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    Cafe Rustica

    4.2 (671 reviews)
    Closed 5:00 pm - 8:00 PM

    Cafe Rustica Photos

    CAFE RUSTICA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Intimate
    Good for kids
    Dogs allowed

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    Recommended Reviews - Cafe Rustica

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    Entrance
    Lewis C.

    Six of us had dinner here on a Friday evening. It's a charming restaurant with a warm cozy feel inside. Service was friendly and helpful. Food was served promptly. We tried a wide variety of dishes. Everything was delicious. The only item that was mildly disappointing was the beef stroganoff. Overall we had a very enjoyable dinner experience.

    This was sold to us as one full pizza.

    BAIT AND SWITCH: We ordered three pizzas online to pick up for dinner for the family. The prices on the website were all between $13 to $15 for each 12-inch pizza. Sounds great! But when we paid at the restaurant the bill was over $70. It turns out we were charged $22, $22, and $23 for the pizzas. We showed the server the website on our phone clearly showing the prices we saw when we ordered from home. She said, "Oh, those prices online are way out of date. We haven't changed that website in forever." But there was no offer to make it right and charge us what was actually advertised to us. Just a surprise upcharge of over 50%. Oh, and one of the pizzas was clearly pieced together from multiple pies because two slices were far smaller. They pizzas were...okay, I guess. The whole experience was weird and off-putting. The next day we discovered that the website is suddenly updated with the prices that we were charged. It was poor service and unfair practice. We won't be coming back.

    Kim B.

    We grabbed lunch at Cafe Rustica after spending the morning at the refugue. The service was ok. It took awhile for our orders to be taken and then filled. The server refilled our waters. I had a burger. They do not offer gluten-free bread so I just had it on lettuce. They serve butter lettuce so it actually could be used as a bun alternative. The burger was grilled and was cooked medium rare as I requested. It needed sauce for flavor. It was accompanied by a large helping of french fries. My daughter had the salmon sandwich. It came with a side salad. I thought the salad was very tasty. She enjoyed the sandwich.

    Renee S.

    Went on a weekend to have lunch to celebrate my Mom's birthday. My parents have gone here multiple times and love it! Great atmosphere & friendly staff. We sat outside as it was a lovely sunny day. I ordered the butternut squash ravioli, very flavorful & I enjoyed every bite! :) Well done chef! They even brought out a nice dessert for my Mom and sang Happy Birthday to her. Lovely staff & great food! My whole family was happy & enjoyed their meal. :)

    Spinach salad & pizza Napolitano
    Laura E.

    We sat outside last night under the heat lamps, which kept us warm. I enjoyed the napolitano pizza and had the leftovers for lunch today. Dad's partner and I shared a spinach salad. She had Jose's pizza and dad had the pork chop. My dad also ordered the Tuscan white bean soup (one of the specials) but they forgot to bring it out. Waitress was friendly. Yesterday could have been an off night but we would still come back when we're in Carmel.

    Oven Roasted Pork Loin Medallions
    Benjamin B.

    Stopped by after wine tasting and live music. This place actually seems to be the most happening and packed spot in the area. No reservations but got here when they opened so we chose to sit outside. Greeted fast and nicely and seated to our choice. Great host. Immediately got a waiter to check in. He was pretty nice and awesome. We started with bread and butter which was great and a Cesar salad. The salad was almost perfect. House made croutons would have made it flawless. Got the dynamite with extra cheese and the pork medallions. The pizza was decent. Fresh ingredients and cheesy. Now if you follow me you know I rate a lot of pizza spots. So my nitpicks are the pizza had almost no sauce. So it was more like pizza bread. Considering how fast it came out. They could have done a little extra cook so that it came out gooey. But it was a lil cooler and hard. Other than that it's a good pie. Thin crispy. Good ingredients. Best in Carmel valley. Just not the best. Or near or. Pork medallions were delicious. The size portion flavor was good and the pile high of spinach was great as I love spin. Only issue. They advertised it with potatoes. But it was not mash potatoes. It was yams. To sweet for me. Either way. It's a great spot with good service and food. I wish I could give them a five if they adjusted some things

    Passion fruit sorbet
    Restaurant C.

    A hidden gem in the serene, pastoral village of Carmel Valley. Excellent dishes. The Hungarian goulash has red pepper. It is made with pot roast. I did not expect spinach soup; it was the highlight of my meal. It is to die for. It was not expensive for this special soup. The passion fruit sorbet and the latte were an excellent ending to my meal. Our waiter made some suggestions. He was friendly. It is a small restaurant. We had reservations, as it is very popular. There is plenty of outside seating. As it was a cool day, we sat inside. It was a long trip, but worth it.

    We ordered a pizza to go!
    Shy C.

    Wow! What a great place...from the moment we walked in, we knew we found our kind of place. The inside is cozy and warm. The staff were amazing and so accommodating. And the food...outstanding! I highly recommend making reservations. We arrived at 5:00pm and they said they had two seats at the bar open, so we enjoyed a bottle of wine and the clam appetizer, then ordered a pizza to take back to the inn we were staying at.

    Kids Pasta with marinara sauce
    Franny Z.

    We ordered the soup of the day which I believe was a mushroom soup, Smoked Salmon on Crème Fraiche, Crispy Calamari Cattleman's Rib Eye Steak, and a kids pasta with marinara sauce (huge portion) for our main meal. Dessert we had the gelato and the root beer float. The pizza was phenomenal.

    Sole special

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    12 days ago

    The food was excellent. All four of us were very pleased with the food, ambiance and service at Cafe Rustica.

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    4 months ago

    Good food, on time for take out, did ask for med well steak but it was medium,like raw, only complaint really.

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    9 months ago

    Best place to eat in Carmel Valley. All was very consistent. Staff is very professional menu is really interesting.

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    Ask the Community - Cafe Rustica

    Do they take reservations?

    Yes this is my favorite place to eat

    Do they have parking?

    They do. Easily accessible

    What are the correct hours? It's Tuesday at lunchtime and you're closed?

    Rustica's posted open hours on Tuesday are from 5:00 pm until "Closing."

    View All 6 Questions

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    Sur at The Barnyard

    Sur at The Barnyard

    4.4
    (2.1k reviews)
    10.5 mi
    $$$

    After multiple failed attempts to find somewhere to eat with our dogs in tow, we arrived at Sur at…read morethe Barnyard hungry, tired, and a little defeated. What a wonderful surprise. It was just me, my two girls, and our two dogs, and from the moment we arrived, we were met with genuinely excellent service. The staff was kind, attentive, and welcoming. The food was absolutely fantastic, fresh, flavorful, and beautifully prepared. Sometimes a meal is more than just a meal. After a long day of searching for a place that would work for our little crew, Sur felt like exactly where we were meant to end up. We left happy, full, and already looking forward to coming back. Highly recommend.

    We dropped in to SUR today after hiking a bit. We hadn't been there before, and since Scratch was…read moreclosed and this place a great reviews, we decided to check it out - and I'll chalk this up to anther time Yelp did us wrong. TLDR:: Meh.. I wanted something to drink that wasn't sweet, so I tried their raspberry ice tea. They used a sugary syrup to flavor the tea, and that was a strike out. It was sweeter than a soda, so it went back and I swapped it out for a plain unsweetened ice tea. Then we tried the cheesy garlic bread, which we were really looking forward to. Welp, it came out with mozzarella cheese and a ton of corn. No butter. No garlic. We all looked at each other when we tried it. Ok, let's try their brussel sprouts. Those are hard to mess up - but sure enough, they managed to. They deep fried them to the point they were black and charred. There wasn't anything left of the brussel sprout itself, it was mostly crunchy charcoal. At this point, we all ordered something we assumed would be safe for our main. I got the sliders and a side salad. I had the salad but only of the sliders. The cheese on it was queso, like you use to dip chips, so it was ran all over the place and the burger was a grease ball. I won't even get into what everyone else had, but they had similar experiences. Overall, it was pretty disappointing. Maybe there are other things or other times where this place is better, but it was a swing and a miss for us.

    Photos
    Inside
    Inside
    Signature Beet Salad and Fried Artichokes
    Signature Beet Salad and Fried Artichokes
    Chocolates

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    Lucia Restaurant & Bar

    Lucia Restaurant & Bar

    4.0
    (249 reviews)
    1.8 mi
    $$$

    The chef tonight was amazing…read more The tomato bisque with butter was so so so good Then we had to try a fun cocktail Cucumber margarita Was very summer festive We felt so special with the attention to service Cary is been one of the best best in the industry for years Always when you plan a dinner at Lucia you know it's top notch

    Beautiful Ambience and Setting…read more Decent Service. Our server was a nice guy and helped with the menu selection. Good Food that was beautifully plated. - Bread service - I know it's just bread but damn this bread is a beautiful creation of dough and baked to perfection. - Harvest Vegetable Bisque is fantastic! And completely plant based so don't let the "bisque" in the name scare you away. - Red Abalone appetizer - don't bother as you don't get to taste the abalone. The brioche and sauce overpower the abalone... so all you taste is brioche and butter sauce. - The farm fowl is hearty and comforting. The quail is quite tender. Loved all the veg in the dish too. - Salmon was perfectly prepared... meaty yet tender. Sadly the low points.... outweigh what should have been a lovely dinner out. - We received our wine AFTER we were mostly done with our appetizers. We even waited to start enjoying our appetizers thinking our wine would be out at the same time. Since my soup was getting cold, I could not wait any longer and had 1 bite left when our wine finally showed up. - Our server seemed overtaxed. It appeared he was trying to help literally everyone from what I could tell and disappeared for long stretches of time. - The 1 mom (sitting at the table behind us) constantly telling her toddler to sit down (the toddler was actually quiet, it was the mom that was irritating). - The multi family, multi kid large table that sat in the middle of the patio (while not super noisy) was disruptive with the kids constantly walking around all the tables and going back and forth from the patio to the "outside" down the stairs by our table. Seriously... your kids don't care that you want to sit and drink and hang out... they want to move and play and be kids. Eat and then take them someplace else.

    Photos
    Lobby.  Beautiful and full of fresh flowers.
    Lobby. Beautiful and full of fresh flowers.
    Kids Plate
    Kids Plate
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    Mission Bistro

    Mission Bistro

    4.5
    (592 reviews)
    11.6 mi
    $$$
    Outdoor seating
    Pet friendly

    I almost didn't make it to my 7:30 reservation. Another frou-frou establishment with lackluster…read moreexecution and catchy titles like "locally sourced", blah blah blah. Send me home hungry and bill me $$$ for 2, at least i get to stay in my PJs. I'm glad I stuck through with the original plan and was blown away by the endless mindfuck of plates that permanently altered my brain chemistry. In all seriousness, the menu itself doesnt seem too special: crabcakes, ceasar salad, creme brulee. Very unassuming and no real twists to it. BUT -- everything was executed to PER-FECT-SHUN and I found myself just shy of licking every. frikkin'. plate clean. No stone left unturned - in this case, not a single kernel of corn or garnish was left uneaten. I'll jump right to the food: - Half dozen raw oysters: honestly might be the more underwhelming dish of the meal only because the oysters didn't have much flavor. No brine. No sweet. The mignonette was so great though! it gave the oysters what it needed. Add a flake of salt and we're cookin'. - Caesar salad: Good all around. The assembly is what made it so over-the-top. The classic caesar but with ribbons of parm, light and fresh anchovies, whole thinly sliced loaf of crouton that held that salad up like a house of cards but crumbles to touch. I was picking up every crumb that tumbled off to the table and was audibly slurping the ribbons of parmesan. - Crabcakes: Not just another crabcake. The batter was crunchy but didn't make the dish heavy. a cooling and smooth avo creme. but OH MY GOD the grilled corn on the plate really made the dish shine! It added a nice sweet pop and smokiness that made the dish more complex. Not even assembled in a cute pile, just scattered little kernels on a plate got me out here picking them up one-by-one like a mere peasant dusting the sidewalk for nickels. yes, humble me chef. I had to apologize to the waitress who cleared my plate for how embarrassingly clean my plate was. - Thai mussels: A cliche of a mussel dish on every modern menu. I've had a lot of versions of this dish and this plate wowed me in that the mussels were simply cooked perfectly. the sauce was not thin, not too pulpy nor salty. The sauce actually penetrated the mussels. The mussels were fresh, and no empty shells, which is a low bar but so common to see these days. There might even be a couple straggling that i was able to fish from the bottom. Just a clean dish overall. The fries were the perfect accompaniment. The walls of the extra starchy and crispy fries grabbed alot of the sauce for dipping. So smart. - Beef cheeks: Perfect textures all around. It feels wrong to complain at this point but I wanted more unctuousness from the protein. The beef was actually a backdrop to the polenta and mushrooms. i wanted more fat, more melty gelatinous tendon bites. what it produced though was a perfect fancy gravy for the polenta - so creamy and perfectly seasoned. A leafy green here and there. The maitaki mushrooms were cooked perfectly, not greasy. I was really just scraping the plate for the polenta and grabbing a bite of beef cheeks as sauce. Not a bad way to live by any means. - Acai sorbet: I almost never order dessert at a restaurant. It tends to disspoint and overpriced but i have never trusted a chef so much with a full meal so of course i got TWO desserts. The acai was accompanied with raspberries and granola. Super fresh and light. The acai broke apart upon touch, didnt slide around eventhough it's on a plate, but the plate choice was nicely textured to grip the icy sorbet (WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT THEIR PLATE CHOICE??) Gronola was not clunky and added a (rice) crispiness rarely found in granola. Such great care and attention to detail. - Orange and Tarragon Creme Brulee: I looked at the creme brulee with distain. Why did we order a 2nd dessert when the acai sorbet was already perfect. Orange and tarragon sounds like they're trying to sound "complex" but rarely delivers on balance and impact. I cracked the torched sugar top and gave it a chance, knowing that i havent been dissapointed tonight yet... and CUE the hallelujah angels choirs. I looked my partner in the eye and audibly said "YUMMMM... TRY. THIS. NAOOO.". We switched from the acai to the creme brulee and never stopped until the sides were hallowed out and every crystal of torched sugar was scraped off the walls. The torched sugar top cracked with ease and stayed CRISPYYYY the whole time. The custard was smooth, thick but light, and packed with orange flavor that was fiercely tempered by the herbaceous tarragon. The one sliver of orange peel candy was not supposed to wow me with it's texture and left me wondering how they managed to get the cracker-like crackle without too much sugar and not leave it leathery?? What a way to end a meal. On my way home, I got a twinge of the orange peel left in my teeth and it instantly brought me back to the magic that was the Mission Bistro. and it was HOT.

    Cute quaint dinner spot in Carmel. I'd give it between a 3.5 - 4 stars, depending on what you…read moreorder. Food: charcuterie board (jalapeño pepper jam was the best I've ever had), burrata appetizer & beet salad were excellent. Mussels were amazingly good. The steak frites & uni pasta were mediocre. Felt like it was missing something. Service: waitress was a little odd and unpleasant. She questioned some things we ordered and seemed judge mental. I would come back for the mussels! Everything else was good but for the price, could be better.

    Photos
    Crab + Pea Risotto
    Crab + Pea Risotto
    Heirloom Leaf Salad
    Heirloom Leaf Salad
    Mission Bistro

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    Valley Kitchen

    Valley Kitchen

    3.9
    (199 reviews)
    4.2 mi
    $$$

    The brilliant work of Chef Andrew. It's clear that the chef loves food, has a huge heart, and cooks…read morewith joy and passion. We've been to Valley Kitchen dozens of times and the food gets better and tastier. It's evident that the chef and team explores how to incorporate fresh, local, and fine ingredients and bring to life the best of CVR's and California's identity to its dishes. Our favorites are the smoked salmon sourced from Santa Cruz and smoked at Valley Kitchen, Upside Down Hot Honey Cornbread .. and love how he uses the honey, cheese, and garden ingredients. At one point, we had strict diet restrictions and asked Chef Andrew to cook without sugar and to keep our meals below 5g of carb. Not only did we stick to our strict keto diet while traveling but we also fell in love with every single dish he made. Chef Andrew embraced this opportunity to test and adjust to meet our diet needs AND introduce us to new ingredients to include into our diet. We are forever grateful. On this trip, although we asked for his avocado dessert, he politely recommended Chef Molly's desserts. I love how he puts the entire team at the center of the experience. It's a team effort and the desserts were unique to Carmel -- especially with CVR lavender curd. The people who work at CVR and Valley Kitchen are top notch. They are extremely attentive, respectful, and friendly. Many of the servers have been there for years and it shows that when there is a good work culture that it translates to better customer service. The ambiance brings a combination of natural beauty, warmth and coziness (especially with the fireplace), and Californian modern and sleek. I love the Zafferano Pina lamps that provide an intimate experience and enough light to the table (need to see what we're eating!). Thank you, Chef Andrew and team for letting us experience culinary excellence while we rest and heal at our happy place.

    Went out here after watching Chef Molly on food network. Mostly went for the desserts but the food…read moremenu had lots of good looking options. Went with the lamb which was cooked perfectly! For dessert I got both the lemon tart and the cheesecake. Personally the cheesecake was my favorite but both were amazing! Will definitely add this to my must visit when I'm in town.

    Photos
    Valley Kitchen
    Valley Kitchen
    Hen-House Egg White Burrito
    Hen-House Egg White Burrito
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    Apple/berry cobbler
    Flying Fish Grill

    Flying Fish Grill

    4.4
    (1.1k reviews)
    11.6 mi
    $$$

    Fish You Were Here A…read moreJapanese fusion fish-centric restaurant located in Downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, it has had the same owners since 1975, when it was FKA "Shabu Shabu" before receiving its current moniker in 1993. The Good: * We loved the location--down a set of stairs into a dimly lit, cozy space. * And speaking of cozy spaces, we love that every table is its own private booth. Nothing is more annoying than having to dine with strangers just inches away, in my opinion. * Service was, uhhh, interesting but passable. We actually liked the dude who was following up behind our server, as he seemed like a really cool guy with definite opinions on the food. * Make sure you order their unique take on chips and salsa! Their fried wonton wrappers paired with a deliciously unique ginger pico de gallo were fantastic. * The Fried Fish Cakes (a daily special, so they might not always be on the menu) were delicious and full of flavor. * We both loved our entrées; my Black Bean Halibut was cooked perfectly--tender and flaky--and I loved the funky fermented black bean sauce. Carissa is still talking about her Almond Sea Bass weeks later, so 'nuff said. * The Warm Tempura Banana Sundae was a bit odd but worked in a weird way. We normally skip dessert unless it's something unique, and this certainly fit the bill! The Meh: * Reservations are handled the old-fashioned way: via telephone. * No outdoor dining. The Ugly: * While being underground is part of their charm, as mentioned above, it is definitely not ADA-compliant. So if you or anyone in your party has difficulty traversing stairs, this probably isn't the place for you. Conclusion: Fantastic date-night spot with great service, ambiance, and food. Highly recommended.

    This was another fantastic meal during our short overnight trip. We had reservations for another…read moreplace but we weren't feeling it. So we went here instead. And I'm so glad we did. The décor and ambiance is so cool. Plus since we arrive early, we were pretty much alone for most of our meal. And the service was very good. The food was unique and tasty. The chips and salsa were an interesting take and I'm glad John ordered it. I ordered the almost sea bass and it's a dish that I continued to think about for hours and days afterwards. It was so good and interesting! I tried John's dish but mine was far superior. Another highly recommended restaurant!

    Photos
    Inside seating
    Inside seating
    Warm Tempura-fried Banana Sundae
    Warm Tempura-fried Banana Sundae
    Hot Ozeki ($11/Lg)

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    Hot Ozeki ($11/Lg)

    Cafe Rustica - french - Updated July 2026

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