Babcock & Story Bar

Super fun and busy bar in the Del. We had great service, drinks, and appetizers!

We ordered calamari and Angus sliders, the service was OK, we loved the atmosphere and outside view of the ice skating range, but the food is overpriced for quality, calamari had too much salt, and we only received two sliders (3 would’ve been perfect for $ 26 price)

Always fun to drink and catch a game or two here. The bar is spacious and clean. Drink specials all day long and even during the holidays. Drop by if you’re in the area. Classic Coronado establishment inside the Del

Love the location and really great bartender. We had a couple of drinks and lunch there. Very good prices and service. People that complain about pricing should stick with their hole in the wall places. This is s busy place and in high demand. Parking is tough near the hotel but we found a spot down the road and had a nice walk. My wife and I are both in the hospitality business in Las Vegas and think they do a great job. Now the hotel room pricing is a different story.

Way way way way way too expensive. Hot chocolate and baileys cocktail was $ 17 haha. Unless you have some deep pockets I’d stay away from it.

Thank you Tim for a great experience and date night! I thought this bar would be stuffy and pretentious but to my surprise it was awesome. The bartender was extremely friendly and accommodating to my girlfriends gluten free issue (annoying I know) we will definitely be back. You can’t beat this location for Coronado

I love the hotel Del, it’s a San Diego icon for sure. I’m a local and I love to come hang out at the bar and chat with Tim the bartender. He’s a pretty cool Kat! He had great drink recommendations too. The food is ok but the company and ambiance makes up for it

They know how to cook a well made burger. It’s no «slightly pink» inside or charred and smoky tasting on the outside. Pure perfection. Im a healthy eater but this time I decided to indulge and see what $ 22.00 bought you. The service was amazing despite the 5 weddings, weekend day, and military ball that was all happening at once. My server was attentive and on top of his game. Superb !

Outstanding destination for lunch. Excellent bloody Mary’s, cheese plate was delectable. The service was wonderful. Highly recommended!

What a piece of old Americana. An absolute must for your bucket list. The prices aren’t cheap, but the service is impeccable and so is the view.

You can’t beat the setting at this bar! We only stopped in for a bloody mary, but it was delish! Full review at
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Never mind

Just had lunch at this place.
Good food and good location but I’ve never seen a server as mean/​rude as this lady. Her name is Mandy. Very poor service and doesn’t even smile but she has time to smile at other guests. I think just because we are brown color that’s why she treated us like that! She needs to learn how to treat customer right.
She was supposed to be our server but she passed us to another server, Jaime who’s very nice and approachable !!! Thanks to Jaime for being helpful
Management need to send her to a customer service training. Thumbs down all the way!!!
PS: this is the first time that I’ve put in a negative review

I will add to the reviews that the service here is very substandard considering the price youre asked to pay. Ordered water that never came. Decided to start with an easy app. Pork Belly Nachos with baked beans sounded delish and at 25 bucks I was expected something really good before we decided where else to go. Well after a 30 plus minute wait a tiny plate of cold chips and cheese arrives. No pork belly to be found unless you looked really hard. It actually reminded me of the pork and beans you had as a kid. Some beans and one little piece of fat. Needless to say I didn’t feel the need to order anything else.

So this bar/​restaurant is located at the Del Coronado resort … Even Disneyland blushes st the upcharge at The Del! Know before you sit down that you are going to pay triple or more what you would anywhere else.
The menu here is limited and let’s be honest … The food is not very good. Its not bad, but portions are small and its just kind of meh.
Having said that, the location is nice. During the night, you can hear the waves crashing on the beach and see the iconic red cuppola of The Del. During the day, you can see far off waves in the distance. They have indoor and outdoor seating.
I had the shrimp and grits. It was $ 26 and came with 3 shrimp, a scoop of ‘cheddar cheese grits’ and a watery sort of tasteless BBQ sauce spread over it. At home this dish would cost you $ 4 to make. I try not to focus too much on price given everything at the Del is way inflated … But it does bear mentioning that the value here is non-​existant.
Draft beers are $ 8 and mine was served ¾ full.
After 9 pm its the only game in town in terms of on-​premisis food locations. Don’t feel like because its a bar menu, you will get cheaper food. Its the same price as Sheerwater Grill. Mixed nuts are $ 6. Guacamole is $ 10. A burger is $ 24. And mixed drinks $ 15-​$ 17.
I would gladly pay for quality but honestly the shrimp and grits tasted like something you’d get at Applebee’s for $ 12. One star for location and two stars for the great service. My waitress was an absolute peach. Unfortunately I’d rather eat a peach than the food I was served here … A beer and my (small) entrée came to over1/​3 of $ 100 with tip.
They do have a decent musician most nights who plays covers from the 60s (Zeppelin/​Pink Floyd) to the 80s (Van Halen) a bit loud but he’s pretty good!

Extremely pricy. Not excellent service for the price. The BLT was good, but not worth nearly $ 20.
We dropped $ 50 on 2 sandwiches for lunch. I don’t recommend it.

Ok I know this place is outrageously incredibly expensive but it is in the Hotel Del so I can forgive. Every year we visit the Hotel Del for Christmas and every year we spend a fortune on Bailey’s drinks at Babcock and Story. Every year it’s crammed with people and you have to fight for a seat. Every year we manage to get a seat very fast (good seating karma) and every year it takes a while for the server to notice us.
But…it is Christmas in San Diego’s most popular Christmas destination (well maybe a tie with Balboa Park) so it is what it is and we accept it.
We are always treated very nice by the slammed frazzled wait people.
It’s a tradition and we will keep doing it no matter the hassle. It’s worth it.

really nice atmosphere for cocktails, especially during the holidays.
we walked on the beach prior to coming in, nice way to set up the mood!
service was great, we orderd the salt and vinegar nuts, olives, and fries.
simple food to eat late night.
lots of suits here, seems to be a business hotel in the middle of the work week.
loved it.

I had such high hopes that this bar would have my new favorite cocktail, The Last Word. This is after all the main bar of the historic, much celebrated and very expensive Hotel Del! Alas, they could not make it for me. When I asked the bartender for it, he did not even know what it was. I had to explain to him that it has gin, green chartreuse, Luxardo (maraschino liqueur) and fresh lime juice. Only 4 ingredients, but they neither had chartreuse nor Luxardo. I was very sad. I had to settle for a Cosmo. The Cosmo is good, but it just doesn’t have the complexity and utter deliciousness of the Last Word.
Many of the cocktails on the menu tended to be on the sweet side, and they were priced at $ 15.50. Crazy! Beer was $ 8. My husband ordered a glass of their Cab. It was drinkable, but not great. The place was packed at 8:30 pm and there were several different sporting events on their televisions. We ended up watching the Giants game for a while. We also ordered dessert – Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream– with our drink. It was fine. Next time though, I would save my dessert calories for something better and more exciting.
We did not go back to this bar for the rest of our stay at The Hotel Del. It’s really too bad that this hotel does not have a more updated and creative cocktail menu!

We were really impressed with the food and service here! The Del is a wonderful hotel, and this place is a great spot to grab a quick lunch. It’s outdoor patio also has amazing views of the water.
With the Sheerwater Restaurant and Sun Deck Bar and Grill having such extremely long wait times, my son and I found a little table near the patio at the Babcock. We were hungry and tired, but we quickly received a menu from a friendly staff member. She made sure to let us know that she’d be around to answer any questions and gave us the extra time we needed to find out what we wanted our order.
Another friendly employee can over a few minutes later to take our order. He said that the Caesar salad was delicious, and I had to agree, the salad was wonderful! With a good amount of chicken and croutons on a bed of fresh lettuce, my salad was quite tasty. The Caesar dressing was so yummy! My son ordered the Mac and Cheese, and he really enjoyed this too. He said the side of fruit was great as well.
With the hustle and bustle and this busy restaurant and bar, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the staff was and how quickly our food arrived. I also really liked the laid back vibe of this restaurant. This was a really nice place to grab some food and relax. We never felt rushed, and there were plenty of helpful employees to refill our drinks and bring us extra napkins.
I look forward to coming to coming back with friends and checking out the a Happy Hour menu. I also want to try one of those delicious burgers the next time we’re at this beautiful resort!