Public House La Jolla — Restaurant in San Diego

I have to say I am quite disappointed at the service from Many different staff members at Public House La Jolla. We came in with a party 10, 5 adults and 5 children under 5 years old. So they decided the best place for us was right next to the kitchen, that had a 2 way swinging door, a fireplace heater mantle equipped with various stuffs like woody wood picker, that of course were not allowed to actually be touched and about 5 feet from the street entrance which is on a 4 way corner. So of course, we have my son with ASD seeing staff coming in and out of the swinging door and he wants to see what's going on, after all I just told him he couldn't play with THE TOYS RIGHT NEXT TO HIM. He slipped passed me as we were both seated literally only inches from the door I often had to adjust my chair to accommodate the passing staff. This grumpy older man in jeans and a t-shirt, no apron, no gloves comes out and says, "KEEP HIM OUT OF THE KITCHEN!" I apologize; try to explain he is severely autistic and we are inches from this swinging door. He walked off before I even got done apologizing. We then asked the waitress specifically to bring the kids food out FIRST, (since there were only 2 kids menus... we were told they were "printing more" for the first 30 minutes, until we didn't even bother asking anymore.) We even make a point to order our children's meals 1st. Ask to bring a plate of fries or something, explaining we had just come from a very popular family beach spot, our kids were tired and hungry. "Totally get it" our waitress answers. When the food starts coming... the other 4 adults were served their food, then a few minutes later 2 children's and then I was served my salad. Then 7 minutes later the rest of the children FINALLY got their meals. By this point my youngest son had snuck back into the kitchen another 2 times, Every time this grumpy older man is getting more irritable, the last time he tossed him out to me, "YOU NEED TO KEEP HIM OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!" As he walks back off. I did my best to take a few bites off my Cobb salad which comes to my second disappointment... as the chicken was so charred it was literally the only taste the stuck in my mouth. It tasted like biting into a charcoal. Otherwise my salad would have been ok... it would have been nice to get it on a bigger plate so every time I took a bite or God forbid tried to toss it and salad spilled Everywhere. 🫤 The kids seemed to enjoy their food once it finally came, but by that point half the table was finished, so we asked for boxes and left... my poor son (who is non verbal) goes straight to a tree and starts peeing. He was looking for a bathroom. 😔 To summarize NOT A FAMILY PLACE, THEY CLEARLY DO NOT WANT IT TO BE A FAMILY PLACE. DO NOT BRING CHILDREN, or try the char-broiled chicken... ask it's...

We visited La Jolla on a Wednesday (3/27) afternoon. Started to get hungry and was looking for a place to grab a bite to eat. Found this place just a few blocks from where we parked. From the outside, Public House La Jolla looks pretty chill with patio and interior dining. We opted for seating on the patio. Very cool spot that’s outside but also shaded.

Our server (Jasmine A) was fantastic! She answered all our questions including my beer questions! She was hospitable, polite, and friendly. Her service is a solid 5/5!

We ordered the Mushroom Bacon Burger, Two Tacos, a Chicken Apple Havarti Sandwich, and Kids Chicken Strips. Everything turned out very good. My burger did turn out a little more well done than medium but still tasted very good. The Chicken Strips unfortunately had more batter than chicken and was a bit on the oily side. The fries were very good. My beer (8 Bit IPA as suggested by Jasmine) was very very good. Food overall is a 4.5/5.

Value to price ratio is probably a 3.5/5. The food here is pricey for burgers, fries, tacos, and chicken strips. Burgers will set you back about $20+ or more. My burger was $24. Tacos are about $10 each. Beers are about $9. Our total for 5 to dine here for lunch came out to about $162 with tax and tip.

Over all experience is here is about a 4/5. If you decide to dine here, expect to pay a premium for the food but you won’t walk away hungry. The portions should be large enough for just about anyone. The beer is very good! You do have to pay to taste test which was interesting. Most other places will offer free taste test. Service is very good. Our server (Jasmine) was wonderful and made us feel comfortable. Public House La Jolla tops my list of eateries and comes highly recommended if you’re looking for a place with good burgers, good beer, and quality service.

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Went here yesterday for a quick bite and beer. We arrived at 2:42pm. We noticed happy hour started at 3pm so we ordered two waters and told our waitress we would like to wait until 3pm to order. (We weren’t in a hurry, just relaxing and enjoying our day.) The waitress then returned to our table at 2:53pm and asked if we were ready to order. We said yes but asked if we could wait until 3pm. She said sure, but that she would go ahead and take our order and put in our appetizer. We ordered the steak bruschetta which was on happy hour special for $7. We assumed our server was providing superb customer service by trying to get us some food out, but also assumed we would be paying the $7 happy hour cost. We ordered the app, a burger, and two beers. The app was mediocre-very little flavor and too much blue cheese (would def not order again). The burger was decent. What rubbed us the wrong way was that when our server brought the check, she had charged us full price for the first two beers (which were supposed to be $2 off), and full price for the nasty appetizer!! (It was $16, and was supposed to be $7!!!!) Honestly we would not have even gotten an app if it weren’t for the happy hour sign persuasion! Needless to say we were very disappointed and left feeling ripped- off. We would not return...not good customer...