Manhattan Of La Jolla — Restaurant in San Diego

Short version: music and atmosphere is great, food is barely OK, service is unacceptable, rude, cold, unprofessional and the worst you could get among most restaurants in San Diego.

Long version: Music and atmosphere was really great and definitely the best part of the restaurant.

The food was just OK and overpriced. We had a lobster bisque as appetizer which was very tasty (best thing we ordered). My wife had the pasta combo: the food taste was overtaken by the sauce, making the taste poorly equilibrated. I had some veal and had a similar experience: the sauce was too strong. The dessert (the manatthan) was one of the worst dessert I have ever eaten in that kind of restaurant. The pieces of apples were so thick, uncooked and barely fried. They didn't even bother drying up the oil which was dripping down everywhere in the huge amount of mapple syrup. Even in the dark we could see the huge layer of oil, it was disgusting to look at. The plating was also terrible for this dessert and unpractical. Don't get me wrong, the food was not bad (except for the dessert), but not great as well and mostly not worth the price and not what we expected from a restaurant of that kind of standing.

However, the service ruined the whole night. This is for sure the worst quality of service I ever had in that kind of restaurant. We got seated but waited for a good 10mn until a waiter started to talk to us, that was very awkward. He asked us for drinks but did not even gave us the drinks menu that we had to explicitly ask for. The waiter came back to ask if we had any question: my wife started to ask something and he just left while she was still talking and never came back wtfff!!! The plates were served so fast, it felt like we were rushed out of the restaurant. We were not even offered the dessert menu that we, once again, had to ask for (and probably shouldn't had asked considering it was the worst thing we ordered in this restaurant). Either way, the whole experience felt very cold unpersonal and unfriendly, even though the atmosphere with the live music was romantic. But worst of all, while the dinner was over and we were staying a little bit to listen to the live music (less than 5mn after signing the check), a random waiter showed up out of nowhere and told my wife "we dont have a lot of table, this is not a dancing area,if you want to dance it is over here", pointing to the dancing/bar area at the same time. Just What The HECK!!!! My wife was just moving a little bit, but still sitting and we just payed the check. Many tables were also empty all around, and some others were done for far longer, that was ridiculous. The comment was outrageous, so I immediately removed the tip from the check that they hopefully did not pick up yet. I then got the waiter dairing to tell me "service is not included in the note sir". Well, probably go take some courses about how to waiter properly and to educate yourself about good manners. I originally tipped 16+%, which was already way too much for the ridiculous quality of service we got, and I dont regret a single second dropping it to 0 following the killing sentence of that uneducated dude. If you can't even understand why you got the tip removed, you are definitely not a good enough waiter for that kind of place.

The service is truly rude, cold, unfriendly, unprofessional and lame for any kind of restaurant. Even getting served a burger at mc donald is done better than that. But I guess the waiter decided that 2 young people in their 20s don't deserve the treatment as the regular clients in their 40s of that place. It really felt like we were not important enough for them, what a shame.

This makes the whole restaurant pricey for what you get and I understand more why I never heard of this place for 2 years and only found it after searching only for live music restaurants in san diego.

I...

My family and I have lived in La Jolla since the early 1990s and I’ve been coming to this Manhattan‘s of La Jolla since the mid 1990s. I love how it is a time capsule in that it has not changed much over the years but in a good way. I will say that they used to have a double cut veal chop and now it is a single cut and that’s what we went for specifically every single time for decades so I’m hoping that they bring that back. Aside from that it’s located on the ground floor of a small boutique hotel in the village of La Jolla. Parking is fairly easy in this part of town, your best options will be street parking for free or valet. Our server was extremely polite and honestly service here is always terrific. It used to be filled with older Italian men that would sing Italian love songs but now it is more of the standard full service restaurant service. It’s also very dimly lit and kind of reminds me of a steak restaurant you would see on the East Coast. It makes for a much more private and enjoyable experience.

As mentioned, we would always come here for the Double Cut Veal Chop but for some reason, it is not on the menu anymore. PLEASE BRING IT BACK! I started off with the Carpaccio di Manzo and thought it was terrific. I’ve been getting this dish since I was a little kid and still get it now in my adult life. For my entrée as always, I got the Veal Chop Fiorentina however it was half the size as it were was every other time we had been here. The flavors were still great though, and it was packed full of garlic and juicy flavor.

I would highly recommend to anyone in San Diego searching for a great dinner location and it’s definitely someplace that I would consider a hidden gem and is usually filled...

Great ambience, excellent New York style italian food, and very nice waiters. I love their square fish tank with live fish in the north side dinning area. That’s the best place to sit.

They are located inside the Empress Hotel, La Jolla. If you don’t know it’s there, you’d probably walk right by it, but don’t! They’re worth the find.

They have a nice bar area with tables and counter seating and a piano for live music for dinner. Their cocktails are really good and strong, but since I’m a lightweight with alcohol, I ask for an ’easy pour‘.

They still make excellent classic Caesar salad at table-side. It’s fun to watch them make it. You can tell the waiter if you want anchovies, or more/less garlic, hold the croutons, etc...

My favorite meal is their signature dish- Pollo Manhattan Milanese - it is a pounded boneless breast of chicken breaded and sautéed with a garlic sauce. It comes with caramelized green beans and carrots. Order a side of Penne Bolognese and you got a really filling and delicious dinner.

For dulci (“sweets” in Italian), I really like their signature ‘The Manhattan’. It’s apple rings dipped in a sweet batter and deep fried, topped with homemade French vanilla ice cream and a brandy sauce. Enough to share with your companion/s. Don’t forget to an order espresso or macchiato or even an Affogato ; it tops off the night!

They’re open for lunch as...