La Jolla Groves — Restaurant in Provo

I hate leaving negative reviews for local businesses, but I feel compelled to do so here. The short version is that this place comes off as an establishment trying to be upscale with fine food, but only mimicking the great places, leaving one disappointed for the money spent. There is nothing interesting or innovative on the menu either. Although the entrées were good, they couldn't make up for the shortcomings.

First, the good: The atmosphere was nice for a romantic dinner out, with lemon trees and lights inside. The two pasta dishes we tried were good and we enjoyed them.

The not so good:

1. The waiter upsold everything like a used car salesman. I understand the difficult nature of the restaurant business and the upselling is part of the game, but it should never be so over-the-top as to make the patrons uncomfortable. His opening line was how this restaurant was one of those places where you do everything from dinks, appetizers, salads, and dessert, followed by a complete run down of the drink options and how great their chef was great at making desserts (which should go without saying for anywhere worth its salt). I simply don't need the waiter telling me he expects me order a full-course meal. I will order what we feel like, thank you. Then he upsold the most expensive appetizer (a meat and cheese plate exceeding $20) and the most expensive meal (a steak exceeding $65). Frankly, I am not getting a $65 steak from anywhere but an upscale steakhouse - I don't trust you that much yet. By the time he was done, I felt like I should get a free hotel stay, like you do when you hear a timeshare pitch.
2. For the next shortcoming, I take some blame. We ordered what was supposed to be an in-house-made soft pretzel and fondue. What arrived was a giant pretzel like you get at a ballpark (same quality and taste as far as I could tell) and a terrible fondue sauce. It seemed to be thickened with cornstarch and was almost flavorless. And after ordering this dish, they brought rolls, which were never mentioned prior to us placing the order. We hardly needed a basket of rolls and a bready appetizer. The waiter could have been helpful in guiding us here had he not been focused on only upselling. Honestly, I should have done better ordering here, but thought it sounded different and I love better-prepared fondue. It was not an appropriate appetizer for an upscale place.
3. The rolls tasted like they were bought from the Smith's bakery. Not at all suitable for fine dinning.
4. The salads arrived next. Mine was a wedge salad and was pretty good, but not as good as wedge salads I have had most places. It was missing the ice-cold temperature with that really tangy blue cheese compliment (it had blue cheese, but not enough or not high enough quality). My wife's was a kale salad that she hardly touched because it wasn't very good.
5. Then came the pasta dishes, which were actually good and we enjoyed them. Mine, the shrimp scampi, my wife's the carbonara with properly cooked noodles that really did taste fresh made.
6. Despite the upsell, we didn't go for dessert after the disappointing experience up to that point. From there, it took another 20 or more minutes to get the check and pay, which was a bit frustrating.

All in, the dinner, with no alcohol and a tip, was about $120. Simply put, I have had much better meals for half the price. It just wasn't close to a...

We came here for a work dinner and I didn't manage to take any pictures! We have been here a few times in the past but it's been over a year. We were excited to go and try it out again since it's been a little bit.

The interior is very unique. I love the lemon trees and the lights! Some of the pictures on the wall seem and feel a little tacky but overall the ambiance is good. Just seemed a little outdated on some walls.

Jose was the server who helped our group and was helpful with any questions we had.

They brought out the rolls first which were warm when they arrived. However, I don't know if they were made in house. They seemed to be bought from a local grocery store and reheated. They were okay but we loved the butter they came with. We were disappointed that they only brought rolls to us once so we only got one each.

For first course, my husband and I ordered the mushroom bisque and house salad. The bisque was very good for someone who loves mushrooms (like I do). It was very creamy and I really enjoyed the texture. I loved the drizzle of olive oil on top. I did have to add some pepper because it was a little bit too salty but not overwhelming. I would order that again. My husband's house salad was fine. It was nothing special and just a regular salad you would get at similar type of restaurant.

For our main course, I ordered the salmon filet and my husband ordered the lemon chicken. I did confirm with Jose that the salmon is fresh, not frozen. The presentation on the salmon was good. It was a big piece of salmon and I could tell it was fresh. It came with rice in a citrus pesto sauce and asparagus (only three pieces). The salmon did lack flavor. It needed seasoning on it. The asparagus was fine but very small pieces. The rice actually wasn't cooked all the way and I had quite a few bites of hard rice. The flavor was nice though. I do wish it was cooked properly. The lemon chicken was surprising and not in a good way. It seemed to be cooked using a sous vide method and then grilled for a few seconds to get grill marks. Again, there was no seasoning on the chicken. It was a so-so chicken breast. The mashed potatoes were almost a thick liquid but had a good flavor.

I am unsure if we will return. If we do, I would expect a lot more and for them to take the recommendations that many are recommending in the other reviews to improve their menu and add more flavor to...

We ate here at an event with about 40 people. I was not impressed with any part of the experience.

The price: Our party ordered from the cheaper end of the menu, which was about $45 per person for a salad, an entree, and a dessert (no drinks). The quality and portions of the food did not match the price.

The service: I don’t have complaints directly about our servers, but the overall system was awful. Our menu has two options each for a first course, entree, and dessert since we were part of an event. This totally makes sense, I just point it out because I had assumed it would help them be a little bit more efficient. It didn’t. After they took our orders (20 minutes after the dinner was scheduled to start) we began the 45 minute wait for any food to show up. After I finished the first course (a salad served to me on a warm plate) I started the next wait for the entrees to show up. When they finally served the entrees, rather than serve one table at a time (or serve everyone at once), they brought plates to random people around the room. It took quite a while for them to serve the food, so some people at our table were done eating before others had their food. I figured they just must be busy, but then I looked into the main dining room, and there could not have been more than 7 occupied tables. The staff was polite, so I guess they have that going for them?

The food: I had the carbonara and my wife had the lemon chicken. The chicken was dry and kind of flavorless. It was served with a side of mashed potatoes (which were pretty good) and 4 small roasted carrots, which were undercooked. The carbonara was mediocre at best and served to me barely warm. The desserts we tried (lava cake and chocolate mousse) were ok, but really seemed no better than what you find in the frozen section at Costco. The salad was fine. The rolls tasted like Hawaiian rolls from Walmart (which is fine with me honestly, just not for the price). Best thing we ate was definitely the tomato soup. It was actually very good.

Based on some of the other reviews, I’m sure there must be some good things on the menu, but quite frankly I’ve had far better meals at Chilis for less than half the price. I also could have fed a far better meal to our entire table for less than the price of two people (I’ve done it several times). I highly advise against going here for a group event, and I definitely won’t...