maybe avoiding the bar.

I work across the freeway at one of the car dealerships and my coworkers and I like to treat ourselves to a good lunch every now and then. We had gone to The Butcher Shop for the first time last year and were impressed with the food and service, recognizing that we were technicians that didn’t have all the time in the world to wait around. The clam chowder was awesome and the prime rib cooked perfectly.
We went back a couple weeks later, but this time the service was slower than expected and they didn’t have the clam chowder that i wanted because they only serve that on Friday. I was okay with that since the prime rib sandwich is pretty good.
So when the time came to have another nice Friday lunch we remembered the awesome experience we had the first time and headed over. This visit was much different though. We were seated for 10 mins before we received menus while in the mean time guests around us who were seated after us were already getting their drink and food orders taken. They didn’t take drink orders for another 10 mins and then when I ordered the awesome clam chowder i remembered…
they said «we don’t have clam chowder today, only on Fridays.» i said «it is Friday.» the waitress responded with «oh yeah. i don’t know whats going on with that.»
Are you kidding me? You should know whats going on with that. Don’t waste mine and my coworkers lunch break by giving us slow and horrible service and tell us «i dont know» when asked about an entrée you guys claim to serve only on Fridays. This last visit really upset my coworkers and I. We have let our friends and family know about this experience and we wont be coming back here again.

Took the parents here so I could treat them to a nice dinner. Based on reviews, I decided to take them here. We ordered the following:
Fried Zuchinni: Good, standard, came out hot and crispy
Seared Ahi Tuna: Again, standard. Nothing to die for but overall good
Rib Eye (medium rare): This came to our table cooked more like medium than medium rare. There wasn’t much flavor and the meat was chewy. You can tell that there wasn’t much marbeling on the steak to begin with
Prime rib (medium rare): similar to the rib eye in that it was tough and chewy.
Overall, I wouldn’t come here again. Service was a little slow, the meat was nothing to brag about, and the sides/​appetizers were good but not good enough for me to want to come back.

A classic steak restaurant is what you get when you come to the Butcher Shop. White linen table clothes and shiny oversized silverware, waiters in white dress shirts and black ties, low lighting and red leather booths, classic movie stars immortalized in gold trimmed picture frames are things you see when you come here. A refined but not overbearing place to dine. A perfect place for a large group, a dinner date, entertaining co-​workers or business associates. You can’t go wrong with the Butcher Shop.
Salad with bleu cheese, shrimp cocktail and potato skins to start. Coronas and prime rib. The prime rib is excellent. I get it medium rare– flavorful and juicy. There are only a few places in San Diego that brings it this good. This place is one of them. Side of steamed veggies and I am perfect. Okay, not quite. The tiramisu was calling my name. Eating like this means exercising extra hard this week. It’s okay though. It’s worth it.
There are several other steak places in San Diego. Those other places are exceptionally high in price and everything is a la carte. Not the Butcher Shop. Prime cuts come with bread, salad and a side– baked potato, mashed potatoes or rice pilaf to name a few. Good food. Good service. I never leave hungry. Come eat here.

I went here during restaurant week with my boyfriend since we’ve been wanting to try out this place for awhile. Definitely an upscale restaurant with a classy atmosphere. There’s even valet parking if needed.
Since it was RW, we were there for the Prixe Fix dinner for $ 30 a person. For the appetizer, I had a crab cake, which I was not too fond of. It just didn’t have the taste that I expect from a crab cake. The entrée definitely made up for it, it was a Surf & Turf special with filet mignon and prosciutto wrapped shrimp. The mashed potatoes went well with the steak and shrimp of course. Steak cooked the way I like it, medium rare. The dessert ended the dinner perfectly with a sweet crème brûlée (one of my favorites).
I do plan on coming back for the Sunset special, which I believe is 4pm-​6pm. The special is a discounted price on some of their signature dishes. I would definitely come back for the prime rib.

Not many place have USDA prime rib steak, which is the highest grade of meat and have the most marble. It gives the meat flavor. No, I didn’t know this until my BFs dad said mentioned it because he’s a butcher.
So guess what I got? I got their prime rib steak the 20 oz one and ate it all like a fatass. Yes I ate the 20 oz prime rib in one sitting. It was delicious, very fatty and flavorful. You didn’t even need the au jus or the horseradish. I was impressed by the prime rib steak. Most of the time I eat a prime rib at the buffets and not at a restaurant. The quality was good!
We also got the seared tuna, crab cakes and clam chowder which all were very good! The clam chowder had huge chunks of clams! One thing I didn’t like was the steamed veggies was overly buttered. All you tasted was the butter. Sure it gave it flavoring but after 3 pieces i felt like I was gonna get a heart attack from all the meat and butter. Definitely heavy ass food.

A little dark and creepy… with a «mob» kinda feel to it, but it just gave us fuel for our jokes. A lot of Godfather quotes went down tonight. Ha!
Been wanting to try this place for awhile, but I was nervous from the mixed reviews… but I’m glad we came here.
I would definitely give it another try. Although, I do wish it was a little more well-​lit.
Our server was nice and accommodated all of our requests. The salad was less then worthy… but the prime rib made up for it.
Like I said, I would come here again, but it would have to be rare. A little too pricey for the quality I was expecting, but all in all– it was a good experience.

They have good lunch specials and make strong drinks. The food is pretty good. I like their french onion soup with a caesar salad and garlic bread. All of it is very good. Service is very good, haven’thad any problems.
The décor is kinda old school looking. Its pretty dark inside and some of their lamp shades on the wall are nit straight. When you go back outside it hurts your eyes because it is so dark inside.

Literally a 3 min drive, I needed to capitalize on restaurant week on Saturday. They offer valet service, but the huge parking lot made it very unnecessary. Dim lighting and pictures of classic actors and musicians decorate the dining area. Felt like I was in a 50’s movie. Singers such as Bing Crosby, Frankie, and Dino occupy the airwaves and provided a smooth retro feel to the dining experience.
Sitting close to a fireplace, service was swift and water refilled quickly. Crabcake was crispy but rice bed tasted a bit dry and coarse. Ordered prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes. Wanted medium well but recieved medium rare. Sent the cut back and they gladly obliged. Second time around the prime rib was juicy and well marbled. I don’t care much for the grizzle though. Mashed potatoes were soft, hearty, yet not dry. Other half got the surf n turf dish, which included 2 grilled shrimp on top of 2 filet mignon slices on top of toasted bread. Too bad shrimp was burnt. Wild rice is meh, uncle bens rice tastes better. The Mac n cheese though was cheesy of course, the bacon on top was a
nice touch.
Desserts included a crème bruele and tiramisu. Both tasted not too sweet, and the fruit on top of the crème bruele tasted fresh.
Pricey joint, even for SDRW. Too many options to try out in SD. Good food but seems to be overpriced for what you get, despite the promotion.