A Must Experience
My wife and I are always looking for a better place to eat and having lived in La Jolla for over 50 years I have tried all the restaurants here. I would have to rate Jacks #1 for the best food, the most interesting setting, excellent service and FINALLY some night life in La Jolla. Jacks is now our #1 choice for dinning in San Diego and it should be a must try for anyone who enjoys eating.
California Dreamin'
Finally someone has created the ideal restaurant/bar scene! You don't have to leave the building for a change of scenery, this place is 5 bars in one. The casual grille and lounge downstairs is overlooked by trendy and talented DJ's and every night upstairs in the Wall Street bar is straight out of a dream. The atrium in which the restaurant consumes, eludes just the right amount of fresh air, moonlight, and stars to make the 25 foot sheer white curtains that surround the dining room seem like your still in your canope bed! And if cocktails and strangers in your bed isn't enough, the food is dynamite too! The tuna tartare is out of this world, and seasoned with ginger vinaigrette, you couldn't dream up better flavor. With a Chef from New York City, its no wonder why this place is on its way to being the best San Diego has to offer. Don't miss out!
Life in La Jolla
Jack's La Jolla is unlike any other restaurant in San Diego. Each floor creates an atmoshpere different than the others. It allows you to be 4 places in a one time stop. The wine bar lounge is filled with cozy couches and a piano man creating an ambiance perfect for sipping a martini and chatting with friends. As far as the food is concerned Executive Chef Tony DiSalvo is a culinary genius. The taste and presentation of the food is unbeatable.
Fantastic!
My wife and I had dinner at Jack's last week and it was incredible. The food, the decor, the service, the wine list... Jack's is definetely my favorite restaurant in San Diego now....
My new Favorite Spot
Jack's is what La Jolla has been waiting for. I can have a delicious dinner in a casual atmosphere, listen to live music and best of all "beautiful people watch!" and I dont have to drive all the way downtown. Jack's is my new favorite spot!
Splendicious
I took a party of eight people to Jack's. One couple was from Denver, one from LA, and the other two from san Diego. Our food was awesome...we had everybody order a different dish so we could all try other's. Service by Alexa and help from Tara was prompt and courteous. Both were very attractive. We then went to the lounge below and listened to the piano player and had after dinner drinks. The people were as attractive as the food was good. 5 stars!
Always great!
My girlfriends and I live in La Jolla. We have been going to Jack's for a few months now. We always had fun at the Grille and recently had dinner in their fine dining restaurant. Our experience was just.... fabulous ! From our waitress, Alexa to Jerome, the wine director, the staff was very helpful, polite and took care very good care of us... and yes ,the previous reviewer is right, the staff and the people at Jack's are hot !
The food was just incredible.. my girlfriends and I shared a few dishes and we couldnt believe how well prepared everything was.
To the other reviewer... Yes it wasnt cheap but it wasnt crazy expensive either. We spent about $100 each but it was well worth it... With an entree, an apetizer, a drink and a bottle of wine. We LOVE Jack's and I will definetely come back !
Finally
What a find... We happened upon Jack's La Jolla on a sunny Friday afternoon; we had several refreshing, innovative cocktails at the beach bar while watching the sunset, quite lovely! We stayed and had an incredible dinner in fine dining, we absolutely loved the celery root soup, phenomenal service too! We then danced upstairs, and ended the night by retreating to the downstairs wine bar for after dinner drinks. It was a prefect evening. Finally, a very welcome addition to both the cuisine and night life in La Jolla!
fabulous night!
I just got back from a fabulous evening at Jack's La Jolla. Probably the best meal ever. I left feeling full and content.
The atmosphere itself is very breezy, airy and comfortable. The staff is courteous, knowledgable and helpful. They didn't intrude or come around too often. It was a great night.
I started with the crab salad which was delightfully decadent. My fiancee ordered the lobster soup which was probably my favorite. Huge, generous chunks of lobster, surrounded by a gorgeous bisque and then a few apple slices to sweeten. I wish I ordered that!
Then I had the sea bass with eggplant which was marvelous. The right combination of spices to make it memorable. My fiancee chose the lamb and as he just told me it was the best lamb he ever had, the woman from the next table said the exact same thing. Both geneours portions but perfect for the plate. Dessert consisted of a warm citrus tart which was melt in your mouth. Overall, it was a wonderful atmposphere surrounded by more than wonderful food and people 5 stars easy!
Wonderful Night
This was the second time my wife and I visited Jacks La Jolla. We wanted to try the new Ocean View Room and we couldn't have been more pleased. This is by far the best room in the house in our opinion. Excellent food, the service was wonderful and the sunset incredible. We highly recommend this to other SanDiegoRestaurants.com members!
Swanky
I made a last minute reservation for Friday night at 7:30pm, although my first selection was for the ocean view room but all the reservations were full so we chose the grille. It was fantastic! The atmosphere was very hip and swanky with live music and open air dining next to a very modern outdoor fire. I enjoyed the simple and short menu so it was easy to decide on our choice of entrees. We started off with dungness crab spring rolls which you wrap in lettuce and mint leaves which were esquisite. There was definately a hearty helping of crap within the rolls. My girlfriend and I both decided on the filet minon with arugala salad. For 16 dollars it was a very reasonable and quite delicious for the price and came with made from scratch oninon rings. I will definately be coming back and I definately recommend it to anyone looking for a swanky yet price friendly place to eat.
Incredible!
We absolutely love this place. The food combinations are creatively amazing and we had the freshest, tastiest fish we've ever had in a restaurant. Our waiter George and our servers were wonderfully attentive and made our evening the best. Our dinner was just perfect.....great food, drinks, and a beautiful setting, we will surely be back to check out the Ocean View Room and the Grill.
looking forward to the next visit
My first visit to Jacks started with a friendly and professional host staff..Once being seated, my server George lead me through the menu and gave me excellent suggestions for both wine and food. The Chef sent out an amuse bouche and also a middle course, a wonderful surprize. I left glowing ..I can't wait to visit every concept at Jacks...They are a MUST in San Diego
Perfect
I was leaving San Diego, due to my end of service in the Marines, and my girlfriend flew out to spend the last days with me. I decided to have a very nice evening out. It couldnt have been more perfect. The restaurant is very lively and very well themed. The atmosphere is very romantic, perfect for a special night out. The food is simply amazing. Just thinking about it now is making my mouth water. Great restaurant for dates, anniversaries, and for times with that special someone. It will be sure to impress them.
My best meal ever!
Jack's Dining Room provided me with the best meal of my life the evening I was there. My friend and I did the seven-course tasting menu and my palate had the night of its life! The wait staff was superb, the atmosphere ideal, each course impeccable--and the variety of flavors and foods you get to sample is just fantastic. My favorite dishes had to have been the foie gras with berry compote and white chocolate, steamed halibut, and chocolate creme brulee with chocolate sorbet. This restaurant is perfect for a romantic evening with a date or enjoying a wonderful meal with friends. Yes, it'll cost more than an average restaurant meal, but every dollar is well-spent! You will not be disappointed.
Impressive
We ate at the Ocean View Room. The service was excellent, and the food was fantastic. We especially loved the grilled swordfish with an outstanding carmelized sauce. The veggie side dish (creamed spinach with pine nuts) was delicious, but very small. The same was true for the chocolate cake with caramel ice cream - delicious, but very small. I would reccommend the Ocean View Room for its ambience and its delicious food.
Great dining experience
My wife and I stopped by for lunch on a Saturday. The staff was professional and courteous - and all very good looking. There was a guitar player singing in the dining room who was doing a great job setting the mood.
We both ordered a soup as a starter - I had a Thai Coconut Soup with Crab and Veggies, my wife had an English Pea Soup with Basil. Both soups were absolutely delicious and although complex, had a nice flavor that left us wanting more.
I then had a smoked salmon plate and my wife had a pear and arugula salad. Like the soup, the dishes were exremely complex and blended many ingredients. The salmon plate consisted of three small slices of salmon with potatoes, fried onions, fresh dill and a dill infusion on the side. It was extremely tasty although not very filling. This did not really dissappoint me because I did order a tapa plate and not one of the lunch courses - I could see from my wife's lunch and looking at some of the other food coming out of the kitchen that the main courses were fairly generous in portion.
My wife's salad looked wonderful, but I did not try it. I will next time we go.
Neither of us were drinking (my wife is pregnant), but the ice tea was fruity and refreshing.
The restaurant itself very stylish, and great attention was paid to detail. There were fresh flowers at all of the tables, and even in my tea. The kitchen was pretty quick and there were plenty of people floating around to bring fresh bread or refill my drink.
Lunch was a bit pricey - it came out to just over $50 with the tip and I went away still unsatisfied - I was not full, and the food was so good it left me wanting more. That is the only reason I rated the restaurant with 4 stars instead of five. Don't let that dissuade you from going. Dining here was a wonderful experience and I plan on going back in the future.
Off night?
My wife and I were on vacation and tried to make a last minute (5:00 PM) reservation for "fine dining" on Wednesday night. My call was transferred to voice mail - but I my call was returned in approximately 30 minutes and the reservation was confirmed. I received another call at 6:30 confirming my reservation, but no one remembered making the first call - strange but not fatal. We were promptly seated and noticed the sound from the casual bar scene below - not what I expect from a fine dining experience. Our order was taken promptly and politely - but my first two wine selections were not available. I was told the sommelier would “personally make a selection” but the water brought me a bottle of the sauvignon blanc which was also available by the glass. The wine was fine, but let me feeling the impressive list was a façade. Our first course – lobster and foie gras were tasty, but our entrees snapper and cod were marred respectively by overcooking and too much salt. The desserts (soufflé and meringue) were good. While none of this is horrible - I can’t tolerate “off nights” for a $100 per person dinner.
Ho-hum
Jack's Dining Room is an average restaurant with average service with a fair selection of wine and a fun almost whimsical selection of entrees. The seating is the Dining Room not intimate, being open to the main throughfare that leads to most of the other sections of the restaurant. We made reservations the day before and I was surprised that I got the time I asked for. Arriving approximately 15 minutes before our time we were left to stand in the foyer. We let ourselves in out of the night chill and watched as our table was cleared. About every 5 minutes the hostess informed us that it would be 5 more minutes. We were seated 5 minutes late.
Table service was not rushed which is a treat but was inexperienced. It took nearly 10 minutes to ask us if we wanted cocktails and when they arrived each glass had a chip, one of which was hidden by a wedge of lime. Our waiter's memorized patter was uninspiring. Perhaps we expected more considering the location and self description.
Not a place to dress. Not a place for special occasions. Leave the tie at home. A place for overpriced jeans and exposed shirt tails.
The lounge, however, was a buzz of activity, music, dancing, and lively conversation! And that is the draw of Jack's.
Will we return? Unlikely. San Diego has its share of average restaurants. What's one more?
Not right for us
Based on the other reviews, we were really looking forward to our evening at Jack's Dining Room. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be a good choice for our tastes. While we recognize that Jack's Dining Room is trying to do something different, it was all just a little too different for us. More specifically, the menu is relatively limited and the preparations are all very exotic.
We were both in the mood for a really nice Caesar Salad to start off with, but sadly there was none to be had. We both tried the Spice Crusted Black Sea Bass entree and it was served with the skin still on the fish, which we both felt detracted from the dish as a whole. Although the skin was easily removed, this unfortunately resulted in all the spices also being removed. There were no side dishes to choose from, which was also disappointing. With regard to the service, we were celebrating a very special occasion and requested a nice booth in advance. However, from our perspective, the booth we were seated in was one the least desirable options (and there appeared to be others available). Upon being seated, it was then somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes before we were greeted by the waiter. The restaurant was not busy at all, so this seemed like a very long wait. The waiter took great care to make sure all aspects of our meals were thoroughly explained when served, but then strangely, no one stopped back to ask if we were satisfied with our meals until we were essentially finished (a major pet peeve).
To their credit, they served us some complimentary champagne and some small dessert candies to help us celebrate our anniversary, but we were really in the mood for a nice piece of cheesecake, which was not on the menu. To put this review in perspective, we have been to many of the finest restaurants in San Diego, so this was not our first foray into upscale dining. What we look for in a really good restaurant is high quality ingredients expertly prepared, not necessarily exotically prepared.
That said, there are obviously many people who really like what Jack’s Dining Room has to offer, but if your tastes aren’t quite that exotic, there are quite a few other places that you would probably find more enjoyable. In hindsight, I’m wondering if Jack’s Ocean Room would have been more to our liking. Regardless, I would recommend that you thoroughly read the menus for both and decide for yourself.
Style but no substance...
Here, in my opinion is a place that can't decide if it's a restaurant, bar or night club. The food was good on the main floor and very good on the second level, but was ruined by the noise and over-all pick-up sceen. As far as staff goes, the servers were good, the Management seemed in over their heads and the bartenders are perhaps the worst around.
Go very early for dinner and then go someplace with more class for cocktails.
Service
The food was superb.......very well presented, innovative and excellent taste. The service was very poor.......we never received water and bread until we asked for a manager(after the entree or main course was served.) 45 minutes to receive appetizer and 45 minutes after completing appetizer to receive main course and one hour after to receive dessert. Reserved fine dining room which indicated high casual and yet, many patrons not dressed high casual but in "jeans and t-shirts." Why dress for high casual? $157.00 later very
disappointed despite manager's best try to make amends. Certainly, not San Diego's "new hottest spot" Needs some attention......... Manager advised too many reserved parties arrived at once....approximately 70%..Why overbook?
Too bad......chef was excellent.
Off Night???
After reading the reviews, I decided to make a reservation for Jack's Dining Room to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday. I had also planned to take her to the 10:30 pm Comedy Show, which was just down the street so I made the reservation for 8:00 pm. My girlfriend and I got there 10 minutes before 8 pm and we were told by the hostess that they were getting a booth ready for us. She then told us that we can wait at the bar and led us to the bar. We had a drink at the bar thinking that it wouldn't take that long but it took us 30 minutes before we got seated. There was also a couple that had to wait at the bar, who arrived just minutes after we did. Once we got seated, the other couple got seated across from us. It took a little bit long for the waitress to take our order. We put our order in and got our entrees at around 9:45 pm. The waitress did gave us complementary appetizers. The food was good but after having to wait for so long, we just kind of lost our appetize. We could tell that the other couple across from us was very dissatisfy and we overheard them telling the waitress that. Since it was getting late, we couldn't get dessert or else we'll miss the 10:30 comedy show. Overall, this wasn't the best experience for us. Service was decent but for the money that I paid, I would not go there again. I'm not sure if it was just an off night for Jack's but we weren't the only couple that was dissappointed.
Totally Not Worth It
We went to Jack's Grille, knowing the atmosphere would be more casual - but still expecting good ambiance and food. That's what you get for believing a website. Crowded, noisy bar in the middle of the restaurant (by the way, this was only 7:30 at night). Sushi was paper-thin, and not good. Menu is limited, and the many other items we tried were just o.k. Wine was average for the price. Piano player is actually in the same large room as the restaurant and the bar - which would be nice, except that you can not really hear it for all the noise. By the time we were done our meal, it was standing-room only in the piano area...which was a shame, because that was our main draw...and most people were only there to drink, just taking up space. A glorified bar with high-priced, mediocre munchies.
Not happy!!
Hawaiian Hamachi? Since when do yellow tail end up in Hawaiian waters. Makes me question the cheifs basic knowledge of seafood. Service sucked took 1 hour to get everyone at the table a drink, there were 10 of us. Our waitress had only our party and still needed help from waiters in othe areas. The pizza was lousey, and the portions were small. I think this cheif and his retaurant should go back to New York. Don't waste your hard eared dough at this place, there are far better restaurants in the area.
not happy
Hawaiian Hamachi? No such thing but yet its on the first page of their menu. Any avid fisherman knows this is true. Makes me question the chefs common knowledge of seafood. Waitress took 40 min to complete a drink order for a party of 8 we didn't even have wine.. The food was small portioned and okay. Much better restaurants on the block, nice place to have a drink if your at the bar.
Hawaiian Hamachi ???
Waitress was very slow, took a very long time to complete one drink order. Who's ever heard of hawaiian hamachi, yellowtail don't exist in hawaiian waters. I think the chef needs to do some homework on some very basic fish species. The food was okay. A lot better options on the block.
Tasting Menus
We recently went to Jack's La Jolla to try one of their offered tasting menus.
I would just like to advise anyone considering going there in order to try the tasting menu to ask to see what the tasting menu is before you order it as we ordered the seven-course tasting menu and were served only six courses of which four were off the appetizer section of the menu and only one entree selection and then dessert which included a "pre-dessert." And when we asked to see the menu of what we were served that evening as our courses, that's when we noticed that they had forgotten to serve us one of the entrees which the waitress clearly marked off as us having received.
When we mentioned the mistake to the waitress, we were told that the "pre-dessert" was one of our seven courses. The five-course menu clearly lists two selections off of the entree section of the menu. We asked to speak to a manager and had to wait and wait and wait until the MOD finally came over and we explained the situation to her. She said it didn't sound right either and that she would adjust the check.
In the end, they didn't adjust the check as the manager had promised, but gave us the GM's card to call and discuss the matter with him as he was too busy to talk with us.
Unfortunately, someone made a mistake that evening....too bad it ended up being us that we had chosen Jack's to dine at.
