Civico by The Park

My wife took me here for my Birthday as we eat vegan and they have an extensive menu at Civico. In speaking to the server they have had a vegan menu for 7 years and I felt bad I didn’t know that. The neighborhood is very hip, semi-quiet, and looks very safe. We even found street parking about 3 blocks away. The restaurant is pure Italian with a wide array of antipasto, salads, pastas, and second plates. They have both meat and vegan with some vegetarian as well. They have about 50 bottles of wine on the menu and many off menu selections for special occasions. My wife went for the vegan lasagna, which we were told was perfected over the shutdown, and I had the vegan Pesto gnocchi. First off the bread, with accompanying olive oil, was amazing and we had to get extra (all free). The lasagna was top notch and I will order it next time, the vegan cheese and tart red sauce were both perfect. The gnocchi was really good and there pesto is nice. The portions are on the large size and honestly we could have split the lasagna, the waiter told us the portions were “holiday” size. They also brought me a pistachio cannoli as a birthday dessert which was freshly filled and delicious. I highly recommend Civico by the Park and next time we might try their location in Little Italy.

Our waiter was knowledgeable and paced our meal well. The food was good albeit a bit oversalted. It was odd that they served our bread in a brown paper bag. The beet and orange salad with yogurt dressing was very good. The vegan pasta with mushrooms and peas was salty but tasty and I wonder why they thought it necessary to throw Beyond Italian sausage into it, as it added nothing to the dish. The salmon was decent but oversalted. If the tiramisu hadn't been so sad and pathetic, it would have been utterly forgettable. Despite our laughably small table, I liked the sleek and modern decor. This place wasn't spectacular, but we had a decent time here. I dunno, I'd probably come back. Hard to say.

What can I say about Civico other than they are always amazing at what they do. :) My fiance and I have been going to their Little Italy location almost every week and now with their recent opening of Civico by the Park we have a new favorite added to our list! I have had their Parmigiana pizza in both the Calabrian and Pinsa Romana styles and it is heaven -- so much flavor in one bite. I love the cocktail menu that Simona has put together. She made me one of the best cocktails I have ever had which is the Negroni Al Rabarbaro. It's a perfect balance of sweet, herbal and smoky. It made me want to learn to make it at home! Our waiter, Alex, was full of great recommendations and was very attentive. Thank you for providing us such a wonderful experience! Their outdoor experience is great and a little more peaceful being next to Balboa Park. Overall the experience is wonderful, staff is ALWAYS amazing and attentive. I want to give a shoutout to Simona. She has been oustanding since day one at Civico 1845 and I am so happy that she recommended we check out Civico by the Park. I have since recommended it to friends and everyone I know that loves good food. I can't wait to go back and try more dishes!

The absolute perfect atmosphere for brunch. The staff were so polite and attentive. I ordered the French toast with the table side gelato and the seafood pasta. The food was absolutely divine. Would highly recommend this spot!

Tonight was my first time at Civico By The Park. Food is absolutely delicious, authentic Italian food served in a beautiful hip meets elegant environment by a first-rate service team. Awesome meal. Can’t wait to go back.

Thank you Peter for an excellent service. The food and coffee was amazing. I recommend this place for a good brunch and excellent customer service. French toast and dolce latte perfect brunch to choose.

What a big disappointment! Second time dining here. First time was an overall good experience. This time, one appetizer did not come as advertised on the menu. We were told the reason was the kitchen ran out of zucchini. They just didn't put it on the plate or say anything. One dinner entree came to the table cold. Salad came to the table after all the entrees. Exact cocktails came to the table one with olives and one without. Not sure what is going on with this place. With the prices that you pay for this place you should get consistent good service and better than average food and drinks. That wasn't happening today

Served us rotten food. Scallop appetizer is $17 and is 2 whole scallops. The dish had pomegranate seeds that were "fizzy" (started to ferment). I asked them to check with the kitchen about it. The server came back several times and never updated us until I asked again, at which point he said that the kitchen removed them. No offer to comp the scallops, no profuse apology! How much do you want to bet that they just served the scallops later that night without pomegranate seeds like in the other review where the kitchen ran out of zucchini? To add to that the lemon cucumber had clearly been sliced far in advance from the wilted texture (not crunchy) and the vinaigrette that was spoke of on the menu was nowhere to be found. My pappardelle contained short rib meat that was devoid of flavor like they had boiled it--could have been paper pulp and I wouldn't have noticed the difference. Disappointed for the price. I regret that I did not walk out after the scallops. We should all be fed up with restaurants like this. They have another location in Little Italy which should have been a warning to me: most restaurants in that area cater to tourists and are not particularly good. It's likely the sole reason they do well down there.