"Beautiful Restaurant in Balboa Park After exploring Balboa Park for a few hours, this is the place to be for a cocktail or lunch. The food is really good, and the chef has won multiple awards over the years. They've got great mojitos, and my new favorite drink, the caipirinha (sugar cane liquor). I really like the beet salad, which consists of different varieties of beets sprinkled with goat cheese. There's indoor and patio seating, but who wants to sit inside on a beautiful San Diego sunny day? The outside patio overlooks part of the park and inside is filled with eclectic decor. The zoo is right next door, so when we have out of town guests, we'll just walk over after exploring the zoo and have lunch or an early dinner. The Prado does have online reservation system and I recommend using it or calling ahead unless you are going to be here right when they open at 11 a.m. It can get crowded really quickly, especially on the weekends."