Reviews for Dija Mara in Oceanside, CA

5 stars for food (wow), 3 stars for service, and 3 stars for the very limited wine list. It's pricey but not too bad. First,... the food is outstanding and innovative. It's the best restaurant food-wise in Oceanside for sure. We had 6 dishes, which wereall unique from each other and all excellent - ceviche, spicy noodles, spicy eggplant (please add that it's spicy on the menu),chicken skewers, pork belly skewers, and "pot de creme" dessert. They were all full of a variety of flavors. You can see whythis place got a Michelin star. The pork belly skewers and eggplant were the highlights for us. However, the service wasmediocre. We had to flag down the wait staff well after our drinks ran out, the dessert took a very long time to come out, andthe staff would ask us questions but walk away before we could answer. That happened a few times, and frankly it was rude. Itmade us feel unwanted there. The restaurant was fairly busy but not that busy. The beers and cocktails were excellent, but ifyou want to drink wine and aren't an avid natural wine fan, I recommend bringing your own and paying corkage. The wine list isvery limited. Also FYI it has a very modern, hip vibe with graffiti, brick walls, etc. Take that for what it is, it's just adifferent experience from most high-end restaurants. So overall we walked away with a "glad we tried it but won't be back"feeling. Read more

Oh where to start with this place! Such a gem and thankful I found this place upon moving to San Diego. By far, the best... restaurant I have been to this year. Everything on the menu is incredible, standouts for me are the homemade grilled roti,charred eggplant, tofu rendang and the panna cotta. Beets by Bali is my favorite drink on the menu. They also have a greatselection of natural wines, which we get a bottle to share with the table, and haven't been disappointed. Read more

Definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Oceanside. We stopped in for brunch, just for a drink and a small bite. It's quite... small inside but they had a spot at the bar. I had the breakfast in bed drink (so good) and the Nasi Goreng which is fried ricewith pork belly, shrimp and egg on top. It was amazingly good! I would definitely come back for dinner because I can imagine itwould be wonderful! Read more

Very cool venue and not your average Indian. cuisine (you won’t find a masala and you won’t care). Amazing food, but make a... reservation this place gets booked up. You could try showing up at opening also to get a seat at the bar. I would recommend thecoconut rice, eggplant, roti with vegan sauce and chicken thigh skewers. I also tried the nasi goreng which was beautifullyplated and had lots of depth of flavor. If you are lucky you might get to meet the owner, Simran. Street parking out front. Read more

The food is great. Cozy little place that's very popular so make reservations or you most likely won't get a table, we saw... multiple people being rejected. Definitely recommend the pork belly and beef tartare. My only complaint is that the charredbroccolinni was intensely over-charred... a few bites in and I quite literally felt like I had just smoked a cigarrette. You cansee how black it looks in the photos. If the chefs read reviews, I'd urge them not to char it so much. It's not a great feelingfor food to make you feel like you have just smoked, especially if you don't actually smoke! Everything else was top notchthough, and we will definitely be back to try the rest of the menu. Read more

Overall dining at Dija Mara was a good experience. Every dish I ordered had nice presentation and was tasty. I think most... dishes could have been better balanced, as most had a single dominant flavor. (Fish sauce, coconut, etc) Despite the restaurantbeing not very crowded, I waited 30-40 mins for the first dish to arrive after ordering. Read more

I will start off this review by saying that our group thought the food here was excellent. Everything we tried came out hot and... the flavors were unique and delicious. Where this place became a 3 star review was in the timing of the plates. We were toldwhen we sat down that the items would come out as they were made and we were fine with that. However, in our group of six, twopeople did not receive any of their food items for literally an hour and forty minutes. Not only had the rest of us alreadyfinished eating, but the restaurant was close to closing when they received their food. The three items that were delayed wereprawns, long beans, and a side of rice. A cup of rice took almost two hours to arrive. The staff were friendly, the food wastasty, but the speed and awkwardness of waiting for simple food items made this a “not again” option for group dining. Read more

Found this place because we were looking for a place that had vegetarian options for my son. Enjoyed everything we ordered! We... had the grilled Roti with vegetarian curry sauce, tofu rendang, pork belly skewers, charred eggplant, coconut rice, prawncrackers, and green papaya salad. We didn't have a reservation and waited about 20 minutes to be seated. Glad we waited insteadof going somewhere else. Read more