Our great server, Maghan keeps us coming back week after week. She always has a great smile and is very friendly. After the first time she helps us she has always remembered or taste in food and drinks and has often suggest items that we would not have tried.
you are luck to have a great employee like her.
Mike Becj
I am a huge fan of this place. Â The food and drinks are great and reasonably priced. Â Enough cannot be said about the man candy bacon there. Â Simply amazing. Â We brought our family there yesterday, who were visiting from out of town. Â We had told our family all about Ignite and the man candy there. Â Ignite did not fail us. Â We had Patrick as our waiter. Â He was wonderful. Â We were a party of 8, with 4 kids. Â He handled the children wonderfully as they made their own pizzas, and made sure the adult drinks were always full! Â I highly recommend the happy hour also.
Review Source:My husband and I went to Ignite for our "date night" last Friday and had the best time! The outside patio was full due to the perfect weather and live D.J., so we settled on a nice table inside. And we're lucky we did! We were seated in Patrick's station, and the service couldn't have been better. He was very friendly and welcoming and immediately recommended some tasty specialty cocktails. He also mentioned the three specials of the evening, and I took his advice and tried the buffalo chicken sandwich, which was incredible. My husband chose the southwest burger, however wanted to substitute for chicken, and Patrick was very accommodating. Both our drinks and meals came out in a timely manner and were delicious. Overall, the atmosphere was fun and lively and the service was impeccable. All of the staff, from the hostesses, to our server, to the food runners were very friendly. We highly recommend Ignite for your next meal out!
Review Source:Endless mimosas, brick-oven pizza with a salad, and live music to boot? Â Count me in and bring your green hat! Â We are going streaking! Â Around the quad, thru the gymnasium! Â This place is close by, has great service, and is always running daily soecials to cater to the local atmosphere. Â I've only had the brunch and pizzas, but Kari was our server and was amazing! Â She attended to every need, refills and food was expedited efficiently, and her attitude topped it all off! Â Ill be back again, again, and again.....as long as endless mimosas never go away!!!
Review Source:This review is for happy hour only--I've never been here for a full brunch/lunch/dinner service but I work up the street so I've been a few times. We even did a work party here once with an appetizer buffet and it was awesome. The appetizers are delicious--I think I could exist off of the spinach artichoke dip. The pizza is good, and everyone seems to be a huge fan of the "man candy" (sweet bacon with pepper flakes). It's good for what it is but not really my thing. They have a good drink selection and of course, what modern girl can resist a cute drink in a mason jar? Thumbs up. My friend had a drink the other day that was lemon vodka and strawberries--amazing. Definitely getting that next time.
Review Source:We wanted a special place to celebrate my brothers graduation from UCSD and we found it at Ignite. Â They gave us a big table for our group with a great view overlooking the hillside from the window. Â Service was attentive and knowledgeable.
I had the shrimp fettuccini which was AWESOME and my wife had the Al Quatro Formaggi pizza, (that i ate the rest of the next day!!). Â Everyone loved their food and most importantly we had a great time for an important day. Â If you're in Carlsbad and North County, I would recommend you treat yourself by going there. Â Thanks Ignite for helping make it special!!
I've been here numerous times because it is close to home but unfortunately that is the only highlight. Â The food is never that great and on occasion, not fresh (beware of the guacamole). Â Wine prices are good, so that is a plus! Â Ignite needs to get its act together if I will continue to support them.
Review Source:I love this place but after my last visit I have to give this place no more than two stars. The food is amazing! The Man Candy bacon is out of control!! But the service? It's painful.
We recently brought the in-laws here while they were visiting from out of town. We were excited to introduce them to our favorite local restaurant and were sat immediately on the patio which was perfect. Our waitress (don't remember her name but a taller, blonde girl) stopped by to take our drink order and then quickly became distracted by the table next to her which were obvious friends of hers. Later i saw the manager chatting with the table, so i assume the guests were actually employees visiting on their day off. Regardless from that point on it was clear we had lost the attention of our waitress.
Drinks came back but only half of them had straws, she was obviously rushing or was once again distracted. She took our food order but when the entrees arrived they came out in segments. My burger became cold as I politely waited for the other three to receive their food. My father-in-law's burger arrived but it had up-sells on it which he did not order and was unable to scrape off (he absolutely cannot eat dairy and the waitress for some reason had added provolone to his order?) My mother-in-law's pizza seemed to be taking forever when the manager stopped by to explain that  her pizza had been brought to the wrong table and would need to be remade. (We actually watched it be presented to the table of employees next to us, go figure!) We tried to ignore the bad service and decided to carry on.
When the check was delivered to us at the end of the meal, we realized we were being charged for the pizza even though it did not come until ten minutes after everyone else's food. What? Obviously the manager was aware of the situation because he stopped by to smooth things over after chatting with the table next to us.
It wasn't necessarily about being charged for the food or not, it was more just the fact that we were eager to bring people here but were so embarrassed by the bad experience. This happened weeks ago but i was recently reminded of it this holiday weekend when i saw the in-laws again. They brought it up and I realized i still felt terrible about it. Tisk, tisk, Ignite. On the plus side, i recently found a candied bacon recipe online which means my reasoning for spending money at Ignite is quickly diminishing...
I'm not 100% certain what to think about Ignite. Â It's just too.... much. Â Too much blatant trendiness, too much of an attempt to be a wine bar, too many types of food... It's so much I'm not sure what unique thing I'm supposed to take away from the experience.
They offer a smattering of everything from fish tacos to pizza to calamari. Â Â The food is good but other places are better. Â Plus there really isn't a signature dish. Â They don't specialize in a particular type of food nor to they offer a dessert that will induce stage three diabetes.
They have wine but, surprisingly, this aspect of the restaurant (despite being called a wine spot) is not really emphasized. Â Yes, there is an area where you can pick wine. Â But it almost looks like it's wine on display rather than for shopping and drinking. Â You walk right by it more often than not and the servers rarely drop lines like, "would you care to head over and choose a wine to drink?" (I've been to this restaurant multiple times).
The location is large, sporting tons of indoor seating along with an outside patio and bar. Â If you wanted to hang out with friends and get a few drinks, this is probably the best feature about Ignite. Â But again, this is not something you couldn't find just about anywhere else. Â Right across the street are at least four equally good if not better dining experiences that also offer areas for the casual drinking experience.
So would I pitch a fit if I got invited here? Â Nah. Â It's not a bad experience. Â But would I go out of my way to eat here? Â Ehhh.....
I felt like my last review wasn't specific enough, so here's an update:
I was just here with 3 other people on Memorial Day. Â The place was dead but it still took the server at least 10 minutes to bring a drink when we ordered it. Â I tried the hummus appetizer - the hummus was bland and tasteless and the bread was tough and chewy. Â I shared a mushroom pizza with my boyfriend, which was also very bland and didn't have very many mushrooms on it. Â
I was going to suggest my boyfriend try the man candy that used to be a Yelp check-in freebie. Â But no, now they are offering 20% off with a good review. Â Wtf?! Â How about take the bad reviews to heart and improve instead of only offering a discount when someone says they like you? Â Seems kind of like buying friends. Â In my opinion, that's in poor taste.
I really hope this place can improve.
I've been to Ignite several times with my wife, all the previous visits were medicore and nothing to write home about.
This past visit was a great experience. Our waitress, Megan was extremely friendly, welcoming, and has a great personality.
We tried the ignite burger, chicken chop salad, and enzo pizza per her recommendation and all were fantastic. Â The other food seemed overpriced and my wife wished they had healthier options.
We will be back and we will ask for Megan.
Have tried this place a few times and it just seems to get worse.  The pizzas are dry and cardboard,  the chicken old and stale, tried a few salads and they were warm and uninspiring. and the service is also extremely slow .  We sat at a  patio table & the bartender who wanted to close down at 5pm on a sunday ? seemed especially annoyed, rude and hungover.  We ended up  going inside after hearing his rantings
but since it wasnt better, we made the right choice of leaving. Â I hope management can turn this place around. Â Its a great location and a beautiful patio. Â Find servers who appreciate the customers business.
I need to preface this review with a positive, I have been to Ignite for dinner before and had a GREAT experience. The food was delicious and the service was fantastic. However, when my boyfriend and I took my Mother and Grandmother in for Mother's Day Brunch this past weekend we were really disappointed.
The food selection was nice but a little limited - that would have been no problem if it had all been well prepared/served but there were some serious misses.
(1) Most of the fruit was unripe, tasteless or even worse, unripe and terribly sour (aside from the strawberries and grapes). The kiwi and starfruit were particularly bad.
(2) The gentleman in charge of slicing prime-rib for diners was too busy to serve me because he was being ordered around by several different staff members - who instead of speaking to him discretely by walking up to the bar area where he was working, were calling out to him from across the buffet area over the heads of diners trying to serve themselves.
(3) The exotic juice bar, great idea but poorly executed. All the juices were watered down and almost tasteless. I'm not sure if it was because our reservation was at 1:30 and perhaps they'd had ice in them earlier in the day and it had melted?
The seating arrangements also left a lot to be desired.
Tables were packed so tightly together people couldn't get around easily. The first table we were seated at was right between the buffet and the bar. It was a large round table, clearly brought in just for mother's day, with folding chairs. As soon as I sat down I had people coming from the buffet back to their seats squeezing between my chair and the bar behind it, shoving me into the table. There was no room on the other sides for anyone to walk by at all so they were funneled in my direction. It was just unacceptable.
When I politely asked for their help finding us a better table (instead of demanding one) the poor attitude received was surprising. The gentleman running the host stand (appeared to be a manager) was visibly annoyed by my request and made it clear I was inconveniencing him. I understand being busy or harried on a big holiday like Mother's Day, but they weren't busy while we were there and I didn't deserve to be shoved around throughout my meal just to avoid "bothering" him.
Our waitress (while very nice and initially attentive) went MIA at the end of our meal and we sat around waiting for our check for quite awhile. Once we did receive the check I had another surprise - the cost of the brunch was $5 more per person than I had been told over the phone earlier in the week. Again, the cost wasn't a problem but being blindsided by it was. I spent nearly $200 after food, beverages, tax and tip and would have had a better experience (for half the price) at a lesser establishment.
I will be back to try again, based on my first visit for dinner, but never again for a special occasion.
Brought my Mom and girlfriend here for Mothers day Brunch. Great food...live music. The food was good...good options...brick oven pizza...french toast..fish...fruit..eggs...all the goods...even endless bacon!! I left very full and content. My mom and girlfriend both loved the day...that is really all that matters...right?!?
Anyway...I would come back again.
Been here a few times in the past and really liked the atmosphere and vibe. Came here last weekend (party of 5) had been raving over the Moscow Mule drinks that came in the chilled copper mugs...I mean, that is what a Moscow Mule is all about! Â 4 of us ordered them and to our disappointment, they came in mason jars even though the description says otherwise.
2 of our party ordered the Bacon Mac and Cheese...honestly, they had to dissect it to find ANY bacon, which there did not even appear to be any. It didn't even have a smoky, bacon flavor. We mentioned to the waiter, he brought us two small portions of bacon to sprinkle in...problem solved but come on Ignite....really? Leaving bacon out of the Bacon Mac and Cheese?
Overall experience wasn't a complete disaster but might think again before choosing to come back.
Visited for lunch today (Tuesday) with the mister after deciding to try a new place. My work often has happy hours here, but we haven't been back since it was the Crazy Burro. Dropped in around 12:15 and was told by a server with curly black hair to sit wherever we liked. My husband joked, "Can we sit in the bathroom?" which was met with a good chuckle, and the response "I don't know how often I'd be able to check on you." We sat at a high table against a wall.
I'll keep this brief since I tend to go too much into detail, which ends up sounding like I'm picking on people, so I'll try not to do that even though I probably will because I'm an asshole.
Ordered the Lunch Specials: Any pizza with simple salad or Caesar salad for $10.
Snack for us: Chips w/ salsa and guacamole ($6)
Me: Enzo pizza with Caesar
Rob: Pepperoni pizza with blue chese simple salad
DAMN:
- 6 minutes after getting menus, server says "I forgot about you guys sitting over here in the corner." He brought our drinks and took aforementioned order.
- Never brought out the chips w/ salsa and guac. Must have forgotten.
- Rob got his salad with ranch, not blue cheese.
MEH:
- Server asked how salads were but didn't take our empty plates
- One side of my pizza crust was burnt and bitter (<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fs3-media4.ak.yelpcdn.com%2Fbphoto%2F-a2xnp1w76O5cpdzL1cmqQ%2Fl.jpg&s=aa43f14cc024b5777705a8c4af7054328ca648f0c64a12c461f7619ed88fe391" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://s3-media4.ak.yelp…</a>)**
- Caesar salad was tossed but had bigger chunks that were barely dressed
DUDITZ!:
- Server was smiling, polite and hospitable
- Pizza order was correct, came out in approx.10 mins. Good value and flavor
- "Simple salad" was more than simple (spring greens w/pear and nuts)
- The chips and guac they forgot was not on the bill.
I also received a check-in offer through the Yelp app for 20% my order... for showing the server that I'd left a good review -_-. Â Obviously that won't work on a mobile device because reviews always save as Drafts, so you will end up having to come back to use it...and if you wrote a good review. I think I'll just have to scroll down to the bottom of mine :)
**My work-around with the burnt crust: pick it off and spread some caramelized onion from the top of the pizza on it, eat like a cracker. Much better!
So I came here with several friends anticipating some amazing views and food judging from all the hype that surrounds this place. Unfortunately, I am left with severe disappointment as they were understaffed for the amount of people when I came here.
We were a group of 4 and 1) took advantage of the man candy offer 2) ordered a few pizzas which they are known for
The Man candy - aka spicy bacon that left an uncomfortable lingering flavor to my taste buds. U'll either love it or hate it
Pizzas:
Black and bleu - while description makes it sound tasty, I would beg to differ, some of the elements worked, some didn't, the arugula was withered and the horseradish sauce threw me off
Ignite - this was better, a true meat lovers pizza, the combo of all the ingredients really worked for this pizza. I was just disappointed about how charred it was under the pizza.
Mushroom - this was the group consensus favorite! It was great and didn't leave too much watery residual mess like a lot of mushroom pizzas have a tendency to do. It was a balance of everything good and savory. Definitely a favorite of the night.
Service wise, we were disappointed because we asked for drinks and didn't receive them til almost the middle of the meal. We asked for waters for the entire table and only one was brought. Her mind must've been somewhere else because we truly felt ignored, honestly.
I would return back to this place to try some other things but I will probably have my guard held high.
I just registered my 25th visit on the ignite bistro & wine spot club card (add to that at least a dozen pre-loyalty card visits and several when I just forgot the card), so maybe it's time to write a review. Despite those 40 or more visits, I haven't yet written a review because I haven't really had anything "review worthy" to say...Ignite is a solid 3-star, middle of the road, good place to go if you're in the neighborhood. Living right up the road in Aviara makes this a go-to, day-in and day-out place.
The best thing about Ignite - it's not La Costa Grill or Crazy Burro. Every place in this location prior to Ignite has failed because they just weren't very good. To be a good neighborhood place doesn't require great, but good is a prerequisite. Ignite is good - thus my 40 plus visits (I went to La Costa Grill and Crazy Burro 2 or 3 times each...no need to return). There's a good selection of craft beers, decent wines by the glass, and good enough food for eating while drinking - not dining, but good bar food.
Some big pluses - terrific happy hour deals, the wood-fired pizzas are very good, and if you want a bottle of wine, their retail price plus corkage approach is a comparative bargain.
One sort-of negative to mention, and perhaps the reason I decided to finally write a review after so many visits (sorry, Ignite, read my other reviews and you'll see that I don't use yelp to vent, but...) I checked in on Yelp and an offer for Free "Man Candy", sweet, spicy bacon appetizer, appeared on my Yelp screen. So I figured, why not? Over 40 visits and I had never tried it (perhaps too embarrassed to ask for "man candy"!). But I was told they no longer do that offer. No longer? Like, since two minutes ago when I checked in and the offer appeared? The very attentive, nice server said "I'll have the manager come by". Twenty minutes later I asked, "so, no go on the free offer?", to which she replied "didn't the manager come by?"...No, he/she had not seen fit to speak with a frequent patron looking to redeem an offer from Yelp that i received when checking in but somehow is "no longer valid". Bummer...for them, not me since that same nice, attentive server took care of it herself, and while the man candy tasted great, that little manager "experience/non-experience" left a bad taste in my mouth...after 40 plus visits. As they say in service businesses, "you're only as good as your last performance".
This place totally caught me by surprise, it's across from the Cinepolis center in La Costa and the vibe inside is oh so much more impressive than the view from the roadside. The general look of it driving by never prompted me to turn in, but our friends asked us to meet them there, and I'm so glad we did!
Slide on in for Happy Hour, or to watch a game (They had hockey on, yay, but they'll probably show March Madness, football, etc, whatever) You can get prime rib and taters for 13$ during HH, they've got drinks specials, a burger, and the woodfire pizza's on special too.
Our servers were super sweet, we had to flag her down a couple times but no biggie, and if you check in on Yelp you get free Man Candy! What's that, you ask? None of ya business, all for me. If you want it, go get it. The weekend brunch menu looks interesting, this might become a new football watching spot when the season starts up again.
The patio is appealing, I feel like for a wine night in the summer, it's a great joint.
I went to Ignite with my company for lunch. Â I've been here before, but in the past I didn't find the food that great despite the good service. Â Since the last time I was here, though, they've changed the menu and the food is a lot better!
We started with the fried asparagus and man candy, which is this sort of salty, sweet, sticky bacon with a lot of flavor. Not really my thing, but still pretty tasty. Â The fried asparagus is a must have: it's delicious, and it's asparagus, so it must be good for you, right?
During lunch, you can get a pizza and a small salad for $10, so I took that route and got the market greens with a mushroom pizza. Â The salad had grapes in it, which sounds weird but was actually delicious. The pizza crust was just right, and it was absolutely piled with toppings. Also, apparently they make the mozzarella themselves, which is awesome. Â
My only complaint is that the pizza I ordered came with garlic, which in this case meant whole cloves sprinkled here and there so I'd be eating and suddenly get a mouthful.
If you're in the area, go here!
If you want a superb dining experience, ask for Meghan. That girl is on IT. She's very attentive and you can tell she enjoys taking care of her table with impeccable service (even with two babies at our table). Â
We just dined out for the first time with our baby boy along with another couple and their peanut. What started as a 45 minute wait ended up a little longer on a Saturday night (imagine that) however the GM and waitress Belinda (cocktail server who is super nice) were on top of their game in taking our orders and fulfilling every need we had.
I love this restaurant and can understand with the leadership of the GM and the attentive waitstaff, the restaurant will continue to produce a great experience for many years to come.
I had a burger here during the lunch hour. The ignite burger comes with a lot of flavor. I also upgraded to the sweet potato fries. They were very good, nicely cooked and not too salty.
The server that day was friendly and attentive. He visited the table occasionally but was not disruptive.
The view out of the east windows was nice, but I kept wondering if I'd see some of the people in their little condos.
This place looks like it would be great for happy hour, early evening. I'll have to go back after work, soon.
Urgghh...so disappointed! Down two stars, you go...
Went here Saturday night with a group of friends for dinner. I was debating against the salmon or the BBQ ribs and ended up selecting the ribs based on the recommendation of our waiter. When I received my dinner, I was super bummed because the ribs were so dry, I couldn't even put a fork through it. The meat I managed to get off was as difficult to chew as leather. I poked around thinking it was a bad rib but turns out that the 6 or so ribs they put on my plate were all the same.
I really hate sending food back but the waiter was kind enough to bring me a garden salad instead. The wait was long for our food to come out initially so I did not want to wait for a second dish to be prepared - my friends would've definitely been done with their meals by then.
My two dinner dates thought their meals were ok but not the greatest. One ordered a burger with fries and the fries were totally cold. They also ordered a banana cream pie for dessert and the consistency of the custard was way too firm as if it was cooked at too high a temperature or not cooled properly. Â Such a shame...
I've been here several times with friends since my initial visit over the holidays and what I think it boils down to is this place is hit or miss. Some days, their service and food are great and days like this, they are really a let down. Â Probably won't be visiting again any time soon...it makes me wonder how long this place will last if they continue to be this inconsistent.
First, I have to point out that our server, Patrick, was phenomenal! He even brought us the soft serve ice cream label so we could check for soy because of my mom's allergy! Very friendly and attentive.
Man Candy: glazed, sweet and spicy bacon. Not just for the men, ladies!!! YUM YUM! Could eat this by the bucket full.
Ignite pizza: Delicious. I really liked the crust. Not so thick that its like I ordered a loaf of bread with some toppings on it and not so thin that the sauce and juices make a limp soggy mess! Just right. Light, flaky and delicious with tangy, sweet sauce and outstanding meat toppings.
S'mores: light the campfire! Served warm enough to be ooey gooey but not scorch your mouth hot. Very tasty.
Definitely give it go!!!
I would have never tried this place if it wasn't for me being a prize pig. Â I run the Road Runner Carlsbad Adventure Runs every month, and after getting an on point recommendation from someone, we started going to the after parties where your odds of winning various running stuff is much higher. Â The first one we went to was at Ignite, which we had never heard of, other than it was in the old Crazy Burro spot. Â We rolled in, sat at the pizza oven bar, and ordered an awesomely discounted pie with sausage and mushrooms. Â
The pizza here is fired in a wood fired oven, leading to a perfectly charred crust, which they make on premises. Â The quality of the artisan sausage was top notch as well. Â For a fairly staid configuration on the pizza, the flavors popped and led to a memorable pizza, which is tough in such a pizza saturated market. Â I'd even put Ignite's version up against Blue Ribbon's.
So why the 4 stars? Â I tried the burger on our last visit, and it's fine. Â It's a perfectly adequate, tasty, high end burger. Â But it's nothing special. Â Places like Neighborhood, Craftsman American Tavern, and 3rd Corner blow it away. Â It's not bad, but with the pizza being as good as it is here, why get the burger?
Ignite seems to always be crowded, and the bar is pretty hopping. Â I can see it being a big happy hour spot for all the Carlsbad business parks. Â It also has a very spacious front patio with tons of tables and it's own bar. Â
On top of it all, I won a pair of calf sleeves from the Adventure Race dudes. Â Prizes+pizza=happy David K.
Usually meet my family here for dinner or drinks & apps. I always check-in on foursquare for the man-candy appetizer. I drool just thinking about it!
Overall a great beer & wine selection, and good happy hour to boot!
The pizzas are all great but ours had spinach, mushrooms and goat cheese with carmelized onions...I may have substituted something to get it that way but it was easy to do and very delivilicious. I also highly recommend sitting by the windows overlooking the canyon, it lends a great view even at night =)
Hopeless! Absolutely hopeless, clueless, horrible. Disaster.
Here's the thing:
If a few team members fail to show up for the evening, should the restaurant manager  (a) scramble to make arrangements for alternates to ensure good service prevails? or (b) Ignore the problem and hope it goes away? Even if it takes a full hour for a party of 2 to receive their dinners, and then only when they threaten to walk out?
The duty manager tonight apparently selected answer (b). This is the wrong answer.
This was my road test before booking the office Xmas party (10 locals) - We will definitely not be going to Ignite.
Do you ever feel like you've just had way too much bacon in one day?? ME NEITHER! What are you, stupid? Stupid is as stupid does and stupid people think eating too much bacon can be bad. I constantly challenge myself, that's why I fill myself with high cholesterol foods till I can't get my fat arse off the couch, because my heart needs the workout. Luckily Ignite was up to the challenge in giving my heart a good run for it's money the other night.
I was out with one of my fellow gentlemen, we rolled up in our big wheels of course, dressed to the freaking nines, like sirs. We walk inside and give a couple humps to the air so everybody knows we mean business, take our seats at the bar, demand two Moscow Mules with an extra kick in the A$$ (Get it? cause when an a$$ and a horse make sweet love they make a mule). It was happy hour of course so I ordered a round a root beers for the bar in honor of it being Friday once again. I began to peruse the happy hour menu, until I came across the most intriguing thing since the "popping" section on Reddit (you know you want to look that sh*t up, just do it and thank me later), man candy.
What in the world could deserve such a sexy, testosterone enducing name such as man candy? Well how about a whiskey glass full of the unholy trinity of sweet, salty, and spicy all combined in to one heavenly, orgasm enducing, leg shakingly delight of a bacon strip? YES its freaking bacon, and you want it, you know you do, women love it and men want to be it! I wish I had a jacuzzi tub filled with this stuff so I could lie in it all day and read Twilight to it and then serenade it with some sexy tunes of Kenny G.
Yes the man candy was a true highlight of the evening, it still draws a tear to my eye that my mouth hasn't tasted the heavenly flavor of Ignite's Man Candy in a whole 8 hours. Oh how I weap :-(
That is all....
Yeah Ignite Carlsbad,
Come On Baby Light My Fire!!!
Came here a couple of times now and can't wait to come back again. Great food, Great Drinks, and Great People!
I really like the fact that they have a streamlined, all day/night, Â menu with most excellent deals on wine and cocktails.
There's plenty of parking and when you walk in you'll see the outdoor bar, big screen TV, and outside dining tables warmed by a fireplace and lanterns. Walk up to the host booth and choose where you want to sit. Inside there's another bar and several levels of dining areas. The window tables have a great view of the La Costa valley and, also, well, Â the Section 8 housing developments next door.
Drinks are reasonably priced with beer and wines by the glass hovering in the $4-7 range and premium cocktails around $10-11. I totally dug their "Dirty Blue" Martini with my favorite grey goose vodka, olive juice, blue cheese stuffed olives, YUM!
Even though their menu is tight, there's a brilliant selection of choices-
The Mussels+Fries were awwwwwsome. Fresh, mouth watering, and the fries were piping hot!
The Dip Trio was varied and had enough for 2-3 people to share as a starter.
Cheese Board, group hug, friends with cheese are friends indeed!
The main menu leaves many choices. You can do their yummy Ignite Burger for $12 or opt for the higher touch entrees. The Roasted 1/2 Free Range Chicken for $18 was succulent! Alaskan Halibut cooked brilliantly but the portion was a little small for a $25 entree.
As another reviewer said, the S'Mores for dessert are THE BOMB! I'm still adding another mile to my runs to work off the sheer deliciousness of the chocolate, cream, and warm gooey brownie.
Most of all, Ignite Carlsbad wins my...Da.Da.Da.Daaa... Yelp Award for The Best Damn Burger in San Diego North County. But, wait, it's not on their regular menu...! Psst, try their Brunch menu and look for their "Hangover Burger"! OMFG, it's sooooooo bloody good...Burger with American Cheese, Hash Browns, Bacon, and an Over Easy Egg! If you wanna be really evil, order it with Asparagus Fries and Hollandaise sauce!
You also gotta try their Machaca Breakfast Burrito with shaved prime rib.
Service on all our visits was awesome. They have a really fun, young staff here who really seem to love this place and totally know the menu!
The only things I would suggest are:
-Let people know that there will be live music playing in the indoor dining room on weekends and give them the option to dine outside just in case. Our "quiet" business meeting dinner was bombed out by a Daughtry wannabe and we had to move tables during the meal.
-Have a chef/sous chef inspect the plates before going out to make sure it's in line with the menu. During brunch our wings came out without being properly loaded with blue cheese and bacon, one dish was missing scrambled eggs, and BOTH our entrees were missing fruit.
All minor things that won't break the bank and will definitely keep us coming back for more to explore the nummy menu of this North County Bistro because...
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors."
~Jim Morrison
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The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
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Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
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