We circled back from Palm Springs to spend the night before our departure in downtown San Diego, close to the airport. Lacking La Jolla’s charm, the gentrifying Gaslamp Quarter has a scruffy edge but a burgeoning restaurant and nightlife scene. We stayed in The Westgate, a 223-room hotel in a contemporary tower with improbably palatial French décor. Louis XVI would have felt right at home among the tapestries and crystal chandeliers of the lobby, and even the business center felt like an ornate salon in a royal château. Spacious rooms offer step-out balconies and pleasing skyline views but are in need of freshening. Around the corner stands the historic U.S. Grant Hotel a member of The Luxury Collection. I peeked inside a room here, which was more compact than ours at The Westgate but significantly more stylish. The U.S. Grant’s restaurant, the Grant Grill, made for an exceedingly pleasant evening, with live music and cocktails lavished with herbs from the hotel’s rooftop garden. Highlights of our meal included rich chicken liver mousse ravioli with contrastingly crunchy pickled vegetables, and perfectly crusted California sea bass with sublimely savory oxtail. I wouldn’t go out of my way to stay in downtown San Diego, but should the need arise, either The Westgate or the U.S. Grant would make a comfortable base for an evening.
The over-the-top French palace décor; the city views; the spacious rooms.
Old-fashioned rooms; dinged furniture and molding.
The hotel plans to open a spa and swimming pool later this year.
Rating: 87 Deluxe $275; Premier, $294. 1055 Second Avenue, San Diego.
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