The Landings at Carlsbad

Ordered a shrimp and crab burger. Dish arrived and midway through my burger I noticed that the shrimp was still raw in the patty. Very disappointed. The server was very apologetic and let me order something else. Ordered the bourbon burger and while good, eating it with 2 bottom buns was another disappointment. No attention to detail. The server was nice so I’m adding another star but will not be coming back here anytime soon.

This place has good variety but takes forever to get you food, minimum 30 minute wait after you order for a burger or salad? Not sure what they are doing in their kitchen.

My GF has been telling me about this place for a while now, so we decided to give it a try for an early dinner yesterday. What a nice place! It’s super clean inside, and our server Ashli couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful if she tried. I had the $ 100 burger and she had the jalapeño guacamole burger. both were cooked exactly as we requested, and the fries were hot and delicious. The menu is pretty extensive, so just about anyone will find something that makes them happy. It was cool to enjoy a meal and watch the planes take off and land. We’re looking forward to coming for breakfast soon.

Great place! You have to love a place where the restaurant owner, Michele, makes it a point to graciously and sincerely welcome you. This warmth shows up in the staff too.
We love bringing our Irish Wolfhound to Landings because she is treated just as graciously — the owner Michele loves dogs — so even the dog is enthusiastically greeted like she is a rock star. Top notch dog-​friendly restaurant with lots of outdoor space and of course they bring a water dish for the dog.
The menu is varied, tasty and inexpensive. We particularly love the happy hour because it is a particularly good deal.
I personally love the fish tacos. I wish i knew the secret to their sauce. Sadly I find it hard to choose other dishes.
I’ve also had a lot of business meetings at Landings — it’s busy but a nice place to do business at morning coffee, lunch or happy hour.
I serve on the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee (PAAC) and so it is nice to have a great restaurant right there in the airport. (Please attend our PAAC meetings, 3^rd Thursday most months usually at Carlsbad City Council Chambers — keep informed on your local airport!)
I also attend the Palomar Airport Association monthly meetings at Landings, 2^nd Thursday a month. This is a great group of mostly pilots. Encourage you to know this aviation community too.
By the way — the County helped free up more parking spots near Landings years ago so parking is rarely an issue.

It still surprises me when I come across a restaurant that’s been in existence that I haven’t heard of. Then add (to that surprise) that the restaurant, The Landings at Carlsbad, is located at an airport. Like, literally. I knew Carlsbad had her own private airport but who would have thought there’s an actual full service restaurant located on the premises. The Landings at Carlsbad serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week. It’s a stand alone restaurant that’s located inside McClellan-​Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, CA.
They have an outdoor patio that’s shaded and has views of the airplanes landing and taking off.
We ordered:
Avocado Spring Rolls $ 9:
— There are three fried spring rolls per order. They are packed with avocado, sundried tomatoes, and cilantro. These lovely rolls remind me so much of my beloved avocado eggrolls at The Cheesecake Factory except the version here at The Landings at Carlsbad has a sweet Thai dipping sauce (vs the sweet tamarind sauce at Cheesecake Factory). The fried spring rolls were crispy on the outside but wonderfully creamy on the inside with the warm avocado mix.
Traditional Cobb Salad $ 11:
— The cobb salad had chicken, avocado, hard boiled eggs, blue cheese, bacon, tomato, and onions. This was a beautifully presented hearty salad. You can choose your salad dressing. The chicken was well seasoned and grilled nicely. Everything about this salad tasted fresh.
French Dip $ 10.50:
— The order usually comes with fries/​salad/​cottage cheese/​coleslaw but you can upgrade to fried onion rings for $ 1.50 more. The sliced roast beef is topped with provolone (nicely melted as you can see up above) and crispy onion strings. The sandwich is served with horseradish and au jus. The roast beef could have been a bit more rare for my taste but it was a flavorful French Dip sandwich nonetheless. The french roll bread was nicely browned and served warm which was appreciated.
The patio seating is shaded and surprisingly quiet. I thought I’d hear planes taking off and landing every 12 minutes or so but no. There was minimal plane activity. I actually jumped out of my seat when I noticed a private plane taking off as I wanted to see the action. Service was attentive and I met the owner Michelle who was welcoming to all that day. I’d visit The Landings at Carlsbad again for the food as well as the laid back ambiance of the restaurant.

This is a great venue with the WORST service in Carlsbad. They are understaffed, and the manager on Friday evenings is so scattered and seems to have no idea how to efficiently run the place when they’re busy due to the scheduled live music. The food and prices aren’t bad, and the bands are fantastic, but they need to seriously step up the customer service. We’ve been here three times now, and have dealt with being ignored by servers each time. We come for the music ONLY. Everyone I’ve spoken to has the same complaint about the rotten service here. Hire more staff and get a new manager!

The food is pretty mediocre. The have a good happy hour which is from 5−7pm. They do have a nice patio. There are so few places to dine in South Carlsbad, so I guess I will return for that reason.

On my second visit, on a Friday afternoon with scheduled live music, I was prepared that they would be busy, but like many of the other reviews my main complaint is that the service is very poor. With a small/​medium sized group of six people during two and half hour visit, we could only get two drink orders in. The server was overwhelmed, and doing her best to serve everyone but clearly the management needs to ramp up the staffing to meet the demand especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
The Landings has great potential, very nice patio and atmosphere and great music on the night that we were there!

A perfect spot for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Enjoy the outside patio with friendly quick service. Enjoy local bands as you sip wine and visit with friends. Or, sit at the bar and make a few new friends.

Horrible service! Horrible food! Drinks cost more than the food!
Had a group meet for bday and listen to Custard Pie Band. Obviously mgmt has no clue how to schedule for large crowds. 1 bartender for whole restaurant. 1 waitress. Ordered gin and tonic… they gave me gin and soda… excuse was they had run out of tonic so i asked her to bring me a beer instead. When we got the bill the gin and soda was still on the bill! She said «oh, i brought you a beer instead.» YES… but you didn’t adjust the price! Totally inept.

Didnt want to go based on previous bad experiences that friends have had there. Had no choice. Our friends had us meet there for band event/​birthday celebration.
Nothing has changed. Don’t schedule band events if you cant be prepared for the crowd. Our waitress kept walking by and saying she couldn’t help right now when we tried to order drinks. They forgot to bring orders and drinks over and over and when the orders were wrong they still tried to charge us on the final bill.

This little restaurant has been on my list forever. In fairness, my expectations were low: this is a small airport diner after all.
But the food was darn good and the service was friendly and spot-​on. Plus, it’s a blast to watch the planes land and take-​off although the views are, sadly, not as good as they might be. You get to see the very end of the planes’ landing (boring) but you do get to see the point where most of them take off (cool). You just don’t have very much of a view of the runway.
My «Gourmet» burger was juicy and perfectly cooked. It might not have been ultra-​gourmet but it was definitely well above average. It could have used just a tad more salt but the blue cheese, bacon, onion strings, spinach leaves, and ciabatta bun made for a great meal. And hooray for the gourmet-​ish bun, one of the most overlooked components of a great burger.
The fries were plentiful and very nice. I also tried the side Caesar salad which was drenched in dressing but in a good, very unhealthy, yet delicious way.
I would happily return. Don’t ask me why but watching planes land and take off, with some good comfort food and maybe a cocktail, seems to put people in a good, relaxed mood.

Three stars due to having live music on the patio… otherwise two stars.
First visit expected it to be plain and simple. Although not large, the interior has nice décor with comfortable bar seats. Outdoor patio, with as many tables that they can squeeze in, has outdoor heaters.
Arrived during happy hour briefly greeted by a host later finding out is the owner. There were two seats remaining at the bar which we headed for.
The happy hour prices are standard — beer, wine, well. Choice of appetizer food was average (wondering how many are made from scratch in-​house). Two sandwiches off the regular menu didn’t meet expectations. Both were nail thin and lackless dressing. Served with choice of a few items The fries were greasy and limp; cole slaw the best of the few.
If you stick to the standard happy hour drinks, your tab will be reasonable. We had four cocktails and the tab was $ 52. The bartender, Jackie, is «excellent» she really knows how to make a drink and tend to a full house. At the same time, lacked any personal interaction since she had no other choice.
Michelle (the owner) constantly was busy with the staff. There is a GM and either he or the owner should spend time interacting with the guests — while the other with the staff. There was no feeling of happy to see you and hope to see you soon. Why then have a GM?
The outdoor patio was jamed due to a very popular band playing.
Other than happy hour and music, I wouldn’t make a special effort to return.

Great food but they are painfully slow here. Service is pretty clueless. We have been her 45 minutes and the waitress is just putting our order in… and when we got here the place was practically empty. I put myself through college waiting tables so I consider myself to be pretty tolerant when it comes to waiters in the weeds but this is ridiculous.

My family enjoys the outdoor patio for group breakfasts… But the food here has unfortunately been a little disappointing. On our first visit I got an omelet and had to send it back because a mess up with my order, and when it came back my food was drowning in oil. The staff was extremely helpful with everything… but their kindness has little to do with food quality. I ordered the avocado benedict on my second visit (figured I was safe with poached eggs) and I was left dissatisfied again. The eggs were extremely undercooked– even the white was raw. As with my first visit I could only eat the bread and fruit on the plate :(I’m not expecting a gourmet, three-​Michelin star worthy meal by any means, but edible would be nice.
If you enjoy the sun and watching the planes take off cruise this spot, but I’d suggest just grabbing a coffee and skipping the breakfast. You might have more luck with the lunch menu! Next time the family insists on coming back, I’ll stick to the mimosas :)

Great little spot and pretty much the only game in town if you’re waiting for a flight.
The restaurant was plenty spacious and almost as big as the airport itself and had a great outdoor area.
There were plenty of food options and the burger I got definitely hit the spot.

Lunch was great. It is wonderful to have a place to close by to the office to sit down and have a decent lunch that isn’t fast food.
I have had better and more welcoming service, the server seemed more friendly with those people who seemed like regulars then they did with us. But it wasn’t like we were ignored.
Over all this is not a place I would come to on a regular basis or on a weekend but I love it for the option of a work day lunch.

I would give it a fair 3 stars for sure… The food wasn’t AMAZING but I did eat a good 75% of it, so that’s saying something right?
The servers definitely seemed buddy-​buddy with the regulars, and not so much with anyone else… But they did take care of us as minimally expected. I have only been this one time, and I would love to try it again. It’s great for work lunch or maybe a quick after work happy hour… But I would not go out of my way to come here. (I work directly across the street).
The ambiance is casual and we felt it a bit too cold/​windy/​just not properly dressed to sit outside, but I imagine it’s much better out there! Love the look of the outside casual area. I could see drinking a beer and watching some planes.
But again… not going out of my way to come here. Food is average and so is the service. Prices are also OK. Nothing outrageous there. :)
Should you find yourself in the very near area and looking for a quick bite, it’s worth checking out!

Bottom Line: A convenient place for decent food and drinks in Central Carlsbad.
The Landings isn’t anything super fancy or exciting but it is convenient with good food, a variety of drinks and friendly service. I most often find myself here after work with friends. A lot of times we sit on the patio and even though we are far away from the dining room, our servers have always been attentive. Also attentive is the guy in charge of turning on the propane heaters. He’s great about getting us warmed up and the wait staff is great about getting us toasty.
The food here isn’t anything extraordinary or unique but it hits the spot if you want a sit down lunch or something to munch on while you quaff your drinks. Be sure to check out the Happy Hour specials on the back of the menu. They have lots of snacky bar foods that go great with your wine, beer or cocktail.
If you like live music, they have someone playing inside a few weeks a night.
As far as parking, there are spots up top for Landings customers but if you can’t get one of those spots, you have to park far away down the hill which isn’t ideal.

Do you remember Flo from the 1977 (Alice) show who was a waitress and did not espouse Nordstrom service but was all heart? Well welcome to the modern diner!
Service
This place is all dressed up with every bit of a place where «everybody knows your name» as I witnessed by the comfort in the regulars. If your new… well put a smile on your face and leave the snobbiness at the door… smile and leave a tip!
Food
I give this 5 stars only for the southwestern omelet (chorizo) and flour tortillas. I was surprised and complimented the cooks when I left. Also, watching the planes land and depart was pretty darn cool! The fountain coke was flat and pancake needs work (FYI the best pancake is served at Richies)
Kids
A pretty cool approach is they give you real markers to draw… their portion sizes are plenty as well.