Tapenade Restaurant
7612 Fay Ave
(between Kline St & Pearl St)
La Jolla, CA 92037 (858) 551-7500
- Price Range: $$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Dressy
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
33 Reviews for Tapenade Restaurant
Really great service, which I guess one would expect considering the price of the food. Nonetheless, I believe that the food was worth its price -- well cooked and a good size portion. I would definitely come back here again for any sort of special occasion.
Wonderful food. I think it's about some of the best food I've had in San Diego. The ambiance is fine - but there's better views to be had at George's at the Cove or A.R. Valentien. I had a five star dinner here and then a four star dinner here.
The service could be better. Our waiter forgot one of the items we ordered until we asked and then brought it later. I expect impeccable service when spending this kind of money. Didn't get it.
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One of my favorite restaurants in San Diego! Great food, ambiance, location, and happy hour. Sure the view could be better, but the servers are just so nice and friendly it's hard to pass up. There are some main entrees that are on the happy hour menu, granted they are smaller portioned, but just right.
Best place for a romantic date :)
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Definitely a splurge. But fresh ingredients, fantastic presentation, and impeccable service make this one of the best in La Jolla.
Great restaurant, offering typical high quality French cuisine. The escargo are not as fresh as you'd get in France - of course - but are good nonetheless. The main dishes are excellent, right out of a French cook book. I'd plump for something meaty.
Service is good, and we've had some good wines here at reasonable prices.
Only problem... when you go in, there's a table stuck out like a sore thumb, and you'll have waiters wizzing by your head. Its always empty, and they've tried to seat me here 3 out of 3 times!!! Don't accept it, just ask to move -- (they'll move you, they KNOW its bad --- why dont they just take it out?!)
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GREAT Happy hour. Great time for a bargain at Tapenade. You can get their famous ravoilis and coq a vin on their happy hour menu at 50% off. Its definately not the cheapest happy hour but for the quality of food and service its truly a bargain. I ended up getting a three course meal at the happy hour and it cost just as much as dining there for restaurant week. except its even better because you have tons of menu items to choose from. Live music on Thursdays as well. Totally worth a visit. One of my favorite happy hours in San Diego Thursdays 5:30-8:30PM.
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I wound up here on a lark with a former colleague who came for the the jazz they offer here regularly. We stayed for the drink and the food. I'd recommend ordering from the bar - the food prices are more reasonable. The wine might not be so reasonable unless you look on the back; the featured wines were a bit pricey by the glass. The carafe made sense once my colleague decided to have wine too.
The bartender also offered us an amuse bouche (which in retrospect might have been the bruschetta with foie gras, which I was trying to pretend was something besides foie gras). Our bartender was excellent - a tricky thing to find in a wine bar. She kept the glasses full and never interrupted the conversation to fill a glass or move service items. Unobtrusive service is often considered a hallmark of French dining, and she delivered.
We decided to split the coq au vin and the fries, which seemed a wise choice on a (relatively) cold San Diego night. I've had better coq au vin, but I'd probably order it again the next time I was here.
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This restaurant was just ok. We went during San Diego restaurant week which meant that there was a fixed menu. I wasn't crazy about the food or the service. I ordered the crab/mango salad with the salmon entree. Everything was good but nothing was exciting or what I would expect from a well-respected restaurant in La Jolla.
The interior or the restaurant is cuter than I would expect for a place tucked away on Fay Street. It's not particularly big or fancy inside.
I understand that this was during SD Restaurant Week and they're serving a different crowd than usual. Perhaps I should go back and try the coq au vin on an average night...but my first impression wasn't great.
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Very good French/French-inspired cuisine in La Jolla. The location is a little odd - kind of off the main drag in La Jolla (which is, as far as I can tell, Prospect St. area), but generally a nice atmosphere.
I came for a late dinner all by myself *sniff* after eating days' and days' worth of quick serve crapola around Mira Mesa blvd (where my hotel was). I really needed a great meal and so far in the San Diego area, I've only found very high-quality restaurants in La Jolla.
I sat at the bar and had: amazing lobster risotto with lobster foam, a really decent glass of French chardonnay, the banana mango sorbet and a pretty good glass of muscat.
Everything was more than decent - no complaints at all on the food or the service at all. The price was a little outrageous, but I suppose that's to be expected in La Jolla.
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One of my top 3 in SD. Fantastic service, fantastic food, wonderful pairings....what more can you ask for? Even the appetizer of tapenade is wonderful. The only possible downside is it can get a little noisy. But (unlike Mille Fleur), we've always been treated wonderfully and the food never fails to amaze. Love Tapenade!
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Well I've never had French cuisine in France before so I can't compare it, but this place was pretty good!
I ordered the Duck Confit, and was pleased.
I liked that they gave free little amuse bouches before our meal--it's nice when restaurants add little touches to up the service. Albeit it was bruschetta with foie gras and while I was taking a bit my vegetarian friend proceeded to explain how foie gras is extracted from geese (it's gross don't ever find out if you still want to eat foie gras, because now I don't!) They also gave these little cookies at the end! (No not fortune cookies.)
The desserts were also really good.
Service was friendly and accommodating. I'd go back but as I remember it was relatively expensive!
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On of my very very very favorite restaurants - I am always recommending it.
I always receive TOP service at this place and the food is the best French I have had (here in US - never been to France). Definitely order the mushroom ravioli to start.
Everything here is presented so beautifully and the wine list is extensive.
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One of the top five restaurants in San Diego based on food, ambiance, service, uniqueness, and overall experience. Expect to pay a fair bit (for SD standards), but you shouldn't be disappointed.
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fantastic food. extremely knowledgeable wait staff. somewhat stuffy atmosphere. we went for the happy hour and still managed to spend $250 for four people (and they don't take food stamps). youch!
geoff, our server, was HOT. (c;
Baby, it's cold outside...
And when it's cold, I love to eat something warm and comforting like this Coq au vin de Bourgogne at Tapenade Restaurant in La Jolla - my retreat during the holidays. It's a "traditional chicken stewed in Burgundy red wine sauce with prosciutto chunky mashed potato," and it's deliciously rich and filling. The veggies on top make you feel a little less guilty for indulging in something so heavy.
But what's best is that this $20 dish is HALF-priced during happy hour in their bistro bar. (Sun-Wed from 5:30-8:30 and Thurs from 5-9pm with live jazz).
And I ate it all with no qualms of scraping my fork to get all the bits of mashed potatoes in reduced sauce. Yes, it was THAT good.
MS and I also ordered the Tiger Shrimp Cocktail [$6.50, Happy Hour Price - HHP] and a platter of garlic, parsley & hazelnut buttered Escargot [$4.50, HHP]. The shrimp were huge and the remoulade it came with was deliciously tart and a nice change of pace from the standard cocktail sauce that usually accompanies shrimp. And the snails were more for MS than for me. I wasn't impressed with tasting only BUTTER, but then again, I'm not a fan of escargot.
I especially loved the Raviolis aux champignons - "homemade raviolis with wild mushrooms, port wine & white truffle oil, aged Parmesan" [$6.50, HHP]. Very different from ANY ravioli I've EVER eaten, this light and frothy dish tingled my tastebuds. I easily could have devoured another plate's worth. Too bad the kitchen was fairly slow in taking and preparing orders.
We tried a few other dishes, but only the above were obvious winners in our books. And in all, our happy hour visit to Tapenade with friends was definitely an evening of good company, good wine [$2 off select wines], and good eats.
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Some of the best service I've ever had - personable, knowledgeable, attentive but not invasive.
The lobster with vanilla sauce was imaginative and delicious. The scallops were unbelievable.
The _only_ thing they could improve upon is possibly the decor/layout. It was pretty open in the back room, but it's not really a scene, so everyone's doing their own thing.
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The best restaurant in the city.
Sure you can go elsewhere with a view or cheaper but this is the best all around.
Don't mess around with going through the menu - order the tasting with pairing.
There'll be a couple of courses that will surely surprise you.
Service is near the top if not THE top.
It's true that the interior is kinda stuffy/boring but the food won't be.
Recommend reservations whether going for lunch or dinner.
I hate giving a bad review, and this is my first one since joining Yelp, but I was just not impressed with Tapenade. My wife's parents had raved about this restaurant for years and we finally went with them on our recent anniversary. All of us were completely unimpressed with the food and the service.
The problem is, we will never know the reason: Was it that my wife and her mom don't drink alcohol and we brought our own bottle of wine? We didn't order a number of appetizers, although a couple of us got a salad. Was it just a bad night for the waiter? The place was not packed. Did we just not look like "big spenders?"
All of us left with a feeling that the chef is taking it easy/sloppy/too comfortable and was not on top of his game. My wife and I also just came off of an amazing dinner from the Dining Room at Jack's La Jolla. The food here was no where near the level that it was at Jacks.
I may give this restaurant another try but first impressions are big, and they failed BIG TIME!!!
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Very refined, creative, and incredibly tasty French food, that has been my experience here. Tapanade is a first rate restaurant, without being stuffy or pretentious.
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I just went into Tapenade today, Restaurant Week and got all the vegetarian things from their menu. Their "petatou" was awesome. Perfectly flavoured, not too buttery, truly perfect! However, I hate arugula but the potatoes made up for it.
:( What made me sad was the mushroom ravioli. The skin was too chewy, and doughy. I wish there was a cream sauce because it was so unbearably salty. I could only eat 3 pieces and left 3!
The dessert was fabulous!
Ok, so we got there and got cute adorable appetizers (not vegetarian). Then we got the bread and olive paste which was delicious. We also got chocolate chip cookies which were crispy (: Apparently very French. Overall good experience even though the ravioli was a bummer. Nice environment, but very rich, white La Jolla.
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This is an excellent French full-service restaurant that is just as good as those in Paris. Wonderful atmosphere sets the tone for the very delicious modern French dishes. There is a lot to choose from but I happened to try the Salad de betterave, roquette, fromage de chvre which is a yellow and red beet salad with goat cheese and for a main dish the Saumon sauvage, lentilles du Puy, blettes, sauce vermouth moutarde which is Kind Salmon in a mustard sauce.
I didn't remember the names of the dishes because my French is non existente however their Website is great for sounding sophisticated.
The prices are up there so be sure to suggest this place for your birthday or some special occasion so you can naturally be the guest. Great wines as well.
http://www.tapenaderes...
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I had one of the best dining experiences of my life here. Granted, we were treated very well because the chef knew one of the people I was with, but the food was delicious. From appetizer to dessert, I was surprised by the innovative food and top notch service. I recommend this place to anyone in La Jolla! Yum, yum and yum!
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This is my favorite restaurant in SD. The decor, service, and quality of the food and creativeness are all #1 in my book. Everything we ate here was delicious, fresh, and prepared in a creative, new way. It was worth every dollar we spent here. Go try it now!
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Coming from San Francisco last year, i must say that i have really been disappointed with San Diego's food in general (except for Mexican, of course).
Tapenade was a breath of fresh air. Excellent food, good ingredients, and very well prepared. Classic french style cuise with some surprises on the menu. The lobster dish is fantastic, as was the mushroom ravioli appetizer. The steak with pomme frittes was also very well prepared.
As far as high-end restaurants in San Diego go, I have tried Jack;s Dining Room, Mister A's, Laurel, Pomplemousse Grille and a few others thus far, but none of them come close to the food quality of Tapenade. Yes it is expensive, but it is worth it for the food you get. If you don't mind sitting in the bar, they have a smaller menu that is 50% off during happy hour.
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under different circumstances, i might have given this place a 5 star rating. the food was really great, it had a nice, cozy, but elegant atmosphere. however, a few things really set this place back.
i went here for valentine's day a few years ago and my ex-bf and i were the only people under 60 there. we were also the only asian people. i dont want to say that the staff was racist, because thats quite a strong word, but for the money spent, i definitely dont feel that i got the best service, or respect that i deserved. if i have the means to drop $300 on dinner, i would like it if service was a bit quicker and if i wasnt blatantly ignored.
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Lovely French restaurant in downtown La Jolla. Food is elegant and aesthetically pleasing. Nice place to take a formal date.
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consistently delicious. everything is to-die-for at this restaurant. NY quality food!!
One of the only restaurants that u will find food that doesnt taste like american unsofisticated food.
Very good restaurant, one of a kind in the area....
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Dined here twice; both times excellent. The truffle menu is incomparable. Wine list is pricey, yet well chosen.
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Tapenade time is my moment in France. The name, which is pronounced Taa-pa-naad, is an olive paste that the Provencal people consume routinely. Whether you've been to France or to the best French restaurant in the States, this one ranks close to the culinary zenith. The chef is top notch, and the service is polished, informative, and efficient. The menu displays a few hallmarks of French cuisine. The peppercorn steak is one of my favorites, as it remorselessly ravishes my gustatory glands with its subtle Cognac sauce. Unconditional aficionados of large portions/ small dolla' bills, beware or be hungry, as some dishes, like the veal, will throw you in a quadrant of complicated equations to determine how long you can delay the inevitable last bite, which should naturally occur in the sixth second after the charming waiter set it down in front of you. The famed French photographer Doisneau's Parisian shots adorn the walls, and the soothing Jazz music tickles your ear, the crowd and the staff are classy/chic. What are you waiting for, mes amis?
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I had what I consider to be a So-So experience and here's why:
We went there for our anniversary dinner and were sat near a table with a bunch of really loud bankers taking a client out for a thank you dinner - and they were all clearly uncomfortable and bored to tears. The restaurant can't help this but the main dining room is just a big poorly decorated room that has no accoustical muffling. It really impacted our meal.
The waiter recommended a bottle of bordeaux very highly and it really just wasn't very good (to me). His fault or mine? But there I was with an expensive bottle that I didn't care for.
The food was decent with a heavy focus on truffles - truffles are in season or some such so we tried truffle scallops and I think a truffled pasta dish. Nothing really sticks out in my mind about the food.
Other than the bankers I think we were the only people under the age of 60.
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Quite possibly the best French restaurant in La Jolla!
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I went here once, and it was great. I'm glad my company paid for it. I had a bunch of stuff I can't remember. My main dish was lamb noisettes or somethng like that and some fancy kind of melt in your mouth french fries and lentils were thrown in too. The deserts were awesome- I had some kind of fruity chocolatey thing.
I'm not a seasoned french food veteran, but I know this place is one of the better in town.
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