Top of the Market

My wife and I just had lunch here. She had a Caesar salad and clam chowder and thought it was great. I had fish and chips. Huge disappointment. I couldn’t eat it. The cod was water logged and tasteless, with the texture of fish that has been frozen way too long. The breading was greasy, soggy and the seasonings terrible. I wouldn’t say don’t go there. The service was good. My wife’s food was good. Just don’t order fish and chips. They should really take it off the menu. It was that bad.

Review is for the bar, we didn’t eat. Expected a tourist trap and the place was anything but. The drinks were expertly crafted (delicious), bartenders were helpful and very friendly. Would definitely go back.

We had a party of six for dinner Saturday evening at top of the market. Originally we had reservations for five and they were quickly able to accommodate out party at one of the best tables. Our service started quickly with two attending. Shanna was highly knowledgeable and super friendly in describing and recommending dishes with pairings. Our party was one which required five separate checks and this was accomplished flawlessly.
We had a wide range of salads and entrees all of which were prepared well, presented nicely at the same time and delicious. We were able to enjoy our dinner on the quite front patio area without being rushed or bothered.
Desserts followed with Crème brûlée, tiramisu and key lime pie shared between us all.
I would recommend top of the market to anyone coming to the area.
Urban Cowgill
Jan 2016

Excellent service! Wonderful view! Ahi appetizer was delicious! The filet and salmon for enters were also delectable. Very pleased with the dining experience!!!

Came here with 3 others for a New Years Eve dinner. They had a typical pre made 4 course meal for $ 85. Good selection for each course. We were seated right away and at a great table-​great, ordered drinks took about 15 minutes-​great. Took our order within 20 minutes-​perfect. Everything was fine until we noticed a pattern of the wait for each course. In between the courses the waiter did not check if more bread or water was needed– had to ask. He forgot. Asked a bus boy– fine. After we had our salads out of the way we waited 50 minutes for our entrée. A total of an 1 ½ at least since we had given our order. During the wait for our entrée we were not checked on. We also noticed that the restaurant has every waiter grab from the counter to complete their tables order, in a very first come first serve style. Literally the waiters would grab whatever was needed to finish their table. Unfortunately our waiter was hardly at the counter. This gave us an impression that our food was taken for another table. Finally our waiter walked by, we asked how long the wait would be. His exact response was «oh its ACTUALLY ready (points at the counter) it’s been sitting there but I’m just waiting on one plate. Walks away– checks the counter and leaves (no food on counter). ¹⁵⁄₂₀ minutes later we see him return to the counter, no food. It was obvious at this point our food was gone. He comes back to the table apologized for the wait. Not happy– he comes back to the table and explains it would be a few more minutes and gave us 4 glasses of champagne. This would have been a great gesture but he wanted to be very clear that it was on «him» and wanted to make sure we gave him as many thank you as possible. AWKWARD. All in all the food was great, the swordfish was very dry but still very good. The waiter returned after we were done. We explained that if the dessert would take long we would prefer to have it boxed and get the check due to trying to meet for a party. He assured us it would be fast and hands the check over as well. We pay a hefty (expected) check, dessert is served. As he returns with the receipt he thanks is for being understanding and looks over to my husband and explains that his coffee was on the house and that we were not charged. As long as this review is, is as long as our dinner was. It was painful. With an arrival of 8pm we were finally on our way at 11:30. I give 3 stars to the very unorganized system to plating and horrible waiter. Would give 4 ½ if just based on food. Not to mention in that time we witnessed a lady slip and take a hard fall by the serving counter. She was escorted to the bathroom and escorted half way back to her table. She was comped nothing. We also witnessed staff drop a plate and break glasses. It was an eventful night.

My boyfriend and I came here for dinner Wednesday night. We had a reservation for 7:45, our table had a great view of the water, it was very nice. This was our first time here, I had heard they reopened after a fire. So I was excited to come check it out. The décor looks great, seating is comfortable, and huge windows for that great view.
Our waitress was Stephanie she was great, she had such a friendly personality. First we got complimentary bread with some type of green sauce, wow that sauce was excellent. To start we ordered calamari, being a seafood place I was expecting it to be amazing. Unfortunately it was not, it was the chewiest calamari I’ve ever had. Tasted very rubbery, also wasn’t a fan of the 2 sauces that came with it. I’ve had better calamari at non-​seafood restaurants; what a disappointment.
After, I ordered the prawn Cobb then the cioppino ($ 6 extra if you want crab out of the shell) for dinner. My boyfriend got the wedge salad with red wine dressing, he asked if he could do a ‘surf and turf’ since it was not on the menu. Our waitress says yes and says it’s $ 58 dollars, later on she comes back and says its $ 85 (I think that’s a little ridiculous for a surf and turf) he got a filet and lobster tail.
We both very much enjoyed our salads. The bacon on them was excellent, and my prawns were cooked perfectly. Waiting for our meal, it took almost 40 minutes, we both were getting tired waiting for so long. Finally our food arrives and it’s spectacular! Absolutely delicious, my cioppino was perfect. Everything about it was cooked perfectly, and had such great flavor. My boyfriend enjoyed his meal as well, stating his lobster was amazing. It was also very big, and the steak was cooked perfectly. Overall the food was excellent besides the calamari.
Service was always great, I never saw the bottom of my glass. The views are beautiful and the food is delicious, I’ll definitely come back.

Yeah… grand reopening after the fire! Open, airy beautifully done!
I am super spoiled when it comes to salmon, with that said I had the best piece of salmon I have ever had… fresh, tasty and cooked to perfection.
We had great service and can’t wait to come back.

As most fans of Top of the Market know it has been closed for several months after the fire in summer 2015. There were extensive renovations and interior remodeling during the period it was closed. I have good new and bad news, the interior remodeling and redesign is wonderful and updated the restaurant, however, they must have fired the chef and everyone else who knew how to cook because the food is awful.
Three of us went to the grand opening last night to check it out, what a monumental disappointment. Before the closing we were regular customers and it would seem the type of people they need to retain as customers, we are local (just down the street) and have gladly paid the inflated meal prices adopted a few years ago on the revamp of the menu ($ 42 fish entrees I consider inflated and it better be superb).
When the three of us arrive, we were seated promptly but thereafter largely ignored by wait staff (the busboy took all but 2 set ups?). We brought wine and it was finally opened and we got water-​a minimal effort at best. I wanted to try some of the standards from before that were still on the menu which was mostly unchanged. The bread arrived, remember the great warm sour dough? Gone, and replaced with a foccacia bread and another ill defined bread both of which were cold. The spinach and garlic dipping sauce was good but not enough to make it taste the way it should. Fire the bread guy and find something that is more appealing. Don’t forget the things you did do well before, if it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it. We ordered the Fried Calamari, how can you screw that up? The dish was well cooked but lacked any pizzazz, underspiced and the batter needed more character. Ordered a Caesar salad, a staple of this and any good restaurant, it was fresh, white anchovies good but the dressing uninspired and dreary. Next, I order the squid ink pasta per the recommendation of the waiter, huge mistake. The pasta was undercooked and tasteless (lacking spices), the shrimp and scallops were well cooked and well spiced. Essentially it was $ 32 for a few shrimp and a couple of scallops-​really! More like an appetizer than an entrée. I ate very little of the dish and pushed it aside for the waiter to remove. It was removed but no one asked why it was not eaten-wouldn’t you want to know?
My companions ordered the Fijian Tuna, at $ 42, which I made a point of tasting, underspiced and lacked that great fresh tuna taste. Again, not sure the product was inferior or the preparation so uninspired as to dumb it down to the flavorless level for service. What a shame. The group spent $ 175 and got a meal that the downstairs Fish Market restaurant could have served for half that amount.
All in all, I think you get the idea I was displeased with the meal at the Top of the Market. Do yourself a favor and go to Eddie V’s in the Headquarters, you will get a better meal at the same price point.

Fantastic restaurant!. Came here with a few friends and enjoyed the food and atmosphere.. Amazing service and the food was top notch! My fiancé and I had the Tuna and the Lamb! :) Can’t wait to come back. 10 stars!

The fire that closed the place was in May, the downstairs opened in August, what is taking so long for upstairs to open ?
Places have been built in shorter time frames.
Used to be a regular.

My boyfriend and I come here every year for my birthday and I continue to find myself impressed time and time again. The wait staff is one of the best I’ve ever experienced and the overall mood of the restaurant is calm and positive. This restaurant is actually located on top of its sister restaurant, The Fish Market, and is located right on the marina by the water with an absolutely stunning view.
No matter who we get as a waiter/​waitress they are always extremely accommodating and kind and they consistently go above and beyond to make my dinner experience one that is positive and memorable. Waiters continually check on our table — not too many times where it’s distracting, just enough to show us we matter to them — and I truly appreciate their attentiveness!
The food IS TO DIE FOR. So good it’s like you wouldn’t believe. I get something different every time I visit but my stand out favorites are the crab cake appetizer and the salmon entrée! Everything from appetizers to desserts are a treat for your taste buds and I know regardless of what I order, I will never be disappointed with the talented cooks at Top of the Market. The food is a flavorful explosion in your mouth. Seriously. So good. Must try if you’ve never been — but fair warning: after your first bite, you’ll be hooked like I am!

Best crab cake I have tasted in San Diego so far! I was here a little less than a year ago, and I remember that it was one of my favorites. It is made with blue claw crabs which is how they are typically made on the east coast, so to me this is the way they should be done. The cake is pretty much all crab, not a lot of fillers and just the right amount of sear. My friend who came with me both times also is obsessed over the crab cake.
Now that that is out of the way, Top of the Market is the upstairs restaurant (perhaps the fancier version) of the famous Fish Market restaurant which is downstairs. It is located right on the bay with views of Coronado. It is a white linen table cloth place and is definitely not inexpensive. A beer and a glass of wine is over $ 20 on it’s own. Just wait till you get to the bottles of wine and the food. Even though it is pricey I saw people dressed up as well as with hoodies on.
We shared a bottle of Syrah which was yummy and got the aforementioned crab cakes. As an appetizer I also got the lobster bisque. I really liked it. It did not have any chunks of lobster or anything in it, but it was very smooth and creamy with a lot of lobster flavor. After I was done with it, I did the super classy thing and used it to dip bread into for the rest of the meal. (you can dress me up, but you can’t take me anywhere) it was really good and went well as a soup and with their bread (which was nice and soft in the middle but with a good crunchy crust). For dinner, I had the swordfish which was good and my friend had the yellowtail which was ok. He liked mine much better. We also tried out the peanut butter chocolate dessert. The chocolate was a little too bitter for him at first but as he made it through it complimented the peanut butter more and more.

Made reservations & got seated right away.
Started off with the mussels as an appetizer. It was amazing. It was a pretty big appetizer but won’t make you to full to eat your entrée. Very delicious. & the lobster bread was a little too crunchy for my taste, but still good.
The entrees we got were the ink linguine and the Oregon Dungeness crab cioppino. I was a little skeptical about the ink linguine but tried it and it was perfect. The Parmesan cream sauce is tastes great with the noodles and the scallops were perfectly soft and chewy. The shrimp was a little too peppery. Overall fantastic dish though.
The cioppino was interesting, since I had never had it before. It came with plenty of seafood and paying the extra $ 4 for the chef to remove the crab for you was definitely worth is. The noodles tasted a bit bland compared to the ink linguini. But still, great dish overall.
In the middle of dinner (about 9:30pm) fireworks went off at the USS museum and we watched through the window while enjoying our food.
Our bill came out to about $ 100.
I would definitely give this place 5 stars, but the service was very slow. We were seated at 8 and had to stay til about 10:30 because the food came out so late. Waiter was friendly but hardly checked up on us. We always had to work hard to get his attention.

Even though this place is situated on the San Diego Bay, I was still shocked at how incredibly fresh the seafood was. The service was super friendly, decently fast, and average price for good seafood in the area.
I myself had the swordfish tacos and it was the most amazing seafood meal I have ever had. Zesty, cooked perfectly, and just all-​around awesome.
I sat in the enclosed patio, which was awesome for a view and atmosphere. That also have outdoor patio seating and indoor seating.
Special shout out to my server, Erica-​funny, fast, efficient, and friendly… everyone I saw her wait on was super pleased with the service.
Honestly, I would say you can’t go wrong here! Five stars was an easy score to give!

If I could give 500 stars to this place, then I would. I couldn’t recommend this place more. It was literally perfect. From the food to the view of the ocean. I wouldn’t change a thing about the food or the dining experience. I couldn’t ask for anything more from a restaurant.
My fiancé and I came here for lunch after going on a harbor cruise. To drink, I ordered the Kolosso Lemonade, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I ended up having a couple more throughout the meal, all just as good as the first one. Very consistent.
The waitress brought us a bread basket with butter, and the bread was so delicious and crusty that I probably ate most of it. The whipped butter was great as well.
Aside from the drinks and bread, we also ordered the oregon dungeness crab cocktail, and it was so fresh! I doubt I’ve tasted fresher crab before. The cocktail sauce was also better than any cocktail sauce I ever had. I was tempted to ask for their recipe, but I refrained.
For my entrée, I ordered grilled scallops and they melted in my mouth like butter, just like proper scallops should. The scallops came with asparagus and some type of corn fritter, and out of the two, I really enjoyed the fritter. The sauce that was paired with the dish worked well with all of the components.
Looking at their website now, I can’t find the best dessert I’ve ever had, but it was a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and chocolate covered bacon. Perfection! My fiancé and I were full, but we ate the entire piece of cake because it was so delicious, decadent, and chocolatey.
This was the best seafood restaurant I’ve ever been to.

Had dinner there last night.
For appetizer we followed our server suggestion and had a mini salmon cannelloni with béchamel sauce. Not sure if it was called that exactly but if you see it in the menu, have it! It was so so so good.
For entrée my boyfriend had the scallops and I had the inked linguini with scallops and prawns. His scallops were good, but the dish itself wasn’t very rich. Served with asparagus only. I wouldn’t order it if it was for me. My pasta was interesting. The seafood was tasty but the pasta, not so much. It was a bit bland. The sauce was tasty but there were just SO much stuff on that plate. I eat out often but I swear there were vegetables on that plate that I didn’t even know what it was. I finished my meal and my plate was still full, of veggies. Wish there were more pasta and seafood.
Service was friendly (I’m sorry I forgot his name) and because I had mentioned earlier that me and my boyfriend had met on the restaurants bar six months ago, he brought us a «happy anniversary» mini dessert. It was delicious and I thought it was very nice of him/​the place to do that since it wasn’t really an «anniversary» but we were indeed celebrating something ;)
Overall my experience was good but honestly the appetizer was the best part of it. Maybe we chose wrong, but It wasn’t a mind blowing seafood experience. I want to go back and give it a second chance.

Hands down this place deserves 5 stars!
First. The view and location is breathtaking! We sat right outside eating a delicious meal surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.
The staff was very friendly and extremely knowledgable. Our waiter knew everything about fish.
As for food of course. Oysters and mussels were phenomenal. The broth that the mussels were brought in was very tasty that we even asked to keep the broth to continue to sip on! I ordered the swordfish and it was cooked to perfection! Can’t even explain how good it was. Also, the Lobster bisque was delicious!
Lastly. Large wine and cocktail selection!
If you are coming here. Come with an empty stomach… You will need all the room to fit the best seafood in town!

If you want to have a nice seafood dinner with an ocean view, this place is idyllic. Right on the water in San Diego’s Seaport Village. Five of us enjoyed a gluttonous supper for $ 300 (including the tip), out on the deck facing the water. It was fantastic.
Here are all of the many items I tasted:
The seafood platter appetizer. This has to be one of the best deals on the menu. For around $ 40 you get a half of a lobster tail, 4 or 5 meaty crab legs, 3 jumbo shrimp, about a dozen oysters and mussels, and a tasty seaweed salad. I suggest asking for some melted butter on the side. Amazing.
I tried both the Lobster Bisque and the New England Clam Chowder. Hands down, go with the Lobster Bisque. It’s delicious.
I had the Crab Louie salad. Again, this was phenomenal! Tons of crab meat and avocado, tasty dressing, nice salty capers and raw onion, tossed with lettuce. And it’s huge.
I also tasted a few bites of the crab cakes, the swordfish, and the yellowtail. Every single one was delicious. I’d probably choose the yellowtail to order again, the sauce was out of this world and the fish was perfectly prepared.
Last but not least was the Virgin Bloody Mary. I love a good Bloody Mary and this did not disappoint. Lots of fresh horseradish, just how I like it! Oh, and the cilantro pesto they bring out with the bread makes it hard not to fill up on bread before your meal comes.

5÷23÷14
Another wonderful place that the boyfriend has been to before when he was in SD that he wanted to take me to too.
This place is pretty close to the Trolley station so we didn’t have to worry about parking but there is a nice lot near the restaurant. Top of the Market has the most breathtaking views of the water as you dine! Simply gorgeous!
As we waited for the rest of our party to join us the BF and I decided to hang out the bar and grab a margarita and have some Manhattan chowder! While waiting for that to come out the bartenders/​servers gave us this pesto parmesan type dipping sauce with some warm sourdough bread! OOOOMMMGGGGEEEE!!! I am in love! I literally by myself ate like a loaf of bread just because of this awesome dipping sauce. Then the chowder came out! WOW! AMAZING! This place is just an array of wonderful taste! The bartenders were amazing and made our margaritas to PERFECTION! All the staff was very personable and friendly. They even knew our friend who frequents there.
When the rest of the family arrived we were just finishing up at the bar and the hostess had a table in the heated patio area overlooking the water all ready for us. So we moved on in this area and had an amazing waiter and the manager even came over. I decided to try a cup of the clam chowder for comparison and the boo and I split the OREGON DUNGENESS CRAB CIOPPINO which comes with Mussels, Clams, Prawns, Fish, Scallops, Linguini, Herb Wine Tomato Broth! This thing was huge; they said they split the order but we feel that they loved our party so much that they gave us each a good portion of the order. This dish was DELICIOUS AND AMAZING!!! I am such a foodie and this place is HEAVEN for a soul like me!
This place is a little pricey but well worth every red cent!
DEFINITELY CHECK THIS PLACE OUT!!!

My husband and I came here to celebrate with family for Mother’s Day. First time dining here and was definitely impressed. The ambiance is mellow, with beautiful scenic views of the San Diego Bay.
The service was okay, but considering it was the day before Mother’s Day, it’s understandable that they’d be very busy.
Parking was a major issue, as the valet had been full and almost all the parking spots were taken! It’s a little hard to find parking, as the restaurant is literally across from the Midway. You have several people parking in one lot to visit multiple destinations within the area, highly suggest coming very early just for parking.
Now the food… so delicious! Our waiter suggested we try the crab cakes. Probably the best decision ever made! He was absolutely correct when he told us that the crab cakes were packed with crab meat! IMO, best crab cake I’ve tasted thus far.
My main dish was the salmon. It was cooked to perfection. Also, the dish came with Brussel sprouts, normally I am not a big fan of Brussels sprouts, but somehow this place made it taste so amazing.
Hubby got the filet mignon, he was very pleased with his dish as well. Cooked to perfect and seasoned deliciously!
Definitely will be back here soon, I am eager to try the rest of the menu!
4 stars only because of the parking issue.