Eight thousand square feet of garden under an oak canopy, warmed by stone fireplaces on the cool Carmel evenings that make everyone here more interesting — the village's most beloved outdoor room.
The Setting
Carmel-by-the-Sea has a particular relationship with outdoor space that shapes everything about its dining culture. The village sits in a cypress forest one block from a white sand beach, in a microclimate that is cool enough for fireplaces in July and warm enough for outdoor dining year-round with the right infrastructure. Forge in the Forest understood this before most, and built accordingly: eight thousand square feet of garden patio with hand-laid brick paths, mature oak and pine trees providing a natural canopy, stone fireplaces positioned at intervals to make the outdoor sections functional even in the fog that rolls in off Monterey Bay on summer evenings.
The restaurant has been voted Best Outdoor Dining in the region every year since 1992. This is a statistic that deserves some consideration. Best Outdoor Dining, every year, for more than three decades. The consistency of that recognition reflects the consistency of what Forge in the Forest actually delivers: a space that is beautiful in a specifically Carmelite way — not manicured, not theatrical, but alive with the kind of organic charm that comes from actual trees and actual brick and actual fire rather than simulated rusticity. The garden feels like it grew rather than was designed.
The building occupies the corner of Junipero Street and 5th Avenue, within easy walking distance of Ocean Avenue and the Carmel Beach. The interior spaces — exposed timber beams, stone accents, a long bar — maintain the warmth of the outdoor aesthetic when the evening runs cold. Dogs are welcome in the outdoor sections, with a canine menu that has generated its own reputation among travelling pet owners.
The Food & Menu
The kitchen operates across a broad range of American and California cuisine, pitched at a level that befits the setting: generous, confident, made from good ingredients without pretension. The seafood chowder — consistently described by reviewers as award-winning, and consistently present on the menu for reasons that suggest the description is accurate — is a Central Coast-style preparation dense with local shellfish and properly seasoned. The Butternut Squash Ravioli is the vegetarian anchor, housemade pasta with a filling that concentrates sweetness against sage-butter richness.
The gourmet pizzas are among the better versions in the village, thin-crusted and built around ingredients that respect the cooking: a prosciutto-and-arugula preparation, seasonal vegetable combinations, house charcuterie. The cheese and cold cut board is a sound beginning for a table that wants to settle into the evening without rushing. For something more substantial, the French onion soup arrives with the kind of gratin top that requires a spoon and patience to breach properly.
Cocktails are well-executed, with a margarita that is reliably good and a seasonal programme that responds to the citrus and herb availability of the Central Coast. The wine list covers California with a reasonable price range and appropriate emphasis on Monterey County producers. The overall impression is of a kitchen that has cooked for a very long time in a very particular place and has arrived at a settled, generous expression of what that place tastes like.
Best Occasion Fit: Team Dinner
The outdoor garden sections of Forge in the Forest are among the most effective venues for a team dinner in the region, for reasons that have as much to do with psychology as with cuisine. A group that has spent the day in conference rooms or laptops arrives at a table under oak trees with stone fireplaces, within earshot of the Carmel evening, and the dynamic of the group shifts. Conversation becomes easier. The agenda, whatever it was, relaxes its grip. The shared plates culture of the menu — chowder for the table, pizza to share, the cheese board as a communal starting point — creates natural moments of conviviality that a more formal restaurant setting actively suppresses.
For a birthday dinner, the garden's warmth and the restaurant's genuine hospitality create a reliable backdrop for a celebratory meal that feels personal. The dog-welcoming policy is an underrated advantage for groups celebrating outdoors. For a first date, the firelit garden is one of the more atmospheric settings in the village at a price point that doesn't create anxiety about the bill.
Comparisons with other Carmel restaurants at this position in the guide: Rio Grill offers similar informality and California cooking with stronger ambitions in the kitchen. Portabella delivers comparable garden atmosphere with a European register. Carmel Belle is the quieter, smaller alternative for daytime dining. For an evening that needs to be elevated beyond the accessible, Chez Noir or Aubergine provide the upward move.