Fort Oak

Visited San Diego on a business trip. So glad we found this restaurant. One of the best, well managed restaurants in every aspect. The food was beyond amazing. Super fresh ingredients. Drinks are superb. Our waiter was professional and super helpful with suggestions. A must when you are in the area.

This was a place recommended to us by a friend so we decided to try it out. Overall we were disappointed by the food here. It did not live up to the hype. We got the tuna tartare to start which was actually quite good although it should have been served with chips instead of bread. There was also not enough bread for the tartare. We also ordered a hard cider which was decent. Not amazing but not bad either. We also ordered the lamb kefta, the carrots, the cavatelli, the duck, and the strip steak. The lamb kefta was a bit overcooked and the sauce with it was very harissa forward. It was not bad sauce necessarily, but it overpowered the lamb when eaten together. The carrots were good but inconsistently cooked. Some were not cooked enough. The ones that were cooked through were decent but it was difficult to deal with the inconsistency. The cavatelli was okay, but it was a bit too heavy and unbalanced. We felt it could have used more acid to brighten it up a bit. Although the sausage in it was good. It did have a bit of a strange aftertaste that was almost bitter. The duck and the steak were also just okay. The duck was seasoned on the outside so on the skin, but the meat itself was not salted or seasoned. The mole sauce with it was okay but didn't necessarily complement the duck. And the beans it was served with were not great. They were also very spicy. Finally the steak was cooked to medium rare when it was ordered rare. It was also served with these potatoes that were not cooked through. They were quite hard. And the bone marrow served with it was okay but had a strange taste to it. The butternut squash puree with the steak though was very good. They did give us a free apple crumble dessert though and that was by far the best apple crumble we have ever had. It was outstanding. If you do go here you must order this because it is incredible. The ice cream was homemade and was a tres leches flavor and was just very good.

Overall, we had a very good experience at Fort Oak. We had 5:15 dinner reservations on a Friday night on the patio. The heat lamps kept us warm without having to wear a coat. The service was average. One thing I did find weird is that we were sitting on the patio during happy hour and the hostess said guests with reservations on the patio don’t typically get access to the happy hour menu- but it says differently on their website. She “made an exception.” The jalapeño wings were fantastic, as well as the french fries with togarashi ranch. The sourdough was soft and warm, but 1/3 of a baguette for $13 is a little ridiculous. The halibut was cooked to perfection and probably the best halibut I’ve ever had. After dinner we waited in the Snowed In line for the Christmas bar. Talk about Christmas on steroids. It’s really a lollapalooza of sorts. The bar is covered from floor to ceiling with Christmas decorations. It was really fun and they had an ample amount of Christmas cocktails to choose from. One thing I wish I would have seen more is the staff wiping down the counters after people switch out their seats. All of these leftover glasses and mugs would just be hanging around right in front of you. The bartenders were extremely busy but a wipe down a couple times an hour would be helpful. It was a festive time though!

Can't beat $1 oysters on Monday for happy hour! Christina and Diana were wonderful to us ❤️ the pork chop was delicious. Can't wait to eat there again soon

The hostess seemed to be in a bad mood, which was a shame, she’s so young. I tried smiling at her twice when we made eye contact but she didn’t smile back. The server, however, was great and gave us lots of helpful details. I had the branzino, but it was flavorless and definitely not worth $53 plus tip. The desserts were good—not too sweet—but nothing exceptional.