San Diego Waterfront Bars Raise The Bar With These Portside Pier Restaurants

Brigantine Brings New Players To The Bay At The Broadway Pier

By Kevin Wilkerson, San Diego Nightlife Blogger

San Diego has a beautiful bay, ideal for enjoying on a sunny afternoon or at sunset as the day transforms into evening.

But there is almost no place to have a cocktail to take in that view. That soon will be changing when restaurants open at the Portside Pier project just north of the Broadway Pier.

In a property with a distinctive metal shell that is being developed by Brigantine, there is that restaurant as well as a Miguel’s, Ketch Brewing Tasting Deck, Top Sail Lounge, Ketch Grill & Taps and, for those who prefer to have something other than drinks, Portside Coffee & Gelato.

The projected opening for Brigantine is the end of July, according to the Portside Pier’s website.

The design also allows for plenty of outdoor seating, with a deck on the main level and a second-tier balcony. The Brigantine has excellent margaritas (out of the shaker anyway) and fish tacos. Plus Mondays are all-night Happy Hours and there is a bottomless champagne option for brunch on Sundays. It, along with the other places at Portside Pier, finally give us singles residents in the downtown and Gaslamp areas a place to go for a couple of waterside cocktails.

Currently, there’s way too few spots for this, which is surprising because elsewhere this is such a vibrant city for nightlife.

As of now, about all we have is the Fish Market next to the bow of the USS Midway, and Harbor House and Pier Cafe in Seaport Village. And while those spots have nice views they are not places where you’re likely to find any single people. They are tourist-first dining destinations.

There’s an open-air bar across from the Broadway Pier, which makes for a relaxing daytime drink or two (as well serving as a lookout place for the disembarking cruise ship passengers, at least whenever there are disembarking cruise ship passengers again) but one will have to have exceptionally good timing to strike up promising conversations there.

To be sure, the places at Portside Pier are restaurants first and foremost, and they are not ever going be close to the bar scene found in the Gaslamp and Pacific Beach at night. But they do provide the potential for some late afternoon and early evening mingling opportunities, and that is a dramatic improvement over the current situation.

Portside Pier is also ahead of the game, so to speak, in what is going to be San Diego’s most dynamic area for activity. There is a huge building boom happening now along Harbor Drive between Broadway to along the back of Seaport Village that includes high-rise hotels. And they are sure to have restaurant/bars with big-time views of the bay.