D Bar recently opened in San Diego, next door to the highly popular Snooze. Like Snooze, D Bar is originally from Denver.
D Bar Desserts was created by Keegan Gerhard (Food Network) and Lisa Bailey. The location is quite spacious, and divided into three sections: drink bar, dining area, and dessert bar. One of the interesting aspects is that if you sit at the dessert bar, you can watch the chefs as they create the desserts.
While there, we saw Chef Keegan Gerhard himself overseeing the desserts. We actually chose to sit at a table and miss out on the action because we were there with some friends and wanted a proper table to chat.
I was surprised that there wasn’t any desserts on display or ones that people could buy to-go. There was a very small selection of French macarons at the entrance, but that was about it. Instead, the desserts are on a menu and made to order for a sit-down experience. We actually had been hoping to just browse and pick up some stuff.
FH and his buddy found the shape of these lights amusing:
pineapple v 2.0 honey cake, sauteed pineapple, macadamia tuile, cilantro, passionfruit fro yo
This reminded me of a deconstructed pineapple cake. It wasn’t too sweet, and I liked the passionfruit frozen yogurt.
d = mc² milk mousse ∙ praline crunch∙ salted caramel ∙ peanut nib crumble
In contrast to my dessert, FH’s choice was very rich. I really enjoyed the chocolate mousse though. The rest was a little too sweet.
pie-curious chef’s choice of three handmade pies, vanilla ice cream
Our friends shared this dessert, which had various fruit filled pie fillings.
I had mixed feelings about this place. Most of the desserts were priced between $8-10. We enjoyed them all and I liked the cute names, being able to watch the chefs work, and the creative take on some classics.
However, I do wish that the dessert bar offered more. I wish there were more desserts on the menu and I wish there were more on display and available to buy on-the-go.
D Bar
3930 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 299-3227
My daughter and I had Mother’s Day brunch here. The bacon wrapped dates were great! We shared an App, entrée and dessert (the chef’s assortment) and loved our Mimosas., but only the Brunch menu was available. Everything was wonderful, however. But I have to say…that I was disappointed that there were not more desserts on display and available to buy for take-out. I actually bought some macaroons and truffles to take home and share. We will be going back for dinner!
brunch here has been on my to-do list forever!
It isn’t just a dessert place, they have amazing food too! Try the Lobster Mac n Cheese or the Chicken and Waffles Sandwhich, me and my friends will definitely be coming back for more.
I saw that they have a full dining menu. I’ll have to come back to try the main dining options next time. I love a good lobster mac n cheese.
Couldn’t agree with your review more! Extraordinary Desserts is definitely a better option.
oh my gosh! Must go here!
Hi Kirbie! I’ve been curious about this since I read about it (I think I saw it on Thrillist and saw it when it was still in construction). That’s too bad there isn’t more on display, but I can understand they want it to be a sit down experience. It seems pricey for desserts, but hey, I still want to go. The second plate above is so pretty with the chocolate sauce.
I feel like if they want to succeed though, they probably need that take out business. And some more visuals would be nice too. I don’t often go to somewhere just for a sit down dessert, so even though I enjoyed the desserts here I can’t see myself coming more than maybe once or twice a year. Also they don’t offer nearly the amount of desserts as compared to somewhere like Extraordinary desserts, so if I had friends in town who wanted dessert, I would more likely take them to Extraordinary because there is that big variety.