The Wellington

I went here for Valentine’s Day, and overall it was an underwhelming experience. I expected it to be a small space, which it was (only 10 tables). What I did not expect was haphazard service for those 10 tables. Our waiter never came to check on our dishes, served an amuse bouche that my boyfriend was allergic to (raw oysters). The tables are so close, the couple next to us visibly felt uncomfortable talking within arm’s reach from us.
As far as food, I was excited to order the Beef Wellington… and when asked if «Medium Rare» was ok, I said no and asked for it to be cooked a little more. The waiter informed me this wasn’t possible, and without offering an alternative, I ordered the dish anyway. Needless to say when it came out and was bleeding in a half-​cooked pastry (not how Beef Wellington should be served), I was less than impressed. To boot, this entrée was served with only charred vegetables… most of which weren’t even cooked well.
I can’t say I’m planning to come back anytime soon (or to try the sister restaurant next door for that matter, as I’ve subsequently heard it’s a similar ‘eh’ experience). For more than $ 200 for a preset dinner for two, we could have easily gone to a higher-​end steak house and had food prepared that we both could have eaten… and with more attentive service.
The one plus I’ll give it though is that the décor is really cool and the ambiance is definitely romantic. Other than that, it’s definitely not worth the price tag or the hassle to find staff to get a drink refill (or to seat you, as there wasn’t a host/hostess…and 70% of the tables that ate after us didn’t know if they were in the right spot, as no one is there to greet you at the door).

I love beef Wellington, so I was really excited to go to the Wellington. The atmosphere was amazing, but our waiter was rude and slow. We ordered about 5 minutes after the table next to us, but they had eaten their entire meal before we got our food. It came out on plates that were extremely hot leading me to believe it sat under warmers or in an oven. The steak inside my Wellington was overlooked, the vegetables were bitter. We weren’t impressed.

Do yourself a big favor and come and eat here, its yummy you won’t be disappointed…

I had the $ 40 ribeye. Covered in sause and undercooked. Not a high quality cut of meat. Been here a few times and they really have only one good item on the menu… The Wellington. Other than that, the sides are tasteless, the meat average and way over priced. Steak would have been sub-​par at half the price at Hungry Hunter Steakhouse. Here, at $ 40, not with it. And now I know why the place is empty at 7:30 on Thursday.

A small, delicately lit room filled with cozy booths. The sound of martini shakers and ice. The smell of filet mignon wafting through the kitchen doors. Three of the many reasons I adore The Wellington.
I’ve enjoyed many great meals here, but my favorite was one during restaurant week last year. I asked the server what he recommends between two martinis I was eyeing on the drink list. He replies «would you mind if I make you something off the menu based on what flavor profiles you like? I have some fresh herbs from our garden I’d like to use». UMMMMM, yes… and will you marry me too (just ignore my husband sitting across the booth from me for the time being). Custom drinks are my jam. My jam! He had my heart. And the cucumber/​mint vodka martini he made for me that night became my new conquest for the entire next year. Every bar I went to, I told them the ingredients I like and they’d make me a version of it. Although none as good as my fine friend’s original martini at The Wellington, it filled me with a year of exciting cucumber martinis… and I have even been able to recreate it fairly well at home! Big score.
Not to be forgotten is the perfectly delicious beef wellington that I order each and every time. It’s one of my favorite dishes in the world. It’s not easy to come by, and it’s not easy to come by one so great. Thank you for the many superb evenings at The Wellington.

A very intimate, lowly lit, swanky restaurant. They only have 8 or so tables, but fits up to parties of four comfortably. Our waiter was extremely nice as it was our first time here. He was so attentive he even poured a cocktail into another glass when we accidentally spilled some at the table so as not to have a sticky glass! Even though this place is known for their namesake, the beef Wellington, I ordered the catch of the day (salmon) and it was deliciously encrusted with pepitas (crushed pumpkin seeds) and a Parmesan soup sauce they poured onto the plate, very unique presentation. Others at the table ordered the filet mignon, beef Wellington, and the cedar plank t bone, but I think the t-​bone took the win for the night. Great place for a special night.

⁰⁰³⁄₁₀₀ — 2016 Unilocal 100 CHALLENGE.
My fiancé has never had beef wellington before, so when we saw that The Wellington was participating in San Diego Restaurant Week, we knew we had to try it! Made reservations for last night and were super stoked about it.
Gonna start off by saying… Hillcrest parking (or lack thereof) is the absolute worst. ESPECIALLY on a Friday night. There’s a lot of great eateries but it’s always such a pain to get around. :’(If you live in not-​Hillcrest and are a lazy buttface, I highly recommend just Über-​ing it because screw parking. We spent 30−40minutes last night trying to find an open spot within a 3 – 5 block radius. Seriously.
Anywho, we ordered the: harvest salad, kale caesar, the beef wellington, the risotto & short rib, the banana cream pie, and the chocolate mousse. The SDRW menu is pretty small, so we decided to order a side of macaroni and cheese.
The salads arrived in a timely manner and my harvest salad had a lot of strawberries and raspberries in it (which were great!), but… I am pretty sure there were chunks of cheese in it which was, uh, not so great.
I’m not much of a cheese person to begin with, so eating Parmesan with my leafy greens just tasted really weird and kind of gross — especially since the cheese was in chunks. I was reminded of that episode in Friends where Ross eats Rachel’s trifle and says «IT TASTES LIKE FEET!» I kept thinking that the entire time I ate it lol. Dunno if that was just a me thing, though? Maybe I’m just not classy enough???
Either way I was scared that the salad would set a precedent about how the rest of the food would taste so when the entrees came out, I was a little apprehensive. Turns out I was scared and nervous for absolutely no reason!
I’m not a huge veggie person, but if I could cook my vegetables as well as the chefs at The Wellington cook them, I would be ok with becoming a vegetarian. The short ribs were cooked to perfection. Not only was it soft and tender, but cutting through it was like cutting through butter. The risotto was also ridiculously awesome, but also really rich. Not over the top and not too heavy, but definitely packed with a lot of flavor.
I had some of my fiancé’s beef wellington and it is, by far, the best that I have ever had. The pastry was soft and crispy. Previous beef wellingtons I’ve had had always had hard-​ish pastries. Not fun! To be completely honest, I kind of wish I had ordered the beef wellington instead of the short ribs lol. Always next time I guess.
We wrapped up the entrees pretty quickly and had some of the mac & cheese. The mac & cheese was okay, but nothing to really write home about. Yummy but average. The desserts came out shortly after they boxed the leftovers and I am so happy I got the banana cream pie! The mousse was good, but had a lot of chocolate and was therefore really rich. I only managed a small bite before I couldn’t eat anymore. The banana cream pie was light and airy, pretty much the opposite of the chocolate mousse.
Service was fantastic. Our server always made sure to check in with us as to whether or not we were liking the food, if we needed anything, made sure our water/​ginger ale was re-​filled, etc etc. Overall a great experience and we will definitely be coming here again in the future!

One word to describe this place: Intimate. Went here to celebrate our anniversary and it felt like it was just us two in the room making it more romantic. Well tbh, it was just us two and 1 other couple at the time hahaha. But if it were to be filled up, each table would probably hold a mystery since its that intimate and so personal. The place is very dim, probably dimmer than Hollister… And we all know how dark that place can get. So bring a flashlight if you wanna see each other haha. There’s a live band which gives you a jazzy feeling. I didn’t expect the place to be that small but I guess that’s what makes the ambiance relaxing and warm. Our server Brandon was very attentive and professional. Always asked how we were doing or how the food is and if we had any questions. As for food, we enjoyed it! We’ve been to a lot of steak restaurants and this has to be one of my favorites. My bf got the 10 oz C.A.B. Prime rib with the Mac and cheese. He devoured it. I got a taste of his food and the prime rib cuts through like butter and just melts in your mouth. As for the Mac and cheese, damn! I loved it, wish I had a bowl to myself. It’s very creamy and cheesy. Surprisingly my bf enjoyed it and that says a lot since he’s not a big fan of anything cheesy. I got the beef Wellington: «Grass-​Fed filet mignon with cremini mushroom duxelle wrapped in puff pastry, sauteed vegetables.» I enjoyed every bite. The pastry tasted like if a biscuit and croissant had a baby. And the filet mignon was tender & flavorful. I’d definitely recommend this place especially if you wanna get romantic with your loved one.

Bravo! New Years eve prix fixe was amazing. We started off with a amuse bouche which was proscuitto with pickled prissimon and oinion. This was followed the starter of scallops with micro greens. Chef Miguel et al prepared the beef wellington perfecly. Moist and tasty with a enveloped in crispy filo dough. For dessert we had a choice of a baked apple cozied with a hard chocolate crust or a peanut butter mousse inside a chocolate shell.
My only hesitation was a limited selection of tequila with only one anejo. Desipte that, we will return for the food and atmosphere. BTW… great for dates or special occasions.

The Wellington is the definition of «intimate.» I counted maybe 10 tables/​booths (in total) for this place, so reservations are HIGHLY recommended. There were a couple of walk-​ins, they got sat at the bar (which had like 4 – 5 seats). Dimly lit restaurant that helped with the intimate vibe, but the place was clean & had cute Christmas décor.
Chose the Beef Wellington [$ 36] (prepared Medium) their most famous dish. Came with a medley of veggies & spinach. it wasn’t what I expected in terms of taste (first timer), but that wasn’t the restaurants fault. It was nicely presented and tasted good. Also got a couple of bites of their 6oz Filet Mignon [$ 36], that was really good! You get to choose your sauce & a side. Went with the mushroom sauce & mac & cheese for the side– the mac is a must try! So good! Their Mobius Zinfandel [$ 10/​glass] was a great pairing for the Wellington.
As for dessert, we tried the Baked Chocolate Mousse [$ 10]. It was excellent & like all the other dishes, well presented. Our waiter was a cool dude, had a nice ‘stache going. 4 stars for you Sir Wellington!

Best steak house in San Diego. Well prepared. Their martinis and manhattans are the best

This is a review for my dinning experience in August to celebrate a birthday I took 3 friends there. We were seated in a nice booth in the back corner and they had some nice live music on this Thursday night. The space is intimate with good lighting and Lempicka paintings on the wall. We had the Wellington and steaks as well as several cocktails. My wellington was cooked perfectly and I left nothing on the plate. The server was very professional and helped make this night a memorable one.

Had never heard of this place until recently, excellent quality food.
The review made by some loser named Matthew L appears to
be suited for Sizzler Steak house, gone and forgotten like him

This place was Ok. Great ambiance — cute and quaint.
I of course had the beef wellington and was OK.

The 3 of us went for dinner on Sept. 11, first time there. At the end of our dinner the check came, 2 credit cards were placed to split the $ 204 bill. That was $ 102.00 each. Then to my surprise, my bank statement showed $ 204 and not the $ 102. I called and was told my account would be credited. To this date 9 – 19, no credit and I have left Justin, The manager several messages and have not heard back.
Marco Gallegos/​Mary Koerner.
Thank Wellington for our refund

My girlfriend and I came here for restaurant week and what a disappointment! We both ordered the goat cheese crostini as a starter, beef Wellington for our entre, and the bread pudding for desert.
The goat cheese crostini was terrible! The crostini was stale and the goat cheese tasted like it had been sitting out for an extended period of time.
We ordered the beef Wellington at medium rare, and it came out chewy like rubber. It was cooked extra well done. The vegetables were served at room temperature. The taste of the Wellington was good, but the rubber texture of the filet was tough to swallow.
The bread pudding was served at room temperature and again had tasted like it was prepared hours before and had been sitting out for an extended period of time.
We paid over $ 150 for our meal, which tasted like cafeteria food. I give this 2 stars because the ambiance was cool, but the food was a big disappointment. I would not recommend this place to anyone as there are way better steak restaurants in San Diego for the price. This was way over priced for the quality of food.

Great atmosphere. Went in for restaurant week. Pastry on wellington was great. Surprise hot pepper in veggies. More disappointed in service. Server did not know what veggies were in dish or where. the local saison was.from. Only 4 beers to choose from.
I also wanted pepper but no one’s checked on us after our food was delivered.
Could not read menu or wine list because the place was too dark.
Lasangne was fantastic, wish there was more of it.
Bread pudding was soaked in a bowl of butter, kind of gross. Not feeling well today.
Truffles.were nice.
Won’t be back for the price, but it was worth a try. 117 dollars for a 3 course dinner, and still hungry. I am 120 lb woman and I don’t eat much. Worth a try. You might like it better than me.

I really wanted to like this place, as I LOVE beef Wellington.
The appearance both inside and out are completely adorable, but the food and service was just not up to par for the pricing. Granted, I went for the first day of restaurant week — but if I’m paying $ 50 for a preset menu or $ 150 — the quality shouldn’t change. The idea is to get people to come back to pay full price.
My Wellington was overcooked, had a hard time slicing the meat, although the puff pasty was tasty — but when is puff pastry not tasty?
Our first course, or appetizer was delicious, best part of the night! Goat cheese crostini — so good! The downside was that it took 20+ minutes to get to our table.
I had asked for a second glass of wine to go with my Wellington, and the server forgot about it… there’s maybe 8 tables in the entire place… how do you forget about my wine? I had to ask another server for the refill.
Sadly, I don’t know that I will return — and what’s worse is that they put themselves on the high price list for restaurant week! I’d rank them at the $ 40 price AT MOST. Save your money and east elsewhere.
Ps felt awkward taking photos of my food because it’s so dark — which is nice, but not good for Instagram and Unilocal photos FYI.

TIP: If your coming for an early dinner and it’s sunny outside, make sure you wear your shades or something because your eyes will take time to adjust to the dim lights. It’s dark in here.
An intimate low light very nice restaurant that I would recommend for a date night. Tupac and I made reservations just in case since it is a small restaurant. There’s a small little bar area that sits about 4 – 5 chairs (didn’t count), a few tables and a couple of booths. On the night we visited it looks like there’s live dinner music.
Service was absolutely great. He was very nice, polite, kind and didn’t bother us too much but yet made sure our water was filled and that we enjoyed our dinner.
Food:
We went straight to ordering dinner (I was hungry) and no appetizers. They do offer complimentary bread.
— 10OZ. C.A.B. PRIME RIBEYE: The ribeye was good and cooked as I ordered
–36 BEEF WELLINGTON: The Wellington was the BOMB. So good and tasty. I never had a Beef Wellington before and I’m glad I did. Delicious and highly recommended.
Overall, I would definitely return and recommend this nice quaint restaurant.

I got stuck on a Gordon Ramsay Hulu block recently and got the itch to try a Beef Wellington. So in my quest I ‘yelped’ best beef Wellington in San Diego. Luckily, I found this gem by me. It’s a very nice, cheek place. It was small, like 10 — 15 small tables, there may have been another room I am not sure. But it was clean, bar well stocked and the staff was amazing. My server Kristen was professional, personable and efficient. I do not someone to clean up my crumbs after I eat bread but they took the time to wipe them between plates with eat serving on all tables. I thought that was a nice touch but that’s how they kept it clean.
Now the skivvy on the infamous ‘Beef Wellington’ — freaking amazing. It’s was the most delicious ‘beef Wellington’ — ok the only one I have ever tasted. But dorky me had watch Gordon Ramsay tutorials and other Beef Wellington tutorials prior to going. So it was everything I expected to taste, except there was no prosciutto. But overall it was phenomenal. Definitely would go back to order again.
My daughter ordered the rack of lamb which was a special. It was amazing. The lamb was medium rare and cooked on point. The vegetables were perfect as well.
We shared a Banana Crème Pie for dessert. It was a perfect ending to a great meal. The pie tasted fresh and was a decent sized portion for two.
Overall a great place. The only bad thing is parking.

The food was delicious. It is pricey, but the food is damn good.
Had the beef wellington; because, it’s the namesake and I love beef wellington. I was so happy with this choice. It was a glorious prime piece of beef cooked to perfection with an amazing duxelle (mushrooms) tucked into a perfectly crusty puff pastry shell and a sauce that brought it all together. YUM. I usually give my husband half of whatever I order because I never finish a plate… not this time. He got two bites and I ate the whole thing happily.
Husband had the catch of the day and loved it too.
The cocktails were good too. Their manhattan was perfect, and I also had the «Goldfinch in the Garden» which was a refreshing vodka cocktail.
The ambiance is dark and cozy. It is a very small restaurant, only 9 or 10 tables. There are mismatched chandeliers handing down and a duo playing guitar and standup bass. Perfect for our romantic dinner.
Service is at a pretty slow pace, but that suited me just fine for a nice dinner with my love. It does take a while to get the cocktails to the table, but they did seem to be lovely crafted by the bartender.
The one thing I can say that I could have been better was that I had mentioned on the reservation that it was a birthday/​wedding anniversary dinner but none of the staff said anything or seemed to realize. I could have mentioned it to them, but whatever, we were enjoying our dinner anyway.
The beef wellington is awesome… I wish I had that dish again right now; I would eat it again anytime.

Walked into the Wellington (not the coat factory) and was immediately struck with blindness. It is Hella dark inside! I was also noticing the atmosphere and the gloom in essence reminded me of the haunted house at Disney land. When my eyes finally got used to the lighting (lack there of) I saw the décor and loved the coziness of the restaurant. It has an upscale ritzy feel to it all that screams prohibition.
Parking is tricky here. Street parking near businesses are closer but the local residence might be your best bet on weekends. Luckily found parking near a donut stop.
If your not paying attention you could easily walk by this hidden gem of a restaurant. They have the menu on the wall outside but it’s hard to tell where the entrance is. Almost walked to the neighboring restaurant the Red Door.
Grub:
Dates & sweetbread; literally thought that it was going to be dates with some sweet bread… nope. Turns out sweetbread is the thymus of lamb or beef. Bacon wrapped dates and the sweetbread was delicious and creamy. Saltiness from the bacon, sweetness from the dates and meatiness from the sweetbread. Sweetbread reminds me of fore gras or patté.
Beef Wellington; is a hard to beat meat… pun intended. It’s a steak wrapped in puff pastry goodness! All the juices absorbed into the mushroom medley inside and the croissant like pastry! This is art on a plate. You don’t see it often at restaurants anymore.
Banana cream pie: lightly whipped and creamy. Not overpowering with sweets or too custardy. Liked the flakiness of the cookie crust. Had some dark chocolate syrup on the plate for some good contrast with the light creaminess of it all.
Service was on point! Our food came out a little later than what was expected but was compensated nicely ;-)
This night was a remake of my bday because my gf got sick after my last bday party. She remembered I like beef Wellingtons and chose this place! Love her to death.

Food = 5
Service = 5
Ambiance = 5
This place is such a beautiful restaurant. I feel like I stepped into a 1920’s prohibition speakeasy! My only regret is not getting a picture with my boyfriend here when we came here for dinner this past weekend.
I had a late lunch so I opted for the smaller steak — the 6 oz. filet mignon, with the gouda mac & cheese. It was so flavorful and cooked perfectly. The mac & cheese was great too. I ate everything on my plate. My boyfriend’s 10 oz. prime ribeye was very tender and delicious as well. He had the lyonnaise potatoes with it, which was good, but nothing amazing.
Towards the end of his meal my boyfriend found a long strand of hair in his steak. Why am I still giving this place 5 stars? Because the awesome manager (or owner?) took care of us so well after hearing about this. He was extremely apologetic (and humorous) and comped the entrée and our dessert for us. Even though the restaurant was closed at this point, he asked if we had time to stay since he was having a special dessert made for us that wasn’t on the menu. Even though we had ordered the banana cream pie for dessert, he still had a chocolate dessert made for us and made sure both desserts weren’t on our check. We didn’t expect anything to be comped from our meal, especially a $ 34 steak + the $ 9 pie + the extra chocolate dessert. He even said he would have another meal made for my boyfriend to take it to-​go, which wasn’t necessary at all.
The food was amazing, but the service was even better. If I ever visit San Diego again, I’ll be sure to come by for dinner again.

Came here for my three year anniversary with my boyfriend tonight. After searching far and wide on the world of Unilocal for a reasonably priced steakhouse with a romantic ambiance, I alas found The Wellington!
For starters, the place just has a fancy ring to it’s name. And the inside of the restaurant matches it’s name because it has a very romantic and stylish décor. I read many Unilocal reviews that mentioned how small the establishment is, and it was far tinier then I was even imagining! This personally didn’t take away from the experience at all for me though because the beautiful low lights coming from the chandeliers, and candles on each table followed by the music in the background created a very romantic and intimate aura despite the cramped quarters.
Now for the food! The Rosemary Focaccia bread they bring you delicious! Don’t pass up on this wonderful bread when they ask you if you’d like any! It’s AMAZING. To my dismay they had ran out of their famous Beef Wellington which I was dying to try. So instead my boyfriend and I both ordered the Filet Mignon with the mushroom sauce and the Gouda Mac and Cheese.
The Filet Mignon was quite good. It was soft and cut like butter. Unfortunately my boyfriend’s was a quite under cooked and appeared to still have a heartbeat. The mushroom sauce was very good in my opinion. A little on the sweet side but still went nicely with the steak. The Mac and cheese was also amazing. The creamy Gouda was absolutely delicious and the flavors paired nicely with the steak as well.
For dessert we ordered the Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte and it was to DIE FOR. It is a chocolate crust covered in a peanut butter mousse and has a chocolate shell encasing the deliciousness. It honestly tasted like a gourmet Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I DEFINITELY recommend ordering this fabulous dessert.
Overall The Wellington was great and the food is reasonably priced for such a romantic and lovely place. Thank you Wellington for a great evening!

My friend took me here for my birthday and it was a really decent steakhouse especially for the Pricing!
Parking here is terrible since it is in Hillcrest, but your best bet is to park along the side streets. I found parking within 5 minutes!
Interior is extremely DARK and COLD. My friend and I kept on joking how we felt like vampires in there. So prepare to bring a jacket and use your phone as a light to have a clear look of the menu. What I really liked was that even on Wednesday night there was live entertainment! There was a guy playing the cello the entire time and it was a great atmosphere for a date (I went with my girlfriend but still fun ;)).
Okay lets get to the food! So I chose the organic filet mignon medium rare and it melted within my mouth! Loved it and what else I loved was that they asked which sauce you would like so you can dip your steak in. I got the chimichurri which was an olive base and I liked it a lot. My friend got the red wine and she loved it more than the chimichurri. For my side I picked the lyonaisse potatoes which was like mashed potatoes but it came out purple. It might not look appetizing but it was so good!!!
It was also my birthday so they gave me complimentary truffles which was delicious :) Service was amazing and atmosphere great too. I will definitely be coming back here again!!!
I recommend:
— Organic filet mignon
— Lyonaisse potatoes
— Truffles!