La Jolla Groves

This is one of my mothers favorite restaurants in Utah valley and requested we go there to celebrate her retirement at age 72. Our family, a group of 8 was quickly sat as we had reservations and the waiter was quick to take drink order and get the drinks back to us… however that was the only efficiency of the whole night. We waited quite some time before they came back to take an order, and had to ask them to bring bread to the table. They brought out the first course at about 30 minutes and then our main course nearly 30 – 40 minutes later. This for those in our group who neither had a drink or first course they had 60 minutes to wait. When they did bring the entrees it took them nearly 10 minutes between the first dish and the last… which is huge when to be polite you wait until everyone is served. Then once everyone was finely able to start 3 of the steaks where cold… not just from sitting for 10 mins waiting… but felt as cold as if they came from the fridge! They also were cooked medium rare or medium rather than rare as ordered. When my father brought this to their attention they offered to replace the plates. My brothers were obviously skeptical as we all just wanted to get home, but the manager assured us they would be quick. They came in about 8 – 10 minutes and were hot… although again not rare as ordered. Additionally one persons order was completely wrong — ordered a sandwich but got an entrée. They offered us free dessert which we declined, so they gave us 25% off. I did feel this was relatively mild discount for the extremely poor service from the kitchen on 50% of the orders. My mother asked me not to tip… but as I don’t want to punish a server for the kitchens problems I did. However the more I think about it, I wish I hadn’t tipped as well as who knows how much he had a part in the whole scenario.
Anyways…it seems that this place used to be quite good but has failed recently based on our experience and a revie of recent reviews. I will not be back and I think my mothers love affair is over with la jolla grove.

La Jolla Groves is one of those places in Provo that I think everyone should eat at some time in their life. The ambiance is great! nice lemon trees overhead, very clean, and classy. Our waiter was very kind and made the night great.
The food was delicious. I had the Lemon Chicken entrée which came with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables. The dish was beautifully plated, and surprisingly filling. At first glance I felt like I wasn’t getting much bang for my buck, but the dish is deceptive. The Butter crusted salmon looked great. The cilantro rice was different because I honestly thought it tasted like rice-​a-​roni.
I think the biggest problem I encountered was the wait. There weren’t very many people in the restaurant but i felt it took forever to get our check, and have our food boxed.

This place is underrated! Looks and feels fancy, with totally affordable prices. The complimentary rolls that come before the meal are excellent. The desserts are all fantastic. The salmon entrée is perfectly cooked. And how cute are the lemon trees inside? Love the décor here.

Isn’t that great for the price. Every time I have gone in I went to order something and they didn’t have ingredients so I couldn’t get it or I couldn’t order something because they no longer were serving it. Not sure why they don’t update their menu. I went in tonight and had pasta and have felt sick all night after eating it. Has a nice atmosphere though.

Order the salmon here and you’ll be silently thanking me. You’re welcome. The restaurant feel and price is fancy. I’ve only been here for business lunches and have always been treated respectfully by the servers. Service has been pretty slow so so your part to keep the conversation flowing.

Pleasant interior and exterior ambiance lunch or an evening with friends or loved ones. Good service, excellent food and selection with fair pricing. Fresh and light without heavy sauces so the flavor of the food comes through. Personally, I would appreciate a few vegetarian options, but I’ll be returning either way.

…
How on EARTH do they have «HEALTHIER CHOICES
CAN STILL BE DELICIOUS.» as their tagline? There is bacon and/​or cheese on practically everything, and as of today, they have ZERO vegetarian entrees. I was so excited to try this place, because they keep talking about how healthy they are, but they are NOT. If you want actual healthy food, go to Ginger’s in Orem. So disappointed, and I hope they change their tagline or their menu.
ps I also called them before we went to ask if they had special secret vegetarian options as many places do, but they told me «All our pastas are vegetarian!» And I was like, «how are they vegetarian if they all have meat?» and she was like «Oh they do? oh… you can order them without meat.» ahh yes, exactly what I want, $ 12 plain pasta with sauce. Very healthy and delicious jk.
[Edit: Wrote this post ages ago and never posted it, because I hate writing bad reviews, but the truth must be set free!]

For Utah County, this is one of the better restaurants. You have to get the Butternut Squash Soup (available Nov-​Jan)
Updated: The butternut squash soup was really lacking last time. Go to Blue Lemon for the BEST Butter Nut Squash soup in Utah

I had a hard time giving La Jolla Groves in Provo two stars, but the food was decent and the atmosphere was pleasant. The service was just that bad and for what I paid ($ 48 per person with no alcohol for a private party of 40), neither the food nor the atmosphere made up for it.
The service was extremely slow and unprofessional. They use a business card piece of paper to take each person’s order (from 2 – 3 choices per course) and then place the card in front of the person so that the runners who have a certain dish in hand can just walk around looking for a card that happens to have the dish written on the card. It was extremely distracting watching the runners/​waiters looking around everyone to try and find out who ordered what, trying to find the cards on the table, and read the writing on the card. During initial order-​taking, our waiter missed getting 2 orders at our table went to another table, got a couple orders there, then came back to our table to get the other 2 orders, leaving the other table wondering why the waiter only took a couple orders. Any time an alteration to a menu item was requested, it was difficult for the wait staff to adjust.
Because they’d only bring out one type of dish at a time per course, half of our table would get served while we’d wait 5 – 10 minutes for the rest of the table to get their menu item. There were 3 at my table alone, including myself, who never even got the dessert they ordered (and I’m sure I was still charged for them).
No one approached me at the end of the service to ask about how it went, our final plates were never taken away, and a receipt or bill was never given to me. As I was leaving, I asked for a receipt and was told that I had already been billed an automatic 20% tip. I know most times I’m charged an automatic 18% for large parties (and then I usually tip more for exceptional service), so an automatic 20% seemed high for this restaurant, especially considering the poor service, and the fact that I was never told about the automatic 20% tip was frustrating and seemed a bit presumptive.
The next business day I emailed the event planner to talk about the service we received and to also ask for a receipt for the deposit I had made a few weeks prior to the event. She graciously emailed me back apologizing for the service and told me she’d get me the receipt and that the general manager would be reaching out to me to rectify the situation. I never heard back from either of them and a week later I still hadn’t received a receipt. I emailed her again letting her know I was following up about the receipt and let her know no one had called me. Another week has passed and still no response.

Heard much about the restaurant and had high expectations as the hubs and I were hoping for an intimate dinner experience.
Called ahead to make a reservation. Got there and at the front entrance was greeted with a sign to the wedding of so&so; all other guests use the east entrance. Congratulations to couple but I wasn’t really expecting to be redirected to a side door with a makeshift entrance.
Alright, our dinner experience still had all potential to be epic. So we go back to the open side door we had already passed once; a simple sign for regular dinner guests would have been great.
As we get seated, we get a glimpse of the wedding celebrations before being led into a smaller room for regular guests. It was not what I was expecting for an intimate dining experience. Waiters and waitresses were unorganized and chaotic. They continuously were walking between the tables holding glasses and dishes and asking guests whether they had ordered whatever they were holding.
We got our dishes and I am utterly disappointed. The appetizer did meet my expectations: stuffed mushrooms. It was divine. Then we had salmon filet and tenderloins medallions. Presentation was good; flavor was disappointing. The whole tenderloin dish had little taste; we expected more. The salmon filet came with basmati rice, pan seared vegetables, and a cilantro butter sauce. The salmon was tasteless and I’ve had better frozen salmon at home. The vegetables could as well have been microwave steamed vegetables with absolutely no flavor. Rice had good flavor. However, the only reason I added on a second star is for the cilantro butter sauce. When I tasted the sauce I had an orgasmic experience in my mouth. It truly is the only reason why I could finish my plate.
After we finished our meal we left as quick as we could and finished our night with a dessert at kneaders.
Will I try La Jolla Groves again? Probably not.

Fantastic food, great service…
The waiter was pleasant, helpful, courteous… almost Boy Scout like.
The food was really good, the stuffed mushrooms are slightly short of UTTER FREAKING AWESOME.
Missed being a 5 star only because of price/​quality.

La Jolla is a very good restaurant. I have eaten there on multiple occasions and it seems to be quite consistent. I am yet to leave not feeling satisfied and happy about my meal.
The atmosphere is quite good. It has more of an upscale vibe that they seems to keep quite clean. I did check the bathroom and it to was up to par with the rest of the restaurant.
As far as food recommendations, I really enjoy the chicken Marsala and the chicken Marsala sandwich. They also do a very good tomato mozzarella salad. They also have good fresh food smoothies.
After my meal tonight I commented to a friend that La Jolla is a place that I feel good after. They use quality ingredients that don’t leave you feeling like crap after eating the food.

FIRST AND FOREMOST… service is slow and no they do not come back to check on you…
Salmon with vegetables could have been good had they not left it under a heat lamp for 20 minutes… the ingredients had the makings of a great dish but over cooked…

Nice place to tempt your taste buds, especially if you’re looking for a great meal in a nice venue. Waiter was excellent. Food better that most in town. I would encourage you to try this place out.

I really love this restaurant. I eat there as often as I can. Service has been what I hoped service ought to be at a restaurant of this caliber. The appetizers are well thought out and delicious. The décor is a breath of fresh air. I always feel welcome here. The main dishes are much better than what you get at most Utah restaurants and I would call the main dishes delicious. And the atmosphere of the location is wonderful. Great specialty and unique shops and even a really cool and fun play zone for kids and adults a few doors down called Provo Beach. I will continue to spend my money here because of it’s value, feel, and taste I get to experience each time I return. I recommend this with 5 stars.
p. s. you can go to La Caille restaurant in Salt Lake City and pay easily 3 – 4 times more for food no better than La Jolla Groves.

We enjoy their salads like the Apricot Cranberry salad and Grilled Salmon salad although the quality of greens does not always come out the way it did before when we ordered it. The price is a bit much for what they offer in salad. I’ve had their Turkey Club sandwich and it’s pretty good with their focaccia bread and pesto sauce, and it comes with a side salad. Their dessert menu does not consist of much but if you must have dessert then choose the lemon cake. It’s like a lava cake with vanilla bean sauce in the middle, and it has a nice caramelized shell for appeal. They offer premium smoothies; I’d recommend the strawberry or piña colada.

It was good. We did go during prom night and the service was extremely slow. I did enjoy my Tuna salad. We asked for rolls that never came.

Wow! This was delish! From the rolls to the dishes i was in heaven! I will Definately be back!

There are many things I really like about La Jolla Groves. First, I love that this Provo-​based resto takes reservations — it’s a rarity in these parts. Our party of four arrived, and were seated before we could even take in the atmosphere. They were definitely on top of it, especially for a Saturday evening.
We’ve found the food and service here to be consistently good. They’re very friendly and attentive. Informed… maybe not so much about everything. But always miles of smiles!
I get such a kick out of UtCo wait staffers whose job it is to take bar/​alcohol orders, but are completely clueless about the subject. Some even sport attitude, as if to say, «I wouldn’t stoop to learn about alcohol, even if it is my job, you heathen!» Our waiter for the evening was spot-​on in every way, but he did fall proudly under the above description, and didn’t hesitate to let us know in his non-​verbal way that he wasn’t comfortable. We didn’t even mind. The cocktails are not worth the price, however, as per usual for most UtCo places.
The Hubby is much more adventurous here than am I, simply because I’m a little stuck on a couple of menu items — the Mushroom Bisque, and the Lemon Roast Chicken. Yes, they’re so so good. Hubby loves the Tenderloin, the Pork Chop, and the Chicken Marsala — in fact, Mr. Hard To Please has raved about them all. Our friends order the Butternut Squash soup (also deserving of praise), the Shells and Cheese (delicious, they say!), and the Shrimp Scampi (he actually said he could eat three more plates of this!). Bottom line: we haven’t had a single thing at LJG that we would hesitate to order again.
My one gripe — aside from the Lemon Cake, which is very good but rich-​rich-​rich, they only offer ONE lemon dish? C’mon La Jolla, step up the lemon-​based offerings for those of us who come here for this exact reason!
Note: be prepared to do some substantial walking to/​from parking here. Riverwoods has blocked off nearly every means of getting from lot to lot, so really just cross your fingers and hope you don’t freeze on the way to insulate yourself with more yummy food.

First time at La Jolla after a few people had recommended it to me. I would definitely say for the décor and service, you’re paying for it. The prices are pretty good for a high end restaurant and the food itself was good. I wouldn’t say this is the top of the line 5 star food but it’s getting close. Service was definitely superb and the attention and details that went into presentation.
Food wise, I ordered the beef and shrimp, a few appetizers (cheese platter, mushroom and spinach/​artichoke which were all decent). The food itself was good and tasty although the beef sauce was on the bit salty side. Dessert was definitely interesting with the lemon cake. I would come back but only on special occasions.