One of the most happening places in San Diego is Old Del Mar along Pacific Coast Highway 101 at 15th Street, and the epicenter of the action is the Del Mar Plaza. Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café is located on the top floor of a plaza that bursts with posh boutiques, designer clothing, upscale jewelry, gallery art, and home furnishings. This bistro-style café provides one of the most affordable ocean-view dining experiences you’ll find in Old Del Mar. They are open for breakfast and lunch seven days a week.
Pacifica Breeze Café Ambiance
Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café is just what the name implies, a breezy, casual Pacific coastal café. Inside, the sea and sand color palate – turquoise, light ocean blue, cream, and taupe provides a tranquil and inviting ambiance. One end of the café is a bright and cheery eating area with four high-top and two low-top tables; there are fresh-cut flowers on every table. A marble counter, where patrons place their orders, separates the dining area from the open kitchen. A wall of glass doors opens onto the expansive patio where tables, umbrellas, and heat lamps define the restaurant’s primary dining area. It is a true outdoor café where cool ocean breezes compliment an epic coastal view.
Pacifica Breeze Café Food
The breakfast menu at Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café is simple with an emphasis on health conscious ingredients. Choices range from the Del Mar power breakfast – egg whites, salsa, tofu, and kale on a tortilla to house blended granola and Greek yogurt to an acai bowl. Classic choices include eggs benedict, breakfast burrito with chipotle-cheddar mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and guajillo tomato sauce, four styles of waffles, and the omelet of the day. The show-stealer on the breakfast menu is the sugar-spiced salmon hash with red potatoes, feta, green onions, cilantro, and mustard sauce, topped with two eggs any style. This is hands down the most talked about breakfast entrée.
Specialty sandwiches, soups, and salads dominate the lunch menu at Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café. The Thai chicken wrap is a diners’ favorite with grilled chicken, brown rice, mango, veggies, and peanut sauce. The mulligatawny with curry, chicken, and wild rice is a popular soup. Like breakfast, diners can’t get enough of the sugar-spiced salmon in any form. For lunch, it comes as a sandwich on a Mexican torta roll with red onion, arugula, and lemon-caper mayo. Sandwiches are served with yam chips or mixed green salad, and the consensus is to let your taste buds experience the yam chips. If you brought a light appetite to Breeze, half sandwiches with a cup of soup or side salad are also on the menu.
Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café has a full bar, but try out their specialties – local microbrews, mimosas, and their signature Bloody Marys. If imbibing in spirits isn’t your thing, you’ll be pleased to know the café also has a Cappuccino Happy Hour from lunch until close Monday through Friday.
Pacifica Breeze Café Details
Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café is open seven days a week from early morning to mid-afternoon. The restaurant is ADA accessible. Children are welcome, and although there isn’t a separate children’s menu, there are kid’s items and kid-friendly choices for both breakfast and lunch. Highchairs are available inside the café. Nearby street parking is hard to come by, but the restaurant validates for one hour of free parking in the plaza parking garage; bike parking is also available. Dogs are welcome on the expansive patio. If you like the morning news with your breakfast, they have a TV inside, and complimentary Wi-Fi is also available.
Place your order at the counter inside the café and take your number to your table. Your drinks will be called out similar to a coffee shop and you’ll go to the window between the outdoor patio and the open kitchen to pick them up yourself. A server will bring your food to your table when it’s ready. Napkins, condiments, water, and coffee are all self-serve. You’ll find most of what you need at a service station inside the café between the arched window and the TV; coffee and water are at the drink pick-up window.
Pacifica Breeze Café Neighborhood
The European-style Village of Del Mar runs from 9th to 15th Streets. You’ll find an eclectic mix of specialty boutiques, shops, and services in this quaint area. Start your day with breakfast on the ocean view deck of Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café, peruse the upscale shops of Del Mar Plaza, and make your way down the six-block stretch of historic Pacific Coast Highway 101 to 9th Street and back. If you’re all shopped out, you can walk a few blocks down 15th Street to Seagrove Park and the beach for a different kind of Del Mar experience.
Del Mar is home to the iconic seaside Del Mar racetrack that has been a neighborhood fixture since Bing Crosby welcomed the first guests on Opening Day in 1937. Now racing fans can double their pleasure with the addition of a 15-day elite Thoroughbred racing season in November, following the regular racing season that runs mid-July to September. A leisurely ocean view lunch will get you to the races by first post with a four-minute drive from restaurant to racetrack.
For great accommodations, consider L’Auberge Del Mar, a luxury boutique hotel conveniently located a block down 15th street from Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café, on your right. They offer 120 estate-style guest rooms; the partial ocean-view Coastal King Fireplace is a vacation favorite. Secret Garden Inn is a five-minute drive south on Coast Highway. Consistently rated among the top boutique inns in Del Mar, their five accommodations include Tuscan, Balinese, Mexican, and Oriental inspired rooms with en suites and private balconies, and a two-bedroom penthouse suite with an ocean-view patio, hot tub, and outdoor fireplace.
Check out the Del Mar Community and Visitor Center two blocks from Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Café on Coast Highway and 13th Street for walking maps, and information about area highlights and special events. There is always something fun going on “where the surf meets the turf, in Del Mar.”
