Sally’s Wild King Salmon is a highlight of the landmark restaurant’s menu.
Long a fixture of San Diego’s waterfront dining scene, the former Sally’s Fish House & Bar at the Manchester Grand Hyatt has emerged from its recent renovation both refreshed and redefined.
It’s now just “Sally’s.”
The restaurant’s relaunch signals a confident return to form, blending classic coastal elegance with an updated, approachable menu highlighting the local fresh seafood bounty.
Unlike many press events where journalists are herded to pre-selected tables and offered curated tasting menus, our recent dinner at Sally’s felt remarkably genuine. Media guests were given free rein to select any table and order freely from the sprawling new menu—demonstrating the restaurant’s quiet confidence.
Settling alone at a table at a window facing the marina, we began with the house-made Crab Cakes, golden and crisp on the outside, tender within, perched atop a swirl of old bay aioli, and heirloom tomato chutney. Each bite offered generous chunks of the Dungeness crab, floating serenely in the chutney.
The Wild King Salmon was perfectly seared with a Pulla chile and sesame seed cream that managed to be both light and indulgent, along with two fist-sized scallops. The fish was silky and rich, and the scallops were frankly, extraordinary.
Dessert was a chef’s special that evening—a deconstructed-ish cheesecake with swirls of chocolate straws and ribbons, a subtle, clever finish to the meal.
Beyond Sally’s itself, the restaurant’s setting within the Manchester Grand Hyatt is equally worth noting. The hotel’s dramatic lobby, all soaring ceilings and warm, coastal tones, offers a fitting prologue to the dining experience. Upstairs, the recently refreshed guest rooms are luxurious without being overstated, many offering sweeping views over Seaside Village and San Diego Bay. Our enormous room offered majestic views of the marina as well as the Downtown skyline.
Nestled in the heart of Downtown, the impressive Manchester Grand Hyatt remains one of the city’s most iconic hotels—not just for its scale, but for its positioning: perched just above Seaport Village, steps from the Embarcadero, with views that stretch from Point Loma to Coronado.
With the reopening of Sally’s, this San Diego landmark has secured not just a prime piece of real estate, but a worthy culinary destination to match. It’s a restaurant that feels both established and new, formal but inviting—finding relevance in a city constantly evolving.
The 411:
Manchester Grand Hyatt, 1 Market Place, San Diego, CA 92101. (619) 232-1234.
