Had an Urban Winery passport, so decided to give this place a check out for a tasting Friday 6⁄18 afternoon. Wines were lousy, so bad I spit and dumped a few, and I NEVER spit out or dump wine, so this must have been REALLY bad. Really lousy customer service from the petite lady with long black hair. I usually can find one wine or something good to say about almost any place, but this is a definite, «don’t bother,» in my book.
Darrin D.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Carlsbad, CA
New owner, new design, new vibe = not cool The mirrored signage out front is gaudy. The new servers(evidently they laid off all the previous staff) are cold & inattentive. The pop music blaring boom box too loud. The wrought iron lighting fixtures too industrial. The wine still pretty average, as before. Summation; once cool & cozy vibe now feels like tourist trap in the making. Skip it.
Mitchell M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Oceanside, CA
LOVETHENEWDESIGN! The wine and the staff are fantastic and it makes for a great Sunday afternoon. Worth checking out when your walking about Carlsbad Village
Paul G.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Carlsbad, CA
Thought we’d give it a go and hope it was a better experience than we had in Julian. Maybe join the club if it were and get some free local tastings. The staff was helpful and friendly. The environment was nice. The wine? Not good. Like… wow, not good. The prices? Expensive even if it were good wine. And the wine club means you have to spend like $ 100/month and only get two free tastings a month(I hope I remember that correctly). We really wanted to like it. We don’t.
Daniel C.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Vista, CA
Not worth it, staff is unfriendly and unhelpful. Wine was very mediocre. Actual tasting room is covered in dust, must be because no one actually goes here. Bought a $ 10 taster and was accused of «taking advantage». When they asked what number taster I was on, I wish I could take advantage of the tasters but they only pour about a sips worth of wine into the glass. This place is not worthy of being in Carlsbad, they should be sent to Tijuana, Mexico!
Jonathan N.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Camas, WA
We had a team meeting out in Carlsbad and decided to visit this winery before dinner for some unique wine tasting and I must say this winery in downtown Carlsbad did not disappoint. Service was great and the staff are very friendly and knowledgeable about the wines that they offer. Our group overall found at least two or more wines that they enjoyed a great deal. As a consensus the majority of us found that the Barbera was our overall favorite and oh yes, bottles of wine were taken back with us to enjoy.
Alex M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Silver Spring, MD
Lani is an absolutely amazing manager!!! Please visit here and ask for her if possible! And the wine is amazing— particularly the Rose’!! Additionally the Cellar Club is worth the price and they ship to other states!
Jhoanna A.
Rating des Ortes: 5 New York, NY
If you’re lucky enough to get Michael, you’re in for an awesome experience! He’s super knowledgeable about the wines and will take great care of you. And their wine club pricing is amazing!!!
Lori W.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Oceanside, CA
This is one of your only choices for wine tasting in the village. They can be busy at times, but it is usually manageable. I have had great and mediocre service here. It depends on who is pouring. There wines are not as good as you would taste in wind country, but it’s close proximity to the beach earns it an extra star. You can choose 6 to taste for $ 10 from the list of red, white, and sweet. Use the Unilocal deal, but they didn’t know how to enter it when I was there.
Kelsey K.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Des Moines, IA
I’d love to give this place a better review. When I was here for a wine tasting, the wine and service was actually pretty good, and the guy pouring the wine offered to change the tasting menu after he realized I might more prefer wines not on the list. He seemed knowledgeable when I asked him about different wines. After, I decided to join their wine club. This was in DECEMBER. It is now MARCH. I have yet to receive any wine. Yes, I live in Iowa, and yes, I know they’re having trouble figuring out how to ship it to Iowa, but they have given me no answer when I’ve called, and now have stopped returning my calls completely(note I’ve only called 3 times– and only that many because they won’t call me back)! If they DID ever call me back, I’d tell them to forget it and take me off the list. No use being in a wine club when they won’t send me any wine. I’d say B+ as to the wine and my original experience, but D– since then with the customer service.
B. Lee H.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Carlsbad, CA
My wife and I stopped by The Witch Creek Winery on Valentine’s Day on the spur of the moment. It was our first time there and we had a wonderful time. The young lady who helped us, Bonnie, was extremely friendly and helpful which made our experience a lot of fun. Her knowledge of the wines was impressive. We will definitely be coming back.
S H.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Jose, CA
We started going to Witch Creek years ago at their Julian location and fell in love with their staff and wine. Especially their port! Since we live closer to their Carlsbad location we have frequented this location a few times and have been disappointed each time. This last visit they were very busy. We were not acknowledged when we walked in — disputed the bell, and not helped for at least 10 minutes. The staff was not very informative about the wine and busy chatting with each other. A manager looking figure was just as oblivious. I also went up to ask for water after the crowds were gone and was not helped then either. The customer service here was horrible, and as much as I love their port I will not be returning.
Stephanie S.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Phoenix, AZ
This was my first wine tasting so I didn’t really know what to expect. I assumed the server would describe the wine but that only happened once. I had no idea what to try and felt like I was tasting wine with absolutely no info. I enjoyed myself because I was with my son, but clearly the pourers should enhance the experience. One guy came up and really chatted with me about the wine and told me about similar ones and countries that grow grapes. I totally enjoyed his information and wished he had done the entire tasting. Other issues-very crowded and I felt rushed. Sun was blasting in and it was really hot.(Definitely not their fault).
Lucas B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Kula, HI
SERIOUSLYAMAZINGALLAROUND! Perfect location in Carlsbad Village with the beautiful rainbow tigers on the side of their building, you can’t miss it! From the wine to the events to the simply outstanding customer service and care this place deserves 6 out of 5 stars! They don’t mess around with their wine! They have an expert staff that knows what they are talking about and have some fabulous recommendations! Their Fat Cat wine is to die for and Rich’s Big Red is oh my goodness delicious! from the sweet delicate white wine to the bold earthy and perfectly spiced red wine you can never make a bad decision! If you get a wine that was poorly corked(rarely if not ever happens) bring it back and they will help you choose the perfect bottle! Definitely affordable for the quality and quantity that they provide! And the best part!!! They have a Wine Loyalty Program which is sorta like a membership to the winery! Free wine tasting for you and a friend, for about $ 40 a month you get two of their special wine and promoted bottles! Even delivered to your front door!!! And you get exclusive invites to their events! They just introduced a chocolate line(I think the company name is the chocolate lady but not too certain) that specifically pair with their wine and cheeses too! Weird huh? Wine cheese AND chocolate at the same time?! But oh my dear heavens is it absolutely scrumptious! Stop in and take a look at what they have! Check in on Unilocal and you get a discount too! They will take care of you! The girls deserve some sort of a raise! They are phenomenal!
Rachael E.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Torrance, CA
Went here to do the wine tasting and to pick up a bottle for my collection. Out of the 8 or 9 wines I tried, there was only 1 that I disliked. I love wine tasting because you can taste them back to back and it’s easier to compare them. The girl working was very informative and it wasn’t very busy and it was fairly quiet. I ended up picking out one of the bottles for $ 18. They have a good wine club but it’s mainly directed for people who live in the area because it includes 5 free wine tastings a month at their location. If I lived in the area I would’ve joined it. My friend and I had a pleasant experience here.
Laurel R.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Encinitas, CA
This has turned into a very different and dissapointing experience than it used to be. I’ve been a wine club member here for quite a while and when I joined they had a fun management and happy staff, and they had live music on Fridays, they were dog friendly and they had a fun little tradition of opening a bottle of the champagne which is called the cool cat and try to hit a gong it was just a silly funny thing but the new management has decided to put a somber note to the whole experience, removing the gong, forbidding their staff to have any wine and pourings are very small now. they do not encourage members to bring additional friends which they use to by giving tastings cards with the monthly shipment. in addition the old staff haseft or been weeded out, and the new ones in last several months since management change all seem stressed out and unhappy. we will be quitting this month because it’s not worth our money anymore even though we really enjoy the wine, but there’s a lot of good wine out there so why give your money to a place thats not supporting the members, and are not being really great to the public? too bad. if owners change who is in charge of managing, maybe we will consider returning. NOTE: most of the positive reviews were all from the past before current management.
Charles G.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Oceanside, CA
Time to quit Witch Creek after a long time. Ever since it got new management it’s just not a fun place to be anymore. Servers aren’t as friendly, no more music, no more coupons for bringing guests. Even the simple playful gong is missing now and the list goes on. It’s just too bad that such a fun place is no longer that way. Long live the other local wineries. We are about to become their new patrons.
Janet B.
Rating des Ortes: 3 San Marcos, CA
This place is nice! $ 10 for a wine tasting of 61oz glasses! I finally stopped here on my way to the beach, as it said«winery» and I’m so used to brewery I was in the mood for something different. This place is right on the corner, with the beautiful tiger painting. I went in and although not seeming to be a young crowd kind of spot, it sure was classy and they sure had great wine. The only downside to this is that there is nowhere to sit and not a long bar per day but more a long«counter». So I made small talk and drank, talked and drank. I tried the two whites– cool cat and Sauvignon blanc(both tasty, the Sauvignon being my fave of the two), two reds(the Syrah and one other, and two dessert wines; a moscato and a pomegranate one. The Syrah was my fave! Sweet and delicious. And the pomegranate was also tasty and immensely sweet. I WILL be back. Preferably to buy a bottle.
Regina D.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Francisco, CA
Felt like a burden and left without any knowledge of the winery nor about wines I tasted, half of which I tossed out because it was that bad. Note: this is an urban winery and tasting room– not a vast vineyard. Great bathroom though, I learned about other wineries from all the brochures in there.
Lisa G.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Marina del Rey, CA
This is an urban winery that is located in a busy area in Carlsbad. There is a small parking lot, but it might be hard to find parking. It was also pretty hard to get to the parking lot because of the traffic congestion. The staff here was amazing. They are all very friendly and helpful when we were tasting. The tasting was $ 7 per person for about 5 different wines. I didn’t particularly like the wines. They tasted a bit watered down. The reds were better than the whites, but I have definitely had better. Overall, the experience was interesting and like I said, the staff was super friendly. If they had better wines, it would have been a much better experience.