It was my wife’s Birthday… we were staying at the Marriott by Seapoint Village… called friends that have a condo downtown for weekends… asked for a good referral. They said Oceanaire was their favorite… Price… but great. We don’t care about pricy… we care about excellence. So I made the Reservation. Now this is downtown San Diego in the Gaslamp. We showed up early on a Friday night… with reservations… me in my cowboy hat. The Maître d’… was plesant… then we were directed to a table that he said would “insure our wonderful evening”… it was the worst table in the restaurant… even though it was early… and many tables were empty. It was adjacent to the Bar area… where everyone stands around… trying to score. We did not even set down. I told their employee that this table would not work… it was my wife’s birthday… and we wanted a more intimate experience.

We were directed to a much nicer… and quiet table… and the waiter Sergio came along and introduced himself. He was a very pleasant fellow… but did not speak English well enough for us to understand him… and that caused a couple of issues… like ordering two family size salad entres.

Then our entre arrived… I had ordered a Swordfish… prepared in a with a Mango Sauce… and the Swordfish… had no texture… something Swordfish is know for. I tasted like over tenderized white fish. My wife ordered something else that was good… not great… but at least acceptable. Sergio came back… asked how our meals were and we told him the truth… average and bad.

The General Manager came to the table… and appologized. Said she would comp us on a desert… when is the last time you went to a class restaurant … and there wasn’t some sort of comp for a birthday party anyway.

We got the bill…. $185+… and… we had no wine. We did have one Martini each… and the experience was unforgetable… unforgetably… bad.