Seasons 52 (Seaport Village)

Our friends were in town visiting for a wedding and invited us to join them for a late dinner. We met them at Seasons 52 in the Seaport Village, a short walk from their hotel next door. It was also a special night because they just celebrated their 5 year anniversary the night before!

The hostess led us to our seats inside. It's dimly lit in the restaurant during the evenings. There's also an outdoor patio that looks quite comfortable with firepits and lounge chairs, but the nights have cooled down enough that it felt chilly wearing a skirt. I don't have any pics because it was a bit too dark around the restaurant.

We were handed a menu to browse. At the top it stated "Week of Sept 1" so suddenly it clicked how the menu and restaurant name fit together! The current autumn menu is attached at the end of the post. The menu is divided into sections and on the far right is the chef's recommendations if you need suggestions.

Trio of Roasted Mushrooms at Seasons 52

We ordered the Trio of Roasted Mushrooms Flatbread as an appetizer. When it came out, I noticed that the edges looked quite charred. It was overly crispy like a cracker but at least it didn't taste burnt. The mushrooms and cheese were good but it felt so thin and wimpy in that form.

Our waitress also took our order after we received the appetizer. She was scarce otherwise but it did seem to be a busy night. I think it was a 20+ minute wait for the main entrees so in the meantime, we caught up with our friends. It always feels good to meet with old friends in person rather than other means. I also found a kindred spirit in Nicole because she has her own blog EatSleepPlayBlog.com. Hers has a slightly different focus, more though-provoking about kids and family and life but as writers, we have similar struggles. Check it out if you have the chance.

Soon our food arrived.

Caramelized Grilled Sea Scallops at Seasons 52

Both Dennis and Nicole ordered the Caramelized Grilled Sea Scallops. These were mid-sized with six scallops per serving served with lemon butter. Dennis thought these could have used a little more salt as well as a little more caramelizing and grilling per name. They were on a bed of butternut squash risotto which was very lumpy and frankly not that tasty to us. The one side I liked was the steamed broccolini but that's because I like to have healthy greens in my diet!

Asian-Glazed Chilean Seabass at Seasons 52

My entree was the Asian-Glazed Chilean Seabass. This piece of fish was quite huge, probably one of the biggest portions I've had except for our wedding banquet a couple years ago at Pearl. Most of it was supple and buttery smooth but the outside did seem to be a little more rubbery. Perhaps it's hard to cook the fish consistently at this size. Once again, the base of this dish did not really impress us. The black organic rice base was overly flavored by the asian glaze while the insides were plain and sticky. There were three slightly overcooked snap peas and shiitake mushrooms separating the fish and the rice.

Maui Tuna Crunch at Seasons 52

Our friend ordered the Maui Tuna Crunch, which comes with seared tuna and salad. I liked how the salad came contained in a cylinder shaped bowl with no top and bottom, then removed so that the salad fell out of its column shape! We didn't try that dish.

dessert tower at Seasons 52

After the meal, all our plates were taken away and the waitress returned  with a huge dessert tower with several different dessert shots to choose. Since it was our friend's anniversary, they were able to get two on the house. They had also received a little congrats card after being seated which is nice.

dessert shooters at Seasons 52

We selected the pecan pie treat. The best part (of any pecan pie) is the sweetly toasted pecans and I got exactly what I wanted! The cream portions weren't overly sweet so together worked out to a good choice.

On the happy couple's side, they had a peanut butter version and a smore version. The peanut butter was decent though I don't rememeber much. The smore version had a marshmellow on top and the inner layers were very chocolate-y rich. I think a chocolate lover would be fine but it was a little too decadent for me.

After getting the bill, Dennis whispered to me that this was the most expensive, unsatisfactory meal we have had in a while. Both entrees were each around $30 but there were ups and downs leaving us feeling less than stellar. The best part ended up being the $3 dessert shooter. I guess with all the seasonal changes of the menu, there are bound to be a few pairings that don't quite work out. At least our company was good until Nicole and I got carried away talking about bloggerland. Sorry guys! It's part of the job!

Anyway, Seasons 52 is participating in San Diego Restaurant Week with a $20 lunch and a $40 dinner. With some completely different entrees on the SDRW menu, hopefully your meal will turn out better than ours!

Seasons 52 (Seaport District)
789 W Harbor Dr Suite #134
San Diego CA 92101
(619) 702-0052

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PDF icon Seasons 52 Autumn Dinner Menu1.46 MB
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Comments

Nicole's picture
Submitted by Nicole (not verified) on Thu, 09/24/2015 - 7:55am

Haha I agree the best part was the $3 shooter dessert. That night I realized what it really takes to be a food critic. ;) great review! And thanks for the shout out! Hope to find a way to collaborate! Enjoy the rest of restaurant week!

lynn's picture
Submitted by lynn on Thu, 09/24/2015 - 12:45pm

We should collaborate again when I visit San Francisco in about a month. We'll be in touch! :)

Soo @ hungryones's picture
Submitted by Soo @ hungryones (not verified) on Thu, 09/24/2015 - 9:19am

Doh! You need to go on a cheap Chinese fried chicken wing quest to get the bad taste out of your mouth and relieve the burn on your wallet. I can help! At least the photos came out great...

lynn's picture
Submitted by lynn on Thu, 09/24/2015 - 12:49pm

We had chicken wings about two nights ago that were just so-so. I was thinking of stopping by one of these places, MRK Public in particular, on our next trip to the grandparents house in OC:

http://madhungrywoman.com/2015/06/26/6-stellar-spots-for-wings-in-oc/

Soo @ hungryones's picture
Submitted by Soo @ hungryones (not verified) on Fri, 09/25/2015 - 8:54am

Mmm... So many wings to try... Must go to the OC more.

lynn's picture
Submitted by lynn on Tue, 09/29/2015 - 5:30pm

That will be our next road trip adventure! :)

Faye's picture
Submitted by Faye (not verified) on Mon, 09/28/2015 - 3:07pm

Oh no that's sad the dinner wasn't better. I used to frequent their La Jolla location and recently visited this Headquarters location for a yelp event. Chilean sea bass is my absolute favorite fish in the whole world. The picture of it looks so beautiful too - too bad it wasn't prepared better for you.

lynn's picture
Submitted by lynn on Tue, 09/29/2015 - 5:33pm

The sea bass ended up being the tastiest part of the meal. I still quite liked it. It was more of the weird pairings that disappointed us. I saw many recent "hosted meal" posts for here and was sad for my experience.

Mary's picture
Submitted by Mary (not verified) on Thu, 10/01/2015 - 8:07am

At least the sea bass looked really pretty if the rest of it wasn't too great. It's always disappointing to pay so much for a pricey meal! I do like the little dessert shooters here, they seem to just the right amount of dessert at the end of a meal.

lynn's picture
Submitted by lynn on Thu, 10/01/2015 - 4:07pm

I think the seabass is a much better deal than the scallops here. Portions! I guess a little more seasoning to the scallops would have helped a little bit too though.

Darren's picture
Submitted by Darren (not verified) on Fri, 10/02/2015 - 2:16am

As everyone has said, that sea bass looks DOPE! I think I'm going to try that and their steak next time because I remember it being pretty good before when they were offering the Piedmontese cut. Have you had the cedar plank salmon before? I'm not a huge fan of salmon but that dish was pretty tasty too.

lynn's picture
Submitted by lynn on Fri, 10/02/2015 - 12:35pm

i am a fan of salmon in general. would love to eat it more often. i mean, we *could* give this place another try but will probably wait until after we hit more on our to-do list.

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