Glass Door

Big time fail for the restaurant establishment with the only thing going good for them is the Views… That’s it Folks… We made reservations via OPENTABLE for Brunch, I was excited to check it out as I read & see their great enticing marketing. But «GEEZ LOUISE» the hostess & management staff didn’t even know they have bookings through OpenTable, how do you not know that, should of been my indication to run for the hills, but decided to stay… you Live & Learn.
We did the breakfast buffet… STOP!!! Don’t do it, your body will thank you later. Seriously amateur buffet style, they say they have a Chef… what kind of a Chef… honestly Dennys & Village Inn do a better job, I have not dined at either of these places in over 20 years.
Our waitress asked us if we were doing the Brunch Buffet, I should of said, «NO» as upon taking our menus not once did she ever return to clear plates to even see how we were doing.
I can’t imagine how the Hotel is, since this is located inside Porto Hotel … Yikes!!!
They need new Management staff to take over from a «Big Dog» pioneer hotel Chain with the knowledge & experience. Because they have beautiful décor & astonishing views… BUT NO DICE ON THE FOOD!

I loved my drink but the ceviche was just okay. Also very, very very over priced in my opinion. Maybe it’s the location, maybe it’s the view, but I didn’t think it was worth it.

Me and my wife stayed at the Porto Vista hotel to celebrate her birthday– city view room with balcony is amazing btw! Naturally we thought Glass Door would be a great place to have some apps and drinks before we hit the Gaslamp. We let them know that we would have 15 friends and they were more than accommodating. Rachel our server was able to keep up with all 15 of us and had great recommendations and was the friendliest and attentive server I’ve had that I can remember. Jesse the manager also made sure we were taken care of which was really awesome! The duck fries, wings and ahi were amazing, highly recommend! My wife loved that Mango-​tini with tajin rim! Oh and you just can’t beat that View!!! Overall great date night spot or place to have some good food and drinks with friends. Can’t wait to go back!

This review is for the happy hour as Rachel our server was a rockstar! Her personality and positive attitude is contagious. This restaurant is located a block east of the Little Italy main drag located in a hotel on the 4^th floor. The open air patio vibe with a downtown and harbor view was special. They offer happy hour drink and snack specials but I did notice the crowd was gone after happy hour. I would not recommend this place for dinner if your looking for a popular spot. The happy hour crowd had the entire place full.

This review is just for the breakfast buffet. As we spent the weekend at the Porto Vista hotel, we were given two vouchers for free breakfast buffets. A frequent traveler, I’m never excited by the words «free breakfast buffet» at a hotel. But this was surprisingly good.
Eggs — Actual real scrambled eggs. Pretty good too.
Potatoes — Good breakfast potatoes.
Sausage — Another surprise… very tasty
Toppings for eggs — cheeses, salsa, tomatoes, other tasty things to jazz up your scrambled eggs — very nice touch!
Pastries — weakest part of the buffet — not exciting and taste store-​bought
Fruit — some sliced melon
Coffee/​Tea/​Juices
And for some odd reason, the manager was walking around the restaurant offering toast slices.
The place fills up so get there early. Buffet is every morning from 6:30 to 10:30. The view from the patio (counter seating only) is amazing!
I really only came here because — well duh, FREE. But we were pleasantly surprised. Based on this experience, I’d recommend trying the Glass Door even if you aren’t staying at the Porto Vista.

My friends and I had free appetizer cards here as part of our hotel stay. I was very disappointed with both the food and service. We got the duck fries which were the only good thing about the restaurant. The meatballs were super small and so dry that it was almost burnt tasting. When we told the waitress the meatballs were not so good, she just said asked if we were done with the duck fries. Then came back later to clear our plates and full bowl of meatballs. No words… and definitely no apologies. We left the restaurant with no other word from her. No checking in with is… and since the appetizers were free, no check…
View is nice but not worth the bad food and bad service. I would not recommend this place.

Great view but unfortunately that’s the best part. Drinks were so-​so but overpriced due to the venue. The food was pre packaged, canned and sad. Service was what you would expect from a dive bar right off the freeway. Go for the view without high expectations and you will leave happy.

I get it, I was that annoying person that called 10 minutes before closing time, but it was actually my 7 year old son that was hungry. I ordered the ‘the tree hugger’ «burger» that said came with black bean & quinoa| organic kale| creamy avocado aioli| onion bun. is NOTHING like it was described on the menu. I almost felt like walking back and complaining, but at least it came with some fries. They literally gave me some mushroom, tomatoes be old soggy spinach. No «creamy avocado aioli» no black beans or quinoa. Should feel embarrassed for even sending this out to a customer. I regret tipping

I have been to Glass Door a total of two times now and I’ve been pleased both times.
The first time we had a large party of about 15 people and the handled us like champs. We all got bottomless mimosas and had a combo of breakfast and lunch items. Everyone enjoyed the duck fries and I ended up getting the egg Benedict both times because I’m always afraid to branch out
They use a very yummy champagne for the mimosas and the $ 15 bottomless is what I live for.
Today was my second visit on Easter Sunday and it wasn’t packed. The service was wonderful and I still wanna take more people with me.
I hope you’ll choose this place for the beautiful décor and the full bar that they offer. It’ll please everyone in your party!

Food is terrible. They forgot to add the avocado to the salmon guacamole sandwich. Food was cold and dry. This place has great potential but needs a new chef and menu.

Went for Valentines Day brunch. Enjoyed some mimosas to start. We had 24 in our group and everyone seemed to enjoy. I ordered the migas, which although served very unorthodox, was very tasty.

We had a great bartender and the drinks were good but way over priced for what they were.

Great view, average food… you might as well just go to Apple Bee’s. Wish there were more options on their menu!

Prelims: absolutely great view. You get a stunning view at the bar overlooking the San Diego Bay and it’s relatively quiet and secluded. You park in the structure and they will validate your ticket so it doesn’t cost your first born child as it normally does to park here. Take the elevator up and enter into the bar located in the midst of a hotel. Service is pretty decent, as the servers are generally responsive and noticing of what you want. The price is rather high for what you get though, as I will note below.
I ordered the burger and was rewarded with a standard sized burger that had all the tastes and feel of a regular burger. Nothing extraordinary, but nothing that didn’t hit all the right notes when you’re looking to make a good burger. My mentor ordered the salad — and boy was his face disappointed when he saw what came out. My mentor is on a diet — as such, he decided that he was going to go for the salad, even though the salad was more expensive than my burger. And what came out were a few micro greens, some lettuce, some extra other veggies, and a little sauce on the side. If compressed together, I think I could have squeezed the entire salad in my one fist. It was so small and yet cost more than my burger, that I felt sad and offered him some of my burger as a side (he paid for it after all). When he had finished eating, he noted that while the salad was fresh, it appeared to be an attempt to look hipster and had taken away almost everything but the bare necessity for the survival of a starving child. We then left after paying. I don’t drink and he was in lunch mode, so we didn’t order any drinks, but there was a notice about bottomless mimosas over the weekend, which may be attractive to the hotel guests.
TL;DR When you’re a restaurant and the best thing about you is the view…

The Glass Door is always a great spot to have a drink or two on the patio with a beautiful view, before heading into the heart of Little Italy for dinner. I wish I loved the food here, but I just don’t. And with SO much heavy competition for great restaurants in Little Italy, I will continue to enjoy the cocktails here, but skip the main course.

Second time at the glass door our bartender (Claudia) was amazing we ordered a couple of weird drinks and bottomless mimosas on a very busy day and she was very knowledgeable fast and polite. If you happen to go to brunch at this place I hope she’s your bartender!

I had a few meals here during my stay in San Diego. My dinner was the most memorable plate. I went with the beef short rib and it was amazing! The rib was tender and melted in your mouth, and the potatoes/​veggies were the perfect side!
The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. They engaged in conversation and were quick to recommend fun San Diego things to do during my time!
The only reason for the 4 star was the appetizers I had gone in for. I was hoping they would match the quality of the dinner I received, but fell short. Overall, I recommend this as a great dinner spot!

First of all, we love the Mngr she’s cool and we had wonderful service! They serve the food hot — so its fresh. I had the Eggs Benedict with Salmon and really enjoyed it much! I like this place. Also a nice place overlooking the sea. I’m coming back with my family to try.

This place is hit and miss… everything on happy hour is $ 8, good cocktails, duck fries were cold and weird placement of duck and ketchup as the sauce, ceviche had to be sent back to the kitchen yet the Brussels sprouts were awesome and had good sauce… view is amazing but still not enough to make the food and prices better…

Mediocre food. Come here just for their HH drink specials or their bottomless mimosas over the weekend.
This place was almost empty the three times I’ve been here.
You get a great view of SD Bay though. The big plus is that no one is here in comparison to other places with the bottomless mimosa special.
Despite it being just around the corner from me, I haven’t found myself here for a few months now so ’nuff said.

I would give this place 3.5 stars but since you can’t give a half I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and make it 4. The service was beyond horrible. We weren’t asked how our food was, drinks weren’t refilled or even offered, and we saw our server maybe twice. I went with 4 people, 2 liked their food and 2 didn’t but we all had one thing in common– very salty! Their food options aren’t the best and pretty random but I highly recommend the chicken dish! I loved it even with the salt :) Stay away from the pulled pork sandwich. The views and atmosphere are great and they have heated outdoor seating. I’d go back but only for drinks and the view.

Great view from the fourth floor. Make room for the duck fries with a poached egg on top. The tequila mule is great to quench your thirst, just stay clear of the ‘beach street refresher.’ Also, this place only has 2 local brewery options, Ballast Point, and Stone, which is a shame.

Our meal for Thanksgiving was amazing! Wonderful seasonings and presentation. Krissy was top notch! The view is breathtaking…

The views were great. The service was fine. The food, not so great… I had the chicken pesto flatbread. The chicken was a little overcooked. Flavor wasn’t that great. They seemed a little overpriced for $ 15.00. I recommend this as a great happy hour place, not for dinner!
I would suggest at breakfast you turn off the music and turn on the tv on the morning shows. If nothing else put the captions on the tv.

Came here for a quick nightcap and had an OK experience. Would come back for happy hour, but not itching to return anytime soon.
Pros:
— Valet parking with 2 hours free with validation
— The Ballast Point gimlet was quite good
— Lots of seating on the balcony overlooking Little Italy and the harbor
Cons:
— Service was just okay. Would’ve expected to be checked on more frequently given that the dining room was mostly empty.
— Bartender seemed a bit grumpy. Didn’t even try to crack a smile or offer a simple greeting.
— Old Fashioned was a bit disappointing. Tasted a bit too watered down and a bit on the sweet side.

The service here was so terrible! I met a few of my girlfriends for happy hour the other day and I will NEVER come back. Our server, Claudia was terrible. I am currently pregnant and asked if I could get some sort of «mocktail.» She looked at me like I was stupid and then said «what, like a juice?.» She then asked the bartender who made me a juice type of mocktail. When the bill came, I found out later I was charged $ 6 for this juice… when I asked our server about the high price considering my girlfriends who ordered wine paid $ 6 for their glasses, she completely dismissed me and told me «that’s how much 2 juices cost.»
In addition, we ordered food – a salad and the «flatbread of the day» which we were told was BBQ chicken. When she brought the food out, the flatbread was not BBQ chicken. Instead of apologizing for the mishap, she told us, «someone forgot to change it on the board, so you can just eat this.» When we told her that we didn’t want the flatbread as it was not the kind we ordered, she acted very annoyed and grabbed it and said «okay then, what else do you want then?» Needless to say we did not order any additional food and when elsewhere for dinner.
I was a server for 8 years, and completely understand when there are things out of your control, however being downright rude is not acceptable. The only thing that was good about my experience here was the view. I will not be coming back again.

Wish I could this place 5 stars but it lacked in some areas. Let’s start off with the pros.
Pros: Stopped by just before sunset and only 4 other people in the restaurant which I thought was strange. That usually means food isn’t that great so I will admit I was a bit nervous, but the view was gorgeous and they give you free parking if u validate your ticket with them. Food: Husband ordered Mac and Cheese with chicken. He is the pickiest eater I know and he loved it. I ordered the French Onion Dip Sandwich. It was good but I might try something else next time. The entire menu sounds delish.
Cons: Husbands Coke was flat. They gave him a refill-​still flat. The fries that came with my dish, although good, were overly salted to where I could only eat them if I dipped them in ketchup to drown some of it off.
So, that is about it. I have been waiting for 2 years to come here since I moved to OC I am rarely down to explore SD anymore but I do need my spots to return to that I know are delicious and familiar. Also, is this a gay spot now? Majority of the crowd was gay men, prob will go with girlfriends next time.

Amazing view and a great selection of cocktails. It’s my first time here, but this place has definitely its warm vibes. Very nice sitting outdoors and sipping sangria.

The tomato caprese sliders were just alright and overpriced. The happy hour drink specials are good. Let’s be real, I’m mostly here for the view.

I agree with everyone else. The VIEW is what you come here for.
This is a great place for a quick drink and to watch the sunset with an amazing view!
The interior décor is very cool, too. There are a bunch of Moroccan hanging lamps.
There isn’t much more to this place, though, and the service is definitely lacking.

Eating at the Glass Door is like dating a hot chick who is nice but lacking in personality, meaning it’s all about the view, and Glass Door has nice boobs, metaphorically speaking, I mean. The view is great.
So, my wife got the nicely plated Moroccan chicken skewers for $ 9. (Or you can go during Happy Hour and get them for $ 9). So, there were only 2. With maybe a cigar’s worth of meat on each. That’s $ 4.50 each. Or $ 1.50 a bite. In other words, their skewers inspire math.
I got the nicely plated Sausage Flatbread. First off, it wasn’t as described. The caramelized onions were not caramelized, and I don’t recall the sunny side eggs as listed, and the sausage in actually soft chorizo. Second, the crust was the best part, so.
Yeah, if at least the drinks strong, I could forget about the food, but sadly the pour was a bit weak. The Beach Blast cocktail or whatever it’s called was too sweet for a hummingbird, but at least they let me return it without a charge. The service is good, sure…
In other words, with the positives going toward the view, décor, and plating, a blind person might give this place one star.

Go for the view right around sunset. It is probably best to have a drink or two, but go elsewhere for dinner. I met a friend for happy hour around 5:30. The view is just gorgeous, overlooking the bay. I also loved the décor inside, with Moroccan-​style lanterns adorning the high ceilings. We started out seated outside, but the sun was somewhat blinding and hot, so we moved inside near a shaded area. As the sun began to set, we lifted the blind to a beautiful sunset. Happy hour offers a few appetizers at $ 5, and also wines, beers, sangria and a few selected cocktails at $ 5 or $ 6. Truthfully, I was not amazed by the happy hour selection or prices. Most places have some beer, wine and wells at $ 5 anyway. Their happy hour «special» for a Cadillac margarita was $ 10. I decided on the blood orange martinis which were really good and $ 5. We ordered the beef «pinchitos» which was one of the $ 5 selections. Really it was 2 tiny beef skewers that leave nothing to remember. Later, after happy hour was over, we ordered a half-​order of flat bread. It took forever to come out, so they brought us a full size for half-​price as an apology. That was nice, but I would have preferred either getting the half-​order on time, or if an apology was needed, a free half order would have been better.
Our server seemed sweet and generally our waters were refilled readily, but nothing made me feel super welcome or cared for.
All in all, it’s a pretty place with a great view, but otherwise, unspectacular.

My friend and I came here for happy hour after I saw the menu online and it looked delicious. The décor was beautiful and very inviting. The view was wonderful. The bartenders and servers were nice. The only downside to this place was the food (other than the pretty presentation). My friend and I were starving so we ate the food anyways to hold us off until we could get better food.
Sangria: Heavier on the wine side but still tasty. Very enjoyable.
Flash Fried Calamari: Despite the inviting golden brown outside, all of the pieces were overcooked. They were all tough and chewy. The lemon aoili had an overpowering lemon flavor and the marinara sauce was bitter and tart.
Merguez Sausage Flat bread: Beautifully presented with a crispy crust but the flavor but the flavor was lacking. I don’t know what it was missing in particular to even tell you how I would doctor this poor dish up. It was just that bad.
Beef Pinchitos: The presentation of this dish wasn’t as nice. My friend said her pieces of beef were tasty. For me, my pieces were somewhat tender yet chewy. It was a bit more tough than I liked but what was even worse was the overpowering BBQ sauce that was placed on the meat and dish. The lentils on the bottom were cooked el dente but had no flavor to them. The BBQ sauce that ended up on the lentils didn’t taste right and I didn’t get any truffle flavor that was described on the menu. Nor was there a charred tomato as described in the menu.
Overall, this place was highly disappointing food wise. This is the worst happy hour my friend and I had together (not the worst). The only reason why I would ever come back is for the sangria which my friend really liked, décor, the service, and view. However, even then, there are so many places with amazing food, drink, and service that why would you settle for overpriced and mediocre?

I’m rounding this up to 4 stars for the view. This place is literally all about the view. The cocktails are meh, and the food is on the dry side, but if you just want to just relax and enjoy a beautiful view of the bay with a decent cocktail, their happy hour is totally worth it.
More specifically for food, the duck confit fries could use some kind of gravy or dipping sauce, the sausage flatbread thing is ridiculously dry. I went there for restaurant week too and I think the rice with my entrée was a little dry too, but I do remember enjoying the dessert.

Was here a couple weeks ago with my cousin and her hubby, and our mutual friend. The mutual friend said she’d been wanting to try this place, she’s making San Diego her permanent home, originally from LA. I warned her to pick a different place, I’d been here before and was not impressed. My cousin and her hubby came down from LA.
We arrived mid-​late afternoon. Mutual friend made reservations and tried to call multiple times to change the time, but no answer. No surprise there. We arrived and not busy at all. A few people at the bar, one table further back, a few groups scattered outside with drinks on the patio. Mutual friend asked for the menu, dinner not available until after 5pm. Why let reservations be taken if you don’t serve the full menu through the day. We ordered apps: duck fries, scallop app, beef app, fried calamari. The apps were good but not well portioned for the price you pay.
The sangria the mutual friend ordered was blech. My cousin did ask for a recommedation on beer similar to Guinness, was rec the Belching Beaver PB beer and I know that’s good. She loved the beer.
To top it off the manager or owner or whomever that was at the bar asked if it was ok to drop the check and ask us to leave. Hoped we wouldn’t be offended that we were asked to leave. Why?!! So you could have available seats for dinner? All of two tables came in as our drinks were finished on the patio.
Received same shady service last time I was here, and from that same manager/​owner person at the bar.
I hope this place eventually closes down or comes under new management. You just pissed off 2 nurses, a teacher, and an IT guy. And we’re Asian, so many friends and family and coworkers will note the horrible service of this place. Only reason the 2 stars are here is because of the view. But the view is def not worth it.
If you absolutely have to come and experience it for yourself, just come for drinks on the patio close to sunset. I know our mutual friend will heed my warning the next time I say something about a place.