From DJs that party through the night to rock cover bands that bring new life to old classics, The Coyote Bar and Grill is bursting each night with exhilarating live music. But how did this restaurant get to where it is today?

Founded by five men in the year 1989, The Coyote Bar and Grill, also known simply as The Coyote, has remained prosperous and continues to flourish with new entertainment and customers.

Though the restaurant and its live music have been popular with residents and tourists ever since it opened, it hasn’t always been a straightforward process.

“Our live entertainment, we’ve always had it, we’ve always fought to keep it,” General Manager Aaron Williams said. “Through the years we’ve gone through ups and downs with different groups that complain about the entertainment, they don’t want us to have it, so it’s been a struggle.”

Noise complaints are inevitable for any live music venue, but especially in a smaller community like Carlsbad Village where people live nearby. More serious concerns arise, however, when the concept of “too much” entertainment in one area is considered.

“[The city was] putting a lot of pressure to try to do away with people’s entertainment licenses and make us jump through a lot more hoops to be able to retain them,” Williams said. “But we just met it head-on and complied with everything they did and tried to keep a good relationship with the city.”

On top of problems with the city itself, they have also encountered issues with the neighboring businesses. According to Williams, tenants nearby have even requested that The Coyote stop their live music altogether so that they can reinvent their own restaurants in a similar way. However, given that The Coyote has been grandfathered into their entertainment license, this request just won’t be met.

Despite a number of challenges along the way, The Coyote Bar and Grill is thriving now more than ever. 

“We’ve certainly had different influxes of business, but we’re still very steady, very strong. We still continue to beat our sales every year,” said Williams.

The restaurant continues to drive in a larger audience as time goes on. The typical perspective on Coyote is that it hosts an older audience, but this isn’t exactly true. In reality, it’s more commonly a mix of ages; it just depends on the time the customer attends.

When asked if it has always been an older crowd that attended, Williams said, “I would say it’s very eccentric – in the earlier part of the evenings, yeah it tends to be a bit of an older crowd that kind of transitions to a younger crowd as the night goes on.” 

He continues, ”But also I would say that it’s the same people that have been coming here for 30 years; they’re just getting older.”

Williams’ words are essential to what The Coyote is all about: community. 

If customers go there enough, they start to see the same faces again and again and realize that each night, the crowd is made up mostly of returning people. Everyone knows each other and it makes for an exciting and more personal experience as the attendees get to know each other. 

Mike, one of the many regulars at The Coyote, has been coming to the restaurant since the 1990s. When asked what his favorite part about the place is, he said, “The sense of community. There’s not a lot of us locals left but we have a tendency to stick together.”

The same goes for the bands; over the course of 34 years, they’ve come and gone, but typically, the guests are no strangers to the current bands and their members. It’s all just one big family.

With its long history of quality entertainment and community, it’s no mystery why The Coyote Bar and Grill attracts the number of people it does.