Review: Pendry San Diego

As a long-time Angeleno, I tend to think of San Diego as L.A.’s laidback cousin — a surf town where burritos are plentiful, grey days are few and recent college grads abound because they couldn’t get themselves to leave after moving their grad cap tassel to the left.

On a recent business trip to the city, though, I stepped into San Diego’s luxury hospitality scene with a stay at Pendry San Diego. Set downtown in the Gaslamp Quarter, the hotel offers sophisticated rooms, elevated food and beverage options and attentive service. And the team manages to offer all of that to visitors while still warmly welcoming locals.

On my second night there, throngs of baseball fans poured out of neighboring Petco Park after a San Diego Padres game. Some chatted boisterously on the sidewalk, others gathered for drinks inside Fifth & Rose, the hotel’s beautiful take on a lobby bar. If I had to guess, I’d say the Padres won, but the crowd could have just been excited to be in the Pendry’s orbit, as was I.

Here are a few more details to know about the property.

Planting the Flag in San Diego

Pendry San Diego opened in 2017 as the flagship location for Pendry Hotels and Resorts, a sister brand to Montage Hotels and Resorts. The newbuild was designed to offer a sense of “contemporary luxury,” and that tone is set in the lobby through cement floor tiles, wood ceilings, a fireplace flanked by inviting seating and a curved lobby desk topped with polished aluminum. The 12-story hotel has 317 guestrooms and suites; Spa Pendry; and an enviable pool deck on the third floor with cabanas, city views and The Pool House, which serves poolside bites and cocktails.

My Bay King Room — true to its name — overlooked the San Diego Bay and the city blocks between it and me. Coastal photography, wood accents and blue-and-white decor lean into San Diego’s surfer vibes. My favorite room feature? A glass walk-in shower, almost in the center of my room, from which I could look out to the bay. (A privacy curtain can be pulled across the shower’s bed-facing wall, but I was traveling alone and didn’t feel the need to use it.) High-end Fili D’Oro Italian linens and Pendry-branded amenities added to my level of comfort.

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I also had the chance to visit Spa Pendry, which is at the pool level and cleverly designed as a garden-like inner courtyard space. My “outdoor” treatment took place in a curtained-off “room” with a living wall of plants, and I was lulled into a deep calm by both my massage and the sound of a nearby fountain. On my way out, I perused (and ultimately purchased two) Osea Malibu products at the well-curated spa boutique.

Since this property opened in 2017, the brand’s portfolio has, of course, grown, with locations in destinations such as Chicago, New York City and Newport Beach, California. Exciting additions on the horizon include Pendry Mexico City, Pendry Punta Mita and Pendry Barbados. The Mexico City location, which is set to welcome its first guests next year, will mark the brand’s first international opening.

Dining at Pendry San Diego

On a property tour with Marie Jeffery-Palmer, director of sales and marketing for Pendry San Diego, I strolled through the hotel’s surprising array of dining venues. There’s Lionfish for modern coastal dishes by executive chef Jose Ruiz and Nason’s Beer Hall for local craft beers on tap, burgers, board games and televised ones. The aforementioned Fifth & Rose offers classic cocktails and an elevated bar menu (think: a tuna tartare sandwich and wagyu and caviar skewers), while Provisional serves breakfast and brunch in a grand room with giant columns and sky-high ceilings.

What really struck me was the placement of these venues; most are accessible via the hotel lobby, but there are also prominent entries to each one from the street. And that design was deliberate, according to Jeffery-Palmer. It invites passersby and locals in, who may not even know that these distinct restaurants are Pendry-affiliated establishments, and it gives hotel guests unique options without having to travel far or feel like they’re tucked away in the bowels of the building.

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My college roommate, who lives in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, joined me for dinner at Lionfish one evening. We met in the Pendry lobby, walked down Fifth Street about 75 feet to Lionfish’s entrance and checked in with the host. Seated in a giant plush booth, we ordered (and loved) the big-eye tuna pizza, which came highly recommended by Jeffery-Palmer, and the “Bezerk,” a specialty sushi roll with shrimp tempura, salmon belly and brown butter aioli. Diver scallops plated with crispy guanciale, shiso mint pesto, peas and miso-glazed king trumpet mushrooms were delicious, as was our pick from the robata menu: swordfish al pastor adorned in avocado chimichurri and pineapple shoyu glaze. There was a bit of California playfulness in every dish — a nod to the destination that I appreciated.

Fun Onsite and Nearby

Myriad urban adventures are easy from here. Petco Park and the San Diego Convention Center are mere blocks away, and there are bars and pubs galore in the Gaslamp, so any client hoping for a night on the town can easily curate one. A stay at the Pendry also plants guests in a central location should they want to explore beloved destinations such as Coronado (15 minutes away by car), La Jolla (20 minutes) or Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo (10 minutes).

To further inspire guests, the Pendry has a menu of experiences, ranging from floating sound baths and whiskey tastings at the hotel to sportfishing trips and even a cross-border day trip to Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe. I’d love to return and try that last offering — I’ve been aiming to explore Valle de Guadalupe for a couple of years — and I imagine that doing so with the Pendry team at the helm would be particularly lovely.