Iris Food and Spirits

We had a Saturday evening dinner at Iris. It was terrific. Our server, Joshua, was courteous and polite. We had wine and cocktails, salads and their «Chowdah.» My vodka on the rocks was a very generous pour. Our entrees were the swordfish special, the pork shank, the braised short rib stew and the Cioppino. All were excellent and the presentation was very good. The décor is about what you’d expect from an upscale dining establishment. The armrest chairs have casters and that makes them easy to maneuver. The tables are spaced apart far enough so that you don’t feel cramped. All in all it was a very enjoyable dining experience.

The servers are beyond compare!!! They go above and beyond to make your dining experience one to remember… we ended up here on accident… the outside didnt look like much but as soon as we were seated on the patio i know we made a great decision. Everything we ordered was outstanding! Our waitress had very extensive knowledge of all the wines and beers and after explaining to her what i like she said she had just the thing for me… i am not kidding when i say it was the best wine Ive ever had!!! I would recommend this place to anyone! The service alone is enough to make you want to return.

Iris always delivers great ambience, a delicious menu that changes with the seasons, and a friendly staff who are passionate to share their knowledge for the quality of food they serve as well as the extensive amount of special craft beers, wines, and spirits.

Loved this place! What a random location. So glad my friend recommended it. We started with the best clam chowder I’ve ever eaten with clams from Carlsbad!!! So so fresh! Then we ate the pork tostadas, warm Brie, Mac n cheese balls, cocktails, and the banana egg rolls for dessert! The outside patio was a little too cold (especially if you sit at the end of the patio near the secret exit and away from the heat lamps), but the service we received from Zac was exceptional! He (along with the hostess and food runner) were so friendly!

Very mellow place
Service is excellent and very nice selection of happy hour appetizers.
Patio offers a great sunset view of Torrey Pines, especially in the warmer evenings Spring and summer.

I come here frequently for work lunches. It’s not too crowded and parking is ample in the afternoon either in the lot out back or streets. The prices in my opinion are reasonable for the quality. Overall I think I food is pretty good. I tend to stay with the seafood salads or wraps and have always been pleased. The seafood salad with the sesame dressing is one of my favorites. The baked goat cheese is another crowd pleaser.
Over the years I’ve mostly come for lunch, but I have been for happy hour as well. They make a solid Manhattan, have a good wine list and entrees. Duck confit is a favorite.

Amazing place with an awesome view of the lagoon and the sky, The ambiance was great and the décor was beautiful… The menu was pretty extensive, but not too many options for vegetarians although their baked goat cheese is to die for. i must have passed by this place a million times but never gave it a try until a friend recommended it for lunch– Its a nice sit in place for lunch the food is very fresh and the service is friendly, you can for sure go there for a weekday lunch break and feel fantastic. I have not gotten a chance to try their drinks hence definitely going back ASAP…

Service is FANTASTIC, food is DELISHIOUS, ambiance is BEAUTIFUL & WELCOMING!
We ordered the chicken sandwhich with goat cheese and it was quality and really good and we had the fries chicken salad… also quality lettuce and great gorgolla dressing, bloody Mary’s were perfectly made!
We will be back ASAP!

We celebrated my husband’s thesis defense here for a 5:30pm dinner last night. Everything was perfect. The ambience was cozy and yet not stuffy. You can hear everyone around the table. The food was fresh and delightful. Everyone in our party of 14 had only something good to say about the meal. Our server was the best. Cocktails and wine were impressive too. Thanks Chef Tommy and friends. A perfect setting for celebrating your loved ones.

Just moved in up the street and was excited to try the new food places around. I loved Iris so much that we came back two nights in a row. Katie and Nick are awesome bartenders, very nice and helpful. What’s great about this place is I’ve met nice couples/​locals at the bar too. Both nights. Food and drinks were great. We actually tried the Lo Mein the first night (never would’ve ordered that) but Katie recommended and it was so good! Salmon was also good. Basil lemon bomb is the bomb! Excited to be a regular here!

Superb.
Large parking lot in the back of the restaurant. Fantastic sunset and lagoon view. Friendly, knowledgeable, and polite staff. Pleasant, comfortable décor. Spotless dinnerware.
The bottled beer selection is fantastic and has clearly been carefully curated. I ordered a Wandering Aengus Bloom Cider.
They offer a soft, buttery rosemary bread with salty butter for the table.
The menu has a wide variety of appetizers, salads, and entrees. My wife and I had the calamari to start which was perfectly fried and sliced into bite size portions. It is calamari strips not «rings and tentacles». We also ordered a blue crab cake salad which was the daily special salad. I asked that any onions for either dish either be left off or placed on the side (food intolerance). The crab cake was delicious as well and served on a bed of small slices of tart apple and assorted greens covered in a thin vinegrette. Here is where Iris took it our experience to a higher level — the crab cake salad was split (we did not ask for it to be) and a smaller portioned crab cake was made for each of us — what thoughtfulness, nobody does that. The waiter explained that chef Tommy likes patrons to have an individual dining experience. There were some onions that accompanied the dish, they came on the side for both plates. I decided to get a cup of their award winning clam chowdah to try it. It was made with sunburst clams from the Carlsbad aqua farm. It had a wonderful savory quality (lardons?) that complimented its New England style base, one of the best clam chowders I’ve ever had.
Dessert looked good but we were too full this trip.
My compliments to chef Tommy and his staff, thank you for the wonderful evening — we will definitely be back.

I’ve eaten here several times and the reason is simply that I like the relaxed, casually elegant atmosphere, very friendly service and the food is great.
The décor of the restaurant is very nice, but not in a stuffy way. Perhaps they owe this to the friendly attitude that lends itself so well to a relaxing meal, which is pretty much what I seek in nicer restaurants. Although you can’t see the actual ocean from the restaurant because the coast highway is slightly elevated and blocking the view, there’s a beautiful view of the estuary in Torrey Pines State Preserve. I enjoy watching the large birds (Herons & Egrets) while enjoying a nice meal.
The food is excellent. I’ve met the chef, Tommy, and he always does a great job, as does the rest of the staff. This place has grown to be one of my favorite places to dine in the San Diego area, although I’m afraid that I’m able to do so all too infrequently. It’s a great place to take a date.
The bar is great too. It gives one the option of sitting at the bar to await friends, or just to pop in for happy hour and an appetizer or something. Their happy hour offers 20% off anything and everything at the bar, so you’re not forced to settle for some cheap beer, wine or well liquor to participate in happy hour savings. They have a pretty good variety of beers and wines to choose from, although I haven’t tried that many because I have a tendency to stick to alternating between a few of my favorites.
I’ve also been there for lunch and found the menu more affordable (for those watching their pocketbook) and still very good. I’ve had their hamburger, fish tacos, BLT and other such standard sounding fare, but here they’re served with some more flavorful twists than in your regular bar & grill, and it works quite well. In summary, I really like this restaurant.

I needed to find a restaurant that’s half way between Carlsbad and Pacific Beach, so I came across Iris and we decided to go here for the night. 20 min from PB and 20 min from Carlsbad, perfect!
RSVP: they do take reservations, and I called the day of and they jotted down a party of 3 for me at 7:30! When we got there we were seated right away, but the table they gave us had no view and it was next to a wall. I would think they would have given us a better table since we made reservations…
Parking: they have a very small lot. We got lucky and found a spot, we saw others circling though. If there’s no spots in the tiny lot, you have to find street parking in the neighborhood.
Food: was amazing!!! We ordered alcoholic drinks, an appetizer, and each of us ordered an entrée.
— baked goat cheese
— sea bass
— pork shank
— ciopino (mixed seafood in a tomato broth)
Baked goat cheese was in a pesto with caramelized onions, soooo good! They need to give a few more pieces of bread for this on the side or something. We had more dip than bread. I ordered the ciopino and it was delicious! Pretty big portion, I took it home and had leftovers the following day. Loved the pieces of fish in it! Everyone else seemed to enjoy their food! Love this lil neighborhood restaurant!

Great twist to american faire. Had a little bit of a lot…
APPS:
Calamari sticks were excellent with a crispy panko crust.
Pan roasted brussel sprouts were good, not great but good. I’ve had better but was not disappointed at all.
Pan fried duck potstickers were great. Tons of flavor accentuated with the lemongrass dipping sauce.
Braised pork tostadas were probably my favorite apps. You get a portion of three with succulent pulled pork set on top crispy tortilas and buttermilk sauce.
ENTREE:
Pan Braised Sea Bass was incredible. Tons of flavor in every bite, fish was fresh and cooked to perfection. Served on a bed of herb roasted potatoes, leeks, capers, and red peppers. Crispy green beans were served on top of everything… Needless to say, I cleaned the plate and am very happy I did it.
DESSERT:
White chocolate banana egg roll was mind bendingly good. How can you not like a banana fried in an egg roll wrap?
Tres Leches Cake was on point. Hard to mess up this dessert and hard to make it stand out from all the others.
Chocolate pudding with whip cream topping ***drops the mic***

Food and beverages way over and above. Iris has an excellent selection of large bottle craft beers at $ 11 each.
Don’t know what else to say about the food except for SUPERB!!!
The only negative was the service. Waiter tried to rush us and we finally slowed him down. Then he disappeared. Couldn’t get a second beer. Tried to find him to get coffee after dinner no luck.
But even the poor service couldn’t deter from an excellent meal for all four of us.
Waiters tip reflected his lack of service.

I met a friend here for lunch on his recommendation. Their parking lot behind the restaurant was full, but I was able to find a spot out front on Carmel Valley and Rd.
The menu was pretty extensive, but I went with my first inclination, which was the BBQ pork sandwich. Before our sandwiches arrived, they brought out 2 warm loaves of rosemary bread. It was so good, it didn’t need anything added. We both ate the whole loaf.
I’ve never had a BBQ sandwich with avocado, but avocados are good on almost anything, so I figured why not? The caramelized onions were a nice addition as well. It all melded together perfectly with the generous portions of pork. The sauce was a bit sweet, but not overly so.
The steak fries were pretty good as well. I couldn’t quite finish all of them due to the size of the sandwich and the loaf of bread I already consumed, but I came pretty close.
It’s a bit on the pricey side, but considering where it’s located and the amount of quality food, it wasn’t bad at all. I’m giving a slight downgrade due to the slow service on our drink refills however.

We used to live nearby and this was our favorite place for dinner. We hadn’t been back to San Diego since we left 4 years ago, so we couldn’t wait to try it again. You know how you worry something won’t be as great as you remembered it to be? Well, this was even better. The menu is so great that we had a really hard time deciding what to have. I ended up getting the flatiron steak which was awesome and hubby had the special scallops wrapped in bacon and WOW! Drinks were perfect, appetizers to die for — especially the pork tostadas, do not miss those when you go. Service was excellent, prices cheap by local standards for fine dining.

The perfect place for good food and audible conversation.
I had never been here before. My boss took us to this little tucked away gem. The service was spot on and everything was delicious.
Strong (tasty) Manhattans.
My table manners went out the door over the baked goat cheese. It comes with a fresh pesto and whole baked garlic cloves that keep the vampires away. Everyone else was distracted by the duck potstickers.
I had the veggie lasagna entrée and it was really tasty. Lots of cheese, lots of sauce, lots and lots that carried over into breakfast the next day :)
The bartender surprised us with the perfect dessert concoction. Treats!

We’ve been driving by Iris for years and finally decided to try it out for a sunset dinner.
The service was really good: friendly, prompt, and they comp’d my husband’s soup that he didn’t like. The clam chowder was one of the best I’ve had in a while – the soup is not overly creamy, the balance of clams to potatoes is just right, and it had really good flavor! I will come back for that alone!
The baked goat cheese app has nice crispy crostini nestled on a plate of pesto, baked garlic, and cherry (?) compote, with the baked goat cheese in the center: really nice balance of contrasting flavors and textures.
My husband had the Brussels sprouts, which were slightly undercooked – he sent them back to be charred more, and our server was very polite and cheerful about it.
There were a couple of fish entrees I’d love to try next time – we just weren’t that hungry to justify a big entrée.

So… I’m not sure if I ordered the wrong thing or what but I’m really struggling to give Iris even three stars. Given that the other reviews are so favorable, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that had I ordered a different entrée, I may have enjoyed my meal more.
To start with the positive, the clam chowder is amazing! I’ve been to other restaurants who claim that their chowder is «award-​winning» but this chowder is truly divine! While I was surprised at first that the clams arrived still tucked into their shells, it proved to be quite handy. You see, I’m a bit strange when it comes to clam chowder as I love the broth but don’t eat the actual clams out of it. The shells kept the clams largely contained, which allowed me the freedom to enjoy the creamy broth without dodging clams.
My date ordered the Braised Pork Tostadas and he enjoyed them. The three tostadas would have been a meal on their own so he ate one and took the remaining two home for lunch.
We decided to split an entrée and after carefully reading through the menu, we chose the Grilled Prime Flat Iron Steak. Unfortunately, I wish we had decided upon a different dish as there was very little that I actually enjoyed about the plate. The steak was drowning in a mushroom demi-​glacé that overpowered the flavor of the meat. I believe that a good steak should have enough flavor on it’s own to not even need a sauce. I do admit that I had no idea what a demi-​glacé meant prior to ordering but had I known, I likely would have skipped this dish. The steak was accompanied with a side of gorgonzola-​parmesan au gratin potatoes, which I also found to be disappointing and flavorless. I’m a huge potato fan, love them in almost any way possible, and I could only eat a couple of bites.
The lunch menu looks promising and if I return, I’ll likely give it a try instead of dinner.