Seventh & Dolores — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

A Disappointing Return to What Was Once a Favorite

I’ve visited Carmel-by-the-Sea every summer for the past 10 years, and dinner at 7th & Dolores has always been a highlight. This year, I brought friends and our children—excited to share a place I’ve always considered a staple. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to its past reputation.

Despite a warm greeting and a reservation for a window-side table, we were seated near the kitchen—loud music and traffic from the door made it hard to enjoy conversation. The kids enjoyed watching the kitchen, but the ambiance felt chaotic, not relaxed.

Service was slow, even though it was a quiet Monday night. My filet was fatty (surprising for this place), the mushrooms were overcooked, and my Caesar salad was forgotten altogether. Our server didn’t return until halfway through the meal and made no effort to fix the oversight—just removed it from the bill.

As a sommelier, I’ve always appreciated their wine program, but this time I was disappointed. The by-the-glass selection was limited, the Malbec tasted off, and the Cabernet Sauvignon was described as a “vendor blend that’s not great”—an odd way to talk about your own offerings. Several bottles we asked about weren’t available. If that’s the case, a printed update or a verbal note would be appreciated.

To wrap things up, when the bill came, he initially forgot to include the wine and had to return with a revised check after I handed him my card. I’ve received an industry discount here in the past ( as a sommelier)—likely because I’ve sat at the bar—but this time I was told they didn’t honor that anymore, which is completely fine, but his tone in explaining it was unnecessarily curt.

We skipped dessert due to the service delays but asked for a couple scoops of ice cream to go for the kids. Those were provided complimentary, which I appreciated. Still, with an automatic 20% gratuity included, I expected better service overall. This meal felt like a letdown—not just because of the hiccups, but because I had looked forward to sharing this spot with friends and building new memories here. Sadly, I won’t be returning next year.

There are many great dining experiences to be had in Carmel and Monterey, and while I won’t name alternatives out of respect for the staff and ownership, I encourage anyone looking for a special steakhouse experience to explore other options. Just my two cents, from a longtime fan who...

Based on reading many positive reviews, I made reservations to celebrate my husband’s 60th birthday with friends. We arrived on time and waited a while at the front for the staff to decide where to seat us, as one asked indoor or outdoor and the other proceeded to show us outdoor seating after we choose indoor seating. Not a single table was seated indoor and we walked outside and waited for the host to pull some chairs to an empty not ready for seating table with crumbs and no table cloths. The host handed the menus to us and said “there will be a 20% service charge automatically added yo your bill!” The waiter arrived and asked what alcoholic beverages he could bring us and appeared visibly disappointed when only one person ordered a beer. We asked what the evening specials were and he replied “I will go over those when I arrive at your table, I have to attend to my other table who were here before you and are enjoying their cocktails!” We waited for him to attend to his other table and when he finally made time for us his first words to my husband were, “I have bad news, we’re out of the beer you wanted!” So, we chose a bottle beer 20 minutes after arriving and finally he made time to introduce the specials. I ordered the French onion soup and the Ahi Tartar for my main dish. The waiter was again very visibly disturbed by my choices and this time he said” I must say, that’s an underwhelming order!!!” I was taken back by his response and asked if he could repeat what he said? He thought it over and said, “I just don’t think that’s enough food!!!” I was ready to walk out of the place, but tried to maintain my cool and not ruin my husband’s evening, but really should have walked out immediately and not put up with this waiter’s arrogance and disrespect. My French Onion Soup arrived it was not molting hot like it should be, but I kept quiet. My Ahi Tatar was smothered in too much sauce to enjoy, so I left it be. My husband chose the Surf & Turf, which came with a filet split in two, hash brown deep fried potato patty and two small again deep fried shrimps. Overall experience was horrendous on all fronts food and service and we couldn’t wait to get out of there soon enough. Having dined in many Michelin rated restaurants, I seriously question how this place made the cut. Super disappointed and will never return...

This was the worst experience of my entire vacation.

My husband and I had a reservation for 9pm. (Strike 1) The $50 deposit for a reservation raised a brow and was a turn-off but my hubby really wanted a great steak so we go for it. We arrived 5 minutes early and were told our table was being cleared so there would be a short wait. We head to the bar for a drink while we wait. We were informed by our sweet bar area waitress Rachel to be mindful of the auto added 20% gratuity. Auto gratuity is weird for a party of two… especially after paying a deposit but we are going with the flow.

(Strike 2) Twenty minutes later. We are still at the bar the table that was being cleared for is occupied by someone else and other people are walking in and being seated immediately. We get the attention of the hostess and she says that we never checked in so it’s our fault. Which isn’t true…. Our waitress had even gone over to check the status of our table.

We are finally seated and order immediately because we’d had time to study the menu while at the bar. Now let the wait begin….. our food was delivered to our table at 10:20pm. Great optimism sets in until we see our food.

(Strike 3) My duck was delicious but was barely the size of a lunch portion. And hubby’s steak was like cutting into a boot, but he did remark that the horseradish sauce was divine. We show the steak to our server and confirm it was ordered as medium. The offer to make another however it’s already 10:30 pm. We certainly don’t want to wait another hour. We request management and he agrees to take the steak off the bill. Great! Until the corrected bill comes back.

(Strike 4) they had left the auto 20% gratuity for the entire meal including the inedible dry steak. We brought that to the attention of our waiter who again summoned management who didn’t bother coming over a second time. Our waiter eventually came back and told us the meal was completely comped by the restaurant. Not what we wanted or expected but the right thing to do.

Overall, the aesthetics of Delores at 7th are gorgeous. But service is subpar at best and the food is inconsistent and first live up to the prices they...