Layes back fast sevice has 2 yr old id didnt have time to get fussy
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Victoria Mccormick-Giebe
This is gotta be the most overpriced restaurant I have ever been to the prime rib was well done all in all not worth the money
Michelle Cardenas
Way too expensive for the preset Christmas menu. The main courses were not good at all, even the mash potatoes tasted pretty bad. The flavor in the sauce did not go well with the prime ribs at all. The only enjoyable part was the dessert, pretty sad.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
Amie Sarte
The service is great, and the patio seating has a nice ambiance. The Prado Paella and Seared Prime Beef Sushi Roll are superb. 2nd visit at The Prado, 12/20/2025. The place was clean and the staff were very nice and welcoming. Again, I ordered my favorite the Paella. It was delicious and flavorful. The Grinch mascot came out to entertain the kids and have pictures with the guests. I highly recommend The Prado in Balboa Park.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Prado Paella, Seared Prime Beef Sushi Roll
Amber
I miss the trio of skewers and the portobello mushroom salad. The menu has changed a fair bit and not really to my tastes, but the food is always fresh and good. This is a special occasion type of restaurant and I visit maybe twice a year. Definitely expensive and there are service fees on top of the prices. Staff is always wonderful and friendly though.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Natali Kiryachenko
It’s an amazing place for dining.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kim Machol
This is a delicious restaurant in Balboa park. Sitting one the terrace looking out at the park is so relaxing. i had the beet and goat cheese salad which is so yummy and a good healthy choice for me to eat out while dieting. The service was friendly.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ricardo Davila
Great food, great service.
Hugo Sanchez
My wife and I have made The Prado our tradition, celebrating every single one of our anniversaries here, including our recent 30th! The food is, without fail, amazingly delicious, and the entire team consistently makes us feel special and valued. The service is on point and impeccable. Everyone is super helpful and efficient. I must specifically highlight a few team members: April—During our 30th anniversary, there was a small hiccup in the service, but April stepped in and was incredibly helpful. She made us feel like we truly matter as clients and handled the issue flawlessly, turning the experience around completely. Wendy—We returned this past Saturday with friends, and we were all totally blown away by the service. Wendy was a fabulous waiter—truly one of the best we've ever had at The Prado. She was efficient, fast, kind, and cordial. Amy—The manager, Amy, also made sure to personally check on us and take excellent care of our table. We are so impressed with the level of attention, service, and delicious food that we will absolutely keep celebrating all our major milestones here. We plan on coming back every year and in 20 years celebrate our 50th! Thank you again, Prado team, for all the great times and service. We love April, Wendy, and Amy! We ordered the Chiken Milanesa, the salmon and my wife ordered Mushroom Rissoto! All were excellent! Please give our compliments to your Chef! The dessserts really hit the spot at the end as well as the drinks!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Chris Bourus
Service was top notch. We were there for Dec Nights (super busy night of the year) GF went to the bathroom and the line was long. Food came out. When she got back to the table they insisted on bringing a new hot dish. We didn't even ask. Way to stay a step ahead of the rest CRG! Can't remember the servers name but what a great employee.
The service was good, but then it was mid-afternoon. I just can't rate this place - Balboa Park deserves better. The taco plate appeared to be greasy meat served in a decent taco, accompanied by a sauce closer to a French Dip than any Mexican inspired sauce. Maybe this is how they please tourists from the Midwest? The Caesar Salad - a bag of lettuce dumped on a plate, followed up with a bag of pre-cut, pre-cooked chicken and a bit of an unknown, uninspired dressing.
The Prado hasn't been a restaurant destination for locals in quite awhile, due to it's mediocre fare, but it was convenient this time, but after this visit, it's clear the Cohn Group doesn't care either. They have have a monopoly on this site so I guess they don't need to try harder....
Avoid it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Mandy Garr
We came here for their set menu for Thanksgiving. It was very good. One of the soups looked like it had sat there for a while, but it still tasted food. The bread was excellent! The bathrooms are outside, but not too far. Decor was a bit random, but still very nice. Overall a good experience. I do think it was a bit overpriced at $80 plus tax and tip for 3 courses. And plus a drink that we got. It was over 400 for 3 of us. Which was a bit much. They also add an extra 5% that wasn't required, but added for price rises. But overall a really good experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
karen maxwell
This is a rare negative review of one of my previously very favorite Cohn restaurants. Having had a great meal and experience for our Christmas Day dinner in '24, we decided on another holiday visit yesterday, for Thanksgiving. Quite the opposite. Courses were rushed; our salads came before our cocktails were served. The turkey dinners had a VERY modest slice of sweet potato, maybe 2 small bites, at best. The dressing was wet, mushy, and tasteless. One of the 3 turkey meals came with 1 very small slice of turkey, and the other had no mashed potatoes at all; apparently whoever dished our plates up just skipped one of them. We did call our server over to call the oversight to his attention, and he came by later and rather unceremoniously plopped a plate down with a couple extra slices of turkey and some mashed potatoes, apparently to make up for the lapse in the kitchen. The server was...well...let's just say he must have been stressed. Granted we were dining outdoors, but our meals arrived sort of lukewarm. And they were definitely cold by the time we finished eating. We had two guest who tried to be polite, but I was embarrassed to have taken them there for what should have been their special holiday treat. It was a disappointing meal. Definitely not up to Cohn standards.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
T Lewis
San Diego native here… and first time to The Prado. The 5 star reviews are interesting, but I imagine many of them are out-of-towners and simply captivated by the whole Balboa Park experience- which already amplifies their critiquing.
I want to preface this review by stating our server Rinn was an absolute doll and gem to this restaurant. She was sweet, friendly, on top of it, and overall just a great server.
But the food left a lot to be desired. Very basic and almost bland. I could’ve made the chicken BLT at home taste better. It was dry and not enough aioli. The mahi sandwich was meh. The fish itself was at least moist but the flavor needed to be kicked up a notch. When you’re serving basic California cuisine, you really need to elevate the seasonings and ingredients. Put some love into it. The cocktails were decently spiked and were pretty good.
Is the food overpriced? Of course. It wouldn’t hurt so much if the food was good, but whatcha gonna do?
Dennis
Everything on the menu is always delicious and first class. The service has always been excellent as well. I frequent this restaurant when I'm in Balboa Park or spending an evening at the old globe theater due to it's proximity. The one criticism I have is that the west end of the outdoor patio has for years had a terrible sewage odor that never seems to get fixed. I don't understand how anyone can ever dine on that side of the outdoor patio. Otherwise, the view, the garden, the menu and service makes Prado on of my favorites in San Diego.
Layes back fast sevice has 2 yr old id didnt have time to get fussy
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This is gotta be the most overpriced restaurant I have ever been to the prime rib was well done all in all not worth the money
Way too expensive for the preset Christmas menu. The main courses were not good at all, even the mash potatoes tasted pretty bad. The flavor in the sauce did not go well with the prime ribs at all. The only enjoyable part was the dessert, pretty sad.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
The service is great, and the patio seating has a nice ambiance. The Prado Paella and Seared Prime Beef Sushi Roll are superb.
2nd visit at The Prado, 12/20/2025. The place was clean and the staff were very nice and welcoming. Again, I ordered my favorite the Paella. It was delicious and flavorful. The Grinch mascot came out to entertain the kids and have pictures with the guests. I highly recommend The Prado in Balboa Park.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Prado Paella, Seared Prime Beef Sushi Roll
I miss the trio of skewers and the portobello mushroom salad. The menu has changed a fair bit and not really to my tastes, but the food is always fresh and good. This is a special occasion type of restaurant and I visit maybe twice a year. Definitely expensive and there are service fees on top of the prices. Staff is always wonderful and friendly though.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
It’s an amazing place for dining.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This is a delicious restaurant in Balboa park. Sitting one the terrace looking out at the park is so relaxing. i had the beet and goat cheese salad which is so yummy and a good healthy choice for me to eat out while dieting. The service was friendly.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food, great service.
My wife and I have made The Prado our tradition, celebrating every single one of our anniversaries here, including our recent 30th! The food is, without fail, amazingly delicious, and the entire team consistently makes us feel special and valued. The service is on point and impeccable. Everyone is super helpful and efficient. I must specifically highlight a few team members: April—During our 30th anniversary, there was a small hiccup in the service, but April stepped in and was incredibly helpful. She made us feel like we truly matter as clients and handled the issue flawlessly, turning the experience around completely.
Wendy—We returned this past Saturday with friends, and we were all totally blown away by the service. Wendy was a fabulous waiter—truly one of the best we've ever had at The Prado. She was efficient, fast, kind, and cordial.
Amy—The manager, Amy, also made sure to personally check on us and take excellent care of our table.
We are so impressed with the level of attention, service, and delicious food that we will absolutely keep celebrating all our major milestones here. We plan on coming back every year and in 20 years celebrate our 50th! Thank you again, Prado team, for all the great times and service. We love April, Wendy, and Amy!
We ordered the Chiken Milanesa, the salmon and my wife ordered Mushroom Rissoto! All were excellent! Please give our compliments to your Chef! The dessserts really hit the spot at the end as well as the drinks!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Service was top notch. We were there for Dec Nights (super busy night of the year) GF went to the bathroom and the line was long. Food came out. When she got back to the table they insisted on bringing a new hot dish. We didn't even ask. Way to stay a step ahead of the rest CRG! Can't remember the servers name but what a great employee.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
The service was good, but then it was mid-afternoon. I just can't rate this place - Balboa Park deserves better. The taco plate appeared to be greasy meat served in a decent taco, accompanied by a sauce closer to a French Dip than any Mexican inspired sauce. Maybe this is how they please tourists from the Midwest?
The Caesar Salad - a bag of lettuce dumped on a plate, followed up with a bag of pre-cut, pre-cooked chicken and a bit of an unknown, uninspired dressing.
The Prado hasn't been a restaurant destination for locals in quite awhile, due to it's mediocre fare, but it was convenient this time, but after this visit, it's clear the Cohn Group doesn't care either. They have have a monopoly on this site so I guess they don't need to try harder....
Avoid it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
We came here for their set menu for Thanksgiving. It was very good. One of the soups looked like it had sat there for a while, but it still tasted food. The bread was excellent! The bathrooms are outside, but not too far. Decor was a bit random, but still very nice. Overall a good experience. I do think it was a bit overpriced at $80 plus tax and tip for 3 courses. And plus a drink that we got. It was over 400 for 3 of us. Which was a bit much. They also add an extra 5% that wasn't required, but added for price rises. But overall a really good experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This is a rare negative review of one of my previously very favorite Cohn restaurants.
Having had a great meal and experience for our Christmas Day dinner in '24, we decided on another holiday visit yesterday, for Thanksgiving. Quite the opposite.
Courses were rushed; our salads came before our cocktails were served. The turkey dinners had a VERY modest slice of sweet potato, maybe 2 small bites, at best. The dressing was wet, mushy, and tasteless. One of the 3 turkey meals came with 1 very small slice of turkey, and the other had no mashed potatoes at all; apparently whoever dished our plates up just skipped one of them. We did call our server over to call the oversight to his attention, and he came by later and rather unceremoniously plopped a plate down with a couple extra slices of turkey and some mashed potatoes, apparently to make up for the lapse in the kitchen.
The server was...well...let's just say he must have been stressed.
Granted we were dining outdoors, but our meals arrived sort of lukewarm. And they were definitely cold by the time we finished eating.
We had two guest who tried to be polite, but I was embarrassed to have taken them there for what should have been their special holiday treat.
It was a disappointing meal. Definitely not up to Cohn standards.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
San Diego native here… and first time to The Prado. The 5 star reviews are interesting, but I imagine many of them are out-of-towners and simply captivated by the whole Balboa Park experience- which already amplifies their critiquing.
I want to preface this review by stating our server Rinn was an absolute doll and gem to this restaurant. She was sweet, friendly, on top of it, and overall just a great server.
But the food left a lot to be desired. Very basic and almost bland. I could’ve made the chicken BLT at home taste better. It was dry and not enough aioli. The mahi sandwich was meh. The fish itself was at least moist but the flavor needed to be kicked up a notch. When you’re serving basic California cuisine, you really need to elevate the seasonings and ingredients. Put some love into it. The cocktails were decently spiked and were pretty good.
Is the food overpriced? Of course. It wouldn’t hurt so much if the food was good, but whatcha gonna do?
Everything on the menu is always delicious and first class. The service has always been excellent as well. I frequent this restaurant when I'm in Balboa Park or spending an evening at the old globe theater due to it's proximity. The one criticism I have is that the west end of the outdoor patio has for years had a terrible sewage odor that never seems to get fixed. I don't understand how anyone can ever dine on that side of the outdoor patio. Otherwise, the view, the garden, the menu and service makes Prado on of my favorites in San Diego.
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