Kshama P.

Food - 3.5/5 Nice variety - from pinxtos to apps, to entrees and paella. Vegetarian options or modifications are plenty. Paellas take 50 mins to make but everything else comes out pretty fast and they tell you about the paella well in advance and put the order in first. Quality is good. Heavy on the seasoning so everything including the cake is salty. We also tried the beet salad which was so refreshing. Drink: 4.5/ 5 I'd call this primarily a bar with tapas. Because their cocktail game is strong and stronger than the food. Such a huge seasonal classic and main cocktail menu, beautiful variety. So well balanced. We tried a bunch and liked almost everything except the matcha fizz. Ambience: pretty. Lots of bar, countertop, indoor and heated patio seating. You can reserve ahead and easy access. Lots of free street parking. Hosts and service is a bit off. Hostess especially was a bit rude. Overall, worth a try if you're in solano beach

Gary H.

Among meal albeit not normal menu. It was a pre fix sort of meal for valentines. Everything was delicious. Service was excellent. Bathrooms were spotless.

Wayne T.

First time coming here. My kids planned a mother's day dinner. We previewed the menu and were excited to try a variety of dishes. The waiter took our drink of order. He suggested that if we wanted to order the paella,that we do that first since it takes a while to prepare. We got a vegetable and seafood paella. After he came back to take our order. The appetizers were all prepared perfectly. After the waiter cleared all the plates and brought out fresh utensils for dinner. The wait staff are really well organized and trained to make your dinning experience special. The paellas were fantastic. I would have liked a few more veggies in the paella, but it was still good. I know it was mother's day, but I have to imagine that this place is always packed on the weekends

Sim B.

I have been very excited to try this new place in Solana Beach ever since it opened a few months ago. There are not many (if any) Basque restaurants in San Diego, so this was a fun treat! My boyfriend and I came around 5:30pm on a Saturday evening without a reservation. We were told they were actually completely booked for the night (nice!) but that we could sit at the bar, which was fine by us. The ambiance was chic but warm and the bar was a perfectly lovely place to sit for dinner. I had a Basque Txakolina white wine which was lovely and unique! Since their main items are tapas/shareable items, we ordered a bunch of things and shared. Charcuterie for Two, added Iberico ham for +$15: The selection was pretty good and I loved the Iberico ham, but adding it was not worth the extra $15 in my opinion, as the serving size was quite small. It is served with toasted baguettes con tomate, but I think they forgot the tomate. 4/5 Pulpo: This was delicious! I rarely have octopus, but I could tell it was done well. The octopus was flavorful, tender, and plentiful. It was served with some lovely marinated beans and shishito peppers which all worked very well together. We loved this dish! 5/5 Patatas bravas: It is gorgeously created and presented with tons of layers of perfectly crisp, yet soft potatoes and plated with a tomato based sauce and garlic aioli. I really enjoyed this dish, but my boyfriend thought it needed a little extra oomph (perhaps more salt or flavor depth). Regardless, I thought it was a winner. 4.5/5 Croquetas de pato: Honestly these were a last minute addition and at this point in the meal we really didn't need another dish. However, they were flavorful and yummy. A bit small for the price, but good all the same. 3/5 Wild berry Basque cheesecake: The reason why we wanted to come here in the first place! It took a while for them to get this to us, and they graciously gave it to us on the house, which was a nice customer service touch. However, it was well worth the wait! Creamy, perfectly sweet, luscious, delicious. This is a must get dessert if you come here! 5/5 All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our first time at CTZN and we are looking forward to coming back to try more dishes on their menu! If you're looking to try this Basque cuisine, my only suggestion is to make a reservation because this place is gaining popularity by the week!

Christina H.

Such a great experience. Staff was amazing. The aesthetic is perfection. Bathrooms were clean. Love that the kitchen is open. Got so many dishes, patatas bravas were divine, the pan con tomate was amazing, the pulpo was 10/10 ... the "fall salad" was a little odd. I feel like that was least favorite dish. Having a spring salad maybe? And then we went with the Seafood Paella - sooo freaking good. And lastly the basque cheesecake. Hot damn i will get that dessert every time i return. So happy to have a tapas place in Solana! I wish CTZN the best keep it up! I should have taken a pic of the cheesecake but we devoured it!

Hanna S.

I feel compelled to do an update just for the patatas bravas because they are ~ what dreams are made of ~ The pork secreto was also a big hit!

Emmett T.

Some new businesses have popped up this year along the Hwy 101 corridor in the Solana Beach community including CTZN. This is a tapas bar that has been described as serving Basque-California fusion cuisine. There was a lengthy wait for a table on the evening that I visited, however I was fortunate to find an empty spot at the bar where the full menu was served. It was an open-air setting with lots of small tables spread across the bar and dining area. The one-page food menu was filled with a long list of small plates and shareable items. The latter included charcuterie and paella. There were eleven choices in the Raciones category. These were slightly larger servings than traditional tapas. I had to pick the Pulpo which was wood-fired Spanish Octopus served with marinated gigante beans, charred shishito peppers, chorizo romesco, and a grilled lemon. Their version of this dish was generous with multiple grilled tentacles on top of the other components. It was cooked well as the protein was soft. For a main dish, I ordered the Secreto Iberico. This was fire-roasted pork served with escalivada (roasted vegetables) and arbequina (olives). The meat was from a Black Iberian pig that had heavy marbling. I have rarely seen Iberico pork prepared at other SD area restaurants so it was a rare treat. There were ten thin slices placed on top of the veggies. I think a puree of some root vegetable to add a contrast in texture would have nicely complemented this entree. The service from the bartender was good when I had his attention. Other waitstaff that were supporting the bar brought the food to my seat. For the quality and price of the food that I tried, I gave a four star level rating for my dinner at CTZN.

Diane W.

This was the perfect dinner to end my birthday in San Diego. My boyfriend suggested this place to me! My boyfriend and I came for the Safari Park and dropped by Fletcher Cove Beach before walking to the restaurant. To start, we ordered a cocktail and a mocktail. My mocktail was a version of the Zaintza they made for me. I loved it so much!! Then we opted for vegetarian tapas. We ordered the avocado & talo. We added the cana de cabra toast. We were able to enjoy both as we awaited our vegetarian paella which we were told would take 30-45 min to prepare. It's lively and modern in the restaurant. We were seated at a table for two just inside, entrance adjacent. Service was attentive enough and friendly. The paella was delicious and we took the rest to go, eating it for lunch the next day! We also took a slice of Basque berry cheesecake with us and shared it on the train back to LA. It was memorable like really good!

Grace S.

When we first invited by my partner's aunt and uncle to CTZN, we were pleasantly surprised that the restaurant was in an older part of Encinitas that seems to be in the middle of being revitalized. They are next to Rustic Root on Highway 101 close to the Solano Beach Amtrak train station. We sat outside, at around 5PM on a Saturday evening at the end of September, so the weather was pleasant. Going off the recommendations of my aunt and uncle in laws who had been to Spain a few times, they knew what dishes they wanted to order to compare with their experiences that they had when they travelled. We decided primarily to order off of the tapas menu and to share between us. A few of the drinks we ordered: - Verde San Sebastian Old Fashioned - "Say Cheese" cocktail Tapas: - Patatas Bravas (Crispy potatoes) - Croquetas de Pato (Duck) - Pulpo (Octopus) - Pan Con Tomate (Tomato bread - forgot to grab a picture) - Local Beets - Grilled Prawns Dessert: - Wong Mango & Basque Cheesecake Verde San Sebastian Old Fashion was smokey and very unique cocktail as reported by my partner given there is a little bit of their chili flavor - the combination of smoke and spiciness was well balanced and interesting and definitely a unique twist on a traditional Old Fashioned. The "Say Cheese" cocktail was super interesting and had a slightly sweet, tart and cheesy flavour. Hard to describe but as someone who doesn't drink, the couple sips I took were surprisingly good. The Patatas Bravas were super impressive. I loved their take given the potatoes are layered which definitely takes more effort and as a result more delicate. Being layered is different and was unexpected by my aunt and uncle-in law. That doesn't take away from how tasty they were. The Local Beets were fresh, the Croquetas de Pato were good, but I couldn't really taste the duck so it was less memorable. Grilled prawns were also very good in flavour but also less memorable in that though they were all excellently made they didn't sear into my memory like the Pulpo and the Pan Con Tomate. The real stars of the show were the Pulpo and the Pan Con Tomate. The octopus was SOoooo goood. I mean, look at how juicy those legs are. Perfectly tender, not rubbery, but still had a nice bite to them -- basically, it was as perfect as octopus legs could possibly be. I haven't had as tasty of an octopus since Kettner Exchange which was almost 8 years ago. I often feel guilty whenever I eat an octopus (I have recently learned they are super intelligent creatures and unsustainable to farm), but given the other pictures shared, it was difficult for me not to order since I do love octopus. I try to be selective when I eat it, and this was one of these times I decided to eat it. The Pan Con Tomate was also perfect - I'm a huge fan of tomatoes though, so others might not have the same experience, but it was perfectly seasoned and not soggy, applied over what appeared as cristal bread (which is the tastiest bread - soft but not overly soft, pliable yet crispy right on the edges - I recommend people to find it in their store if they're able to find it). And then the dessert - I have not had basque cheesecake before, but a dessert that has the word "Mango" in it will always pique my interest. The mango flavor wasn't strong despite being topped which was too bad, but the texture of the cheesecake was nice and like a combination of cake and pudding making it creamy. The burnt top part of the cheesecake made it so the dessert wasn't super sweet and even had a slight bitter taste which complemented with the rest of the cheesecake so well. A basque cheesecake is without crust and I think after having the basque cheesecake I might prefer it to traditional cheesecake. (I love creamy desserts like creme brulee and pot de creme, and this falls into that category). Our waiter was super helpful with recommendations and were prompt with our requests. Very attentive. No complaints from any of us. I personally really liked the atmosphere of the place - I didn't know what it was like inside since I didn't take a look, but the outside is a really nice cozy set up though I will say the seats (at least the benches) felt a bit lower in comparison to the table. There was not any music playing on the outside if anyone is worried about that. 5 PM was a perfect time to come because it wasn't yet full, but by the time we left about 2 hours later, the restaurant was definitely very busy and full. It's perfect if you are looking for a quieter setting than inside (judging from other comments from it being loud inside). Definitely want to come back and try the remaining tapas - those wild mushrooms caught my eye but did not have room in the stomach this time around. Recommend to go if it fits your budget - the food and the service are excellent.

Mursalin H.

Group of friends went there during a weeknight without reservation. They could accommodate us in few minutes. Cocktails are ok, inhad vspr and black manhattan, they are forgettable. The duck croquette was ok. But after that it was all amzing, the lobster pella with squid ink, it was to die for. It has fish, lobster, shrimp, clam and what not. It is a must order for seafood lover. The beef paella wasnt bad either. The octopus grilled is something i will remember for months. The shrimp grill, we ordered extra bread to wipe the gravy. The service was quick and attentive. Excellent place! Try out before there is a line outside.

Donald R.

One of the newer restaurants in Solana Beach is CTZN. It is located on the Coast Highway, just South of Loma Santa Fe. The restaurant sits on top of a large underground parking area, which makes parking very easy and convenient. The restaurant has large outdoor seating area which will be nice come warmer weather. The theme and servings of the restaurant is shared plates (tapas). They have an extensive menu including a few key main courses and Paella. We had a table of 4 persons. We ordered a recommended Spanish red wine and then selected about 7 starters and 1 paella. Everything was well prepared and was provided with very good service. Overall, highly recommended.

Mindy M.

We had such a great experience at CTZN! The short rib paella was absolutely delicious--rich, tender, and full of flavor. The chicken croquettes were excellent, perfectly crisp on the outside and creamy inside, and the olives were a simple but standout bite. The ambiance inside was incredible--modern, stylish, and lively, it felt like we had stepped out of Solana Beach and into a city spot with an amazing vibe. Our server was very attentive and made the whole evening flow seamlessly. Overall, CTZN impressed us with both food and atmosphere. Definitely a place I'd come back to for date night or with friends!

Marissa W.

Oh my god this was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. All of the vegetables were so delicious and charred to perfection. The paella, I swear took me to another universe! And for $70 I feel like it's actually a good deal for all that seafood! It is also a gorgeous restaurant with great ambience and the service was spectacular! Only thing I'd say to skip is the mocktails.