I'd heard of the Lot in La Jolla. These are upscale movie theaters that provide guest with a high quality dining and cinema experience.
Kirbie chose the venue for our breakfast that day...
I got there before she did and admired the open space of the dining area. As you walk to the receptionist area, to your left is a coffee bar (not shown) and a bar with a huge flatscreen. There is an open wall that divides the space for even more seating on the right. The space is very open and if you look closely, you can see the accordioned glass partitions. I suppose if it rains, those glass walls can them close up and you would still get the feeling that you are dining outside because of the wide open views and spacious feeling.
See menu online here:
I started off with a coffee soda; the beans were from James in Little Italy. Looking closely at the glass,we could see the very fine coffee grounds floating near the bottom.
This was just espresso with sparkling soda water and it was so refreshing. I am not sure if this was even sweetened, but it was so smooth that it didn't need additional sugar.
Kirbie's salmon omelette with rosemary potatoes. See the sausage? Well, that was actually mine but the server, for whatever reason, did not plate it on my dish.
This was my breakfast - the Garden eggs wich was supposed to have fava beans, Fresno peppers, grilled asparagus, tomatoes, fresh herbs and Gruyere cheese with a side of bread.
I ordered this dish because the menu description made it sound so nice and fresh. I did not see any fresh herbs, Gruyere cheese or grilled asparagus. When I asked the server about this, he said he would check and that he would also replate the sausage (which he did not; I ended up taking my applewood smoked sausage from Kirbie's plate and placing it on another side plate). He also couldn't explain what happened to the sausage, cheese and herbs. He offered to bring me some of the asparagus on the side, which I agreed to.
It turns out that the grilled asparagus WAS on my plate. In fact, it was the STALK cut into pieces. I was expecting the whole asparagus stalk with the tip. By this time, the manager had come out and inquired about my plate. When I asked him about the missing ingredients, he said he would have the kitchen redo my plate. I felt kind of bad that Kirbie was waiting because her food was getting cold.
Earlier a server had come offering us pastries but we passed on it because we were saving our appetite. While waiting for my remade breakfast, the manager came by again and offered me a selection of their pastries; I selected the chocolate croissant (intending to save it for later).
So here it is, version 2 of my breakfast. Everything was there now EXCEPT for the fava beans. Instead, were green peas only which was fine with me. I didn't give a fuck at this point. Sausage was there (The same links or different? Who knows!)The gruyere cheese was there but shredded. The server earlier tried to convince me that the herbs and cheese were embedded within my eggs, which were prepared over hard. I knew they weren't and I just wish this particular server was more well versed with the menu descriptions and the platings because it was obvious to me that shit was missing.
Okay, so the asparagus stalks were there. As for the fresh herbs I didn't really see at all which kind of sucked. I'm not sure what was going on with their chef or the server that day.
How was was our breakfast? We both enjoyed our meal despite the lag time. Kirbie's smoked salmon omelette was delicious and the roasted potatoes flavorful. As for mine, I did like what I had but wished I didn't have to go through this fiasco. Just saying that I was not a big ole bitch about this either. The manager did make things "right" though. He saw us about to pay then came over and said he would "take care" of my bill, which was basically half of our total, so that was a very nice gesture on his part which I appreciated.
Not wanting to paint the Lot in a bad light in my mind, I made reservations immediately after our breakfast for a future breakfast with the Educator GF's. TORC's birthday was coming up and this seemed like a nice place to enjoy another meal with my gal pals.
Before going into my second breakfast here, I took a few photos of the various hallways in Liberty Station. I used a few filters for the photos (like the b/w below).
I remember it being a very very warm day. I was just trying to remain in the shade as much as possible!
Earlier this morning was my most recent visit with D, KD and TORC for the first stop of TORC's Birthday food crawl. Just a heads up, anything before 11 am is breakfast; after 11 is brunch (on weekends). Although we encountered some shitty traffic on the 5 (there was something going on downtown which affected the freeways), we actually made it to the Lot on time taking surface streets from Little Italy into Point Loma.
My friends all marveled at the beautiful decor of the restaurant. Our receptions and server were both so very gracious, prompt, and efficient.
We sat near this impressive wine cabinet.
Again, I had the coffee soda while the others had the house coffee.
D's Quesadilla with beans, guacamole, pico de gallo and a mayo-like sauce (it probably was mayo).
D's Open Faced Sandwich with fresh berries, or what I like to call Hipster Toast. This was thick cut bread (from Bread and Cie) covered with mashed avocado, prosciutto, arugula, parmesan cheese, and poached eggs.
I was not terribly exciting today - this was my eggs (over hard, again) with Applewood sausage and sourdough toast. I like my breakfasts to be basic, eh.
TORC the Birthday Girl ordered the Griddle Buttermilk Pancakes served with fresh berries, whipped butter and maple syrup.
Kain na! (Let's Eat! in Tagalog)
We enjoyed our breakfast here, made even more pleasant by our lovely servers who checked on us every so often. They were all so nice here and we did not experience and plating issues and missing ingredients like my initial visit. We almost forgot that planes flew overhead every five minutes. The ambiance is really nice here and I want to go back for lunch or dinner with Bert and TC.
If you need to use the bathroom, it's in the adjacent building where the theater is housed. They already have their Halloween decor up in the form of spiderwebs, random skeletons, and pumpkins.
As the group Shalamar would say,
"Second time around...it's better than the first time"
Articles:
"The Lot Liberty Station grand opening"FM94.9, April 28, 2016
"Preview The Lot luxury cinema before it debuts in Liberty Station" SD Eater, APril 28, 2016
Once Kirbie posts our visit, I'll link it right here [Updated: 11/16]
The Lot
2620 Truxtun Rd.
San Diego, CA 91106
(619) 566-0069
thelotent.com; fb page + reviews from you know where & tripadvisor
I'm glad that I did a revisit because I knew that first time wouldn't be an accurate representation. My second visit with my gal pals was much better. Everyone's food was done right, the service was on point and the lighting was optimal, ha ha. But seriously, it's a really pretty place to eat and if you can ignore the loud ass noises of the planes flying overhead like, practically every minute, well then. But really, it's a nice place to take your friends or out of town guests without being in a totally touristy spot.
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