Restaurants in San Marcos

French Market Grille, a charming sister restaurant to downtown San Diego's Hexagone, celebrates the rich culinary heritage of France with an elegant spread of braised meats, local market vegetables, Mediterranean seafood, and tasty French and Californian wines. The impressive bill of fare treats guests to bistro lunches of salad niçoise and eggplant sandwiches, dinners of roasted rack of lamb and coq au vin, and desserts of crème brulée and apple tarte tatin. It also delights with its bouillabaisse—a fish stew that the San Diego Union Tribune once called “too perfect to pass up.”

Guests sip Beaujolais amid the flowers and sunshine of the brick-walled patio or curl up to the interior's crackling fireplace for a romantic dinner date or even more romantic business lunch.

After a quarter-century of pizza-smithing, the kitchen at Papa Toni's Pizza still crafts tasty pies out of freshly baked dough, creamy italian cheeses, and savory meats and sauces. Diners sink their teeth into specialty pies such as the all-meat Tutta Carne or the california spinach-covered Popeye, or take their cheese-covered fate into their own hands and create their own pie with 20 different toppings and a choice of flavored hammers to use on the pizza anvil. Classic pastas, subs, and calzones provide alternatives to a nonstop diet of pizza, while treats such as fresh, cherry-topped cannoli top off meals.

A long red awning ushers diners into Cafe Elysa's crimson interior, where the kitchen staff crafts a lineup of fresh-made breakfast fare from a menu artfully written in chalk on blackboards. House-made baguettes teem with fillings such as ham and brie or roast beef and grilled onions, and made-from-scratch pastries are preserved beneath glass. The griddle sears slices of french toast and stacks of pancakes to be slathered with syrup or locally grown fruit, rather than fruit manufactured by non-union factories. Outdoors, diners enjoy meals around the fire pits as occasional live music plays on the dog-friendly patio.

Harbor views are typically hard to come by in December, when restaurants pack up their patios and move their business indoors. Thankfully, Dominic’s at the Harbor has perfected an alternative. From the Italian eatery’s heated patio, diners can watch sunlight glint off the water regardless of the season. The smell of salt that lingers on the outdoor breeze complements seafood entrees such as shrimp and mahi mahi sautéed with garlic and wine. If that sounds like too much ocean for you, try a thin-crust margarita pizza topped with fresh basil and sliced tomatoes or a white pizza with three cheeses and a drizzle of olive oil. Diners can round out any meal with a bottle of vintage cabernet sauvignon or a tall boot of chardonnay from the D’Vino wine bar, located within the restaurant.