Aqua Mare Cucina Italiana

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary here. The quality of the seafood is amazing--the biggest, most tender scallops ever. Both our dishes were packed full of seafood. I especially enjoyed the cioppino with its tomatoey broth and fresh fish, shrimp, mussels, and more. We sat outside so we had a nice view of the mountains. It is next to a road so there's a bit of noise when motorcycles drive by, but nothing to disrupt our meal or ruin the experience. Parking was also very easy. There's a big parking lot at the back of the restaurant.

Great patio with views of the estuary and tbh very fun trains going by in the distance! A welcoming and attentive staff, and great food & cocktails. It was warm so my date had an elderflower spritz and I had a Negroni because it's a Negroni, you can't go wrong!For dinner a solid Cesar, and then two great pastas : my date had a tasty spicy Capesante e Gamberi, and I had a luscious mushroomy Ragu' Di Agnello, I have to say there were no leftovers :). Wonderful!

This was our family's favorite meal on our recent trip to San Diego (and we had several excellent meals). Everything we ordered was incredibly delicious. My favorite was the Seafood Ravioli special I ordered, but the Branzino and Mixed grill were also incredible. The scallops were particularly good on that. Our waitress, the hostess and the rest of the staff were friendly and attentive. They have a kids menu with a choice of pasta with marinara or al fredo sauce and chicken tenders with fries and the servings were large and actually tasted quite good.The view from the heated, partially enclosed deck was beautiful overlooking a marsh area with train tracks beyond that and the beach and ocean in the distance.

I'll get straight to the point here: the restaurant itself has a rustic, very simple ambiance overlooking the lagoon, the service is slow but friendly, but the food is subpar and bland. I tried the following:Bread with pesto sauce: the pesto was fresh and herb-forward, but briney. Bread was fresh and simple, nothing to talk about. Caesar salad - very standard, anchovies in the sauce, underwhelming. Nothing special. Pesto rigatoni - bland. Creamier than the dip served with the bread, but you know there's a problem when you have to add loads of salt, pepper, and Parmesan to make the food palatable / taste like SOMETHING. Ribeye steak - ordered medium rare, got more of a medium-well. Lacked seasoning and was very tough to chew. Came with a small side of mashed potatoes and asparagus, again nothing to talk about. Tiramisu and espresso - solid. If I wanted coffee and a bite of dessert, I might give this place another visit. There's ample parking behind the restaurant and street parking available as well. I think the chef should revisit some of the recipes on main dishes, it would help the restaurant's case. Even so, I love that the portions were so generous - definitely felt the Italian hospitality. Until next time, Aqua Mare. Ciao.

My wife and I enjoyed a very nice anniversary meal with great ambience while looking over the estuary at sunset. Our server was friendly and attentive, and the food was really good. Even if you're full you have to try the limoncello sorbet for desert -- light, dreamy, delicious!

The food here is bland as it comes. I had pasta with pesto and sausage and it was lacking a true pesto flavor-- pesto needs to have a medium to strong taste and this was not. The added sausage was flat tasteless crumbles. My girlfriend had the "special" pasta with halibut and shrimp. She felt it bland as well. Too bad the food does not come to the nice level of the ambience of the restaurant itself. The service was decent.

Dishes we ordered were mediocre and pricey. Two of us ordered a salad to share and each ordered an entry. Total is $90 plus tip. I don't think we'll come back again.

First time here for a private presentation event! Service was great and the food was amazing! Located just right by the de mar coast and marsh, and saw beautiful sunset and metrolink train passing by in the distance. The steak was perfectly cooked with charred smokiness flavor, and tiramisu was amaaazingggg!

We had reservations for restaurant week. Went on a weekday. I hit a little traffic going taking Carmel Valley Rd going west but still made it on time. They had private parking spaces and also plenty of street parking. We were seated right away and was greeted with smiles and jokes. Winning there. We sat outside to get a good view outside. They had heaters. We had the restaurant week pre-fixe menu. Pastas were good. The carpaccio was light and delicious. Panna cotta was okay. Decent place but probably go out of my way, hitting traffic. It had to be spectacular for me to drive in that traffic.

I hosted my book club meeting at AquaMare. We got the private room,.It was perfect to discuss our previous and next book. We had an amazing time. My friends loved the food and the ambience. Letizia, our Italiana waitress, was super on top of things. Authentic and delicious food! And the view !!! Great experience and I strongly recommend it!