Calypso

I’ve loved going to Calypso for years. The food, ambiance, and service has always been impeccable. Several friends and I waited with anticipation for the reopening and are pleased to say everything is as wonderful-​if not BETTER-​than before. The brie pastry appetizer is to die for and everything on the menu will leave you wanting to come back for more. Anyone looking for great food, music, and a down to earth atmosphere will be nothing but thrilled.

Really great food! Awesome atmosphere!

Well, it was cool while it lasted (often very packed), but just in case this place shows up on Unilocal,it is CLOSED!
I’m hoping another restaurant will replace it soon…

Calypso has arguably one of the best happy hour menus in town. You can get a lot of fresh, good tasting food for fairly cheap. Notice I said «fresh.» As opposed to a nacho stack with extra sour cream. Not that I’m dissing the nacho stack. It’s just a different kind of food experience.
The rest of the menu I would classify as loosely as «Mediterranean» but with a California twist. California Italian? Whatever. You’ll have pasta options along with meats and seafood. Your appetizers will range from caprese salad to lamb.
I’ve enjoyed every dish I’ve ever ordered at this restaurant. I can’t help but feel that some of the dishes, especially the meats, are slightly overpriced. What is a $ 25 plate of pasta should really be more like $ 18. Yes, it’s a huge plate of food with some nice shrimp on it. But still. It’s pasta. $ 25 buys be a really nice steak at pretty much every other restaurant.
Because of this I go here for the happy hour specials usually. The place has a cozy feel to it and there’s almost always live music which is a fun touch. If you go on the weekend, be sure to call for reservations or you’ll never get seated.

Never a place to go if you want to eat. Couldn’t get anyone to wait on us for 15 minutes and then 2 different server tried to take our drink order. We were in a hurry to make a concert and told the host and the server and it took almost a ½ hour just to get the appetizer. Totally disappointing on just that and we had to cancel our dinner order since it took so long. The server made a lame excuse that there were only 2 people in the kitchen. Ok, on a Friday night? Not my problem. And it’s not like the place was busy. Only about a dozen people in the dining room and no one was sat after us.
We will NEVER go there again and I hope you don’t either. They don’t deserve your business.

So Calypso is my favorite place for «special» dinners. On our last anniversary my husband made us reservations and we arrived hungry! I always order the same entrée’ and was REALLY looking forward to those heavenly tastes! (The filet with goat cheese, cheese potato and veggies in Marsala sauce — DIVINE) So it doesn’t take me long to realize that this entrée is no longer available and I’m sort of stressed. haha. So my husband asks to speak to Gilles. He makes a few suggestions, explains the process and off he goes to give direction to the kitchen staff. I was thrilled to have a dinner that was so close to what I had anticipated and loved how everyone there went above and beyond to make our dinner perfect! We love this place! Original, fun atmosphere! Always try the specialty drink! Usually worth it!

OK, super disappointed. Have had friends who have raved about this place so we’ve been meaning to go for years, made and wish we didn’t. Atmoshpere was lively and a band was going to play so we could understand the weird uncomfortable seating situation but even knowing that our table was bumped several times by people headed to the bathroom, not ideal.
For the cost and I’m talking about $ 30 for Mahi dinner plate, you’d be better off going somehwere else for amazing food. Go to Barracuda for a great dinner and great service or to Fish Market or Fish House if you want great fresh fish. When we end up paying $ 80+ for dinner I want more.
I’d go to Calypso again but only for happy hour know ing that it’s just a fun place to go.

We’ve only been there a handful of times for their Happy Hour Sangria, but that’s all I need to keep coming back. $ 4 per pint-​sized glass? Count me in! Somehow, we’ve always gone on Sunday and they have «Open Mic Night» then with live music, which is surprisingly good!

Excellent vibe and obviously talented chef! Good food and good service too!

I have always liked Calypso but was always a little uncomfortable because the seating is so bunched together. After the remodel I was excited to come back because they just had to have arranged things a little better with space and comfort in mind. Right? WRONG!!!
You practically have to climb over people to get to your table. And when we left I had to walk around someones chair to get out the front door. I’m not kidding. I realize restaurants need to make a buck but do you really need to shove more tables than will fit at the sacrifice of comfort of your partons in order to achieve a profit? There has to be a better way.
The food as always was excellent but I was a little disappointed at the happy hour options. The selection was a little electic and I guess I just wanted at least one plain normal looking item to jump out on me. I ordered the shrimp ceasar salad and along with the bread and marinara style sauce I was fine. They were both good and my friend really enjoyed her Thai peanut salad.
The drinks were well made (I had the pom martini) and our bartender was attentive and nice.
My only other beef was that even though the crowd seemed to be a little older they had hired a DJ that was playing electronic club music that drove some people away. I would have left if I hadn’t already ordered food prior to her setting up. Just didn’t fit the clientelle. And without the DJ it would have freed up additional room for the patrons to be able to spread out a bit. I think a solo guitarist or keyboard person playing classics or soft jazz or rock would have been a much better fit.
I do like this place I just want to be able to «fit» at a table. Is that too much to ask?

Food is good and the staff is helpful and on the ball.

My wife and I had not been back to Calypso for years, so we purchased a $ 50
coupon specific to the restaurant and decided to give it a go. It was a mistake that we won’t make again. The owner refused to take the coupon, claiming that he «can’t make money on it», and when I questioned him on it he suggested that we leave. Well, that wouldn’t happen because the second half of our double date was walking up to our table at that moment.
The food is decent but expensive for the setting. My wife was served the wrong order, so she didn’t get her meal until we finished ours. We got no apology or adjustment to the check. In my view, the restaurant is primarily a hangout for the owner and his chonies to drink and play music. Disappointing.

Had lunch here today, they just started serving it a couple weeks ago. Really good food and sitting outside is great during the day. Check it out.

I hate sending food back, I never do it; but had to at Calypso, twice. They burned my food to char and still decided to serve it to me. We took many of the suggestions from our server as to what to order, but was only happy with the brie stuffed pastry, which should have been reserved for desert. Great for drinks and happy hour (spares Calypso from a 1 — star) but I would not order any food off the menu again.

I really wanted to like it. The food was so-​so, the barstools and drinks were awesome.
We ordered off of the happy hour menu as they did not present the regular dinner menu, which was fine as we were just looking for a grazing snacking dinner.
We ordered the classic mussels to start. At least ½ dozen were closed and we couldn’t eat them, of the rest — ½ were not cooked to the point where I felt comfortable eating them. The rest were edible but didn’t leave a good «feel.» The broth was good for dipping the bread.
Next, we ordered the brie puff thingie. It was more dessert than an app as the marsala sauce with balsamic reduction looked and tasted like a thick dessert sauce. It was good, don’t get me wrong, this was the high point of our meal, but I would prefer it as a dessert next time.
Last we ordered the eggplant appetizer on the bartender’s recommendation. We sent it back because it was almost charred! The eggplant wasn’t recognizable. The 2^nd try was a bit better and the eggplant was more grilled as described in the menu. It was OK, but nothing like «OMG» as I was expecting.
I was hoping for an OMG moment, but it never came :(
Seemed like a fun, neighborhood spot for live music and some light food. The drinks were stiff, and the sangria was nice. We’d come back to drink and eat the brie for dessert.

I came here for the first time on Friday since we had a
coupon for $ 25 off — woo hoo! If you are debating whether to come here, I’ll list the pros and cons:
PROS:
–the food is delicious (try the West Indies curry mussels)
–nice ambience
–service was good– we had constant water refills and an attentive waitress
–live music
CONS:
–expensive, meals were $ 25 and the portions weren’t huge
–insanely crowded– at least on a Friday night
–it was too loud– you could barely have a conversation without repeating yourself. The venue was too small for the live band
All in all, I’d come here again but maybe next time during happy hour.

A pretty cool place. Good atmosphere. Live music, which I loved. The music on the night I went was kind of Zydeco/​Cajun-​ish. It was awesome! I enjoyed the atmosphere more than the food.
The food was a bit overpriced, but on Wednesdays they have a happy hour menu, and happy hour goes all night. I ordered a goat cheese salad, but i think they gave me the wrong one because there was definitely no goat cheese in my salad. Regardless, whatever salad I did get was pretty good. Bf got the mushroom ravioli dish, which was creamy, flavorful, and really good. However, overall, the food was a little on the pricey side for what it was.
In the future, if I come again, I’d probably come for a couple of drinks and appetizers for happy hour.

I whole-​heatedly support (good) local business owners and really wanted to like Calypso based on everything the folks in the neighborhood had told us about it (before the fire). However — this place is a disaster.
The concept is completely WRONG. Everyone says this used to be THE neighborhood joint before the fire. It seems like that’s what they are going for — with live music, people falling over each other crowded, etc.
BUT you can’t be that AND have $ 25+ pasta and $ 30+ meat and fish dishes — on a freaking plastic menu. The place doesn’t have the ambience, service, or space to warrant that kind of pricing. Perfect example — the bread prep area has a classy cheap toster oven proudly (?) on display for the whole restaurant to see — incidentally with napkins and baskets piled up dangerously next to it. No wonder they burnt down. Seriously you could eat at Pamplemousse or Mille Fleurs for what they are charging.
Also, I run by this place a couple times of week in the morning and have on several occasions now seen their cooks prepping food (bread) outside on the patio dining tables — which might explain why the first thing we saw after ordering our drinks was a roach crawl out of the service area, across the wall, and onto someone’s table.
After seeing that, and watching multiple tables send food back or loudly complain on their way out we paid for our drinks, got up and left.
From reading other reviews it sounds like the food is consistently pretty awful so not sure how or why they came up with their pricing and menu but something has to change. As it stands right now, #EpicFail.

Honestly my top 3 restaurants in Encinitas… but the new eatery is horrible. Had a date nite with my lady and my folks and is was very disappointing! Service was very poor… it was a Monday!!! Come on calypso! Food was cold. And was not worth a penny would have been better off getting a grilled cheese from Kenos!!!
The owner gave us a gift certificate for 40 dollars, we spent 250.00 for the dinner! Sad sad experience! Get your shit right this restaurant has been a staple for 10+ years! I will never go back again! Gift Certificate is going in the trash!
Trust me if your go for the band, drinks and brie! Thats the only thing worth the money!

Service sucked, food was mediocre and music was blah. Don’t bother. Go to Le Papagayo down the street instead.