We’re hearing that the Gaslamp’s Dussini’s Mediterranean Bistro will convert the downstairs restaurant back to The Old Spaghetti Factory. Downstairs will close for remodeling February 1 and will reopen for dinner only.  Upstairs will continue to be the Dussini lounge and bar with a smaller tapas menu.

The Better Half, one the successful new restaurants of 2008 will see staff changes with the departure of its creator, Zubin Desai who sold the business to his executive chef, John Robert Kennedy.  Desai plans to relocate to the Bay area in the next few months.

Tommy Pastrami is coming to San Diego.  First location will be downtown with some of the best deli corned beef, pastrami, tuna and chopped liver sandwiches you will ever find in this town.  Last May Buzz mentioned them here.

Bankers Hill:  Fifth Avenue must be a magnet for sushi.  The area already has two sushi restaurants: Azuki Sushi Lounge and Mukashi within a few blocks of each other.  Now a third, Hane Sushi & Bar on Fifth Avenue at Olive arrives in the same block as Mukashi. For the non-sushi palate,  Avenue 5 Restaurant & Bar sits between the two.  Buzz hasn’t yet  tried Hane or Azuki.

Gaslamp: The Gaslamp’s latest addition is Opera Caffe for Italian with a Tuscan twist from owner Roberto Bernadoni who had restaurants in Florence before he came to be the chef at La Strada for past 16 years. EXY Restaurant & Lounge downtown is closed for remodeling.

Stu Milner, formerly the bar manager extraordinaire at Paradise Point’s Baleen took his shaker and stirrer to The Royal Hawaiian’s upscale restaurant, Azure, on Waikiki.  The recently reopened Starwood property also houses the famous Mai Tai Bar that a friend  mentioned is the first place she visits every time she arrives in Oahu.

New: Beer lovers rejoice:  A pizza and brewery is set to open at 34^th and Adams in Normal Heights called Blind Lady Craft Pizza and Beer and is a venture of Lee Chase and three partners.  Chase started Stone Brewery and worked there for nine plus years.For pasta and pizzas, Pastalini a casual pasta bar is open on Miramar Road.

It appears that some San Diego restaurateurs think of Restaurant Week as an easy way to fill seats without having to give good service or present a menu that showcases the regular menu.  And many customers are grumbling about the added 20 percent “service charge” or tip, especially at the $40 dinners.  Diners beware that a $40 dinner does not include tax and tip or beverages, so, at the bare minimum, your tab will be roughly $50 before you’ve sipped even a soda. With that tab, you might want to consider dining off the regular menu, if that is available.

Restaurants that put that 20 percent tip on the bill with service that doesn’t match, do themselves a huge disservice to diners. Why?  Because many people use this week as a time to try a new place, but if they feel they’ve been ripped off because of so-so service or an unispired menu, they won’t return, ever.

Let’s hear from you about your experiences during this week and what do you think of the three-tiered pricing?  New York, (where this idea began in the 1990′s) now has more than 250 restaurants at a fixed $35 dinner, plus tax and tip.  Would this be a better idea for San Diego’s Restaurant Week?