If you have never tried the meat balls let me tell you why you must first they are made fresh from lamb yes lamb fresh and so good you will order more and more and you will bring everyone you know that's how amAzing they are the staff is okay but who cares the food is off the hook read more

I'm in a foodie group that has gone here twice and has said good things (by people who tend not to say good things let alone visit a place twice). I missed the events but wanted to come here to celebrate a special occasion. We decided to try the 'Mercy of the Chef' 6 course meal. I was nervous because half of the menu was seafood and I only eat shrimp, lobster, and sashimi. I was worried I would get multiple fish courses but they said they could take my taste preferences into account and they did. Every course was amazing, beautiful, and executed well. We decided to buy two half bottles of wine rather than going with the wine pairing. We gave them the styles we wanted and they made some good suggestions. My only critique is that we felt what we were presented was a bit stereotypical in the courses that came out. I tend to lean more masculine (i.e., steak) in my eating and my boyfriend more feminine (i.e., salad). I tended to get lighter courses and chocolate for dinner. My boyfriend was getting the heartier dishes. It wasn't a big deal because everything was good and we just switched the plates on things that weren't a good fit. I didn't see any reviews comments that the dishes for the tasting menu might be different for each diner so I wanted to point that out. read more

We live in La Jolla, and like to go out for breakfast each Sunday morning. Nine ten has the best breakfast in town AND, is rarely crowded. So instead of waiting for an hour at the Cottage or a half hour at Harry's, we go here. Their huevos rancheros are the best around, bar none. Corn tortillas, black beans, great sauce, sour cream, guacamole, cilantro. And BIG. The Nine Ten omelet is great as well. And if you go when they switch to the brunch menu (10 or 11?) you can get the smoked salmon BLT - a real pleasure. But as good as everything else is, I am generally seduced by the huevos rancheros... read more

Destiny took us to Nine-Ten because we won a gift certificate for dinner through our kids school fundraiser event. It turned out to be a great experience. Our waiter was exceptional. He was eager to describe all the ingredients and flavor in each dish.. Being a foodie, this quality to me is wonderful and kicks up the experience one notch. (Loved their glasses of wine) The lobster salad had just the right amount of citrus. The short rib with the musturdy seed crust melted in your mouth. Don't skip dessert. The dark chocolate cheesecake was delicious, loved the cookie crust. My favorite though was my cheese plate. The gorgonzola dulce was paired with the most delicious strawberry jalapeño jam and the sheeps milk cheese with maple glaze and walnuts. Both paired with perfectly toasted delicious bread slices. I would of loved to enjoy it with a glass of tawny port but by that time we had enjoyed a bottle of wine and cocktail so had to stop there. We came due to the gift certificate but we will be coming back for the service and the food! read more

My girlfriend and I came in here last weekend. Kitchen doesn't open until 6 and we got there a little early so we sat at the bar and met Clint. He was awesome! Gave us a taste of some new cocktails and was really friendly. Recommended some great food as well. The dining experience was amazing too. Some of the best and prettiest food I've ever had! We had the roast duck breast and the short rib for dinner. Extremely flavorful, great mix of tastes, loved every single bite. This place is exactly the reason I am ok spending a bit more than average for a good date experience. It was so worth it. No joke this place was really good. Will be back for sure. read more

Delicious food, fun atmosphere with views of the Prospect Ave and the ocean. I have not had a bad meal there. Yes, it's pricey but worth it. If you can get a seat at the bar, the food is less expensive and still good. read more

We have been going here for years and really like the food and they have couches and a fireplace just outside the restaurant and a patio that you can eat at so its like eating at home almost. The prices are reasonable for La Jolla and also they just remodeled so things are looking up to date. Good place to go. read more

This my absolute favorite restaurant in La Jolla. The food is amazing, the wine list; spectacular, and the staff, friendly and top notch service. The chef is totally creative, plating the dishes beautifully and always creating a unique dessert. Portions are perfectly sized; you don't leave feeling like a glutton. The entire experience at NINE-TEN one that worth having. read more

Excellent breakfast, quality of food, service and overall value. Will definitely go again.

I actually made a yelp account just to review this restaurant because of my appalling experience. It was easily one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. I went here with my wife and daughter last night to get cheeseburger as this restaurant has been celebrated for having one of the best in San Diego. We made reservations for the dining room and we ordered drinks right away. The waiter then came over to take our order and we said we were getting burgers. His face all of a sudden went blank and he just stared at us with an awkward/disappointed look. He then said that the cheeseburger is not on the menu and he would be unable to serve it to us. I explained that we live in La Jolla and have ordered the cheeseburger at this restaurant several times and he bitterly attempted to negotiate by telling us that only one person could order the burger and the other two had to get different entrees. We said that we were all getting the burger and he then made us get up, drinks in hand, and move to the bar 5 feet away. We then decided we were not going to eat there due to this odd/unprofessional behavior, however we did want to finish the $50 worth of drinks that we had just ordered. We stood at the bar and the waiter then came back over after realizing we weren't ordering dinner and told us that we could not stand at the bar because my daughter was under 21 (just after telling us that we could sit there to eat). We were then embarrassed further as they escorted us out of the restaurant leaving our half full drinks on the bar. I have never had this poor of service at any restaurant I have ever been to. Though I do understand that the cheeseburger is less expensive, the dining area was empty at that time and we would have been in and out in an hour. In short, I would never eat here again due to the absolutely terrible service. A side note: after being escorted out, we walked down the street to Georges and had a wonderful burger with an ocean view and respectful service. I would highly recommend that experience. read more

Amazing. Everything was delicious and this was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. We did the daily special pumpkin soups with a marscapone that was phenomenal. The grilled octopus was done perfectly and had great flavor. The lamb shank and lam short ribs were excellent. The ny strip was also very good. We also did desserts and all were delicious. Coconut flan and banana crunch bars were tasty. The orange sponge cake was light and flavorful. The molten chocolate cake was on point with the perfect cook and added caramel sauce. The wine we purchased off the sommelier recommendation list was very good and actually priced low in comparison to the average store prices. I would definitely recommend this place and will go back in the future. read more

I was taking a gander at one of those fodors/ frommers/ whatever top 10 things to do in SD guides and eating the burger at nine-ten was one of them!! I've eaten here before but have never had the burger so i was like mmm ok i'll give it a go.. Went for happy hour with Hiro S. bc the burger is half off, only $7.50.. I think most of the creative force of the burger went into pickling the onions and carrots and of course pickle that came along with the burger, which were excellent!! And the bun was nice but otherwise pretty basic.. Lol i would definitely not put my stamp of approval on the grand claim it's one of the top 10 musts in SD rofl.. But for $7.50 yeah it's not bad! And the french fries were excellent!! Hot and fresh! We also had the shrimp toast, which was absolutely gorgeous! and SPICY!! g'ness this jamaican chef does not hold back on his flavor!! biiiiggggg timmmmeee.. lol it was a gorgeous piece of bread! i couldn't really eat it unfortunately.. i'm super sensitive to fishy flavor, actually i don't even know why the eff i ordered shrimp toast when i know i'm hella picky about my shrimp! i just thought that since this was la jolla, it might be a bit fresher.. Hiro S loved it tho! He said it didn't taste fishy to him? And then we also ordered the duck confit ooooooomg. At first I was a bit disappointed bc like the duck wasn't whole.. Like you know usually you get an entire duck leg and the skin is on it and it's crispy and delicious!! But this was like a plate of pieces of skinned duck. I was like bah I've been robbed! But no. It was delicious!! The texture was amazing.. I don't remember the last time I had fresh peas.. They had a great bite to them.. And the shitake wasn't too potent and the texture was perfect as well.. It was served with cavatelli, which I've never even heard of before i thought it was like gnocchi but I guess not lol.. I really enjoyed it! And the light sauce that everything was based in was just enough to add creaminess but not take away any of the natural individual flavors of the dish.. really great! I was irked about the service tho.. Like we sat down in the patio and maybe about 10 min after we sat down a couple of older men sat down too.. And they were greeted first and served first I was like really. A few times servers/ the bus boy/ bartender or whoever that lady was came to the patio to go and check up on them and then they would just like half smile at me and pass our table but not ask if they could get us anything. i was like so rude. could you be anymore elitist? anyway, we also ordered a couple glasses of the house red, which was completely forgotten about.. the server felt bad tho' and comp'ed one of them.. lol he also switched our burger with fries for the next table's burger with salad so we had to exchange.. and he forgot what we ordered like 15 min after ordering it so he had to go back outside and confirm.. anyway i mean i would eat here again.. the first time i came we ordered a bunch of different things.. the only thing i can remember was the short rib tacos.. Jason Knibb is definitely one of thee hot chefs in SD.. the only local chef invited to compete in iron chef.. was trained under many greats including wolfgang puck and roy yamaguchi.. last year he was named SD Chef of the Year by the cali restaurant assoc SD chapter.. and those are just the icing on the cake.. so he's obviously great.. I'd love to come back and have any of his Jamaican dishes one day, esp the jerk chicken.. i hope one day it'll make it to the hh menu bc with so many great places to eat in sd i feel like some of his items are overpriced.. but yeah overall i'd say it's top like idk 50 things to do in SD? Lol don't take that as an insult bc SD is full of a great many activity lol.. i would definitely take out of town guests here! read more

I ate at Nine-Ten for the first time last night with a friend and we were both impressed with the great service and fantastic tasting food we dined on. I read reviews from others about this place that didn't have a good experience, but I have absolutely no complaints about Nine-Ten. This is definitely a fine dining restaurant. We weren't necessarily dressed to the nines (haha), but we didn't feel out of place when we got seated right away. Our waiter was very attentive with us and suggested great wines for us to have with our meals. We started off with this cute little complimentary chef's sample of the asparagus, prosciutto and a thin slice of cheese. That was yummy! Shortly after that, our truffles came out and we absolutely loved it. The organic greens salad we both ordered was tasty, the dressing was light and the portion was good. When our meals came out, we were both impressed by its presentation. He had the salmon dish, I had the flat iron steak. We both loved our meals, no complaints about that. When we decided not to order dessert (we had to meet with friends after for that), the pastry chef sent out a small complimentary sample of ice cream and gingerbread cookies for us. That was a nice way to end our meal, we were both really happy with the service, food and ambiance and would recommend Nine-Ten if you're planning a special night out. We would definitely come back (that's after we recover from paying $65 dollars for the truffles!). =) read more

Fantastic evening with wine pairings from Saxon Brown. The owner, wine maker attended the dinner and described all of the wines. The menu was specially designed around the wines and very well paired. Overall the food was full of flavor but not at all heavy. The wines were excellent. A memorable night for sure. read more

Nine-Ten - Bars Near Me - La Jolla, California

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I have eaten at Nine-Ten twice: when it first opened and hosted the chefs of La Jolla tasting, and recently for Sunday brunch. The chefs' tasting dinner featured dishes prepared by the top chefs of La Jolla (Tapenade, Azuls, Georges, etc.). My favorite course was prepared by the Nine-Ten chef. The other chefs' courses were typical of a bourgeoisie menu - good but uninspired. Unfortunately, my recent brunch experience suggests that a few years later, Nine-Ten has fallen to the same fate as some of the other prospect giants. I had a salmon Benedict that was clearly lavish, but very one-dimensional in flavor. read more

The food here is pure heaven!!! On a recent night I had the halibut and it was the best I've ever had and I have had some great food. The half baked chocoate cake was exquisite. I could probably have a couple. Michael the mixologist at the bar also makes the most incredible cocktails in town. I don't think I can rave enough about this restaurant. I come here weekly and am addicted to the truffle fries. read more

We were seated promptly for our reservation, and had a choice of several different indoor and outdoor areas to sit. We sat outside overlooking the pool and a peek at the ocean. There are heat lamps so it doesn't get too cold. Good selection of wine and cocktails to start. The carrot appetizer was unique and flavorful, especially the carrot falafel and harissa yogurt. The duck and the NY strip were both excellent and perfectly cooked. The coconut flan was a fabulous dessert served with apricots and sorbet. Valet parking is $10 and is cash only. read more

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Nine-Ten is honestly one of my top 2 favorite restaurants in San Diego! They are consistently phenomenal all around, from their starters (stone crab spaghettini), classically well-done juicy burger (not literally cooked well done) and fries, delicious entrees (roasted duck and ahi), and spectacular cocktails (the smoky paloma is exceptional!). I am so happy to have found Nine-Ten and will frequent often! Happy hour is shockingly a great deal, with most bar items 50% off. Service is always pleasant, congenial, and attentive. Ambience is generally quiet and the bar does have one tv. Well done Nine-Ten, and we will be back again and again! read more

Ranked as one of the best restaurants in San Diego, we checked it out with very high hopes. Located in beautiful La Jolla, this restaurant is inside the historic Grande Colonial Hotel in Prospect street. I was expecting valet parking to be expensive for its location but it was only $2 which is always a great bargain. i) Food We ordered: - the raw sampling which is a sampler of their sashimi plates (hamachi, kona kampachi, hawaiian tuna, and salmon belly). The plates were pretty tasty, especially the salmon belly one. - calamari and house chorizo was great. You can rarely find good restaurants that serve calamari with squid ink. - bone-in-prime NY was also pretty tasty although the sauce was a little bit heavy. - port wine braised beef short rib was exquisite but make sure you have bread or vegetables on the side because the sauce is also quite heavy. - the risotto with black trouffles was also very good. I kind of expected a large portion but it was pretty small compared to the other plates but the mix of cheeses made me full pretty quick. ii) Service Our waitress was very good and they were very fast at changing plates and utensils. NOW the bad part. I don't know if there was a party going on at the hotel or if it was a busy night but it took about 30 minutes for us to get the first plate. By the time it arrived, I already had 3 slices of bread. After rapidly devouring the sashimi platter, we waited an additional 30 minutes to get the calamari. And the portions were not that big so ended up eating more bread. 15 minutes later we finally get our entrees but at that point I wasn't that hungry because of all the bread, wine, and water that I had waiting for the food. I wasn't in the mood of complaining to the waitress but now that I think of it, maybe I should have. The food in general was very good. Maybe I'll ask them to make it light on the sauce next time but overall pretty nice. For 3 people, ended up paying between $70-80/person and that includes wine, capuccinos and all the plates listed above. I give this place a high 3.5 stars/low 4 stars because of service. Hopefully this was an unusual night for Nine-Ten because their food is great. Next time we might try the Mercy of the Chef menu which is "omakase" and goes for $80/person for 5 dishes. read more

I would have liked to give Nine Ten a higher rating, but due to their poor service, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. After hearing positive things about Nine Ten, we decided to give it a try on a Saturday morning for breakfast. When we got there, we were one of the few tables there. Since it was another gorgeous day in La Jolla, we decided to sit outside and get our daily dose of Vitamin D. My friend ordered the Waffles and I ordered the Salmon Benedict; however when the food came out, I was given the regular Eggs Benedict. I'm not a picky eater, so I just decided to keep the Eggs Benedict for the sake of time. Eggs Benedict tasted good as well as the waffles, which were very fluffy. The disgruntling part of our dining experience at Nine Ten was the service. This was the first time I had to get out of my seat, and walk inside to find a server to get me more water (twice). The server failed to check in to see how we were doing. I would be more understanding if she was busy, but by golly, we were one of the perhaps two tables there! When we were ready for the bill, once again, I had to trek inside the near vacant restaurant and had to find the waitress to tell her that we were ready for the bill. Nine Ten is a very nice restaurant, with pretty good food, but was extremely disappointed and dissatisfied with the service that I received there. read more

So, the lady and I are in town from San Francisco. Decided to try a "nice" place a friend referred to us. We started with wine and apps, and of course didn't hold back on ordering the best off the menu.. With the servers recommendation we got two apps, one being an oyster dish the other tomato prosciutto something. They were good except when I ate just one of the three oysters it had multiple large pieces of shell hidden with in. Which cracked a back tooth and caused me some serious pain. I saved the shell pieces aside and went to the restroom to in spect my mouth. When I came back, my wife told me she informed the server what had happened, and he replied to her " sorry, happens sometimes".. This remark made me even more upset than my hurting mouth. I wanted to leave but stayed under my better judgement. She had the lamb, which was very good and I had the duck. The flavors were there but the duck was not cooked properly at all. Owning multiple restaurants and being an executive chef for twenty plus years, I know how to cook duck breast the right way. When we were done eating it took eighteen minutes for someone to clear out plates, yes I timed it. Overall worst dining experience I've had in years, no I did not want to stay for desert or coffee. Walked down the street and got a "nice" gelato to cool my pain... Still left a tip, 10% ;). "Happens sometimes" Don't waste your time America!!! read more

We were a table of 4 and ordered the chef's surprise menu which was $89. It came with an amuse bouche, seafood appetizer, pasta [which was out of this world even though the menu changes], fish dish, meat dish, cheese plate and then dessert. There might have been more... Delicious! Service was excellent too. We went on a wednesday and it was 50% off any bottle of wine. Great deal! read more

This place is terrific! High price, but well worth it. The food is great, and they will pair your courses with amazing wine! Great for a night out! read more

This place has the most amazing & delicious food! The server was confused & seemed like he wasn't in it to win it, but overall a good experience & delicious food. read more

We went for restaurant week with another couple and basically almost got to try the whole menu. 3 courses for $50 per person and on Wednesdays it is half priced wine, which was amazing. Of the starters, we loved the octopus - it was the first time I had octopus and now I will always order it at other restaurants!! For our entrees, my husband had the lamb which he said was the best lamb he ever put in his mouth his entire life. The couple that came with us had the beef (I don't eat beef) but he said it was also outstanding, they also got the tuna, and I personally don't like raw tuna steak so I didn't like it. For my entree, I got the grouper fish for the first time and seriously the best fish I've had in quite a while would highly recommend. For dessert, the most memorable was the warm brownie dessert and would definitely get it again. Loved the ambience, very high class and bougie, the wait staff was very responsive. Definitely go on a Wednesday!!! Half priced wine! read more

This places never disappoints. My husband and I actually tried this place out to see if we wanted to reserve one of their private rooms for a special event of ours we were planning and WOW! They exceeded our expectations. We have since been back multiple times. Oh and all our guests at our private event dinner had nothing but exceptional things to say. 10 stars! read more

Hubby and I had the Chef's Surprise 5 Course Dinner here the other night. It is $80/pp and I think worth the price. The food itself was wonderful. Our complaint was that there was about a half hour between courses, and each course was quite small, so we sat for basically 3 hours feeling very hungry. So much so that I couldn't finish my cocktail because I felt tipsy from lack of food. Service was very good, ambiance was nice and my martini was tasty. I would certainly go back, but skip the Chef's Surprise, only because it just took too long and we left hungry. We probably should have had some dialogue with the server about timing before we went ahead with the order. read more

not a good place for drinks on the weekend. kind of a dead atmosphere. It's a Hotel Bar. I didn't expect that coming here

Great location in La Jolla village. Some areas have ocean views. I have only had lunch there but everything was great. Fresh mixed greens salad with a light lemon vinegarette, grilled flat iron steak served with grilled boccolini, topped off by a half baked dark cocholate cake, yum-o!!! Not quite a lava cake, more like half cake, half hot chocolate pudding served with freshly whipped chantilly cream. The portion was more than enough for 2 to share but unfortunately I was alone. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought the dessert was good, a gentleman at the table next to me came over to ask what is was and that it looked delicious...Great value for the 3 course lunch menu. read more

I visit the Grande Colonial at least a few times a year for work, and since I'm working its easy to drop by Nine-Ten for a meal and get back to my computer. I would like to say nice meal, but I really can't. Their food is good, don't get me wrong, but it's overpriced and their service is painfully slow. I've placed a couple go to go orders, and the food is usually at least 20 minutes late. And this is after I give an additional 5-10 mins buffer time to when they say the order will be ready, because I've worked in a restaurant and get that things can get out of hand. On top of that, the lunch I ordered today, tortellini, was pitifully small for the price I paid. If you have money to drop and don't care about enjoying your dining experience, then I absolutely support your decision to come here. For those of us that do care, don't waste your time at Nine-Ten. There are a ton of other great options nearby. read more

Nine-Ten - Really? This cost $23? - Bars Near Me - La Jolla, California

Matthew was a wonderful server - we enjoyed the burgers and truffle fries and a glass (or 2) of the Chardonnay. Definitely high class. Thank you to Matthew for the 5 star service !! read more

Wow. First and foremost, I must say that the food here was decent. I will probably never return because of the crappy service that I received. Customer service must be dead! I went to Nine-Ten on a late lunch date with one of my girlfriends. We were excited to try something different than our usual trip to George's. We deeply regretted that decision. As one of only two tables occupied in the restaurant, we should have received impeccable service. Unfortunately, we had some of the worst service I have received in a long time. It took the server over ten minutes to take our drink order, then another fifteen to deliver the drinks and take our food order. Our food took an incredibly long time to arrive, and came out incorrect. It was like the server paid no attention to our simple requests! We tried for quite some time to get his attention to correct the mistake since he never came back to check and see how our food was. When we mentioned that the order was incorrect, we received a huge attitude from the server as if it was our fault that the food was made wrong! We never received a corrected order, and no discount on the bill for our dissatisfaction. When the server dropped the bill (or shall I say threw it on the table with an attitude), he never once said "thanks" or "sorry for the errors." Your employees make your experience either good or bad. I suggest finding some people who appreciate and enjoy their work. read more

Amazing. This is the best meal that I have had in a long time. The food was excellent and the service was great. The hostess and the waiter were very friendly and helpful. The location was great. After a delicious meal, we had the half baked chocolate cake. It was a great dessert. It was so good we even went back the next night just for dessert after dinner. I highly recommend this restaurant to all who visit La Jolla. read more