great pizza, amazing butter lettuce salad with crisp greens and large leaves lightly dressed with an amazing vinaigrette( Mustardy). The food is consistently good. Specials vary from day to day. Fairly priced. Exteraordinarily good pizzas too. read more

Each of us ordered something different and we all tried each other's plates. Mine was salmon dish with mashed potatoes. I loved it! The other plates were ribeye and goulash. All equally delicious read more

As a local, this restaurant has been our go-to restaurant for years. The outdoor dining feels safe. My favorite are the sanddabs on a salad. The pizzas are an easy take out. read more

Delicious food! Can't wait to go back. We didn't have a reservation, but their service was still great!

One of the best places to eat in Carmel Valley! Such great food and the patio is very nice atmosphere.

Started off my meal with the escargot. Very tasty I really enjoyed it. Had the seafood sole special with mashed potatoes for my meal. Was worth every cent of $32. Absolutely great meal. If they have this do not leave without eating it read more

Quite afternoon, decided to sit on the patio for some late lunch. When we walked in, we were passed over so the wait staff could answer the phone, a second person seated us on the patio and indicated a wait staff would be right out... 15 minutes later we just walked out... food smelled great but service on this day was atrocious. read more

Our server, Diane, was wonderful! Friday special Sand Babs - excellent. Husband had Hungarian Goulosh - excellent as well. Quaint place - lovely atmosphere. Every thing fresh. Great flavor. read more

Absolutely delicious! Came here for the day with my boyfriend and had an incredible experience. The waitress was wonderful and very knowledgeable, and the food was outstanding! Can't wait to come back again. read more

I enjoy coming here because of the great food and outdoor patio. Staff at the entrance can seem confused and discombobulated, and will ignore you a few times when your waiting to tell them about your reservation. Then they'll come and let you know your table is being prepared and you'll sit down about 10 minutes later. Part of the charm I guess? Definitely order the eggplant appetizer, has some great greens and a great hot/cold salad type appetizer. lamb medallions are the way to go entree wise! Overall a great place and a great value. read more

Great service! Great food! They were really busy but made sure to make us feel important and were able to find a table within 5 min!! Grilled artichoke, Goulash, and pizza were all great!! Wonderful outdoor seating! read more

Go for the wine menu, can't critique the pizza maybe I should have tried it, ordered a chicken sandwich and received what appeared to be a Costco frozen chicken breast with a smudge of some sauce placed between two thick stale buns. A couple of lettuce leaves and yes that was it, didn't eat it, my husband ordered a tasteless watery tuna sandwich in a croissant with some too thick tomatoes slices. Lackluster meal, can't figure out why the place was packed, oh, now I remember Tourist Trap!! read more

Had a wonderful lunch on the patio Saturday Hostess was friendly, and accommodating to our needs. I had my infant and she made sure we had enough shade. Our server was wonderful very friendly answered all our questions about the menu, made wonderful suggestions. We shared the blt salad, a cheese sandwich with pesto on some of the best bread, a turkey sandwich with out of this world Dijon mustard, and a pizza. I'm new to the area, and just starting to explore Carmel village. I will definitely be back. Thank you for helping me impress my guest! read more

This place is a gem in Carmel Valley. My only complaint is that it's not closer in town. The decour is very rustic, french country. Sitting inside or out, but outside is beautiful on a warm day. The staff was wonderful, even the chef stopped by to say hello. Menu has something for everyone. The pizzas are wonderful, any of them!!! It is a perfect place to end up after wine tasting at CV's many tasting rooms. It's the first restaurant I recommend for CV! read more

A great evening of marvelous food. The staff in the open kitchen were so in sync. The food was fantastic. Butter Nut squash ravioli with just the right amount of nutmeg. The stone fire pizza was light and crispy. We finished with a home made blackberry Cabernet sorbet to die for. A must stop for anyone in the area and our next trip to Carmel. read more

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My wife and I witnessed a very upsetting scene at tonight, and the waitstaff and manager were entirely to blame. A pair of young women were hounded out of the restaurant for, believe it or not, not eating their dinner quickly enough. One woman left in tears. Their treatment by the hostess, the waiter, and the manager, was atrocious. I was left with the impression that this restaurant is run by spoiled children. The food here is not good enough to suffer such immaturity. read more

This place has very poor service with an arrogant staff. We have attempted to eat here twice on week nights and have been treated very poorly as if we were idiots for walking in without a reservation- even though there have been numerous empty tables both inside and outside of the restaurant. My husband is the CEO of a Bay Area company and myself a professional for a Fortune 500 company. We aren't idiots and we won't be going back to Cafe Rustica or recommending it to anyone we know. read more

An absolutely delicious dining option in this most out-of-the-way location. If you're in this part of the world, chances are you're on vacation or your house is ten miles away from anything. In either case, Rustica is for you. It's a nice spot to stop in and feel like there are really other people in the world (which you can forget when all you see all day is ten acres of land in any direction) and it's a quality Italian restaurant that even snobby, saavy city dwellers can appreciate! read more

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! I had the Flammekueche Pizza and it was one of the best pizzas I have ever had in my life. Wonderful service and reasonable prices. I will be coming back! read more

When we were told we had to make reservations for dinner, I had no idea how popular this restaurant is! We managed to get an early reservation for a Saturday night (6:30, practically early bird special!). The restaurant is hidden away in the mountains of Carmel, in a charming little building. You have to watch out for the road sign to turn into it though, because it's not on the main drag. Everything on the menu looked really good and prices are really reasonable for this type of restaurant (about $21-25 for main courses, honestly would have been $30-something in the same type of restaurant in Napa Valley!). The waiter said the special was half a duck with a bowl of split pea soup (or salad) for $26. WOW! That sounded good to me! I'm SO SO SO glad I ordered the duck! First of all, it tasted magnificent! It was incredibly tender and pretty much fell off the bone! You don't even need to use the knife to eat it! There's this orange sauce surrounding it, with mashed potatoes and red cabbage. I chose the split pea soup and it was delicious as well, but perhaps a little huge, since I barely could finish the duck. In retrospect, it was good that we had an early reservation because they pretty much ran out of duck by 7 pm. I think I was one of the last few diners who managed to order the special, yay! My friends enjoyed their meals too, one of them ordered the roast chicken and the other had roast pork. They also really loved the creme brulee with vanilla beans (yeah you can definitely taste the beans!). I wish it wasn't so far away from Sacramento! I would love to go back and try their pizzas too, everyone seems to rave about them. But the special was way too tempting! ORDER THE DUCK!!! You won't regret it!!!! read more

I am thrilled that my daughter chose for us to travel to beautiful Carmel Valley today so we could try Cafe Rustica. The shaded patio was the perfect setting for a most perfect meal. We shared Jose's pizza verde and also ordered the grilled salmon filet sandwich. Both were exceptionally good, as was the service. I enjoyed the views while dining outside, but also took a peek inside to see the interior of the restaurant.....very cozy. I love cozy, and definitely plan to return to this rustic hideaway(soon!). read more

Very rude service, the waiter did not speak to us properly, just stood there and we had to ask about food, once we had placed the order, we noticed that other customers were treated better than us, with them being asked how they would liked to get started. What was one thing we could not take was that he banged food down on our table. I usually do not leave bad reviews for places, however this was one place that I've felt so bad that I cancelled what was left on my order and left immediately. read more

Our 3rd visit in about 8 weeks; great food, great wine, great value. Best pizza anywhere, and the salads can easily feed 2 (the roasted vegetable salad is not to miss). Have only gone for Sunday brunches, and the only hitch is they don't make Mimosas (uh, they have champaign.... and they have orange juice....so please just bring both...) But the sans-mimosas not withstanding, they still deserve 5 stars. read more

One of the best meals we had in the Carmel area, and we 5 starred it the entire time, the menu is mouth watering, the prices are cheap (compared to Carmel) and the service and attention to guest is stellar if not excellent. We almost went back for dinner, after a nice lazy lunch here....OMG, a must. I wine and dine clients 200 days a year, from NYC to Paris...this place is as good as it gets. Talbott winery sent us here, another nice find, the old vintage motorcycles are breathtaking....damn fine wine too... read more

If I could give it a zero I would. The food is great, however that is not the reason I write this. I was breastfeeding my baby, completely covered by a nursing cover, very appropriate, and I was told that I could not do that and asked to leave. I was shocked, I will never be back. read more

Had not eaten here in many years. Was very impressed with the menu and the food was very good. We will be returning and hope to have the same quality we had with our last meal. read more

Friendly staff. That's the two stars. The three empty ones are for the food. Ordered a bacon, cheese pizza and stuffed artichoke appetizer. The pizza came with a creamy white sauce though it did not indicate that on the menu, and it tasted like a clam chowder pizza. Really weird on the palate. We sent it back. Then the un seasoned artichoke came out with the smallest amount of "meat" I've had. read more

Service is excellent and the aura of this place is simply amazing. Relaxing and scenic, the pizza is to die for and I simply can't say enough about this place. A favorite to stop in for lunch between wine tastings and will continue to be a go-to spot in the Valley. read more

My whole family is absolutely crazy about Cafe Rustica.. Especially on a cloudy day on the beach it is lovely to chase the sun into the valley and sit outside and enjoy one of Rustica's crisp salads, wonderful pizzas or sandwiches! The deserts are also delightful, I would recommend the Apple Gallette or Brioche Bread Pudding.. YUM.. i'm salivating just thinking about it. read more

Great place to stop and get a bite to eat especially after wine tasting. Like the roasted chicken. Out door setting is perfect. Staff wonderful. A little high $$ for the amount of items on plate but all in all good food. read more

We stopped by after a day of wine tasting and a recommendation from one of them to stop by. We ordered a spinach salad and the thin crust Jose's Pizza Verde. It was a light meal, not too filling but perfect for the two of us. So good we only had two pieces of pizza left over. Hubby loves salsa verde so we had to give it a try. It was a very different pizza, not typical which is good, topped with tomatillo sauce, chicken, corn, feta, jack, parmesan, cherry tomatoes and cilantro. The verde sold us, the corn and feta intrigued us and it all melded perfectly. The atmosphere was cozy, rustic woods and stone, dimly lit, just my style but not stuffy or formal. It was a wonderful ending to a great day in a different area of Carmel. Carmel Valley along with Cafe Rustica will be on our list every time we return to Carmel going forward. read more

I think it is a bit over rated. The pizza was just OK and the blt salad was a bit wilty. my husband enjoyed his spinach salad.

Was staying at Bernardus Lodge over the past weekend and was searching for somewhere to eat around the area. I remember yelping and finding just a few places close by and decided on Cafe Rustica. I must say we were pleasantly surprised. Lucky pick! It was a cool night and the stars were shining so brightly. We dined out by the patio since our dog Butter was with us. They had outdoor heating lamps too so it was nice and comfy. Bread was yummy. Wine was yummy. I got the fish special of the day and the boyfriend had the rib eye steak. My fish was good but the steak was grrrrreat! Service that evening at around 8:20pm was also excellent. They kept on checking if we were ok. Had the dessert of bread pudding with fresh berries to go and that too was good. All in all a cozy little place that served up good food and that I would definitely return to. I am surprised there are only 85 reviews so Im adding one more :) Try it! read more

Food was amazing! We had dinner here Friday night and afternoon pizza and beer on Saturday after wine tasting. They serve Affligem beer - love it!! The Friday night specials were so good, short ribs for me and rock cod for another guest. The margarita pizza and marinated olives were perfect for a Saturday afternoon outside enjoying the beautiful Carmel Valley Weather. The patio was perfect for our weimaraner to sit under the table. Very dog friendly and nice staff. read more

The food is great! Make sure to make a reservation first though. If you don't have a reservation they will likely turn you away.

Staying in Carmel Valley so we followed the locals. The place is charming with a relaxing outdoor seating area. The beet salad was excellent. The local scallops were wonderful and came with salad and veggies for $22 which seems good for the area. We returned for lunch and wish this could be our local find. read more

Awesome ambiance great food! Gracious staff and loved the wine!! Recommended for any foodie

Friendly wait staff. Prompt service but the food was very bland. I had baked rigatoni carbonara, friends ordered the Hungarian goulash and the pork loin with sweet potatoes. Everything was hot and looked great but it all lacked seasoning. We all asked for the ground pepper more than once and took turns with the salt shaker. The bread pudding, on the other hand, was awesome! read more

We were seated in the side area. Someone dropped 2 menus without saying a word. We were ignored for 15 minutes while others were seated and orders taken at the front section. Hostess needs training but we won't be back! Worse service ever! read more

Cute little place recommended to us by some locals. Very good friendly service. I liked my butternut squash ravioli. The sauce was really tasty. read more