If you are deciding where to book for San Diego restaurant week, start with the one in Mission Hills where the produce was picked a few miles away that morning. Farmer’s Bottega is a farm-to-table restaurant on West Washington Street, led by Sicilian-born Chef Alberto Morreale, and it serves a multi-course prix-fixe built around local growers each season Restaurant Week comes around. The kitchen has done this since 2014, so the prix-fixe is not a watered-down version of the regular cooking. It is the regular cooking, plated for the occasion.
Here is what that looks like on the plate. The bread arrives warm. A first course leans on whatever Stehly Farms and Specialty Produce dropped off that week, dressed simply so the vegetables do the talking. Then a main that Chef Morreale has been cooking for years, finished with herbs from the restaurant’s own garden out back. The point of Restaurant Week at a place like this is not the discount alone, though the value is real. It is the chance to sit down to a full menu from a kitchen that already knows what it is doing.
How San Diego Restaurant Week actually works
San Diego Restaurant Week runs twice a year, typically in January and again in mid-September, and it lasts eight days rather than a single week. More than 100 restaurants take part, from Oceanside down to Chula Vista, each offering a fixed-price multi-course menu. According to the official San Diego Restaurant Week site, lunch menus start at $30 and dinner menus start at $45, with the exact courses set by each restaurant.
You do not need a ticket. Reservations, on the other hand, are strongly encouraged, because prime tables fill up fast once the menus go live. The event is organized through the California Restaurant Association, and you can browse every participating menu online before you commit. That makes it easy to read exactly what a kitchen is putting out before you book a seat.
Why a farm-to-table restaurant is the right call
Plenty of places join Restaurant Week. Fewer build the whole menu around what local farms are harvesting that week. That is the difference at this farm to table restaurant San Diego diners have leaned on for over a decade. The prix-fixe is not assembled from a freezer; it follows the season, which is why the dishes shift between the January and September events.
Local sourcing is also how the wider industry pulls its weight. The California Restaurant Association notes that restaurants anchor long supply chains across farming, food production, and logistics, so a meal that starts with a nearby grower keeps more of that activity in the region. At Farmer’s Bottega, that connection is the founding idea, not a marketing line. You can read more on the Mission Hills farm-to-table page.
What to expect from the prix-fixe menu
The Restaurant Week menu mirrors the dinner service the kitchen runs the rest of the year. Expect a structured multi-course format: a starter, a main, and a dessert, with a couple of choices at each step. The exact dishes change with the season and with what the farms deliver, so the September menu reads differently from the winter one.
If you want a sense of the cooking before you arrive, the regular dinner menu is the best preview, and the full menus page covers brunch and the rest. Many signature plates carry into the prix-fixe. One worth knowing is the braised short rib, which has a following of its own around town, covered in our piece on the best short rib in San Diego.
The setting: a secret garden in Mission Hills
The dining room is rustic without trying too hard, and there is a hidden garden patio that regulars tend to request first. For a Mission Hills restaurant San Diego locals already treat as a neighborhood staple, the room does a lot of quiet work. String lights, greenery, and enough space between tables to actually hear the person across from you.
The Sicilian roots run through the whole place, from Chef Morreale’s cooking to the way the staff treat a table like company rather than a transaction. If you are curious how the restaurant came together, the our story page lays it out. It is the kind of room that turns a Restaurant Week reservation into a repeat visit.
Pairings, cocktails, and booking early
A prix-fixe dinner is better with something in the glass next to it. The bar leans toward craft cocktails and a wine list chosen to sit alongside the seasonal cooking. Restaurant Week is a good moment to order a pairing you might skip on an ordinary Tuesday, since the kitchen is plating with intention.
Then book. Tables for a farm to table dinner San Diego diners want during Restaurant Week go quickly, especially the weekend slots and the garden patio. Booking early also gets you the time you actually want rather than a 5:15 or a 9:30 by default. Reserve your table as soon as the menus post, and confirm the current dates there or on the official event site.
One more reason to come back
Restaurant Week is an introduction, not the whole story. Diners who book the prix-fixe in September often return for brunch in the garden a few weeks later, or for a quiet weeknight dinner once the crowds thin out. That repeat habit is the real measure of a kitchen.
If brunch is more your speed, our guide to what to order at brunch is a good next read. And if you have done Restaurant Week here before, our write-up of a prior Restaurant Week visit goes deeper on the experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is San Diego Restaurant Week in fall 2026?
It typically lands in mid-September and runs eight days. Sources point to the second half of September 2026, but dates can shift, so confirm the exact window on the official San Diego Restaurant Week site or on our reservation page before you plan.
How much does the prix-fixe cost and what is included?
Across the event, lunch menus start at $30 and dinner menus start at $45 for a multi-course meal. At Farmer’s Bottega the dinner prix-fixe follows the season and the local harvest, so the exact courses are posted with each event. Drinks and gratuity are separate.
Do I need a reservation?
Tickets are not required, but reservations are strongly recommended and the best slots go fast. Book as soon as the menus are live to get the table and time you want.
Where exactly is Farmer’s Bottega?
We are at 860 W Washington St in Mission Hills, San Diego, CA 92103. You can reach us at (619) 458-9929 with any questions about the Restaurant Week menu or your booking.
Ready to Get Started?
Make this Restaurant Week the one where you finally book the farm-to-table dinner everyone keeps recommending in Mission Hills.
Reserve your table or call us at (619) 458-9929.