idleweiss

My husband and I are renting a condo in La Jolla from 1-25-to 2-1 which will coincide with restaurant week. We wanted to eat at the Fish Market and at Ocean Aire and definitely in Little Italy. Will any restaurant- be a problem for lunch? Since we are staying in La Jolla I am wondering if the restaurants there are also participating? We have been given the names of Azul and Georges by friends. Any suggestions for restaurants in La Jolla would be appreciated as well as somewhere for lunch when we drive to Encinatis. We like seafood, Italian and American food. One good restaurant for Mexican food would make my husband happy. Thanks for all your past advice. You are all very helpful.

MaureenB

We loved our dinner at George's in La Jolla. They have a downstairs restaurant and an upstairs outdoors patio.

I can recommend the upstairs patio, especially if you can get a table right by the edge, looking out at the ocean. We sat there and had an excellent meal with excellent service.

I believe the menu is different downstairs. More expensive, probably. It's a cool, hip atmosphere if you like that. We preferred to sit by the water.
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TahitiTams

I remember you..
Glad you rented a condo in LJ..is it in the village?
George's on the terrace for lunch is a must..just make reservations.
Have drinks on the outside patio at La Valencia hotel overlooking the cove or have breakfast there.
Alfonso's for nacho's and marg's..
Marine Room at the LJ Shores for drinks..waves hit the windows
Oceanaire is excellent in the Gaslamp and they have a great happy hour..
Brigantine in Del Mar has great seafood happy hour and the best fish tacos for $2.
Love Fish Market but only the oyster bar or having app's on the deck on the bay.
Little Italy is great and love the Waterfront..oldest bar in SD..best burger..cheap Italian would be Filippi's.

idleweiss

Tahiti Tams ...Can't believe you remember me. You were so helpful in our need to know where to stay. Am renting one block from Windandsea with an ocean view. Tried to find something near The Cove but couldn't. Thanks for the info on restaurants. Does that Restaurant Week have any effect on the restaurants in La Jolla.

Maureen, thanks for the info on Georges. We know about sitting upstairs. I am happy that it is heated

TahitiTams

Windansea is a great area especially to watch the surfers at the shack..love to walk along north of dunemere where Cliff Robertson had his gorgeous oceanfront home and all the Tudor homes..
Just make reservations for the restaurants that you definately want to go to..
Restaurant Week is new but should be a great venue..
Bird Rock has Bully's for the best Bully Burger..all the locals go there..
Bring your bikes to ride around LJ..it is such a beautiful place and please let me know if I or others can be of any help!

idleweiss

Tahiti Tams--We are taking our laptop with us so I will have the benefit of looking up all your suggestions. One more question. Are you familiar with the different whale watching tours? My husband would like something that gets us really close if possible. Also while on the subject of tours; my husband has a bad back and is not able to walk long distances. I read there are trams for the zoo, and general tours to see the city. Since you live there, you may not be familiar with them but you seem so knowledgable I am counting on your recomendations. Our son is coming with us so he and I can walk around. Thanks in advance to any of you who can help.

Barbara

There are double-decker buses in the zoo and the tour is usually very interesting. There's a hop on and off bus too, so you can see some things up close, but not have to walk as far.

I live here, so I don't do the guided tours, but a lot of people on Fodors have recommended the Old Town Trolley Tour.

http://www.trolleytours.com/San-Diego/

tchoiniere

The guides for the bus tour around the zoo are hit or miss. Last year when I was there, the first guide I had spent more time talking about empty cages, tree and the bus station than about the current exhibits. I ended up doing a second tour with a different guide and liked it a lot more.

idleweiss

Thanks to you both for responding. If I understand you correctly tchoinier you had to take a 2nd tour because of a bad guide. We had that experience last year in AZ. But Barbara you stated that you can get on and off the tour so I guess you can do that and hop on when you are ready and get a different guide? Either way thanks for the info. Any more input especially about whale watching would be appreciated.

TahitiTams

Hi idle..
Whale Watching can be done with several tour operators but the one I have used is SD Harbor Excursion.
Old Town Trolley is a good tour company that helps you get to know SD, around $30pp.they have them all over the US.
When in LJ, Harry's Coffee Shop is one of the best and do try a fish sandwich at El Pescador..Yum!

sdhe.com

tchoiniere

Theres 2 different kinds of buses at the SD Zoo. There is 1 that does a complete loop and there is 1 that you can get on / off at various points. I ended up doing 2 of the complete loops. Didn't really need the 2nd loop but had the time to do it and didn't feel like walking another loop around the zoo. The best pass to get is the Best Value Ticket, which gives you the unlimited tours and the SkyTram (gondola ride over the park. You definitely see most of the zoo from the bus but you still need to walk to get to the Polar Bears etc. Best thing for you since your husband has a bad back is to take the gondola from the front side of the zoo to the Polar Bear exhibit, which drastically reduces the amount of walking. The hop on / off bus would probably work well too as you would be able to get some close-ups of animals.

SandyBrit

idleweiss:

Please share the condo website that you decided on in La Jolla. It would be nice if you report back on how it all worked out.

Best wishes for a great time in La Jolla.

Sandy

charsuzan

I have eaten at both Azul and Georges and both were great.
Can't help with restaurant week.

idleweiss

Thanks to all of you for great information about restaurants and excursions that do not require much walking because of my husband's back problem. Tahiti Tams the website you gave me for SDHE is wonderful.
Tchoiniere You cleared up my misunderstanding about the tours available to us for the zoo.
Charsuzan--I feel great getting affirmative vibes for the list of restaurants our friends gave us
Sandy Brit I used the 2 most popular websites I know of to rent in La Jolla. I used them before and have had great results with one exception. Ironically, the problem was renting this last one in LJ. We initially rented a home in LaJolla Shores. The lady cashed our check but never sent back a contract which we had signed, and did not answer our e-mails or phone calls. Just this past weekend we received a check (which we cashed) from the woman who told us the roof was leaking and she could not rent her home. I got this condo literally speaking 2 days ago. It had been greatly reduced in price so I guess we ended up lucky. Will let you know when we return. The websites I found good are
htpp//www.homeaway.com and
htpp//www.vrbo.com

If any of you come up with other restaurant suggestions or tours let me know. Thanks, Carol

savannah

Check out yelp.com for restaurant options.

itsv

If you google San Diego Restaurant Week, you should find the link and all the restaurants participating are listed along with their special menus. Oceanaire (one of my favorites) is listed but lunch should not be a problem. However do they serve lunch? I don't think they do but I could be wrong. If you want one of the restaurant week places, then I would make rservations quickly.

Add the restaurant "Fresh" to you list of places in La Jolla. I really like the place, have never had a bad meal there and they have this special dipping spice mix for their homemade bread that I would sell my kid for right now. Roppoggini (check the spelling) is also good along with Marine Room. In La Jolla Shores, we like Barberlla and Primi Patti (with Primi our favorite of the two.) Over in the UTC section of La Jolla, Addison is getting a lot of attention. San Diego Magazine has a retaurant edition and you might check that for more recommendations.

On the way to Encinitas you can stop in Fidels in Solano Beach for great Mexican food. The Brigatine near the race track along Pacific Highway is also great. If you want more casual then Waters Fine Foods (a high end sandwich shop/cater) now has a location in solano beach on pacific highway.

Also you might want to try Pamplemousse in Del Mar/Solano Beach. Its part of restaurant week, but the food is incredible.

idleweiss

Itsy I did find the link to restaurant week. For us, it poses a problem because the restaurants we wanted are filled. I called them. I think we will have to see if some of them are open for lunch so we do not miss out on the experience and views of some of the places recommended. Perhaps some of you know whether some restaurants are open for lunch during this week.

Savannah..Your link to yelp was also very handy.

Thanks to all who have joined in. If you have any other ideas let me know. Thanks

Jan_604

bkmk

howefortunate

One of my favorite Mexican restaurants is Café Coyote y Cantina in Old Town.

A great upscale restaurant in San Diego is Bertrand Mister A's. It's on the 13th floor of a building and has fabulous views of the San Diego skyline and the coast.

If you dine at George's Outdoor Terrace Bistro, make reservations and time your dinner so you can watch the sun set as you dine. Request a table near the water.

Enjoy your trip.

mclaurie

Is Brockton Villa still good for breakfast? http://www.brocktonvilla.com/1.html