Veranda Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in San Diego

I have been a patron of Veranda for many years as I live in the neighborhood. Although the wonderful views and outside atmosphere remain the same , the food was dissapointing and the ratio quality/price outrageous during this unfortunate visit last Sunday. I took a party of seven to Veranda to celebrate two birthdays and one UCI graduation with my family: 3 Americans and 3 Europeans plus myself. We had a reservation but because it was chilly and very windy after 6 PM we asked to be seated in the indoors dining room -- first big mistake! The place was dark, gloomy and deserted and our waiter would only occassionally fly by on his way outdoors where he was most busy. The maitre d' was nowhere to be seen The table was a plain plastified slab with no tablecloth, place settings, nor salt or pepper shakers; I had no napkin or flatware and it never came despite asking. Finally I went to the nearby sports bar where they provided me with it. Mistake number two: While the dinner entrees in the past used to be good, resonably priced and with gewnerous portions, garnished with two vegetables and a starch (and at a more reasonable price) what we were served was quite the opposite. We had been told that new "chef " came from a famous restaurant downtown (don't remember the name). Well ,this fellow must have thought that by attaching a French name to each entree we would not notice the scant, inadequate portions. Examples: one person ordered the Roasted Chicken Cassoulet ($39.00) which turned out to be no more than a plump solitary roasted chicken leg surrounded by a few tablespoons of a non-descript vegetable sauce than in no way resembled or tasted like "Cassoulet". All 7 of us had been to Carcassone numerous times and we thought it was a joke to name that solitary chicken leg with such a poor and pretentious imitation of that glorious dish. The small sea bass fillet @ $42.00 came with a mound of French fries on top, no other garnishes; the 3 seared scallops @ $#40.00 were reported to be very tasty by my party but came with a small handful of mushrooms (chanterelles?) all swimming in a sauce with no other garnish other than 2 leaves of watercress on the edge of a plate. Alert: If anyone is dying to have scallops, go to the Mediterranean room at La Valencia in La Jolla (where we dined two days later) and you will get three fantastic scallops sitting on a generous bed of deliciious risotto, several carrots caramelized to perfection and a mound of baby greens and frisee -- for the same price as at Veranda, and a much, much better value. The worst though was my order of Rigatoni, and as hard as it is to ruin a pasta dish, I must admit they succeeded. The pasta had not been drained properly so water congregated at the bottom of the bowl distorting the flavor of the dish that actually was quite tasteless and cold. No cheese or basil (as described in the menu) were visible. I asked our waiter for some grated cheese on the side but it only came when I was almost finished. One older person in our party had had recent knee surgery so early on we asked for either a few ice cubes in a plastic bag or a frozen wine sleeve to reduce inflamation.It never came and I only wished the waiter had told us that he couldn't get it for I could have driven home (2 minutes away) and gotten an ice pack from my freezer. Quel dommage! The check came to $398.66 as I only gave a $30 tip-- to the horror of the three Americans and the outrage of the 3 Europeans who felt we should just have just gotten up and left -- once they heard that the customary tip is 20% percent, plus a recent supplement of 5% by law that the restauranteurs pass onto the clientele, on top of it. This was quite a rip-off for 7 meager entrees, no wine (only two beers), no appetizers, no salads or side dishes. Only two desserts were shared. But the experience provided a lively debate on the hidden high costs of dining in the USA, and tipping customs regardless of the quality of...

Came here for lunch on a spa day at the resort and really liked the place.

Nice aesthetic with the view of the golf course on the side. Loved how it was actually outdoors and like a veranda!

Guava Mango Refresher was beautiful! Husband and I were both surprised. Guava and mango flavor both came through and in the perfect balance.

Market Salad was really fresh! We asked for dressing on the side and grilled chicken instead of salmon. Everything went perfectly well together! Candied walnut, blue cheese, all the berries were so perfect together. Also really appreciate how they plated everything with the ingredients. All separated out. Made it very pretty.

California Avocado Toast was also very fancy! It was guac instead of smashed avocado, a good amount of greens and tomatoes on there, which we definitely appreciated. Got a poached egg on the top. Skipped out that olive oil drizzle because we didn't want the extra fat but it was not needed at all. 10/10 Recommend having the sauce that it comes with. The guac flavor can be a little bit overpowering with just the bread and egg otherwise, but with the sauce.. It is a total game changer! Really loved this one.

Short Rib Flatbread was a 3/10 Ingredients said shallot, mozzarella, roquefort dressing, habanero honey But they were so so much barbecue sauce! The short rib was cooked in barbecue sauce, but there was no mention of this at all. This tasted essentially like a barbecue short rib flatbread. I'm not a fan of that flavor so this was a little bit sad. Too sweet for me. I was hoping for the sweet and spicy vibe with the habanero honey but none of that came through. Had to ask for extra crush to reflex and also took off most of the barbecue sauce...

The place is just beautiful and sitting on the patio with live music is great; however, the patio service is sooo arrogant. I've had problems there in the past, but last Friday was the final straw. We showed up on a Friday afternoon, but the host said they were full (this is typical). There were 3 tables out of like 60 occupied. I pointed this out and they grudgingly agreed to seat us. But only at a high top - which was fine. We had drinks and a few appetizers. After an hour or so, the host came to talk to us and said that they had a reservation for that table and asked if we could move to the bar. Not a big deal. There were still probably 10 open tables, but no big deal. We moved. 45 minutes later, I went to the bathroom and noticed that our table was sitting there empty. I found the host and asked what the deal was. First he said that there was a reservation. I pointed out that the table was empty. Then he said that there was a 2 hour limit on tables. I pointed out that we were actively ordering and there were tables open. He had no answer and just kept saying that he was sorry we were unhappy.

I recently hosted my daughter's wedding there, so we are certainly fans of the RB Inn and have spent A LOT of $ there, but wow... I have never been made to feel so cheap and unwanted as a customer as that day. This isn't the first time I've received the "we don't want you here" vibe on the patio, but it was certainly the worst. It's just so nice, that we've kept going back and taking it. I'm done, though.

BTW - the hotel, event staff and fine dining are great. For some reason, the patio staff just seems to be very...