I booked two rooms at a great pre-pay rate for this Marriott hotel because of its nearness to my desired wedding destination in La Jolla. Having never stayed there before and banking on the Marriott reputation for their full-service hotels, I really didn't think I would be taking many chances here.
My complaint comes not from the room quality, it was good. I could even say very good. However, we reserved a room in the hotel restaurant for a pre-wedding dinner party for immediate family and that's when things went very far south. Not just with the restaurant, though it was horrible, but then the general management of the hotel did some good things to fix the problem and then promised some things yet never delivered.
Specifically, the dinner party of about 15 people waited for almost an hour to have our water refilled after the first glasses while waiting for appetizers. In general, the service was incredibly slow, the food cold and two orders from the menu came without some major ingredients/sides listed on the menu. Because one of the women in our party had been employed at another Marriott hotel with the same menu, she was shocked and called it to the attention of the server. About 40 minutes later the side dishes appeared for the three people who had previously received only a cold piece of salmon. We had to ask for simple things like water (repeatedly), no one came to our table to check on us, we had to go find them, and after a 2.5 hour dinner (with no alcohol served--so why the long lags?) when meeting with the restaurant manager, she seemed aloof, condescending and unhelpful. The general night manager of the hotel did come to our room afterward and come up with some financial solutions to the problem and promised to send up something to our room (which never, ever came--though a small thing, really)--but, it seems that Marriott corporate might want to look into the restaurant problems there--big time.
Did I mention there were only 4 other people in the restaurant at the same time we were there? Incredibly bad service! Our party was kind to our server, yet she repeatedly seemed irritated when we would ask for water or help with the wait time.
There are no "do-overs" for special wedding dinners, etc. so it was very disappointing. Our group broke up before dessert could be ordered or enjoyed because dinner had been so tortuously long and the mood was altered from happy to a "now what?" My husband and I were, of course embarrassed. We had canceled reservations at a well-known restaurant in favor of this more conveniently located for those who had traveled all day. Big mistake. The hotel may be fine and the front staff was exceptionally warm and helpful. Just be cautious about the restaurant for any important dinner/lunch.
Room Tip: Nice-sized rooms. Recently renovated hotel.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC