Panama 66
| Address: | 1450 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101, USA |
| Phone: | +1 619-696-1966 |
| Site: | panama66.com |
| Rating: | 4.4 |
| Working: | 11AM–5PM 11AM–5PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 10AM–10PM 10AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
NO
Noel Meza
This place could be incredible. But the wait time and service kill it. This place is not worth your money. The food is good, but you have to wait a lifetime to receive it. For the wait, price, and location, my standards were higher. Panama 66 disappointed me. The place is an outdoor, no-roof restaurant (it would be bad if it rained). You order at a booth in the front. The wait time during lunch on the weekend to order is about 10 - 15 minutes. My friends and I ordered burgers, salads, and delicious garlic fries. We had beers too. The beers were pretty good. The burger was OK. The garlic fries were delicious. In fact, delicious enough for us to order one more serving of garlic fries after we had finished eating. We waited for 15 minutes for a small order of garlic fries. At that point, I called a waiter aside to ask him about the garlic fries. He acted surprised that we had ordered fries, as if there was no record of our order. He said they would be out soon. We waited another 10 minutes. I politely but assertively requested that they bring out the fries as soon as possible, since we wanted to go to the zoo and we had already been there for almost a half hour. This time they brought it out within a minute. To me, it appeared they gave us someone elses order so we wouldnt have to wait any longer. I wouldnt be surprised if they completely forgot about our order. The selection for food places in this part of Balboa Park are limited, so its extremely disappointing that this place was not better. I understand that they can get extremely busy. But having to wait 25 minutes for an order of fries that they forgot to bring out is unacceptable. Time is valuable. Especially for tourists, such as my friends who I had invited. For my out-of-town friends to have to wait 25 minutes for one order of fries is not OK. And it cut into our time to go to the Zoo. This establishment needs to improve their organization, communication, and turn-around time for food and orders. Overall, not worth your money. I would definitely suggest bringing your own food and/or snacks and having a picnic. Come to this place for beer and/or refreshments. And if you have time to kill, or you came to Balboa Park to eat instead of sightsee, then this place isnt bad. But the experience did not impress me.
NI
Nicole Ramirez
Honestly, I loved this place until I was kicked out because my dog was deemed as a danger to everyone in the vicinity since he barked once and tried to bite the waiters shoe. I saw it happen and my dog barely could even bite. Just to put into perspective, my dog is 9 pounds, a yorkie, and he can barely fit a golf ball in between his mouth. The manager comes up to me 10 seconds after and says that my dog bit his waiter and I need to leave, that there were two children already bitten by dogs. Seriously? If my dog is such a threat then why didnt he go and bite the manager when he came up to my table? Its as if it was my fault, on my conscience that those children were bitten. Yes my dog is protective, but you cant ask me to go to an isolated area of the outdoor restaurant or to the grass instead of booting me out? I did not take ONE bite of my sandwich, and I was already asked to leave. IF I was with a group of people instead of just me and my dog Im sure I would be treated differently. Guess whos not ever coming back to this place? Yes, it is I, as well as every one of my friends who has dogs, just like half the freaking population of San Diego county.
JE
Jenn Coronado
I have such a love/hate relationship with this restaurant. The location is good, ambiance nice, the food and drinks are yummy. Its a great place to hang out. Particularly on a weekend afternoon with friends. That said, prices are a bit high. Also, my most recent visit was disappointing. I was in the park for less than an hour for lunch, so I showed up 5 minutes before their posted opening time of 11am. The restaurant was open - in that the doors were all open and the bar was open, but they werent taking orders yet. I spoke with one of the employees at the cash register and she said theyd be open soon. I took a seat at the bar, right next to the register, to wait. About 3 minutes in, she said shed take my order soon. The next thing I know, an older lady walks up - and the employee takes her order. Then another group walks up - and she takes their order. I understand not wanting to send all these people back to their tables for just a minute or two until opening time, but I was completely unacknowledged. I chose just to leave.
MA
Matthew Hundley
There are several restaurants in the Balboa Park complex. Panama 66 sits adjacent to the Art Museum. Seating is outdoors. For lunch you order at the counter and then your food is brought to your table. I did get an amazing IPA (sorry I have forgotten which brewery). The guy taking our order was friendly. We waited a while and eventually got our fries that were supposed to go with our sandwich - but served as appetizer. Twenty minutes later our sandwiches came. Not sure what the snafu was. Fries were OK. For a sandwich I had the Panko Crusted Mushroom Lentil Patty (House-Made Patty, Pickled Veg, Chipotle Tahini, Cilantro and Butter Lettuce on Focaccia). I was good. I think a different bread choice would make it better. All in all this was a good lunch. I liked the location and that they had several veg/vegan options.
CO
Courtney Hartmann
Much like Tiger! Tiger! and BLAH, I loved it. I figured I would, but its good to know I wasnt wrong. I had the P66 Club on a blistering hot day that was made better only by the shade of several large umbrellas and a container of ice cold water sitting by the register. The sandwich was delicious, filling, and the best part was the aioli they put on it. They have a thing with their sauces that are so addicting. I love the aioli on the pork belly banh mi at Tiger! Tiger! -- is it the same? I had to order the curry fries, a big helping per the usual, and enjoyed the spot of sitting outside in one of my favorite areas of San Diego. Next time I shall return on a cooler day, but also, I like the addition of this eatery because Balboa Park has free Wi-Fi, so another place to add to my rotating "offices."
YA
Yapha Kimmons
I think this place is awesome because there is live music from time to time. I have never eaten here before until today. I wish I would have just waited to eat somewhere else. Let me explain, I order a sandwich and the natural thing is to ask for fries and they are out.of.fries, the reasoning is that they have a small kitchen and can not keep up with the demand of fries...mmmmm. ok. Then their online menu is not up to date so ok again. I will update and hope the food that I was able to procure is good. Chicken sausage sandwich.......stay tuned.....ok so the sandwich took awhile and was lukewarm, what saved it for sure is the dressing and the deliciously soft bread. I unfortunately would not go out of my way to eat here again.
