TC really wanted to try out the newest Lemonade eatery and since we were "up in the area"
The second San Diego location of Lemonade is at the UTC mall, next to See's Candy. The exterior and interior are very clean and cheerful with a minimal color palette (white, black and yellow) and round yellow circles as a design element.
I already knew I wanted the salads (I studied the menu ahead of time because I hate being indecisive while in line and pissing off people behind me even though it was just Bert and TC). The price depends on how many portions you want. The guy who helped me was ULTRA FAB. He made several suggestions (which unfortunately involved goat cheese and feta cheese so those were nixed) and pointed out the new salad offerings as well. He had a great personality and excellent level of customer service. Please don't think I'm a pig, but I chose the six portion. I wanted to get a variety of salads and lest you think I'm a pig, I SHARED my plate with Bert and TC AND took home leftovers, so there.
TC had her eye on the Ahi Poke (below... wow, look at that list of ingredients):
Our lemonade drinks - Bert's Blood Orange, TC's Arnold Palmer and my (new flavor!) Coconut Apple (which replaced Cucumber Mint). I hardly ever get drinks of any kind so today was an exception since I was conducting, uh, research, yeah....
TC's Mac & Cheese and Ahi Tuna Poke:
She liked both of her items. I found the mac and cheese too plain but the ahi tuna stack was pretty good. It had a lot of flavors and textures going on there. She felt that there wasn't enough fish in there.
Bert's Chicken Chili and Albacore Sandwich
Our server came by with another sandwich several minutes into our meal. "You did order two, right?" he said. That's when Bert noticed they charged him twice for the sandwich. Our server apologized and took it off the check and even offered Bert a complimentary mini cupcake (he chose the red velvet). This was a nice gesture on their part due to the mixup in the order. "No wonder the bill was so high" Bert remarked. Well, even without the sandwich, the meal was pricy. The bread he felt was too toasted and kind of hard. The sandwich itself didn't wow him. The flavors were bland and the portion small.
My six salad plate - Holy $%#@!
1) Pineapple Chhicken - Blue Lake beans, jalapeno and coconut 2) Watermelon Radish with ahi tuna, green beans and sesame; 3) Heirloom tomatoes with some sort of fresh cheese and lovage (which they misspelled as 'lavage' on the placard; it is really Chinese celery); 4) Cauliflower with golden raisins, almonds and curry 5) Summer Kiss -melon, jicama, chili powder and Puerto Rican pique (a type of hot sauce) and 6) Roasted Carrots - sunchokes, avocados and almonds.
Please note that the last few salads with protein were at the end of the line. They no longer carried the salad with salmon which I originally wanted but I was happy with the salads I chose. Of the six salads, I really liked the roasted carrots with the sunchokes and almonds. I've never seen or tasted sunchokes before. They were sliced thinly and tasted like water chestnuts but more firm. They had a good crunch to them. The melon salad was too sweet but packed a bit of a kick from the hot chili in it. I also liked the cauliflower salad and the beautiful watermelon radish slices.
Bert's free (but dry) cupcake...
The service here is very good. The guys working the lines were very nice. I didn't even think of getting samples. As mentioned earlier, I didn't want to be an a-hole holding up the line...kind of like the two girls ahead of me ((cough, cough)). Before I got to the end of the line, a worker was there asking if I wanted a drink. He was also quite FAB. Loved him (two snaps up in a circle!)! These guys get points for being so $%#@ cheerful. I know I couldn't do that on a daily basis.
Who else went to Lemonade, UTC location?
Kirbie, as always, is on point in visiting all of the newest hot spots. Check out her recent visit here:
August 25, 2015 as well as her previous visit to the Hillcrest location as a comparison.
The following posts are from bloggers who were invited to dine at the restaurant prior to their grand opening so menu sizes/items offered/pricing may differ:
Faye went a few weeks ago for a media event and has quite the comprehensive post on each of the stations (this, along with Kirbie's non-sponsored post served as my 'preview'), along with Michael from San Diego Food's post plus a local "mommy blogger" went to the Grand Opening (she has some great pix of the food and desserts).
For a look at the location in Newport Beach, check out Mary's post from January 2014.
Lemonade, UTC mall
4525 La Jolla Village Dr., Unit D35
San Diego, CA 92122
(858) -251-0912
www.lemonadela.com/UTC + their fb page and reviews fromyelp and foursquare.
Verdict - Would I go here again? Yes, but not on a regular basis. It's a bit pricey here and also out of my way. Some positives were they had a great variety of salads (count 'em TWENTY). Their braised foods would be a good choice for the "colder" months. Their workers were so very helpful. I especially liked my server (forgot his name but he was FAB-u-lous!) who recommended several of the newer salads to me. Bert thought the portions were kind of small and that his chili wasn't that great. It looked on the soupy side to me, as in no chunks of chicken, but ground-up-like baby-food-like-chili. So we can cross this place off our list...
4 comments:
Thanks for this post. We walked in here late one evening, not hungry but wanted to try a lemon only flavored lemonade as a baseline. Prices aren't listed, but plain is 75 cents less than the fancy flavors. I think I can restrain myself to trying only one or two items each visit, since I'll be at UTC many times in the not too distant future.
Ah, they want to hawk their fancy lemonades of course. ((cough)) overpriced! ((cough!))
I think I'm done with Lemonade and I only went once!
My visits have been a bit pricey too. I think it's mainly my fault since I order way too many things (6 salads, hot items, dessert). Though we always have leftovers which makes me feel less bad. I do love the salads here and I'm not usually a salad person.
Yeah, that'll definitely make the bill go up! If I go again, I won't be as overeager. I would like to try a braised dish but I will wait 'til the weather gets even cooler. Those salads are just so good and I loved the variety!
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