Roy’s – San Diego and La Jolla, CA

Roy’s Restaurant is our go-to restaurant for holiday family dinners, birthdays, and other fancy dinner events with kids. Roy’s can be found in several states (Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, & Texas) and they specialize in Hawaiian fusion cuisine. We are such fans that we’ve been to Roy’s in Newport Beach, Rancho Mirage, La Jolla, and San Diego, California. When we were vacationing in Hawaii, we went with the kids to Roy’s in Kauai, Waikiki, and Honolulu. The one in Kauai required us to drive almost 2 hours to get there and we count it as our best meal in Kauai.

To give an example of our commitment to Roy’s, we went three times in December 2011. The first time was to Roy’s San Diego Waterfront to make gingerbread houses with Alani (8) and Rigel (6).

View from Roy’s San Diego Waterfront

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

In years past, we bought kits from Costco to build gingerbread houses at home. Inevitably, we would run out of the frosting just as the gingerbread house was in place and the kids were ready to put decorations on the house. I remember using Elmer’s glue to finish last year. And then I’d have to clean up the mess after decorating. Not this year…thanks to Roy’s. For $25 per person, they provided all the necessary gingerbread house-making stuff as well as a simple lunch designed for kids.

Rigel adding M&M’s to the edge of the roof.

Alani was very generous with her frosting use. Thankfully, there was an ENDLESS supply of frosting for the kids’ gingerbread masterpieces.

The kids had fun decorating and snacking on the decorations (who can resist all that candy?). I was impressed the folks at Roy’s actually baked the gingerbread house pieces and made the frosting. The frosting was put into real pastry bags so the kids could decorate with more precision than what comes in the Costco kits.

After decorating, we ate a kid-friendly lunch of grilled chicken with rice and broccoli.

Rigel’s gingerbread house

Alani’s gingerbread house

Kids give two THUMBS UP for Roy’s Gingerbread House making lunch

I agree with the kids’ THUMBS UP. Making gingerbread houses at Roy’s was fun for them and awesome for me. No clean up necessary. We wrapped the finished gingerbread masterpieces in cellophane to take home. I have a feeling we’ll go to Roy’s to make gingerbread houses when December rolls around this year.

CHRISTMAS EVE & NEW YEAR’S EVE DINNERS

The other two times in December, we went to Roy’s La Jolla for Christmas Eve dinner with kids and grandparents and then again a week later for New Year’s Eve dinner with good friends and our collective kids.

Annual Christmas Eve dinner with grandparents

New Year’s Eve dinner with good friends. We’ve spent 12/31 with Peggy and Kevin every year since 1992 (except one year when they were in Illinois).

We can count on Roy’s to bring food as soon as we are seated. They start by bringing edamame flavored with seasoned salt for everyone at the table.

Seasoned edamame which just shows up as soon as we are seated. Great for entertaining kids while deciding what to order.

Again, even before we order anything, servers will bring a plate just for kids with grilled cheese quesadilla, grapes, apple slices, celery and carrots along with some ranch dressing for dipping. This is a big hit with our kids. They snack on healthy finger foods (with the exception of the cheese quesadillas, which are questionably healthy). Also, Roy’s provides a booklet of activities and crayons for the kids. I appreciate these details of providing food to kids quickly and the activity book because our kids can snack and color while adults are ordering food and then eating our own appetizers.

The assorted vegetable crudites and grilled cheese quesadilla, which is included in the “Keiki’s Platter” along with an entree and dessert.

The kids’ menu is pretty impressive. The “Keiki’s Platter” includes the assorted vegetable crudites (which happen to include apples and grapes) and grilled cheese quesadilla, an entree, and dessert. Often, we have our kids share the platter because Rigel really only wants the grilled cheese quesadilla and assorted fruit/vegetables. He likes two plates of this…one for appetizers and one as his entree. Alani likes the entree of penne with Parmesan cheese and butter sauce. And then they both get dessert.

On New Year’s Eve, our kids ordered their usual. But Madison (2) ordered the short ribs and she enjoyed that.

Two-year old Madison ordered the Keiki or Kids’ entree of fork tender braised short ribs with mashed potatoes and gravy. She really liked it and so did Peggy, her mom.

Madison enjoying the ice cream dessert

Alani loves the kids’ dessert. A scoop of ice cream in a cookie cup topped with a palm tree-shaped cookie and a few berries on the side.

As for the food for adults, Harlen ordered the Ponzu Hamachi Sashimi – one for himself and one for the rest of the table. He got it on Christmas Eve and again one week later…it is THAT good. I ordered the Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish, my favorite dish.

Ponzu Hamachi Sashimi with grapefruit, avocado, serrano ponzu…a chef specialty only available at Roy’s La Jolla.

Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish with sizzling soy vinaigrette – my favorite dish at Roy’s. I’ve ordered this dish at different Roy’s and noticed each chef does it differently and I’ve liked all the variations.

For dessert, I highly recommend Roy’s Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle. It takes 20 minutes to prepare so you need to commit while you are still eating your entree. It is a MUST HAVE…especially for chocolate fans.

Roy’s Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle – Belgian chocolate, raspberry coulis and vanilla bean ice cream

The fact that we go to Roy’s so often means we give a THUMBS UP for our whole family.

We are in the middle of San Diego’s Restaurant Week (Jan 15-20) right now. Roy’s La Jolla is a participating restaurant and a three-course meal is available for $40. It is a fun way to try new restaurants or go back to favorite ones.

And coming soon is Restaurant Week Los Angeles (Jan 22-27 & Jan 29-Feb 3) where Roy’s Downtown Los Angeles and Roy’s Pasadena are participating. We have not been to either of those Roy’s before. Chinese New Year is on Jan 23rd and gives me a good reason to venture back to where I grew up…Pasadena and check out the Roy’s there. We know our kids will be excited to go to any Roy’s and we can expect a delicious and pleasant meal while dining out with kids.

Now for something completely different…The Restroom Review.

I am always impressed with the restrooms at the various Roy’s we have visited. The pictures I took are of the ladies’ restroom at Roy’s La Jolla.

I can count on Roy’s for clean, functional, and pleasant restrooms.

Of course, Roy’s has a diaper changing station tastefully placed in the large stall of the ladies’ restroom. It’s good to have some privacy when changing diapers.