George’s at the Cove: Ocean Terrace

The scenery was legit. The 3 of us had seats by the glass and even got to see a whale. Construction was going on and made finding George a bit difficult to see (never been before) but we managed.
The vibe is cool, the food was honestly good but not OMG great but that’s on a scale of my experiences with finer dinning. No I’m not a snob just saying, for example Jake’s food is much tastier.
The menu was good and from other reviews hasn’t changed a whole lot. The cocktails were very nicely done. I was looking for a different spot to take my people and this was cool, a bit pricey 1 appetizer + 3 entrees and 2 cocktails plus tip I think I dropped $ 145.
I say the place is worth checking out and seeing for yourself.

The best part of George’s at the Cove was definitely the view! You’ll be treated to a stunning panorama of surf meeting the sky. We went at 4:30 as it was the only time I could get a reservation and it ended up being perfect. By the time dinner was served, the sun was setting! While the buildings around block «the big show», one can still take in the gorgeous colors as the sun goes down.
The meal was decent. If I had to rank based on it alone, I would have gone between 3 – 4 stars. We were craving guacamole and ordered chips and salsa (average chips and salsa, but it’s hard for these to truly be mind blowing) and a short rib that was good, but a little on the sweet side with non descript veggies.
The service notched up the star count to 4. Not only did our server bring us extra guacamole upon request (the original serving was thimble size), but they also provided blankets upon request as it got cooler in the evenings and took pictures for anyone who asked as the sun set.
This is definitely a spot to visit if you’re in from out of town, to take a special someone to for date night, or to dazzle a guest, but is not somewhere I’d go regularly were I local.

4.75 stars rounded up to 5-​stars.
Came here during restaurant week. The plaza was under some heavy construction at the time. We were early for our reservation, so we got a drink downstairs while we waited. Our server down there was so adorable. I wish she was our server for our actual meal.
When our table was ready, the host from the terrace actually came down to find us to let us know our table was ready and that he’d lead us back up there. So far, so good.
When we were seated, we got a good view of the ocean, but it was at night, so obviously, it wasn’t very effective for dinner.
For Restaurant Week, their base price was $ 30 per person. When we looked at the menu, we saw so many opportunities to take on extra costs depending on the item offered. A few bucks for this, a few bucks for that, about 20-​something extra for skirt steak, you get the idea.
George’s Famous Soup was fantastic. It was so good that I wish I could simply have a giant bowl of that and nothing else, and I would have been satisfied for the night.
The yellowtail was pretty good, although it could have been a bit juicier for my taste. But if that form was the intention, I’m absolutely fine with it.
The mocha layer cake dessert was great. I enjoyed the ‘à la mode’ part of it as well.
The only drawback was a tiny bit of rushing. Near the end of our meal, our server was noticeably stern. Not in a rude way, but in a rushing way. The only reasons I can imagine for this to happen are that 1) it was nearing the end of the day, and 2) it’s Restaurant Week, which is arguably an extra burden on restaurant staff.
Regardless, it was a nice treat. If you’d like to fancy it up every once in a while, here’s a good place to do that. Try for lunch if you want a good view of La Jolla Shores. There’s valet parking at the front, but if there’s street parking as well. After 6pm, they stop enforcing the time limit.

This place had a beautiful view but long waits. In my opinion, the food was not worth the price. You were definitely paying for the ocean view.
Service:
The service was average, just because we weren’t assisted that much. This may be because the restaurant was quite busy, but nevertheless, we were only helped twice throughout our entire time there.
Quinoa burger:
The salad served with the burger was overly salted. It was much saltier than the burger itself. The quinoa patty was mushy and kind of difficult to eat because it kept oozing out the sides of the burger.

I dined at George’s at the Cove last week with my family and we were blown away by the amazing view and the exceptional dishes!
The view was impeccable. Even though it was a bit cloudy hat afternoon, we still enjoyed ocean view with the window seats. Makes the experience much more special with good view.
We got the some appetizers and mains to share. My favorites were the hummus with grilled veges and pita and the fish tacos. I am a hummus lover and George’s hummus appetizer was very impressive. The dish comes with a nice touch of olive oil in the center of the hummus and perfectly seasoned veges, like zucchini and eggplant, and a fresh pita bread. I was a little full after the appetizer because I ate most of it!
The fish tacos were very well seasoned and the veges inside, cabbage and tomato, complemented the dish very well. I definitely recommend the hummus and the fish tacos!
Overall, I was impressed with some dishes, but the amazing view really tops off my 5 star review.

Loved the food
Great service, great staff… very creative chefs
Nice environment… Great experience
Thank you

I have been to George’s terrace restaurant multiple times. My first experience was great. My second experience about 6 months back involved terribly slow service and the waitress was awfully rude. She messed up on our bill and made a huge deal about it when we corrected her. It ruined my friends birthday and was just completely uncalled for. My last 2 experiences this past month have involved continuously slow and poor service. This place takes at least an hour to sit down and eat at. The food is good but not great. The view is awesome though.
I think the terrace could improve by focusing on better customer service and an overall better relationship between the servers and the customers. The servers are all very cold and disappear every time you need them. This place keeps disappointing me.
Save up and go to a nice dinner downstairs! The food and service is amazing there!

I finally got a chance to try George’s. There are 3 floors of this establishment – bottom floor is the fancy main dining room, the middle floor is the intermediate/​nice bar area, and the roof is the terrace with the awesome view from outside. Wherever you are, you can catch a good glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. I came at a relatively busy time with no reservations so just snagged a couple bar seats on the second floor since it seemed less desirable to the crowds.
I went with the Fish Tacos and the Spaghetti with Clams. Both dishes were superb but I don’t know if I’d ever order the spaghetti dish again – it’s more of a mood-​dish. I’ll be back someday to try their tasting menu.
The reason I am giving this place 3 stars is because we were stubbed with the service. I mean, we sat at the bar and were surrounded by servers but no one really paid us any attention until like 20 minutes after we were seated. Two people next to us were even served while we were ignored. To make matters worse, since we sat right near the area where the servers hung around picking up drinks so we heard lots of complaints/​gripes from the employees. It was just very unprofessional and made the experience less fun. If this did not occur, I’d give a solid 4 stars.
So, with all this said, I still recommend checking out George’s when you’re looking for a great view and gourmet food. Be sure to make a reservation if you want to streamline your time here.

I am not sure why the Ocean Terrace has a different Unilocal page but I came here for dinner last night to celebrate a few friends’ graduation.
They have very good and strong heaters outside and offer blankets so for a cool evening it was very pleasant. The service was fantastic. Our server was friendly, knowledgable about the menu and very helpful.
We ordered a few appetizers to start. We go the hummus, chips and salsa, and the calamari. I cannot speak to the calamari but the hummus place and chips were generous and delicious! For my main course I had the salmon. It was both beautiful and delicious… highly recommended! One of my friends had the yellowtail and that too was great.
For dessert, we shared the warm chocolate cake and the sticky toffee pudding cake. They were out of the bacon ice cream but it was still delicious.
At the end of our meal, the waitress brought over a small bottle of olive oil for my 2 friends who were celebrating their graduation. How thoughtful and sweet!

Came here when it was rainy so missed out on a good view because they had a plastic covering on the side. Got calamari and chips and dip for apps, spaghetti with clams for entrée w/​a glass of Riesling, and a cappuccino and choc layered cake for dessert. I think this place would be good if it’s a nice day for the view. Otherwise the food is mediocre and our friend who recommended this place kinda hyped it up too much and it was just okay. Great friendly service though.

Service = 5 stars
The view = 5 stars
The food = 3 stars
Service is exceptional. Up there with the best I’ve had. Dare I say world class? After we finished our appetizer, our server even asked how we would like our entrée timed since they fired it a bit early.
The view and ambience are also second to none. Just see the several pics.
The food was okay. Everything leaned on the «a touch overlooked, a touch under seasoned» side. The crusted ahi wasn’t as rare as preferred and had an interesting butter sauce. The filet was generous in size but lacked that strong sear on the outside so it just felt flat texturally. Think wedding food, but great wedding food.
A lovely experience with slightly underwhelming food. I would come back for sure but stick to fish tacos and cocktails.

Great place to take visitors! When coming to George’s remember that they have a few restaurants in one building. Ocean Terrace is cheaper than George’s California Modern which is below the George’s Ocean terrace and is inside by the main entrance. Take the stairs up to get to George’s Ocean Terrace, which is the rooftop dining area. The ambiance and atmosphere at George’s Ocean Terrace is probably what an outsider probably thinks So-​Cal living is all about… enjoying nice sunny days on a rooftop enjoying the fresh air and an ocean view, while acting all fancy smanchy eating, partying, and mingling. Sounds like perfection to me. 3−4ish for the food, but a 5++++ for the ambiance and view. The people watching here is great as well since George’s is in the heart of uppity La Jolla.
The Niman ranch burger here is the best bang for your buck at $ 13.50 and one of the tastiest and most satisfying things on the lunch menu. The burger is great quality, huge, and cooked well. For dinner, I like the skirt steak. It’s very flavorful and moderately priced. My fiancé has had the spaghetti and clams here though and it wasn’t anything special, so I don’t recommend that.
Overall, I wouldn’t expect an life altering culinary experience when you come here. I can assure that it probably won’t be if you are a food snob. However, if you want to enjoy breezy sunny perfect San Diego weather and it’s picturesque ocean views, while having a moderately priced average to slightly above average tasting meal and maybe a few drinks, George’s Ocean Terrace would be one of my TOP recommendations! The fiancé and I like to come here every once in a while just for that! Only con, is it can get pretty busy here during lunch, so you might have to wait a while to get seated, but hey that’s okay… a walk isn’t so bad when it’s in beautiful San Diego.

Really nice place to dine and have a few drink in their fully stocked bar.
Great place to take your date spouse or friends.
Right near many little shops, boutique and art galleries with a beautiful view.
I was 18 when I first came here with my dad. haha maybe not a good place to bring your kids but definitely a nice night out place to try.

Lots of hype for this place.
Views are great! Make a reservation. Ahead of time. If you want to see the sunset, make your reservation for about an hour prior to the sun setting. Otherwise you’ll miss it.
Appetizer — calamari. Definitely a bust. The aioli was essentially just mayo and the calamari themselves were vastly under seasoned.
Entrée– Asian skirt steak. YES! Awesome. Takes great. Needs a new side dish however. The three onion rings aren’t able to play supporting role. They also suffer from calamari syndrome. Under seasoned.
Salmon — the salmon itself is nothing special. The vegetable/​barley medley is great.
We skipped on dessert since we’re still jet lagged and needed to get some sleep.
Under normal circumstances I would have given this a 3 star review. However the atmosphere is great, service was great and we’re really falling in love with La Jolla :)

MEH is definitely the word for this place.
We made reservations at this place because my parents were coming in town and we thought it would be a beautiful setting. We made it for a Saturday, as soon as they opened.
My husband dropped us off in front of the restaurant and went to find parking. It was 95 degrees outside and we were ready to sit down and have some water/​refreshing drinks. We walked up the stairs and because this place just opened, a lot of people were waiting to be seated for their reservation. We waited in line and checked in. Then the hostess informed us that we could not be seated unless our entire party was present.
I think this policy is ridiculous. There were 20 people standing up there that had the same problem and the hostess was incredibly rude about it. My husband was trying to do the valet in front of the restaurant, which is not the restaurant’s valet, but rather the city’s valet. The problem was that the valet guy was nowhere to be found. So, my husband was waiting for him to come back.
Even though we were one of the first people to check in, they made us step to the side and wait for my husband. I saw that they asked each party where they wanted to sit, and sure enough, all of the tables with the perfect ocean view were gone.
The «manager» came out (at least that is who I think it was) and I explained the situation and that the valet guy downstairs had not come back, but my husband was literally outside of the restaurant just waiting for him. This guy was even more rude than the hostess. So much so that the bartenders behind us apologized for them being so rude and offered my parents a free drink.
At that point, I was livid and could not believe the behavior of these people. I watched them treat other parties rudely as well. Honestly, once the tables overlooking the ocean are taken, the view isn’t that great from the other tables. It’s nothing to write home about.
I called my husband and told him to park in a 10-​minute spot and come in so we could sit, and then he could just bounce out once we seated, and go find other parking. That is exactly what we did. I will never come back to the place, but if I do, this is what we will do. Park somewhere for 10 mins, come in and check in and sit down and then go find parking. Dumbest policy ever… especially in 95 degree heat when people have made reservations.
My husband came up the stairs and we were shown to our seat. She did not ask us what table we wanted, like she did with EVERY single party before us. They took us to a table with no umbrella. We said no, we want a table with shade. If we can’t sit overlooking the ocean, give us a damn umbrella for God’s sake. The girl literally laughed at us and said, well let me check is this is available. Um, are you serious right now? I said to her, you just asked every single person to pick their table and we aren’t allowed to?
We ended up getting the table with an umbrella and sat down. Then my husband GOT UP and finished parking the car. Again, dumbest policy ever.
The manager had the audacity to come and ask us how everything was during our meal. HA. We completely ignored him because he was so rude to us.
I will say though that our waiter and the guy who was bringing us water were exceptionally nice and wonderful, and I feel bad for them that they have to work there.
The food was MEH. Nothing remarkable. Not worth the money or the snottiness of the place.
There was also a horrible, pungent smell the entire time we were eating. It was a mix of old fish and cleaning products. It was gross.
Further, I would not recommend this place if you have parents or people in your party with a problem with stairs. The bathrooms are down two flights of stairs. We could not find elevators, but they probably had them. Since the whole experience was crappy, my mom did not want to make a big deal out of it and just used the stairs… but she shouldn’t have to.
This place sucks. They are rude and the food isn’t that great. Save your money and find another place that has a view on the water with nicer staff. There are plenty to come by in La Jolla.

What a view! A must-​see for anyone that comes to visit.
Food — The presentation was elegant, yet relaxed, which fit with the overall mood.
California caipirinha — Tasty and sweet, not strong, the pepper did not overwhelm the traditional flavors
Fish tacos — Pretty good, but not incredible. The corn tortillas were softer than I’m used to, but the fish was well-​cooked and tasted fresh. I enjoyed the jalapeño-​lime mayonnaise.
Ambience — Terrace seating offers great views, and our backdrop of La Jolla Cove was gorgeous on a sunny afternoon. The glass railing allows for maximal views and easy photo-​ops for selfie-​enthusiasts. Although we did not have the best seats up against the edge of the terrace, our center table was still picturesque. I love that all the tables have umbrellas to shield patrons from the occasionally oppressive sun.
Service — We were seated promptly, and our server was nice and easily accommodated our requests. Additionally, an order change was quickly and smoothly accomplished after a menu misunderstanding.
Parking can be hectic, but it is worth the trip.

Big tip for those wanting to see the sun set… do not set your reservation AT SUNSET… other people want to see it too and even though they’re done eating, they are waiting to see the sunset so always get your reseravtion about 30 minutes before sunset.
The food is really good here, but the view is what really makes this place awesome. Make sure you bring a light jacket, not all the heaters are always on. The dishes that are amazing are the Tombo and the Marinated Skirt Steak. Everything else was good, but not worth mentioning. Also… you know you will feel stuffed at the end of the meal, and consider skipping dessert… but don’t… get the sticky pudding. It’s really good!

George’s at the Cove: Ocean Terrace is beautiful. What a way to eat, drink, and enjoy the beautiful ocean view!
I ordered the Spaghetti with Clams (toasted garlic, roasted tomatoes, white wine and extra virgin olive oil). Delicious!
ENJOY!

One word I could use to describe this place would be ‘consistent’. I’ve been going to George’s for 20 years and tonight’s dish was as good as the first time I came here.
George’s is located right in the heart of La Jolla with the most amazing view overlooking the water. This was actually my first time at the Ocean Terrace and have only been to the main restaurant but we arrived pretty late and there was seating available up top. It was a Saturday evening and it’s mid summer but still we luckily got a table out on the terrace. The day was particularly warm and beautiful but in the evening it cooled down nicely. There were even some patrons using blankets that the restaurant conveniently has. Of course they have heaters outside but I was in shorts and quite comfortable.
Our sever came over quite quickly and we already knew what we wanted to start with. We had George’s signature soup, a smoked chicken, broccoli and black bean cream type soup. Honestly, if you have never been to George’s or if you have but never had this soup, it is a MUST try! If you are looking for a light dinner, this soup alone is sufficient and you will be pleasantly satisfied. The soup is indescribable but one of the most delicious dishes you’ll ever enjoy. Although I gave the restaurant an overall 4 star rating, the soup deserves a 5+ star rating!
I would have been fine with the soup alone, but my friend was hungry so we ordered dinner. I had the evenings special Yellowtail served over fingerling potatoes and a pineapple type sauce topped with an aioli sauce. My friend had the Marinated Skirt Steak topped with onion rings. The yellowtail was quite good as well as the potatoes and sauce. The fish was fresh and cooked well. I could have done without the aioli sauce. It did not go well with the fruity/​pineapple sauce over the fingerling potatoes. My friend really enjoyed the skirt steak but the onion rings were not a good pairing. The steak would have been much better with some mashed potatoes or asparagus. The onion rings were heavily breaded and not cooked very thoroughly.
After our soup we ordered our meal but had to ask for some bread for the table. Our server gave us a rather unpleasant look when I asked for the bread and what we got was cold bread that tasted as if it had been baked several days ago. There are so many great bakeries in San Diego and I’m surprised they don’t bake their own bread. It was odd they didn’t bring it out with the soup and even more odd was the look I got from the server when I asked for it. It is rather traditional in fine dining.
This really is a nice restaurant to come and enjoy a meal with a breathtaking view of La Jolla extending up the coast to Del Mar and at night you can see the lights up to Carlsbad. The food is very good but if nothing else, at least try their signature soup. It is amazing!

I recommend, George on the Cove Ocean Terrace, because it is a perfect place to hang out with friends and family. It is known for their seafood entrée. When we went there, we had Potato Gnocci for $ 16 and Spaghetti With Clams $ 17. Both tasty and worth the price.
The only thing is that if you need to use the restroom you have to go downstairs. And also the parking here is valet parking only. But if you’re lucky you can find a spot on the street. From the parking area we went up through the stairs to reach the restaurant, an outdoor dining and there’s a bar near the stairs. This place is always busy which is good. A great place to dine or unwind.
It’s four stars because of the parking and the restroom! Other than that everything is great! I’m coming back :)

This was my first time dining at George’s, and I was obviously impressed with the view– as anyone would be. A friend and I shared the tortilla chips with guac while we waited on our entrees, which arrived quite quickly. I got the yellow fin– and he got some sort of steak salad. Both were amazing. George’s would’ve gotten a 5^th star had the fish come out med-​rare, instead of well done. However I’m not one to send back a meal– and it was still delicious.