hob nob hill / banker’s hill – san diego, ca

Hob Nob Hill is one of those restaurants that have been around for a long, long time – since 1944 to be exact! The interior of Hob Nob Hill has a kind of traditional luxurious feel to it – chandeliers adorn the ceiling along with fine looking upholstered chairs. It’s the kind of place that feels like it’s been around for awhile – a place with a little touch of class.

Jake and I visited for dinner one Sunday evening, not quite sure what to expect of the place. It isn’t fussy or upscale but rather homey. They have a number of old fashioned foods on the menu, such as Chicken n’ Dumplings, Beef Liver and Chicken Fried Steak. Old time comfort food the name of the game here.

Every day they have a different daily special for $15.95 that comes with homemade bread, your choice of salad, entree and dessert. Since it was Sunday, there were 2 different choices: Pot Roast and Roast Leg of Lamb. We got one of each.

They served us mini loaves of bread. I picked french bread and Jake picked a raisin bread. While they are handmade, they’re not freshly made, so the breads were room temperature. Not necessarily a bad thing. I cut off a little slice to nibble on while waiting for our salads to arrive. I wasn’t totally impressed with my bread choice, it was a little on the dry side to me, but it wasn’t awful. Just not a favored part of my meal.

They have quite a few salad choices as well, including: Tossed Green, Caesar, Fresh Spinach, Waldorf, Fiesta or Marinated Bean Salad. I was impressed that they had many more choices than just the usual house or green salad.

I opted for the Fresh Spinach Salad. It came with finely chopped bacon, chopped hard boiled eggs, red oinions, tomatoes, a good dollop of grated cheese and was tossed in (I believe) a raspberry vinaigrette. This was loaded with the bacon and was a bit heavy handed with the dressing. I would ask for the dressing on the side, if possible. I loved the bacon and eggs on the salad – it gave it a bit of interest rather than just a bunch of spinach. I liked it.

Jake opted for a Tossed Green Salad  which was simply dressed with red onions, croutons and his choice of ranch dressing. Pretty typical.

Here’s my Roast Leg of Lamb – it came with a choice of Potato, Vegetable or Warm Apple Sauce – I got the mashed potatoes and green beans. It also comes with mint jelly – that blob of green on the left side of my plate. The look of the mint jelly made me make a funny face at it, but I did try it with a bit of lamb. I’m not a big mint fan so the mint jelly didn’t do it for me, but at least I tried it.

I loved the gravy that the lamb was smothered in – it was definitely freshly made with whatever items they made that day. The lamb was nice and tender and paired well with the gravy and bites of mashed potato.

My favorite part though was the sage dressing! Man oh man, was it good. It struck that perfect balance of being moist but not too soggy. I loved the sage flavor tucked into it and how there were no dry bits. Just smooth, creamy, moist dressing. I could have eaten a whole plate of it! It was also like a little surprise, tucked underneath my lamb, just waiting to be discovered and devoured.

I loved Jake’s Pot Roast. It came with buttered noodles and the same gravy I had on my dish. I wished I had ordered his instead, but then I never would have gotten that fabulous sage dressing! The pot roast was tender and juicy and mixed well with the buttered noodles. Maybe I was just jealous I didn’t have buttered noodles, too. Not that my roast lamb was bad, I just liked his dish better. Funny thing is I almost ordered it, too, but decided to go with the lamb instead.

They had a slew of desserts available for our consumption – pies, chocolate cake, carrot cake, I already forgot what else. We were both in the mood for carrot cake, though. I was worried there would be raisins in it and that it would ruin it for me, but luckily there were no raisins in sight – hooray!

This carrot was so moist and delicious. It had a good amount of spice and carrots – nothing overpowered anything else. It was a very good and delicious blend and I gobbled up half of it before declaring myself full. The cream cheese frosting was perfect – not overly sweet and you could still taste a bit of the cream cheese tang.

I took leftovers home from my meal and dessert and had it for lunch the next day at work – so good!

Hob Nob Hill offers some great old fashioned cooking in the heart of San Diego. I can’t think of another restaurant that’s quite like Hob Nob Hill – serving up old style comfort food in a classy, laid back atmosphere. Visit this place if you can!

Hob Nob Hill
2271 1st Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 239-8176