We came here after seeing photos of the churros and had a weekend reservation. We were seated promptly, and the setting is definitely one of the restaurant’s strengths—the view and atmosphere are very nice, and valet parking was convenient.
Unfortunately, the food and service didn’t match the setting. The churros we had been looking forward to tasted as though they had been previously frozen or fried more than once. They were fairly mediocre, and I’ve had much better from local churro stands. The octopus was extremely tough and was honestly one of the more disappointing octopus dishes I can remember having. The kampachi ceviche had a good texture, but there was a noticeable fishy taste and some skin still left on the fish, so the preparation didn’t feel particularly careful.
The biggest issue was the service. The restaurant looked to be only about half full, yet it took a long time to have our order taken, and our server was often difficult to find. I had to flag her down multiple times, and a few things I specifically requested were forgotten.
From start to finish, the meal took exactly two hours, which felt excessive for the amount of food we ordered—especially with a child. Both the food and the service moved very slowly. This easily could have been a 60- to 90-minute meal.
If you have plenty of time and mainly want a nice view and atmosphere, you may enjoy it. But based on our visit, the food quality and service did not live up to the restaurant’s overall rating.
We had an incredible dinner here for our anniversary. We sat outside and it was beautiful. Once the sun set and the temperature dropped, the heaters kept us plenty warm. Tyler was our server and everything was perfect. We enjoyed the oysters, lobster taco, pork belly, potatoes and halibut. The portions were large and we were stuffed. Tyler started our meal with complimentary cava and ended it was a complimentary dessert. It was 5 stars from start to finish.
Delicious! Fantastic service topped off with an incredible meal. Alejandro knows his menu and orchestrated flawless service as our server. Thanh kept our water glasses full and was super friendly.
We've enjoyed many meals here and 1 buffet breakfast. We hope to be back again soon.
This was a fantastic restaurant with the type of food that we love, which is West Coast Mexican elevated-type food. Most importantly, I want to give a shout-out to our waiter, Udi, who was really just the platonic ideal of a perfect waiter who totally took our night from a 9 out of 10 to a 15 out of 10. Just being so kind, completely knowledgeable about the menu, and doing everything that I took to make our evening super special on a very important night to us.
This review is for dinner service. I had the breakfast buffet in the morning and it was fabulous 5/5.
Here's the tragedy at dinner:
Once seated, it took 20 minutes for water to be served, and a separate waiter to take our orders.
Water was never refilled since.
Took another hour for the food to arrive.
Was told by the manager (and separately later by my server) that the catch of the day ran out (after 45minutes into waiting), and they were unapologetic and unhelpful.
It was a busy Friday night but the restaurant was fully staffed. The food were delicious (paella, scallops, chicken) and mocktails were great too.
The open kitchen display is modern and theatrical (in a good way). Unfortunately service was a disaster; staffs needs more training. There are plenty of resorts in Carlsbad; August is prime Summer time as other regions are scorching hot, so I get it. It's hard to find and retain a good staff. But that's no excuse for a 5 Star hotel, let alone a Park Hyatt.
