Top of the Cove

We have been going here for years. The food has consistently been outstanding. The service has always been excellent, but not intrusive. They allow their patrons to relax and enjoy themselves. We go here for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's and Father's Dad, as well as other holidays. The worst experience we have ever had was pretty terrific! Go, enjoy and relax.

We went there for my friend's birthday. We had drinks upstairs, and the the terrace has a wonderful view. When we finally went to the fine dining restaurant, everything was wonderful. The somalia had a great knowledge of wines. I liked the old fashioned style of the restaurant and the tuxedos. The food was delicious. I had the seafood cioppino and it was pricy but good. The chef really knew how to blend his flavors. I recommended this restaurant to my friends and family.

I took my family here to celebrate my daughter's 21st birthday. What a great evening we are still talking about. The service and view are just fabulous, and the menu was great. We enjoyed the fish and steak. The wine list alone was worth the trip. Already made reservations for my birthday in the spring.

I had a great lunch at Top of the Cove. Our waiter was a doll, the view is spectacular, the atmosphere was relaxing and great music is played at the correct volume. I left my credit card like a dummy and they mailed it to me immediately, since I was from out of state. Food was great and I will definitely go back next visit there.

Propbably the best dining view is from this restaurant. However, we found the menu lacking and not diversified enough. The food was just fair and not worth the price.

-Had to wait 40 minutes, even with a reservation secured by credit card. -So-so food, for the prices. -Restrooms could have been cleaner. Next time, I will try George's next door. I don't know how it has come to get such a reputation over the years. Something must have changed. I won't ever go back.

I have been enjoying Top of the Cove for years, unfortunately the last two times I have gone their food was not up to their regular standards. I had beef with was awful, nothing like they had a couple of months ago.. the creme burle was overdone and not worth it at all. Please call the old top of the cove back!

service sucked - food good but not worth price - 3 of us shared two appetizers and had one beer, one soda, one iced tea = 45 bucks! for lunch- the pizza was aweful; the ginger ale has NO refills and cost over three dollars! dont go here!! total waste of money - only thing good is view/ better to walk down to the cove and save a couple 20's

I went to Top of the Cove during S. Pellegrino week, when they have prix fixe dinners and I have to say it was terribly disappointing. Okay, the bread was good. The salad was just barely edible, with lettuce and cold fried brie. My husband and I both got an entree of sliced steak, which was cold when it came out, and it was topped with a gross string of red pepper sauce that looked liked ketchup. It came with an egg salad that had olives and pickles in it. I mean, doesn't that just SOUND gross? The cut of meat was good, but if they did almost anything else to it it would have been better. The best thing would have been the apple en croute, except that when we got it all the ice cream was melted. Service was okay.

I went to Top of the Cove for valentines. I made a reservation 3 weeks in advance and still had to wait 30 minutes for seating. Once seated I had the worst seat in the restaurant, outside in the back corner with absolutely no view. I asked to wait until a better table was available. At 8 pm my wife and I were finally seated at a very good location. After this it was all down hill. The waiter had no knowledge of wines and his service was terrible. We had to request bread and water from the servers. During dinner the waiter only stopped to check on us one time. The restaurant was not extremely busy either. The food was excellent

I went to Top of the Cove for valentines. I made a reservation 3 weeks in advance and still had to wait 30 minutes for seating. Once seated I had the worst seat in the restaurant, outside in the back corner with absolutely no view. I asked to wait until a better table was available. At 8 pm my wife and I were finally seated at a very good location. After this it was all down hill. The waiter had no knowledge of wines and his service was terrible. We had to request bread and water from the servers. During dinner the waiter only stopped to check on us one time. The restaurant was not extremely busy either. The food was excellent but I will never be back.

On the 4th of July, 2003 we reserved a table at Top of The Cove terrrace to have dinner and watch the fire works-BIG MISTAKE!!!There was a mistake on our bill so the waitress called the manager-he was so rude. He went to the owner who was sitting at a nearby table and discussed the problem in front of his companions (about 10 people). The owner then began talking and pointing at us with other guests. In the mean time the manager harrassed us and insulted us a number of times. We would have had a much nicer 4th of July watching from the street. Note: the food was terrible

I have never written to one of these sites before, but I feel compelled to do so after my dinner at the Top of the Cove Cafe last night. We were seated next to a couple who was clearly intoxicated--and the woman was making a scene, sucking the fingers of her date and making other inappropriate sexual gestures. As near as I could tell, the waitstaff did very little to either encourage the woman to stop drinking or indicate to the couple that they were making other diners uncomfortable. (I later learned from our server that another table had already asked to be reseated, further away from the couple.) Approximately 20 minutes into our meal--we were just finishing our appetizer--the woman vomited on the table. We immediately stood and asked to be reseated, which the restaurant accommodated, but the restaurant is small and we could periodically still smell the odor. In addition to the terrible food--our calamari was tough and hopelessly chewy, clams were tiny and unflavorful--the experience was horrendous and the meal price was ridiculous. (I was charged $3.00 for a cup of tea.) I assumed that the staff would offer to comp some portion of our meal, but no offer was ever made. While I feel sorry for our server and the circumstances he was placed in, the situation should have been handled far better. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone--and find it shocking that this location is listed as one of La Jolla's/San Diego's best restaurants.

SPAMMERS

I didn't believe all the bad reviews and went here for Valentine's Day 2005. Worst restaurant in La Jolla and I've been to all of them! Food was late & cold. The spinach in the salad was wilted & crunchy (i.e., unwashed). Waiters chewed gum while serving food, with their mouths open of course. I almost feel guilty for helping to keep this place open.

We should have known that a restaurant known for its view couldn't possibly have good food as well. However, curiousity got the better of us, and one order of fried calamari and two crab cake sandwiches later, we spent $60 (including tip). The food was HORRIFIC. I have made better crab cakes from the frozen section of my grocer's freezer. Fishy and deep fried. The fried calamari could barely be seen. Someone should call Ripley's Believe It or Not to report the world's smallest circles of calamari ever. If you are set on getting a great view of La Jolla's coast, do yourself a favor and have a beer and dessert. DO NOT, under any circumstance, come here to enjoy the food. It was horrific.

This place is the WORST place I have ever eaten. The service was horrible. The restaurant downstairs which is more expensive has lower service than the cheaper upstairs restaurant. I chose the downstairs one because it was my 15th anniversary and I wanted to make it a special night.They only had 1 person that served the whole downstairs. This is supposed to be a fancy restaurant that has lots of money,but only employs 1 person to serve the whole downstairs. They should at least put a nice person there, but they decide to put a JERK!!! To piss me off more when I got my food there was a long hair on my food. When the jerk came he didn't even say sorry.I advise anyone that reads this NOT to go to top of the cove cafe.

Where do I start? Everything about our experience was bad, from the dirty restrooms to the cold food to the poor service to being rushed through the meal...it was all terrible. I went there as part of Restaurant Week, which I figured would be a time when they would put forth some extra effort knowing that it would a great opportunity to impress new customers. What I got was salad with no dressing, a cold entree (which was brought by our waiter while we we still eating our salads)a rubbery, cold desert, no offer of coffee and a completely disinterested waiter who was never around when needed. The same waiter actually presented the check to the folks seated next to us before he brought their dinner. The next time I dine in La Jolla it will be down the street at Azul...the Top of the Cove was terrible.

Tope of the Cove is a mockery of fine dining. Old and dilapidated surroundings, mighty than thou attitude, snail service with a sneer, 20 year old home depot patio furniture, grime filled walls, a wine list from the bargain section of Vons & then there is the food...... tasteless microwave fodder that arrived cold! A truly horrendous restaurant. Avoid like the plague.

My boyfriend made a reservation about three or two weeks before the fourth of July. When he made the reservation, he specifically made it for buffet dinner. When we got to the restaurant about 7:30 pm, we were sent to the top level of the restaurant. Then, we were sent to the lower level. When we finally got to the lower level, we were told that we had been assigned to a lower level which only served dinner not buffet. So then we went to this "manager" or "owner" of the restaurant. I was really upset because from the very beginning, we were sent back and forth from one place to another. I complained to this person who seemed to be the manager or the owner. I explained my situation, stating that if the restaurant were to make any change with the reservation that a customer made, then they should have contacted the customer first and ask for a permission to make a change on the reservation. I said I would not expect this kind of service from this "upscale" restaurant. All he said with his mean and arrogant look with an attitude was basically oh well. He blamed the person who made the reservation for us. His attitude was like if you don't like it, you either accept whatever you have or go somewhere else....so unprofessional, rude, mean, arrogant....I would totally understand if it were just me and my boyfriend...but some other parties were also in the same situation. I don't understand how they could possibly make that mistake...is that their way of providing services to people...is that their way of "marketing"? I don't care how good the view they have...I would rather have the best customer service and have less view...than being treated with disrespect and shit...

Try not to be drawn in by the facade of this restaurant. It may have a lovely view and decent food, but the restaurant is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. My boyfriend and I dined at this restaurant in July 2006. From the moment we walked into the upstairs dining room, we were treated as if we were a nuisance. The "maitre'd"/manager was completely rude and barely acknowledged us. He finally agreed to seat us after we stood waiting in front of him for about ten minutes. We hoped that the service would improve once we were seated at our table. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Our waiter was very unfriendly and the service was terrible. I notified the restaurant of the poor service on two occasions via email, and once via a written letter, but didn't get any sort of response or apology. I then called and spoke with the manager, Colin, who promised he would personally address my concerns, yet he never called me as he promised. This only validates the fact that this pretentious restaurant really is only about a ridiculous facade and poor service. You'd think that you'd receive decent service when spending $45 on a basic lunch, but don't be fooled by this poorly run establishment. My suggestion: Dine at George's on the Cove any day over this pretentious and poorly-run restaurant!

Me and my husband were sitting and waiting for the food for OVER AN HOUR! This was the first disappointment. The food (my husband ordered the steak and I ordered the bass) was not something that we expected from such a fine dining place. I am sure that you can find the better entrees at the same or lower price from La Jolla...

If you are even thinking about going to this restaurant, then I'll have to say PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. If you want terrible food and crappy service, then be my guest. My boyfriend and I were there last Friday evening in hopes of a romantic dinner with a beautiful view. The view is nice and that's the only positive thing I have to say. To begin with the waiters looked lost after seating us. It was not a super busy night as there were many empty tables. We waited for 10 mins and no one came to take our orders or offer us some water. There were 2 other couples that were seated after us and both tables had their orders taken, glasses filled with water AND bread served. Once our waiter figured out that was his table he was suppose to service he came over and took our order. The food was terrible. I expected a good meal and great service since I had checked out their website before hand and it looked like an upscale restaurant. We had to ASK to have our glasses refilled when both glasses were sitting there empty for the longest time. We had to ASK for bread. Our waiter came by ONCE to see how things were. To top off the evening of "excellent" service, my boyfriend got sick. Yes, the crab soup made him sick. I was soooo upset at the service that I called the restaurant after I left and asked to talk to a manager. The girl gave me some BS about how they were extremely busy tonite and after I told her I had dined there, she told me there was no manager working so I would have to call back. Instead of doing them a favor and actually telling them their service sucked, I am going around telling all my friends NOT to go there. Best way to market right, word of mouth. So please, if you are reading this do NOT go to this place and waste your $$ on crappy food (that makes you sick) and terrible service. This restaurant is completely overrated.