Del Mar's Holiday Table Gets Smaller This Year

The sugar-spiced salmon has been on the menu at Pacifica Del Mar since its first night in 1989. That year the restaurant opened as one of the first tenants of the new Del Mar Plaza, at the corner of Camino Del Mar and 15th Street. It is still on the menu this fall, and December will be its last month.

Pacifica is not the only special-occasion room leaving this year. The newest restaurant on Camino Del Mar is built for a different kind of evening. So this year, more of Del Mar's larger gatherings will happen at a handful of dates you can book ahead and at one Sunday in the Village, and fewer will happen at the restaurants people booked by habit.

Two rooms that hosted the big occasions are closing or closed

According to The Coast News, Del Mar Plaza chose not to renew Pacifica's lease. Over nearly four decades the restaurant handled racetrack crowds, regular weeknight dinners at the bar, birthdays, anniversaries and wedding receptions. Some of its staff have been there more than 30 years. The restaurant announced the closure on May 15:

"Since opening in 1989, Pacifica Del Mar has been more than just a restaurant — it has been a gathering place, a tradition, and a part of the fabric of Del Mar and North County for nearly four decades."

Pacifica's casual sibling, Pacifica Breeze Cafe, closed in late April. Pacifica Del Mar has said December but hasn't given an exact last day. If you want a final dinner there, November and early December are the safe weeks.

The second room went dark in late September. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Market Restaurant and Sushi Lounge on Via de la Valle closed Sept. 21 for a remodel. Demolition has started, and the restaurant plans to reopen in spring 2027. Market has been in Del Mar for 20 years and has been recognized by the Michelin Guide. Founder and chef Carl Schroeder sold it in 2025 to Monica and Bernd Brust, who plan new interiors, more dining space and a new menu. For this holiday season, though, the building near El Camino Real is a construction site.

So between Thanksgiving and New Year's, one of Del Mar's longest-running celebration rooms is finishing up and a Michelin-recognized one is closed.

The newest room on Camino Del Mar is built for parties of four

Honor Bar opened in early August at 1404 Camino Del Mar. Hillstone Restaurant Group built it from scratch on the site of Bully's, which closed in 2017 after 48 years. Outside it looks like it has always been there: a red brick building, a sunken patio with yellow umbrellas and a vintage-style pole sign. The Union-Tribune's look inside spells out how it runs, and the details matter if you're planning a holiday dinner.

• Party size: The room is small and prefers parties of four or fewer.
• Reservations: None. You can call ahead to get on the wait list.
• Payment: Cashless.
• Dress: The front window says "Dress for the occasion," and the rules exclude sportswear, backwards hats and flip-flops.
• Hours and parking: Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Parking is under the building, through the alley off 13th Street.

The menu fits that format: deviled eggs, hand-rolled sushi, Osaka-style pressed sushi, the Honor Burger, a French dip, cedar plank salmon. The Kickstart, Honor Bar's take on a Bloody Mary, is poured only on weekends. It's a strong pick for a couple or a foursome on a December weeknight. A family of ten who arrived for Thanksgiving is better served elsewhere.

Two blocks up, Queenstown Del Mar opened May 21 at 1435 Camino Del Mar in the former WestBrew space. It serves New Zealand-influenced comfort food under owners Matt Baker and PJ Lamont, with chef Yohalmo Rosales running the menu. It takes reservations, and its New Year's Eve slots are already showing. Inside the Plaza, chef Clément Le Déoré's Desserts By Clément took over the old Paris en Rose space in Suite 304, and it's the newest stop for a pastry box to bring to someone else's table.

Where a holiday table can still be booked

The clearest holiday program in town is at L'Auberge Del Mar, and it's at Adelaide, not Kitchen 1540. The hotel's holiday schedule has these seatings:

Online booking for the Thanksgiving seatings goes up to parties of six, so for a larger group, call the hotel well before the week of. L'Auberge is also screening Seaside Cinema holiday movies outdoors on Dec. 12, 19 and 26 at 6 p.m. That works for an evening out with houseguests that doesn't need a dinner reservation at all.

Jake's Del Mar has Thanksgiving evening seatings at 5:45 and 6:45 p.m. For Dec. 31, Queenstown, Poseidon and Il Fornaio are taking New Year's Eve reservations. Ask each one about its holiday menu when you book.

December 6 is the day the whole Village gathers

If restaurant seats for big groups are scarce, the Del Mar Village Association's busiest day isn't. The association calls Winter Taste & Sip its most significant event of the year downtown, and it draws more than 2,000 guests. This year it falls on the same Sunday as North Pole By The Sea and the tree lighting, so one afternoon runs from lunch to dark.

Here is how Sunday, Dec. 6 goes:

1. 1 p.m. Winter Taste & Sip opens downtown with 15-plus tastes from local restaurants, 20-plus pours from regional wineries and breweries, and live music. It runs until 4 p.m.
2. 1 to 4 p.m. On 15th Street, Monarch Ocean Pub hosts a holiday VW bus photo stop next to a Rad Hatter party-hat craft table for kids. A few blocks away, St. Peter's Episcopal Church brings in real snow, free and open to the public.
3. 1 to 5 p.m. The Village Association and Del Mar Plaza set up Letters to Santa on the Plaza's ocean-view deck. Carolers and holiday characters walk the Village all afternoon.
4. 4 to 6 p.m. Hot chocolate and adult beverages go on sale at the Jim Watkins Amphitheater at L'Auberge Del Mar.
5. 5 p.m. The downtown tree is lit at the amphitheater.

Pacifica sits in the same Plaza where Letters to Santa happens, at the corner of 15th Street, where the photo stop sets up. Dec. 6 will probably be one of the last weekends Pacifica is open during the Village's biggest gathering, so families who want both should book that dinner well in advance.

The Plaza's new tenants come without opening dates

In June, the Plaza's property manager, Tamara Failla, told The Coast News that the Plaza had chosen "a new restaurant operator whose concept aligns with our goals for the future of Del Mar Plaza" and would announce it in the coming months. The Plaza's own announcements since then have covered the café space and not the Pacifica dining room.

The smaller space is further along but still undated. In August, Del Mar Plaza announced that La La Land Café, a specialty coffee and matcha café, signed a lease for the southwest mezzanine terrace where Pacifica Breeze Cafe used to be. Construction and opening dates haven't been set.

That leaves a gap after New Year's. Pacifica's replacement has no public name or opening date, Market is due back in spring 2027, and the Breeze space is waiting on a café with no opening date. For the next few months, the list of Del Mar rooms that can seat a large, booked, dressed-up dinner is two names shorter. Families planning Christmas Eve, a January birthday or a spring anniversary should make those reservations earlier than usual.

Holiday seasons often bring decisions about the house the family gathers in, as well as the table. If that's on your mind this winter, Kathleen Gelcich offers a private, senior-led conversation about what your Del Mar home is worth today. Request a private home valuation whenever the timing suits you.