Forbidden Cove — Restaurant in San Diego

My friend and I came to Forbidden Cove for the first time tonight. We had an awesome experience! We thoroughly enjoyed the company of the bartender and Kilowatt’s owner, who were both down-to-earth and having a good time.

The cocktails were really good. We tried a few different offerings, plus some off-menu drinks that were fantastic. Everything seemed well-prepared and mixed, and the taste was balanced and delicious.

The bar itself is purposefully kitschy, not something ostentatious like you might find at a Consortium Holdings bar. It’s spacious, well-curated (in a fun and friendly kind of way), and has a homey feel that doesn’t exude any pretension whatsoever. This is a real-deal, down-to-earth tiki bar that brought back memories of ex-pat bars in Vietnam and southern Thailand.

Kilowatt’s owner was exceptionally friendly and welcoming, offering my friend and I some sips of limited rums he had. They were some of the best rums I’ve ever tasted. He also gave us a rundown of the contexts surrounding the rums which was very cool, to say the least.

I highly recommend trying this place out. I’d even go so far as to say that it’s more fun than some of the more well-known Kearny Mesa speakeasies like 52 Remedies and Convoy Music Bar. While those places are great and excel at what they do in their niche, they’re not nearly as down-to-earth, welcoming, and spacious as...

Disappointing Service Went here expecting a decent “speakeasy” experience, but the service was terrible. The staff lacked patience when taking orders and seemed irritated whenever we asked for anything. When we requested more drinks, we were repeatedly overlooked and told they’d return, only to be ignored for over ten minutes.

On top of that, my friend asked for a drink that they clearly had the ingredients for, yet they flat-out refused to make it with no explanation. The worst part? My wife gave up cheese for Lent due to her religious beliefs, and when we asked for the teriyaki chicken without cheese, they acted like it was an impossible request. After some resistance, they finally agreed but then made a rude remark about her belief by bringing out the dish while sarcastically stating it had “extra cheese” just to tease us. Completely unprofessional and disrespectful. Unacceptable service—definitely wouldn’t recommend.

Let me know if you want any final...

👆🏼just because someone has a good experience doesn’t mean another didn’t have a bad experience at the same place. No need to discredit other peoples reviews. Everyday at an establishment has different staff.

So this place has a really cool concept and the aesthetics and how they decorated everything.

Unfortunately my drink really sucked for being $16. It tasted like water down mint/pineapple flavor with no alcohol. And there were just chunks of mint pieces that weren’t edible.

I wish I had a better bartender and maybe someone who wanted to be there and wasn’t having a bad day. She only had my friend and a couple to serve and she was just very flustered very distracted not in a good mood. I clearly barely drank my drink and she didn’t ask if I wanted another one or anything like that. I think this could’ve been a five star experience just from the atmosphere alone, but because of the server/bartender, it was a...