ARTIFACT at Mingei — Restaurant in San Diego

The only reason I'm giving two stars is because the food is scrumptious. I wouldnt mind how overover priced it is if it had as good enough service as the food.

We were "greeted" by a confused and apathetic hostess. After we say the initial hello and ask for a table she lets us know that there is open space at the bar. We walk ourselves and seat ourselves and have to call over the bar back who was just observing with his arms crossed to at least bring us a menu.

Next we get greeted by our server/barista after she greets the two ladies that sat AFTER us. I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she was a bit distracted.

I'd like to think the best and assume that they're still polishing out the details of a new restaurant. I know the service industry dies down for the winter and starts to pick up mid february so maybe theyre still shaking off the cobwebs. I love the idea of a chic little spot to get a bite at balboa. Especially after having worked at the restaurant/bar next door to them and seeing how they treated the previous long term chef there. Since then balboa park has been missing good quality food and this place seems to be hitting right on the button....but that service.

Continuing, the drinks and our first app arrive, everything is so good we start to forget about the bad service until our second app came around. We recieved an extra order of soup from either a food runner or another pair of extra hands. We inform them that we only ordered one and they promptly removed the extra plate. We finish both of our apps and nearly our whole $8 lemonade when our server finally touches table with us and asks if she can get us anything else to which we inform her that we are missing our main entree. She admits she forgot to ring it in and we had to remind her which plate we had actually gotten. She apologized and "rushed" the order. The food was amazing to be honest. The only time the MOD touched table with us was to take our money. Classy.

We were in a time crunch and this really ruined our only day off. Anyone else that works in the restaurant industry can appreciate the value of it.

Im really cheering for this place, especially with the good food they got. That being said I hope the quality and standards of the food maintain its simplicity and excellence. In the meantime, some serious re-training for FOH and maybe get the MOD more hands on, should help with labor too, in case theyre...

Who among us doesn’t enjoy a pleasant surprise? We got one Saturday at Balboa Park.. After walking around 3 hours in that astonishing place, we needed “ park” food and a comfortable seat.. It was all we were hoping for…. What we got was a Michelin Star dining experience…. Having traveled extensively for business and pleasure for 50 years - I have been exposed to the best and worst of restaurants…. The food and service here were impeccable…. We were greeted and seated by Alicia. She had an honest and infectious joy about her job…excellent start…. Emiliano arrived and continued the theme with a smile and genuine professionalism…. Being our first visit, we asked for recommendations…. He did not recommend the most expensive items on the menu, but rather those that he had tried himself and enjoyed …. He was honest with one item said “it’s a best seller, but I haven’t tried it”.. We followed his advice and ordered Vietnamese style pork (think PF Chang delicate lettuce wrap with a spicy Vietnamese meatball ) only elevated with pickled carrots and cilantro.. We also had the fresh beet and asian pear salad .. extraordinary ! The star of the show was the Seabass in a coconut ginger sauce with a side of garlic pesto flatbread.. I have had equally delicious meals elsewhere but this is a “one in a hundred” you could expect in Tokyo, Paris or Berlin…. Not at the park. DO NOT miss...

Wow. I was not expecting this place to be this good. My wife and I are at Balboa Park all the time and saw this area being put together a bit ago, but didn’t visit until today. I was expecting it to be more of cafeteria type food because of the look and set up of the interior tables, but what they offer couldn’t be further from cafeteria food. It was terrific. We sat outside because we had our dogs with us and it was a beautiful day. They have a large drink list, full bar and menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We shared the rock shrimp dumplings, little gem salad, and the Cubano sandwich. The dumplings were ABSOLUTE STARS. They came in this terrific bonito flake broth with delicious shishito peppers. I just wish I would have asked for a spoon to get all of that delicious broth. The salad was nice and fresh. The cubano was great because it had all the delicious flavor of the cubano but somehow seemed lighter. My wife had a sangria and a Malbec, both of which she said she enjoyed. Will definitely be back for happy hour and dinner. I definitely prefer the outdoor seating as you get glimpses of the beauty of Balboa Park. Inside, while very nice, looks a lot more… casual?...