seasons 52 at the headquarters / downtown san diego

Here’s my final Restaurant Week post! I’m a slacker.

I had a $25 dining card that was given to me on my last visit to the Headquarters in December. It was a crazy fun blogger thing that gave us all a glimpse into the coolness of the new Headquarters, which is located at the old Police Station Headquarters from back in the day (hence the name). I made reservations for Heather and I at 7:30 on a Wednesday night. Heather came to pick me so we could carpool to dreaded Downtown. A miraculous thing happened… we pulled into a little lot across from the Headquarters and it looked like the parking lot was full… and then someone started to back out of a parking spot and we totally scored easy, free parking! I felt like we had won the lottery or something!

We were a little early for our reservation time but we checked in and then waited. And then waited. And then cracked jokes about why did we even make a reservation… then heard the hostess quote a guy a 1.5 hour wait… still wondered what was going on but glad we made a reservation….

…

And then we got seated! Phew. The place was busy that night. We were given the regular menu’s with no sign of the SDRW menu anywhere until I started to ask our waiter for it and it was like he read my mind and went off to get it. Crazy.

After assessing the regular menu and seeing the five course offering for Restaurant Week for $35, Heather and I quickly agreed that the RW menu was a far, far better deal. Plus – you know – FIVE courses. HELLO.

The first course is shared between two people and Heather let me choose which flatbread because she’s nice like that. I picked the blackened steak with blue cheese. It seemed like maybe parts of our flatbread was included in the “blackening” (can you see those extra crispy looking edges). The middle was better where it was more proportioned between the steak and cheese. One side had no blue cheese on it while the other hoarded it all. There were mushrooms hidden on the flatbread that I didn’t notice until later but that made me super happy (I love you, mushrooms).

We managed to deftly avoid the rest of the “blackened” parts of the flatbread and things seemed grim after this first course.

For our second course, we each got to choose a soup. Heather choose the chili, which was quite hearty, thick and flavorful. It was a bit heavy tasting to me, but Heather really liked it.

I choose the Butternut Squash soup. It was slightly sweet and creamy. My only (small) complaint would be that I wished this had a bit more texture and be a little bit thicker. But otherwise, I liked the flavor of this one. My other favorite thing about this? It was served very, very HOT. I hate when I’m served lukewarm food.

Things seemed to get better from here on out and for our third course, we each choose an appetizer.

I honed in on the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli. It was a really good choice though after two of these suckers it became so rich to eat with all of that strong flavored goat cheese. This is definitely something I’d want to share as I couldn’t eat it all by myself. The goat cheese is strong but the sauce it’s paired with helps give it extra flavor. The veggies helped to break up the strong flavors and not tire out my palate.

I thought Heather’s choice was the winner between the two. It sounds kind of boring, like, “Oh, just grilled chicken skewers, whatever” but we loved the presentation of this dish. It looks quite dramatic with the chicken standing up skewered with a grilled apple on top. The chicken was succulent, incredibly moist and very tender. The glaze/sauce on it was also delicious and very complimentary. There’s a sweet tasting coleslaw thing hiding under that apple, if you’re curious.

Heather (who was already getting full at this point) ordered the Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon for her dish. She loved every bite she forced into her mouth while I wanted to steal all of her mushrooms (I refrained, I had my own dish of food).

I choose the Caramelized Sea Scallops which came with some super flavorful couscous and asparagus. My dish came with a grilled lemon that I squeezed onto my scallops to make them extra, extra tasty. The scallops had some nice grill marks on them and were sweet and tender. Everything on this plate made me happy.

While we kind of felt like we were going to burst, there was dessert to be had and it’s really hard to say no to something so cute! Seasons 52 has these “mini indulgences” to fit in with their “nothing over 475 calories” theme. They show you all of the mini’s they have and if you choose to partake, they just give them right over to you.

I couldn’t resist getting the PB & Chocolate (front) because I’m a fiend for peanut butter. It was more like a peanut butter and chocolate mousse with some fugdy-like cake on the bottom. It was really good and I started slowly scraping the sides trying to get every little bit.

Heather choose the Mocha Macchiato which she loved. It had a lovely coffee-chocolate flavor with another chocolate-brownie like thing in the middle. Really yummy!

All in all, it was a great way to check out Restaurant Week – and with five courses and lots of things to choose from, I think this menu is one of the better choices out there. Remember it for the fall, my friends!

Seasons 52
Multiple Locations
789 W Harbor Dr Suite #134
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 702-0052

Disclaimer: Part of our meal was complimentary with a $25 dining card, but the rest was paid for by us!