Ginza Sushi Restaurant
I used to go to this place a lot because the food was ok and in walking distance from UCSD. Unfortunately, the service went from bad to abysmal. I finally had it when they served me food that had been clearly dropped on the ground and put back on the plate. Not only that, they threw it on the table. Finally, they refused to give me change after they figured out that I was probably not going to tip them for their terrible service.
Sam Woo Bbq Restaurant
sam woo is the best chinese food in la jolla. it does not hold a candle to chinese food in los angeles or san francisco, but it's the best here. the place is a little on the dirty side but it is more pleasant now that they have done a total renovation including getting rid of the rusted over chairs. the waiters are rude, but once again being the best chinese food, you don't have much option but to take it and keep coming back. the price is pretty good but you have to learn what to order. some things like the pork and tofu are surprise dishes which means that it'll taste completely different every time if you come late at night (assume what you like.) another plus is that it's open til midnight. recommended going for lunch because you get the same meal, fresher, and for half price.
Leucadia Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant
a lot of variety and very good food. the only downside is the amount of oil, but indulge once in a while! there is all sorts of pizza and the breadsticks are to die for. my fav pizza is the garlic chicken. there are also lots of other italian food too like spagetti and other pastas. they also have really good desserts. the only thing i am hesistant about is that it is a little on the pricey side. but definitely good once in a while.
Vision Beauty Salon
cut n curlee used to be my favorite hair stylist/eyebrow waxer. however, the woman that used to own the store sold it to someone else. now there is a man and a woman there. the man is very good. definitely knows what he is doing. unfortunately, when someone else walks in, he passes you off to the woman. the woman is completely incompetent. it took her an hour to do my eyebrow wax and then she had to call in the man to come fix it. even then the damage was done. ugh! i was the previous owner would come back. the hair cut he did was so-so but not really great like the old owner's too.
Elijahs Restaurant, Delicatessen & Catering
elijah's is a good restaurant, located right next to an independent theatre too! they have all sorts of american cuisine foods for lunch and dinner. and they have a lunch discount too. at night they have a jazz musician playing. it's a very nice feel. it's a comfortable quaint environment. definite high recommendations to eat at this place!
Broken Yolk Cafe
broken yolk cafe is a killer good place for breakfast foods. they have huge portions and you can make anything you like! this san diego speciality is just about the best there is. much better than ihop. the parking is a little annoying because of garnet and because it's so good, the lines are long, but once you're in, the service is fast. dont forget your coupons in the san diego reader or student dollar stretcher.
Flame Broiler
flame boiler is a definitely a good place to eat college healthy. it's fast, just a teensy bit messy, but overall yum yum. the price went up so it's a little on the pricey side, but then again you'll probably almost spend as much as mcdonalds anyway. the only thing that could bump it up is a drive through window. the location makes it a little annoying cause you have to park in the bad parking lot and then walk there.
Living Room Coffee
the living room is a nice place to do homework, hang out, dine, whatever you want to do. it's all very good. the nice plushy decore really makes it feel like a giant mass of living rooms all put together. the food is fairly good, but with a standard la jolla price which is cringe worthy but hey it's la jolla. the best part about the place is that it is open into the late night. i think it closes around midnight or so. just don't try to order food there late because they tend to run out of stuff. as a result, you get even less food for a minimally cut down price. not as worth it. but if you just want a late night place to hang out with friends or to have a study group this is definitely it.
La Regencia
La Regencia is very roomy for the price. In fact, it is usually the best price you can get in all of La Jolla's apartments. It is right next to two of the city shuttle stops too for UCSD students. And it is right next to Vons. They picked a good location. They have two pools, a playground, and a stream. And it has a luxury hotel feel to it.
Problem is these are double edged swords. The hotel feel comes with thin hotel walls. I could not live in my apartment for long because upstairs people would party all night and downstairs people would blast music all day. I'm not exaggerating when I say that my floor was actually pulsating. You could not stand still in my room. Numerous calls to security and management did nothing. So I lived in it for a year. You can imagine my nerves.
Living next to a swimming pool and playground you also get all the kiddie yelling and screeching. Depends on whether this bothers you or not. It was ok for me, not for my roommates.
What finally pushed us out of Regencia was a mold problem that was handled badly by the maintenance. Safety precautions were not put up and mold spores abounded through our apartment. We all got sick. Having issues with breathing, memory problems, and a cough that lasted several months. None of it cleared up until a few weeks after we left permanently.
La Cima
First off, La Cima was sold off to be turned into a condo. But here's why you shouldn't pay the $400,000 price tage on it. La Cima is ok for a college apartment. Even then it was really small for our $1700 per month price tag. The bathroom flooded numerous times, and when it rained, it rained INSIDE. The maintenance could not even come to help because other people had rain coming THROUGH the walls!! In addition, the kitchen drawer broke and fell straight out, spiders were everywhere, and the worst part was that they put the shower pipe in the wall attached to the bedroom instead of on the other side. The result of this is that the shower when turned on screeches really badly...in the bedroom! I noticed when they were doing the conversions, that all they were doing was remaking the surface stuff like paint and changing plastic blinds to wooden blinds. Very superficial things like that. La Cima was only livable because we had free maintenance. I would definitely not want to live there if I had to pay $400k and then maintain it myself. For those of you interested in renting or owning, just so you know the fabulous gym and coffee house - the gym machines have been broken for more than 2 years and the coffee house is almost never open. when it is open, there's no one there to serve you. P.S. have fun when you discover the mailboxes are all the way on the other side of the property.