Gang Kitchen

Love fusion food!
Asian food is so flavorful to begin with, adding extra flavors and twists to it is always a delight.
After hearing about this place, my husband and I stopped by to try out some of the dishes we had heard about. Was a little disappointed when we found out the menu had slightly changed. Regardless we still ended up with a delicious meal. Can’t go wrong with fried rice, also had the wings which was good and I had the fish.
Everything was full of flavor and the vibe of the place was nice. The place is set up on two levels, I don’t remember if they have an elevator or a lift to get to the second level. We carried our stroller up.
Staff was friendly and happy to talk about the menu when we had questions.
Good stop to eat in at if you’re looking for a place to eat in the area.

Yum! OMG we stumbled upon Gang Kitchen after the failed Sausage Fest across the street. Happy Hour was still going on and it was awesome! The hostess let us sit where we wanted. Cute little bench/​stool table, perfect view of a rerun of the ESPY Awards. My friend and I shared the ribs, spring rolls, and sweet potato fries. He was more spring roll and fries, while I was more ribs and fries. After delicious food and hilarious conversation we waited and waited for our bill. Ryan the bartender took our order and checked on us frequently, but couldn’t get back to us when we were ready to go because the bar area got so full. Eventually acknowledging that we still existed, he accommodated us with 2 free Jameson shots! I ain’t no whiskey girl, but I enjoyed it! Thanks Ryan «the Bartender» for your awesome customer service.

High expectations coming in, disappointed on my way out.
The pork belly burrito just seemed really confused.
Service was great, if your craving New asian fusion, better luck with a food truck :)

I feel like when i start describing a place as «hip-​looking» I’m getting old. This place was hip looking. Dimly lit, bar/​lounge feel, with street artwork all over the place. Tank top and cut off shorts = felt sorely out of place.
Food:
Pork Belly Burrito — BEST DECISION EVER. I hate pork but it was crispy, yet the fat was still soft and buttery. i think i just got a heart attack from writing that. Had a strong lime taste, but I love lime so not a problem at all.
Gang fried rice — It was good, but forgotten compared to the burrito. The shrimp were nice and fat. I didn’t think the bacon bits went well with the rest of it and there was a bit too much peanut oil, but overall, a solid dish.
Looking at the menu, it was kind of pricey for a normal dinner, but holy fuck, the portions were huge. I felt satisfied and justified after.
There was no wait on a Friday night at 8 but the parking made me want to pull out my hairs.

Wow. Food… ok. It was fine. But seriously, we waited for two hours for appetizers. The staff all claimed to be brand new. Am I an idiot? Probably. But I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I understand things get busy. But there’s zero sense of urgency here. Service is insanely detached. Food comes out sporadically and in any order the «chef» seems to make them. This place won’t be on business in 6 months.

inconspicuously located across from the Marriott. another hidden gem in downtown SD, Gang Kitchen is a great up-​and-​coming spot.
wide open spaces on 3 separate levels (main deck overlooks the lower bar area in addition to the loft-​style dining area upstairs). cool trendy art hanging throughout the venue, large flatscreen TVs. the drinks at the bar are relatively cheap and don’t taste bad at all.
came here most recently because a couple friends recently started spinning on saturday nights as apparently GK is trying to transition more into the lounge scene after about 9 or 10pm. awesome music: 90’s mashup with top 40, rap hip hop, r&b — all good music to groove and kick back to. great place to hang with close friends.
–civilities.

The happy hour deals were good. Try the spicy tuna tartar. The service was decent, except that our entrees came out at different times. They were also out of oysters, which was disappointing. However, what we did have was good. The summer salad and the market fish (yellowtail tonight) with vegetables and mushrooms were tasty.

Gang Kitchen was a restaurant I frequented often last fall as I was going through a duck and Yamakazi whisky phase.
Back then, it was a high-​concept Asian fusion restaurant. Everything from the roasted duck in its incomparable black vinegar sauce to the admittedly low-​brow bacon fried rice was pretty damn good, if not absolutely exceptional.
As of last week, that’s all changed, and Gang Kitchen has reinvented their menu to peddle standard Gaslamp comfort fare.
One thing has remained the same: the décor and ambiance, which is industrial, stark, and relentlessly boxy. I don’t disapprove. This looks like the kind of joint you’d dine at after a nuclear apocalypse… a COOL nuclear apocalypse, that is. If only the old menu could be brought back, I’d continue to recommend this place. I understand why this is unlikely. Gaslamp can’t have nice things for too long. There’s not a lot of profit in a menu that appeals to a small percentage of customers. Most of the visitors to this restaurant are the ballpark crowd or travelers staying at the nearby Marriott properties who were likely turned off by raw tuna and ponzu butter. *sigh*
Admittedly, the new dishes are not horrible — but it’s not food I’m going to order again. My selections included:
Beer Battered Gravy Fries ($ 11) — crispy french fries with white cheddar curds, kimchee gravy, roasted shiitake mushrooms, and guacamole. This tastes less like poutine than one would expect, as the predominant flavors come from the shiitake mushrooms and guacamole, not the gravy and the cheese curds. I’d say this dish had the potential to be more interesting than it actually is. Also, the beer-​battered fries are good enough that they don’t need all this other shit on it.
Important Tip for Avoiding Preventable Trip to the Dry Cleaners: Don’t try to to eat the gravy fries with chopsticks as I did.
Pork Belly Burrito ($ 12) — a pork-​centric take on a California burrito, featuring pork belly, carnitas, beer battered fries, and guacamole. The burrito has a crispy toasted wheat wrap. The burrito was tasty but I found it to be dry without drenching with the salsa verde served on the side, a tart and spicy hot sauce with jam-​like consistency
I also had the Siamese Fireback cocktail ($ 10), a spicy chili-​infused tequila drink that is similar to a margarita with some syrupy floral notes imparted by a hibiscus liqueur. It was about what I expected; a decent cocktail to accompany the kind of cuisine now being served at Gang Kitchen.
In summary, my experience here did not suck, but it was certainly disappointing given what I knew this restaurant used to be capable of. Before you make the trip, please note that Gang Kitchen still hasn’t updated their menu on their web site.

An old friend was in town and staying at the Marriott. We had planned to catch a bite and a few drinks and came across Gang Kitchen. It was around 6pm in the middle of the week and we decided to pop on in to check out their happy hour and food.
The place is pretty spacious and décor has that Asian-​Urban-​Industrial-​Chic thing going on. It wasn’t crowded at all so we had our pick of tables.
For drinks I had the Lady Snowblood that had vodka, lemon, ginger, basil syrup and strawberry purée. It was a bit on the sweeter side for me but I really liked the ginger/​basil combo.
As for food, we started off with the Green Papaya Salad which I really enjoyed. It was very fresh, bright and herbaceous. It was a great light way to start our dinner. For our main course, we split the Pork Belly Pad Thai and Curry over rice. The Pad Thai was pretty good but a bit greasy — although it did have pork belly in it so I’m not sure I can hold that against them. As for the curry, although the portion was generous and there was a lot of protein in there, it really lacked flavor. Definitely more spicy, fish sauce, and either kaffir or lemongrass would have done the trick.
Over all, I don’t think I’d come back for dinner as the food was just ok and the prices were a bit high. But I’d defintely recommend coming in for a cocktail and to enjoy the space.

People of San Diego: Gang Kitchen and your weather are two reasons why I’m completely jealous of your lives.
We went here during happy hour and had a wonderful time with some incredible food. We put ourselves in our server’s hands and let him direct us to the menu’s best finds. We had the spicy tuna tartare (which was so beautiful I actually instagrammed it), bacon fried rice, xoxo noodles and banana spring rolls. It was all amazing, but I feel like I could eat the tartare and fried rice every day and be happy with my life choices.
I also enjoyed their version of a Moscow Mule while there. Whenever I return to SD, I will most definitely be coming back here.

I enjoyed myself at the Elite event over a year ago —
— and it brought me back a few more times. I still love the atmosphere and the overall feel of the place, plus the beer and cocktail selection is pretty awesome, but I just don’t love the food.
You should absolutely go during happy hour (as described by Milosi M. who really nailed it with their description). You’ll get a delicious cocktail or two, be entertained by a bartender, and then when you realize you want something to nibble on, it’s easy to overlook the so-​so ness of the app because you only spent $ 5 on it. :)
I hear there could be some changes coming to the menu, so it would be worth to check back in and see what they come up with…

El lugar de Happy Hour más subestimado en San Diego. La decoración con mucha ligera pero también estilo, la comida deliciosa, y el excelente servicio, especialment de Erica en el bar.

Came here on Saturday to celebrate a friends birthday before heading to Stingaree. Reservations was at 9. The place wasn’t too packed. Here’s the run down
AMBIENCE: had a chic modern/​industrial/​Asian vibe. The place had an open feel and there were cool unique paintings/​pictures throughout. Got to sit at the cool «semi-​private» table
SERVICE: EXCELLENT! The girls at the front were all very nice and accommodating as our party was not all there at the same time. Most places require the entire party to be present in order to be seated. Our waitress, too bad i forgot her name but she was really sweet. She suggested doing it family style since it was all our first time, that way we can have a lil taste of everything. What a great idea!
FOOD:
*~spicy tuna tartar
*~peppers
*~baby kale salad
*~pork belly tacos
*~pad Thai noodles
*~drunken noodles
*~golden coconut curry
*~gang fried rice
*~spicy Thai chicken wings
*~macaroooons!!!
*~banana spring rolls
*~gingerbread ice cream sandwiches
~*plenty of sake
I’m sure there were some dishes I forgot but what I can tell you is that literally EVERYTHING we ate was delicious. There was not one thing that we didn’t like. Asian fusion at its best! I can honestly say that with doing it family style, every dish was finished, no food was wasted… mother would be so proud!
VERDICT: ummm… No, don’t go. Stay far far away. That way I can make sure I always get a table! :0)

I’ve never even heard of this place until my cousin celebrated her birthday here. We went here on a Friday night and it wasn’t packed. I really love the ambiance and the Asian feel of the place with all the art on the wall. The panda art is pretty cute but fierce with their guns and fists. Our table had a huge painting behind us of an Asian woman looking like she’s ready to fight someone with her stare. Pretty dope.
Service was great. Our server was awesome especially when dealing with a large group. I wish I got her name but she was very friendly, patient, attentive, helpful, and she always smiled.
A lot of the food on the menu seemed more fitting for a quick bite if you’ve already eaten beforehand but there are a few things that can fulfill your appetite so I got the pork belly pad Thai. It was delicious but I’ve had better. One of our friends got the lady snow blood drink and they really love and recommend it. They described it as drinking pink lemonade. I know that it says full bar on Unilocal but I was bummed that they didn’t have a few ingredients available for a few drinks we wanted to order so we had to settle for something else. That would probably be the downside of the place.

I like this place for the spacious chilled setting, and good service. I am giving this a low rating due to the food. Maybe because I am asian but the food was just whatever, we ordered salad wrap and fried rice. The tofu salad wrap was over seasoned with sauce and I can even taste the texture of the tofu. The fried rice was okay; the fried rice has too much seasoning and was a little «wet».
We were here for NYE, the place wasn’t packed, which was nice. They had live DJ and sake toasting. Overall, not a bad place to hang out and grab drinks since they have a full bar.

Great food but noisy. The only reason I’m deducting a star is because the music started bumping at 8 and made it difficult to hear… not super romantic… and made me think I needed to bust out some glo sticks and start dancing.
BUT the food was great. Loved everything we tried… and you can just order a bunch of the apps to kind of make it tapas style. My favorites were the papaya salad and pork belly tacos. The service was great and I liked the décor… the music was just too much for me… but probably wouldn’t stop me from returning.

ATTENTION UnilocalERS!!! If you have not tried Gang Kitchen, stop what you are doing, drop everything and go! I think this is a hidden gem in our little city. We just happened upon this place because we were looking for late night dining and Gang Kitchen is open until midnight with the kitchen closing at 11:00 pm (on a Sunday night!). It was one of those slower nights (probably because of the time change and everyone was passed out from the Charger game earlier in the day) but we did NOT care. It was as if we were celebrities that rented out the entire 5 star/​Michelin rated restaurant to ourselves.
Anyways, we went in, unsure of what to expect, and left swearing we would be back as soon as we could. We sat at the bar and were given the BEST service ever by Brooke! It was about 10:45, the kitchen was going to close in 15 minutes, and no one ever made us feel like we were a buzzkill 15 minutes before the kitchen was closing on a slow night. Then to top it off we ordered the duck entrée, BBQ ribs, and a Kale salad with steamed vegetables. It was all really good! We shared everything and left STUFFED and extremely happy.
So basically I am saying GO GO GO! and if you can, sit at the bar and have Brooke wait on you! She is great!

Word of caution to large parties requiring a special set menu in advance: the portions will make you sad. Don’t come too hungry. Don’t come in a rush.
We had a bachelorette dinner arranged here recently and because our party consisted of 18 people, we had to choose from 3 different pre fixe menus served «family style», of $ 30, $ 40, or $ 50 per person. We went with the $ 30 menu since it seemed most reasonable, which consisted of the following:
***
Appetizer — Firecracker Spring Rolls
They were halved and set out on a plate. Split among our portion of the elongated table, we were able to eat, on average, half of one egg roll each. I managed to find another half so I got away with eating a whole egg roll (yay me?). They were decent. They tasted like typical egg rolls. I say egg roll because when I hear spring roll, I imagine rice paper whereas this was… a fried eggroll. The only thing that made them stand out was that insane sinus-​clearing wasabi sauce. Watch out! That sauce was tasty and crazy flavorful but the eggroll was… typical asian egg roll. It had several proteins in there, of undistinguishable taste. But seriously. half of an egg roll for an appetizer. Not impressed.
Salad — Sesame Chicken Salad
We each got 2 larger salad spoonfuls of this. It was just unfortunate because my salad was salty for some reason. Others’ said theirs was slightly spicy? I managed to scavenge one cube of chicken in my portion. Didn’t care for the salad.
Entrée #1 — Golden Coconut Curry
I got 2 spoonfuls of this as well. Filled largely with carrots and various other vegetables. Didn’t manage to get any tofu in my portion. The thing was completely topped with those flavorless fried crunchy rice things. Curry flavor wasn’t too prominent, and was a bit on the dry side. Rice bowls also came out after all 3 entrees and not with the curry so that was also a bit odd.
Entrée #2 — BBQ Salmon
My favorite dish of the night. Too bad after splitting the filet 5 ways, we probably got 2oz of fish each. Great. I’m really glad we payed for a sample of salmon. Thumbs down. Good news is that the fish was very flavorful and the veggies that came with it were also savory. I wish I had more than 3 bites.
Entrée #3 — Pad Thai
This was probably my second favorite dish of the night. Each plate brought out to be split among us had portions smaller than you would find if you ordered yourself a pad thai at a thai restaurant e.g. Amarin, Siam, Taste of, Spices, etc… You can compare it to a lunch portion at these restaurants. So again, an issue with portions. Good news was that it at least tasted good. If you were looking for mushrooms though, they were hard to find.
Sides — Jasmine rice, brown rice, wok veggies
Jasmine rice was cooked well, didn’t try the brown rice because it was brought out afterwards and I already took my portion of white rice (I made sure to load up since there wouldn’t be much else to eat). Wok veggies were good fillers too. Got good portions of these.
Dessert — Dark Chocolate Bar
Tasted good! But after portioning it out, we each ended up with a piece slightly smaller than a fun size Snickers bar. Wish I had more than 3 bites of this as well. The chocolate was pretty rich, but not too decadent. White chocolate was lighter, and the berries cut through the flavors well. Good thing only 3 of us wanted berries because that’s all it came with.
***
After tax + 20% gratuity, it came out to $ 39/​pp, not including any drinks. Worth it? Hell no. This was the general feeling amongst the 4 other people I shared my dinner with. But we made due with what we had. It was also a little difficult to get a hold of our server when it came time to pay the bill. We were also charged for 20 people, despite our 18 person head count. They said they fed us based on the 20 person total though… which makes it suck even more. We were actually given more food than we were supposed to get? Meh. Luckily, they were quick to fix the charge which was appreciated.
We arrived here at 6:30 and we left at 9:15 to give you a better idea of the time commitment with a larger group. Maybe I just don’t care for asian fusion? Or I don’t care for feeling ripped off. Only reason why this place isn’t a 1 star is because everything went relatively smoothly, the staff was accommodating (bill can be split among as many cc’s as necessary), and the salmon tasted good while it lasted.
On the bright side, if you’re on a diet, I don’t think you’d have much of an issue with portion control.

Very fun place! I always say… go with apps, mix it up & share with friends. Place is very hip & trendy. Fun spot to go prior to a night out in downtown. We came here for a birthday celebration, which was a perfect & light choice. Food is pretty good, nothing too special, but location is prime, walking distance to many bars/​clubs in the area.
Items we ordered:
+sweet potato rolls
+shrimp dumplings
+ fried rice
+tuna tartar (yummy)

It’s an explosion of Asian fusion fantasticness.
That’s what I found out when I paid my first visit to Gang Kitchen a few weeks back. I don’t normally come down to the ballpark area on random weekdays, but this was Dining Out For Life day, and Gang Kitchen was donating 50% of the day’s receipts to AIDS prevention and treatment services. (Eat out for a good cause? Count me in!)
When we wandered in at ~7pm, I was immediately struck by how big and spacious the place was! And with the high ceilings, industrial-​chic décor, styley murals on the wall, and EDM wafting from the stereo, I’m surprised Gang Kitchen doesn’t turn into a dance club after dark. (Or does it?)
In any case, we weren’t there to dance — we were there to eat! Luckily, when I have my partner-​in-​dine in tow, I’m guaranteed a good time because we always split and share everything. Here’s a run down of what we shared:
** Edamame wontons. Silky and smooth with a gentle richness and awesome flavor. Very pretty to look at, too.
** Gang fried rice. A must for bacon-​lovers. This dish had as much bacon in it as rice. Plus, the portion was massive. The bacon/​rice combo was too too rich and salty for my blood, but I’m sure that a diehard porkoholic would love it.
** Pad thai noodles with mushrooms. My favorite of the night, and one of the best pad thai plates I’ve ever had. The mushrooms were cooked perfectly, the noodles had wonderful flavor, and there was a gentle kick from the chili.
** Roast duck with scallion pancakes and sake fruit. Now this was a lot of fun, and very unexpected in its presentation. Turns out we were supposed to assemble the duck and sake-​poached fruit in the scallion pancake to make a taco-​like thing. I tried this — but no dice. Instead, everything fell apart in my hands, and I smelled like sake and duck for the rest of the evening. But no worries, because the flavor combination was fantastic, with the richness and crispiness of the duck intermingling with the sour and tangy fruit.
Service was prompt and on-​point. I didn’t catch the server’s name, but she did an amazing job all evening. The plates were paced nicely, and my water glass was always full. There were plenty of leftovers to take home.
All in all, Gang Kitchen is a solid choice for a night out in downtown SD.

Gang Kitchen isn’t a bad spot for it being one of the newest restaurants to open up in downtown. I met up with some friends here right after I showed face at the Unilocal party around the corner at Blind Burro.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too crowded, so we were able to get immediate seating for our group of five. I’ve been a fan of mules lately, but was sorta bummed mine wasn’t served in its usual copper mug. Oh well, still tasted okay.
I wasn’t that hungry, but opted for the duck fried rice to share with the others. We also ordered the BBQ spare ribs and summer rolls as our appetizers, which were all pretty good, especially the green peanut sauce paired with the rolls. My friends ordered the calamari salad and the sea bass as their entrees, they said they liked it. I ended up packing up my leftover duck fried rice (served in a ramen bowl for ten bucks) and ate it last night. I’m not a huge duck fan, so this was at most three stars for me.
Service was five stars all evening. Great job in refilling our water often with the bottles you left at our tables and clearing our dishes timely before the rest of the food came out.
We decided to share the chocolate hot pot amongst the four of us (the fifth person had to head home before the food came out). It took a while for them to bring this final order out, I think they were prepping the home made Twinkies and marshmallows and were cutting up the pineapples and strawberries that also accompanied the macaroon and lychee all with skewers poking out of them. The chocolate was good, but it was just served in a bowl, not a hot pot that I thought it was going to be served in. Oh well.
Overall, this is a new spot, service was great, restroom was super clean and the food was decent. I’d bring my fiancé back here so he can try it out also. It’s very dark in there, so prepare to squint in case you have a hard time reading the menu, lol!