The Carlsbad Village area has a good concentration of restaurants for a mid-size coastal city. The stretch along Grand Avenue and Carlsbad Boulevard draws both locals and visitors without feeling overwhelmingly tourist-oriented.
Campfire on Carlsbad Boulevard is probably the best-known destination restaurant in the city — an open-fire kitchen that turns out wood-smoke flavoured dishes with local produce, in a reclaimed-wood dining room that books weeks ahead on weekends. For Mexican food, Las Olas on Pacific Coast Highway is a longstanding local favourite with a patio overlooking the ocean; the fish tacos and margaritas are reliably good. For breakfast or lunch, the Honey Bee Creamery doubles as a coffee bar and the kind of place where regulars have their order memorised before they reach the counter.