Restaurante Laja — Restaurant in Baja California

I was hoping for...more. First, the service was the highlight. Friendly, accommodating, and attentive. The ambiance was nice, with a large stone fireplace and overall farmhouse vibe. We were the only diners there but it was a Thursday evening, so I suppose that was it. That said, felt lonely.

The food...feel sad to say this but meh. We got the 5 course tasting menu. There was no printed menu of the dishes so pardon the simple descriptions; this is all I can remember. The first course was vegetables on a puree of white beans and fennel. EXCELLENT. 2) Fried rabbit on a mayonnaise sauce. OK, putting something fried in mayonnaise without any acid is just too rich on rich. 3) Fish in a puttanesca sauce. Now, I don't like puttanesca, so there's that, BUT my fish wasn't cooked properly. Not seared and rare in the middle, but just undercooked. 4) Chicken in a sauce I can't remember. SUPER juicy and perfectly cooked but the seasoning and sauce...big meh from me. 5) Oy. I really didn't like this one. Lemon verbena flan in a honey-like sauce with fresh cherries. The cherries were lovely but otherwise...sugar on sugar on sugar. Yikes. Don't make this again...ever. Start over.

Overall, felt overpriced for the quality of the food. Would...

Girlfriend and I ate dinner here the other night while we were in the area for a wedding.

The location is very appealing, a small house set back from the road and in the local foliage. The inside is very clean and modern but with a rustic finish from. The bar, tables and chairs. The setting was very quiet. There was no background music so when there was a lull in conversation at all the tables, it was a bit eerie.

We both ordered the four course dinner with wine parings; between the two of us we tried all eight dishes offered. The first two courses, four dishes, were good, though not spectacular. The highlight of the evening was the third, I guess main, course. I had the local catch which was deliciously tender while she had the beef which could be cut with a fork. For dessert, the sorbet was melted while my fennel cake was very tasty. The wait staff was friendly, but very slow sometimes and the pacing of the meal left something to be desired.

Overall the food was good, not sure if worth the cost due to the lack of atmosphere and sterile service we received. Would consider coming back if we were in the area but wouldn't come out of our way...

Cute farmhouse with 4 and 8 course tasting menu. Smaller venue, feels intimate. Great food. Quality and freshness of food was on point. Everything cooked properly and at requested temperatures. Wine pairings were excellent. 4.5 stars on food and wine. 3.0 on service and atmosphere (see below why).

I have some constructive feedback and observations:

The servers made us feel rushed, and left little to no time to linger on our wine pairings between courses - yet there were open tables and we arrived early for our reservation by 15 mins. They need to work on timing, as to not make customers feel they are being worked out.

Also, it was unnecessarily cold inside - I visited in December and it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside that evening. A majority of the couples wore their winter jackets, scarves and knit hats. Keep in mind, this is an enclosed house, not open air. They had a large fireplace that was not lit until 8:00 PM (they close at 8:30 PM) - at which point, several couples got up from their tables to warm up.

With attention to detail around these issues, Laja could be on par with the higher end restaurants in...