Boathouse Restaurant

Dinner tonight with my best friend and her husband for her birthday dinner was not what we remembered of this iconic San Diego restaurant. At 5:45 on a Saturday night, we were asked if we had a reservation for an all but empty dining room. We were seated in Josh’s station. He was very nice and attentive. We ordered drinks and salads. My girl friend and I both ordered the macadamia nut encrusted white fish. Tonight it was mahi mahi. Perfect! I had a similar dish on Maui and it was delicious. It came… and it was coconut encrusted with MAYBE one macadamia nut. I asked the waiter and he said «yes, it has coconut-it’s on the menu». I do not like coconut and told Josh as much. No, it was NOT listed on the menu. I was offered an opportunity to re-​order. When Josh came back to the table, he admitted they checked the menu in the back and confirmed it didn’t say anything about coconut. So I ordered the sautéed mahi mahi. It was fine. One of the sides was citrus rice… which had coconut in it! I asked Josh if he knew there was coconut in the rice and he said «yes, I know, I should have said something!». When the check came, there was no consideration for any of this. The tip reflected it, too. As we were leaving, I grabbed the business card of the Manager. I asked the hostess if the manager was working tonight and she was not, but assistant manager Garrett was. He came up behind me and I proceeded to share my experience with him. He said he was aware of the fish incident and since my meal was replaced I was charged appropriately. He admitted he was not aware of the incident with coconut in the rice and in fact wanted to argue with me that there is NO coconut in the rice. When he asked me what I wanted him to do, he appeared shocked when I suggested the bill be adjusted. He said he could give me credit for the rice. I’ll be calling to speak with another manager, but will never be returning to the Boat House. There are too many other great options to spend our time and money here!

came in here for sdrw and my debut visit to this venue. it was about 730pm on a monday night. place was busy with the outer deck view seats all taken. cant blame them, they the best seats in the house for nighttime view f san diego marinia! i dined in the central section where i was able t catch the basketball game just as well. my server was quick to seat me, get me a menu and get me some water. i went fro the sdrw fixed menu and ordered the red blackened snapper with rice and veggies. also came with complimentary baked sourdough bread (way good to!) my app was fresh ceviche with chips and dessert was decadent chocolate cake. my meal was served pretty quick despite the busy night so that impressed me. the civeche was good yes but i have had better. the entrée was spot on. form tender fish, well seasoned, fresh veggies. the cake was not bad either. had better but this still hit the spot for me. for $ 20 i wont complain one bit for this meal and the service and ambiance unique to the boathouse.

My dining buddy and I decided to come to Boathouse Restaurant because this place had a pretty decent deal for restaurant week ($ 20 for dinner)! Though the restaurant wasn’t full, we still had to wait a while in the front for some reason, but when we were seated, we did manage to get served to pretty quickly. We got a nice basket of complimentary sourdough bread (which was one of the best sourdough bread I ever had) as we waited for our respective orders.
For San Diego Restaurant week, I decided to select the Tilapia Ceviche, the Blackened Snapper, and the Apple Betty. I got to try the Mahi Mahi too! Though all of them managed to fulfill my appetite, it wasn’t too extraordinary. Below are my thoughts on each, if you wish to read on!
Tilapia Ceviche: I loved the extra lime flavor, but Tilapia really isn’t a fish with a very distinctive taste. It was alright
Blackened Snapper: I really did like this dish. Though it was listed at spicy, it really was not bad at all! I loved the two pieces of shrimp that came with the dish, as well as the nice tomato sauce on the top. Definitely the best out of my choices.
Mahi Mahi: A-​OKAY! I liked how perfectly cooked this fish was, and the coconut milk based sauce was pretty delicious with it. I only had a taste, so I don’t know how I would have felt eating the entire thing with that delicate, slightly sweet flavor profile for an entrée.
Apple Betty: Flavor on point, but the whole thing was sort of a one textured, mushy texture. It would have been better with a bit of crunch!
One thing I really liked about this place was that like the name suggests, there are boats right next to the giant windows near the sitting area. I would be curious to see what this place looks like with either the pier lit up during the evening, or in the day time!

My fiancé and I came here for restaurant week. They had an amazing deal of $ 20 for a three course meal. We were both extremely satisfied with our appetizers and entrees. The dessert was likely not made in house and therefore, was nothing special. The service was great and the view is phenomenal. Overall we were very happy with the experience and will likely come back for the weekend brunch special.

Ugh. So annoyed by this place. My friends and I wanted to come for lunch on Sunday Jan 17 for restaurant week (because who doesn’t like discounted meals?!)
We called and made reservations, the worker my friend talked to said that the lunch deal would be available that Sunday. When we got there, they informed us that restaurant week deals didn’t start until DINNER that same day.
Why would they say that the lunch deal was available when it wasn’t??? So annoying. Since we were already there, we stayed for lunch.
Their organization needs improvement. It’s seat yourself and the waiters/​waitresses wait on you free form… there are no assigned tables. I got the seafood melt… crab and shrimp grilled cheese basically. The shrimp and crab ratio to cheese was greatly in favor of cheese– disappointing. Overpriced grilled cheese in my opinion. And they put corn into in too– that wasn’t listed on the menu.
I won’t be back… (unless there’s an incredible discount on food.)

The service was good and view was amazing.
We ordered ceviche, bruschetta and calamari for appetizers. All of them were good.
For entrée’ we ordered snapper and mahi-​mahi — the sauces with both the dishes were very flavourful. but i am sad to say that they used frozen fish in restaurant week menu!
I was not impressed by the quality and texture of the meat at all, considering that this is a seafood restaurant!
The desserts didn’t please me either — the cherry sauce on NY cheesecake was cough syrupy in taste. Chocolate cake was little dry. The only one that I liked a bit was apple betty.

We decided to try the boathouse for a less expensive restaurant week option. We had reservations but it took about 20 minutes to be seated in an incredibly empty restaurant. It also took a little while for our waiter to come over but it all improved from there. I selected the ceviche app and a side of asparagus and the hubs got the restaurant week menu selections of Caesar salad, short rib and the (spoiler alert) divine apple Betty. His salad and a surprisingly small dish of ceviche quickly arrived. Our waiter arrived a few minutes later and even without me asking said that I had mistakingly been give the restaurant week portion and that he would bring me my correct, larger dish. The entrees followed at an appropriate time. I loved ceviche round two and I wish I had a bounty of that asparagus. The short rib had good flavor but was chewy the accompanying sides were delicious. We finished with the amazing apple Betty. I’ll take 5 more please.

We came here for Happy Hour on a weeknight. Happy Hour is everyday from 230−5pm. What’s popular here are the margaritas since they are dirt cheap! Drinks range from $ 2 – 4 which are steals for happy hour. Food wise, there are about 10 items you can choose from. We opted to order the mani mani fish tacos for $ 6. Came with 2 hearty tacos and you can order it with avocado which is $ 2 more, which I did.
The service took forever and service was not good. We waited a long time to place our order and to get our orders. It was not even busy. The tacos came out and they forgot my avocado. Not happy. We were in a hurry so we decided to just notify the waitress and pay the bill.
The restaurant is dated, but they have good happy hour specials that are offered daily.

Come here on Wednesday nights for $ 12.99 Main lobster! This deal is perfect if you’re craving a good meal at ridiculously decent price. You also can’t miss the sunset along San Diego bay!

We decided to come for Christmas dinner to this particular restaurant.
We had a reservation ahead of time, so we didn’t wait to be seated. But there wasn’t anybody waiting so maybe that’s why.
They had a special Christmas menu. They didn’t have much variety as we thought it would.
Nothing looked really appealing so we ordered a few appetizers and my dad is the only one that ordered an actual entrée.
I had the Clam Chowder, but I wasn’t very impressed. It barely had any clams and tasted bland. It was more of a potato chowder than anything.
The waitress bugged us every five minutes.
Overall, the food was okay. Probably won’t return.

Don’t come here for anything else besides lobster night on Wednesdays and maybe prim rib Fridays. The rest of the menu was terrible. We ordered the clam chowder, it was just luke warm, how difficult was it to keep soup hot? We also got the appetizer platters with wings, dirty fries, and pull port slides. Everything on that plate was terrible, again food was luke warm, wings were super duper dry, dirty fries were soggy and gravy was just salty but bland, the pulled pork in the slides was very dry.
Again, lobster and prime rib nights only, don’t come for anything else.

For a restaurant on the water, this place was pretty solid. A friend and I met for drinks/​dinner and as the night went on, we had a few more friends join us.
The waiter was super cool and accommodated us moving from inside the restaurant to the front «porch.»
We tried a variety of appetizers and entrée’s and everyone enjoyed what they ordered. The drinks weren’t quite as good as we had hoped, but our waiter asked the bartender for an adjustment and all was good.
This is the type of place you might want to take out of towners because they do have seating over the marina. It has a nice feel to it.
All in all I would go back and try their specials.

Came to eat dinner here for restaurant week. Hubby made reservations for 5 pm. Got here 15 minutes early. I was so excited and hungry to eat.
We got seated promptly at 5 pm. We got a view right next to the boating area. It’s a 3 course meal for $ 20 per person not including drinks. They have a kid’s menu here which is great. I’m glad they are kid friendly. For starters, I went with the Caesar salad. Great tasting with lots of Parmesan cheese. It was delicious. For my main course, I had the blackened snapper with veggies, coconut rice and two pieces of shrimp. Everything was tasty. Veggies were a little tough but edible. The coconut rice was tasty. You can taste the coconut flavor. The snapper had plenty of flavor. It had a red flavorful sauce coated on the snapper. Yum! Right when we got our main course, the waiter gives us complementary sourdough bread and butter. Bread was soft and moist. Butter melted on top. For dessert, I got the chocolate cake. The cake was a little dense but very rich in chocolate flavor. It was a pretty big slice. I managed to finish it!
Service was quick and the waiter brought out our food in 15 minutes. I was disappointed because they brought out my daughter’s kid’s meal last. I think they should have brought it out first. I had to ask for refills on my water several times since our cups were small. They could have given us bigger cups. The waiter was constantly checking up on us and cleared our table immediately. I really enjoyed the food and view. Overall, I had a great experience here.

I have been waiting for this glorious moment, dining at the phenomenal Boathouse! the 3 stars Unilocal rating did not sway me, I dined there 3 years ago and have been dreaming about the experience ever since!
We made reservation through Open table to make sure we got in. We went upstairs at 430pm to take some pictures and was pleasantly surprised they had happy hour from 230pm to 5pm, whew! We almost missed it. I ordered a Margarita and a Mojito, both were really good and a bargain.
Happy hour apps were good and fresh, I had a ceviche and BBQ pork sliders, both were huge portion and flavorful.
We got a nice table by the window overlooking the spectacular marina. Service was lightning fast, we barely had time to take picture of the surroundings, the New England clam chowder already arrived, it was better than any I had had in Boston.
The 1 lb lobster was amazing, don’t let the size fool you, I have had a 1.5 lbs lobster that barely had any meat and the head did not have any brain, and there was no gut either. The Boathouse lobsters were flown in fresh from Maine, mine had the brain, the green guts, the body was packed with meat, it was so succulent and flavorful, better than any lobster I had ever had in Maine, furthermore, many restaurants tried to save money by giving us margarine instead of butter, Boathouse served the real melted butter! The grilled asparagus was extra @$ 5, well worth the price as it was just so tender and tasty. I was totally full and satisfied after eating the entire lobster.
I cannot wait to go return to the Boathouse for their Wednesday lobster special and Friday’s rib eye special, it sure was a memorable meal.
I rate this restaurant a solid 5 stars and highly recommend it.

I had to come here for a friend’s birthday… & I will probably never be back…
Pros:
* you have a really nice view
* good for large parties
* $ 12.99 lobster on Wednesday nights.
Cons:
* the smell right when you walk in is terrible. It smells old & stale.
* their bathrooms don’t seem to get cleaned. They were clogged. No toilet paper. & just dirty. Gross.
* service was slow.
* the food is blah. My «award winning» clam chowder was room temperature. I also had the macadamia crusted white fish. It should be called coconut crusted because all I tasted was the coconut shreds that were all over it.
Don’t come here unless you have to & make reservations on nights they have specials.

For my boyfriend’s mom’s birthday, she wanted seafood for dinner. She was very specific, and mentioned that lobster would be something that she would order. Being the crazy Unilocaler, I started doing some research on nice, but inexpensive seafood restaurants. Her birthday landed on a Wednesday, and that happens to be Boathouse Restaurant’s «lobster night» for $ 12.99, so I thought it was perfect. I made reservations through OpenTable because I read how busy it gets on special nights (Monday’s Seafood Stew, Wednesday’s Lobster Night, Friday’s Prime Rib.)
My boyfriend, his parents, and I arrive about 15 minutes early, check-​in for the reservations, and tell the hostess how we want window seating. Literally, 5 minutes later, the same hostess (there were 5 or so people behind the counter) comes up to us and asks if we were waiting for more people/​what the name for our reservation was. My first thought was, «Are you freaking kidding me…» But I let it slide. 10 or so minutes later, we’re seated by the window. I’m not sure if there’s AC in the restaurant or if it was just the sun, but I know all of us were pretty warm. I was even sweating a little.
The restaurant was extremely busy, and I’m assuming that’s all thanks to the lobster. I mean, what a great deal. Our waitress, Tiffany, was such a delight! Especially because she told our party that we were all so «pretty» to look at *wink*. Aside from that, she was, in fact, nice and attentive. I think the main thing that threw the dinner off was that our bread was given late, and we had to ask for it again, and my boyfriend’s dad got his second mojito when he was about done with his meal. Other than that, the food didn’t take too long – average wait time.
Their sangria was super fruity and I could barely taste the alcohol, but I didn’t mind so much because it was still good. As for the rest of the table, I can’t say, but they said their San Diego Pale Ale, mojito, and wine (I forgot which) was good. The calamari as a starter was crispy, fresh, and delicious! For $ 12, it wasn’t that big. The whole table ordered the lobster except for me, which I immediately regret once our food came, but my dish was still good.
I got the Dijon and Parmesan encrusted chicken breast! It came with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I enjoyed it, and I actually didn’t finish it. The main reason why I didn’t want to get the lobster was because I thought it would be too small and I wanted to be a fata**. The lobster was actually the perfect size. I tried some of my boyfriend’s and it was very flavorful and succulent, especially with that hint of butter. My boyfriend and his dad ordered ceviche and pommes frites as a personal side to their lobsters just in case the rice pilaf wouldn’t fulfill them, too.
Overall, the food was pretty good and exceeded my expectations because the 3 stars on Unilocal scared me. The restaurant itself was a little outdated, so I think it has potential to be even prettier. I don’t think it’s a 4 star restaurant to me quite yet, but I will give it a 3.5.

This review is solely based off their Wednesday lobster night special. I’ve tried their other entrees at regular price during the week and have to say that it’s quite mediocre (service typically isn’t top notch either). But a one pound lobster for $ 11.99 (inflation shot it up a whopping $ 2 from the original $ 9.99) is all I need to get me into the door.
I do recommend making reservations if you plan on coming after 7pm, otherwise the walk-​in wait can be 45 mins or more. What’s worse is that there is a chance they will sell out of the lobster by the time you’re seated (keep your fingers crossed this doesn’t happen to you like it did to me once).
The only catch is each person that does the lobster special will need to order one additional item (it can be a beverage, soup, appetizer, etc). I typically do the oyster shooter before game time begins and the lobster is broken into pieces! If you’re a big eater, go ahead and order two lobsters (still pretty damn good at just $ 25).
They provide you with a bib so you can be ready to Instagram your pics with Mr Lobster and your new «let’s get cracking» fashion attire!
PS — If you’re Asian and don’t finish every single part of the lobster (I’m talking about the inside of the head, the guts, eggs, etc), shame on you! If you’re like me and don’t let any part go to waste, I applaud you (your parents taught you well)!

2^nd visit (last time was almost 20 years ago!)
Came here for $ 11.99 lobster night with a group of good friends.
had a reservations for 7:00 .6 folks…
seated about about 7:30 (it was slam packed!)
we got a lovely corner, window table (i’m not complaining… it was fab!)
we ordered our drinks and food (duh…lobster).
drinks and apps came out pretty quickly…
lobster soon after.
lobster dinner included a lobster, rice, melted butter and bread/​butter.
for the price… it was a perfectly fabulous meal… i absolutely need to come back with my family!!! they would love love love this!
the bread was soft and yummy
rice was flavorful
apps…calamari.cooked perfect and good flavor/​coconut prawns. huge and yummy!!!
drinks.i first had the strawberry bellini martini… omg so good!
i switched over to a glass of wine for drink #2 (probably should have done it the other way around and had the strawberry drink for dessert)
thank you Nette for organizing… loved it!
gotta come check out the HH here and also the sister restaurant in Mission Hills

Beautiful views, lots of free parking. I’ve been to the place twice and have enjoyed it both times. The first time was for SDRW and more recently for that $ 11.99 lobster dinner, which was a fun event.
I dove into my poor Sebastian not making eye contact and got good hunks of the meat to come out of both the tail and claws. Our server said some people also eat the head, but that crosses the line for me. The meal is served with sourdough bread (yum!) and rice pilaf (eh, ok) and my friend and I ordered the seafood trio to start, which was delicious.
We were toasting her birthday so drinks and dessert were also in order, but had it been just the lobster dinner alone, it’s a pretty good deal. I recommend the mile-​high mud pie!
It was busy, so I suggest making a reservation. And then dive in with your bib on and get into that sweet lobster meat.

I’ve been wanting to go to this harbor adjacent restaurant for a while, so jumped at the chance to get a 3-​course meal for $ 20 pp during Restaurant Week on Sunday this week.
I know to expect less during Restaurant Week given that restaurants are giving you a bargain and get flooded with customers, but it’s also a chance for restaurants to get new customers by providing a good experience. I was really underwhelmed.
After waiting a few minutes for our reservation, which we made last minute, my dining companion and I sat for 15+ minutes waiting for a server to arrive so we could order. We finally just grabbed another server who apologized and kindly forwarded our drink and food orders to our actual server.
After ordering food came somewhat slowly but reasonable given there was going to be so much of it and that they gave us warm delicious bread. Quality of the food was hit/​miss though. Given how dry my fish was and that the service could have been more attentive, I probably won’t return.
We ordered with wine:
1) Apps: Caesar salad and ceviche. Ceviche barely had any fish/​shrimp in it and was mostly veggies/​fruit. Given it’s resto week, I was fine with this but def took notice
2) Entrees: my companion ordered blackened snapper, which was absolutely perfectly! So moist, tender and well flavored with a bit of spice. Unfortunately my curry mahi mahi was a different story — dry and rubbery. I kept dipping it in the yellow coconut curry sauce.
3) Desserts: apple betty (like an apple crumble) and NY-​style cheesecake. These were better than the entrees but didn’t blow me away.