Jay's Gourmet Pizza & Seafood, Carlsbad

When my husband and I lived in Carlsbad (1999-2002), we used to go to all three Jay's frequently (downtown Carlsbad, Encinitas and Solana Beach) and loved them all. Only the Carlsbad location remains. We especially loved the seafood with linguine, their pizza and the garlic bread served with marinara sauce for dipping. We recently moved back to SoCal (Riverside) and took some friends to Jay's yesterday. We originally considered Buca di Beppo, but instead opted to try Jay's for the first time since 2002, hoping it was still as good as we remembered. Our friends had scallops with linguine (one with red sauce and the other with white) and pronounced them both very good. My husband and I had our old favorite, seafood with linguine in a red sauce. It was loaded with seafood -- shrimp, calamari, green lip mussels, clams and halibut -- and it was delicious! We will definitely go back next time we're in Carlsbad. It's good to know that some things do stay the same!

Really great Italian food.. Great location- central to downtown/village area.. Zip parking and rather crowded seating conditions. Locals love it and visitors find it pretty quickly. Just can not have a lengthy conversation there..But if it is Italian food you want, you can not go wrong.

I used to go to Jay's Gourmet on a regular basis back when they had several locations throughout San Diego County. I loved their bread and the creamy Italian dressing on their salads. I moved out of the area and hadn't been able to visit in a few years. Took my daughter there recently and was very disappointed. The lemon chicken we ordered was bland, the sauce had the consistency of broth and contained olives. The service was terrible, our waitress made us feel as if she was doing us a favor by serving us, and didn't once stop by to see if we were enjoying the food or needed anything else. We won't be back.

My wife and I have been to Jay's at least half a dozen times. We stumbled across the place about 6 years ago. We grabbed two open seats at the bar, and were dazzled with the food, and the prices. We ended up eating there three nights in a row. Now whenever we are within 30 miles of the place, we make a point, to swing by, and have never been disappointed. We love the shellfish, and have tried their Pasta. Despite the fact we love Pizza, we have never tried it. This is a hole in the wall place, but the locals seem to love it, since it has been packed every time we've been there.

I have been to Jay's twice and although the food is to die for, I have gotten food poisoning both times. I decided after the first time, that I would chalk it up to just bad luck, but the second time just proved- something isn't right!

I was recommended to Jays by our hotel. I read the reviews and our outlook on the restaurant is... yes it's small and quaint but it serves the best seafood in all of the Carlsbad area and large portions. It is busy and the table space is no problem. We had excellent service and the food was to perfection.I say go there for the great food and friendly service.

I saw the review in the Carlsbad magazine! They were right! This place had amazing food and the service was excellent. All the servers had smiles on their face and they worked as a team. This place was so busy, but we got our food in a timely manner, and nothing seemed to have gone wrong. The tables are small, so if you don't like meeting new people... order it to go! Either way taste their food, you wont be disappointed. My family and I are addicted!

Beachy, unkempt establishment; surprised it maintains an A rating. We ordered a large cheese pizza. Took 35 min to get it. When it came, observed that there was sauce and lacy cheese on it. Not worth the $16 price tag. We showed the server. We never raised our voices. She more than agreed and took it back. She asked them to add cheese to it. We did not see the pizza again for 25 minutes.We were very hungry, it was not busy.I saw the cook put it up for the server to bring out, and I heard her tell him to take it back and heat the cheese to melt it. I wanted to leave at that point. But we stuck it out. When she brought it back to us, the cheese was melted. When we went to pick up the slice, it was masticated. We had to eat it in tiny bits, but gave it up less than half way thru it. It was the cooks way of letting us know that he was p.off. She only charged us $10. No manager or owner. Dissapointed in Jays.