Sushi Itto, Hillcrest

Best described as a Mexican-Sushi fusion restaurant, Sushi Itto is one of the best Sushi restaurants I've been to in San Diego. We had three of their specialty rolls: CuauhtemItto, Coronado (both of which were spicy) and the Crunchy Sweet roll. All of them were excellent. Additionally, the appetizer (Yakitori) and drinks (Sangria) were also good. On the downside, parking in the restaurant is a bit of a squeeze and the service is a little slow. However, the quality of the food easily makes up for that.

Price: $65 (inc tip+tax) for appetizers, rolls and drinks for two.
Ambiance: Simple, yet stylish.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4.
Website: http://www.sushi-ittosandiego.com/

Elijah's, UTC

Jewish (though apparently not Kosher) restaurant and deli next to Landmark theaters. We had a pastrami sandwich and a grilled chicken sandwich, both of which were quite bad. The bakery is nothing to write home about either.

Price: $20 for two
Ambiance: Mostly senior citizens.
Rating: 1.5 out of 4.
Website: http://www.elijahsrestaurant.com

Gulf Coast Grill, Hillcrest

This is a Cajun-style restaurant off Hillcrest. We had the blackened prawn (excellent) for appetizers, and cedar-plank salmon (good) and jambalaya (bad) for the main course, the Gulf-Old Whiskey (interesting) for drinks and the peach cobbler (bad) for dessert. Service was reasonably prompt and the decor was nice, though the street where the restaurant was seemed a bit run-down compared to the rest of Hillcrest. Overall, this is a good restaurant to try out, but it's unlikely that I go there repeatedly.

Price: $70 for drinks, appetizers, entrees and dessert for two.
Ambiance: Pretty good.
Rating: 2.5 out of 4
Website: http://www.gulfcoastgrill.com/

Chow

On our first visit, we found this Hillcrest restaurant to be a chic pan-east-Asian noodle place. Since then, there seems to have been a change in management (or at least presentation). The old menu with a subtle mix of spring-rolls, udons, chow-meins, is now replaced by one which leaves no doubt about the approach. The entrees have been grouped into Vietnamese/ Thai/ Chinese/ Japanese, along with a Noodles-for-dummies extract preceding each category.
The appetizer veggie dumplings held no surprises. For the main course, we had the grilled eggplant, and thai fat noodles with tofu - both of which had been helped with some extra servings of cooking oil. Admittedly, the curry sauces and pastes were fairly tasty. In summary, okay for a cheap (all entrees cost less than 10 dollars) and very oily chow.
(The crowd seemed not-local, and in retrospect, i think it's easy to see why)
-rajiv.