James' Place

Review summary

1. J

   John

   San Diego

   49 reviews

   vip
   5.0

   49 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Wonderful service, lovely ambience, extremely convenient pre-playhouse, great drinks, and magnificent food at a reasonable price. A genuinely terrific experience.
   

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2. G

   Guy

   San Diego

   42 reviews

   vip
   5.0

   42 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   My wife and I shared the fried calamari and the caesar salad. The calamari were outstanding with sauce with just the right amount of spiciness. The salad was wonderful-included several anchovies. The salad was quite ample even with us splitting it. The service is very good. It is the perfect place to enjoy a nice dinner before a performance at La Jolla Playhouse.
   

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3. L

   Lori

   San Diego

   16 reviews

   vip
   1.0

   16 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 2

   I have come here several times before going to the PLayhouse. Tonight when I arrived, I learned that the sushi chef had quit and there was no sushi. This was disappointing because that is what we always ordered. We ordered two main entrées on the menu and a bottle of wine. We asked for the salad to have no dressing. The server recommended the Ahi sesame crusted as it was the closest to sushi. The salad came with the dressing on it very heavy, and the waitress didn’t apologize nor even comment when we mentioned that we asked it to have no dressing. The Ahi was nothing like I have ever had before. It was basically four slices, not a single piece of fish or sesame encrusted and it was pretty awful. The rice was cold and on the side and it had some cold cabbage around it. Overall both the salad and the Ahi dish were less than mediocre and what you would expect from a cafeteria style restaurant. The service was awful, hard to track down and inaccurate. We were rushing to get a check and get out with less than 10 min before curtain yet we arrived for the reservation an hour and 45 minutes early. I have had issues here with slow service before but tonight the slow and inaccurate service and lack of sushi and poor quality yet expensive food will be the last time I come despite the convenience. No time prior when I gave feedback about an issue with a visit did anyone ever reach out to address it. No surprise people are quitting.
   

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4. A

   Adele

   San Diego

   13 reviews

   3.0

   13 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 4

   Food wasn’t served in a timely manner. Dinner was not very warm. All food is overpriced. Ambience is good.
   

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5. C

   Christi

   San Diego

   7 reviews

   5.0

   7 reviews

   Dined 7 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Great place to come before a play at the La Jolla playhouse. Can get crowded so come early! Great drinks and food and friendly staff. A bit pricey, but worth it for the location.
   

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6. J

   Joyce

   Denver

   2 reviews

   2.0

   2 reviews

   Dined on December 4, 2024

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 3

   Not sure what the problem was in the kitchen? I have had dinner at James Place before every play for 2 years,and until last night it was terrific. Unfortunately, something must have happened in the kitchen last night and we had to leave to not miss the play without dinner coming out of the kitchen. Whatever the issue was should definitely be remedied. My party was not the only one to not receive their food and people had to just leave to not miss the play.
   

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7. J

   Jeff

   San Diego

   8 reviews

   vip
   5.0

   8 reviews

   Dined on December 4, 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Micki was awesome as always !!!
   

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8. S

   Steve

   San Diego

   121 reviews

   vip
   4.0

   121 reviews

   Dined on December 4, 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 2

   Mickie was great! Service was excellent. We actually DO remember the noise level but Open Table forces you to answer with only positive answers. The noise level is terrible. We could barely talk. It's that style of restaurant that prides itself on 'energetic' under the Open Table noise level categories. For us, it was dissuasive when you can hear more from the surrounding tables than your own partner.
   

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9. E

   Ellyn

   San Diego

   2 reviews

   5.0

   2 reviews

   Dined on December 2, 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Seared Ahi dinner was amazing! Highly recommend trying it.
   

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10. k

    karen

    Chicago

    3 reviews

    2.0

    3 reviews

    Dined on November 30, 2024

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 3

    It feels like the quality of the food service has dropped. The staff were very friendly but spread too thin. Three of our entrees were only lukewarm when served (and we were not there at a super busy time). Rather than feeling like the food was prepped to order, it felt like chafing dish buffet food, but at 4 star prices. Too bad because we used to like this as a pre-theatre option. Maybe the menu needs to be pared back to a smaller number of dishes that can be better prepared and served hot.
    

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