Haven — Restaurant in Encinitas

Bland and poorly prepared food that looked really good, and was priced like it should taste excellent. Local catch ($41) was mushy and tasted like it had been frozen, then defrosted a few times; not at all like the halibut that it was described as. The dry aged meatballs were ironically dry and overcooked. The marinara sauce with the meatballs was a watered down tomato paste--not at all savory like I was hoping. The bread in the meatballs was an extremely average, flavorless bread. The "garden" rice has a few pieces of chopped onions, a few peas and some snap pea ends in it--there was no substance to it beyond rice. The squash soup was excellent as was the cocktail. Manage your expectations if...

The staff and service staff was good. The chairs I thought we very uncomfortable as the base was just a blank of wood with no cushions. My wife enjoyed her lobster appetizer and her fish entree she enjoyed, as she did her bread pudding. My meal was quite different. My prawn appetizer had a coating I didn’t enjoy and my New York steak entree had about 20% gristle and was very tough to chew. The mash potatoes were very bland and the zucchini was not Al dente but more on the raw side. We both enjoyed the cocktails, but felt for the price of the meal, it should have...