

Eatery for handcrafted cocktails & a creative menu of American dishes with some global flare.
Hours
| Friday | 5 PM–1 AM |
| Saturday | 5 PM–1 AM |
| Sunday | 11 AM–12 AM |
| Monday | 5 PM–12 AM |
| Tuesday | 5 PM–12 AM |
| Wednesday | 5 PM–12 AM |
| Thursday | 5 PM–12 AM |
Address and Contact Information
Address: 2001 Kettner Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: (619) 255-2001
Website: http://www.kettnerexchange.com/
Menu Photos
Order and Reservations
Reservations: opentable.com
Photo Gallery
Related Web Results
Kettner Exchange | Rooftop Dining in Little Italy SD
Dinner Menu | Kettner Exchange Little Italy SD
Kettner Exchange (@kettnerexchange) · San Diego, CA – Instagram
Reviews
The food is a great fusion of Western flavors and Chinese Szechuan-style cuisine. The dishes feel familiar and approachable rather than overly experimental, making it easy to enjoy and share with others. Everything we tried was well-balanced and thoughtfully prepared.
The restaurant serves tapas-style small plates, so plan on ordering about 2–3 dishes per person to share. It’s perfect for trying multiple items and experiencing a variety of flavors.
The drinks are excellent as well, and they’re clearly known for their cocktails — creative, well-balanced, and a great complement to the food menu.
I especially recommend this spot for date nights or special occasions. The atmosphere feels intimate and elevated. I wouldn’t suggest coming with large groups, though, as costs can add up quickly.
Parking is convenient with valet available, but street parking can be challenging depending on the day and time, so plan accordingly.
Overall, a lovely dining experience with great service, thoughtful food, and a refined yet relaxed ambiance.
– Spicy tuna crispy rice: little circles of crispy rice, with a nori-covered avocado and tuna
(LOVE the presentation and just as delicious)
– Butternut squash dumplings: as expected and with a great flavor
– Duck meatball: MASSIVE single meatball in a little skillet with grits and tons of sauce. The meatball was the perfect texture, consistency, and flavor which isn’t the easiest feat.
– Molten chocolate lava cake: ah-MAZING. The perfect consistency of melted chocolate, and how can you pass up a vanilla McFlurry ice cream!?! The answer is you shouldn’t.
Fantastic meal. Cannot wait for our next trip back!
Parking:
As with any other downtown establishments, be prepared to drive around to snag a paid street parking— unless it’s Sunday, then most meters are free.
Vibes:
It’s a huge 2-story restaurant with lots of outdoor and indoor seats. They can seat a large group party. We were seated upstairs on the patio since it was a nice day out. They had at least a couple TVs. There were regular tables, bar seats, and low tables with couches on the patio.
Service: Huge shoutout to Zach who was our great server! He was personable, explained the menu well, and gave us a great experience.
Food:
The brunch menu is mainly tapas style. There were only 2 of us so we were limited on the dishes to try. If you have more people, you’d be able to try out more.
-Caesar Twinkies ($15): 3 pieces of brioche crouton filled with mascarpone. Absolutely delicious. You’d think that the crouton would be too hard to bite but it was the perfect crunch consistency with the flavors of the mascarpone. A must get!!
-Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice ($22): comes with 4 pieces of crispy rice and the spicy tuna is on the side topped with half an avocado. Generous servings of spicy tuna since it was served as a whole mound. The taste itself was nothing special, however.
-Szechuan Fried Chicken ($25): 3 big pieces of juicy thighs. The flavor was great. Not too spicy for me (but I like really spicy food). I’d get this again only if we had more people.
-Honey Butter Toast ($13): 1 piece of thick toast topped with creme. I enjoyed the taste but it didn’t wow me as much. But what we enjoyed more was the Budino: crème fraiche topped with caramel!
Overall:
I can attest that their brunch menu is pretty good. Perfect place to enjoy a nice sunny day meal. I’d love to come back to try their dinner menu sometime.
The food was absolutely amazing. I had the butternut squash dumplings and the “Mapo” and both were phenomenal in terms of taste.
The staff were friendly and the server was able to recommend popular dishes or which dishes pair well together.
Cons:
Finding parking is very difficult unless you want to pay $10+tip for the valet. I circled the surrounding blocks for around 20 minutes until I got lucky and found a spot 2 blocks away right as somebody else was leaving.
The dishes are tiny for how much they cost – especially the dumplings. $16 for 4 dumplings that don’t even have a protein stuffing is insane. The “Mapo” was a little better on the size, but I still left without feeling completely full afterwards and I have a pretty small stomach.
If cost isn’t a factor, this place has amazing food, but I personally don’t think it’s worth the price.