Michelle T.
Yelp
The Grant Grill is a restaurant located in The US Grant, A Luxury Collection Hotel. It's a fine dining establishment accessible through the hotel lobby. Upon walking in, you are greeted with an elegant, traditional decor.
We experienced both dinner and breakfast service at Grant Grill. Before I talk about the food, I have to mention the service for both was exceptional. The waitstaff was attentive but not looming, and had very professional demeanors.
Breakfast service- We were walk-ins. The hostess was very friendly and inquired about our trip to San Diego while we were led to the booth. Upon seating, our drink orders were promptly taken and some complimentary small muffins were provided. The wait time for the food was low and it came out pretty quick. Now here's the thing about Grant Grill that was consistent- you can tell the food is higher quality, but it doesn't taste all that great. For my breakfast entree I got half an order of French toast and a half order of Belgian waffle with all the accoutrements on the side. The "Seasonal" toppings that accompanied the meal were flavors I didn't really care for.The pumpkin spiced butter was ridiculously over the top spiced, the other butter that was brought out, I could not figure what it was supposed to be- the fruit compotes were fine, but I kept them to the side and dressed the waffle and French Toast with butter and syrup. I'm perfectly happy to skip the fancy topping, but even with the waffles, French Toast and syrup, I've had much better iterations elsewhere. So while it was good, it wasn't great.
Dinner- We had reservations for 6pm. The restaurant at the time was only about 25% full. Once again, the service here is incredible and everything in that regard was exceptional. The food is pricey, so my expectations were high. After you place your order, some fresh focaccia bread is brought out. This was some of the softest bread I've ever eaten and it was very good. It set the bar pretty high for my expectations of the meal, but I didn't really care much for my entree. I ordered the Irish Steelhead (fish), because looking at the entrees, this one appeared to check off the most boxes of things that sounded good to me that were included in the entree. It came with a shrimp mousse, Meyer lemon yogurt, kale and a couscous patty. I placed my order and had an idea of what all of this might be like. When my food came out, I was surprised that none of what came out was remotely like what I had envisioned, which is totally fine. It happens often where you see a menu description and it's somehow completely different. My favorite element of the dish was the shrimp mousse, which is nothing like a mousse consistency. It's texture reminded me of the filling for a gyoza dumpling. The next best thing on my plate was the black kale. I think it was flash fried and was pretty good. The rest of the elements on the plate were okay, but my least liked was the couscous patty. I didn't care for the spices it was seasoned with. It surprised me because I through those would have been one of the better parts of the dish. I love couscous, just not this interpretation of it.
Finally dessert- We got the $14 Basque Cheesecake. How do you go wrong with cheesecake? It was awful. This cheesecake was dry, not creamy at all and all the components were unsatisfying. It came with poached pears- which I love, but I absolutely did not like these. It also had caramelized Rice Krispies which were blah. I didn't understand the point of view for this dish because none of it seemed to harmonize. I always look forward to dessert, and this dish completely missed the mark.
Overall, it's difficult to give this place 3 stars because the team delivers exceptional service and the restaurant is gorgeous; but it's hard to overlook the fact that I didn't fully enjoy the food and it's doubly hard when the prices are so high. Maybe with different seasonal items, I may have found things more to my liking, but the food was mostly disappointing.