Fleming’s Memorable Meals

Fleming’s is our favorite place to get steak in San Diego. We think the steak is prepared well, there’s a very nice selection of wine, and I love the complimentary bread with infused whipped butter starter.

Of course, it’s a little on the pricey side so we limit the number of times we visit a year. If you sign up for their mailing list, you’ll be alerted to specials the run periodically throughout the year, such as their Memorable Meals series. The menu changes, but it’s basically a prix fixe menu for around $35-50 per person depending on the menu. Our favorite memorable meal is actually the filet mignon and lobster tail meal which they usually offer once a year.

Currently, for the month of September, Fleming’s is offering a Memorable Meal for two people for $99 (or one person for $49.50).

Complimentary bread and butter

This is probably my favorite complimentary bread starter of all the restaurants I’ve dined at in San Diego. The sourdough parmesan bread is paired with two different infused whipped butter options: chardonnay feta and tomato basil. They seemed to have changed the bread recipe slightly since my last visit. It used to have a nice crusty edge, but this time it was soft all over. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I prefer crusty bread.

A wine flight is offered for $25 (THE PRISONER Napa Valley Red 2010, PRIMUS Colchagua Valley Chile 2010/11, QUINTESSA Napa Valley 2006). I’ve always been impressed with the selection of wines at Fleming’s so DH and I opted to share a wine flight. It was a really good deal for $25, especially because one of the offerings was a glass of Quintessa, which is priced at around $200 per bottle in the restaurant.

We were very fond of the The Prisoner wine, but our favorite was definitely the Quintessa.

Shrimp Bisque with cheese gougères and fennel cream

First up was shrimp bisque accompanied by cheese gougères. This was pretty good. Sometimes bisques tend to be too salty, but this one wasn’t. And the gougerès were still nice and warm.

Trio of entrees

I’ve always felt that Fleming’s does really good steak, but their other entrees are just average in comparison. I felt the same way about this trio. My least favorite was the short rib. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it. I am just so sick of short rib and nothing about this preparation made it stand out. The shrimp was a little better, but nothing memorable. The filet mignon however, was seasoned just right and cooked exactly as I requested. DH was making happy noises as he ate his steak.

Frozen Almond Souffle

I really enjoyed this dessert though I wouldn’t really characterize this as a souffle. The texture was much more like a pudding. This was my favorite dessert I’ve actually tried here, though it may be because I’m partial to almond flavored desserts. It was very sweetso I couldn’t finish the whole thing. I did box up the rest for later because I really liked it.

We had an enjoyable time here, just like all our previous visits. Even though I didn’t love everything in the trio of entrees, I still thought it was a good price for $99 for 2 people, especially since it does include their filet mignon.  This current memorable meal runs through September 30th. You can let them know when you are making the reservation that you want the Memorable Meal, but you should also be able to get the meal if you request it during your dinner.

Please note, this particular Fleming’s meal was complimentary. I have dined at Fleming’s numerous times where I did pay for my own meals and blogged about a few of those visits (see here and here) . I was not paid for this review, and my opinions are my own.

Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar
8970 University Center Lane
San Diego, CA 92122
(858) 535-0078
www.flemingssteakhouse.com