A classy, local hangout, part wine-bar, part eatery, and a cool social scene. Consistantly good food, great wine selection and knowledgable staff. Can get busy at times, which may account for some service related issues seen here, but hey, relax and enjoy the European way of not having to be in and out of somewhere in 60 minutes! Great atmosphere and energy. Good for groups or on your own, you can usually find good conversation at the bar. Tucked away a bit, but well worth the effort in seeking out. Lack of 5th star is related to some pricing issues for certain menu items (as others mentioned), but it is in a high rent district. Enjoy!! read more

Cute place, great food, delicious wine but I couldn't give it 5 stars because the service is not 5 stars. Service isn't horrible but for the prices, it could be stepped up a bit. Everything that was ordered in our party was awesome. The fresh local organic veggies were amazing and top notch. I don't think that I have ever been so excited to eat arugula! To top off dinner we ordered this caramel/butterscotch creme thing for dessert and it was AWESOME! Best dessert I have had in a long time. read more

Had a blind date last night. Ian was our waiter and he handled it beautifully. We split the Monday special,a ribeye burger. Super fantastic! read more

Besides providing primo treatment to their customers, serving outstanding food, and having a wide variety of wines (especially old world; my personal fave!), the main seduction that keeps me coming back for more, is the positive energy exuded as you walk through their door. See for yourself! Bon appetito! read more

Dolce - Just feel the LOVE at this warm and cozy restaurant with the awesomeness of Jan and Juliet at your service! - Italian Near Me - Rancho Santa Fe, California

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This is really a hidden gem. It's can be like a home away from home if you frequent it enough. There is a beautiful outdoor fireplace and excellent staff that are very knowledgeable and friendly. The food is AMAZING... excellent Angry Chicken, Lasagna, the best ever Cioppino, and the nicest kitchen staff ever. read more

Great restaurant, with great customer service. I love going there every weekend with my friends and family. The staff there is beyond nice and their food is to die for!! If anyone is ever around Dolce you need to stop by!! read more

So last night we had dinner with very dear friends at Dolce. We've been here several times before when ever we come to visit. We can plan on coming here at least twice during our visits but will reconsider this choice in the future unless one thing changes. As much as I do not like to post negative reviews, I find that this is necessary and well deserved. Our server was Phillip, who was rude beyond belief to my friend when he questioned why he had not received his drink order at least 10 minutes after being ask by Phillip if he would like a glass of wine. The restaurant was not slammed and when my friend received his entree and still no drink, he left his seat to ask the bar for his drink. Phillip noticed that he was at the bar and said that he would get it immediately which still took about two more minutes to receive. Once Phillip brought the drink, he made a smart ass remark about pouring the wine out for the "Gentleman". Both my wife and I immediately took it as a slight because my friend had been so bold as to actually ask where his drink was when everyone else had their drinks and entree while he was still waiting for his drink. It took a while to calm things down at the table but we were told that there had been a previous incident with this server a few weeks ago. My friends did speak to Steve, the owner, as we left the restaurant but in the future, we will call for reservations and ask specifically if Phillip is working. If he is, then we will choose one of the other fine restaurants in the area who have excellent servers who truly appreciate their guest and their desires to have a fine dinning experience. Tonight was far from fine. The food was very good and the presentation was pleasant but to have a server get flippant with a guest is beyond acceptable. Regardless of the circumstances, the customer is always right and in this case, my friend was not out of line in his request. I had considered showing our displeasure with the night by not leaving a TIP but that would have adversely affected the other workers who depend on the splitting up of the tip for their income. But I did tip the minimum in an effort to be fair to his fellow coworkers. But had it been a tip for Phillip only, he would have received one cent for his efforts. read more

Delicious food...(heck they can even make brussel sprouts AMAZING!) Amazing cocktails, friendly staff , extensive wine list, fun environment. This is our go-to place for a nice afternoon or evening! read more

Great food and wine list is not enough. Management needs to work on their table side manners. Rude, unhelpful. Bartenders were great, but we never got a table at a near empty restaurant and management could care less. read more

We went for brunch and they didn't have any pasta since "they only serve those at night". We were starving and it took them nearly 30 minutes to make our lunch but the place had maybe only 3 other tables filled. They didn't bring us any bread or anything. We didn't order wine or cocktails it being the middle of the day and my wife wanting to stick to her diet. Despite the modest items we ordered for lunch and not ordering drinks we were shocked by how high the bill was. It was at least 25% more than anything else around in the same category. Maybe dinner is better but Sunday brunch is pretty lame here. The eggs benedict with steak is reasonably tasty but nothing I couldn't have made at home. I hope they work on the menu a bit since the atmosphere here is nice. read more

This nice restaurant / Wine Bar is located in a shopping center on the south side of Rancho Santa Fe. It features a wine store and restaurant, it also has a full bar. It is well appointed, comfortable furniture and a great place to meet people. It's not cheap ! Most of the wine list is bottles $100+ You won't find and value wine here ! We enjoyed a bottle of Dry Creek Zinfandel ($57). The food is wonderful, it features local produce from Chino Farms and the chef does a great job ! The menu is however somewhat limited, the food prices are reasonable. I enjoyed bacon wrapped pork tenderlion that was done perfectly and the plating looked great. My companion had flatbreads, this is a thin crust pizza in a wood fired oven. The ambiace is nice although just a bit loud. They also have a very nice patio looking over Ranch properties. read more

This review is about drinking rather than eating! Had a wonderful birthday at Dolce's champagne tasting event. They do ongoing really fun/cool events that are in addition to the wonderful restaurant. As you walk in your are struck by the warm inviting interior and decorating. Its like how you wish your villa in France looked like that you visit on the weekend! I love the seating in the restaurant and the colors and textures. just beautiful. Bar is gorgeous too and BIG, plenty of room to rub elbows with the RSF elite! The outdoor patio is also very nice and overlooking Jenny Craigs horse farm. Haven't eaten there yet, only had cocktails but menu was impressive but expensive. Love the open kitchen and seeing the action going on. Once again a shocking find in a strip mall, but of course, its a strip mall in Rancho Santa Fe so I guess its not surprise how elegant it is! Look forward to going back to eat and a great place to just drop in for a glass of wine or cocktail, bar is gorgeous. read more

super good food, wine, service, and ambiance. We went with a party of six and four of us showed up about 45 minutes late (fashionably late) while two friends held strong at the bar ... our table was there and waiting for us which was greatly appreciated. The wine was an 07 Napa Cab ... Slingshot ... and was a fantastic value, can't remember the price per bottle BUT for a part of six to have had two bottles of red, one bottle of white, three flatbreads, one meat and cheese platter, one order of bone marrow (TO DIE FOR BTW), a beat salad, and a beef carpaccio ad pay $110.00 a couple ... I felt the whole experience was great. My wife loved it and my friends loved it ... I loved it. Will def. go back. read more

The location is fabulous ... Third Corner was the only option until now for those of us who like wine bars that carry a great wine selection (unlike Wine Squeals) at decent prices (unlike the local RSF restaurants) . The food here is very good (flatbreads) to exceptional (the burratta/ pesto/roasted tomato app). I agree with the other yelpers that its' the soups and anti pasti that really rock. The panini would be much better if they switched out the white bread they currently use for foccacia and ciabatta. But the atmosphere is great, the wine selection very good and as long as Chris keeps adding to the menu, or at least always putting on specials, we'll be regulars there, for sure! read more

Great ambiance, eclectic menu and wine list with a warm and inviting staff. The nontraditional setting of this neighborhood restaurant welcomes you when you walk in the door with art, wonderful lighting and the chef wanting to please you. Menu changes often with local grown produce and chef's ideas. Great sharing portion sizes so you try several items. The porcini sausage pizza was delic! Looking forward to next time. read more

Great location in the heart of RSF. Small restaurant with Tuscon setting. Great food and wine selection. The bar is a perfect place to gather and cocktail with friends. The place is pretty boomy when it gets busy so probably not the spot if you are looking to have quiet conversation. read more

The food was delicious! The staff were very attentive, knowledgable about the food and wine, and friendly! Great atmosphere. Thank you Chef Jon and my waitress Jan for a pleasurable experience!!! read more

Perfect food. Perfect venue. Perfect service . We will return again and again!! May I suggest the short ribs flatbread??? Amaaaaaazing!!! read more

Their flatbread pizza is BOMB and their caprese salad was perfect. Service was perfect and wasn't too overwhelming, plus the seating was comfortable and relaxing. I love this place, I just wish I lived closer to this restaurant so I can come here often read more

I'm extremely fortunate to have just experienced Dolce Pane Vino at a catered work get together at the CEO's house. Met Dolce's executive chef in person, very personable and humble. Wow! Wow and more Wow! His food creations are a work of art. The cedar plank salmon is to die for and the smoked-salmon bruschetta appetizers are my favorite... I even took two to go and they were eaten before I made it home, I couldn't resist, the food is that good! I am eager to go to the restaurant now and recommend it to all I know. read more

We had dinner here last night and were very disappointed. The two glasses of Chardonnay we ordered were warm, when we told our server she did nothing except bring us ice to put in our wine. I ordered a glass of red wine with dinner and it too was warm (warmer than room temp). This time I sent it back, the server came back with a new glass at the proper temp, not sure why she didn't do that with the Chardonnay. The tomatoes in the caprese salad were mushy and both the burrata and tomatoes were warm. The sausage and pepper pizza barely had any sausage, two slices had no sausage on them at all and the crust in the center of the pizza was soggy. When you are spending close to $100 on a meal these things should not be happening. Very disappointing all the way around. read more

This place is all about the wine. Great location in Rancho Santa Fe with a small wine bar. They have communal tables which I thought was weird, but they're really wide tables and you don't even notice your guests. They arrange it really well on the seating, and we were able to see the fixings in the kitchen. We sat inside and are glad we did. The atmosphere is much more fun inside. It's lively without being noisy. The crowd is much older, richer RSF crowd. We went on Friday night at 6:30. Corkage fee is $25. Really good selection of wine at normal prices - not too expensive, but not happy hour prices either. Many people commented on small size plates. This is NOT true. Portion sizes are very large. Flatbreads are more like pizzas and we split one. We both had appetizer and the garlic gnocchi was okay. You can tell all food is homemade. I"m a foodie and don't think this is as spectacular as Market, Nine-Ten, or Tapenade. Come for the service (A+), atmosphere (lively!) and good wine (excellent choices). read more

Spreading the net a little wider than normal we ended up in Rancho Santa Fe at Dolce. Friday night, busy and noisy. Placed in a booth right by the door. Not really dinner tables, more like coffee tables. Service was very good, attentive and suggestive. I liked this. What I didnt like was a $130 bill + tax for 2pp in a restaurant that is more of a bar & where the food was ok but certainly not mind blowing. We probably made a few mistakes, firstly we took the recommendation of a certain chardonnay that i later discovered was $17 a glass and average. We decided to share the flight of pinot's for 2nd round. 1 was excellent, the other 2 not great. We also decided to share 3 small plates and a salad (a very average caprese that had no imagination) , this was probably the biggest mistake as although they were not too expensive eg $12-15 a plate they were tiny...end result we needed more food and so ended up with the flatbread which was quite large. then the $130 bill turns up. OK not the worst the place...but too expensive for us to come back again from Encinitas. If we had have paid $80-100 then probably fair. read more

Absolutely love this place. Always great food and great people and great people watching. Flatbreads, cioppino, salmon, beat and goat cheese salad are my favorites. Great wine selection too. read more

Best mussels we have ever tried! Mint gelato was amazing too. Great service, cozy environment.

This place is wonderful! We only had appetizers, but oh what a treat they were: the beef carpaccio was moist and flavorful, the foie gras (which came in a little jar) was smooth and luxurious, the duck terrine was packed with meat (and the beets were delicious too), and the lobster skewer was so sweet and tender (huge portion for the price). I only wish we'd had room for the entrees! And oh, the restaurant ambiance was so romantic and there's plenty of parking! read more

This place was amazing. My husband and I went in for a quick bite after a meeting at a shop next door. It's simple, well done food with quality ingredients- doesn't get better than that. We are grazers and like to try everything, so.... Tomato soup- great smoky flavor that the chef explained was from smoking the tomatoes int heir wood-fired oven plus it had a great little bite from the peepers that are in the soup. Flatbreads- egg on flatbread?? Yes. And I loved it with the prosciutto. Panini- BLTA was on point, but the chicken, goat cheese one was heaven on bread. We loved the food. The service was great, too. Everyone was friendly and available to help us or just check on us. read more

Tonight around 5:30p was my second time visiting Dolce (first was New Years), and it was great again. Not too crowded when we got there tonight which isn't surprising considering it was a Monday night. Friend and I sat at high-top tables in the bar and I orderd the house Cab and she ordered some Louis Chardonay I believe it was. Our server was nice, and quick to get our grape juice to us. The olive-oil based spincah salad was D-LISH garnished with some sort of nectarine slices, yellow and red beats, and Feta cheese. Lots of flavor, excellent taste- and healthy to boot. She ordered the Margharita pizza which was thin crusted and good. Nothing crazy fancy, but solid. I chose the Bacon-wrapped Beef Tenderloin and it was REALLY good. The sauce and potaoes from Chino's Farm were excellent. After another glass of wine, it was time to head out. Defninitely going back to Dolce, when I remember it's there! ;) read more

I really like coming here during the night because you can sit out sit by the fire and enjoy a romantic dinner. My husband and I come here pretty often and always seem to order the same things. I get their mussels (so amazing) you can easily share them but I order just that as my meal. With of course a delicious glass of wine. They have a great variety of wines. My husband always gets their thin crust pizza, so yummy! The staff is really nice and the bar is a fun place to hang out and watch the game. This place is more on the quiet relaxing side but that is perfect for me!! read more

We love this restaurant. This was one of the first restaurant we found before we moved out here. Food is delicious, intimate ambiance, vine cellar look interior. Great wine selections! My favorite dish is petite filet :) read more

I love every single thing about this restaurant! The food is spectacular, the ambiance is very romantic and elegant, and everyone is welcoming and friendly. When I went, I let the chefs make what they felt I should eat. Best decision of my life. With each course, I got a pairing of wine to go with. My server knew exactly which wines to pair with each item. The food was the best I have ever had. Fresh, cooked perfectly, and mouthwatering until the end. I will definitely be returning here. read more

If you like drives out in the country but don't want to drive for hours then Rancho Santa Fe is for you. Beautiful area and the restaurant is too. A wide variety of wines by the glass and in bottle to choice from. Lunch is between $17-$25 and the portion size is large. The salmon panini is delicious with their homemade tomato soup. read more

Very interesting culinary combinations. Really enjoyed: the PROSCIUTTO & EGG FLATBREAD - nice portion ( size of a small pizza) The Carlsbad mussels - local seafood with a spicy chorizo broth. Unbelievable combination Yellowtail tartar - fresh and very tasty We dined on the patio which is quaint, less noisy than inside and offers ample heat lamp coverage so no worries about being cold. Great place for a date night and the wine fanatic. read more

What a disappointment. Looked like the 2 chefs were having a fight. Person next to us sent back their eggs benedict for being cold. Panini was very greasy, salad my wife had was scarce on substance. Soup, tasty, but lookwarm. Would not recommend - there are so many better places. read more

What a beautiful and warm environment filled with laughter and conversation amounts friends and family! I was very impressed with the ambiance and the way the guests where treated like they were right at home. My boyfriend works for this company and that set aside the people working here treated me like I was family even before knowing! The female bartender was very kind and tended to all my needs. The pizza was delicious, with great flavor and the wine was exquisite. Thank you for making my first impression a lasting one! Can't wait for my next visit. I love the connection between guests and staff! So inviting read more

The only thing consistent with this restaurant in going there a few times is poor, inefficient and sometimes rude service. I have never seen a restaurant that looks so good upon entry and feels so poor after meeting the waitstaff. Has anyone had any training in the restaurant/service industries? It doesn't seem like it when you are either ignored when you enter the restaurant or been dealt with rudeness during your time there. After today's episode, my wife and I will not be returning and encourging others to do the same. Ted H. - San Diego read more

We went to Dolce Pane E Vino on a whim on New Year's Eve. They were very accommodating, and the place was hopping but not overwhelming. My husband had a Tempranillo and I had a Prosecco, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. We started with the cheese board which was excellent! I was very excited about the honeycomb as well. I had the brick chicken dish which was positively delicious, and my husband had the cioppino which he loved! I succumbed to desert as well, which was a salted butterschotch pudding (one of my favorite things) and it delivered! I am gluten free and they were so supportive and kind about meeting my allergy needs, that I felt like I was having a perfectly normal dining experience (something that doesn't happen often for me anymore). We had a wonderful New Year's Eve! BTW, they offer a gf crust for flatbreads as well! read more

I went here for lunch and had a flatbread that a friend of mine said was new, with mushrooms, peas, and a ricotta-like cheese (as memory serves me). It was really pretty bland, but I sprinkled a bit of salt on it and that really brought it to life! The other lunchmates raved about the BLTA -- will try that next time. read more

Nicely decorated, but much too noisy to enjoy an evening with friends.......you have to shout to be heard! They emphasize presentation but the food was just mediocre. To start off, we were brought a basket of cold bread and one plate with 2 pats of butter and a little combo of olive oil and balsamic..........we were a large table of six. It didn't make sense so asked for an additional plate of butter and oil/balsamic. One of the soups was overpowered with salt. The scallops were very good as were the short ribs, but the chicken under a brick had no seasoning. Two of us at the table ordered it and agreed it had no flavor. The chicken was cooked nicely, but not seasoned. For dessert, the tiramisu was delicious, and a couple of people said they liked the salted caramel (though it sat uneaten) , the strawberry shortcake biscuits were left uneaten and the chocolate bread-pudding was heavy and not bread-pudding-like. It's a beautiful restaurant, but could use a few improvements. read more

Not bad. good service. reasonable prices. food? not impressed. What's up with communal table? is this Benehana?