Zel’s Del Mar

I have enjoyed the «vegetarian burger» with white cheddar cheese several times. I think it is fabulous. The best in San Diego. Super flavor great house sauce and the buns are made fresh daily. Fries and salad fresh as well. I think Zel’s is fantastic and owner is a delightful host.

Was really looking forward to this place but came away disappointed. First the wine list didn’t have vintages listed which I had never seen before. But I will add they carried a Willamette Valley Pinot which was a plus because a lot of California restaurants don’t carry Oregon Pinot. The waiter didn’t seem to know a lot about the menu. We asked about the fish in the ceviche and he didn’t know what the fish was. This was on top of not knowing the vintage of the wines. This wasn’t a huge issue but this is «waiter 101» and your job depends on knowing the menu. We decided against the ceviche but it ended up coming out to us anyway and we sent sent back. My wife ordered the Greek salad which was good and I had the spinach salad. The spinach salad had so much dressing it killed it. I should have sent it back. The service continued to be poor as we finished our bottle of wine and not once were the four of us we asked if we wanted anything else to drink. Overall not a great experience. They did have live music and that was a plus.

Great ambience, food and service! The veg burger is surprisingly delish:) a The cute little patio setting is perfect place to relish that meal!

We had dinner at Zel’s in Del Mar on Memorial day at sunset.
The weather was perfect so we ate al Fresco. Two margaritas were a great start. We had a warm grilled chicken salad and a Del Mar beet salad. Both were excellent. Then we shared a shrimp and spinach flat bread pizza with parmesan and mozzarella and pesto. Also very good. The only mark down was we had to ask for bread with our salads. All in all the food, service and atmosphere were great.

Had dinner on the patio tonight. I had the chicken flatbread with truffle oil, arugula, asparagus, avocado, lemon sauce and fontina cheese. Outstanding! My husband thought his buffalo burger and fries were tasty too. Server was helpful and very friendly. If we lived here, we would be regulars.

ZEL’s = a cute little bar restaurant in Del Mar
–lovely outdoor patio seating and indoor seating
–fire pit outside =]
–delicious eats. my fave would be their Shrimp Florentine Flatbread Pizza!
–full bar. cocktails, beer, and wine etc.
–great seafood options
–good happy hour spot
–sweet service with friendly hostess and attentive server
–nice atmosphere and ambiance
Overall, 4 Stars. great menu, views, and good customer service.~

Recently starting coming here with our Frenchie puppy. Staff is very accommodating to dogs and gave him a Zel’s dog biscuit when we arrived. This is one of our favorite places in Del Mar

Had a nice meal on the patio with an old friend last night. We both had the «Old School Bar Burger» — mine was topped with a fried egg. LOTS of flavor! The hand cut fries were so-​so. Had a nice craft beer and ended the night with a glass of Blanton’s chosen from their «Whiskey Menu».

Still making great skinny margaritas! Usually there is music on Sundays but this week I guess the music man is on vaca… Had a girl slinging cocktails last night as she was very friendly AND knew how to mix a drink. The chix flatbread was incredible. Such a great mix of flavors. We also had a dozen fanny something oysters that were pretty great. Some were on the tiny side but still plump. Not too briny, but a bit of an ocean flavor still and nice. No complaints!

Thanx for dousing me in Ketchup. My pants, shirt, hair, eye, sun glasses all covered. I barely got an apology too. Don’t order the ceviche, the slimy consistency makes it inedible. I sent it back and nothing happened. Nothing was asked, or offered.
Cute little girls working out front but shouldn’t the adults be running the place?

Being a creature of habit, I always gravitate to the same restaurant while in Del Mar, always passing Zel’s. Thanks to my friend’s recommendation we opted to come to Zel’s for some end of the week cheer (bottoms up). I was very pleased to see Zel’s had a happy hour on a Friday. Often I see happy hours only Monday thru Thursday. While the happy hour prices cover anything made or served at the bar, I chose a nice, moderately priced Chardonnay (no oak fermentation) which was crisp and perfect for a warm late afternoon in Del Mar. A huge fan of mussels, oysters, and clams, I began with the mussels in a wonderful coconut milk broth; very different from the norm but delicious. I also took advantage of the $ 2 per oyster on the half shell which is perfect if you do not want to commit to a half dozen or more of oysters. The clams will have to wait for another visit. Lastly, the ceviche was very fresh and light. I could of ordered another one given a little more time with an order of clams. The staff is friendly and the ambiance is unpretentious. Needless to say, Zel’s has been added as one of my «go to» spots in Del Mar.

Happy hour 3 – 6.30 Mon-​Sat and all day Sunday. $ 12 burger n beer, $ 10 flatbread, $ 1 off draft, $ 2 off wine. Open mic on Sunday evening.

Good food, great drinks, and a terrific atmosphere. We love coming Zel’s. This time we brought the dogs, a good time was had by all.

Small but nice. Bar area has television. Gets crowded.

I had never even heard of this place until a friend recommended it. It is a little far from me but after checking out the menu and seeing they have happy hour from 3 – 10 on Sunday’s I wanted to check it out.
The ambiance is super casual and reminds me of a local bar/​restaurant. The bar area is kind of small with just a few small high top tables and the dinning area is also kind of small.
HH Menu:
Over all pretty good selection of food. We ordered a bunch to share for the table. $ 2 oysters (ordered a bunch), $ 6 ceviche (not the best but it was ok), $ 8 crispy mahi tacos (you get 2 and they are really good and pretty filling, just be aware they are a little spicy!), $ 5 hand cut fries (skinny and crispy), $ 10 flatbreads (several tasty options to choose from but we got the crispy prosciutto — absolutely delicious!) HH drinks are $ 2 off all glasses of wine, $ 1 off draft beer, and $ 4 well drinks.
I really liked that this bar has live music. That is one thing I haven’t really found a lot of. Overall this is a great place to relax, listen to some great live music, grab a bite to eat and have some drinks with friends.

What a great place for lunch! Such great service, welcoming patio seating, and a generous menu of all options. My girlfriend and I both ordered the goat cheese spinach salad with grilled shrimp and we split a gluten free arugula, asparagus, avocado pizza! So delish!

They have good food generally. I tried their bison burger and it was fine.
The view is also good, you can almost see the water but there is a shop in the way. Generally it is a relaxing environment and the service is nice.
I
would give it a higher rating, however, there really wasn’t anything in particular that was amazing about it. I’ve made food creations for myself that were much tastier and more satisfying for significantly less and have been mind blown by the quality or food, service, and environment of other places that were significantly cheaper recently.

The ambiance is 5 stars here, but the food is nothing extra special.
We had a reservation for 8 on a Saturday night, so we didn’t have to wait to get seated at all. However we did have a bit of trouble parking — but what can you expect in this area…
My boyfriend and I shared their fries and a chicken pesto flatbread pizza — definitely yummy and made for great midnight leftovers! I personally thought the fries were better than the pizza, but my opinion may have been skewed due to the extremely generous portion of fries. We also ordered a spinach, goatc heese, hazelnut and poached egg salad. It was a really good combo and I would have been happy just ordering that and the fries! The egg was perfectly poached and ran all over the spinach when we broke it open. I’ve never had a salad with a poached egg before, but now I’m interested in trying more of them!
They have a decent selection of drinks, and I ordered a lavendar martini. It was so pretty I hardly wanted to drink it! The rim was lined with lavendar sugar, and looked like something a fairy would drink. Tasted just as good as it looked, and it was perfect for me because it wasn’t too much liquid. They also have some good moscow mules if you like those, and a decent list of beers and wine.
Our party of 8 ate here without a glitch, and we all really enjoyed our experience. They have a live band at 8PM on weekends, and also a decent happy hour during weekdays! I would love to come back here with just my boyfriend, as it would make a great date night!

My friend and I walked in for a drink on a Saturday night after a pre-​wedding wine and cheese reception. We had a few glasses of champagne– there are two on the menu by the glass. I got the Cava, Spain one which was sweeter and I liked it. The other one was dryer. We had a few dozen oysters. They were fresh from Vancouver. Service was excellent. He place is a bit noisy but it is that kind of steady noisy where you can’t hear anyone else’s specific conversation. There was live music in the bar. I’d like to return and try the fool.

Nice lunch spot in Del Mar.
We noshed on the fish tacos and margherita flatbread. We drank the lavender martini and tangerine-​tini. Both were yummy!
Service was hit and miss — 1 girl played waitress and hostess for a half full restaurant.
(they don’t have ranch dressing, a blender or coconut)