Ocean Pacific Grille

Came here randomly to find out that they were doing SD restaurant week!
There SD restaurant week menu was awesome for the price. $ 30 three course dinner.
Usually its about $ 30 just for one entrée!
Since I came with friends, we ordered everything on the SD restaurant week menu to try everything.
FOOD:
Oven Roasted Bone Marrow
This dish came with a side of garlic bread. You take small amounts of the bone marrow and spread it on the bread and its amaaaazing.
Crispy Shrimp Wontons
The wontons were small but good.
Citrus Seared Atlantic Salmon
A nice healthy alternative. Nicely cooked and good flavor.
Adobo Style Pork Belly
Small portion size. Tasted like it was boiled and then seared. It was still good though, especially with the celery root purée and calamari syrup gave it some more flavor.
Vanilla Bean Flan
The flan tasted a lot more healthier than all the flans i’ve eaten. Thicker consistency but with a light taste. It was delicious though.
Overall, good food, good service, and wonderful atmosphere.

For this update I’m rather adding on to my previous review with their brunch menu.
When eating here for brunch, keep in mind that the restaurant focus is still Filipino-​Hawaiian fusion and the restaurant is located in the Gaslamp. This means that of course your –silog breakfast hangover cure dish is going to cost you more than $ 10. The restaurant has to pay its rent somehow! What is considered to be a pricier and more limited menu is more than made up for with the quality of the food: better quality ingredients than the restaurants in Mira Mesa or National City.
I can vouch for the traditional brunch drinks ($ 7), their POG mimosa (passion fruit, orange juice and guava) and their OPG bloody mary (pinnacle vodka, powell & mahoney mary mix). The bloody mary is mixed very well so that you can taste the black pepper, vodka and tomato juice in even proportions in every sip without having to mix it periodically.
Among our party of four we tried 3 of the 6 brunch dishes.
Crispy Pork Belly ($ 13) — normally breakfast potatoes are included but I made it into a –silog as it already includes an over-​easy egg (made over medium) by subbing the potatoes for garlic fried rice. I basically inhaled my plate in one sitting. There was a perfect proportion of meat-​to-​fat and the rice had the right amount of garlic and moisture. It was even better with a soy sauce/​vinegar mixture as I didn’t want to ask if they had Mama Sita’s.
Tocilog ($ 12) — A typical tocilog at a Filipino restaurant would cost about a little more than half as much but the meat is not as hard and they do a better job curing the meat as you don’t have an excess of the red curing mixture.
Loco Moco ($ 14) — No1DP looked at the description and said it was the Hawaiian interpretation of Japanese hamburg steak omuraisu. He tasted it and while he still thought it was just fancy omuraisu that he could get back home, he enjoyed as much as his stomach was able to handle.
Definitely adding OPG to a more unique take on the weekend brunch when people want a different spin on meat and eggs and don’t mind missing out on pancakes.

So last May during my visit to the Philippines I had the greatest idea for a modern Filipino food restaurant in San Diego. I had amazing modern Filipino food during my last trip to Manila so of course I want to find places like that here in the States. Within the first couple of weeks of me being home I found out Ocean Pacific Grille opened. Dang they had my idea first! Well I don’t cook so yay to them! I’ve had them bookmarked since then and I was finally able to go for restaurant week. Downtown is quite a drive for me so I needed to plan this out.
My cousin and I got there pretty early. About an hour before our reservation. We are the most prompt Filipinos you will ever meet. We were seated right away. The restaurant is large with two rooms and it’s at a great location. Sara was our waitress and she was great. She was very helpful and nice to us during our visit.
We were very easy to deal with because we knew we were going to order right off the restaurant week menu and one of each item they offered. I was disappointed that they ran out of bone marrow literally right when we sat down. I was looking forward to that. They also ran out of one of the dessert menus too. They did replace those items with other items on their menu.
For our appetizer we had the crispy shrimp wontons and the adobo style baby back ribs. The crispy shrimp wontons was delicious. I loved the calamansi mayo. The adobo style baby back ribs were amazing. It did lack the taste of adobo. You can tell me I was having some baby back ribs and I wouldn’t be able to tell its adobo style. Maybe offer a side of vinegar for the filipino style dishes.
Main course was citrus seared atlantic salmon and adobo style pork belly. The salmon was cooked perfectly. It came with pancit and it tasted great. A tad too much lemon for my taste. Wish they had the lemon on the side. The pork belly was delicious. Wish it was a bit crispier. I didn’t like this sauce it came with. I think our waitress mentioned it’s a celery sauce.
For dessert we had the ginataan and vanilla bean leche flan. Both were delicious and not too sweet. You can really taste the vanilla in the flan.
We also had the tocino toast. I love the burrata cheese on top! The Tocino toast is a must try when you come here.
I checked in on Unilocal and we were able to sample the chef’s appetizer which was a shrimp flatbread. I love the pesto on top. So tasty and a great appetizer.
I had the blackberry gin for my drink and my cousin had the calamansi margarita. I loved my blackberry gin. The calamansi margarita was delicious but strong. I can’t handle tequila anymore.
Overall it was a great dining experience. It’s more fine dining than traditional Filipino food and that’s what everyone is used to. It’s a nice twist to try yummy fine dining food with a Filipino/​Asian influence on it. Hopefully I can come back soon. Downtown is far!

I was very curious to eat at a Filipino fusion restaurant. Growing up, we ate my mom’s wonderful food or went to the nearest turo-​turo joint if she wasn’t in the mood to cook. It was very interesting seeing the chef’s take on traditional Filipino cuisine.
They start off the meal with free edamame. The edamame was tossed in a soy/​sesame seed mix which was pretty tasty. Next we ordered the adobo ribs. It’s tough to serve adobo. Everyone compares restaurant adobo to the adobo they grew up on. The ribs were cooked perfectly. However, I love the strong garlic and soy flavor of adobo, so I felt that this dish was bland. We also ordered the grilled octopus… YUM! Cooked well with the perfect balance of salt and sour. The best appetizer that we ordered was the Tocino toast. Thick slices of brioche topped with fresh mozzarella and topped with yummy Tocino. For our main entrée we split the crispy sea bass in tamarind broth… the fusion version of sinigang. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I wanted a whole bowl full of the broth. We also ordered the chocolate bomb for dessert. It was a great way to end the meal.
We parked at Horton Plaza. It was a short 5 minute walk. I also used a Unilocal deal that offered $ 25 for $ 40 worth of food.

Chocolate passion dome.
Nuff said.
This place is by far amazing.
The local craft beer selection is on point.
We only had drinks and dessert, can’t wait to come in for food.
Keep up the good work!

3.5 stars for Ocean Pacific Grille! Was sooooooo hyped about this place and FINALLY got to try it last night with a couple of my gfs.
Lynlyn D. checked in on Unilocal and when she did we got a free starter with entrée purchase. The chef picks your starter and the one we got was the longanisa flatbread, which I mean have you ever had a longanisa flatbread?! lmao me neither i was so pumped! The bread was like a pita and the toppings on top was as Monica D. perfectly described as the garnishes you usually eat with fish! Like the sour onion and tomato. The longanisa itself was bomb but I would not call it longanisa. Isn’t longanisa like red? And I don’t even know how to describe the taste bc I haven’t had it in forever but it wasn’t this. This was more like a meatball like I wouldn’t even call it a sausage bc it didn’t have a casing or like smokiness or strong fennel or anything characteristic of a sausage. I don’t mean to knock this dish bc I would be hella pleased to eat it again, I just would not pretend that it’s longanisa or fushion longanisa or anything remotely longanisa. Then we got the adobo spare ribs. For me personally, I like adobo sauce. Like I’m all about spilling that sabao (idk how to spell that word) all up all over my rice. These adobo spare ribs were dry rub (not dry as in not moist but dry as in no sauce) and again they didn’t really taste like adobo. Monica D. again was perfect in her description that like they were more like salt and pepper chicken wing spare ribs lol! You know like the salt and pepper wings from that place in national city that the filipinos all go to? Lol. Again I’m not knocking this dish bc it was good I’d gladly order it again but I didn’t taste any adobo fusion here like no soy sauce/​vinegar taste.
For my entrée, I picked the crispy pork belly pinakbet. I know this is silly but hooooooooow excited was I to spend $ 24 on pinakbet! Like whaaaat?! Pinakbet that I don’t have to point at in a counter and get it served in a styrofoam container like hell yeah. lmao! Omg and roooooofl I’m laughing bc like when my dish came I was like ooooh pretty and then I was like wait THAT’S MY RICE?! And my friends were laughing bc it was the smallest rice! Like Monica D. started poking around my plate like is there more rice on the bottom?! I mean whatever yeah I don’t need to eat rice but it’s just funny to me bc it was the smallest little triangle of rice I’ve ever seen in my life. The pinakbet was good. Some of my veggies were cooked better than others like my first kabocha was crunchy i was like ooooh this is interesting it’s like super al dente but I think that was on accident bc all my squash had different consistencies. The sauce was bomb! I think if I’m not mistaken it was more patis based than agamang bagoong based but what do I know idk. But I liked it! And I only ate the meat on the pork belly I didn’t eat the fat and it was again the dry texture, which obvi was dry bc I didn’t eat the fat lol. Anyway it was good! Lynlyn D’s kare kare was interesting. Like the peanut butter flavor was pretty muted. I was tasting something else like Idk I was tasting a lot of bagoong but it wasn’t super salty like where do you get that? My family is pangasinan which is famous for it’s agamang bagoong and it tastes nothing like what y’all serve. Ours is better lol but it might be too much of a culture shock for da white ppl lmao. And then Monica D. guuuurl idk she got a pasta lmao! It was good too but I’m not going to review that bc I’m only about the filipino fusion food on this post.
So all in all I’d love to come back here. My server Griselda was amazing I loved her! And our hostess was really nice too! Atmosphere is ok. I was kind of confused as to the layout and I would definitely recommend the dining area over the bar area especially since the kitchen is open and the chefs face you and you can see what they’re slaying in the back. The big thing about atmosphere is there is a ginormous disconnect between the menu and the atmosphere. There is nothing filipino fushion about the atmosphere I mean maybe the bamboo and lmao I spent a goooood while trying to figure out where the big spoon and fork is I was like it’s gotta be here somewhere and I frick’n spotted them before we left i won’t tell you where it is so you can play too lmao but that’s it otherwise you wouldn’t know that this place served filipino food. I think maybe they were trying to go for a beach theme bc there’s one beach pic and like some shells thrown around but theme isn’t very cohesive. Like the color of the booths and wooden furniture is way too dark for beach theme and the wine display is completely out of place. I would’ve bumped my rating to 4 stars if there was a better connection between the culturally minded menu and the misdirected atmosphere but that’s super minor! I would definitely recommend y’all come here and I would be very content to come back!

This place is great. Randomly stopped by while walking around with some friends through Gaslamp. Stopped in for happy hour and the food selection and drinks were GREAT. The service was also top notch and the owner really awesome and down to earth.
This is a place I’ll definitely be coming back to next time I’m in SD.

Best calamari ever. Hands down. I wanna go back just for that.
Service is amazing, such nice and efficient staff from the person who welcomes you to the servers.
The food was just great, I had the Mahi Mahi and it was delicious. My husband also ordered the bone marrow and loved it. For dessert we had the chocolate and passion fruit dome, so good!

Absolutely impeccable.
I am still really wowed by how good this restaurant was. My boyfriend and I were talking about this restaurant for days.
Let me give you 5 reasons why this restaurant is an absolute must if you are in San Diego:
1. Service is phenomenal. My boyfriend ordered a bottomless mimosa and upon setting down an empty glass, in less than 10 seconds, the server had another one ready on our table. The server got down every detail. He took away our cutlery accordingly when we finished each dish. The details matter so much and I love how this restaurant really respects that.
2. Fusion is hard, fusion can go disastrously wrong, but fusion at Ocean Pacific Grille is divine. I have never had gourmet Filipino-​American fusion before and despite being a bit hesitant when seeing the menu, every dish was phenomenal.
3. Prices are so affordable! Appetizers were around $ 10 – 15 range, with dishes under $ 20. For this quality of food I would have gladly paid anything from the $$$- $$$$ range.
4. The owner of this restaurant, Brian, really knows his stuff. He not only knows the dishes inside and out, but also the décor (restaurant was designed by his brother), colour scheme, business financing like the back of his hand. Meeting owners who are really passionate and knowledgable about their interests is such a plus to a restaurant.
5. Décor is awesome. It’s very modern but elegant and chic. I really love the bright blue juxtaposed with the dark-​set table sets and seats. The restaurant definitely does incorporate the beach culture of San Diego as well, with paintings of the ocean and sunset on the walls. There was a lot going on, but it was so easy on the eye and all felt really organic. Kudos to Brian’s brother for some really terrific interior design.
I would highly recommend their signature Filipino Tocino Toast and pork buns. The toast with burrata cheese, roasted tomatoes, balsamic reduction is out of the world. What a dynamic blend of flavours. Just thinking of it right now makes my mouth water.
This is the only time I have ever tipped more than 40% for a meal, but boy did Ocean Pacific Grille deserve it.

We had lunch at Ocean Pacific Grille during a long weekend stay in San Diego’s Gaslamp district. This was one of the more interesting places we noticed while searching through the Unilocal app.
The restaurant is nothing special upon walking into the bar area, but the small-​ish back seating area is very cute looking. I liked the décor. Modern but classic.
I really liked the dessert that we ordered — sort of a hard chocolate shell around a dollop of crème fraîche and passion fruit.
The cheese & flatbread combo was great as well. The sashimi was just alright on the night we stopped by though.
Overall, we ordered a bunch of food and were pretty delicious. Service was very good and I’d be happy to go back. The fusion of Filipino food with American classics was a nice twist since I rarely encounter this type of combination elsewhere.

So I was just here for 2 days to catch the Dolphins-​Chargers game, and I ate here three times: twice for dinner, once for Sunday brunch. This is the place to go for excellent gourmet Filipino food in the Gaslamp Quarter. The short rib kare kare was a major highlight: very soft, with a nice but not overpowering peanut butter flavor. My husband loved the swordfish with chili sauce. But brunch was our favorite: a generous loco moco with thick mushroom sauce and tocino with garlic rice and egg. Masarap!
Service was excellent; we sat in the bar area and the servers were friendly and welcoming. Lots of local beer selections available and big screens to watch the games.

My only complaint about this place is the loud annoying music. Otherwise it is 5 star worthy.
Food was so delicious, the service was excellent, always checking on us, asking us questions and explaining ingredients. Would love to go back if they can lower the volume on that weird music or just get a ‘to-​go’ order.

The toscina toast was really really good. I ordered it as my entrée, and it was a nice size for it! Topped with burrata cheese, sun dried tomatoes, argula, balsamic vinegarette, and I think some kind of sausage similar to chorizo. It was bursting with flavor! I would definitely recommend ordering it!
My mom had the lobster and petite filet. The steak was tender, but totally bland. Thankfully the lobster was juicy and had some flavor !
Overall, I’m not too crazy about the restaurant. I feel like their menu is lacking, and could use a bit more variety

Ocean Pacific Grille is a fairly large, nice appointed restaurant, with both indoor and outdoor seating, and is just a block from the center of the Gaslamp District but not on the main drag. Service is not a problem, and the pricing is in line with fine dining, but the food is not.
The fish (opah) I had was fine but the accompaniments did not work with it — a very intense lemon marmelade, pork and beans, and pickled vegetables that weren’t. My wife got the short ribs and they were despicable — not even short ribs but some kind of boiled (and pressed?) meat.
One good item out of seven means two stars Ocean Pacific.

I’m often weary of ‘traditional Filipino food’ reimagined or modernized because of how far away the new dish goes from its roots. I’d make an exception to this spot right in the heart of the Gaslamp district for its exceptional taste and creativity all while the dish still embodying a Filipino-​style food offering.
Reservations were not needed but we called ahead anyways to reserve right when the place opened. We were told it may be full and we might have to sit outside on the patio which was far from the case when we arrived. To our surprise we were one of maybe two to three small groups there. Inside you are first greeted by hostesses in front of a bar area. It doesn’t look fancy at all but when you are led down the hallway to the back area, the ambiance is much nicer. Great for a nice date.
Food:
Get the Filipino Tocino Toast! — Tocino is pretty much the Filipino version of bacon but sweeter. The warm toast topped with the tocino, burrata cheese, tomatoes, cilantro and balsamic vinegar was probably the best thing I’ve tried here. It is definitely a MUST-​TRY if you decide to eat here. The creativity and presentation alone was nice but the flavors did it for me. Bravo, chef.
Pork & Shrimp Lumpia — Who doesn’t like egg rolls? Two good-​sized piping hot egg rolls served with a spicy garlic vinegar sauce. It was like eating a very delicious crispy dumpling. The pork and shrimp filling was tasty.
Cilantro Seared Chicken Breast– Chicken was moist and tender. The coconut risotto was yummy and the portions were big enough to have left overs. I ate every single bite back at my hotel the next day.
Slow-​Braised Shortribs ‘Kare-​kare” style– A traditional Filipino dish, Kare-​Kare usually has oxtail cooked until the meat could easily fall off the bone, in a peanut butter-​based sauce, with a variety of vegetables and topped with some shrimp paste. I’ll give OPG’s version a 3.5 out of 5. The plating was nice and it surely was a unique take on a kare-​kare inspired dish. The short rib probably could have been prepared longer because the meat was still tough. The shaved shrimp-​paste flakes over the dish was very unique and added some needed saltiness to the dish. I couldn’t care much for the veggies which were more crisp than I’m used to in kare-​kare.
Definitely give this place a shot. Very big props to the owners for attempting to put Filipino food out there in the public eye and turning typically cheap, good food into an entire dining experience worth trying at least once. Keep the tocino toast on the menu and it’ll be twice for me when I come back to San Diego.

Filipino fusion at its finest (No disrespect to sisig and longanisa fries). I came here for Sunday brunch with my girlfriend. The place wasn’t packed and we got seated right away.
We both got the OPG Bloody Mary which in my opinion wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but had just a great amount of spice to it. My girlfriend opted for the steak and eggs (over easy). The potatoes were forgettable but the steak and roasted tomatoes were great. I went for the braised short ribs «kare kare». I was very curious how they would present such a dish in a more formal setting (I’m used to seeing it in a big serving container where you serve yourself). Oh man and it came with bagoong alamang (shrimp paste) sprinkled on top too? Plus points for bringing authenticity to the dish. Man was it good but being a Filipino I felt like there should’ve been more rice! For me it gots to be equal rice go meat ratio but I’m sure that’s probably too much rice. For dessert we had the chocolate passion fruit dome it definitely hit the spot.
In the end there’s really nothing like Ocean Pacific Grille in San Diego. Great service & friendly staff. We will definitely come back for more to try out the other dishes on the menu.

Nicely decorated very clean and inviting. The staff was extra friendly and helped us through our selections.
Great appetizers. Drinks are pretty good. Had the tuna which was good but a bit cold. Also tried the crispy skin Seabass which was very good. The sides that came with the entrées were a bit sparse. Overall, there are much better restaurants when it comes to seafood in the area. Perhaps I will go back again and try some of the more traditional Filipino food. After all, the Lumpia was fantastic!

Amazing quality food at a restaurant that I only wish was… a little more representative of the food they serve.
Walking in from the corner, you’re in a room with a bar and a number of tables. Behind this area is another room that’s clearly the main dining area. As we walked through the little corridor between the two rooms, there was a pretty foul odor coming from somewhere. But it was only in that corridor thankfully. Once we were seated we didn’t notice it anymore.
The dining area was kind of nice, but not particularly fancy (some Unilocal photos led us a little astray on this point), and it was quite loud in there. Definitely not the quiet date night atmosphere that we were looking for. That’s okay though, the food is what really matters.
A Unilocal check-​in offers a free «Chef’s Choice» appetizer, which of course we gladly accepted. It was the Adobo Style Baby Back Ribs (pictured). My wife doesn’t eat pork for some reason, so these went straight to me. They were incredible. Tender, packed with flavor, just delicious. I told my wife that if she were to try this, she would change her mind about pork. She was unmoved, but I was serious.
We both ordered the seared ahi tuna as our entrée (pictured). It was fantastic. The sauce on the plate was a perfect companion, and the tuna itself was so tender that you could cut it just by looking at it funny. As a meal, it was a bit small. Four pieces of tuna and a couple of baby veggies didn’t really do it for either of us. After a couple of hours walking around the area, having a couple of drinks at different places, we had to stop somewhere for a snack.

UPSCALE FILIPINO FUSION EATS IN THE GASLAMP
What, really? When my SD cousin suggested that we meet for dinner here, I was definitely excited and intrigued. I don’t eat Filipino food too often anymore because no one’s cooking is as good as Mom’s. Plus, the food of our people is not the healthiest around: white rice is not exactly fitting my macros.
However, my boyfriend and I were in town specifically to see family and eat at San Diego bookmarks and Ocean Pacific Grille did not disappoint.
We had reservations for our party of 7 for 7:00pm last Saturday night and were promptly seated in the dining area (there’s a separate bar section).
Very nice décor that is modern but has the Filipino touch with the huge wooden spoon and fork; that’s how you know you’re in a Pinoy establishment.
Drink:
I was hoping to have a Moscow Mule at a local bar after dinner, but I didn’t need to go anywhere else because OPG has a peach mule and a strawberry mule – naks!
I had the Donkey Fresca Strawberry Mule with vodka, lime juice, strawberries and cucumbers, and ginger beer – very refreshing and not too heavy on the vodka, just the way I like it.
We shared starters:
Salt & Pepper Calamari
Adobo Style Baby Back Ribs
Hoisin Glazed Pork Belly Bao Buns
I enjoyed the calamari the most. The ribs were tender and flavorful, but I didn’t really detect too much adobo flavor.
My entrée:
Kare Kare-​slow braised short ribs with peanut butter jus, eggplant, and Chinese long beans.
Kare Kare is my favorite Filipino dish usually made with oxtail. OPG’s version was a generous helping and of course it comes with white rice: sarap (delicious!) I just needed some bagoong (shrimp paste) to top it off.
Desserts shared:
Mango Streusel Pie with vanilla bean ice cream
Chocolate Passion Fruit Dome
Guava Mojito Cheesecake with yuzu sorbet
I liked the streusel pie because I’m a sucker for all things streusel and cinnamon and then the mango was the icing on the cake, er, pie. The cheesecake and yuzu were a close second.
I felt that Filipino pride seeing other non-​Asian diners enjoying the food, too. I will definitely be back when we’re in town again to support this business and try more of the menu. Salamat, OPG!
*Restaurant Week menu available for you lucky San Diego residents.

My boyfriend took me here for dinner to celebrate my birthday. This restaurant is big and has two indoor dining areas, plus the patio for seating. He did his research and already knew what to order so I let him choose all the entrees and appetizers. It was pretty loud in the restaurant so I could hardly hear our server…
We started off with two glasses of Moscato and sadly that was the highlight of the night. We were given complimentary edamame, which was nice, but cold. I would like it to be at least warm, but he was fine with the temperature of the edamame. We also got Chicharróns for checking-​in and that was actually a good appetizer. I love eating fried pork rinds, especially with the special sauces they gave us. He also ordered the tocino toast, bone marrow, and salt and pepper calamari. Everything was pretty good, except for the calamari. It had no flavor, so we told our server there wasn’t any salt and pepper on it. Our server decides to get us salt and pepper shakers, but we asked if they can just refire this dish. It tasted better the second time around, but the batter was okay and not crunchy enough for me.
Since we ordered so many apps, I was getting full before our entrees arrived. Luckily, they took a while to make our filet mignon and sea bass, so I was able to get hungry again… Both dishes were nicely plated, but nothing was special about these entrees.
For dessert, our server surprised my boyfriend with a small slice of vanilla chiffon cake, complete with a flaming candle, and «Happy Birthday Joe» written on the plate! He was like, it’s her birthday and pointed to me. I just laughed because this was so funny!!! She slides the dessert over to me and just left. I can’t believe she didn’t even give me a new one with my name on it. I know it’s not spelled the way it sounds, but my boyfriend told me they had the correct information already… He felt so bad, but it wasn’t a big deal to me– he just wiped his name off the dessert plate LOL.