Stayed there last weekend & I was favorably impressed. Staff are incredibly nice & helpful, pool is gorgeous, public rooms are RC, without being over the top. I personally am not impressed with the RC Laguna Niguel's 'de-fancification' into an East Coast Beach house, so was happy to see MdR kept that Ritz-Carlton feeling. The menu at Jer-Ne looked great, but we didn't have time. Any room service that uses burrata cheese in their caprese salad wins major points from me!!! ^ ^ ^ Room service CB included wonderfully fresh squeezed OJ, delicious coffee & ok pastries/muffins.
We were given a 1st floor room with patio & it was obvious by the hallway, but not the room, that it was smoking. I guess we hadn't specified anything on the resv, so can't get too upset. Asked for another room & saw they were the same, but with teeny little French balconies, so we went back to the 1st floor, with it's large patio overlooking their beautiful pool & marina.
Only downers - $29 per night parking fee, lightbulb missing in entryway lamp, no Bulgari toiletries, patio was kindof dirty, WSJ only paper on Sunday (I admit, the Times is huge & heavy, but...) & pool staff overworked & I overheard them tell a group at 3:30 that they were no longer serving food by the pool - not cool for a RC. But, for the rate, I was not complaining at all.
The new Ralphs Shopping Center (there's a better name for it, but can't recall) up the street is very nice - the best Ralph's I've ever seen in my life - will give Gelson's & Bristol Farms a run for their $$, nice little boutique shops, a French cafe,... spent some enjoyable hours hanging out here. Basically, I'd go back, but this was my first stay, so no idea what it was like pre-renovation.