Story and photos by Sandi Masori
NATIONAL CITY, California —- San Diego County has just opened its first cannabis consumption lounge down in the South Bay. It’s called Sessions by The Bay and whether you partake in cannabis or not, it’s a trip!
You enter through the dispensary store front at 700 Bay Marina Drive. There you will find a literal and figurative candy store of cannabis options. Their knowledgeable “budtenders” will take time with you answering all the questions you may have about various strains and what may be best for various needs or ailments. I spoke with Risa who took us on a tour of the facility and told us more about the space and the initiative.
We got to peek into the unfinished art experience, a walk-through garden/ forest that hits all your senses. They want the experience to be another layer of discovery when you’re there, so they ask to not take pictures in the art experience space. I will say it’s pretty cool, and I imagine that after consuming cannabis in the lounge it’s probably even trippier.
The museum is not the only sensory experience. Each of their six bathrooms is painted from floor to ceiling in various motifs with props added to enhance the illusion. In one you’re underwater with painted fish swimming about, in another there’s a jungle, in another a waterfall, and yet another takes you to outer space. There’s plenty to look at while you’re doing your other business.
The lounge itself is upstairs. There too you will find plenty to look at. There’s an outside terrace and a large indoor space. The indoor space is made to look like a garden of sorts with fake greenery and trees all around. There are some cozy imaginative areas to sit in, including some that look like giant open bird cages. They have really thought about tantalizing all of your senses.
In the lounge you can bring the cannabis you purchased from the shop below, or have some items available for purchase from the bar there. The bar does not serve alcohol. Only soft drinks and mocktails that can be infused with various forms of cannabis. You can also rent various apparatuses to consume the cannabis, so if there’s a device you’ve been wanting to try, like a volcano or an ookah (both machines for smoking/ vaping), it’s a relatively low price to rent it. Besides cannabis purchased on site, there’s no smoking in the lounge.
Though California cannabis lounges can now prepare their own food (as of Jan 2025), at Sessions the food comes from the restaurant next door, Kimball Bar and Grill, but it’s a special menu worked out just for them. I went with a couple of friends, one of whom is Vegan, and we all found something to our taste.
I ordered the ahi poke rice crisps. They were really good- dare I even say almost dream worthy. Basically it’s a piece of a rice “waffle,” literally rice toasted in a waffle maker until the outside is crispy and the inside chewy, with ahi tuna poke, mango and edamame. The rice has a really nice texture and the dish is very flavorful. I think the poke itself could have been a bit more generous, but otherwise found it to be a tasty dish.
My vegan friend had the kale salad. I took a bit of everyone’s selections just to try them and found the kale salad also to be pretty tasty. It’s got a really nice peanut vinaigrette dressing.
My other friend ordered the Burrata Margherita flatbread and it was okay. In general I find flatbread to be a safe but uninspiring dish and this one was exactly that. It wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t anything to get excited about or to dream about. The other two dishes were something that I could see ordering again, the flatbread not so much, but for those who aren’t very adventurous eaters, they will probably appreciate the ordinariness of the flatbread pizza.
We went at noon so it was pretty quiet with only a handful of other diners there, but I could see how when it’s full it could be a really fun social experience as people are generally pretty friendly and mellow after consuming the cannabis products.
During the day you may not need a reservation but after 3, it gets busy. They take reservations through Open Table so that may be the best way to get a seat. As you can imagine, this is not a place for children. Guests must be 21 and up.
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Associate Editor Sandi Masori is a restaurant and theater reviewer for San Diego Jewish World.
Do you know when the art exhibit opens?
Thank you, Sandi, for exposing me to something of which I was completely unaware! I wonder if the place will become a prototype for more cannabis lounges here in our town.