I will probably want to buy some basic groceries, so that I won't have to pay W prices for any meals. Are there any Whole Foods kind of stores within walking distance of the W?
Thanks!
The W is just a few blocks from Little Italy.
Not sure when you are planning to go to SD but there is a grocery store planned for Little Italy called Hansens (similar to WF) a few blocks away but it won't open until this summer. There are some small independent grocery stores in Little Italy. Some are very overpriced. It will mostly be Italian foods being Little Italy. There are also a lot of overpriced 7-11s near your hotel.
Your closest large grocery stores currently in SD will be Jimbos (similar to WF) and Ralphs (similar to Safeway, Vons, etc.). They are about 3/4 mile but walking there you want to stay along Broadway because there are some rough areas in between at night. If you are there in a Saturday there is a great farmers market in Little Italy.
If you do plan to go out to eat there are some great restaurants in Little Italy. Little Italy is a date spot so many of them will be expensive, impress your date type places but most have good food. Buon Appetito, La Villa, and Prep Kitchen are some great places. La Villa is doing a $10 pizza promotion right now but everything I have tried there was great. There is also a Japanese ramen place that I hear is good. Another one if you want to go out for dessert is Cafe Zuccero. They sell gelato for $1.30 which is the cheapest place around if you want to go out and people watch. Extraordinary desserts is the trendy place but it's expensive and overpriced IMO. Prep kitchen has a huge pitcher of sangria for $15 until 7pm where you should be able to get about 8 glasses from it - it's the best drinking deal I have found Downtown. They also have great, cheap Papas Bravas for happy hour if you like Spanish tapas.
Some restaurants are very good and cheap. For example there is a little shack on India street that has great Mexican food for under $5 (but not a ton of vegetarian). My BF likes to order a taco for $2 and it's so big you can make it into several. There are a few good pizza places there too. One (NaPizza) uses mostly organic, local ingredients and is good. There is also an organic grassfed burger joint (with vegetarian burgers) called Burger Lounge. Kabab Shop is another good place for a cheap eat (they have veg options too). They also usually have spot and yelp coupons. Sometimes they are also running Groupons.
If you want to walk to the Gaslamp area there are a lot of overpriced tourist restaurants but there are a few good/cheap gems. For example Bice is a great Italian restaurant with $5 happy hour but I don't remember many veg options. If you want to work out the convention center stairs provide one of the best workouts if you want a Rocky Balboa type workout and there is a nice view when you finally reach the top.
If you are planning to visit Hillcrest, there is a Trader Joes and Whole Foods there. It's about a 3-4 mile walk. There is no trolley but there is a bus.
IMO Balboa Park is beautiful but all the food options there are overpriced tourist traps IMO so its best to bring your own food there.
If you have any non-vegetarian people and have some time I highly recommend visiting Tacos El Gordo in Chula Vista. It's right off the blue line trolley just south of Downtown. It's a fast food style Mexican taco shop. They have the best Al Pastor tacos in southern CA IMO.
If you make it out to Kensington for that theater and want Mexican food, there is a great one right across the street but the name is escaping me right now. I think it's Ponces.