Best Restaurants for Birthdays in San Diego

Very smart for the restaurant to cut back slightly on food amounts instead of jacking up prices or decreasing quality of food and seasonings. Everyone is still full and there is less food waste, while keeping the restaurant profitable.

Fabulous food, cozy ambiance & gracious service. This is a family favorite restaurant, and we love coming to Cesarina to celebrate special occasions. The pastas & antipasti are all so delicious. The carpaccio is superb & sliced so thin it's transparent. My husband always orders a pasta allo scoglio (seafood pasta), my daughter pasta with bolognese, and my son & I usually order a house special - which is oftentimes a ravioli or other stuffed pasta. Also, be sure to save room for the absolute best tiramisu ever. It's an easily shareable dessert... and it's made tableside & completely out of this world delicious! My daughter loves Cesarina so much that we've celebrated a family lunch together at the restaurant for the past few birthdays :) The staff are always so warm & friendly, and we've loved the keepsake Polaroids of her every year! Mille grazie, and thank you so much for making every meal so memorable.

First time dining here, I celebrated my 30th birthday. I received a sweet birthday postcard and had an AMAZING waitress named Sky. She was very kind, informative and just sooo sweet!! All of the food was beyond delicious. I have never been to a restaurant where I can say the food, service and atmosphere was all a 10/10. When I say everything was a 100/10, I am not being dramatic. We ordered about 7 or 8 dishes for the table and shared (between 4 people). Each bite was savory and melt in your mouth delicious. The drinks were yummy as well. I wholeheartedly recommend, I can’t wait to go back!!

Third time and by far the most consistently excellent dining experience we’ve had in San Diego. The sourdough was lovely, especially the butter that came with… the biscuit also had great texture and a lovely sage butter. The baba ganoush plate was great though a little bread heavy and not quite enough BG. Pork belly outstanding on all accounts. The large steak for two was cooked perfectly, though the potato skin on the stuffed potato was a bit oily (probably just needs higher temperature on the oil or a change of oil). We are dessert people (hey Claire Saffitz) so we had the apple pie ice cream, orange creamsicle sorbet, and the “Ferrero Rocher.” All outstanding. Still our favorite celebration spot in SD.

Balboa Park is beautiful, especially during the Christmas season. The receptionist has a big beautiful welcoming smile and we were seated promptly. The cocktails were delicious (Old Fashioned and raspberry lemon drop). The servers and waitress (Brittany) were very attentive. The food was excellent, as always. Beef sushi roll (who knew?!), the Caesar salad, the short ribs - tender and so flavorful. The Prado never disappoints!