It was a late Friday night nearing the end of the first restaurant week in San Diego. Trying to take advantage of that, bunch of us want to get some gourmet food. I like French cuisine, and I picked Hexagone which from the menu it looked pretty enticing.
Located in Banker's Hill, parking was not acceptable that night on a Friday. We parked about 4 blocks away, but that's mostly due to lack of direction. When we got to the restaurant, we were already late for about 30 mins from my reservation, but nonetheless we still got our names in. The place was packed full of people, and a lot of them were waiting for over 30 mins, hanging out in the side bar sipping small glasses of wine.
It was cold outside, so we went in as well, and got stuck in that area for more than 45 mins. By the time we got to our table, it was past 9 already. We were not impressed, to say the least.
I started with an interesting appetizer which I already forgot the name, though I remember that the appetizer there was not bad.
And of course, my duck. I could not imagine not wanting to try "canard" in a new French restaurant. It almost became my hobby. The duck was not good. It was dry and even the spice was not too interesting. A far cry from what I had tasted in Paris, and to a smaller extent to the excellent Tapanade in La Jolla which I will write about later when I go again.
Bips got lamb rack. I tried some of his, and they tasted ok. Mom's cooking was better! Though Hexagone did have some interesting sauce which I will give them credit for.
All in all, this place is over-rated, and over-priced. It could be that in restaurant week they were swarmed and thus a drop of quality. I don't know, but I won't go there any more in foreseeable future. There are a lot more restaurants to try out there!
Hexagone
495 Laurel St
(between 4th Ave & 5th Ave)
San Diego, CA 92101
Neighborhood: Banker's Hill
Yelp reviewers gave them 3.5 starts. I would give them 3.
