Josh is doing an amazing job! The staff and service is perfect. Everything is amazing and beyond expectation!!!

I had dinner here this week with a friend to celebrate our 30th birthdays. The food and scenery were absolutely to die for, but what really made this experience incredible was our server Jamie. I have never yelped or reviewed any place before this trip but she was simply that great. We will be back thanks to amazing food and you Jamie!! read more

Meritage At Callaway - New American Near Me - Temecula, California

Wow some of the reviews here are completely brutal. My experience was far better. I went with a group of 5 friends and we had a nice dinner here at Meritage. It was a Saturday setting and we shared 3 appetizers, 3 salads and 3 entrees. The food was well prepared and just slightly salty as I'm sure it was their intentions to push the wine. The best appetizer according to the party was the perfectly fried tempura calamari. My favorite was the steak fries with black truffle sauce. Unlike the viewer below I liked the goat cheese salad on flat bread. The best entree according to the party was the duck confee. I can see how an establishment like this can get overwhelmed during a large rush. However I was lucky not to run into that situation hence the positive review. Another thing, this is wine country, relax if you're in a hurry I'm sure the buffet line at Morango can suit your needs. read more

What a lovely afternoon spent at the Meritage. We sat on the patio near the bar where we could look out to see rows of vines swaying in the wind. They specialize in tapas which they have so many choices..such as , ceviche, artisan cheeses, mussels with smoke tomato broth, crab and pork roll with pnut drizzle, ratatouille with white anchovy on crostinis. The salads look fabulous as well, I had the truffle arugala on top of flat bread with goat cheese--so perfect with my viognier. They have some nice looking thick steak sandwiches that look heavenly. They had specials like bbq brisket and tater salad, mushrooms n sausage n cream sage sauce. They deserts like nutella crepes, vanilla panacotta and chocolate bread pudding...need I say more, the wines were great. Cab-Merlot was very full bodied with notes of vanilla n chocolate finish. Viognier honeysuckle nose and a buttery finish. The Rose of Sangio was ruby colored dry with citrus and rasberry flavors, very refreshing. Enjoy read more

We ate an early lunch at the Meritage, table right at the window with beautiful view of the vineyards. Quiet atmosphere- definitely relaxing and peaceful. We ordered the seafood ceviche, duck confit mac-n-cheese, asparagus soup, and sauteed halibut with vegetables. The best thing we ate was (of course) the mac-n-cheese. I could not stop eating it!! Way too much food for 2 people (plus dessert), and I could have lived without the soup and halibut. Halibut had no flavor and the texture was a little soggy. Soup was one-noted, needed a little spice or something. I would go back for the view and try some of the tapas again, but for the price I expected more- Not a cheap place at all and we were not impressed with the wines. read more

Stopped here for a meal after a weekend of wine tasting. the ginger lemonade is very refreshing. Enjoyed pork belly tacos and duck tacos. The best part is that gorgeous view overlooking the vineyards. Excellent service. Loved the gift shop also. I'll be back again to taste their wines. read more

I tried this place on Jan 4, 2014. I was hoping for a fancier setting. That said the food was fabulous! We ordered 3 tapas. The calamari (it could've been a little crispier). Prosciutto flatbread (very good) and chorizo tacos. The chorizo tacos were amazing!~!!!!! The chorizo was very flavorful and crunchy. The sauce was amazing. Instead of lettuce they used kale. You MUST try these! I wish we had ordered 3 plates of these! All in all a nice place. Brennan should be promoted to waiter. he was very attentive and knew his stuff! read more

Great food, great service, beautiful views... the only drawback is this place seems to attract large parties of drunks, rolling in by the bus load... just something to keep in mind when you're planning a visit, i.e. not the best place if you have young children. read more

Great food, lovely place on a beautiful day. The Skate was the special and it was wonderful. The view fantastic and the service was pleasant and quick. read more

It says tapas but they do have entrees that are a amazing size and ready to fill you up. Went in for tasting first and decided we would wait till after we ate but Nick gave us a 10%off coupon to use at the restaurant which was so nice of him. Staff was never nice and the food and wine was great. read more

We stopped here for lunch after we did our champagne flight at Thorntons. The area is gorgeous. The views across the valley and of the vines was spectacular. We had a group of 6 and the portions were very large. We know now that next time we are all going to share our food. The wine selection was great, but the food and service were top notch. Fiori was our server and she did a great job. Love this place, can't wait to go back!! read more

My boyfriend and I had a beautiful lunch here last Friday. Speaking strictly about the "tapas" dishes...oh man, terrific! We ordered the Duck Confit Tacos, which he really liked, and the Potato & Spanish Chorizo Croquettes with Gorgonzola Sauce were out of this world--so gooey and cheesy, and just perfect with that sauce! We also shared the Frisee, Pear, Arugula & Truffle Vinaigrette with Goat Cheese Flatbread and the Veal, Beef & Ricotta Meatball Parmesan with Rigatoni "Agli Olio", Capers & Arugula--both of which we thought we could have done without. Next time, I would just order off the tapas menu because those were just outstanding compared with the other items. As far as this restaurant compares with the other winery restaurants, we actually thought the food and service were better at Meritage as compared with either the Restaurant at Ponte or VIneyard Rose at South Coast. read more

One of my favorites. The food is great. Location is great. View is great. You can wear flip flops or dress up. It caters to any mood. We have had some of the craziest creme brulees here. Basil was beyond! WE love getting ten different things to split between everyone so we can try it all. A great place to have an extended meal, a glass of wine, and relax. read more

Ceviche lovely, burger excellent, asperagous worth doing, service would be 5 stars. Fois gras tapa was unmemorable.

This was the first stop in our wine tasting tour and my husband wanted lunch so we figured lets try it. First we went on a hot day so maybe its not so bad on cooler days but there is no air conditioning just fans and the plexiglass keeps out a lot of the breeze so it was warm inside . I had the ham sandwich and my husband had the knife and fork burger. They were both great. The only reason I'm not giving them a 5 star is the uncomfortable warmth and the garlic fries didn't have much taste at all. read more

This place is very cool - visually. Right in the winery overlooking hills of flowing vines. The food is very good too. Gets kind of hot and stuffy in the summer. Best in spring or fall. All outdoors. Lunch or dusk dinner is best. read more

Beautiful patio restaurant overlooking the vineyard. Had the eggplant, roasted pepper, and mozzarella sandwich on sourdought...soooo good. Do a tasting while your there. They have some fanastic wines that you can't get in stores. read more

The View and the singer playing guitar made the night. The food and service completed it.

What a wonderful experience! We were entertaining 20 guests (family and friends from out of town) who had come to celebrate our daughters wedding the day before. We are from WA so we did not know the area. Found the winery/restaurant on line and saw the good reviews. We were very impressed. Worked with Jozef Juck to set everything up. The food was delicious - very large portions. All the food was farm to table fresh. The pace was relaxed - not too fast - not too slow. We had exceptionall servers who kept the wine and beverages coming and answered questions about the wines. We couldn't have asked for a nicer experience. read more

I'm only giving it a 3 star because of the beautiful view, however everything else was a 1 star. The service was extremely slow, it wasn't even busy but we were waiting for awhile for our food. The first meal that came out was my son's pizza, which was okay since they were already getting antsy from waiting so long. But the rest of our meals came AFTER the kids were already done eating which made it inconvienevt for me because now the kids are done eating and again they were getting antsy waiting for the rest of us to finish. My husband requested chicken breast, it was the DRYEST chicken he ever ordered at a restaurant for $25!! He ordered "chicken breast" which was only 4 sliced pieces of chicken with some veggies and potato to make it "look" more appetizing. I ordered the rigatoni, I would rate it a 4. For such a beautiful restaurant that has so much potential, the food was very disappointing. read more

Love this restaurant. One of our favorites in Temecula . Good food, great view and great staff. We try to eat at Meritage at least once a month. Looking forward to taking our friends to enjoy as much as we have been. read more

12 of us got together for dinner on Dec 6, 2014 . Our reservation was for 5:30pm because they close at 8:00pm. We have a 2 hour drive to get there, but was looking forward to it. During the week before our reservation, we were told to per-order our dinner. Coming from a nice restaurant I was "put off" but thought "whatever." It wasn't like we were a huge party or this was a fast food place. Once there we noticed the Winery was nice and the sunset was beautiful. We began looking for the front door to the restaurant which turns out to be on the other side of the parking lot, but you have to pass the outdoor bathrooms to get to the door. How tacky! For a Saturday night, this place was dead. Maybe had three to five tables going...but then again I chalked it up to "it's early." We were given our table and menus. Later our server came to take our orders, but in mid- sentence we informed him that we were instructed to per-order. He had no clue and had to check. Now, you would think considering we were a large party and the ONLY party, they would have known this, but okay we tried to overlook it. We were asked if we wanted bread. HELLO? Don't ask! Just bring it out! Are you trying to cut corners so you don't have to slice it? Dinner was wonderful. It was plated nicely and tasted very well. From there it went further downhill. We asked for two "to go" boxes. One was my husband's left over steak. Granted it was a small piece but....it was wrapped tightly in foil and squished to look like a golf ball and the server puts it in front of my husband and says " here's your steak." People at our table said " what the HELL Is that? ". As the server was closing our check, he must have overheard us and came by with a plastic box and said "here"....like to shut us up. After our bill was settled, we started getting glares from two servers and the manager. It was 7:30 and there were three tables that just got served their dinner, so we had time. Or so we thought! First, two servers came over and huddled near us, giving us the look of "okay you ate, paid,now go." About ten minutes later, one server and the manager was giving us "looks." Soon after I'm sure the manager gave the servers an okay because they came over and started clearing off the table and picking up, while we were still talking! They were literally rushing us out and happy to see us leave. I feel that our bill was the largest they had that evening, if not that week, and to be treated so poorly is inexcusable. Two things for sure...(1). We will never go back and (2). We would never recommend this place. Temecula is wine country and there's plenty of other places that serve good food with excellent service. This place isn't one of them! read more

Meritage at Callaway is by far the best restaurant in Temecula Wine Country. I've had the pleasure of trying several things on Chef Josh's awesome menu, including the Ribeye Steak (cooked to perfection), Ceviche (made to order), Cioppino (full of flavor). Today I'm having the Tacos de Pork Cabeza and the Hanger Steak. From the very warm greeting you'll receive from Manager Jozef the second you walk in the door, to the service you'll receive from Ian, Don and George, you're sure to return again and again. Bon Appetit!!! read more

Food has been amazing every time I have eaten here; andJamie is amazing! Made us feel welcome and had a million and one recommendations! I I recommend everyone to come here. 10 Stars!!!!! read more

The view was beautiful, but the food was terrible. I ordered their grilled chicken breast with some vegetables. I cut into the chicken and it was raw. My friend who is allergic to walnuts asked for them to be taken out of her salad and they were still there. we notified the waitress and she took care of it and was wonderful. The manager attempted to correct things, but got my friend and I mixed up and was checking on her food to see if her chicken was done when I was the one who was served improperly cooked food. He offered us a free dessert which was terrible and no one liked. I would suggest not trying the canoli because it is not your traditional canoli and seemed to have an odd filling of truffle and vegetables. They ended up still charging me for the chicken which they really should have taken off my bill and then the side of vegetables was $8.50 which seemed a bit high. I will not be going to this restaurant again they clearly do not know how to cook food properly and could get someone very sick. If you decide to go then I would suggest inspecting your food before eating and eat at your own risk because you will likely get sick. Based on my experience I do not think they know what they are doing. read more

Wow. My husband and I ate there recently, and the view was the only positive thing we could find. The staff was careless to customer service and inept. We were treated as though we were an annoying distraction to their "hanging out". As we are avid fine diners, we were DISGUSTED by our lousy server. The food, served "tapa" style, (which we enjoy usually), was a not too bad, but the quality of service hindered the enjoyment. Food brought out cold, late, too early, etc. Also loved we were charged for wine samples after we bought $300 worth wine. And overcharged for two warm beers. If you want a quality winery dining experience, avoid this joke of a place please! read more

We took a drive up to Temcula today and planned our first stop to be Callaway Vineyards. I had visited the vineyard and Meritage in January of 2010 and Had a nice lunch an visit so I was hoping for the same. The view from the restaurant is fabulous overlooking the vineyard and the mountains in the background. We arrived to live music from a guitar player which seemed rather loud with his amplifier and microphone. Luckily he soon completed his set and then we were seated. Table top was not really clean and we asked for extra napkins to make placemats. Selection was fair and I opted for a black forest ham and brie sandwich on sourdough bread with steakfries. My friend opted for a salad with organic chicken breast. I noticed that the menu seemed pricey and the prices for the wine were out of this world. Oh yes. We are in a tourist destination. It took about 10 minutes to get our order in and drinks delivered. Service seemed slow overall. Before our meal arrived the guitar player came back. Good idea to have music, but this was too loud and the type of music he played seemed better suited for a bar or other venue. Our salad and sandwich arrived and presentation looked very good. The salad looked full and green, and the sandwich was well presented on the plate. Good presentation did not mean good taste as we learned. The chicken on the salad was dry and tasteless, and the brie on the sandwich was overmelted so it had dissapeared. If you melt brie on sandwiches it should be done at the last minute and served immediately. This looked like it had been done when the sandwich was cooked. The check came to $ 37 which included the salad, the sandwich and an Ice tea. pricey and dissapointing. I will find another restaurant for my next visit to Temecula read more

Please consider another fine place to dine as there are many to chose from in wine country. We went for our anniversary and the waiter was rude and it took almost an hour to get our meal. The chef came out and was rude to use and it was the first time i came close to decking a chef. Unbelievable. For the prices they charge there should be some standard of good service. As it was my 24th wedding anniversary I really did not want to make a scene. We ended up in our b and b eating crackers and wine because our meal was so bad. I sent them an email a week later and got no response. Obviously they are not concerned about repeat diners. Don't go for the service, go for the view. They don't charge for that. read more

Amazing!! My family and I were in the area visiting and had a wonderful dinner here. Delicious food, incredible wine, lovely service. Just some of the nicest people! And absolutely stunning views. A must visit if you're in wine country. Thank you thank you! read more

Beautiful views and the wine was great. Service was also good. Food was ok. Did not love the pork chop but the crab fritters were awesome. Overall very nice. read more

The food here is amazing and our server Jamie is a sweetheart. The hanger steak, fresh bread and the rose Cabernet a must. The beautiful ending to our visit the sunset view. read more

Had high hopes for this place. Really liked the look of the place, awesome view. My wife and I are club members at another winery and recently joined the wine club here. This was our first, and likely last visit here. We were never asked if we were club members, which is something that every winery I've ever been to out here asks. The service went from trying too hard, to not trying at, several times. As this place presents itself as a higher end place, I was not shocked at the menu prices. I was shocked that the price did not reflect the quality of food. We ordered the bread and humus tapas as well as the risotto crab fritters. The bread was some of the most densest I have ever seen or tasted. Almost inedible. The humus was extremely bland and the "pesto" or whatever it was, just as bad. The risotto fritters were actually good, with some actual flavor. My hamburger, $18, was just some grilled meat served on toast(dense bread again) and had no flavor at all. My wife ordered the fish of the day at $28. The fish, decent as it was not worth the money, as it was a small fish with little meat. With wine, which was good, bill came to $95 without club discount. Would have been fine paying $70-$75 but not even close to being a $100 lunch. Bland food, bland service, overpriced. read more

I was about surprise at the lack of service at the Meritage and its previous reviews. Maybe our waiter, George, was having a inattentive day. George only check in once with us and that was to get our order. He asked us what we would like to drink while he puts our food order in. We ordered an Italian dish and he suggested a red wine. Our dinner arrived and no glass of wine. We told him he forgot to bring in and said he would bring it right away. 30 mins went by, we never got our wine. Finally, he realized it after we asked him to stop at our table. would never recommend this place. I could understand if it was busy but it was not. It was 12:30pm on a Sunday. read more

The Meritage restaurant has by far the worst service I've ever experienced. Somehow a reservation for a birthday gets you nowhere. There weren't many people seated at the restaurant, just about 14 derelict servers standing around with their fingers up their butts. After 10 minutes standing at the front of the line, we were seated. Our waters came 5 minutes later as flies circulated all over. Across the way, a table full of patrons storms out asking for coupons. We sat there for 20 minutes as waiters walked by into our corner, looked at our table, then tried to avoid eye contact. As we looked at the beautiful view at the winery, my Dad called another winery down the road. 5 more minutes go by, South Coast is booked, and without another reservation anywhere else, we left. Awful service. I made sure to mention, "you guys need to work on your service" as I walked out the door, then told the first family in line at the door, "good luck getting food here." Never, ever coming back and I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. read more

I'm not the type to send food back. In fact I think this was the first time ever. I ordered the calamari and it was a pile of fried dough. There was some shriveled up pieces of dried squid but they were just that. My mom ordered the flatbread with prosciutto and Brie. The flatbread was burnt and soggy with slices of Brie and old unappetizing pieces of prosciutto. The flatbread came with some kind of purée that tasted fishy. After guessing it may be eggplant, we asked the maître d if the purée was eggplant, he rudely said, "I think so" and walked away. Then he poured himself a glass of red wine and one for a woman guest and went and sat on the patio. I flagged down the waiter and explained I couldn't eat the calamari. He took it back and also took it off the check. Views are great though and I have read good reviews on the food. So maybe just a bad day in the kitchen. Wouldn't go back though. No thanks! read more

This is the most horrible restraurant we have ever eaten in!! No we weren't drunk we were not even drinking. We had four children with us. The waitress was terrible the food was so slow - first we got three of the ten appetizers we ordered and waited and waited in politeness for the others to arrive so we could eat. Finally I asked the waitress and she said they would be out - she is a nut case to say the least. Nutty and rude. She informed those with their food that they should go ahead and eat that the other meals would be out in five minutes. Twenty minutes later the other appetizers arrived. We could all see this meal was going down hill. The waitress attempted to placate us with her smart comments. Finally the first three entrees arrived and sat on the table another twenty minutes. When we tried to ask the waitress where the rest of the food was she came up with some smart answers. We asked for a manager several times and no one came to our table. We told her we were going to leave. Two hours later the remaining entrees arrived! I got mine last and my dish of baked rigatoini and meatballs was literally thrown on the table. Two of us had the same dish - the pasta was burned hard and the food was not even recogniziable. One person had a steak and it was so overcooked to a crisp and so salty she could not eat it. What a fiasco. Finally the "chef Michael" showed up and his jacket was filthy and he was defensive and nasty. Of course he would be he cooked the junk. He said that is the way baked rigatoini is (burned and hard and full of grease?) and we were just being to "fussy" and he just called us all sorts of miserable names. He may have been nipping the wine? My friends wanted to take a photo of the baked rigatoini and he grabbed both plates of rigatoni and the steak and piled them on top of each other and went back to the kitchen. We told the waitress we wanted at least those three dishes removed from the bill she shoved the bill in our face and said, "sign it." We were late for the theatre by that time and my husband and I threatened to stop payment on the credit card but she did not care. The table next to us had about twelve adults. They had wine and appetizers and they were dissatisfied and as they were leaving they were telling everyone to go to In and Out Burger it would be better. The place was a zoo of complaining people. What a nightmare for all of us! One person was sick from the food. Very little of the ten meals were eaten. I have been trying all day today to reach whoever the manager is - I have been told it is Peter Chang and every time I call he is in a "staff Meeting." Next we call the Credit card Company. Maybe he will talk to us then. Don't eat here. read more

What a disappointment to have mice running across our feet during dinner! Until that point, the food was tasting ok, but that killed it! The staff acted as if this was no big deal. Rodents in the dining area is not ok ! What must the kitchen look like? calling the health department. read more

We chose this restaurant because of all the great reviews on yelp and for its beautiful view! But very disappointed with our experience. We were a group of 14 so we wanted to make sure they can accommodate us so went there and they said they could arrange something in 20 min we came back in 20 and they said because you are a big group you can not choose from the regular menu so they give us a menu with 7 items on it. nothing impressive mainly very expensive salads and appetizers. We were not happy with the menu but we said ok we will live with it. They brought our food very late and brought some wrong and it wasn't even good. Will never go there to eat and would not recommend it. none of us were happy with the service or the food. read more

I just reviewed this restaurant and I am appalled that Yelp decided my review needed to be filtered. This restaurant was a terrible experience for me, and as I read the other filtered reviews, their was as well. What are you doing Yelp? Giving this restaurant a better average review by filtering all of the reviews about this restaurant that are bad? This seems very biased and I am very disappointed with Yelp and their skewing of the actual ratings. read more

My boyfriend an I chose this restaurant for dinner based on a recommendation. It must have been an off night (perhaps the kitchen crew/chef was away for Thanksgiving weekend) because there is no way anyone who ate what I ate (or attempted to eat) would rate this higher than one star. We ordered tapas, all of which were served burnt or otherwise overcooked (e.g., extremely rubbery calamari) with mostly odd-tasting sauces. We probably should have complained or refused to pay for all but the wine, but instead left pissed off, hungry, and none the richer. If it's this hit-or-miss, I say AVOID at all costs! read more