Carbon Angela’s Kitchen — Restaurant in San Diego

I wanted to take my wife out to a nice place for lunch on a beautiful Saturday in San Diego. She begged me to take her to Red Lobster or Olive Garden. But I thought, 'Let's go to a really nice, highly rated restaurant in South Park.' Boy oh boy, did I get egg on my face.

The rating of this place dumbfounds me. San Diegans, of which I am one, know next to nothing about good food or fine dining. This place can only have good reviews because of those who live right in this neighborhood, or people who come from a place with bland food. Based upon the reviews, it seems as though people are far more impressed when a dish is presented well than by its taste.

For starters, it's not worth the drive for anyone coming from outside the South Park neighborhood. There is no parking, and it is way, way, way overpriced.

Unlike the many reviews below, we were not even offered a single piece of complimentary bread. They charge $5 for every refill of tea you get. I ordered a duck pasta, and it barely had any duck in it. It did not have enough duck in it to amount to even a single wing (duck wings are smaller than chicken wings). It was almost all pasta and sauce, and it cost over $30. My wife ordered braised short ribs (plural). She received one tiny piece of rib meat with no bone (nothing like the plated photo below my review) on a bed of risotto that had zero flavor and was mush (risotto is typically a creamy, savory Italian rice dish), for $36 or $38. Their food is mediocre at best and a huge disappointment, especially considering the overly high ratings and rave reviews from other diners. There was one good item that we had, smashed (not mashed) potatoes with truffle oil.

WARNING: Don't waste your money, and don't be deceived by the yokal reviews. The service was fine, the ambiance seemed okay; however, they have cheap metal chairs with no cushions, the kind that make you want to leave early due to discomfort. In conclusion, there are many superior restaurants in San Diego, and some of them are very near this joint. You have...

Carbon or better known as "Carbon Angela's Kitchen" of South Park, San Diego, is one of those hidden gems in San Diego. It may not be the largest eatery or the most popular with the social media food bloggers, but it is one thing for sure, this place has heart.

The skirt steak with red pepper chimichurri and a side of organic mixed vegetables is a perfect example of an idea and food preparation that comes straight from the love of food and all its complexities.

The tender skirt steak was perfectly temped at medium rare and came with great flavor from the charring of the grill. The red bell pepper chimichurri packed a lot of flavor. Although delicious, I would recommend they ease a bit back on the quantity, so not to obscure the natural flavor of the steak. In any case, the meal was delicious and very pleasing on the eye. The steak cost $26.

The organic vegetables were not only well seasoned but nicely prepared to a al dent bite. I like that the place came with a good mix and quantity. There are several other sides to choose from.

To start my meal, I had the Arugula Salad. The salad was wonderful. In addition to the peppery arugula, the salad also came with red onion, bell pepper, sliced avocado, manchego cheese, walnuts, and a delicious lemon vinaigrette dressing. I do recommend this salad. The salad cost $13. Oh yes, I also had the cheesecake with Guava Compote. It was delicious!

Maria was my my server, and she was fantastic. At the time, she was the only server on the floor when the eatery opened, and it was quite impressive watching her glide from table to table welcoming and seating quest, explaining the specials of the night at each table, bring freshly baked bread, taking orders, and bringing food to the tables, and even bussing. On top of all of that, she was super sweet...

I needed to come on here and express my utter disappointment in my experience with Carbon last night.

I would consider myself and my husband regulars. We dined in once and few months back and absolutely loved it. Due to the tight space and longer waits, we often opt to order take out from here and it’s ALWAYS delicious. For me, their food is 5/5 stars always, and very consistent.

Last night, we decided to dress up and go out for dinner. We walked up and asked how long the wait was for a table. We were quoted 20-30 minutes. We were completely fine with that. After standing outside 40 minutes (around 7:40ish), we checked online availability for reservations and saw one open for 8pm, so we booked it to help our chances in getting a table. By 8:35 or so (yes, that’s about a 1.5 hour wait), we were finally sat. The waiter took our drink and food orders almost immediately (we had 1.5 hours to decide what we wanted). Our drink orders took a while to come out. After a total of another 40 minutes of sitting at the table, our food still had not arrived. We decided to leave and cut our losses. We were just so frustrated, tired, hungry, and humiliated, we wanted out.

Seeing as they were seating all reservations well after their time, not just us, I couldn’t help but feel like they could have handled it all better. The waiter could have come to our table, even just once, to update us on the status of the food. They could have brought more bread while we waited instead of waiting for us to wave someone down to ask for it. They could have refilled our drinks. Nope. The hostess could have been more honest about the back up from the start. There were so many missed opportunities here. I will not be dining in here moving forward. Probably will stick...