Campfire — Restaurant in Carlsbad

I waited almost one year to come to this place because I live too far south in San Diego and I'm so so so glad I finally came here!

Such amazing, amazing, amazing food and service and everything! Came here as a little bit of a celebration because my family was visiting from India and London and my husband and I also just bought a new house.

Ambiance was beautiful, silvers were all super sweet and service was extremely quick as well!

crudités (raw and charred spring vegetables + burrata miso) This was quite a surprise. Good amount of vegetables in here and that burrata on top was so perfect. Really creamy and went perfectly well with the veggies.

porridge bread (whole wheat & rye bread with sea salt butter) Not sure where the name of this comes from but the bread had a really funky shape. Crusty on the outside and saw from the inside. The butter that it came with was lovely and the bread butter combination was good.

broccoli ( with chermoula. lime. peanut) This was probably the best dish on the table! My brother who doesn't like vegetables as much said this was his favorite so this means a lot. Every one of the table loved it! Perfectly soft broccoli charred on the outside with just the right amount of char. It had a bit of a lemon. Something on the broccoli itself and crushed peanuts around it with a chermoula sauce on the bottom. Oh man! That sauce was freaking amazing!! I actually asked for extra of that sauce just to have all of the broccoli with it. What a beautiful beautiful dish. I wouldn't mind coming here just for this broccoli!

Wagyu Skewers Perfectly cooked and flavorful too!

¼ Chicken (charred. chili cocoa nib relish. yogurt. grilled eggplant) Super delicious dish. Chicken was perfectly softly cooked and fell off the bone. Delicious. It Had some grilled eggplant on the side, and some really bomb yogurt sauce! Such a freaking good sauce. Oh my gosh. The sauce for the chicken was so good. I asked for more of the sauce plain.

Smoked brisket (With coffee rub. polenta. pickled green tomato) Brother, order this dish. He thoroughly enjoyed it. Beef was perfectly cooked and had really good flavor as well. Only issue is that some parts of it had a decent amount of fat and he took some time to cut all that fat off. Polenta on the side was also yummy.

Cavatelli pasta (with braised lamb neck. black garlic. tomato. sunflower) I was a little skeptical when my husband was ordering the dish but man it was lovely! Perfectly cooked pasta and the black garlic sauce was amazing. Lamb didn't seem fatty at all and overall this dish had amazing flavor. Beautiful presentation as well

Server was so nice that they offered us free dessert for our celebration. When we couldn't pick between the s'mores and cheesecake, they offered us both! Cheesecake was really lovely. It had a distinct flavor to it that I can't quite pinpoint but super good. S'mores were also quite flavorful. The graham cracker and chocolate were very good quality. Only downside is that it was a bit hard to roast the marshmallows on top of the little heater they had. To quite a while so we just gave up and the marshmallow. It didn't get as soft as expected. Good flavor...

There are several criteria for a fantastic dinner, and Campfire knocks it out of the park on all of them. My wife and I celebrated our 24th anniversary there earlier this week. When we arrived about 6:05 for our 6:00 reservation, they took us to a very nice table, deep in the restaurant - with a special occasion card on the table hand signed by the entire staff. They do a great job with the decor, the whole ambiance has a very curated feeling of being a high end "glamping" dining experience. The menu arrangement is a but unorthodox, but they explain everything well, and it's nothing to be concerned about. We started with the cornbread and olives (two seperate dishes), both were outstanding. The cornbread really did feel like we were starting out meal with dessert - just so perfectly done. It paired perfectly with the smoked olives. How they infuse that much smoke into an olive that still has a firm pleasant bite to it, i have no idea. Then we moved on to the crudo. Just an explosion of flavors. The mains were a cheesy seafood dish for my wife, and I had the chicken. It's a full half chicken, and a hearty one. We shared the mains as we wanted to try different things, and both loved both dishes. Then came the dessert. We got the s'mores - actually just 1 order as we were so full. There is a surprise with how the s'mores are presented, that really would do better with one order per person, no matter how full you are. A single order can be managed by a couple that know each other very well, but you'll still want your own, trust me. So we've covered ambiance and food, that just leaves service. Our server was "Mags", (or maybe "Megs?" - i have a hearing problem - it could be either) --- anyway, we were informed ahead of time this was to be her last night of training. She is a fantastic server - would hope to get her again dining there. She helped us navigate the menu, handled requests for suggestions of "what goes with what" like a seasoned pro. We never would have known she was training if we hadn't been told. She was attention and pleasant. Super friendly, always felt like she could be at the table in just a few seconds if we needed someting, all without her being one of those that hovers. Her banter, and interaction is just perfect. Final thoughts: There are too many things I want to try, that there is no way I can wait for another "special occasion". The 2 items on the menu are still calling out to me are the dressed tomato starter, and the Kobe beef main. We'll be back --- hopefully we can remember to reqeust "Megs" as our server again. Final Final thoughts: This is priced at a "special occasion" type level. This isn't a "run out and get a bite" type place - it's a dining event. My wife and I have had the good luck to have been able to dine in a couple of Michelin Star restaurants. I would easily put campfire in that class/level of those experiences, from every aspect - the food, the ambiance and the service. It's not a tasting meny approach, which for the venu they have chosen is the right approach. Thank you to Megs for being a great server, and the entire staff for making our anniversay dinner...

The ribeye was other worldly, I think the ribeye is definitely the reason to come here, they put a great sear on it and it's cooked perfectly, it comes with divine chimichurri -- it's a real nice play on Colombian cuisine. You might even try to serve it with black beans, rice, and plantanos. My mouth waters just thinking about how amazing that steak was.

The chicken entree was good, skin was not crispy but it was done perfectly inside, they use their rub with teriyaki sauce, their rub seems to be in just about everything, I even had a cocktail with rub in it -- it seemed to be a pork rub but in good taste. I would try to crisp the skin up, drop the teriyaki, and maybe add a bunch of garlic and rosemary.

The experience is a bit like a gestation menu. Honestly, just between you me and the light post; get you a few cocktails just order the ribeye. Anyhow, to start, I had the olives, they way overdo it with aromatics, however, the olives were fine by themselves. Second, I moved onto the crudo, it was a nice touch, you can't to wrong with sashimi and it makes a nice hors d'oeuvre, it was well dressed and came with gooseberries, it was different but a very nice iteration. I also ordered the broccoli, I've never had broccoli done this way, it was so unique and delicious, I honestly lack the words to describe it, however, would definitely recommend trying it, also, the aioli that came as a dipping sauce for the broccoli was really good.

The desserts were very peculiar, I had the soft serve, it somewhat reminded me of a Chef John Paul copy cat in terms of the butterscotch and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that but there was far too little of it, the vanilla ice cream was nothing special, and the cocoa-nibs, if that's truly what they were, left a lot to be desired. I would think you wouldn't put anything waxy on something so cold, you won't be able to enjoy it. Lastly, what seemed like a gruyere cheese infused cheese cake. That was heavily smoked, with honeycomb on the side was different, though, it felt like a all grown up cheesecake with a fancy suit and tie, and a nice splash of cologne. It was definitely an handsome and adventurous dessert, although, sometimes, a well executed cheesecake with the cliche berry sauce and fresh berries, topped what's a little confectioners sugar is the way to go.

In closing; I'll have to come back to try the brisket. It's been quite a while since I've been to Austin and visited Terry Black or Aaron Franklin, if they can give me any semblance of either of these two geniuses, I will definitely have to put this campfire in my monthly...