Hillcrest/Mission Hills Monday night dinner

[keena]

About 10 of us will be in the MH/HC area for dinner on a Monday night. We used to go to the Better Half, but, alas...
Any ideas? Does not have to be very fancy and can be pricey too. There are a bunch of new places on Washington by Goldfinch, but I've not tried them yet. Wine Vault is already booked for the night we have in mind.

[normalheightsfoodie]

Mandarin Dynasty, corner of University and Normal Street in Hillcrest. You could probably arrange with Randy, the chef owner to create a specific menu for you and your friends. You could probably also bring your own wine,

[stevewag23]

Do you mean Mandarin House?

[normalheightsfoodie]

Thank you Stevewag23, I made the correction.

[stevewag23]

No sweat. I was wondering if there was some other secret spot I didn't know about.

Have you ever had "Randy, the chef owner to create a specific menu for you and your friends." ?

[keena]

Damn--Hane and Avenue 5 are closed Mondays and they'd be a great choice. What about Cucina Urbana? They are open Mondays. I'm afraid to try those new ones on Washington by Mission Hills until I see more consistently positive reviews.

[foodiechick]

Cucina Urbana is great, but really loud and really popular. For a party of your size CALL NOW!!

[stevewag23]

Although I personally dislike Cucina Urbana for a few reasons, I think it would be perfect for your situation.

And on a Monday night I doubt it will be crowded, if that is a turn off for you.

If you do want a crowd, Harney sushi in old town is one of the few places in san diego that does have a crowd.

[normalheightsfoodie]

We have in the past and it has always been very good.

I really like the salt and pepper scallops.

[stevewag23]

Yakatori
Avenue 5
Hane Sushi
Might want to try Red Door, but reviews are mixed.

[honkman]

Yakatori only if the chef/owner Nabe is in the kitchen. Otherwise Yakitori is nothing special and not worth going.

[stevewag23]

honkman, I got completely get where you are coming from.

I would still recommend Yakatori without Nabe san over 99% of the other offerings in the area.

[cgfan]

Perhaps, but one runs the risk of someone not enjoying their meal and giving up entirely on YY.

[honkman]

Honestly our dinner there without Nabe was overall so unremarkable that I think there many are options better than Yakatori. (which doesn't mean that we don't want to go back when Nabe is in but somebody mentioned that he will be in the future at their newly opened place on Convy which for us eliminates Yakatori/Hillcrest as a possible restaurant option.