Recently we escaped the cold San Francisco summer for a couple of nights at the San Diego's W Hotel. We love this Hotel Chain for their cool style, but mainly for the beds. I don't think I have had a better sleep, ever, than I have had in a W Hotel bed.
We arrived at about 1pm on a Saturday. We hadn't eaten all day and needed something quick. A too-late lunch would have spoiled our already-reserved evening meal so, although we wouldn't usually make a habit of dining at a W restaurant, in the interests of speed we dived into Rice for a snack.
The stylish but sparse restaurant was completely empty so it wasn't too difficult to make the decision to sit outside with the small handful of other lunchtime customers.
I chose a $14 St. Agur Szechuan Pepper Chicken Salad from the lunch menu. The salad was unexceptional. The Szechuan dressing was barely perceptible. They weren't very generous with the blue cheese either. Plenty of chicken though, albeit a little on the dry side.
Fred just fancied some quite simple, $12 organic eggs . Chive frites, smoked bacon, chicken apple sausage or spanish ham. Your kind of toast 12 from the breakfast menu. He wasn't in the mood so he skipped the meat options and ended up with a plateful of yellow food. But as it was just what he wanted, he was happy.
One thing you can usually rely on a W hotel to get right is the drinks. 2 weeks later, Fred is still talking about how good that lunchtime Mojito was. The champagne by the glass was served at exactly the right temperature with a cute little red raspberry bobbing in the bubbles. The San Diego W has a couple of other interesting bars on site, including a unique beach bar that I will post about another day.
Look at these funky little salt and pepper shakers.
There is no denying that the W, and indeed Rice, is full of cute looking things (including the wait staff). But I can't help but get the feeling that the emphasis at Rice is more on style than on substance. The quality of the food didn't really live up to the surrounds in which it was served. You can have the cutest shakers in the world but if they haven't got any salt and pepper in them, I don't quite see the point.
This review was a First Impression
(posted in ‘Food’ and ‘San Diego’ and ‘Restaurant’ and ‘First+Impressions’)
Submitted by swanktrendz with permission from Becks & Posh
http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/
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