Seneca

Met friends for dinner here on a clear night in June and we had the best time!!! I'd heard of Seneca and was following them on the socials; they were on my short list so I was excited to dine there.We were seated on the glass with the ocean behind us. You're so high up and all of the lights and activity in the city down below is spectacular.The hostess brought us water and let us know who are server would be. Our server arrived and was great. She was funny and knowledgeable about the drinks, food, and specials. She made suggestions and was spot on with each of them. I don't remember the names of the two cocktails I had but they were excellent. One was crisp and refreshing and the other was booze forward and smooth as all get out. We shared a few appetizers: the prawn on toast was my favourite. It was finger-licking good! The prawns were grilled to perfection and sweet and savory all at once. That sauce, though...OH MY GOD! The prawns sat on a beautiful piece of focaccia and around the plate was the delectable sauce that I would have taken a bath in. One of my friend's actually picked up the plate and licked it. Yes, it was that darn good!One of the specials was a whole roasted branzino which I shared with my friend. That was the right choice because it was so much flaky white fish that between the two of us we didn't finish it. We accompanied it with snap peas and Brussel sprouts. I love Branzino and since I had this one I've not stopped thinking about it. We were all full but I cannot resist restaurant desserts because it's kind of the only time I eat dessert. For dessert I ordered the panna cotta and two of the four ordered the giant tiramisu. Our fourth ordered an aperitif. The tiramisu was so luscious for a half second I regretted not ordering it as well but it was far more than I could have eaten. The panna cotta was just what I wanted. It was the perfect end of dinner palate cleanser with hints of tropical fruit.Don't wait for friends to come to town or for a special occasion just make a reservation and check this venue out immediately!Seneca, well done! (insert standing slow clap)

If I could give this 0 stars I would. I walked in and there was a tall young woman asking if we wanted to be seated for lunch or dinner. We said dinner which would be around 4:30pm, approximately 40 mins from the time we put our names down. Over an hour went by and no one grabbed us- we checked on our reservation and were told that we were never put down for a reservation list but rather a cancellation list and we would only be seated if a reservation was cancelled. I am completely aware of miscommunication but the issue here is that there was ZERO communication and the girl was quite frankly standoffish and very pretentious. This is a fine dining establishment, employees should be trained to be kind to everyone. Not only that, as we sat at the bar, one of the bartenders asked everyone around us how they were doing and if they needed waters and did not speak to us once. Both my friend and I were dressed for the occasion and treated as if we were not going to be paying customers. We will not be coming back.

A stylish Italian dinner on the 19th floor of The Intercontinental Hotel with great views of downtown and the bay. It's designed as if you are inside a ship and all of the staff have outfits matching this theme. I would say there are other restaurants with better tasting pasta, but still overall it was a great meal due to the beautiful views, great service, fair price, and portion sizes. Parking is also extremely easy. They have valet for $15 or underground self parking for $7/hr available. We chose self parking and were able to find a space shortly after arriving for our 7 PM Saturday dinner. Our server was also extremely polite and helpful in choosing all the items. They have a very large bar at the East end of the restaurant that serves many delicious cocktails although we chose Malbec wine for our dinner.They have a fairly large menu with a lot of great options on it. I usually always choose the fish for my entrée, but because it was a whole fish, I decided for another recent addition. We started off the meal with the Wood-Fired Prawns and I would say this was probably my favorite dish that we had. The sauce on top was absolutely delicious and it really soaked into the bread so that you could get all the flavors. Next came the Seasonal Prosciutto, which I thought was great although I wish there was a bit more meat. Next came the Truffle Arancini and it was pretty good although a bit dry. I did enjoy the truffle addition, but wish it was a little bit juicier. Finally from my entrée, I chose the most recent addition to the entrée section, which was the Lasagna Bolognese. It's basically very small pieces of lasagna rolled up, similar to cannellini. The flavors were great though and the dish was huge in size.Overall a good Italian dinner with great service and views of the city. I would recommend mostly for a date or dinner with friends.

Incredible views with okay pasta. Came here on a Friday night and it was quite busy, definitely recommend making a reservation. There's a bar area but not many seats, we hung out for about 30 minutes and managed to get bar seats though.At the bottom of the intercontinental, there's a big sign outside, getting in the elevator, the floor says Seneca next to it. At the top, the room is dark with pin lights in the ceiling like stars. There are incredible views throughout the restaurant, even by the bathroom. This is the kinda place you take someone and they'll be stunned by the vibe.The menu actually isn't too expensive as you might think it'd be for this location. Cocktail menu is fun with a variety of interesting choices. We started off with focaccia which came with a whipped marscapone. The bread was pretty good, but no overly developed flavors here.Then had the cavatelli with lamb ragu with a side of brussel sprouts. The cavatelli, were very basic, a touch of chewy, did not taste homemade. The lamb ragu was good but again, no overly complex flavors here where I'd expect some deep tomato or rich braised lamb, just mediocre. The plate was topped with an inordinate amount of cheese, almost trying to mask everything else. The brussels were nicely done, very crispy, they were supposed to have nduja with them (a spicy sort of sausage paste) but I didn't taste that anywhere in the dish.Service was a bit slow at the bar, but nothing unexpected for a busy bar on a Friday night. Overall don't expect to be blown away by the food, it's passable. But the views and ambience definitely have me wanting to return.

The restaurant and view are beautiful. The elevator ride up that lead to the dark room was a nice surprise. We ordered pizzas since that was the only thing available. Marg pizza was good, others were ok. Service was wonderful. -1 star for only having pizza at the time we went and bringing wrong whiskey (but it was promptly corrected).

Sooo disappointed in this place. It really is just ha place for the aesthetics. The views are really what's nice and the aesthetic. To start we ordered the truffle Arancini which was probably the best thing on the menu. It would've been a lot better if served with some type of sauce. For our entrees we ordered the rib eye and vodka pasta. We asked for the ribeye to be cooked medium and It was more on the medium rare side. It was not even flavorful at all, honestly I make a better steak. The pasta was also best mediocre at best. It lacked flavor and was cool too al dente for my liking. We let the server know and she did offer dessert on her. We got the tiramisu, which was actuallyPretty good. I don't remember our drink names: but they were just okay. Honestly, I read the reviews before and was hesitant but wanted to try for myself. It's safe to say I'll never be back. Overpriced meal for mediocre food.

Oh boy! I've been invited various times to come eat here and every time I came up with an excuse to not go. In reality, I just wanted to go alone. I like eating alone, well I came with my wife, she gets me and she knows my relationship with eating and food. So even though I wasn't alone, I was with my best friend and she knows my quirks....This place is indescribable, actually it's very describable. At the top of the InterContinental Hotel, with a one way elevator to get to the top, you come into a dark room full of star and upon pushing those dark doors open... you enter a beautifully lit room with an ocean painted ceiling that I think represents the voyage you're about to take. The half fish, half Roman statue head logo is pretty bad ass! The drink place holders are fancy and delicate, the drink stirrer is pretty bad ass too! The garden filled room, with the Poseidon or Triton statue is very Romanesque and really encompasses the vibe and environment. Then you remember you're at the top of a building and you see that San Diego skyline view!!! Oooh it's sexy!!! We had to wait for our seats because we showed up early so I can take it all in and be able to write this review. We took a seat at the bar, got someDrinks from the bar, we got an old fashioned and a mezcal drink called La Mosca (fire by the way), maybe a little too much ice, but it was good. Then we took our drink and sat behind the statue in the nice shaded area. Soon after we got our table. The table was in the center of the room with probably the best view in my opinion. Our server talked us through the menu very eloquently and after we asked for his recommendations, that's exactly what we got and man are we glad we did! We got the grilled prawns to start. Let me explain what happened: we got the prawns, very yelpy-like, I took pictures and didn't care if any stared at me because this was a beautiful plate!!! Not only beautiful, but extremely delicious! The mascarpone sauce soaked focaccia bread where the grilled prawn rest is amazing!!!!! You will need to order a side of focaccia bread because the sauce, you can't leave. You just can't, it so good!!!!Next, we got our entrees: my lady got a the NY strip steak, which was grilled to perfection and very juicy! Very good! And very good size! Enough to share I believe. I got the pork chop! **I want to take a second to do a moment of silence for that pig, because he sacrificed himself so that I could enjoy his chop***. This pork chop was the biggest pork chop I've ever eaten! It was so flavorful, so tender, so big!!! Grilled on their wood fire grill, the Smokey flavor topped with the melted cheese!!! Oh my god! As I ate it, I mentally went somewhere I've never been before, but I like where I went. I'd go back there any day if I could. We managed to eat everything, but we probably shouldn't have because it was a lot of food, but it's so good! When it hits the lips!!!!We also got the tiramisu dessert, which was huge! It can easily be split into 4 pieces and shared. It was great! Definitely get some coffee to go with it. Recap: the ambience, the environment, the drinks, the food, the service, the view, the entire terroir of what is Seneca is a special place like no other. I truly recommend this place to anyone looking a fancy but not fancy place to dine at. It's pricey, but I think it's worth it. Oh yeah, the bathroom is kept pretty clean, and the toilet is very Italian as far the flushing apparatus with the two buttons on the wall. That was a cool memory of Italy. Parking is pretty easy to get if you wanted to pay $7/hr right at the hotel, but if not street parking with a walk is also available

Customer service here is top-notch. I do have to say, we went pretty early, and there were only 2 other tables of patrons. Julio was awesome! Since we did get there so early , the only thing they were serving was pizza. We ordered a Margherita and a meatball pizza. The Margherita pizza was yumm0, I would not order the meatball again, though. Now, the real reason we went was from the pics on Instagram. This place is STUNNING! After taking the elevator to the 19th floor, it opens to a dark room surrounded by tropical plants, a twinkling starry ceiling , and rainforest sounds. You push through the doors, and the restaurant is GORGEOUS. Down to every last detail. We sat outside, picture perfect views from every angle. Then we ordered dessert. Tiramisu, 10/10!

Had high hopes for this place upon checking in the hotel since the bellhop gave it a rave review. Made reservation for 9:15pm, showed up about 10 minutes early. The hostess that checked in my boyfriend and I wasn't very welcoming but whatever. Groups of people kept showing up after us and were seated before we could get a table. When we finally got seated, they gave us a tiny table by the bar. Now when I say tiny, there was barely enough space to hold the menu in front of us without bumping into each other. There were other empty tables so my boyfriend asked if we could move to a bigger one. Thankfully, they were able to accommodate our request. It was a good thing we were able to get a bigger table because I don't see how all of our dishes plus drinks would've fit on that first table. Considering the restaurant closed at 10pm and the crowd was starting to die down, food took a while to come out. Unfortunately, like many of the other reviews have stated, the food was soooo bland! My boyfriend had the New York strip; whole grilled fish for me. I'm all for light seasoning but this was beyond any seasoning. On top of that, my boyfriend asked for his steak at medium and it came medium rare borderline rare. The best tasting things were probably the side vegetables (Roman salad & roasted summer squash).But with a tab + tip that totaled right around $200, I felt ripped. It's sad to say that the place is more about appearance than it is about the actual food, hopefully quality can improve because it does offer a great view of San Diego.

The ambiance is incredible. Coolest rooftop restaurant/bar I have ever been to. Service was very good. Food was delicious. Everything was an 8-10/10.I didn't appreciate that the sommelier ordered my mom a $28 glass of wine when she wanted to stay in the $16-18 range. Seemed like a sneaky upsell. No one was impressed with their wines. Cocktails seemed to be the better choice.