Best Restaurants for Groups in San Clemente

Visiting the area for the holidays. First time at Parlor Woodfire. Food was fantastic. Love the squash arancini. Pizza was fantastic. Great service. Atmosphere was wonderful. Will definately go back next time I'm in town.

Food was great as usual. Shared the pate, which was very good. Plenty of pate, grilled whole grain bread, variety of fruits, pickled red onion, pickled green onion slices(first time having this-it was slightly sweet & tasty), & jam. For my entree,I ordered my usual Gorgonzola & Granny Smith apple with grilled chicken. MUCH better than my last visit. My only complaint last visit was the lone thin slice of apple. That’s correct. ONE slice of apple. Perhaps the kitchen supervisor was new(?). Anyway, the salad was great. My friend had the rare grilled tuna sandwich. VERY good. My last visit, my MIL had the same & was also very pleased with her choice. We will continue to be regular patrons. The food & service are great. The brief tour of the garden/nursery is a nice distraction from LA traffic & the hustle of city life.

They were busy, however the hostess was able to keep up with check-ins and patrons paying their bills. We had a reservation and waited about 10 minutes for our table. Our server was kind and explained all that they had to offer. Food was delicious. I would go back!

The location high atop Dana Pt Harbor was breathtaking with all the Christmas decorations glowing in the dark night sky. The atmosphere was very nice because we ate out on the patio and the gas heaters kept us toasty. The restaurant was super busy but with our reservation we didn’t have a wait. The appetizer of calamari was delicious and different than we’ve ever had anywhere else. The main dishes were a bit disappointing in that the seafood a la mere of black linguini and seafood was disappointing in that the seafood appeared to have all been cooked prior to the order being placed … it was dry and overcooked. The salmon was slightly overdone. The chocolate lava cake is definitely worth ordering ahead of time … yummy!

We didn’t even know the place existed until we ordered several dinners thru Door Dash. We decided we had to go to the restaurant to see where it was and what was it like. We were pleasantly surprised. It’s located in the San Clemente Inn that in the 70s was where the Nixon support and news groups would stay. The decor of the restaurant hasn’t changed, and it’s neat to see the “retro” 70s surroundings. The service was excellent. I had the salmon and my wife the filet mignon. Both were excellent. The menu is limited but adequate, and they are working on expanding the wine selection. We were surprised that the restaurant was almost empty on Sunday night. That reflects the lack of publicity since we have lived in San Clemente for 35 years, and even if it has only been open for two years, we and our friends didn’t know it existed. Maybe consider it “ a diamond in the rough”. Great place and easy parking. Worth a try.