Getting a Callie reservation might be harder than avoiding traffic on the 5 during rush hour. That’s because people move quick to secure dishes like lemon saffron linguini with bits of local uni, and juicy Aleppo-spiced chicken that gets a little sweetness from coriander honey. If it’s your first time, the Mediterranean feast for $75 a person is a great way to try a variety of their food, and the wine pairing is worth the extra $40.

Mabel’s Gone Fishing uses top-tier Californian seafood in their Iberian Peninsula small plates at one of North Park’s busiest restaurants. You could pair the Spanish gin and tonic with a platter of baja oysters and a side of chorizo and stop there, but you should keep going and get some grilled fish with thai basil and the mussels escabeche. Mabel’s works for a casual date night or a catch-up, and you’ll keep company with the neighborhood crowd and some mermaid sculpture friends at the bar.

Addison is the Mount Everest of fancy San Diego restaurants. All of the dishes on the $355-per-person seasonal tasting menu are expertly executed, whether that’s chicken liver churros, a crispy potato cube layered with black truffle and Iberico ham, or sashimi with kiwi and melon. Beyond the food, Addison has an extensive, excellent wine and cocktail list, plus bottles of rare champagne.

For expertly charred seafood dishes cooked over a Santa Maria-style wood-fired grill, head to Fort Oak. The space used to be a Ford dealership, but they’ve swapped out the F-150s for a horseshoe-shaped bar and chef’s table. It’s great for almost any situation, whether that’s a solo round of cocktails and $1 oysters at Happy Hour, a third date in the indoor-outdoor dining room, or a group dinner fueled by a giant seafood tower of oysters, lobster tiradito, and scallop aguachile.

Wormwood is basically a woodland nymph fantasy where you can have a nicer meal without the stuffiness of a fine dining restaurant. Snag a reservation for the secret garden-esque outdoor patio in the back—it’s got tall shrubs, succulents bursting out of hanging planters, and an old piano in one corner. This is where you should eat French bistro dishes with Latin American twists, like oysters topped with a mezcal-infused mignonette and wagyu tartare flavored with guajillo chili.

Matsu does a 10-course, three-hour-long Japanese tasting menu in a space so intimate that the food gets the spotlight it deserves—literally. There are only 14 lights in the dining room, which are above the 14 wooden tables, making each course feel like it’s getting up on stage to audition for the role of “Your Favorite Part Of The Meal.” The menu changes with the season, but some recent standouts were the grilled, all-cabbage gyoza with caviar and the braised sunflower and cuttlefish.

La Jolla has lots of fancier spots that can be a little stuffy, but Marisi finds the perfect balance of upscale and cool. Both the inside—with views of the round, gilded bar, open kitchen, and wood-fired hearth—and the covered outdoor patio filled with plants are great places to be. They also have one of the better setups for a private dining room: Marisi’s Lemon Room seats up to 26 guests, is wrapped in citrus-printed wallpaper, and ideal for a large work dinner.

The Oaxacan steak and eggs at Atelier Manna might be one of the best meals up in North County: tender meat served with excellent mole made from smoked tomatillo and charred chocolate. Some days it comes on a sope, other days on an english muffin. For a less meaty option, consider the porridge with Hokkaido scallops or perfectly poached turkish eggs with crusty bread to mop up the yolk and herby yogurt sauce.

If you’re looking for a low-key neighborhood spot near Downtown, book a reservation at Wolf in the Woods. This tiny restaurant has tons of intimate nooks with Southwestern touches, including dried chiles hanging from the ceiling and Indigenous-printed textiles. Their tight menu offers lighter dishes with a New Mexican twist, like a hatch chili-spiced sweet corn soup and chilled octopus with harissa. It's also got an impressive wine and cocktail list.

The Lion’s Share feels like a natural history museum: there are stuffed animal heads, a huge bearskin rug, and even a whole taxidermied peacock. Settle into the dining room’s leather chairs and start with the grilled oysters in coconut curry, and the little gem salad with wild boar bacon bits. If you’re with a group, split the wagyu steak frites with chimichurri butter, and elk flank rubbed in sumac and served with eggplant puree and sweet potatoes.