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A platter of oysters on ice, with lemon wedges and a mignionette in a white square shaped bowl. — Oysters from The Fishery.

Where to Celebrate New Year’s Eve in San Diego

Ring in 2022 with decadent eats and plenty of bubbly

by Roxana Popescu@roxanapopescu Dec 14, 2021, 8:55am PST

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Oysters from The Fishery.

| The Fishery

by Roxana Popescu@roxanapopescu Dec 14, 2021, 8:55am PST

If 2020 and 2021 taught us anything, it’s that life is full of unexpected twists. So while no one knows what 2022 will bring, one thing is for sure: San Diego restaurants are determined to help ring in the turn of the year with fantastic food and drinks. Whether your mood is subdued or celebratory, there’s a New Year’s Eve for everyone. Find classic prix-fixe menus, dazzling new cocktails, and at least one costume party.

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; the latest data about the delta variant indicates that it may pose a low-to-moderate risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial transmission. The latest CDC guidance is here; find a COVID-19 vaccination site here.

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Jeune et Jolie

Casual, elegant, Michelin starred. That’s the promise of this Carlsbad restaurant. The New Year’s Eve lineup includes a four-course menu ($140), with an optional wine pairing and creative cocktails. Examples of a recent menu by chef Eric Bost: halibut with potato, chanterelle mushrooms, apricot, and salt marsh mussels as a main, and financiers (tropical, chocolate) to finish.

Open in Google Maps

2659 State St Suite 102, Carlsbad, CA 92008

Visit Website

Sliced radishes and small leafed greens on an ethereal puff of culinary foam. All plated on a white bowl, placed on a speckled white table. — A fresh dish from Jeune et Jolie.

Also featured in:

Rare Society

The Trust Restaurant Group’s retro steakhouse Rare Society is taking New Year’s Eve reservations for its original University Heights location and its latest outpost in Solana Beach. Chef Brad Wise is featuring a tomahawk steak special just for the occasion — in University Heights it’ll be a prime beef tomahawk while in North County an Austalian wagyu tomahawk will be on offer.

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330 S Cedros Ave, Solana Beach, CA 92075

Visit Website

A Rare Society platter with several sliced steaks.

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Understory

This Del Mar craft cocktail bar is hosting a DJ’ed masquerade ball that mixes three of the culinary world’s best inventions (or discoveries?) champagne, caviar and fried chicken. Packages start at $175 for couples and reach $375 for groups of four and include a midnight champagne toast.

Open in Google Maps

12841 El Camino Real Suite 209-210, San Diego, CA 92130

Visit Website

An artful arrangement of cocktails on a bar table.

Addison Restaurant

Two Michelin-starred Addison is offering a luxurious eight-course tasting menus from chef Willliam Bradley and team that includes celebratory ingredients like caviar and white truffles. The New Year’s Eve menu is $425 per person with supplemental wine pairings available. Reservations can be made on OpenTable.

Open in Google Maps

5200 Grand Del Mar Way, San Diego, CA 92130

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The front of an upscale restaurant at sunset.

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Puesto La Jolla

Three locations (La Jolla, Downtown, and Mission Valley), three chances to party, Puesto-style. Their freshly updated menu now includes a lamb barbacoa taco and passion fruit margarita, plus their extensive list of classic and creative tacos (and more). For an early New Year’s toast, they’re serving complementary tequila shots timed with the Times Square ball drop at midnight in New York. Feeling nutty? Check out the Naughty List cocktail, with blue agave reposado tequila, nutmeg, milk, egg and coffee liqueur.

Open in Google Maps

1026 Wall St, La Jolla, CA 92037

Visit Website

A taco on a blue corn tortilla, topped with kuri squash and drizzled with a white sauce. The ensemble sits on a glazed grey plate. — Taco from Puesto.

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The Fishery

Tucked in North Pacific Beach, but away from the hubbub, the Fishery and chef Mike Reidy are offering a $110 prix fixe New Year’s Eve menu with an optional $40 wine pairing. Starting with oysters and caviar, the dinner will progress to kanpachi tartare, lemon-saffron fettucine with uni, local white seabass with Dungeness crab, and a chocolate dessert.

5040 Cass St, San Diego, CA 92109

Visit Website

In the foreground, a multicolor cherry tomato and basil salad in a white bowl. In the background, a cocktail that resembles a martini and a small dish filled with olives. — A salad and cocktail from The Fishery.

Also featured in:

Bleu Bohème

For a classic French-inspired reveillon, head to Bleu Bohème. The NYE menu features confit de canard, a King salmon sautéed with crab, asparagus, and tomato salad, herb roasted Yukon potatoes, sauce Béarnaise, and mushroom ravioli in a white wine cream sauce. To start, the Clean Slate martini (Kahlua, Armagnac, Frangelico, cream, Aztec chocolate bitters for $15). To finish, five decadent selections. Prix-fixe, $75.

Open in Google Maps

4090 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116

Visit Website

A flute of golden hued champagne, with a fresh raspberry on the rim. The glass is in the foreground, and bottles of wine are blurred in the background. — A Champagne coupe from Bleu Bohème.

Also featured in:

Madison

Madison’s enchanting New Year’s Eve menu does what this restaurant does best: fresh, inventive cuisine and cocktails. On the drinks front, bottles of Tattinger and mix and match wine pairings. On the dessert front: mini exotic desserts. The prix-fixe features choices like tuna tartare, chimichurri skirt steak, a harvest salad with butternut squash, swordfish skewers, and gluten free vegan ravioli. And of course, the Pork Chop.

Open in Google Maps

4622 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92116

Visit Website

The entrance to Madison.

MadisonOnPark/Facebook

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Bivouac Ciderworks

Pull out your finest polyester. It’s time for Bivouac’s Studio-54 themed 1970’s style New Year’s Eve jam! The taproom, in North Park, will be decorated, and costumes (or at least some disco flair) are a must. Along with light bites, the cidery’s party offerings include cider, cider cocktails, beer, and wine. Cider toast at midnight. The party, with music by DJ ApotheKari, starts at 8 p.m. and picks up the next day at 1 p.m. for a New Year’s Day toast. NYE tickets are $25 (until 12/19, then prices go up), with a complementary midnight cider toast.

Open in Google Maps

3986 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104

Visit Website

Three glasses of cider on a bar or table. There are two lighter ciders on either side and an amber in the middle. In the background is a person holding two of these glasses. — A trio of ciders from Bivouac Ciderworks.

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Cesarina

Let’s start with the New Year’s Eve dessert creation: a pastry called the dolce roche, made with hazelnut mousse, a chocolate fudge core and rocher glaze. The restaurant’s four-course festival of flavors starts with homemade bresaola layered with cheese and arugula and finishes with an Italian sausage and lentil dish with confit tomatoes. The vegan menu is also consistently strong at Cesarina, including its New Year’s Eve offerings. One example: handmade butternut squash tortelli, creamy garlic sauce, pink peppercorn, and crispy kabocha squash.

Open in Google Maps

4161 Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92107

Visit Website

A festively-decorated outdoor patio.

Also featured in:

Cori Pastificio Trattoria

This friendly and welcoming neighborhood restaurant is going all out for the holidays this year, with caroling and roasted chestnuts leading up to Christmas, and a Sicilian-themed New Year’s Eve festa. That menu features traditional dishes, plus a cocktail special and Sicilian sparkling wine to toast the start of 2022. Auguri!

Open in Google Maps

2977 Upas St, San Diego, CA 92104

Visit Website

Triangle shaped pasta stackedon a plate, covered with sage and bacon, on a white plate with an ornate rim. The plate is on a wood table. — Pasta from Cori Pastificio Trattoria.

Also featured in:

Wolfie's Carousel Bar

Glitz. Spectacle. A gently rotating bar. If any of these sound like an appropriate ambience for your New Year’s Eve fete, then head to the one and only Wolfie’s — a bar in Little Italy anchored by an actual carousel. Options for your last meal of 2021: Wagyu tartare, steak frites, oysters Rockefeller, a champagne toast, and more.

Open in Google Maps

2401 Kettner Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

The revolving cocktail bar at Wolfie’s Carousel

Also featured in:

16 San Diego Brunch Spots to Try Right Now

STK Steakhouse

Behind STK’s recipe for New Year’s decadence: DJ plus wagyu steak plus caviar plus midnight Champagne toast. About that Wagyu, here’s the breakdown: Japanese wagyu A5 served as filet or strip loin, an American wagyu served a a 10 oz strip, or an Australian wagyu served as a picanha (a Brazilian cut) or a tomahawk, for $79 to $139.

Open in Google Maps

600 F St, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

Wagyu steak served on a salt block.

Also featured in:

Callie

Ora king salmon crudo with local citrus. Cacio e pepe risotto with Périgord black truffles. Black truffle and bone marrow beef duo. Meyer lemon pavlova. This New Year’s Eve five-course, family-style menu speaks for itself. Also worth noting: There are two seatings: the earlier session targets families (kids dine for $35, adults for $85) while the later seating features a champagne toast and live band, for $150, not including optional wine or Champagne pairings.

Open in Google Maps

1195 Island Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

A bottle of champagne with two full glasses.

Also featured in:

Lionfish Modern Coastal Cuisine – San Diego

For a “yes and” start to the near year, Lionfish, in the heart of Gaslamp Quarter, has created a decadent surf and turf that runs from sea to sand to steak. For example, James Beard Award-winning chef JoJo Ruiz is pairing Prime Rib Beef Carpaccio with Scallop Sashimi. For the second course, a pasta duo: one has clams, the other has duck confit. The four course prix-fixe costs $121.22.

Open in Google Maps

435 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

A colorful spread of thinly sliced fish and citrus on an oblong blue plate, topped with fresh herbs, from Lionfish in San Diego. — A delicate sea inspired dish from Lionfish.

Also featured in:

Common Stock

The Hillcrest restaurant and bar is ushering in the new year with a special three-course menu priced at a clever $20.22 that includes an appetizer, entree ,and one of the restaurant’s signature cookies for dessert. With add-ons and upgrades available as well as champagne specials flowing all night long, the menu can also be ordered to go. The restaurant will be open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.

3805 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103

Visit Website

Two flutes of champagne.

Also featured in:

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Jeune et Jolie

2659 State St Suite 102, Carlsbad, CA 92008

Casual, elegant, Michelin starred. That’s the promise of this Carlsbad restaurant. The New Year’s Eve lineup includes a four-course menu ($140), with an optional wine pairing and creative cocktails. Examples of a recent menu by chef Eric Bost: halibut with potato, chanterelle mushrooms, apricot, and salt marsh mussels as a main, and financiers (tropical, chocolate) to finish.

Open in Google Maps

2659 State St Suite 102, Carlsbad, CA 92008

Visit Website

Sliced radishes and small leafed greens on an ethereal puff of culinary foam. All plated on a white bowl, placed on a speckled white table. — A fresh dish from Jeune et Jolie.

Rare Society

330 S Cedros Ave, Solana Beach, CA 92075

The Trust Restaurant Group’s retro steakhouse Rare Society is taking New Year’s Eve reservations for its original University Heights location and its latest outpost in Solana Beach. Chef Brad Wise is featuring a tomahawk steak special just for the occasion — in University Heights it’ll be a prime beef tomahawk while in North County an Austalian wagyu tomahawk will be on offer.

Open in Google Maps

330 S Cedros Ave, Solana Beach, CA 92075

Visit Website

A Rare Society platter with several sliced steaks.

Understory

12841 El Camino Real Suite 209-210, San Diego, CA 92130

This Del Mar craft cocktail bar is hosting a DJ’ed masquerade ball that mixes three of the culinary world’s best inventions (or discoveries?) champagne, caviar and fried chicken. Packages start at $175 for couples and reach $375 for groups of four and include a midnight champagne toast.

Open in Google Maps

12841 El Camino Real Suite 209-210, San Diego, CA 92130

Visit Website

An artful arrangement of cocktails on a bar table.

Addison Restaurant

5200 Grand Del Mar Way, San Diego, CA 92130

Two Michelin-starred Addison is offering a luxurious eight-course tasting menus from chef Willliam Bradley and team that includes celebratory ingredients like caviar and white truffles. The New Year’s Eve menu is $425 per person with supplemental wine pairings available. Reservations can be made on OpenTable.

Open in Google Maps

5200 Grand Del Mar Way, San Diego, CA 92130

Visit Website

The front of an upscale restaurant at sunset.

Puesto La Jolla

1026 Wall St, La Jolla, CA 92037

Three locations (La Jolla, Downtown, and Mission Valley), three chances to party, Puesto-style. Their freshly updated menu now includes a lamb barbacoa taco and passion fruit margarita, plus their extensive list of classic and creative tacos (and more). For an early New Year’s toast, they’re serving complementary tequila shots timed with the Times Square ball drop at midnight in New York. Feeling nutty? Check out the Naughty List cocktail, with blue agave reposado tequila, nutmeg, milk, egg and coffee liqueur.

Open in Google Maps

1026 Wall St, La Jolla, CA 92037

Visit Website

A taco on a blue corn tortilla, topped with kuri squash and drizzled with a white sauce. The ensemble sits on a glazed grey plate. — Taco from Puesto.

The Fishery

5040 Cass St, San Diego, CA 92109

Tucked in North Pacific Beach, but away from the hubbub, the Fishery and chef Mike Reidy are offering a $110 prix fixe New Year’s Eve menu with an optional $40 wine pairing. Starting with oysters and caviar, the dinner will progress to kanpachi tartare, lemon-saffron fettucine with uni, local white seabass with Dungeness crab, and a chocolate dessert.

5040 Cass St, San Diego, CA 92109

Visit Website

In the foreground, a multicolor cherry tomato and basil salad in a white bowl. In the background, a cocktail that resembles a martini and a small dish filled with olives. — A salad and cocktail from The Fishery.

Bleu Bohème

4090 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116

For a classic French-inspired reveillon, head to Bleu Bohème. The NYE menu features confit de canard, a King salmon sautéed with crab, asparagus, and tomato salad, herb roasted Yukon potatoes, sauce Béarnaise, and mushroom ravioli in a white wine cream sauce. To start, the Clean Slate martini (Kahlua, Armagnac, Frangelico, cream, Aztec chocolate bitters for $15). To finish, five decadent selections. Prix-fixe, $75.

Open in Google Maps

4090 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116

Visit Website

A flute of golden hued champagne, with a fresh raspberry on the rim. The glass is in the foreground, and bottles of wine are blurred in the background. — A Champagne coupe from Bleu Bohème.

Madison

4622 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92116

Madison’s enchanting New Year’s Eve menu does what this restaurant does best: fresh, inventive cuisine and cocktails. On the drinks front, bottles of Tattinger and mix and match wine pairings. On the dessert front: mini exotic desserts. The prix-fixe features choices like tuna tartare, chimichurri skirt steak, a harvest salad with butternut squash, swordfish skewers, and gluten free vegan ravioli. And of course, the Pork Chop.

Open in Google Maps

4622 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92116

Visit Website

The entrance to Madison.

MadisonOnPark/Facebook

Bivouac Ciderworks

3986 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104

Pull out your finest polyester. It’s time for Bivouac’s Studio-54 themed 1970’s style New Year’s Eve jam! The taproom, in North Park, will be decorated, and costumes (or at least some disco flair) are a must. Along with light bites, the cidery’s party offerings include cider, cider cocktails, beer, and wine. Cider toast at midnight. The party, with music by DJ ApotheKari, starts at 8 p.m. and picks up the next day at 1 p.m. for a New Year’s Day toast. NYE tickets are $25 (until 12/19, then prices go up), with a complementary midnight cider toast.

Open in Google Maps

3986 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104

Visit Website

Three glasses of cider on a bar or table. There are two lighter ciders on either side and an amber in the middle. In the background is a person holding two of these glasses. — A trio of ciders from Bivouac Ciderworks.

Cesarina

4161 Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92107

Let’s start with the New Year’s Eve dessert creation: a pastry called the dolce roche, made with hazelnut mousse, a chocolate fudge core and rocher glaze. The restaurant’s four-course festival of flavors starts with homemade bresaola layered with cheese and arugula and finishes with an Italian sausage and lentil dish with confit tomatoes. The vegan menu is also consistently strong at Cesarina, including its New Year’s Eve offerings. One example: handmade butternut squash tortelli, creamy garlic sauce, pink peppercorn, and crispy kabocha squash.

Open in Google Maps

4161 Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92107

Visit Website

A festively-decorated outdoor patio.

Cori Pastificio Trattoria

2977 Upas St, San Diego, CA 92104

This friendly and welcoming neighborhood restaurant is going all out for the holidays this year, with caroling and roasted chestnuts leading up to Christmas, and a Sicilian-themed New Year’s Eve festa. That menu features traditional dishes, plus a cocktail special and Sicilian sparkling wine to toast the start of 2022. Auguri!

Open in Google Maps

2977 Upas St, San Diego, CA 92104

Visit Website

Triangle shaped pasta stackedon a plate, covered with sage and bacon, on a white plate with an ornate rim. The plate is on a wood table. — Pasta from Cori Pastificio Trattoria.

Wolfie's Carousel Bar

2401 Kettner Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101

Glitz. Spectacle. A gently rotating bar. If any of these sound like an appropriate ambience for your New Year’s Eve fete, then head to the one and only Wolfie’s — a bar in Little Italy anchored by an actual carousel. Options for your last meal of 2021: Wagyu tartare, steak frites, oysters Rockefeller, a champagne toast, and more.

Open in Google Maps

2401 Kettner Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

The revolving cocktail bar at Wolfie’s Carousel

STK Steakhouse

600 F St, San Diego, CA 92101

Behind STK’s recipe for New Year’s decadence: DJ plus wagyu steak plus caviar plus midnight Champagne toast. About that Wagyu, here’s the breakdown: Japanese wagyu A5 served as filet or strip loin, an American wagyu served a a 10 oz strip, or an Australian wagyu served as a picanha (a Brazilian cut) or a tomahawk, for $79 to $139.

Open in Google Maps

600 F St, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

Wagyu steak served on a salt block.

Callie

1195 Island Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Ora king salmon crudo with local citrus. Cacio e pepe risotto with Périgord black truffles. Black truffle and bone marrow beef duo. Meyer lemon pavlova. This New Year’s Eve five-course, family-style menu speaks for itself. Also worth noting: There are two seatings: the earlier session targets families (kids dine for $35, adults for $85) while the later seating features a champagne toast and live band, for $150, not including optional wine or Champagne pairings.

Open in Google Maps

1195 Island Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

A bottle of champagne with two full glasses.

Lionfish Modern Coastal Cuisine – San Diego

435 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

For a “yes and” start to the near year, Lionfish, in the heart of Gaslamp Quarter, has created a decadent surf and turf that runs from sea to sand to steak. For example, James Beard Award-winning chef JoJo Ruiz is pairing Prime Rib Beef Carpaccio with Scallop Sashimi. For the second course, a pasta duo: one has clams, the other has duck confit. The four course prix-fixe costs $121.22.

Open in Google Maps

435 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Visit Website

A colorful spread of thinly sliced fish and citrus on an oblong blue plate, topped with fresh herbs, from Lionfish in San Diego. — A delicate sea inspired dish from Lionfish.

Related Maps

Common Stock

3805 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103

The Hillcrest restaurant and bar is ushering in the new year with a special three-course menu priced at a clever $20.22 that includes an appetizer, entree ,and one of the restaurant’s signature cookies for dessert. With add-ons and upgrades available as well as champagne specials flowing all night long, the menu can also be ordered to go. The restaurant will be open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.

3805 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103

Visit Website

Two flutes of champagne.

Related Maps