Swami's Cafe North Park — Restaurant in San Diego

I go to certain restaurants for a couple of simple reasons, good food & service and the ability to relax and have a good conversation with family & friends. Swami's in North Park pretty much fits my expectations.

My first visit was on a Sunday afternoon about an hour before they closed at 4:00pm. It was relatively empty except for about six to eight other patrons. It's a very spacious restaurant which is usually conducive to enjoying your meal and espacially conversation.

My initial reaction was the loudness of the music being played. It was extremely loud, to the point of almost yelling to be heard at my wife sitting across the table from me. It was more like being in a loud dance club rather than a restaurant. Now this might have been the case because it was very close to their closing time and the staff were already clearing tables & starting to shut down. I hope that this was the case as I plan to go back often for the main reason I go to restauarnts...The Food & Service!

Swami's gets my 5-stars simply for this reason. I ordered the Eggs Benidict with ham. The portion was sizable, but more importantly it was really good. I'm a really good home chef, trained at many cooking schools worldwide, so I make comparisons to what I cook for myself, friends & family. I must say I was impressed...I may just have to eat the Eggs Benidict here rather than making it at home...It's really Good! My wife ordered tha Acai Bowl and kept raving about it throughout our meal, although I could hardly hear what she was saying because the music was so loud.

The service was outstanding with the waiter being very attentive to our needs. My wife made the orservation that all of the staff standing around the bar looked related and like family. When we went to leave they all joined in thanking us for visiting their restaurant. We all chatted for a few minutes and they made us feel like we had just had dinner at a friends home. They are in our neighboorhood and we plan to visit our "New" friends very often

By the way, the menu looks very diverse with many inticing variations of classic meals. I'm really looking forward to many...

Authentic Mexican Burrito was just food. The burrito had a nice presentation with a side of fruit (or potatoes) and salsa. Unfortunately it was disappointing, especially after the website reviews made it seem as if it was one of their best burritos (and according to some in the SD area); it is not!

The inside of the burrito looked nothing like the pictures. It was essentially egg, with some Jalapenos and red onions; but only tasted of onions. There was almost no cheese in the burrito (unless it was in the eggs), the tomatoes were just skins because they were probably cooked down in the eggs adding to the water eggs. The jalapenos tasted of chlorophyll. It says there is supposed to be guacamole but it was really a sliver of avocado and that single bite was decent. There was Zero bell pepper in the burrito. Amazingly the fruit was all the same flavor, under ripe yet aged. 2 types of melon, blueberries, and pineapple. The pineapple had huge seeds in it from poor preparation. The side salsa was decent.

Started with a 3 start review but after writing the review realized how bad it actually was for what I paid and how long I waited. It wasn't busy so I have no idea why it took so long to get bad food. Overall atmosphere is nice and the location is good but this was a bad first experience. Sorry no pics, just...

My wife and i eat swamies regularly and have always enjoyed there food and service. We recently went the north park location. My complaint relates to Swamis animal policy. State law prohibits animals such as dogs, cats, monkeys etc from being inside the building of any dine in restaurant establishment. Apparently swamis management has not been visited by the health dept and told they cannot do this or they just don't care. A family sitting behind my wife and I had 2 dogs that started barking inside the restaurant. Not more than 6 feet away from us. Not only did the people who owned the dogs not care or do anything about it but neither did the employees. UNBELIEVABLE!! These were not therapy or service dogs either. Because if they were they would have been trained not to bark inside.... This is direct message to management. REGULAR pets are not permitted inside the building of your restaurant. This is in direct violation of the city health ordinance. You should not be allowing barking dogs to remain inside the restaurant and let your employees have the authority to tell customers to politely take there yapping dogs outside so as to not disturb the other patrons. I will be checking back in 2 weeks and if your policy has not changed the health debt will be notified. And I'm not...