La Jolla — Restaurant in Montgomery

Between La Jolla, City Grill, and Garrett's, Exit 9 seems to be the third place for fine dining in Montgomery behind Cloverdale and Downtown. Like some of those other restaurants, La Jolla continues the practice of charging at the high end of what I would be comfortable paying in this city, though the skill of the kitchen is ultimately what swings my enjoyment between three and four stars - atmosphere is little justification for price tags.

Admittedly, my late lunch only put me in the mood for something light, so I opted for a bowl of gumbo and the crab salad. The former was a fine soup, replete with plenty of seafood, a nice vegetable base, and presumably a pretty light roux. It was also served with cayenne toast, which - as you might expect - was a couple of pieces of baguette with some butter and cayenne for a bit of heat. The intended effect was accomplished, even if the toast was a little burned on one side. Perhaps a little too burned to leave the kitchen, in my opinion, but I still ate it and enjoyed it just fine.

I was pleased to see the crab salad wasn't just the pretense of some crab meat over a pile of greens, but rather a pretty sizable amount of crab over some grilled slices of zucchini. The menu described it as "West Indies" style, which probably had something to do with the infused olive oil in which it was tossed, and upon my first bite, I got a little bit of that sweetness that comes along with Indian spices, as well as an unpleasant amount of heat that didn't work with it at all. I continued to eat, and eventually pinpointed the culprit to the zucchini. What I suspect happened was the cayenne toast from my gumbo was prepared by taking the bread, putting the butter AND cayenne on it, and then placing it on the grill. The zucchini was unevenly cooked - each slice a little less browned by the grill, almost as if you could see the grill's heat output diminishing as each new ingredient was introduced. Or just the guy working the grill didn't manage it properly. Either way, it didn't leave a very good impression.

Burning toast and carryover cayenne are small mistakes, but this is fine dining - we pay more because our expectations are higher, and though there are plenty of things on La Jolla's menu to lead me to believe that this might just be chalked up to a bad night, this particular experience left something...

Our first trip there and I’ve heard about this place for some time. Our introduction to the restaurant was not a stellar one. The hostess was absent for an extended period, but when she did arrive she was very nice. We asked if we could order a drink from the bar while we waited on our reservation. She said absolutely. There were five empty chairs at the bar, but we were told by the bartender we could not sit there because they were taken. In addition, we were never asked if we would like a drink, he walked away. We were eventually seated at our table and in the over two hours we were there no one ever sat in any of those chairs at the bar. I do understand showing preferential treatment to your regulars, but we only needed to sit down for about 15 or 20 minutes with our drinks while we waited on our table. So that set the tone for the rest of the evening. I had the 12oz. Bison Ribeye and my husband had the Bison Ribeye and scallops. We both agreed the bison was definitely lacking in flavor, but it was prepared to the exact temperature we had requested. The sweet cream corn grits were outstanding and immediately prompted a wow from me when I tasted them. Our server was very well trained and efficient, but strictly business. I thought I had missed his name earlier so I asked and was told he does not give his name unless he is asked for it by the customer. I found that peculiar because it’s just common courtesy to me to address someone by their name. The total bill for the two of us was about 280.00 including the tip. The synopsis: The restaurant was lovely but extremely dark. The service was great except for one of the two bartenders, his customer service and people skills were definitely lacking. The cocktails were great and were eventually presented by a very kind, alternate bartender. In our opinion the quality of the entrée did not justify the cost on our visit. We truly have no issue with the price as long as it is backed up with amazing food. We agreed we would probably not return again, though I admit the mood for the evening may have been totally different had the bartender not been our...

I recently went to La Jolla for an early dinner, and will cut to the quick: it was average, from the appetizer to the entrée to the service. I really wish it had been more.

To start, the smoked salmon wasn't any better or any worse than what you might find at a decent grocery store, served relatively unadorned on a standard dinner plate. In fact, I wondered if they had bought it at the Fresh Market on Perry Hill Road while I was eating it. A water cracker, pita chip, or crostini would have been a nice.

The entrees were pretty much the same. Two of us had the gumbo, which was as advertised, and pretty good. However, it wasn't great, and probably not worth the hefty price tag (for gumbo). My co-diner enjoyed their trout, but said they were still hungry due to the relatively small portion size.

As for the service, we were in and out in about 2 hours, which I would consider relatively lengthy since we weren't drinking. However, the conversation was good, and it didn't really bother me that much, although we all noted the tables next to us came in after and were served prior to us.

In the end, judging by the other reviews, my experience might be an outlier...but it...