Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants

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THIS RESTAURANT NO LONGER EXISTS. I have left it in as a wonderful memory. PLEASE TRY "BILLY QUON'S VOLCANO GRILL & MAI TAI BAR in Carmel Valley. Same owner. Same great food. If you go into the Valley and stop for a bite at the Volcano Grill say hi to Billy Quon Lee from travelgourmet. Billy is one of the best restaurateurs around.
At Bixby's the feature was Martinis and Kobe Beef Sliders at the bar. Where are you? The only Martini Bistro in town, in my opinion. Choose your favorite taste in food and Bixby just might have it. That's what is making this Bill Lee restaurant, the hot spot for dining in Carmel. Different strokes for different folks applies here. Great outside patio dining or inside the cozy main dining room or even at the modern bar, food is an experience at Bixby. The ambiance was in high gear with the mood lighting of the dramatic ceiling and the outstanding martini offerings by our expert swizzle stick martini bartendress, Lenor. The littlest items for palate pleasing are some of the best tastes as in the stuffed olive or bay shrimp cocktail offerings. Meat, chicken, fish, pasta, ribs and even enchiladas are part of the menu. How about a salad served in a large martini glass? Bixby has it and a whole lot more. Venture in for a lunch libation within the garden walkways of the Barnyard Shopping Complex. It makes the shopping in Carmel seem a lot easier and happier.

Favorite Dish: The Kobe Beef Sliders are a trio of seasoned Kobe beef mini burgers on house baked dill buns with onion jam, white cheddar, roma tomatoes, and a side of seasoned garlic fries. Combine this with a great martini, and the joint is jumping. As Bixby says on the tab, "Let's Get Stir'n & Shak'in".

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This Japanese seafood restaurant is owned and operated by Kenny Fukumoto. His specialties include seared ahi tuna, pan fried sea bass, sushi, and the huge cook-at-your-table vats of seafood or beef. Furthermore, the service here is some of the best I've ever had anywhere.

Four of us dined here, and despite reservations, we were stuck back in the far corner of the restaurant near the cool and breezy restroom and kitchen area. We had one of the Japanese-style semi-private booths with two tables behind a short wall, sharing a single opening for the wait staff. We started with beer and wine, then had a few of the tasty appetizers. Two of us had fish dishes (I wish I could remember what) and two of us shared the huge seafood stew that is prepared at the table. This was a big vat of a watery broth full of veggies over a propane fire, with a platter of raw seafood on the side, including clams, oysters, shrimp, scallops, a few pieces of fish, and more. You cooked the fish in the stew during the meal, making for a pretty authentic Asian experience (at least from what I remember in Korea!). Our desert was a green tea sundae, that was way better than it sounds! The total bill for the four of us, including a bottle of wine, was around $120--the prices are very good for Carmel, I guess average for the Monterey area.

Not the fanciest or most romantic place in Carmel, it has an older feel, with a cheaply constructed look. None-the-less, it is cozy and comfortable.

Open until 10 pm. Reservations are usually required.

We had waited to visit Flying Fish until there a special occasion as it's location made us assume it would be an expensive evening. We headed over on a friend's birthday and discovered a gem of a restaurant in Carmel.

The menu is quite extensive, focusing primarily on fresh seafood with an Asian twist (they call if California-Japanese style). We were pleased with the prices as well, about $25 a person including a shared appetizer and drink.

The ambiance is rustic and comfortable. We sat in a side booth where our group had plenty of privacy. The service was excellent and very efficient. The owner/manager came by to check on us and overall our experience was wonderful.

Favorite Dish: The Clay Pot for 2 was a fun and healthy meal. We had the seafood option which consisted of sea bass, salmon, calamari, prawns and scallops that were cooked fondue-style. The pot was filled with a simple broth, noodles, tofu and a variety of vegetables. The dish was served with 2 dipping sauces.

OK, so maybe this cant be classed as a restaurant but this really was one of the most pleasant meals we'd ever had. On Alan's insistence we headed for the famous Carmel Cheese House. It was wonderful - we were in cheese heaven (we both could never give up cheese!) The staff were incredibly knowledgable and helpful and after trying many cheeses we settled on a few between us. We also bought some fresh french bread, some salami, beer and headed off to the beach. We then spent all afternoon with our books, chilling out, eating our picnic and admiring this wonderful part of California. The icing on the cake for me was meeting a Gordon Setter having his walk on the beach and talking to his owner about our common interest - as well as putting the world to rights :)

Favorite Dish: cheese, cheese, cheese and more cheese!!!!

We were only in Carmel-by-the-Sea for a couple of days so had no chance of trying out all the eateries but where we did eat was well above the average. We had both our evening meals at the Hogs Breath Inn - previously owned by Clint Eastwood (I believe he still lives here and I can see why!) There is a lovely almost British style bar and a friendly, cosey restaurant with fires going and a wonderful courtyard. Set back from the main street it seems incredibly popular compared with some of the restaurants we passed on the way. I loved the food. It was good, old fashioned comfort food like steak, chops, ribs etc and there was a good selection of beer and wine.

Favorite Dish: The pork chops were to die for. Pork in the US is far better than anything we have here - oh, and the Potato gratin/dauphinoise. I'm not a great fan of anything cream coloured or with white sauce but this was a baptism of fire and I am now trying to recreate this dish at home - in fact I'm drooling thinking about this meal!

Katies was recommended by someone in Tiburon and I can see why it's so well known. Although the food can be a bit too much for us Brits the quality and selection was second to none. The kitchen is very busy and on full display so you can see whats going on. The service was exceptional.

Favorite Dish: We only ate the breakfast - the full american style breakfast with eggs, potatoes, bacon etc - it was the best!

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Hog's Breath Inn is a charming, cozy and unique location in central Carmel. Its tiny little alley opens into a neat red brick courtyard with 5 gas fires, perfect for cool nights. At the back of the courtyard is a rustic cabin that serves as the main bar, and the modern building along the street has plenty of indoor dining, the kitchen, and a little gift shop. Made famous because it was once owned by Clint Eastwood, the historic-looking cabin was built in about 1974.

Their menus are relatively small, simple, and bland with lunch options consisting of light dishes ranging from burgers & sandwiches to salads, crab cakes, & some seafood. Dinners are a little more extensive with items like ribs, salmon, pastas, steaks, & salads. For lunch I had the "Dirty Harry burger" with fries on a ciabatta roll for about $9.50 (plus $0.50 each for cheese or bacon). The bun was good, the fries excellent, and the veggie toppings fresh, but the meat was nothing special--unseasoned and a little overcooked. I also had a few Hog's Breath Pale Ales for about $5 each. On a later visit I had huge onion rings that were way overpriced at $10 for about 8 & the chicken quesadilla, packed with delicious meat, but also nearly $10.

Legend says that it was Eastwood's experience as owner of the Hog's Breath that encouraged him to run for mayor of Carmel. When the city's restrictions prohibited him from expanding the restaurant, he ran for mayor, won with 72% of the vote, and worked on changing the town's regulations to make them more flexible. Once his changes were made and his term was up, he declined to run again. The restaurant closed in 1999 for a few years until the site was leased in early 2002 to Kaiser Morcus, a successful restaurant owner and friend of Eastwood.

The Hog's Breath is now operated by a company called The Kaiser Group headquartered in Palm Springs. They run 5 other restaurants including a 2ndHog's Breath that opened in La Quinta, California, in 2004.

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I am updating this tip as I had the chance to go back to this place, when we last visited the area.
This experience was not as good as the first, but some things are still the same, such as the atmosphere, which is really great.

The place looks nice, all in wood, which I am used to coming form northern Europe and living in the Netherlands, but still very nice.

The service was extremely friendly and efficient and the food was very good. We had hamburgers and they were really juicy and tasteful.

They also serve dinner until 12.30 a.m., which was very nice as we arrived after 10.30.

We ate outside the second time and it was a beautiful, quiet day (not that Carmel seems to get very hectic, in any case, which is nice). However, this time service was a bit slow as the waitress only came out to see us every 10-15 minutes. We had the burgers again, but this time, I was not very satisfied as my was quite burned, so I had to ask for another one. I eventually got another one but even then it was a bit to dry for my taste.
In any case, the waitress apologized and was very friendly, so I will just assume it was a bad day.

I will probably eat there again if I go back, but for now, I have changed the satisfaction rating just a notch.

Favorite Dish: Great hamburgers.