Cafe Merlot

Adorable experience to go to the Winery and shops. I keep coming back with friends, by myself, or for networking events and love it! Especially when the flowers are in bloom. Café Merlot itself is cute and I had wonderful service there today (Devra was delightful!). From experiencing eating here before it really depends on what meal you order. When I was there with a big group some enjoyed it and others thought it was okay. The grilled salad I wasn’t thrilled with though the Tri tip special was amazing! If that was a regular on the menu I would come back just for that as I loved the sauce the chef created. Enjoy the experience.

Winter in SoCal you can grab a friend or in my case a sister and go wine tasting at Bernardo winery and grab a fantastic lunch on the patio at Café Merlot. From fresh local produce salads, to daily prepared soups, panini’s and a variety of other mouth watering items to choose from (even sinful desserts), there is something for everyone.

I wanted to do something new and fun with my mom so I bought us both a cooking class to Café Merlot. Neither of us had ever been and we didn’t really know what to expect but we both ended up having a great time!
Upon arrival they offered champagne and wine. They also had appetizers setup that you could help yourself to. All the appetizers were delicious and the champagne was exceptional.
They started by explaining the layout of the class and explained all the safety regulations we need to follow. And then they split us up into groups and we started cooking!
My mom and I got paired with a couple and we were to cook four dishes total. We started with bruschetta, and then made a salad, then we made chicken cacciatore, and lastly a lemon and caper alfredo pasta! And I can’t forget to mention the never ending pitures of sangria and red and white wine to accompany all the dishes!
We had a great experience and the chefs were there to answer all of our questions about the dishes we were cooking. We will definitely come back again for another clach! Such a great experience!

It’s a great place to hang with friends, located in the center of rancho bernardo. This petite winery offers a hang out area, wine tasting bar, and this lovely café.
During the holiday, they had special dishes, so I had a turkey pot pie as a main dish, my friend wisely chose their signature pasta dish. Turned out, the pasta maintains a good tasting quality, and the pot pie… I would have to say, there’s rooms for improvements. The soup is very loosened and light, I have tried pot pie all over the states; still, I prefer creamier base.
With that being said, I would still recommend people to come here. Their staffs are friendly and helpful. Their breakfast food is great, and you get to bake under the sun while sitting outside.

The waitress was very sweet and helpful. Sadly, the food was not good. I ordered tomato bisque soup, pastrami sandwich, pasta salad. The sandwich had way too much mustard. The bread was soggy as a result. The pasta salad had a weird texture and the flavor was not good. I only took a bite and left the rest. The soup was just OK. I don’t recommend this place. I won’t be back.

Taste– *
Service– **
Parking– *****
Ambiance– ***
I really want to love Café Merlot. I really love how the winery is set up, with lots of cute shops and tasting rooms in the area. It is very quaint and old school in a charming way, but the food is pretty terrible. Cold coffee, warm water, and weird menu items makes it hard to love. The cheese omelet was mostly cheese and no omelet. The sandwich I ordered was just plain weird. Overly sweet french toast with turkey, ham with a side of cranberry dipping sauce. It tasted even more weird than it sounded, but ironically I felt like it was one of the better options on the menu. Service is super slow just like the other reviews, and not overly friendly.

Went there because we got a deal through travelzoo. I was impressed that there was such a cute winery right in my backyard. Me and my family back for sure. The customer service was also really good and the monte cristo was delicious.

This place is average. I like their cheese platters and salads. There are limited options. Overall food was decent. I would go back if I was at the winery.

I have given them four tries to see if the service, food gets any better. It has not. The service is terrible even if there is hardly anyone there. The food is average at best.
The best part is after eating there, you can walk 40 feet and buy a glass of wine at the winery.

I have been here twice now and both experiences were less than mediocre.
Service: As we arrived, we were greeted by a sign that exclaimed: «wait to be seated», however there was no one at the podium to seat us. And so we waited… Minutes later, two confused ladies came outside and asked how many we were going to be and that we had pick of any table we wanted. My question is, why isn’t there a sign that says sit wherever you’d like (like most San Diego restaurants). Our waitress (same one both experiences) was very disoriented and unhelpful each time. After we ordered, my friend gave her back the menu and she was not pleased with how my friend folded the menu; so she proceeded to stand there, admonishing us, by taking her time to unfold it as if we were babies.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere is really nice and has an outdoor «brunchy» feel, but the amount of flies that swarmed our table was horrific. We haven’t even gotten our food and drink yet and the flies flocked our table. When the wine and food came, it got 20x worse. I understand that eating outside invites insects to the party, but before we got our food, they were everywhere. I am thinking they don’t clean their tablecloths properly and all of the sweet wine that has spilled over the years truly never left the table.
Food & Drink: The food was actually pretty good both times. First experience I had the lobster bisque which was pretty good, but could’ve used much more lobster. With the more recent dining experience, I had a shrimp sandwich, which was great. It had a lemon crème sauce that I enjoyed and the shrimps were of good quality. I was disappointed in the wine-​flavored dressing seeing as whoever made it never cooked out the alcohol, so my salad was alcoholic. We all got sangria, which I heard was good, but they must have cut the fruit with the same knife as the onions and bread, which left the wine tasting like… well, you guessed it: onions and bread.
The flies were disgusting and I have never experienced anything like it in my life and I eat outside a lot. My friend didn’t even eat her food because of the swarm.
So, I say all that to say, save your money, do a wine tasting if you must, but then go get some delicious food elsewhere. Rancho Bernardo has much better restaurant offerings than this place.

Enjoyed breakfast at Café Merlot this morning. The eggs were fresh and scrambled perfectly. The chicken strips were seasoned well and not dried out. The vegetables were delicious; bell pepper, spinach and tomato. They were not salty or greasy. I felt good all morning. I look forward to returning.

Had brunch here on Sunday with a few girlfriends and the food was just average. When we got there we initially had an outdoor table and though it was really nice outside they had a major fly problem! Our waitress was super nice and was able to get us a table inside. Inside they had a cooking class going on so that was slightly entertaining. For my breakfast I ordered the Cobb omelet which came with a side of fruit and potatoes. Overall it tasted just average. I had high hopes for it to be really good since the restaurant was super cute! I wouldn’t say my experience here was bad, it was just ok.

I went to Café Merlot & Bernardo Winery for the first time this weekend. This place is cute and quaint. I think it’s perfect for a day date
Let’s talk about the food at Café Merlot. There are few selections and price is on a higher side. We ordered Monte Cristo & Salmon (lox) with Bagel. My monte cristo was nice and delicious. The raspberry jam/​sauce on the side was not bad either. One of the better Monte Cristo I’ve had for sure. We also ordered Sangria… and let me say it was AMAZING!!! I wish they sell it in bottle because I would totally buy it!
Overall, not bad for a brunch date, once you are done eating just walk around and do some wine tasting and relax

Service is not up to par! We have dined here twice and both times we were constantly looking for our server any time we needed anything. Expect to spend 2 hours here. Also, be sure to ask about menu items… we seem to always get things on our plate that were not mentioned on the menu.
Food was good but nothing amazing. The brownie dessert was nothing but a square of chocolate cake with 2 tiny ice cream scoops. The winery environment is great so next time we will dine elsewhere or bring a snack and enjoy wine tasting instead.

«My Home away from home».
Beautiful ambiance and most enjoyable on a Sunday for brunch, with mimosas and Benedicts for breakfast … Or sangrias and a cheese and fruit platter for lunch
The Bella sandwich is to die for
And so it the smoked salmon Lox bagel
Famous for the lobster bisque soup and the baked apple strudel with caramel and ice cream.
A must try!

I have been holding back on this review for over a year and a half trying to give the Catering team at Café Merlot the benefit of the doubt — but, when I continued reading others reviews I see we had the same experience.
Toni, the catering manager was great during our wedding tasting. To sum up our wedding, I ended up asking her (Toni) if they switched chefs because the food served during our wedding was not the same food served at our tasting. The entire reason I chose Café Merlot (and the Winery) was because of the pumpkin soup I tasted (and yes, our wedding was in the same season as pumpkin season). What was served during cocktail hour was an awful cumin seasoned soup served in a shot glass w/​a grilled cheese sandwich sitting on the rim (Not even close, I was embarrassed).
To top it off, something so simple but what we thought was going to be great to combine our families was offering jasmine rice family style at each table (my family is Filipino and my husband’s is white). Jasmine rice is steamed white rice… what we were served was crunchy yellow rice with raisins? The rest of the food was okay, but that is not okay for a wedding. My wedding… a year and a half it still haunts me…
For paying over $ 12,000 in catering, go somewhere else.

This place is quaint and is perfect if you’re looking for a place to spend a lazy afternoon. The food was pricey and the service was a bit slow but the ambiance was cute and made me feel like I had no care in the world.
I came by with my bridal party to celebrate my engagement and we ordered a few appetizers to share. The bill was a little high considering we didn’t buy any wine but it was expected because this is the only café at the winery.
The food was delicious (I highly recommend the spinach and artichoke dip) but the service was pretty slow. We asked 2 different people for a to-​go box and 10 minutes later, we finally got one.
The outdoor patio was nice and very beautiful. I really enjoyed people watching and basking under the sun! I would definitely come back for the gorgeous scenery!

We had a party of about 30, and the service was horrible. My aunt and uncle waited 30 minutes just for water. My cousin ordered her daughter a cheese quesadilla and the server brought a grilled cheese instead. I ordered the chile relleno plate and received the Chile relleno burrito. WTF???
The water did not taste clean. The food was meh. My Chile relleno burrito was horrible. Was overcooked and tasted bad for the price of $ 17. What a joke. My dads soup was gross, he took one bite and did not eat anymore. The brushetta and pasta salad were okay. The cheese quesadilla from the kids menu was not good, and the grilled cheese looked very dry.
The outdoor seating was nice but the flies all over really killed it. It was hot outside and sitting in the sun with nothing but crappy tasting water was miserable.
Will not be coming back here. If I visit this winery again, I will eat at the coffee shop that serves coffee, smoothies, and sandwiches.

Travelzoo deal– $ 40 for breakfast for 2. Entrees, peach balsamic mimosas, cheese platter, and they send you home with a loaf of sourdough bread and a jar of Cabernet jam. Excellent deal, 3 of us shared it and it was perfect.
All the food was delicious, the potato side was cold but the mozzarella and cheddar omelette, Kahlua French toast and sausage were warm. Fresh local fruit and quality ingredients.
Ambiance was cute, the winery has a little shopping village you can wander around after breakfast. Truly a hidden gem in Rancho Bernardo.

I’m sad to give this place a poor rating, but rightfully so…
We came to Bernardo Winery for wine tasting and decided to have a snack at the neighboring restaurant. We arrived around 430p and no one was at the podium so I walked in. No one greeted me and I was confused as who actually worked there. Then a gentleman came up and I asked if they were still seating. He said yes and asked where I wanted to sit. We wanted to sit out in the patio and found a nice table for great people watching.
The patio is beautiful, but be mindful of all the flies! UGH, annoying. There were flies everywhere and it was hard to eat. Total bummer.
I ordered the lobster bisque and the fiancée ordered the spinach dip. The portions were good for these appys to be both over $ 10. My lobster bisque was too soupy, and had tons of onions and celery in it. Whatever it was, I had a lot of crunch. The soup was very blank and I swear I put a quarter of the salt shaker into my bisque. Pretty disappointing. I didn’t even finish the bowl.
The dip was watery. It came with some (cold) baguette bread to dip. Not very good.
The service was OK. Friendly for the most part. Perhaps we just ordered the wrong food items. Sadly, we were disappointed with what we ordered.