Jack’s La Jolla

I can’t believe this joint closed. This was the classiest place to be at in La Jolla.
Their lychee martini was their best drink I had.

So sad I see they closed. My boss told me he read an article that the owner owed a bunch of money in back taxes… eeek!
We were seated in a corner booth, albeit no ocean view, the lighting helped enhance the intimate atmosphere. The waiter was very attentive and accomodated our coupon from
with no problem. We had a 3 course meal with wine for $ 40. The goat cheese appetizer and wedge salad were nicely presented, but not outstanding in the taste department. The Ranch porkchop and risotto were delicious. The sauce for the pork chop made it special. The risotto was very creamy and heavy, so had plenty to take home. My favorite was the banana/​chocolate creampuffs with a very decadent vanilla ice cream. I would go back there in a second.

No longer :(
sudden closure = 120+ peeps scrambling to find a job… very sad. Plus the sudden displacement of many, many gold-​diggers …poor things may have to get jobs too.

My girls and I got done up for a fabulous after-​party in Del Mar, but unfortunately, as it was opening day, the parking situation was much too insane and we’re far too impatient to deal.
But we looked good and we still wanted to catch some of the action, so we decided on Jack’s in La Jolla. There were three restaurants within the one, and we went with Jack’s Grill, which looked the yummiest with pizzas, salads, pastas and the like.
It was going to be five or so minutes for a table, so we saddled up to a sexy bar (P.S. Everything is sexy here and by everything, I mean the male servers) and ordered a round. Maybe three minutes later and we were taken to our table.
Jack’s has décor down. Tables spaced far apart, live music that’s actually good, dim lighting (perhaps that’s why we didn’t see many cougars) and an über-​sexy fire pit in the middle of the restaurant.
Delicious sashimi (Note: I had never before had sashimi, nor did I want to try any, but this is some good shit) and calamari arrived compliments of our server. Nice.
I ordered the mini burgers and wasn’t super impressed, but they were good and $ 10, so I’m a fan. My friend ordered ahi? Tuna? Something from the sea? Whatever it was, it looked really good.
Three girls were well-​fed, buzzed and treated extremely well at Jack’s, all for under $ 50. Five stars for sure.

Food good, portions small & $$$. Service is above average though sometimes too attentive.
Coffee shop on the sidewalk has potential but the staff needs to learn proper proportions for lattes, cappuchinos, etc. Also, basic hygiene practices are lacking, i.e. keeping your hands away from your mouth and nose, washing your hands after sneezing, not touching the top of customer’s drink glasses/​cups.

I went back and got my swerve on…

I have to admit, the food was good, but the service was some of the worst I’ve had in San Diego and we eat out a lot. My girlfriend is in the service industry and she was appalled that we spent so much money to be treated like sub-​standard guests.
It was our anniversary, and we wanted to try something new. We’d heard great things about Jack’s and that it was a romantic restaurant with great food.
The food was good, don’t get me wrong. But for 140 bucks I wouldn’t expect to be constantly handed off to our ‘bus boy’/food runner, who wasn’t on the same page as our server. When you’re out on a romantic dinner the last thing you want is having to repeat yourself to different service staff.
The paella was awesome, the lamb was good, a B+.
I wouldn’t come back here though. Thank god my woman still gave it up at the end of the night. Thanks to the bartender up top who did give us good service, buddy, you helped greatly…

Are we in la jolla??? because you can SURRRRRRRRRRely tell.
stopped by here for drinks late night after dinner with some friends… and its a place for all.
this place is huge, and you do have pretty good mix. the first floor where we entered was nice and chill. good lounge area, with nice tv screens to watch the rest of the games that were on, and place to conversate.
and then you rise to the next floor. and its instantly BOOM BOOM BOOM. we were here on a saturday night, the music was the quintessential hip-​hoppy type stuff sprinkled with reggaetone and booty shaking jams. All types of crowds. My 60 yr old mom would fit in along with my 21 year old cousin? So pretty random.
outside grill area was chill. but it wasn’t too chilly, and they those plastic coverings all around the perimeter, so we couldnt really see out. way to kill the look. felt like i was those plastic bags that your comforter comes in?
decent spot for la jolla. uberly pretty. and fancy pants locale. if you are grabbing dinner in the area, and needed a little night cap. it can appeal to all tastes.

The food here is delicious as are the cocktails. The service was great, I felt like I was being treated like a VIP the minute I stepped through the door.
The club is also a lot of fun with great music however, some of the people in there can be a little stuck up.
All in all a night out at Jack’s is your best bet for a great night in La Jolla.

I’m sorry to say, but I did not enjoy myself when I went here.
I keep hearing the hype about this place so thought of trying it out.
I will never go here again. The drinks were well overpriced (maybe because of the location).
But, the people are the worst. Can we say stuck up!!! I’m a very personable person, and this girl totally spoke to me like I was stupid. (maybe she thought I worked there). Who knows. Stuck up (female dog)!
We left and went to Bar Back Grill!!! LOVE THAT PLACE!!!

Another review that’s long overdue… talk about past memories this one has been about nearly a year a half since I’ve been here.
The drive was approximately 2 hour plus, with an additional couple of minutes here and there to find parking. I came here with an old friend to check this place out via request of an acquaintance that I met in the Bay Area. He wanted us to join for dinner but unfortunately, I couldn’t try any of their dining offerings so ti was just the drinks and ambiance that would be mentioned.
Jack’s is a fascinating spot considering the variety of food options you have. From total memory recall, there are 3 different lounge floors with 3 dining options: top floor had a Sushi Bar, middle floor had fine dining offerings, and the bottom floor was more of a bistro feel. All of this was something I was aching to try but unfortunately I missed out. So going back on the spot, my friend and I were there dressed to spot to enjoy the evening out. We were supposed to check a DJ my acquaintance manages and he span top 40/​house/​drum and bass throughout the time.
After a few moments we got into the VIP area, and all around us were red silk curtains, white tables and white sofas to touch. It was fit for the crimson atmosphere anyone would enjoy at least being tipsy over a few drinks, considering most were complimentary from my friend covering the tab, they were all well made. The Long Islands, Liquid Cocaines, Bottle Service of Goose and Patron our entire entourage was sauced up from beginning to end.
The Dance Floor was in decent size, but apparently the little dance battle ensued between myself and Mr. 6’4″ Vanilla Ice made things a bit awkward and comedic all into one. Apparently his «wannabe Jabbawockee-​esque moves» would impress the easily impressionable MILFs who were observing us from afar. Overall a good time, but the place is a bit high scale for my taste and the lack of food that night made me churn in hunger for the rest of the drive home, hence the lack of five stars since there is nothing else I can judge but that.
Time surely passes by, if only the clock can strike back at least to give myself one last chuckle and appreciation heh…

Jack’s is pretty packed on a Saturday night considering how large it is. I could have easily gotten lost so I confined myself to one floor of the «club» especially because the color of wristband you’re shackled with proves your worth to the bouncers there and limits the places you are permitted to venture to, or so it seemed to me. So instead of making a hassle I just stayed in one place.
We got in fast and free; I think blue wristband=VIP? Had we not gotten in fast and free I think my time spent here wouldn’t have been worthwhile, but I’m still deciding if it was worthwhile anyhoo. We arrived around 11:30pm and I had every intention of being sober when I left considering I had to be at work at 6 en la mañana (note the time of this post).
During the few hours spent at Jack’s this is what I gathered from the experience:
1) had ONE weak mojito… but bartenders in busy clubs always make ‘em weak. I just had my heart set on having one be my solo drink of the night and the $ 12 cost was a bit too hefty for the goods.
2) There are as many old sugar daddy types here as there are marines out of place from the PB scene as there are gangly & disheveled hipster boys that appear to be 19. There are also many girls that shouldn’t even have bothered to put clothing on… but to each their own!
3) I came away with some of the best pick-​up lines of the 21^st century, or rather the 20^th, here ya go:
4)A man in a head to toe white «pimp» ensemble told me I look like Brooke Shields and better watch myself around him? I hope that that worked for him at some point in the 80’s, 90’s, but definitely not today.
5) That was after a guy, early 20s, came up to my friend and me to tell us we were the best dancers in the club. Flattering, right? Well we had just arrived and had yet to shake our groove thangs soooooo, yea? he was swaying… we were not.
6) «I can’t help that I am attracted to you.»
There’s more… I am just laughing out loud way too hard and have slept all of 1.5 hours of interrupted sleep. One of my friends did exclaim that she was «in love» when I drove her home after a particularly entertaining/​exhausting to watch «dancing» experience. I have yet to find out if that rings true without her blood full of vodka but for the time being the moral of the story for all ya fellas is to supplement your lines with really good moves (e.g. the running man) if you really wanna impress the ladies!

If I didn’t have a gift card to spend to this place, chances are, I probably wouldn’t have gone. It’s just a weeeee bit out of my price range. And by weeee, I mean, I can’t afford that shits, yo!
Not a bad place, but for how much EVERYTHING is, I can’t say it’s worth it. They don’t really do anything out of the ordinary, they just benefit from being smack-​dab in the middle of one of the costliest places in the entire country to live. Because of that, they have the right to charge $ 15 for a standard dirty martini with store-​bought olives, I guess. Eh, whatcha gonna do? If you don’t know you’re gonna drop some coin here, it’s your fault for not researching properly.
If you’re heading in for apps, you gotta try the brie cheese. It’s insane. Also, they have a baked sushi roll (the volcano roll, I believe), that’s totally worth getting as well. As far as I’m concerned, those are the stand outs.
It’s kinda funny, but I really believe they bought all of their bar furniture at IKEA. It’s a little on the janky side, which makes me laugh, due to how expensive the menu is. Can’t you throw some of ‘dem scrills towards a REAL cocktail set-​up? Just sayin’…

In a Steve and Doug Butabi moment, our hero decided to buy matching dinner jackets with his friend one fateful Thursday night. Seeing as how it was 9 PM and the night was still young, they decided to don their new threads on an expedition to the famed cougar breeding grounds in San Diego: Jack’s La Jolla.
Jack’s has quite the reputation on Thursday nights, as it is notable for it’s half price cover («only» $ 10) and abundance of cougars. If there are three words that are adequate to describe Jack’s third floor after 10 PM on Thursdays, it would be «cougar meat market.» Not that Jack’s lacks fresh tender meat — there are plenty of pumas and males in their 20’s here that haven’t quite made it but are sporting fake Rolexes they bought off the internet — however, the cougars attract the most attention with their flashy garb and provocative dance moves. At Jack’s, our hero observed cougars, pumas, and the elusive mougar in their natural habitat trying to solicit fit partners for their mating rituals. They convened at the watering hole (bar) after their preening routines to socialize and hopefully distribute their genes to the next generation. Several danced to their tribal beats (of hip-​hop and top 40) and attempted to scare off their sexual competitors with superior facial war paint (makeup) and fist pumping (guido dance moves).
In terms of its overpriced drinks, Jack’s fails at making a decent regular vodka martini, but succeeds at its own signature «Jack’s martini,» which is one of the most effeminate martinis in San Diego. It tastes of pomegranate and even has a flower floating in it. When coming after dark for the clubbing experience, it’s best to order drinks from any bar except the 3^rd floor one for short to non-​existent lines.
PROS:
— Cougars. If you’re into it.
— Classy vibe. Even the DJ wears a collared shirt.
CONS:
— Cougars. If you’re not into it.
— Pretty steep food and drink prices.
— This is oddly one of those places where the VIP entrance has longer lines and moves slower than the normal entrance at night.

I’ve never eaten at Jack’s but I’ve been there during the night when all three stories are converted to one huge party. It’s an amazingly awesome time.
Each level plays different music so you’ll find something you’re into (hip hop, electronic, etc.) There are always a lot of attractive people here too and they’re all dressed to impressed, so dress accordingly!
‘
Jack’s is a fun, classy place to have fun in San Diego!

Went here for dinner yesterday. The restaurant is beautiful, however, we had to sit on the patio because we didn’t have reservations. No worries, the patio wasn’t horrible.
Service, however, was sub par. My friend was getting really impatient about the length of time it was taking our server to greet us, check in, refill drinks, etc. It wasn’t very busy at the time, but she still managed to be incredibly slow.
The food was good. I’ve read other reviews and noticed that everyone raved about the ribs, so we had those. Huge portion. You could totally split them among two-​three people if you order some sides. We had the Red Bliss Potatoes and Mixed Veggies with Cashews or something like that. The BBQ Ribs were good, but you really could get better ribs at Phil’s in Point Loma and you won’t be paying $ 31 for the rack as you would at Jack’s. The potatoes were okay, nothing spectacular and the mixed veggies were awful. I don’t know what they put on them but it isn’t good, no beuno!
We had sushi rolls to start, the baked shrimp roll (I believe) and it was wonderful. Their miso soup was also delicious.
For drinks we tried the Jack Martini, lychee vodka, lychee sake and grapefruit juice. It was pretty tasty, but heavy on the grapefruit thus not as sweet as lychee drinks usually are.
After dinner we sat by the piano in the dining room. Nice environment, beautiful and mellow — but tons of cougars scantily clad and slimy sugar daddies ready to prey upon the younger chickens.
Next we headed upstairs to the «room,» turned night club, but it was starting to get pretty packed with no option to sit unless you reserved bottle service. We ended up on the patio which was full of smoke, so we left.
All and all, decent dining experience, but no frills like you would expect for a restaurant of their caliber.
(Just a note on the bathrooms. They’re small, ugly and smelly. As you walk to them, you feel as if you’re going to get mugged in the alley. Really it looks like so much effort was put into the rest of the décor, I don’t know why this place forgot to remodel the bathrooms. Not classy, and again, not what you’d expect from a fine dining establishment.)

Voted one of the best new restaurants in the United States, I had big expectations for dinner this evening. We arrived slightly past our designated reservation time but the other half of our party was even later, so we sat in the bar area while taking in the ambiance of the restaurant. Jack’s La Jolla is divided into 3 distinct restaurants on several levels: The Dining Room, Jack’s Grille, and The Ocean Room, with the Dining Room being the most elegant of the 3. That would be where we enjoyed dinner for the night.
The restaurant as a whole reminded me or a fine dining restaurant in a hotel, given its catwalk above the subterranean Ocean Room. In anycase, on to the meal! My first course consisted of the evening’s best dish of the night, the Celery Root Soup with Black Truffle Agnolotti, Butterscotch Froth, and Sage. The had an extremely smooth texture with a mild, but not earthly flavor and aroma. However, once you mixed the sweetness of the butterscotch froth into the soup, you had something to be savored. All in all, a wonderful soup. The appetizers enjoyed by the rest of the party however, left something to be desired to be sure.
For my main course, I ordered the Cinnamon and Star Anise Dusted Maine Lobster paired with Roasted Sweet Potato Raviolo with a Pumpkin Seed Emulsion. By far the most exotic dish on the menu, it seemed to be the clear choice for an exciting meal. However, when it came to the table, it appeared as though the lobster had been regurgitated onto the plate and served. Plating-​wise, the lobster was very poor with the lobster itself being rubbery and overcooked. I would have personally preferred enjoying the lobster with melted butter but I must admit that the pumpkin seed emulsion was quite good. However, the disappointment I felt in my main course was surpassed by that of my friends who ordered the unappetizingly dry roasted beef tenderloin. But I will let one of them describe it to you.
For dessert, I decided to try Jack’s Cranberry Crème Brulee. I must admit that I wasn’t exactly wow’d by their lazy plating and meager portions of this dessert. As you can see, it took essentially no effort on their part to put this one together. The crème brûlée itself had way too thin a shell in my opinion, and had a somewhat watery consistency when being enjoyed. There really was nothing cranberry about it except for the few dried cranberries sprinkled over it, and I felt it a bit misrepresented on the menu.
All in all, I felt that Jack’s Dining Room has great potential, but I was generally let down by the evening’s meal. Definitely not worth the $ 50/​person charge with tip but spending dinner with great friends is priceless.
Food: ⁷⁄₁₀
Service: ⁷⁄₁₀
Price: $$$$ — $ 40 Prix Fixe
Atmosphere: ⁷⁄₁₀

Dining room review:
Disappointed with the bread at the beginning. It sucked big time. I expected some balling ass bread to be given out, but it was watevers. But its ok cuz the rest of the meal was amazing.
We got the signature lobster appetizer over risotto… It was so good. The portion was really decently sized, especially since it was split into two dishes. I kept thinking they ordered two for us on accident, but they didn’t. This is the appetizer to get.
For the entrees I got the lamb and my gf got the duck. Both were very good and tender, and matched well wtih the sides. I was very happy. haha.
We had a crème brûlée for desert, and that really topped it off together.
The whole meal was very nice, even though it came to 107. If you want to eat here, go to costco and get a restaurant card from them. I paid 80 bucks for the 100 gift card and they gave me 4 $ 5 coupons to a few restaurants, including jack’s.
Great food. Great service too. I almost wanted them to stop explaining the dishes because they were so elaborate and detailed I didnt’ know wtf was going on, but it was fun to pretend like I knew what they were saying. Great atmosphere. They even have dancing at 10p, which is free Fri, Sat, and Mon. I believe. Fun times.

I ate here two weeks ago for a lunch meeting. We were one of the first customers for the day and were greeted warmly by the hostess, our server and the G.M. doing his rounds.
I also ate dinner here over a year ago, but I can’t remember much about the details of dinner except it was good and our server was great with our party of twelve.
Okay, going back to the more recent visit– the lunch menu was simple but had a good variety of grub to choose from. I ordered the cesar salad with grilled salmon, my boss had some vegetarian pita-​something dish and the person we met had the fish tacos. I enjoyed my salad, I was hungry so I pretty much inhaled everything on my plate kinda wishing they served super sized salads like they do at Cheesecake. Oh well, can’t expect the world when there’s a pilates/​yoga place around the corner from this joint. We all pretty much cleaned our plates, the fish tacos looked okay to me, they were petite– not like the fish tacos you’d eat at Rubio’s.
The service was great, the ambiance of this part of the restaurant was very welcoming and the prices are reasonable for it being in La Jolla. I enjoyed my last visit there that I’ll be dining there for lunch in a few days.
I definitely want to check it out again in the evening maybe for dinner and to see what the other levels are like. It is a long drive from where I live and with gas prices being the way it is, driving to La Jolla other than to go to work will have to wait until I’m celebrating something other than a random night of checking out the metrosexual boys this type of place attracts. =P

RIP