Carlsbad's hidden gem. They have an award winning chef that creates beautiful and tasty dishes. They have a dog friendly patio that overlooks the golf course and the batiquitos lagoon. The staff is always very friendly and accommodating. It's a peaceful/quiet place to go to maybe for a romantic evening or celebration. It is a bit on the pricier side but well worth it. read more

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Good service for breakfast buffet and the food was delicious and not heavy. Healthy options and the pastries were extremely well made. Crispy outside and moist on the inside. Not a lot of options but the quality is pretty good. read more

A welcome break from your run of the mill steakhouse. High quality coastal Mexican. Great food, great drinks, great ambience. Our server Udi was friendly and considerate. He and management made our anniversary feel particularly special. read more

Ponto lago is a beautiful restaurant located inside Park Hyatt resort I was here for breakfast and I absolutely loved it they have a breakfast buffet in the morning and the pastries are delicious as everything but If you get the chance have some conchas :). Rosa took really good care of us she's an amazing server super attentive and nice thanks Rosa we will be coming back soon :) read more

Ponto Lago - New American Near Me - Carlsbad, California

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Wonderful evening at this restaurant in the beautiful Aviara Hyatt resort. Service lovely, enjoyed the offerings. I'm doing keto and able to have delicious offerings (whole striped bass and charred canbage.). Highly recommended! read more

Ponto Lago - Whole fish - New American Near Me - Carlsbad, California

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Deeply satisfying on so many levels. Expectedly delicious, detailed and delightful. Simple cheese arepas melt away under the fresh crispy corn exterior. My girlfriend and I shared fish and shrimp ceviche, the latter reminded me of an aguachile bursting with passion fruit and tiny spheres of perfectly ripe avocado. The shrimp had that delicate sweet freshness that easily dethrones the best shrimp cocktail. For mains a ribeye and striped bass. Both prepared simply. Burnt cabbage was the true surprise, forkful after forkful of bright chimichurri with rich romanesco. The best churros of my life sent me home with memorable belly aches of joy. I will return for the food, the storytelling and the impeccable service. Kudos and gratitude to Chef David, Eli and Alejandro who regaled and hosted us with passion, attention and rich stories. read more

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Ponto Lago is a fine dining restaurant. Indeed it is. The pork chop was delicious and the dessert hit the spot. However, the portion was small for the price but I still had a lovely experience. The view was breathtaking since the restaurant is located inside Aviara Resort. Valet service was outstanding and all staff was friendly and very professional. read more

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Dined 7/14/24 party of two. We sat inside but the outside tables looked enjoyable but full sun. It was a quiet day with only a few other tables for the almost 2 hours we spent there. Service was 100% on point, as it should be and as expected especially when there was hardly anyone there. The cold section of the buffet had a great assortment of salad options, fruit, charcuterie, as well as seafood like oysters, shrimp , ceviche and aguachile. Everything was fresh, delicious and varietal. The hot section of the buffet offered 4 meat choices as well as 5 or 6 hot dishes. A nice selection and the salmon, tri tip and sausage were great! The pastry section is in a room off to the side. Several delicious pastries were offered in addition to a few desserts and a churro and hot chocolate bar. The croissants, cheesecake bites and churros were fresh and flakey and tasted great. We did not partake in bottomless mimosas or the margarita flight as we had a flight to catch and had to drive however I saw the server continually refilling champagne as needed. The Harland Japanese Lager on tap and the house Bloody Mary (vodka not tequila) were a great addition. The ambiance was classy and peaceful. It is bright and clean and comfortable in the dining room. The guitarist playing music was a nice touch. I would absolutely recommend this brunch buffet. Superb service, a nice selection of Latin inspired food, and a good value for the price. The resort is beautiful as well which makes the experience all the more better. read more

Up and running for just a week, they are off to a great start in trying to become more than just a "resort restaurant ". Influenced by our cultures to the south and creating the flavors in the old world styles (no blenders here, just grinding by hand). Beautiful setting and knowledgeable, enthusiastic and helpful Ted guided us thru the menu. There is a different roast specialty each night and we went specifically for the suckling pig on Friday. Cocktails delicious, great Argentinian wines. Arepas delicious, glad we got the trio of ceviches instead of just one. Deconstructed Caesar (I always prefer "constructed" myself) was very flavorful, suckling pig delicious w crispy skin, moist flavorful meat. The beans with it were "scarlet runners" -(I had to google that one- grown in Latin America) were too dry for my taste and that's the biggest negative I can come up with! We can't wait to go back and try other areas of the menu! read more

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Great breakfast- especially on the weekends! Service was excellent as well... Good for business travelers as well as families.

We are staying at the Park Hyatt to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. We've dined here twice and the service was so slow both times. We had dinner at Ember & Rye (the other Park Hyatt restaurant) and the service was better. I need to preface that the dinner we ate at Ponto Lago was so so delicious. Best tuna tartare we had and excellent seafood. It's unfortunate that the dinner was marred by such slow service. We were ready to order with our server and we waited for over 15 min and we asked another server to help us find our server so we could order our food. He couldn't find him either and so a different server took our order. This morning we had breakfast outside - the service was so slow again. I had to go inside and ask for someone to take our order because we waited 15-20 min outside and no one had brought us water or anything. We were also ready to order. The breakfast food was disappointing. Overall, dinner at Ponto Lago was excellent. But I'm not sure it's worth the slow service you will experience at breakfast or dinner. read more

Had breakfast here x3. All were very good. Coffee is good. Bacon is good. Eggs and fruit- all good!! Setting couldn't be prettier. And the plates and cups are really fun. Can't wait to dine here (when they open for dinner). read more

This is just for the breakfast buffet. For $40 I expected more and it was not worth it for me. This was a standard buffet with omelets made to order, bagels, smoked salmon and tasty chocolate croissants. Maybe if there was carved ham or something different it would've been more worth it. read more

What a wonderful experience. The staff went above and beyond to make sure you were taken care of. The food and drinks were icing on the cake and were delicious. However the level of service was so good you could have been eating sandwiches out of a vending machine and you would have been ecstatic. So when the food was as good as the service you couldn't have asked for a better night out. read more

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This place is a hidden gem. The wife and I have been there three different times. Each time has been fabulous. The food is tasty and uniquely flavored. Alejandro is our favorite server who does a wonderful job keeping us informed and adds to an already great ambiance. We'll be back again. Thanks for another enjoyable evening! read more

Came here for breakfast while staying at the resort. Highly recommend. Gorgeous views and the food was amazing. Great fresh squeezed juices and a light menu using local ingredients. read more

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The food and service is spectacular we spent 5 days at this hotel and needed up eating here 3 nights and everyday for breakfast. Roads our server was wonderful. read more

We've been coming here since it was Vivace, and it was very good and very consistent in flavors. Now, still great service and fabulous ambiance. The last couple of time we've been there, we noticed that some items and Dishes are under seasoned; for example, The arepas along with the dipping guacamole sauce needed some salt , For the main course we had The whole branzino which was amazing flavors , and we also had the GRILLED SPRING LAMB LOIN, particularly this time the dish was under seasoned and a bit cold. Maybe chefs need to warm up the plates before putting hot food on it ( or the assorted veggies that come with the dish are kept cold ?) , Idk ‍ we did have some similar experience in the past where some dishes make it to the table lukewarm. But overall it's a nice restaurant. read more

Excellent food overall! We eat out every week from Mastro's Landry's, Pelican and more but today my wife really enjoyed every item we ordered. I order 7 different appetizer's, main dish was Ny strip streak, seafood rice dish and it was cook to perfection! From our service Dominic @ assistant Nicci to our set up guy Saneed' were all excellent as they were very careful to make sure my family and I had a great experience and indeed we did., we tried Champagne to red wines and it was great! Im so busy to write a review' but this place deserves a 5 star rating. read more

There is a sincere attention to detail from the food to the dining experience. I had the privilege of enjoying the street tacos, authentic flavors made with completely from scratch in-house. A lot of times a taco is a taco, is a taco. This is different. Try the Al Pastor you'll be glad you did. What is truly unique is the attention and service, can you remember the last time that you were addressed by everyone on the staff by your last name? A small detail that made this a really enjoyable experience. Give this a try, you'll be glad you did. Oh and don't forget to order the Molten Lava cake! read more

I had the awesome opportunity to be one of the first to sample the dinner menu. It was amazing! I highly recommend the lentil ceviche... we tried all ceviches and they were great, but we were particularly blown away by the lentil one. Also, don't skip out on dessert. The churros were delightful. The berry compote that accompanies the churros was delicious enough on its own. We wanted to bottle it and take it home. Great cocktails and wine selection, too. The staff is also amazing! read more

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This is a cavernous bright restaurant . There is no semblance of exclusivity. There is only one salad on the menu and I hope u like endives! The octopus was ok . The paella was very good but not a traditional Spanish paella. The pork was fatty as you can see from the photo. The "mole" apple sauce on the pork tasted like a store jar apple sauce. The dish was a loser in my opinion. Unfortunately overall this was the worst meal of the holiday week. And no matter what religion you follow there are no holiday decorations of any kind in this restaurant and the atmosphere is devoid of personality. This restaurant does not invite a customer to spend more. Go to Amber and Rye or Seasons instead. Keeping with the stage light motif, The Ponto Bar in the hotel lobby needs to be called the "The Last Call Bar" as the lights are so bright that it looks like it is ready to close and never has many customers as a result. read more

Ponto Lago - Very fatty pork chop. - New American Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Outstanding in all respects! Here for the fire cooked Maine lobster. A team served us including the head chef! Wonderful atmosphere, open kitchen is fun to watch. Ceviche tour was fabulous. My husband had the mezcal tasting he says it's superb. The server had knowledge of each and gave us a nice explanation. Wonderful experience. read more

The minute you drive onto the property you realize you are someplace special- landscaping is gorgeous and so meticulouly cared for...- and the feeling of being pampered continues once you enter the resort. Everyone you see is smiling and there is a large staff presence. I wasn't sure where the restaurant was and not thinking asked a young man whose hands were filled with empty bottles... he was going into the kitchen but instead brought me to the entrance of Ponto Lago. Pampering continued through the entire meal - we had 2 people attend to our every need - glasses were never empty and they provided great recommendations. We ordered way too much food but every bite was amazingly executed- looked beautiful and tasted even better! The potato tostones were a real standout as were the arepas - the chicken was the tastiest I have had in ages and the steak was perfectly cooked! This meal was amazing - every component was perfect and I am picky!! Beautiful view, attentive and pleasant service and standout food!! Highly recommend! read more

We are so excited that Ponto Lago has opened at the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad! We have dined here at least 5 times over the summer and each time we were completely satisfied with the menu choices and most of all the presentation and taste of the exquisite dishes! The starter fried cheese treats with a custom salsa dip is mouth watering! If I could order a plate of them I would! We have tried the Branzino which was incredible, the beef dish, spectacular, and the guacamole is simple and probably the most delicious guac I have ever had!! The atmosphere does not disappoint either! The colors are soothing and if you choose to sit outside, the view is amazing! The staff knows our name now and we are treated extremely well! We will be frequent customers for sure!! read more

Let me begin by saying one thing: THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!!! I can't imagine someone giving this restaurant anything less than five stars. The food is delicious beyond reason. Each bite I had was an explosion of flavors. The arepas are amazing and are brought out free at the beginning. We asked for two more after we devoured the first two. We then ordered the coconut aguachile. UNBELIEVABLE. Here is where there is true explosion of flavors in your mouth. Highly recommend this dish. Next was the lobster taco. There were mounds of lobster on this dish enough for three tacos. Then we had the paella. SUPERB!!! Must have as well. We ordered sweet potatoes as side dish. They were so delicious I think I will try to copy it as a side dish with my Thanksgiving dinner. For desert we had two items, churro and rice pudding. Both were delicious. Overall I am so impressed by this place. Great food, service and ambiance. I can't wait to come back. By the way, did I mention that the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous? It is. read more

Bad hostess service and huge wait. Lies about availability and misled about menu and closing the day prior and we asked specifically because we were on a schedule. Restaurant and hotel not ready for prime time. Go to Four Seasons below this hotel and enjoy actual service and caring people who won't mislead you. Update: Food and service once seated was good and attentive and we appreciated the effort by the staff once seated. read more

Ponto Lago - Entrance to your 1:15min wait. - New American Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Three diners. Appetizers were tasty, but two entrees came out cold and the third was misprepared. Took 20 minutes to get the 3rd entree fixed. The waiter tried to fix it with a free desert (pass) then with free wine. The manager came over and apologized, sort of. She repeatedly said, I don't have to do this, but.. She did comp the cold food in the end. Overall, the worst dining experience I have had in years, and I've been to McDonald's. read more

I've been to Ponto Lago a few times. On past visits, I would rate them 4 stars. Based on my latest visit, I'd average all of my visits to 2 stars. The service and ambience are generally pretty good, however, on my latest visit, we waited over an hour for our main dishes (this is not an exaggeration). When they finally started to bring out the main dishes, they only brought 2 of the 4 then brought the other 2 mains 10 minutes later. Our side dishes were room-temperature cold and had to be sent back. On this visit, the food was mediocre (bay scallop ceviche was delicious, but the branzino was overly salty and the prime new york strip was dry and slightly overcooked). They offered no apology or explanation for the delays. I expect better when paying almost $600 for a party of 4. read more

This restaurant exceeded my expectations. I brought my girlfriend here and they definitely did not disappoint. Every dish was so well executed and the service was as well. Chris was our server and his explanation of the menu was superb. I will definitely be coming back as soon as possible. read more

Loved the experience. Staff are very accommodating our server Leanna superb Food is great and highly recommend Far better than Amaya in Del Mar.. Waited for hours for food and coffee ... read more

Just dined at Ponto Lago for our first time, and it was amazing! Service was outstanding from Dominic and Alex. They both were very knowledgeable about all items on the menu as well as wine. Everything we ordered was delicious. Smoked Hamachi, Lobster taco, sweet potatoes and the pork chop. Dessert was the cherry on top...We had the churros and caramel rice pudding. Felt very comfortable and welcomed. Will absolutely be back very soon. read more

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This restaurant is beautiful. The food is amazing. The service is outstanding. Great restaurant for special occasions. I can't wait to go back. read more

This was our first visit here since the remodel and new chef. The restaurant has a relaxed elegant vibe with the focus being toward the open kitchen where all the chefs were busily working. (However, I missed the intimate, romantic ambiance of Vivace's.). Nevertheless, the service was excellent, the prices fair, for both the food and wine, and the food was good, but not great and part of that is I'm not a fan of Mexican food at a fine dining restaurant. We shared the assorted appetizers, some were better than others. My husband had the Peri Peri chicken which was well seasoned and juicy and served with a nice polenta. I had the sea bass which was served with the dark fleshy portion still on it. That made it visually unappealing for me. However, once I scraped it offer, the fish was quite tasty. For dessert we had the churros with the rich, dark chocolate sauce. I'd say the churros were the highlight of the meal. So overall a good meal, but to be honest, I miss Vivace's. read more

First time back to the Park Hyatt since COVID and their big renovation. The hotel looks amazing and has much benefitted from the thoughtful and complete reno. Having been a long time fan of Vivace, my wife and I were not sure what to expect. We were impressed and like it better frankly. It maintains elegance without overt formality as before. And it has a rich cultural association with California and south of the border in a gourmet way. Really liked the Kampachi Ceviche, Branzino and imaginative and delicious sides. Stephen, Matt and Willy contribute to the friendly, efficient and attentive service. Can't wait to come back! read more

Tonight my family and I were at the grand opening of the restaurant for Dinner. We had the privilege to be hosted by an amazing team of people who served us with their hearts and kindness. Our waiter Dominic was extremely attentive and gave us great explanation of every dish in the menu. The food was extravagantly delicious and healthy. We also were hosted by amazing people like Will and David who literally treated us like family. I highly recommend their fish,oysters, tacos, and churros! We will definitely be coming back to this amazing restaurant. read more

What a special evening to enjoy Ponto Lago with a few new acquaintances and some more familiar friends. It was a lovely, lovely evening from service to food to wine to restaurant ambiance. Each dish was a piece of art...almost too pretty to eat. And all was delicious. I'd pick my favorites to be the seafood appetizer, the whole Branzino, and the lamb dish. So why only 4 stars? It's a personal preference thing. I appreciate simple flavors in which I can taste the actual essence of the food item without too much distraction of other tastes entering my palate. For me, one simple sauce is plenty, maybe just a simple touch of added crunch or color. For sure, I'd go back to Point Lago with great anticipation but would be more careful to order more simply presented dishes. read more

**This review is for our dinner experience only..if you go for their breakfast buffet it's great.** Our stay at this resort was phenomenal so I'm bummed this dinner didn't live up to the hype for us. I'm a vegetarian & found the menu really limited but settled on the vegetable paella..it was sadly the closest dupe for Trader Joe's vegetable fried rice I've ever tasted..which crushed my soul because even though the bland flavor was the exact same as tj's frozen isle staple, the price certainly was not. I reallllyyy enjoyed the arepas starter they brought out with the amazing salsa..I could have & should have just ordered a bunch of those. Dessert was also disappointing & unfortunately the service was off..everything took a long time to come out even though we were one of maybe 3 tables. I ordered a drink which never came out & was forgotten as well. It is such a perfect resort and everything is flawless so you have high expectations for a nice dinner, I was surprised dinner was a let down. read more

We usually like going to cheaper places but since we had family over we'd thought the convenience of this being at the hotel would be worth it and it totally was! Breakfast was amazing every morning we stayed. Got the chilaquiles and the eggs Benedict. LOVED the lil complimentary concha's! Fresh squeezed juices were also very refreshing in the morning. Just wish the glasses were bigger. Unfortunately forgot to take photos every time we got our food because we were to excited to eat it. The flavors of the sauces and salsa were incredible! Ugh, can't wait to go back just thinking about it! Definitely worth the high prices $$$! read more

So glad we were able to enjoy in person dining at this restaurant. The service (ask for Dominic) was amazing and the decor was world class!! The exposed kitchen, fire roasted selections and sophisticated coastal accents were a treat. Definitely order the branzino It was incredible. I gave it four stars instead of 5 because they are still working out some kinks on the menu. I also think they should have a few menu items for kids especially since they are at the resort. I wasn't thrilled with the ceviche options but overall the menu offered great options with a South American/Mexican flair. I will def be going back to try out more of the food. read more