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Adobe El Restaurante
Category: Restaurants Latin American Latin American
9700 N Torrey Pines RdLa Jolla, CA 92037
(858) 550-1000
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Valet
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Breakfast
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
17 reviews for Adobe El Restaurante
17 reviews in English
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Review from Sam G.
Pomona, CA
1/14/2012
Food is fresh and delicious. Orange juice is fresh squeezed - yay!! Must haves -- blue corn pancakes and egg white frittatas. We looked at the breakfast buffet too but did not seem worth the $$. Glad we ordered a la carte.
TIP: Try to eat out in the balcony. It is gorgeous in the morning. -
Review from Kristen E.
La Jolla, CA
5/22/2012
This review is for lunch. I have been to this restaurant at Estancia at least 10 times over the past 6 years and it has changed drastically from 6 years ago.....at least the menu has changed, for the worse. What hasn't changed is the EXTREMELY SLOW SERVICE. The only reason I have been here so many times is that it is next door to where I work and this is where we take new candidates for lunch, although I don't think we will ever go here again.
Their menu now is VERY limited. 4 salads, 4 entrees and 4 sandwiches (there is a pic of the menu on Yelp). This time, I ordered the chicken panini with regular fries..... so boring and not gourmet. I could've made this myself, and in fact the paninis at the corner bakery cafe are SOO much better. The fries were NOT good either, tasted like the old burger king fries. They USED to have these amazing garlic criss-cut fries, but no more.... One of my co-workers ordered Mary's Chicken entree which he said was just ok, and my other co-worker got the short ribs which were way over cooked and too small a portion for him to get full. The co-worker next to me ordered the Tilapia which came out smelling extremely fishy (yuck). Overall the food is just unappetizing and not at all gourmet. They DESPERATELY NEED a NEW CHEF (I hope someone at Adobe is reading this).
The one thing they have going for them is the decor and the bread basket with flavored butter to start with, but that does NOT earn them an extra star because overall the entire experience is highly lacking. In this lunch experience today, we knew that the service was slow, so we asked for the dessert menus at the beginning of when our entrees were ready. We ordered dessert - 2 pumpkin cheesecake slices to share. Of course they took FOREVER to come out and guess what, they were LEMON!! It took us another 15 minutes to inform the waitress because she was nowhere to be found, and then she went back to the kitchen and found out that they were out of Pumpkin cheesecake, and the kitchen just replaced it with lemon without telling her. Thanks a lot! We had already paid our bill since we wanted to get out of there although she did offer to take the cheesecake off of our bill and re-run the card, but we said no.
I really hope they change their menu and get a more competent staff because this restaurant used to be soooo delicious, we used to be excited to come and eat here, but now we dread it. -
Review from Karen Y.
12/5/2011
Had their all you can eat brunch. Large selection of food from ham and cheese croissants to fruit smoothies. I especially liked the quiche. But all the food was lukewarm. I hate when food is lukewarm.
I think brunch on Saturday was $22. Nice view of the courtyard but hot food would make all the difference. -
Review from Jeannie L.
North Bethesda, MD
12/29/2006
Ever wonder how a seemingly innocent assumption to trust the resort's website's marketing that their restaurant is the "best new restaurant", "best lunch", blah blah blah, can backfire on you? Well, after spending $95 five minutes ago, I can say, I am sooooooo dissatisfied with this place and right now, not so impressed by this so highly rated resort.
El Adobe's menu sounded impressive - both pricing and the description of fancyy food. So, after finally checking into our hotel, we decided to celebrate my hubby's bday dinner at El Adobe, the hotel's fine dining restaurant. What a mistake!
For a western restaurant, I can usually gauge how good the food will be by their bread and dip. And sure enough, I had my doubts after we were served the bread but hey, I try to be an optimist, which I am usually not. The half dozen oysters we ordered were served with some tasteless, sweet concoction that forced us to ask for just some home comfort cocktail sauce with some lemon.
I specifically asked what they are known for and the waitress recommended this fancy sea bass cooked in Talliberry crust and served with gnocchi and lotus roots over soy glaze. Sounds promising, right? ya, I wish! I could break down everything that was wrong with the dish
- the gnocchi was so hard and dense, perhaps they just reheated it
- the sea bass was tasteless without the scarce ginger sauce and so dry.
- the deep fried lotus root was more for presentation than taste
- the shitake mushroom was a bit over sauted
Moving on to my hubby's steak... The first suspicious hint was that they don't even have steak knives. What a joke! It was a pain seeing my hubby struggle with his butter knife. Second thing, he asked for medium rare and of course, it comes out overcooked.
I can honestly say the best thing we had from El Adobe was the fountain coke and sweet potatoes puree. I didn't have the nerves to try their dessert.
I could have gone to MacDonalds and had better food! And.... Save myself $90! -
Review from Holly Ann J.
San Diego, CA
4/9/2009
I went for breakfast with my 3-year old daughter at Adobe El Restaurante. Hard name to remember!
Well, my daughter's brunch buffet was free. Niiiice. How often does that happen at such a lovely upscale resort? Try never!
The buffet was plentiful. Hot items. Cold items. Way more than I expected.
You have a choice to sit inside or outside on the patio.
I went again for lunch and sat on the patio overlooking the plush landscaping. My friends and I loved our lunch.
Must put another plug in for the impeccable staff.
Bon Appetit!Listed in: UPtown DOWNtown ALLAROUNDtown!
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Review from David S.
Mountain View, CA
10/9/2008
I had the pleasure of eating dinner here after a work gig. It's dark enough to be cozy and romantic, and very nicely appointed. Dress up for it.
The wine list is fairly complete, although they only had one New Zealand wine, so my boss (the kiwi in the group) was slightly disappointed. I asked the waiter to recommend a Pinot Noir, and the one I got was fantastic.
The food is glorious. We shared a round of appetizers around the table, including sautéed scallops, oysters on the half shell, soft shell crab, beef sliders, lobster bisque and manchego and tomato salad. They were varied and excellent.
For dinner, I had the lentil crusted trout. It melted in my mouth. The sides complemented it perfectly, and created the sense of a rhythm - taking bites from the fish, then hazelnut beurre noisette, then cauliflower mousse, etc. kept it interesting through the whole meal.
Portion sizes were ideal too. Appetizers whetted the appetite, dinner satisfied it, none of the silly over-stuffing you see at too many restaurants nowadays. (Well, the one guy who ordered the 10oz. New York steak knew what he was getting into.)
Service was slow. I like to linger in a meal with a big party, but this was too slow... we could have cut a good half hour between drinks and dinner and not felt rushed. -
Review from Ruben L.
3/24/2008
This review is based strictly on their brunch (Easter Brunch at that):
Our first Easter in San Diego, my wife, sisters and I decided to go to Estancia (mainly because they had openings). At a first glance, the menu seemed relatively small, but then we went there, and the meal was well worth it. They had a nice mix of both breakfast and lunch meals. For me, the highlights had to be the prime rib and the seafood. That prime rib almost made me cry, it was that good. The lady carving it up got to know me after a little while.
The seafood selection was pretty surprising. They had grilled salmon at one station (though the wild grains were dry), shrimp cocktail, crab legs, tuna sashimi, and an assortment of other sushi rolls.
I didn't want to fill up on breakfast, but they had made to order omlettes, all the breakfast meats, salmon eggs benedict, hash browns, etc... along with some traditional Mexican favorites like chorizo and chilaquiles.
To cap it off, they had a beautiful dessert bar. The carrot cake and chocolate fountain were nice, but they're bourbon apple crisp paired with their fresh vanilla bean ice cream is what did it for me.
And for about $60 (after tip), I was pretty happy satisfied with our choice, considering some places were charging 65-80 per person. They also had complimentary valet parking which was a pleasant surprise.
I don't know how this place is as a restaurant, but if they're ever doing brunch, it's definitely worth checking out. -
Review from Megan S.
Santa Monica, CA
9/27/2010
Wonderful little restaurant located inside the fancy pants Estancia hotel. If you haven't spent all your nickels on the hotel room, then you should venture into this restaurant for a meal.
I came here for a late Sunday lunch after staying at this hotel for my sister's wedding. Our party was very large (9 people), but they had no problem accommodating us. Our server was extremely friendly and courteous, and we started our meal with a tasty selection of bread and spreads (tapenade, butter with blue cheese, and some kind of tomato sauce) as we looked over the menu.
I ordered the grilled chicken salad and was very impressed. The dressing was a delicious and light peppery vinegarette, and the dish was heaped with very ripe papaya, a large piece of chicken, cashews, and flower petals. The dish was bright and pretty, and even though I actually dislike papaya, I loved this salad. I also had a taste of my sister's lobster Cobb salad, which was also very good (and had a hefty portion of lobster.. probably to match the hefty pricetag!). One surprising hit was a bottle of sparkling water my boyfriend ordered--it was the New Zealand brand Waiwera, and as ridiculous as this sounds, was the best sparkling water I've ever had.
Overall, this is a very good hotel restaurant, and definitely worth checking out whether or not you're staying at the hotel. If you don't want to deal with the expensive valet-only parking at the front, I believe you can find street parking across the street (around UCSD). -
Review from Elizabeth H.
San Diego, CA
5/11/2008
Earlier today, I went with my family to Mother's Day Brunch at El Adobe. Based on some of the reviews of La Estancia from other sites and the 1 star on here, I was worried. After I walked in, all my worries disappeared. The buffet was incredible! They had several different stations set up and food was constantly being replaced (no food sitting around for hours). They had a lobster tail station, a ham station, an omelette station and a row of warm food which included petite fillets, twice baked potatoes, halibut with spicy rice, ratatouille, and more. Did I mention the seafood section with fresh shrimp, oysters, and sushi? To top it all off they had a wonderful dessert section with French pastries, ice cream bar, apple crumb cobbler, carrot cake, chocolate cake and fruit tart.
We were all in a food coma after we were done. The service was ok, but they could have been a bit quicker to pick up the plates. I'll give them a pass on that one since they were so crowded.
YUM! I'll have to go back. -
Review from Kristin H.
Laguna Beach, CA
4/19/2011
We are staying at La Estancia. Gorgeous grounds, wonderful staff and love the succulents and walking trails. All that said, this is the worst restaurant meal we have had in ages. Bad service, horrible sandwiches, the kids "slider" was that alright. Like a little charred inedible hockey puck. Cold sweet potato fries, and the chef's sandwich with pork loin and Brie sounded like a treat but was so poorly executed we could barely eat it. I am so tired of complaining at restaurants and sending food back- it is really wasteful and there are starving kids all over the world- but this really made me contemplate.
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Review from Fontane M.
Davis, CA
5/5/2010
BREAKFAST REVIEW
I went to Adobe El Restaurante for breakfast while staying at the Estancia. My husband had a morning meeting before we could kick off our vacation, so I was left without a car.
The service (though initially slow) was excellent. The staff was all very nice. I had an omelette with cheese, mushrooms (assortment included shitake, tiny button, and others), and spinach accompanied with a side of home fries. It was all delicious and they let me sit however long I wanted - I was getting some work done and they welcomed me to stay. The waitress even came by to replace my cup of coffee since it was getting cold!
It ended up being a $20 breakfast ($13 omelette and $3.25 coffee), which is a bit pricey but not terrible. The food was good, service was good, and I didn't feel horribly gouged at the end of the day... -
Review from Lea S.
San Diego, CA
5/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
Great Lobster Cobb Salad! Nice ambiance and fantastic service.
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Review from Rob C.
San Diego, CA
1/30/2009
Great place for a business lunch--the wait staff is friendly and attentive, the grounds of the hotel are beautiful, the food is pretty good, and you'll probably have the whole place to yourself (there were more wait staff than there were customers last time I was there). It's tucked away behind the Estancia Hotel and it's got a balcony with gorgeous views of the hotel gardens below.
I wouldn't go here otherwise, though. Too pricey for anything other than business lunches and special occasions. -
Review from Christina S.
San Diego, CA
8/19/2011
From the moment I walked in to Adobe (the breakfast/lunch restaurant at Estancia La Jolla) I loved it! The music was mellow Spanish guitar, which I love and the old Spanish decor was warm and elegant, like a living room. The hostess was very friendly and greeted us with a smile. She sat us outside on the deck where we had a gorgeous view of a colorful green lawn and all these beautiful plants. So far, so good. Even the menus were beautiful in this rustic copper gold and turquoise. The waitress was also very nice and helpful, and fast! She described each dish so well we were almost drooling... Made it very hard to choose! It all sounded delicious. I ordered the lobster cobb salad and my colleague ordered the organic chicken, and we split the baja fish tacos as an appetizer. All of the dishes were so tasty and fresh and really hit the spot. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon... A glass of wine, a delicious dine, scenery divine and a good friend of mine ;) I will be back!
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Review from Jen S.
Mission Viejo, CA
9/23/2009
I recently stayed at Estancia for my bachelorette weekend, and we ended up at Adobe El Restaurante for brunch. First impressions - the menu looks wonderful, and we were seated at a nice table on the terrace overlooking the lawns.
I would have given this one star, but two of my friends had a good breakfast, hence the 2 star rating.
As for me... I ordered the steak and eggs. The menu description was "Adobe filet," and I ordered my steak medium. The plate was brought out and the steak was very tough and well done. It was a struggle to cut into. The plate was overall not appetizing, as they had slopped all of the ingredients on the plate without much care for presentation. When I sent the steak back, again asking for it to be medium, a different waiter arrived about 10 minutes later with the SAME plate, including my steak that had been sawed in half! I sent that back. When my next order of steak arrived, it was somehow even more well done. I hacked a few pieces off and was done.
The manager was very apologetic and even offerred to bring me yet another steak (but since my guests had completely finished their meals I was ready to go).
My advice - if you must go - don't get the steak. -
Review from Arnold R.
Carlsbad, CA
3/25/2011
I just had lunch at Adobe El. I had a beef sandwich and it was cold, as were the fries that came with it. The beef was full of stringy gristle. Most at the table had the shrimp sandwich special of the day, and few finished their lunches. For the prices, I was very disappointed. The ambiance was nice and the service attentive, but the food was very, very ordinary at best.
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Review from Beth F.
Santa Monica, CA
10/13/2008
This place isn't worth the money. I'm staying at the Estancia and since it's not conveniently located near any other restaurants (or anything for that matter) I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to sit at Bodega Wine Bar, have a light dinner and finish up work for the day (I'm staying here for business). The bartender is here alone, there are about 4 other people in the bar and he seems overwhelmed. He's a sweet guy, but not really on the ball. From the bar menu, I ordered the heirloom tomato stack with organic greens and some honey dressing kind of thing. What a joke. If the tomatoes were heirloom, then I'm purple - and there was nothing green on the plate. It was kind of a caprese salad and had about 3 oz. or food (if that) - even the guys sitting next to me were poo pooing about this dish.. At least it was only $7. I had some bread, a second glass on wine and am now pondering my next move. If the tomato thing was remotely good, then I'd stay and give one of the menu items a try, but nuh, uh. It's not even my money 'cause i'm on an expense account. I'm still hungry, but might be shit out of luck.
