380 K St
San Diego
619-237-1155
Ok, I'm not the type of guy who likes eating at chain restaurants. Why go to a chain, when there maybe a restaurant just as good? I'll admit, I didn't know certain restaurants were chains when I at there. If I see a new restaurant when I'm out for dinner, I'll just stop in and have a meal there. I don't do research on a restaurant while I'm out and about. But, if I do have time to research a restaurant, I will see if it is a chain and then put that restaurant on the back burner of my "to try" list.
I went to this same exact Flemings about five years ago. I had an enjoyable meal and figured since I was in San Diego I would try them again. Fleming's is running a promotion; if you make reservations online, you get $25 off your meal, if you spend $50 or more and then you get a $25 off card that is good for the first three months in 2012!! A great deal.
Flemings is located in the Gaslamp area of downtown San Diego. It's a fairly big sized restaurant that is dimly lit. It has a nice modern steakhouse decor.
Since I was dining alone, I had to order over $50 of food, so I got an appetizer, Jumbo lump crabcakes, $16.95, with roasted red pepper and lime butter sauce. Jumbo lump are the second highest grade of crabmeat, similar to a choice cut of beef. Jumbo lump are white meat from the two muscles near the swimming legs of the crab. They should be nice and sweet.
I hate crabcakes that are nothing but fillers, breadcrumbs or other junk that doesn't belong in a crabcake. When I cut into this crabcake, nothing but beautiful white meat!! The crabcakes were beautifully browned on the outside, and it wasn't heavy with butter like some place do. It was a nice light sear and a nice texture to the crabcakes. The meat was well seasoned, if they don't use Old Bay seasoning, they use most of the same ingredients like Old Bay. The roasted red pepper and lime butter sauce added a nice cool flavor to the crabcakes. But, I could have eaten the crabcakes alone and been very happy.
If anybody complains about the price of the crabcakes, they are just clueless. Jumbo lump crab meat isn't cheap and as long as the crab cakes have little fillers, this crabcake was about 98% jumbo lump, 2% bread crumps and parsley, it's well worth the price.
Well, a steakhouse, no matter how good their appetizers maybe, has to serve good quality steaks that are cooked perfectly. I got the main filet, $41.95, cooked medium. After telling the server I wanted my steak cooked medium, he said hot pink inside. I told him yes! I like how the server make sure how your steak is going to be cooked. Some people have different definitions of how a medium cooked steak should be.
Anyways a few minutes later, I got a perfectly cooked filet!! This steak was very well seasoned. Some may say it was a little heavy on the pepper, but I like a good amount of pepper on my steak. And Fleming's uses prime steaks, the top cut of beef. So the steak was tender, melt in your mouth, good!! A very good quality steak, well worth the price.
Service was great!! The server and busboy came by my table often, and I wasn't lacking for anything.
I would gladly go back to this Fleming's in San Diego anytime. A great meal with two perfectly cooked items and great service!! What more can you ask for?
