George’s at the Cove: California Modern

Hostess said she would text when the table is ready and she never did! We waited almost 2 hours and gave up and left to eat somewhere else.

We just finished dinner for our fourteenth anniversary (all celebrated here) and had the four course tasting menu. Every plate was perfection. It’s been a long time since I could say that about a complete dinner. My congratulations and thanks to Chef Foshee and his kitchen staff. Our waiter Nick and the front of the house staff took very good care of us. And thanks to Sasha for a wonderful table side window to enjoy the view over La Jolla and a beautiful sunset.

I had the pleasure of having their four course meal and I’m a fan. The dishes had excellent flavor, umami/​depth, great contrasting textures (eg soft vs crunchy), perfect volume, and excellent plating. Even the carrot cake came plated beautifully with contrasting textures and all. Reminds me of my dinner at Robuchons but at quarter of the price!
Also the waitresses, bartenders, hostess were very thoughtful and nice :). Can’t ask for more. I’ll definitely be back!

After hearing great things about George’s, I thought the food was average at best. The ambiance is trendy, modern and romantic. It’s the bottom floor of the 3-​storied restaurant.
We went for a dinner meeting and was given a prix fixe menu.
I got the:
— Caesar salad (which tasted like any other Caesar salad; I like the very crunchy croutons but a bit too salty)
— Salmon with seasonal vegetables and lobster sauce: it was overly salted and fried in a lot of oil and butter which was unappetizing. I wish they paired it with a starch like potatoes.
— Chocolate tart: not what I expected; it’s really a chocolate lava cake with a side of gelato. Nothing special.
— I didn’t try the lemon poached meringue dessert but the other guests said it was «disgusting» and most didn’t not eat more than a few bites.
That said, the service was spot on. Our server was attentive throughout the night. The restaurant is beautiful and overlooks the ocean but the food is not up to par.

Group of four, some had the tasting menu and some pirated and pillaged away from the a la carte menu.
The octopus was good, but kind of drowned in the sauce/​spices, should be perhaps fresher to let the octopus flavor predominate.
The dishes were excellent, fresh and certainly well-​presented; the ambience was great, the view very nice and the staff impeccable.
Nitpicking: their menu has a wide scope of options with many thrilling items, their dessert menu on the other hand is not enticing and much less imaginative, at all. But if you like the «classics» they are all there. Some of us expected an equally exciting dessert menu, but it is as «blah» as it gets, sort of middle-​America dinner. But that’s our taste, and nothing is wrong with the desserts themselves.
But again, a great night overall, five stars well-​deserved.
Surely coming back when in the area, but will have dessert somewhere else.

This write up is long overdue as the wedding rehearsal luncheon took place last summer. My cousin was getting married and her fiancée’s family hosted the rehearsal lunch at California Modern. His family was given the suggestion of George’s at the Cove and made arrangements to reserve the entire space in the restaurant’s California Modern floor. The actual rehearsal took place not far from California Modern so driving to downtown La Jolla that Saturday afternoon wasn’t too bad.
California Modern is located on the bottom floor of George’s at the Cove. I’ve visited their upper and middle patio in the past for lunches but it’s been a long time since I’ve visited the fancier California Modern.
The tables were simply set as the hors d’œuvre were hand passed for this rehearsal. That summer was excruciatingly hot and the air conditioning wasn’t working well that day inside the restaurant. There are no windows that can be opened.
We had a Greystone red wine option and a Hawk Crest chardonnay to choose from.
The tray passed hors d’œuvre included tempura rock shrimp, beef tenderloin, and mushroom bruschetta.
There were a choice of three entrees:
Asian Marinated Skirt Steak:
— The skirt steak was prepared a nice medium rare but I couldn’t taste much of the marinade. Onion rings were fine but could have been crispier.
Roasted Jidori Chicken:
— We liked the presentation of this colorful dish but sis thought the jidori chicken was dry.
Local Yellowtail:
— Chino Farms corn, huitlacoche, eggplant, hoja santa, tomatillos, cilantro
Service was pleasant and the food tasted mostly casual. We all agreed the entrees tasted ‘wedding-​y’. Our favorite parts of the lunch were the hors d’œuvre and the wines that day. California Modern is a nice venue with beautiful views of the ocean. We enjoyed ourselves but most importantly, we enjoyed that entire day with family and people we cared the most about.

Great view, good food. The service I received was not good. Waiter took forever to bring water, take our order and bring the food. Do not be in a hurry when you go here but if you are a single guy enjoy the bar, Cougar town. Get there early for a seat especially for 2 or more.

Enjoyed the 4 course menu. Snapper crudo, grilled octopus, pork chop, and carrot cake.
Snapper crudo had a great balance of flavor. Citrus, vinager, heat, and sweet. Really enjoyed.
Grilled octopus was amazingly tender. Great flavor, though I felt it needed a pinch more salt. Overall very good though.
Pork chop was the star of the show. Absolutely dynamite. Perfectly cooked. The apple, brusselsprout, sunchoke and salsify bits on top were good, but the mixture of the green garlic and apple sauce was bomb. I was chewing on the bone by the end. ¹¹⁄₁₀.
Carrot cake was only so so. I appreciated the lightness of the cream/​panna cotta/​semifreddo or whatever was on top, and the shaved apples were nice to add a hint of acidity, but there was too much of it. More importantly cake itself didn’t deliver enough flavor IMO.
Seated right on time. Really appreciated the fact they refilled the delicious bread basket without us asking. Service was on point throughout the night.
At a $ 75 price point I think the portion size was very reasonable. A better dessert and I think I’d bump it to five stars. Will come back one day and try it again!

We had dinner here last week, and had a great experience. We would definitely return, but would probably try to come earlier in the day to allow for a better view.
Our party of three ordered two tasting menus, supplemented with an order of the spot prawns, to share. This was still almost too much food for the three of us; the portions here are reasonable, and much more generous than similar restaurants.
To drink with dinner, we ordered:
Beets Me (virgin): This was excellent, with a fantastic balance of earthy flavors. As the name implies, this is a drink for beet lovers; I would not recommend it for people who are on the fence about beets.
Dandy: This was very good; strong, with a great flavor.
5 Knots to the Wind: This was also very good, with a strong ginger flavor.
We ordered, and shared between three (adults), the following:
«Fish tacos» (Course 1): These were fantastic! They were very light, fresh, and full of flavor. I had not read any Unilocal reviews prior to this dinner, but they live up to the hype.
Chino Farms Greens (Course 1): We thought this was a nice, light choice, and were expecting a standard salad. It was absolutely delicious, and I would definitely order it again. The ingredients were of very good quality, and the dressing was fantastic.
Grilled Octopus (Course 2): The octopus was very tender, and the flavors were well-​balanced.
Niman Ranch Pork Belly (Course 2): In general, I like pork belly, but don’t love it; that being said, this was very good! It was well-​cooked, and was much less fatty than other similar dishes I’ve had.
Spot Prawns (added to Course 2): These two large prawns were split and presented simply, with with meyer lemon. They were cooked perfectly, and were easy to eat due to the presentation.
Local Sea Bass (Course 3): This was very good; the flavors were excellent, and there was just the right amount of spice for a little kick, without overwhelming the flavor of the fish. It was well-​cooked, and was very tender.
Niman Ranch Bone-​in Pork Chop (Course 3): This was the surprise favorite of the night for all of us! The pork was cooked beautifully, and was tender. The flavors of the sides, especially the hazelnuts, really made this dish.
We ordered dessert after the third course:
Carrot Cake (Course 4): The cake itself was moist and very good. I thought there was slightly too much fennel on top, but it was easy to remedy that.
Lemon Poached Meringue (Course 4): This was good, but not as strong as the carrot cake. It was nice and light, which was good, as we were all very full.
We also ordered two Irish coffees, and one Gelsomino. The Irish coffees were pretty standard; I thought it was a little odd that the menu specified that they are prepared with Hersey’s chocolate syrup, rather than anything house-​made. The Gelsomino is served cold, and was an interesting combination of flavors; I thought the chocolate and jasmine were the most pronounced.
Service (Nick) was fine, but not particularly memorable. Sasha, the manager, was very personable and professional; she seemed to genuinely care that we had a good experience.
Overall, I will recommend this restaurant to others, and hope to return!

Took my mom here for her birthday and the food was impeccable. The service however was a bit slow and it seemed as if some of their wait staff were not prepared for the evening!
I ordered the NY strip and was prepared perfectly medium rare.
My mom had the fresh catch of the day and my dad had the venison filet medium rare!
Would definitely return, but the 4 stars was for the slow and seemingly unprepared service.

We decided to spend our anniversary at La Jolla and Unilocaled a good place to eat dinner. This did not disappoint us at all. Their food was way more than what i expected. It is pricey but it’s so worth it. Our server was very attentive and polite. For appetizer, we had fish tacos and it was the best fish tacos i have ever had caused it’s a deconstructed ahi tuna with all the flavors bursting from battered avocados to all the greens that’s in it. My hubby had their yellowtail its was good too but my sea bass was way more delicious! I can’t explain in words. Then we head towards dessert and we had carrot cake and chocolate tart. They «accidentally» ordered an extra chocolate tart which is weird cause why would we order 3 desserts but anyway they just gave it to us to go which was awesome! Overall our experience was almost perfect. Left one star for our request to be seated by the window was not granted but who really cares. The food was YUMMY

George’s California Modern is one of our favorite places to celebrate special occasions in San Diego/​La Jolla. This restaurant is located in the inside portion of George’s at the Cove and is a lot pricier than George’s Ocean Terrace located on the rooftop. The service is always great and respectful here even though we look younger than George’s normal crowd. The ocean view here isn’t as great as Ocean Terrace since California modern is indoors, but if you can get a window spot, the view is still pretty great. Most of the time we are able to get a table by the window, and if you really want it, you should make a reservation for a non-​peak hour like around when they open for dinner.
The food here has never disappointed. The menu seems to change slightly everytime we’ve came here and I imagine it’s to serve what’s in season. My favorite is the beef tenderloin. My fiancé and I agree that it’s one of the best prepared and most flavorful steaks we’ve had in San Diego. The tenderloin is usually served with seasonal veggies like beautifully colored carrots that are perfectly cooked. My fiancé usually raves about the veggies here as well. I’ve had an arugula salad here that was also very good, but it wasn’t on the menu last time I checked. My fiancé has ordered duck and lobster entrees here and has always been satisfied, but prefers the lobster. We always end with the doughnuts and dips… always perfectly fluffy, warm, and delicious. The dips change every now and then as well.
Of course this place isn’t cheap, but I recommend this place for special occasions or if you want to treat your loved one out to a romantic evening with a view. They also offer tasting menus/​prix fixe menus every once in while if you want to try a bit of everything. My fiancé and I will definitely be back.

Loved the place, décor, ambience, everything except for the fact that it was small! (for what we expected a $$$$ restaurant would be)
Probably it’s because of the view, but unfortunately we did experience any of it since we were there for dinner.
One interesting thing was George’s at the Cove has 3 different restaurants in the same building in different floors and the other two were $$ and $$$!
Basically, the address is good for many! :)
Coming back to the ‘California Modern’, we were 3 girls and were tasting menu dinner. Loved all my dishes. Please refer to the pictures for the menu and the food we ordered! Too many of them to type! ;-)

My girlfriend and I made a reservation to celebrate her birthday. We requested a table with a view and was seated by the window that overlooked the cove and had a perfect view of the ocean and the sunset. The restaurant was very romantic and I was feeling good about choosing California Modern.
Our server, Matt, greeted us with enthusiasm. He gave us great recommendations and was a great guy to talk to during the meal. The general manager, Les Johnson, was patrolling the restaurant and greeted us midway of the meal. He was very welcoming and was a pleasant guy to talk to as well.
The food was delightful. Both my girlfriend and I did the four course meal. Among my girlfriend’s meal, her favorite were the corn soup and the porkchop. (That is not to say she didn’t like the other courses, she just really loved these two dishes as they stood above the rest for her.) For me, the fish tacos was great and was a different representation of a fish taco. The fried avocado was an interesting twist. I really enjoyed the dish. I also had the beef tenderloin, which was cooked to perfection.
Overall, this was a very memorable experience. California Modern is definitely a place to celebrate something special!

California Modern is one of the well-​known places for celebratory event in San Diego. This place has been on my list for a long time, and I finally got the chance to check out this local legend recently. We sat at one of the middle tables with large rolling couches, but getting in and out can be troublesome. The ocean view served as the gorgeous backdrop. The only problem was the reflective glare during sunset. These are minor problems given the comfortable seats and ocean view dining. We ordered the four courses, and the portion was more than fulfilling. There wasn’t any bad dish, but only a few stood out:
Fish Tacos
This dish was featured as the signature appetizer on Food Network. The deconstructed tacos with creative presentation of ingredients were welcomed. This hit many of the right notes, but it did not remind me of fish tacos.
Grilled Octopus
Octopus is not an easy ingredient to work with, because it can get tough pretty easily. It turned out to be quite tender, but the grilled flavor did not shine through. The accompany ingredients gave it substance, but they did not accentuate the octopus.
Doughnuts and Dips
This was a delightful comfort food with four different dipping sources. Not all of them worked well in my opinion. When in doubt, you can’t go wrong with the chocolate source. The size was the one negative, because this dessert got heavy pretty quickly.

This is definitely my kind of restaurant. It’s the fanciest I’ve been to. I am a sucker for restaurants with a view (although our reservations did not get us a seat near the windows, it’s ok, I could see the potential). The portions were small but beautifully presented and just enough to appreciate what the chef wanted us to experience. The waiter describing the food had a heavy accent so we had a hard time understanding what was being served, we had to ask to repeat a few times sorry =(
Overall a very memorable experience. Fine dining at its best.
8 course $ 130 chef menu (a list of ingredients were given to us, but the chef decides what to serve)
uni
snapper
beef tartare (with corn bits and popcorn and goat cheese)
local prawns
Northern halibut
fried gnocchi
Squa with fig, eggplant, almonds
fennel granite: lemon dessert very interesting sensation when biting into bits it gets more sour
chino farm panecotta with carmel corn n dark chocolate
(I think one of the two above desserts were an extra for us — thanks! =D)
4 course $ 75
fish tacos
grilled octopus with gnocchi
Beef tenderloin split medium rare
whipped coconut sorbet with ginger

Would give it a 4.5 stars
Dined here for the first time on the 4^th of July. Really solid and delicious food! Requested and luckily got seated in the ocean view room by the window (one of the main reasons we wanted to try this place out).
Ordered way too much food, but some of the highlights:
1) the grilled local spot prawns with fennel butter (one of their specials, but judging from other reviews it seems to be somewhat consistently available to order) — Definitely the best dish of the night. My gf and I were pretty embarrassed by how quickly we devoured this and how cleaned out our prawn shells were compared to the table next to us.
2) «fish tacos» — served in a playful, deconstructed style with fried avocado, yellowfin tuna, corn nuts. This is their signature dish and is another must order.
3) beef tongue with gai lan and tendon puff chip — somewhat thick cut of beef tongue, but super soft and tender. Really good.
Only disappointment was the soft egg with ramp congee dish (just a little too vegetal tasting).
Overall would highly recommend George’s California Modern. As a bonus, while we were waiting for the check, we happened to look out the window and see dolphins swimming close to the shore from our seats!
Definitely looking forward to eating here again soon.

Had the chance to try this place during a visit to San Diego. I had heard good things from a friend, so I was excited to try it out.
We had a reservation for dinner on Friday at 8:45pm and were seated within 5 minutes of arriving. We were seated at one of the center tables that had couches for seating — very interesting. I had never sat on a couch to eat before, but it was comfortable and nice.
I tried the following dishes:
Bay Scallop Ceviche (orange, aji amarillo, cucumber, togarashi sorghum) (3.5÷5): This dish was very enjoyable and fresh. The scallops were soft and flavorful, and I really enjoyed the cucumber and orange combination.
Fish Tacos (yellowfin tuna, California avocado, corn nuts) (⁴⁄₅): According to our waiter, this dish is a staple at the restaurant. The tuna was fresh and light, and the avocado and corn nuts complemented the tuna well.
Wood Sorrel-​Ricotta Ravioli (cauliflower, lemon, walnut raisin bolognese, basil) (4.5÷5): My favorite of the dishes I tried. The ravioli was savory and cooked perfectly, and the lemon and basil added a really nice mix of flavors to the pasta. The raisins were a bit sweet for my liking, but I enjoyed this dish very much.
Vegetable Paella (sofrito, Chino Farms vegetables, saffron aioli) (²⁄₅): I did not enjoy this dish. The vegetables were very fresh, but the paella itself was very bland and definitely lacking in seasoning. I wish that there had been more of a robust flavor to this paella.
Carrot Cake (salted walnut, caramel tuile, cream cheese ice cream, pineapple kombucha sorbet) (⁴⁄₅): Very interesting take on carrot cake. It was very good, and I liked the combination of the salted walnuts and the sweet cake.
I also tried the Beets It drink, which I really enjoyed. It was very light and fresh. I would definitely order it again.
Overall, I really enjoyed my dining experience here. I am definitely interested in returning to try one of the other parts of George’s at the Cove.

Very nice place to come to celebrate anything!!!
I happen to be visiting San Diego and heard this place was a must!
Indeed it was… it’s very romantic! My boyfriend and I stared off with the grilled octopus and for entrée had the short rib & lobster! All delicious! There were so many different options. I wish I could of had everything on the menu!
If your in the area. I recommend this place! Especially for a nice romantic night out.

Came for Restaurant Week, what a great deal!
This place has a fantastic ocean view, phenomenal service and really well executed dishes.
Highlights!
Grilled Octopus: Supremely tender from proper sous vide cooking, paired with an awesome sauce.
Beef Tongue: Medium rare, melt in your mouth tender with pillows of horseradish.
Opah: Generous portion of opah, nice sear on the outside and super moist inside. Loved the chanterelles as well.
Warm Chocolate Tart: almost like a cross between a flourless chocolate cakeand a soufflé. Nice crusty exterior with a soufflé-​y interior.
I had the red wine braised prime short rib, but I wasn’t a fan. Instead of red wine it tasted more soy sauce based. Extremely Asian tasting. It wasn’t bad– it just didn’t taste like how –I– thought it would have tasted. Aside from taste the beef is blunt instrument tender.
Despite nothing major being bad with the dish (I ate it all), the manager still apologized and offered a plate of grilled spot prawns (which were amazing by the way!). A mark of excellent customer service.
Overall a really solid 4 stars from me.

excellant, digne d’un grand resto français!!!