Azzura Point Restaurant

Ratings: Baby/Child Friendliness: Romance: More about the ratings... Contact Information At: Loews Coronado Bay Resort 4000 Coronado Bay Road Coronado, California 92118 Phone: (619) 424-4000 Fax: (619) 424-4400 www.fourseasons.com

As a family traveler, Azzura Point Restaurant is, to me, the highlight of the elegant Loews Coronado Bay Resort.

I highly recommend the elegant Azzura Point Restaurant where I found a staff extremely attentive to my baby, which started with the pleasant manager, Kate Lindner, who happily greeted me, my husband, and four month-old Mandalin in her stroller at the front entrance when we arrived. A welcoming attitude towards babies is often a rarity in upscale restaurants. Yet, as I embarked upon the three-step elevation toward my table, several waiters rushed to help me lift the stroller.

The restaurant has been touted, and rightly so, for its romantic ambiance with its stunning view of the Coronado Bridge and San Diego skyline, but special mention should also be made of its appropriateness for babies and young children. The staff makes an effort to move parents with youngsters away from kitchen and customer traffic into a side booth or table.

The dimly lit room evokes a "California Riviera" feeling with a rich color range of taupe, gold, and green. Venetian style chandeliers, softly colored chenille chairs, and suede and gold silk charmeuse draperies add to the atmosphere. The room contains textured decorative columns and a wall mural depicting two cheetahs. Spanish style guitar music playing softly in the background made Mandalin so comfortable she went to sleep for our entire meal.

The tables and booths are large and adequately separated from each other, enabling a toddler to sit comfortably and a parent to easily hold a baby during the meal; the large pillows found in the booths certainly promote this. The staff does not make you feel rushed and instead encourage you to enjoy your meal in a leisurely, relaxed manner.

I ordered the Chef's Menu, a six-course meal at $75.00 along with the optional wines brought with each course for an additional $35.00. This unforgettable tasting experience started with osetra caviar, followed by Maine lobster risotto, then the seared turbot, leading to the roasted muscovy duck breast, followed with a very French style cheese course, and, finally, a vacherin of Bartlett pear. The accompanying wines were impressive, particularly the perrin, a sweet, white wine brought with the Bartlett pear dessert. Lovers of dessert wines will also enjoy their banfi, a sweet, red wine. As with most sophisticated restaurants, the portions were rather small, but delicately displayed. Each course was excellent and satisfying. For me, this meal at Azzura Point was the highlight of my stay at Loews Coronado Bay Resort. I feel that this restaurant is the resort's biggest asset.