I've been to the San Diego location and am quite a fan so I thought I would try this new location in La Jolla. There is parking right behind the restaurant in the shopping mall (2 free hours). I came during lunch and they were...moderately busy. Because I was alone, I opted to sit at the bar rather than take up a whole table. Should have taken a table.
The restaurant itself is quite appealing and comfortable. But when I sat at the bar, it took an extraordinarily long time for someone to come over and give me a menu or take my drink order. There was a bartender, but she was busy having a conversation with some of the other patrons at the bar. Despite making eye contact with the bartender no less than six times, she just kept going on and on with her conversation. I really wouldn't care except she was the only one working the bar, which seemed odd since it was the lunch hour and as stated, moderately busy. When she finally finished her conversation, she headed my way only to stop at the people next to me, who already had food & drink, and ask if everything was okay or if they needed anything. Finally, she comes to help me but with a look on her face that says she is already annoyed because I was looking at her while she was busy talking.
I ordered an iced tea which she did get and looked over the menu. The menu seems similar to the one in San Diego; I wanted an egg white scramble but with a few veggies mixed in. When the bartender/server came back, I asked her about this and she told me "no" they don't do that. WTF?!? I wanted mushrooms, spinach and some goat/feta cheese. They do make an egg scramble with "market vegetables" but really... what restaurant doesn't have any spinach? And who ever heard of "market vegetables"? I was hungry and just wanted something to eat so I went with the "two egg breakfast".
Surprisingly, my food order came out rather quickly and to be honest, looked absolutely amazing when it was brought out. The eggs were hot and fluffy and so delicious! The meal came with fingerling potatoes that tasted like they were fried a little and then baked. Incredibly delicious. I don't think there was any seasoning on them and they were perfect tasting as they were. They serve something they call "rustic toast" which seemed similar to sourdough. The butter comes on the side so you can take it dry or really butter it up. It also came with some fresh fruit which consisted of about eight blueberries, one sliced up strawberry and some cantaloupe slices (cantaloupe was not ripe).
Okay, overall impression. Overly pretentious and not as customer friendly as the one in San Diego. When I go to the one in San Diego, there is never a problem getting spinach, mushrooms and goat cheese in my egg whites but this has to be the first restaurant not to have any spinach. The "market vegetables" they were serving included brussel sprouts. Brussel sprouts in scrambled eggs? That's a first but if you can serve that, how hard could it possibly be to also have some spinach? Mushrooms? By the way... Snooze which in only a mile away, does serve an egg white scramble with any veggies and cheese you can ask for.
So, the food is solid but sadly limited. The service is good... when they finally get to you. They aren't as good as the San Diego location and frankly, a bit expensive. I don't mind paying a little more, but if I'm paying more, I expect to get what I want and asking for spinach and mushrooms isn't asking for anything outrageous. Not sure I will come back simply because for the cost, it just isn't all that special.More