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private event space
Nolita House.

24 Fabulous Restaurants With Private Dining Rooms in San Diego

From cozy chef’s tables to breezy patio terraces, there’s a plethora of private dining choices to make you and your guests feel right at home

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Nolita House.

Looking to host a gathering but want to leave the cooking to the professionals? Whether it’s a warm holiday gathering for out-of-town relatives or a celebratory party for 50 of your closest friends, San Diego restaurants offer private dining venues of all sizes for the vibe you want to set.

Here’s a range of versatile private dining options so you can relax while on hosting duty and enjoy the food as much as your guests will.

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Harrah's Resort Southern California

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Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay recently opened California’s first Hell’s Kitchen at Harrah’s Resort Southern California. In addition to two chef’s tables, there are two private dining options that can be combined into one large dining area. Be sure to try his signature dishes including beef Wellington and sticky toffee pudding, along with his cocktails like Fear and Loathing and Meet Your Maker.

Smoked Golden Beets
Smoked golden beets.
Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen

Amalfi Cucina Italiana

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This waterfront Italian restaurant in San Marcos is luring guests inland with its warm Mediterranean hospitality and lakeside happenings like gondola boats and dockside shenanigans. Their private dining room, which seats up to 21 people, offers several options. Select from the Amalfi Marina Dockside Menu, the standard restaurant menu, or the set menu of popular favorites required for parties over 20 people.

Italian restaurant
Amalfi Cucina Italiana.

Rancho Bernardo Inn’s signature restaurant focuses on French and new American dishes. Within the full kitchen is the intimate private chef’s table for 12 guests for a front-and-center view. Newly appointed chef de cuisine Sergio Jimenez, who started at AVANT before apprenticing at Bertrand at Mister A’s, uses ingredients like marigold, nasturtium leaves, and sorrel from the on-site Chef’s Garden.

restaurant
Avant at Rancho Bernardo In.

CUCINA enoteca Del Mar

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The Flower Hill restaurant’s upstairs garden patio can be transformed into a private dining oasis. that can accommodate 60 guests for an evening soiree. The SoCal Italian kitchen offers several group dining options from family-style to plated a-la-carte dishes, which can all be paired with a selection of 200 wines. Try house-made pasta, like short rib pappardelle with cremini mushrooms, or Margherita pizzas from the fiery-hot pizza oven.

Cucina Enoteca
Cucina Enoteca.

Pamplemousse Grille

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Caterer and chef Jeffrey Strauss works with parties of eight or more to customize menus and wine pairings. Popular private dining highlights include the smoking seafood medley with smoked lobster, shrimp, scallops, and salmon on a potato galette with caviar pepper beurre blanc. The quirkily-decorated Cow Palace, ripe for conversation starters, seats up to 45 guests while the eclectic Wine Room, with guitars on the wall, can accommodate 12.

private dining room
The Cow Palace.
Pamplemousse Grille

Adelaide

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There are several indoor and outdoor private dining spaces at this Del Mar restaurant with prime views of the Pacific Ocean. A stylish private dining room called the Pearl is set aside for parties of 12 and the Library for 40 guests while the outdoor Ocean Terrace with pier-like wooden flooring juts out closer to the water and can seat 20. Chef Nick Green has recently overhauled the menu with an emphasis on fresh seafood like Baja oysters and sashimi plates, along with meat standbys like American Wagyu ribeye and roasted Mary’s Chicken.

private dining room
The Pearl.
Adelaide

Addison

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Located on the Carmel Valley hillside in Fairmont Grand Del Mar, the region’s first two-star Michelin restaurant has two options for private dining with bespoke menus customized by acclaimed chef William Bradley where seasonal California cuisine is showcased along with select wine pairings. The Chef’s Table seats up to 12 guests while a separate, 1,580-square-foot dining room with access to its own terrace can host 35 guests.

small plate
Small plate at Addison’s
Eric Wolfinger

A.R. Valentien

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Helmed by acclaimed executive chef Kelli Crosson, the anchor restaurant at the Lodge at Torrey Pines is ideal for an elegant feast in their timbered dining room bathed in natural light where the intimate private room can seat up to 10 people. The farm-to-table, fine-dining restaurant overlooks the 18th hole of the iconic Torrey Pines Golf Course, adding a memorable touch to special occasions.

holiday feast
Holiday feast.
The Lodge at Torrey Pines

Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa

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Ensconced in the luxury hacienda-style hotel near the iconic Salk Institute and UCSD campus is a secluded private dining room called the Hidden Feather. The 510-square-foot whimsical room has a warm, toasty fireplace to make guests feel snug during the cool SoCal evenings. Up to 30 people can sit down for a banquet-style meal.

Private dining room
Hidden Feather Private Dining Room.
Estanica La Jolla Hotel & Spa

Situated in a corporate complex across from Westfield UTC mall, the Rick Bayless outpost has standout Mexican dishes that keep repeat customers streaming through its doors. Between 30 and 60 guests can be accommodated for private parties in event spaces that include the Tequila Garden with outdoor fire pits or the Outdoor Atrium adjacent to the main dining area. Taco bars or plated dishes of specialties like lobster and shrimp enchiladas are a few options for private events.

Private dining room
Private dining room at RED O “Taste of Mexico”
Helen I. Hwang

Din Tai Fung

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The legendary soup dumpling restaurant from Taiwan lives up to its global reputation in the Westfield UTC mall. Diners can marvel at the rigorous dumpling-making process in the open window when they first walk into the dumpling mecca. Be sure to order the popular pork xiao long biao, or XLB, along with the pear lychee martini with whole lychees. A private dining room holds up to 14 guests and is available for reservations between Monday and Thursday.

soup dumplings
Soup dumplings.
Din Tai Fung

The Marine Room

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A recently unveiled, sparkling new ocean-themed space, the Lounge at The Marine Room, can be booked for parties of 30 guests. Other private and semi-private booking options range from 46 to 120 guests. Delicacies include chef Mike Minor’s signature Ora King salmon cones and caviar flights paired with premium champagne or a twist on surf and turf that features Hokkaido scallops and Kurobuta pork belly.

Salmon cone with Ora King salmon belly and kaluga caviar.
Salmon cone with Ora King salmon belly and kaluga caviar.
Marine Room

George's at the Cove

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Once home to George’s California Modern, the ground level of the acclaimed restaurant has been turned into a flexible event space that can range from its central Ocean View room with a capacity for 140 guests to smaller dining areas. Chef Trey Foshee and his team offer a range of culinary packages, from an array of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres to a custom, seven-course chef’s tasting menu.

Booths inside a restaurant. George’s at the Cove

Duke's La Jolla

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Named after the legendary Hawaiian surfer, Duke Kahanamoku, this restaurant allows your party to skim their way onto the private patio terrace with endless ocean views overlooking La Jolla Cove. The private Barefoot Bar can seat up to 60 guests outside or part of the patio can be partitioned for fewer in your party. End your evening with their famous decadent Kimos Original Hula Pie.

outdoor patio space
Duke’s La Jolla.
Haley Hill Photography

NINE-TEN Restaurant & Bar

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Feted with a Michelin Plate Distinction award, the restaurant offers fine-dining dishes masterminded by chef Jason Knibb. Housed in a European-style boutique hotel, there are a few areas available for private bookings. The Sun Room is illuminated with a skylight, a marvelous fireplace, and windows overlooking the Pacific. The Parlor Room has French-paned windows and elegant crown moldings for a party of 20. The La Jolla Room facing streetside can seat 40 people for a banquet. The entire restaurant can also be reserved for parties of 75 people.

private dining room
The Sun Room.
NINE-TEN Restaurant and Bar.

Nolita House

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Across the street from Nolita Hall is its private event space that can hold 45 for a reception and 20 for seated dining. The cottage-like decor gives off a cozy home-away-from-home atmosphere with its beckoning front door and backyard-like patio that looks out to a marina. Menu highlights include the perfectly-baked scones, the melt-in-your-mouth poached lobster and grits, and seasonal veggie pizzas.

private event space
Nolita House.

Herb & Wood

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You’ll find a few distinct private dining options at celeb chef Brian Malarkey’s flagship restaurant helmed by executive chef Carlos Anthony. The Lavender Lounge for 40 people encompasses indoor and outdoor space centered on a two-sided fireplace. The Patio is secluded in a garden courtyard with seating for 60. Herbert’s has sweeping windows reaching its barrel-vaulted ceilings, along with its own entrance for up to 80 guests.

private dining space
The Lavender Lounge
Dustin Bailey

Bali Hai Restaurant

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For over 60 years, Bali Hai has been the go-to place for a Polynesian-themed private dining experience. The flexible spaces range from the intimate Tiki Room for 28 guests to the Hawaiian Village, a rattan-covered outdoor pavilion that can seat 200. The South Pacific Room can also host 200 guests in the sea-level room with circular windows looking out at the San Diego Bay. Menu options range from a luau buffet to plated sit-down service. Make sure to try their lethal Mai Tais with their dishes.

private dining
Bali Hai Restaurant

Garibaldi

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The fanciful indoor dining space with underwater decor has a view of the Waterfront, the USS Midway, and the old Padres field. The secluded section can hold large parties or semi-private tables for smaller groups. The Southern Italian menu features pizza oven-fired flatbreads, octopus skewers, and a grilled Sicilian Cacciocavalo cheese station.

private dining space
Garibaldi.
Kimberly Motos

NIMA Cafe

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NIMA Cafe is Animae’s dedicated private event space with windows for walls for dramatic views of the city skyline. An upside-down Zen garden has tendrils unraveling from the ceiling. The room can accommodate up to 75 people for special events. Executive chef Tara Monsod works with the parties to customize the menu but be sure to consider her signature uni shrimp toast and Kare Kare short ribs.

Nima event space at Animae
Nima Cafe.
Haley Hill Photography

Zama San Diego

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Tucked next to this massive new restaurant on a bustling Gaslamp Quarter corner is the dedicated sushi lounge area, which can double as a private dining space that seats 20 to 30 people. Zama’s kitchen serves both the main dining area and the adjacent lounge so guests can order items like tender boneless ribeye and the addictive guacamole and uni with light tortilla chips. Sushi highlights from Chef Tayuka Kudo (who’s worked at Nobu and Lumi) include Hama Pina and the exorbitant Gold Rush Roll, topped with 24-karat gold leaf.

Rendering of a tropical bar.
Zama.
Tucker Sadler Architects

Chef Travis Swikard is making a splash with his award-winning Mediterranean cuisine with specialties like lemon saffron linguine and blistered pita bread made with house-milled kamut flour. Wow your guests by booking the Dali Room, which can accommodate up to 18 guests for an intimate family-style dinner. With glass doors separating the space from the rest of the restaurant, they also offer an up-close look at the activity in the kitchen.

private dining room at Callie
Callie
Lucianna McIntosh

Stake Chophouse & Bar

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This steakhouse on Coronado Island offers private dining options that range from its wine cellar room accommodating 20 guests to an outdoor patio dining area for up to 26 guests. Menu choices include filet mignon and double-cut pork chop along with sides like duchesse potatoes and butter braised mushrooms.

Private wine cellar room.
Private wine cellar room.
Stake Chophouse

Serea Coastal Cuisine

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The flagship restaurant of the legendary Hotel Del Coronado boasts views of the pristine sea. If you prefer privacy in the expansive restaurant, there are two dining options: an elegant private dining room with 22 seats for an intimate gathering or a semi-private dining area on the outdoor patio, which can accommodate up to 18 people and features ocean views.

restaurant
Serea Coastal Cuisine.
Photo Courtesy of Serea

Harrah's Resort Southern California

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay recently opened California’s first Hell’s Kitchen at Harrah’s Resort Southern California. In addition to two chef’s tables, there are two private dining options that can be combined into one large dining area. Be sure to try his signature dishes including beef Wellington and sticky toffee pudding, along with his cocktails like Fear and Loathing and Meet Your Maker.

Smoked Golden Beets
Smoked golden beets.
Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen

Amalfi Cucina Italiana

This waterfront Italian restaurant in San Marcos is luring guests inland with its warm Mediterranean hospitality and lakeside happenings like gondola boats and dockside shenanigans. Their private dining room, which seats up to 21 people, offers several options. Select from the Amalfi Marina Dockside Menu, the standard restaurant menu, or the set menu of popular favorites required for parties over 20 people.

Italian restaurant
Amalfi Cucina Italiana.

AVANT

Rancho Bernardo Inn’s signature restaurant focuses on French and new American dishes. Within the full kitchen is the intimate private chef’s table for 12 guests for a front-and-center view. Newly appointed chef de cuisine Sergio Jimenez, who started at AVANT before apprenticing at Bertrand at Mister A’s, uses ingredients like marigold, nasturtium leaves, and sorrel from the on-site Chef’s Garden.

restaurant
Avant at Rancho Bernardo In.

CUCINA enoteca Del Mar

The Flower Hill restaurant’s upstairs garden patio can be transformed into a private dining oasis. that can accommodate 60 guests for an evening soiree. The SoCal Italian kitchen offers several group dining options from family-style to plated a-la-carte dishes, which can all be paired with a selection of 200 wines. Try house-made pasta, like short rib pappardelle with cremini mushrooms, or Margherita pizzas from the fiery-hot pizza oven.

Cucina Enoteca
Cucina Enoteca.

Pamplemousse Grille

Caterer and chef Jeffrey Strauss works with parties of eight or more to customize menus and wine pairings. Popular private dining highlights include the smoking seafood medley with smoked lobster, shrimp, scallops, and salmon on a potato galette with caviar pepper beurre blanc. The quirkily-decorated Cow Palace, ripe for conversation starters, seats up to 45 guests while the eclectic Wine Room, with guitars on the wall, can accommodate 12.

private dining room
The Cow Palace.
Pamplemousse Grille

Adelaide

There are several indoor and outdoor private dining spaces at this Del Mar restaurant with prime views of the Pacific Ocean. A stylish private dining room called the Pearl is set aside for parties of 12 and the Library for 40 guests while the outdoor Ocean Terrace with pier-like wooden flooring juts out closer to the water and can seat 20. Chef Nick Green has recently overhauled the menu with an emphasis on fresh seafood like Baja oysters and sashimi plates, along with meat standbys like American Wagyu ribeye and roasted Mary’s Chicken.

private dining room
The Pearl.
Adelaide

Addison

Located on the Carmel Valley hillside in Fairmont Grand Del Mar, the region’s first two-star Michelin restaurant has two options for private dining with bespoke menus customized by acclaimed chef William Bradley where seasonal California cuisine is showcased along with select wine pairings. The Chef’s Table seats up to 12 guests while a separate, 1,580-square-foot dining room with access to its own terrace can host 35 guests.

small plate
Small plate at Addison’s
Eric Wolfinger

A.R. Valentien

Helmed by acclaimed executive chef Kelli Crosson, the anchor restaurant at the Lodge at Torrey Pines is ideal for an elegant feast in their timbered dining room bathed in natural light where the intimate private room can seat up to 10 people. The farm-to-table, fine-dining restaurant overlooks the 18th hole of the iconic Torrey Pines Golf Course, adding a memorable touch to special occasions.

holiday feast
Holiday feast.
The Lodge at Torrey Pines

Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa

Ensconced in the luxury hacienda-style hotel near the iconic Salk Institute and UCSD campus is a secluded private dining room called the Hidden Feather. The 510-square-foot whimsical room has a warm, toasty fireplace to make guests feel snug during the cool SoCal evenings. Up to 30 people can sit down for a banquet-style meal.

Private dining room
Hidden Feather Private Dining Room.
Estanica La Jolla Hotel & Spa

RED O

Situated in a corporate complex across from Westfield UTC mall, the Rick Bayless outpost has standout Mexican dishes that keep repeat customers streaming through its doors. Between 30 and 60 guests can be accommodated for private parties in event spaces that include the Tequila Garden with outdoor fire pits or the Outdoor Atrium adjacent to the main dining area. Taco bars or plated dishes of specialties like lobster and shrimp enchiladas are a few options for private events.

Private dining room
Private dining room at RED O “Taste of Mexico”
Helen I. Hwang

Din Tai Fung

The legendary soup dumpling restaurant from Taiwan lives up to its global reputation in the Westfield UTC mall. Diners can marvel at the rigorous dumpling-making process in the open window when they first walk into the dumpling mecca. Be sure to order the popular pork xiao long biao, or XLB, along with the pear lychee martini with whole lychees. A private dining room holds up to 14 guests and is available for reservations between Monday and Thursday.

soup dumplings
Soup dumplings.
Din Tai Fung

The Marine Room

A recently unveiled, sparkling new ocean-themed space, the Lounge at The Marine Room, can be booked for parties of 30 guests. Other private and semi-private booking options range from 46 to 120 guests. Delicacies include chef Mike Minor’s signature Ora King salmon cones and caviar flights paired with premium champagne or a twist on surf and turf that features Hokkaido scallops and Kurobuta pork belly.