The Crown Room

In nutshell — Excellent food — sourced from local farmers, plucked and served fresh the same day.
Food is organic and time it was plucked is written on the platter. The fruit tastes very different than what you get from big chain grocery stores.
The brunch was tasty, had lot of choices and you feel like going back again.

Underwhelming experience for the Mother’s Day Brunch. We were disappointed with our experience with the brunch on Mother’s Day. When a business raises the prices for a special occasion, you don’t expect the quality decline but that’s apparently what happens at the Hotel Del. I was really looking forward to the Bloody Mary bar only to be told by our server that they didn’t have it that day. He did bring me a Bloody Mary which, frankly, was not very well made. Overall, the food was good but it didn’t wow me like I would have hoped. I guess I’m fortunate to now live in an area of the country with lots of really good restaurants (I grew up in San Diego) but I was expecting a bit better from the Hotel Del on Mother’s Day. In retrospect, I should have known that they would eek out every cent they could from the special occasion day and when restaurants do that, quality invariably declines.
The service is not up to the standard one would expect from an establishment of this caliber. The service staff just isn’t professional in the way I’ve become accustomed to in high end places. Additionally, our table remained uncleared between trips to the buffet and we had to ask more than once to have our various drinks refilled. I felt they were stingy with their «bottomless» mimosas and other adult beverages. Perhaps the wait staff didn’t feel they had to try very hard since an 18% gratuity was already paid in advance on the $ 120 per person charge.
If you need to use the restroom on a busy weekend, be sure to get up in plenty of time because the facility was completely overrun. The line for the ladies room had at least 20 people waiting well out into the hallway and the wait was about 10 minutes.
I can’t recommend this place for the buffet on a «holiday» such as Mother’s Day. Maybe with fewer people on regular weekends the overall experience is better.

This is the bar of which all other brunches should be measured against. It is decadent and the price reflects as much.
Is it worth it? Yes!
Go. Feel good. Eat well.

Wow this place is magical! We came to the Del after my boyfriend won a prestigious award for work. This was where the award ceremony was held. The room was gorgeous, and we were served the del catering which was so great.
This hotel is extremely old, which makes it full of character and beauty. The location is absolutely stunning. I haven’t had such an amazing vacation in years. It’s crazy to say but this trip made me want to pack up and move to San Diego. Anyways back to the crown room. The reason it’s named this is the GIANT crown chandelier shaped as a crown. It’s stunning. The walls and ceiling are full of character, and you will never want to leave!

Best brunch on the west coast. Best I’ve had in USA too. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely! The ballroom is huge and such a great setting for brunch. All you can eat and drink! They have every type of serving station you can imagine. Cheeses, carved meats, any breakfast item you want, seafood, raw shellfish, desserts galore, candy and sweets, they have one table devoted to salts and spices! Don’t forget to hit the beach and walk around the historic iconic hotel after brunch.

Stunning is all I can say. Top notch food, waiters and service. The room is beyond beautiful and you definitely feel like you are somewhere special. I just spent and evening there for Rady’s Children’s Gala which is the best Children’s Hospital around and the Rady’s are an amazing couple that are truly making a difference. The room is vast and the ceilings are high and ornate. Just gorgeous!

I have been to the crown room on many occasions for their Sunday brunch, but I have to say their quality has declined in the past 2 years. Their food and dessert selection has been reduced and everything is subpar. They lost that refinement and elegance. I always make a point to bring family from out of state here when visiting or go on special occasions. I will be finding another go to brunch place as this is just not worth it anymore. Unless your just looking to get smashed on bottomless mimosas I wouldn’t waste your time here. I added a star for the ambiance (although the ball room with the harpist is MUCH BETTER) and a star for our server today, Emanuel, who was very helpful and did not make us feel like we had to rush since we had two little children with us. Very disappointed overall.

$ 18 for lame guacamole and crappy pop music. The interior is nice, but if it wasn’t raining we’d have been sitting outside.

Treated by bffs here for the first time. It was amazingly good. Lots of choices: meat carving station, donut bar, dessert station, breakfast station, seafood station, endless mimosas, bloody marys, bellinis, etc. Cheese station and special that day was seafood paella — which was my favorite along with the lobster tortellini and while fried grouper. I also loved the beef short rib with sweet potato purée and I’m not a big red meat eater.
Cons: It was an amazing experience but the only downside besides the price of $ 90 per person was the cost of parking. It was cheaper to valet: $ 20 for 3 hours but we ended up chatting and drinking champagne and bloody marys so we ended up paying an additional $ 20. $ 40 for parking before tipping valet or our server at brunch. All in all it was a great experience but being a local I’ll have to say I won’t be back anytime soon unless I win the lotto. My friends paid about $ 360 for the 3 of us to eat brunch after tip. Something most of us cannot afford on a regular basis.

We have attended the Del Brunch annually for the past six years to celebrate our anniversary. The food quality and service is always extraordinary. However, I must say this is expected due to the price. I’m unsure why, but this past year with no notification upfront, the Crown Room was closed the day of our reservation. What was an initial disappointment turned in to an excellent surprise to attend brunch in the Ballroom with ocean views instead. We actually enjoyed the ambiance of this room much more and would be more inclined to return if brunch were scheduled in this location instead. Be sure to try the house smoked salmon — delicious!

Went to the Hotel Del Crown Room for Thanksgiving, what a joke! $ 150 per person. First we couldn’t get waited on to save our lives, no place settings, brought our own wine, took two people to open it. Nobody ever returned the rest of our meal for drinks or anything and 18% gratuity was automatically added in. Then there was the food. Everything tasted the same and was highly salted. We couldn’t eat half of it! Less of a selection than the usual Sunday Brunch for twice the price. While it’s a beautiful hotel with a great views, the service has gone down hill! The hotel was so packed we could barely get around. An expensive waste of Thanksgiving! I know the hotel recently changed ownership in the last few years, quality has definitely lacking! Won’t be back to eat here.

For my 600^th review.. .thought I’d make this one special!
Came here labor day weekend (my last weekend with the Marine)
We actually had a suite at the Hotel del Coronado.
I couldn’t believe it was so expensive just to dine here. I guess «when in rome.. .»
The food was ok. The drinks though, YUM! I started off with a regular mimosa. Then the waitress brought over a pomegranate mimosa! WOW! those are amazing! I guess the price was so high b/​c of the bottomless drinks? I was trying to get my money worth! haha!
The had different food stations, breakfast station, seafood, dessert, meat, cheeses, taco/​burrito.. . etc. Well organized, I give them that!
The cool thing about this place– FUN FACT: The Crown chandeliers L. Frank Baum is credited with designing (Wizard of OZ)
5 stars for the service and bottomless mimosas!

One of the best brunches ever!
The ambience was an amazing and rich experience. The hotel was supposed to have been built in the 1800s. The historic charm was hard not to notice!
3 of us girlfriends went there for a Sunday brunch. It was around 90 $ odd per person and it was so worth it! It was a very big spread and everything we tried (or managed to try!) were absolutely scrumptious.
Brownies, chocolate fondue, lobsters, breads, cheeses, fish, soups, flan, coconut macaroons, good lord!; there was no end to it. I can totally see myself coming back here with my guy.
Also, you can validate your (otherwise 30 $) parking at the reception. fyi

My husband and I wanted to end our staycation with the famous brunch at the Hotel Del Coronado Crown Room. I made a reservation in advance and didn’t have any problems securing one.
Upon arrival, it was a little confusing as to where The Crown Room was located and we didn’t realize that we could check in before it opened. We finally checked in and as soon as they opened, they started calling in the various parties and we were seated fairly quickly. Our server walked us through the buffet explaining where everything was laid out. At our table (right by the window), she asked for our drink orders and told us that we were free to go enjoy the buffet.
I headed straight for the omelet station and unfortunately had to wait probably 5 – 10 minutes before one of the cooks was actually at the station to cook my food. I know it was just opening, but if guests are being seated, then the cooks should be there at the station! After my husband and I got our food, we headed back to the table and someone else’s things were at our table… WTF! So, my husband had to go speak with someone at the front to get things straightened out (while holding his food mind you). I was standing at the table when our server came back and I told her what was going on. At this time, my husband headed back with another woman and she proceeded to tell me that this table was already taken… yes, lady, by me and my husband! She apparently didn’t realize that I was the wife of the man she was speaking with. Fortunately, they took the other couple’s belongings and found them and sat them somewhere else.
So, we were finally able to enjoy our food, but our table was wobbly. One of the water servers helped prop up the table, so now we could finally enjoy our food. My mimosa arrived soon after, however, it did take some time just to get coffee for my husband. Service throughout was OK, but for the amount we paid, I really expected better. Our refills were not as quick as I had hoped.
Now, the food was actually really good and plentiful. The traditional breakfast items (omelet, bacon, potatoes, waffles, etc.) were good, but I think next time, I’ll skip those and head for the other dishes. My next plate of food included items from the seafood section and that was really good. Many different salmon options (fresh, cooked, w/​pasta, etc.) and crab legs already cracked for you. I really do like shellfish, but I don’t like to work for it! The oysters were decent, but I have had better.
I really like their cheese selection and display. So much cheese, so little room in my stomach. The cheese display also had different jams and fruits/​nuts which I thought was a nice addition.
The desserts are also huge, however, when I got my macarons, they didn’t have as many flavor options out. The chocolate fountain was a plus, but I just didn’t have much room left to eat.
Parking is validated (which was validated for us when we checked in before being seated). When we got to the gate, our ticket did not work… again, WTF? So, we had to re-​park and head back in to get another parking ticket. I understand there can be issues, but we paid over $ 200 and expected much better service. For the price, everything should be perfect, but our experience was well below perfection. I really wanted to give a higher rating, but for the price, it just wasn’t worth our time and aggravation. I will say, the food was really good, but with the unexceptional service, it just isn’t worth the price.

The shine is back on ‘the Crown! had a fantastic and special brunch service here August 2^nd. Our server Ramsey was fantastic with everyone and seemed to generally care about the quality of food. His experience and knowledge of the cuisine was helpful, and his suggestions and answers to our questions was refreshing. The entire staff handling our room was perfect in managing plates, coffee, champagne… and our younger diners.
The food was special, from the new seafood area which featured a whole roasted grouper (amazing) to the amped up carving station with roasts that were so far above the typical buffet fare that you wanted to dance in joy.
They are firing on all cylinders again here, and that is terrific. I can’t wait to get back. What a vast improvement all the way around since my visit two years ago. Sensational!

One of the greatest meals I’ve ever had. If you love variety and high quality food, have some disposable income and something to celebrate, this is the place for you.
Only one complaint: portions sizes should be smaller at each station! It’s too easy to fill up before you’ve tried everything.

Location is priceless! Incredible! Beautiful! The Del is timeless and embraces elegant beauty in all that embodies the bones of this elegant and historical hotel. Put your phones away and take a break from technology. When you walk in, step back into a time when elegance and class was not just in the building but in every person that walks through those doors.
The hotel does a beautiful job with food selection and presentation. Important Note — People, listen up! This is a high class location and very expensive. The Crown Room is located in one of the most prestigious hotels in San Diego. Just because it’s a buffet, does not mean you can wear the same attire you wear when you go to your local Home-​town buffet. Dress to impress and bring your manners. Respect the hotel and the history. Just because times are changing; tradition does not! Keep the tradition when you dine anywhere at The Del, dress up out of respect for the location and the $ 1500 a night price tag! Now with that said and out of the way — the food was not impressive and the service was less than the service you would expect from employees at The Del. The richness in the taste of the food has been lost with so many foo-​foo dietary restrictions (no wheat, no gluten, no sugar, no butter, no salt, etc… ect). Go back and add the butter, the cream, the salt and all the other tasty stuff that makes food great, waistlines expand and dining exceptional. Stop catering to food trends of cutting out the latest food hypes. Get back to tradition. At $ 90 per person, I would have expected more bread with pan drippings from the prime rib. Firm cheesecake that was made with real rich creamy cream cheese. Peach cobbler made from centuries old recipes. With the history of this hotel, I would expect to see the tradition of age-​old recipes embodied in the food through centuries of recipes the hotel has collected since the 1800’s. This was a miss for tradition and taste. This was a hit for location and presentation. Someone bring Paula Dean in to retrain these people on how to cook with traditional ingredients like butter, cream, etc! In moderation, this stuff will not kill you! Dust off the old recipes and lets bring back tradition!

This was a pretty amazing brunch experience. I can’t even begin to list all the items they have to eat; its mind boggling.
Four of us came here so reservations were made. We were seat in the room off to the side which was nice. It’s a bit quieter than he main room. The server was friendly and helpful. Drink service was excellent. There was a birthday in our group and when the server found out, she made up a special dessert plate with a candle.
I can’t really begin to describe the selection here. It’s somewhere between «a real lot» and «pretty much everything». My advice: skip the usual breakfast items. I’m not saying they’re bad, but you can get bacon, eggs, pancakes ect at pretty much any hotel in the area. Hit up the stuff you can’t find… or don’t usually eat. Again, the selection is big. I paced myself and tried small portions in an attempt to maximize what I had. It worked well until I ran out of room in my stomach.
Afterwards, take a walk around the hotel lobby, shops and beach area. They don’t make hotels like this anymore. The craftsmanship is amazing.
The brunch costs a few bucks, so be prepared. But we really enjoyed it and we’re happy we experienced it while in the area.

Go. Book a flight, stay for the weekend at the hotel and go to the bunch. I have structured work trips completely around being able to go to this bunch while in the area. I flew to San Diego then drove to a wedding in LA so I could go to this brunch on one trip. Whatever you have to do, go.

New Year’s Day family brunch at The Crown Room at the historical Hotel Del Coronado. Loved the vintage style ballroom, so beautiful and grand, the window seatings with views are the best!
The brunch set up was very nice, great layouts of buffet stations, very easy to walk and choose food. I was a little surprised that it was not even crowded on New Year’s Day, considering the hotel was packed. I guess at a whopping $ 90 per person, this can never be the first choice of brunch for majority people. Definitely come here hungry much, not good for Vegetarians and Vegans, it would be a huge waste of money.
Basic brunch cocktails like Bloody Mary, Mimosa and Bellini. The mimosas were ok, the Bloody Mary was very good, spicy and salty, just what I needed at the moment!
Brunch food was extensive, many stations to choose from, we didn’t try all the food, for me it’s all about seafood and fruits, hubby went for meats of course.
The brunch food we tried:
Seafood: clam chowder soup, fresh oysters, snow crab legs, jumbo shrimps, smoked salmon and trout fish, baked whole grouper fish, seafood salad, seafood cioppino, squid salad and baked salmon.
The jumbo shrimps were so good, very fresh and tender, loved the housemade cocktail sauce. Smoked trout was bomb, I had 3 helpings, very flavorful and delicious! Baked grouper was tender with nice light flavors, so yummy.
Traditional breakfast items: I loved the breakfast potatoes with olives, so comforting. Hubby had bacon, Mom had waffles. They were ok according to them.
Omelet station: hubby and parents had two omelets made with mushrooms, spinach and ham, they said they were delicious. There were so many things to make omelets, but I just wasn’t in the mood for that.
Carving stations: turkey, prime rib and lamb, that’s all I remembered cause I don’t usually pay attention on meats.
The prime rib was so good, hubby and parents loved it, very good quilty meat with nice flavors.
Dessert stations: cakes, cupcakes, cheese cakes, chocolate fountain, puddings, muffins, and so much more. I have never seen so many desserts at any brunch buffets!
Juices and fruits: there were three choices of juice, I had some melons, pineapples and berries, they were so fresh and tasty, great with fruit puddings.
There were some more other foods like assorted cheese, cured meats, raw and cooked vegetables, beef stew, breads and breakfast pastries.
The food was really delicious, but I think this place is better for meat lovers and dessert lovers. For me, I’d expected more and higher quilities of seafood for the price, and better mimosas! The service was good but not great, our waitress was friendly but she kept forgetting about bringing our stuffs, no idea what was with her. Other than that, all the staffs were very polite and pleasant.
Overall it was a lovely New Year’s Day brunch with family, my parents were happy with the brunch experience, hubby was happy to pay for our happiness of course, it’s his job!
Ps. The host gentleman gave us a voucher for valet parking, not free, but it’s cheaper.

Maybe I have very picky taste buds but I found Sunday brunch here to be just average.
The champagne was terrible that I did not even want to drink it.
They do offer an incredible variety of food in their buffet but I did not think the food was that great. If I am going to pay $ 85 per person, I want to feel like I am getting my money’s worth. And this was just not the case.
It is definitely an Iconic thing to do in this city and it is just a beautiful building, but I don’t believe in sacrificing food quality for a venue.

We were very excited to try The Crown Room but the experience was mediocre at best. Not sure if I went to the same Sunday brunch buffet that all the other reviewers went to but the food, especially the seafood, left a lot to be desired.
One would assume that the seafood would be the highlight of the buffet being that you can see the ocean from the room. Alas, the seafood station was stocked with limp, lethargic and extremely underwhelming sea dwelling creatures. The oysters were «dry», fishy and lacked any liquor, the crab (I’m allergic but my wife had some) was dry and lacked freshness, the lobster pasta was gross (extremely fishy), etc.
The only station that I enjoyed as a whole was the standard breakfast station. The freshly-​made waffles were very good when topped with maple syrup, fresh whipped cream and strawberries. In addition, the chilaquiles were good (as long as you got them fresh). I also found the egg soufflé to be tasty.
The prime rib was just ok and the leg of lamb tasted like mutton. The cured meat station was mediocre but the cheese station had a robust selection.
In a nutshell, the brunch buffet was just meh.
On the bright side, the service was good and friendly.
I do not recommend their brunch buffet at all, however, the hotel and the grounds were beautiful.

Amazing place to try out at least once. The crew is amazingly humble and the food is on POiNT!
— cheese section
–omelet section
–waffle section
— tomato section
— dessert section
— seafood section
— chocolate fountain
— meat section. Which i can care less for since i dont eat meat.
Only negative is. Its 86 a person.

Hands down one of the best brunch buffets in San Diego! But also the most expensive brunch ever. Luckily my friend had a buy one get one free deal (don’t ask me how, she finds amazing deals… its magic!).
We made a reservation and got there on time. We did have to wait a bit for the previous party to leave. They sat us next to the window with the lovely view of the ocean. As soon as we sat down the waiter came over with a tray of mimosas. Even my friend who doesn’t drink had a mimosa. Throughout our brunch they kept on giving us mimosas, we didn’t even have to ask for refills because they would put one down before the other glass was finished.
So much food to choose from. Everything in the seafood section looked fresh and was delicious. There is a carving station, omelet station, an amazing array of desserts and the list goes on and on. I think I had a food coma for the rest of the day.
If you get a chance to come here, you won’t regret it.

I love hotel brunches. While this isn’t the best brunch I have ever been to, it ranks right up there. The dining room is huge, the selection is great, and you can get a photo with a crown chandelier on your head.
The seafood was the highlight for me but the deserts were good too.

I think the Sunday brunch buffet is pretty awesome. I snagged the 2 for 1 Facebook deal so I didn’t have to fork over the ~80 bucks/​person for a buffet… gotta stay ballin’ on a budget :) My friend and I got there around 10 am and we were seated right away near a window with a gorgeous view of Hotel del Coronado’s grounds with the ocean in the background. Our server was at our table promptly to start us off right away with mimosas. These were also refilled in a timely manner– A+ service!
There is really a lot of variety here but I think it’s the best deal if you are a big seafood eater. Unfortunately, crab legs freak me out so I didn’t go near those. They had the usual omelette station, pancakes, waffles, along with platters and platters of cute pastries and desserts. I got the eggs benedict, which I loved. There are meats, cheeses, pasta, fondue… just a whole myriad of things. This is why we got there early so we could spend a solid few hours trying out everything. I enjoyed myself and was thoroughly obsessed with the mini Tabasco bottles that they had at every table. Once you’re done eating to your heart’s content, you can walk around the beautiful hotel or along the beach.
Side note: This is a super late review as I was here in 2012, which was also when that 2 for 1 deal was floating around, haven’t seen one recently since then, but keep an eye out on Facebook Offers.
I’m not convinced that the price tag is worth it since I’ve paid half the price for fairly comparable Vegas buffet experiences.