Best Restaurants for Special Occasions in Encinitas

Absolutely wonderful! Food is amazing, service is fabulous. Valentina never disappoints.

This years annual birthday dinner for our friend took place on the west coast for 2025–and after a great stay in Temecula we opted for The Pacific Grill. It did not disappoint! From its gorgeous beach location in Cardiff to the excellent and unhurried service we were thrilled to have such a perfect evening to cap off a “girls weekend”. Starting with specialty cocktails and an excellent premium wine list we enjoyed the heat lamp warmed beach patio for our meal. The shrimp dumplings in a port wine sauce were amazing to start with—I want to come back and try the chilled appetizers with my husband and family. We enjoyed coconut crab crusted mahi mahi and the seafood pasta dish—the smoky tomato sauce with Thai basil was very flavorful on the pasta and the seafood cooked to perfection. A beautiful birthday dessert of house bread pudding and vanilla bean ice cream and specialty cappuccino and teas capped off the night.

Came here with another couple that we hadn't seen in a long time. Hadn't been to this specific location in years so it was nice to come back. We were seated within 5 min of our reservation time and was seated on the covered patio (but luckily there were strong heat lamps). We were served right away with waters and bread for the table. We started by splitting a margherita pizza for the table as an appetizer. It was delicious and cooked to perfection. I love that the crust was nice and chewy and was wondering if it was a sourdough crust but it was really lovely. for our dinner we ordered pappardelle carbonara (mine), pesto linguine with chicken (my husband), lasagna bolognese (our friend's husband), and spaghetti (can't recall exactly what my friend ordered but it was something with spaghetti). Everything was delicious! Our friend who ordered the lasagna said it was okay but he would have preferred a bit more acidity in the sauce as he claimed it was "too sweet". We all tried the sauce and liked it so I think it's likely personal preference. My carbonara was amazing! I'm sure it was super fattening but it was so good! the only comment I have is that it was a bit salty (I think from the bacon). My husband loved his pesto with chicken dish and my friend devoured her spaghetti dish. We were offered dessert but we were too full to eat anything else. I am curious if their cannoli's are made fresh as our Italian friend said that you should never order cannolli unless they make it in front of you. (how is that possible)? Definitely a gem of a place and one of San Diego's finest Italian Restaurants. Great place for date night or a double date. The place is small and intimate so likely not the best place for a large group.

We had an amazing experience. The food was delicious, service even better and loved the piano music making this one of our favorites in North County.

Great selection of tapas and small bites. Cocktails were well balanced. Beautiful outdoor back patio section