Wormwood

Literally my favorite restaurant in south California! I always go to wormwood for any celebrations and/delicious drinks :) Tried their course menu for the first time and it was a triumph and beautiful celebration of seafood. Pacing was perfect, all courses were so balanced and well thought out. The oyster with grapefruit and orange was so bright and naturally sweet and briney! Oyster was so juicy and plump-- felt like you were tasting the best parts of the sea! Madeline and caviar was so creative! The idea of cream + caviar sounds so strange but it worked perfectly with the Madeline. Their caviar was perfect and tasted like butter of the sea. The scallop was perfectly salty and I loved the delicious soup at the end. scallop tasted like a sophisticated oden. And don't even get me started on the sheep's milk cheese tart!!!! Wow!!!!! Actually our second time trying this dish and it was just as outstanding as I remembered. The cheese has a bite but still coats your entire mouth! Burrata and tomato salad was a perfect rest to the butter and salt. The salad was so sweet and peppery. My main course fish was perfectly cooked. Fish falls apart and melts in the mouth! Skin is so crispy. Chocolate and banana dessert is perfect, almost tasted like whiskey!! If you love dark rich chocolate you'll really appreciate this dessert. Not only was the food 1000/10 but shout out to all of our servers including the host! Everyone is so sweet and kind and made us feel at home! Thank you so much for the incredible experience and making my birthday so memorable!!! Cannot wait to come again

Only been here two times so far, but after this last time I think this restaurant is moving up the chain of some of my favorite restaurants in the city.To start, the cocktails were excellent (minus one). Both the Merchants Trade and the Bombardier Cru were really nice and balanced. I can't say the same for the Sun King. I wasn't a big fan of it and it was overwhelmingly bitter and astringent (felt like maybe it was missing an ingredient?).The food is definitely top-notch. Best authentic tasting French food I've had in San Diego so far. The Poisson Cru was delicate and delicious. The Lyonnaise salad with smoked sablefish was a must get. Tried both the Chicken and Black Cod entree and both were absolutely delicious. One of the best cooked chicken dishes I've had in a long time. So tender. And the buttery fennel in the cod dish almost outshined the cod itself it was so good. Also had a chocolate banana tart for dessert which was really nice as well.Service was excellent. Really professional and attentive. And the overall vibe of the restaurant is really charming. I do think they could benefit from some more clever acoustic treatment inside since it gets pretty loud and echoey (besides the sort of strange egg carton foam on the underside of the tables), but that is just a small note for if anyone that works there reads this. If you're sensitive to loud environments then definitely do the patio seating. All-in-all a great restaurant making great food and a spot to check out for a really high quality meal. Will be back for sure.

A few friends and I came into Wormwood for a girls night on a Thursday. We had heard about the "green hour" in the secret garden area and were intrigued. I had been once before for dinner and remember being super impressed but was looking forward to trying Wormwood again.We showed up right before 6 and they brought us back to the secret garden. Wow, what a picturesque space!! I got a mezcal pistachio drink which was fantastic. Great balance. Wish it had a bit more pistachio flavor. We also got the caviar dip which you can't go wrong with. Boursin and caviar and kettle cooked homemade chips - I mean come on!Around 6:30pm we closed out and transferred to our reservation table inside the restaurant. Starting with the crudo, scallops, and oysters. My friends loved the scallops, I would personally skip the crudo (purely due to texture), and GET THE OYSTERS. I am very particular about my oysters but these were so unique. Surprisingly there was crushed ice in the oyster bite with a perfect citrus finish!For mains we got the sea bass, onion tartine, and mushroom pasta. The only thing I wish with the mushroom pasta was that there was more! So creamy and pillowy. The onion tartine was like the best French onion soup you've ever had plus filo dough. Enough said! And the sea bass was good but slightly underwhelming compared to the other flavors on the table. I would skip!The atmosphere and service is top notch. You are not to miss the wormwood experience!

Had the opportunity to try this restaurant for the first time. We had read numerous good reviews and coupled with the higher price point of about 140+ per person not including alcohol we did have high expectations. Firstly I want to mention the staff and their attention to us was wonderful, sincere and high level and that is why I rated wormwood service five out of five. Unfortunately the food was lacking and left bad taste in our mouths figuratively and literally . We had ordered the crudo appetizer and the fish had clearly gone spoiled and they still served it. The "fishy" smell was pungent and was experienced by everyone in our group within moments of the plates arriving. I tried it and could only consume two of the five small pieces before giving up and moving to the fancy and unique onion tart appetizer. We were there for group birthday of 15 people and set menu so had other plates coming and being group setting I think no one wanted to be the one to "complain" about the crudo but someone really should have mentioned Something to the staff. I do believe they would have addressed it properly I recognize that we did not say anything and should have which is our fault. But at same time the chef is responsible for the food quality and safety of their patrons above all else .With that said, the other dishes served (chicken and steak ) were tasty and cooked well, but did warrant the high price that accompanied them. Ambiance was delightful. Again staff was amazing, low review is only reflection of the of the food itself.

Made a reservation through tock for a party of 6 on the back patio for dinner, easy and no pre-payment required. Our experience was divine (minus finding parking but that's because street parking is notoriously bad in this neighborhood).The food and drinks were delightful for the most part. Service was above and beyond and all the staff were kind and attentive (thank you Wormwood!) They even moved the heaters based on our requests with the outside temp.Scallops are ordered per piece, wish they had a scallop entree. Wormwood is known for their absinthe and our cocktails were well made. I ordered the black cod and the fish was delicious. The quinoa was average. My husband got the steak and some pieces were too chewy for my liking but the hash brown potato was the best thing on that entree plate. The bread and butter was worth the price and our vegetarian friend enjoyed the mushroom pasta.

Came here to celebrate a friend's birthday and we were both blown away by Wormwood! We sat outdoors and the garden area was 10/10 for aesthetics and vibes. We ordered two cocktails, oysters, bread, and a pasta. All were delicious but the pasta was our favorite! The staff was incredibly friendly and attentive. I can't wait to come back.

One of my most favorite restaurants. My husband put a note that he celebrated me getting my doctorate. Our stewardess came with champagne and said congratulations doctor. Even the hostess congratulated me everytime she saw me. I love how they pay attention our note/request.Classy and cute. Servers are extremely nice and attentive. Food are amazing. My most favorite is the oysters. We always ordered 2-3 times when we dined here. My main with steak was too salty so maybe tell your server to tell the chef not to put too much sea salt when he finishes if u wanna order steak. Perfectly cooked to my liking thou, medium rare. My husband got black cod, very good.We also got scallops, some new dish i forgot the name, and the bread with seaweed butter was okay, a little cold and hard.Overall, highly recommended for a dinner date, and highly recommended the garden area. Cute setting.

There is a lot of indoor seating, but it's not well lit inside and super loud when the people at the other tables are talking. Outdoor seating was beautifully decorated, comfortable, and warmed with the heat lamps. I took away two stars because the food was pricey for the quality. Most of the dishes were salty, except I did like the scallop appetizer. There is no good place to park. The neighborhood is rough. We found parking about a block away and next to the car was broken old glass like a previous car had their window scattered.In addition to a complementary dessert, we got complementary drinks. The drinks were alcoholic and I wish they gave something non-alcoholic because I don't drink alcohol.

I loved the ambiance of this place...it reminds me to Europe so much! We had dinner reservations but we had to wait a little to get sited. Parking is hard since the restaurant is in North Park. The host and the waiters were all nice and attentive. Due to a party they were hosting it took longer than expected to get everything we ordered. We order the caviar cigar, the coquilles st jacques (scallop), brioche with truffle butter, the pasta with mushrooms and the steak. Everything was good but the scallop was the start of the night. The bread was so soft and delicate... it was delicious. The pasta and the steak were really good too. The cigar wasn't my favorite because I didn't like the masa that much. They are all very small portions and it's on the pricey side, so I would say it's a tasting type of vibe. My husband left hungry but I was full after all we ordered. They also gave us non-alcoholic champagne to cheers for our anniversary. We had a good experience overall.

Food service and ambience were all fantastic! We did the 6 course celebration meal! JoWas our server and she was awesome.