Ponyboy

This was such a fun dining experience and concept. As someone who has spent time in the Midwest and is familiar with the supper club culture, I was excited to see how it would be interpreted on the west coast. The restaurant and bar are in (what I assume was) the old lobby of a motel. We made reservations and were seated promptly. The drink menu was fun -- a decent selection of wines, some cocktails, and to my delight a pickle beer! We ordered the ambrosia "salad" and the fondue for two (which is definitely enough for 3 or 4 people). Then for entrees we went with the Juicy Lucy burger, the ratatouille kabobs, and the fisherman's catch. The ratatouille was my favorite. The service was great. The food was solid. And this place is full of good vibes.

Review for Golden Hour Only!While visiting with my friends, we decided to pop into the Pearl hotel to visit the Ponyboy restaurant in Point Loma for their Golden Hour. The golden hour is offered daily from 4-5pm at the bar and lounge area only. On a Friday afternoon the bar filled up within 15 minutes of opening time-only 13 or so seats at the bar with a few lounge seats. The Golden hour features a one dollar food menu that consist of raw oysters, deviled egg, Swedish meatball, mini chili dog, and tartelettes ( ratatouille, tuna melt and five alarm chili). The Golden hour also features discounts on select cocktails for 11 dollars (Daiquiri, old fashion, margarita, and a moscow mule), wine by the glass for 8 dollars and beer for 6 dollars.The highlights of our golden hour were the following:1. Oysters- oysters for a dollar is a great deal. Plus most of the oysters were quite plump. And the oysters were from Baja area- so rather local.2. Drinks- we tried a couple of drinks on the golden hour, including the daiquiri. The drink were perfectly made! Very well balanced!3. As we sat at the bar- we had great service from the bartenders. They were super busy, but still very attentive. Also they put a lot of care in their drinks!4. The environment- how can you go wrong with siting in a cool mid century hotel/bar.Misses:Besides the oysters, I was not too keen on the dollar menu. The food was just ok, nothing to write home about. The food seemed premade and not fresh except for the yummy oysters that seemed very fresh. As we enjoyed the vibe, oysters and great service- we will be back!

I have already dined at this new flagship restaurant inside the Pearl Hotel in Point Loma twice during its first week of operation. The crew that runs Ponyboy has honed its chops from working at Addison which speaks of the pedigree and experience they bring. The mid-century vibe of this legacy property has remained unchanged. A bar with a dozen (or 13) seats was available along with a few tables in the lounge area adjacent to it. Most of the seating was outside along the perimeter of the swimming pool.Reservations can be made on OpenTable which I used to get a seat for my first visit. Valet parking cost $5 which might be the most efficient way because finding curbside parking in this neighborhood took me a while. Dinner was served from 5 to 10 pm on Wednesday to Sunday with a Golden Hour from 4 to 5 pm. That experience will be described later as it encompassed my second visit.The menu had a retro flair ranging from playful concepts like "TV Dinners" that featured daily specials (e.g. prime rib) to modern takes on classic entrees from the 60s and 70s like Barbacoa Beef Stroganoff and Jidori Chicken Kiev. All of the seafood was sourced from the nearby Tunaville Market and Grocery along the harbor. I stuck with that theme and ordered the Fisherman's Catch Ceviche from the list of six starters and the Fisherman's Catch & Grits from the six hot plates.The ceviche was made up of a gelatinous clamato aspic in the middle of the dish with cucumber, avocado aioli, and pickled onion mixed with the diced fish. Fennel tortilla chips were provided on the side to scoop up the ceviche that had a light tartness. The presentation was very colorful with edible flowers added as garnishment. Vermilion rockfish was the daily catch used in my main dish which contained parmesan grits, tomatillo-gooseberry salsa fresca, rancho gordo hominy 'corn nuts', and chorizo iberico. The cheesy grits were a perfect bed for the two fillets.As a bonus, the kitchen provided a complimentary serving of the Tomato Gazpacho. It turned out to be my favorite item of the evening. Three types of grapes, olive oil sorbet, garlic crouton, and basil oil were added to the cold tomato soup. The grapes and the sorbet made the gazpacho into a sweet treat as normally a savory tomato flavor reigns supreme. I would easily order this again. For dessert, I picked the Vanilla Raisin Ice Cream. Caramel was drizzled on top along with rum soaked raisins.Fast forward to the first weekend of business... I showed up a few minutes before the 4 pm opening time of Golden Hour. It's first come first served as the food and drink specials were only offered at the bar and lounge. Cocktails were $11 each which featured a Daiquiri, an Old Fashioned, a Margarita, and a Moscow Mule. The real deal (steal) was the discounted food which was the following at $1 apiece...* Raw Oyster* Deviled Egg* Swedish Meatball* Mini Chili Dog* Ratatouille Tartlette* Tuna Melt Tartlette* Five Alarm Chili TartletteI ordered two each of the first three choices, one mini chili dog, and one of each of the tartlettes. Before the clock reached 5 pm, I got a second round of oysters and deviled eggs. One dollar oysters are not as frequent as they used to be prior to the pandemic. The size of the bi-valve mollusks were large. Lemon and tabasco sauce were provided to liven up the raw taste. Even though the deviled eggs were basic with paprika sprinkled on top compared to the fancier version served as a shareable plate on the regular menu, the cheap price was too much of a draw for me.The service I received at the table and at the bar was fantastic. The staff was well-trained and answered all of my questions without hesitation. For the quality of the food at Ponyboy, the menu prices were very reasonable. Overall, I was impressed with the debut of this restaurant and gave it a five star rating.

Made a reservation for a Friday night. It was pretty busy and it looked pretty similar to what it was before. We sat outside near the pool. I will say our server was cordial and polite though I tend to like warm and friendly. The menu is comfort food elevated which really pairs well with the retro vibe at The Pearl. Also the menu isn't huge which is great. I put our order below.Ceviche- fresh with nice pieces of seafood. The Clamato aspic was interesting and fun.Stroganoff- creamy and delicious. This is one of my favorite dishes and this one was pretty good. Tuna casserole- tasty and elevated with some big pieces of tuna on top. I added pics - sorry but we started eating before I took them, oops. We will be back!

The new Ponyboy at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma will not disappoint!! Golden hour from 4pm to 5pm with special prices and cocktails is worth the trip to sample!! The deviled eggs are fantastic and the additional small bites are amazing! Sitting poolside feels like vacation and the service is amazing! The casual poolside vibe is so relaxing you won't want to leave! You can always book a room at The Pearl for staycation vibes too! See you there!

Retro feel ... ambiance and menu. Our service was great with our waitress who was very attentive! Started with the deviled eggs so savory. My daughter enjoyed the kids beef stroganoff with homemade noodles, she loved it. My husband tried their take of chicken Kiev stuffed with melted butter... delish! I had the fresh catch fish and grits, made perfectly!

Sat poolside and the food was amazing! We ordered the fisherman's catch ceviche, navy beans and bone marrow, stuffed heirloom tomato and uni, and peach's and cream. The service was very attentive.

Wow!! The food here is incredible!!! Came here with friends and had an amazing time. 1st of all the $1 Happy Hour food menu is fantastic. So many choices at an incredible low cost. They are very small portions, but the chip dog is a great value. After Happy Hour at the bar we were seated at a table and enjoyed many items from the menu. Service was great, but best of all the food was fine dining. The entire evening I was complex of the location of the restaurant. Inside a retro hotel and on the patio that share a hotel pool. Inside the restaurant is a bit plain, with little to no art and blank walls with no texture. Behind the bar is just bottles of liquor. No hanging fabric, no natural wood, just painted empty walls. But maybe this is the goal? When other restaurants focus on the aesthetics and not on the food, this place dares to be different and offer an unassuming experience with escalated fine dining. I won't get into the particular dish's and theme, because it is best discovered on your own. We have already made reservations to go back. Enjoy!

What an amazingly pleasant surprise. Went with the intention of just getting a few cocktails but the menu was so different we thought we should try a few things and boy I'm glad we did. Everything was so unique and packed with fresh flavor, will definitely be going back for the food because it's unlike anything else out there. We got the ambrosia , pineapple fritters (a MUST) and tuna casserole (inspired by 70s staples). They also had blue cheese olives for my martini which is an instant plus for me :) So excited to go back!

We had been to this locale's previous iteration several times and loved it at first then later not so much. So I was very excited to read about Ponyboy - my favorite dining decade was the 1970's and I was eager to see how the modern interpretation would be. I was not disappointed!First, the service, which was excellent. All service was friendly, informative, and prompt. The meal was spaced perfectly - this has been a problem for us at many area restaurants where courses are rushed or long extended periods between. Not here! Everyone was happy to chat and listen to our reminiscing about favorite restaurants in our past.Next, the ambience. So relaxing and different! Even though we kidded about our pool being bigger, sitting poolside under the lights gave us both inclusion and privacy. Finally, the food. As others have noted, the Chicken Kiev was fantastic and my favorite dish. Yummy and luscious, and my reheated leftovers were almost as good as the original, including the potato. I am looking forward to returning to have it again. And again. My Banana Daiquiri was fine; it seemed small but had a kick. I enjoyed the Pineapple Fritters; they definitely need to be shared. My husband said his Chiffonade Salad was tasty; he did mention expecting more than one piece of grapefruit in it but I said the dressing likely included grapefruit juice. The Prime Rib was well flavored, but slightly chewy and closer to medium than medium rare. All vegetable sides were perfectly al dente. We shared the Grasshopper Pie for dessert - dense and tasty but I expected perhaps a bit more minty taste. Just a thought - it would be fun to include a shot of Grasshopper cocktail with it!Our server mentioned that the menu would be changing with the seasons - hope you always have the Chicken Kiev! It might be fun to try the cheese fondue this fall/winter and maybe they'll add a chocolate fondue (hint, hint).