In celebration of its 100th disaster-free year, the Cliff House, one of San Francisco's oldest restaurants, is offering guests a fine-dining experience for a fraction of the cost.

Until the end of the year, guests can enjoy a special three-course, prix fixe dinner for $19.09 every Wednesday evening at the family-friendly Bistro Restaurant. Lunch for $20.09 is offered on Tuesdays in the upscale Sutro room.

According to waitress Kaelyn Zatto, the "$19.09 Wednesdays" are a hit among penny savers and budget-conscious young people out on dates.

While these special dinners and lunches are pre-set, all three courses change every week.

"The menu depends on what the chef feels like," said Zatto, who has been working at the Cliff House for two years. "We serve only high quality meat and line-caught fish."

A prix fixe dinner, created a week ago, includes a colorful spinach-strawberry salad appetizer topped with ricotta salata cheese, sweetened pecans and a balsamic vinaigrette derived from muscat grapes. The main course consists of a dense meatloaf, glazed with barbecue sauce, served over a generously portioned plate of fluffy mashed potatoes.

Executive Chef Kevin Weber, a 33-year veteran employee of the restaurant, admits to becoming a bit nostalgic while serving the meatloaf dinner. "Food is a memory, it brings back a lot of things," he said, reminiscing of his mother's meatloaf recipe.

"To me, that's the definition of comfort food -- it brings back pleasant memories."

Weber ended the meal on a sweet note, spoiling his guests with a peach cobbler and chantilly cream. With juicy peaches at the peak of their season, the warm cobbler tastes extremely fresh, and the brown layer of cinnamon sprinkled onto the white chantilly cream gives off a mouthwatering aroma.

Five cooks, who sometimes serve as many as 500 guests over a five-hour span, beautifully arrange the generous portions. While he insists that his creative approach to serving traditional San Franciscan cuisine attracts both tourists and locals, Weber also gives credit to the breathtaking view on the vast ocean and Sutro bath ruins.

"It is impossible to quantify the view," Weber said. "It's absolutely beautiful and it changes every day."

For more than two centuries, tourists and locals alike have come to Point Lobos in hopes of enchantment by a nightly spectacle. The setting sun floating across a purple-tinged sky and disappearing into the rolling waves of the Pacific is a typical panorama that guests at the Cliff House have grown accustomed to.

"The location is key," said Antal Bata, who enjoyed a steak dinner at the Cliff House while vacationing in San Francisco with his family from Canada. "There aren't too many places with such a view and great food."

The Cliff House stands strong and sturdy today, having survived two major earthquakes since it was first constructed in 1863. The iconic sea cliff eatery succumbed twice to fires that burned the restaurant all the way down to its foundations.

"During the earthquake, we lost just one bottle of wine -- and we think the bartender dropped it," Weber said, in reference to the 1989 earthquake.

Since it was last rebuilt, with fireproofing, the restaurant may have shrunk in size, but it did not lose its appeal. The historic Sutro bath ruins, once known as the world's largest indoor swimming pool complex, served as a blueprint during the reconstruction of the Cliff House.

The food, too, has changed over the years. "The atmosphere used to overshadow the cuisine," said 19-year-old Eve Alloy, who studies in London but has dined at the Cliff House several times. "As a student, I always thought it was expensive."

It is this ambiance, combined with the restaurant's intriguing history, that has made the Cliff House appealing for food fanatics, history buffs and people who want to get their money's worth.