Two New Doors on Camino Del Mar, and They Don't Play by the Same Rules

"Dress for the occasion." According to the Del Mar Times report in the San Diego Union-Tribune, those words are printed on the front window of Honor Bar Del Mar at 1404 Camino Del Mar. On the same block, at 1435 Camino Del Mar, Queenstown Del Mar has a dog menu.

Both restaurants opened on the same block of the village in 2026, a few months apart. Each comes from an established restaurant group, and both serve burgers, seafood and a full bar. The way to choose between them is the house rules, more than the menus: when the doors open, whether you can book a table, how many people you can bring, and what you can wear. Those rules sort a Del Mar day into different kinds of hours, and once you know them, it's clear which door fits.

The Corner That Waited Nearly a Decade

Honor Bar sits on the former Bully's Del Mar site. Bully's was a village fixture that closed in 2017 after 48 years. The building with the white brick facade was demolished entirely, and the new restaurant went up from the ground over a long construction period. The Union-Tribune reported it open by early September 2026.

Honor Bar is a Hillstone Restaurant Group concept. Hillstone also runs Houston's, Gulfstream in Newport Beach and Rutherford Grill in Napa, and Del Mar joins Honor Bar locations in Beverly Hills, Dallas, Montecito and Palm Beach. The new building is red brick, with a sunken outdoor patio off Camino Del Mar. A row of bright yellow umbrellas there matches the yellow on the vintage-style pole sign at the street. Inside are brick walls, wood paneling, booths and heavy ceiling beams. The room is small and intimate.

The menu is short. Starters include deviled eggs and chicken meatballs, and there are hand-rolled sushi like the Thai tuna roll and a crunchy avocado roll with macadamia nuts. The signature is "Osaka style" pressed sushi, built as a block of stacked sashimi tuna, avocado and rice. The house specialties are the Honor Burger with melted cheddar and coleslaw, a French dip au jus, cedar plank roasted salmon and a USDA prime flat iron steak. The bar's cocktails include a grapefruit Aperol spritz and the Hillstone negroni with a hint of lime.

The Rules at 1404

Honor Bar's rules shape your evening before you sit down. The Union-Tribune reported that the restaurant is cashless, takes no reservations, and lets guests call ahead to join the wait list. It prefers parties of four or fewer. The same report described the attire guidelines as barring sportswear, gym clothes such as sports bras and sweatpants, backwards hats, flip flops and "excessively revealing clothing."

Parking is below the restaurant, reached from the alley off 13th Street. The phone number to call for the wait list is (858) 284-1206, listed on Honor Bar's Del Mar page.

Add those rules up and you get a particular kind of outing: two to four people, dressed for dinner, flexible enough to wait for a table. A Bloody Mary on the patio after a morning on the beach doesn't fit, both because of the dress code and because the house version, called the Kickstart, is poured on weekends only.

The Rules at 1435

Queenstown Del Mar opened on Thursday, May 21, 2026, in the former WestBrew space. It is the first North County restaurant from Queenstown Hospitality Group, which opened Bare Back Grill in Pacific Beach in 2005 and has since added Raglan Public House in Ocean Beach, Dunedin New Zealand Eats in North Park, and Queenstown locations in Little Italy, at Westfield UTC and in La Jolla Village. Co-founder Matt Baker told the Union-Tribune that "Del Mar felt like a natural next step for us," pointing to "an appetite for a solid, local neighborhood eatery."

The 2,500-square-foot room was designed by Michael Soriano of Onairos Design. It looks like a forest greenhouse, with hanging plants, natural textures and glass walls. Chef Yohalmo Rosales runs a menu of lamb and Wagyu smashburgers, a Blazin' Ahi sandwich, New Zealand-style meat pies, fish and chips, sausage rolls and breakfast classics. At dinner there's New Zealand sea bass with risotto, a spicy cioppino with New Zealand green mussels, and New Zealand rack of lamb.

Queenstown's rules run the other way. Reservations go through OpenTable, linked from the Queenstown Del Mar page. The weekday happy hour runs Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and offers $10 shareables, select cocktails and wine, $7 select draft beers and an $18 Burger and Bubbles. Private events can host up to 40 guests. The dog menu, reported at opening, tells you who the patio is meant for.

The Block by the Clock

The posted hours split the week in ways the menus never would. Here are the current schedules from each restaurant's own site:

The table shows a few things. On Saturday and Sunday, the block's first seating belongs to Queenstown alone, since weekend brunch starts at 9 a.m., two and a half hours before Honor Bar opens. On weekdays, Queenstown's 3 to 6 p.m. happy hour has the late afternoon to itself. From Monday through Thursday, Honor Bar is the later kitchen: half an hour later Monday through Wednesday and a full hour later on Thursday. Friday and Saturday, both close at 10 p.m. On Sunday, both close at 9 p.m.

Together, the hours and the rules decide the day. Weekend mornings, dogs and anyone coming straight from the sand go to 1435. Dinner for two or four, in better clothes and with patience for the wait list, goes to 1404. A Thursday night after 9 p.m. leaves only one of the two open.

The Sunday the Whole Village Runs on One Schedule

The first Sunday in December brings both doors into one shared afternoon. On Sunday, December 6, 2026, the Del Mar Village Association's North Pole by the Sea runs from 1 to 5 p.m. across the village. Winter Taste & Sip, with tasting stops through the village, music and holiday activities, runs from 1 to 4 p.m. as part of the same day. According to the North Pole by the Sea schedule, the afternoon runs like this:

1. 1 to 4 p.m.: A holiday VW bus photo stop on 15th Street from Monarch Ocean Pub, plus the Rad Hatter party hat craft for kids on the same street.
2. 1 to 4 p.m.: Real snow for kids at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, free and open to the public.
3. 1 to 4 p.m.: Kids' crafts, photos, holiday movies and music at 1312 Camino Del Mar.
4. 1 to 5 p.m.: Letters to Santa on the Del Mar Plaza ocean-view deck, plus carolers and costumed characters roaming the village.
5. 4 to 6 p.m.: Hot chocolate for kids and adult beverages for sale at the Jim Watkins Amphitheater at L'Auberge Del Mar.
6. 5 p.m.: The annual lighting of the downtown tree at the Jim Watkins Amphitheater.

The tree lighting ends at dinnertime, and the house rules on the 1400 block decide where dinner goes from there. A family coming from the amphitheater with children and a dog fits Queenstown's OpenTable reservations and dog menu. A couple who dressed for the evening and don't mind the wait list fits the four-or-fewer, call-ahead model at Honor Bar. On a Sunday, both kitchens close at 9 p.m.

The weekend opens the day before. The Del Mar Foundation's Red Nose Run is listed for Saturday, December 5, at noon on Del Mar beach. That's the kind of morning that ends at Queenstown, which serves its weekend brunch from 9 a.m. and has no dress code on record.

What Else Is on the Village Calendar

There's more on Camino Del Mar before December. The Union-Tribune's November roundup lists a Free Spirits improv performance at Del Mar Town Hall, 1050 Camino Del Mar, on Friday, November 20, from 11 a.m. to noon. It also lists the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's Bing Crosby Season, which runs through November 29.

After the tree lighting, L'Auberge Del Mar keeps the season going with Brunch with Santa on December 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Merry Movie Nights on December 12, 19 and 26 at 6 p.m. All three movie nights fall on Saturdays, when both kitchens stay open until 10 p.m., so a 6 p.m. movie leaves time for dinner at either restaurant afterward. With the closing hours the same, the choice again comes down to the size of your group and what you're wearing.

If you're weighing a move in or around Olde Del Mar and want to know the village at this level, from which door opens first on a Sunday to where to park beneath 1404, The Comiskey Group would be glad to walk Camino Del Mar with you. Work With Us.