The PRADO at Balboa Park

Honestly - choosing the Prado was one of the most important decisions we made. They had everything completely under control. The food is AMAZING (understandably as it comes from their fabulous restaurant), the staff was friendly, professional, and everything was just perfect. When we thought it might rain they worked with our coordinator to help make sure our backup plan was in place (though luckily we didn't need it). We used the Loggia room, for a smaller wedding, and the whole ambiance was just exactly what we were hoping for. Thanks so...

The Prado was an absolutely beautiful wedding venue. . . all of my guests agreed that it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever been to! The setting is absolutely amazing and allows for beautiful photos throughout Balboa Park, and the food is great. The ballroom is beautiful and offers plenty of space for big weddings. One downside is that anything extra that you may want to add on gets pretty pricey ($24 per person for late-night tacos!?!?), but the Prado staff was very flexible and allowed us to find ways to stay within our budget. We loved having our wedding at this venue and highly recommend it!

We decided to get married at the Prado a full year in advance of our wedding and throughout the process, Andrea Pena was an absolute delight to work with. Since we were planning the wedding from out of town, we only had weekends available to come and meet with her and she was extremely flexible with our schedule. Over the course of the past year, I never worried that I was forgetting to do anything because Andrea would always contact me with upcoming to dos. She always responded back to me in little to no time at all, which calms a lot of nerves when you're a bride. I will be eternally grateful to her for making my dream wedding come true in the Grand Ballroom. The Prado is one of the best kept secrets when it comes to wedding venues as it is not only one of the most beautiful locations in San Diego, but it also is a great value for your money. We have nothing but good things to say about our experience with Andrea and the Prado. They are truely the ultimate wedding professionals!

Beautiful sight and great staff. Marcy is spectacular to work with!

Choosing a wedding venue can be more overwhelming than winning a spot in Hollywood on American Idol. And finding the perfect location in a destination city like San Diego can be even more daunting. A wedding will always be a memorable occasion, but picking the right location will only enhance it. One could get married at a place of worship, a private home, a restaurant, a hotel or the beach just to name a few areas (unless you are Prince William, where there may be a couple of additional choices!) so there are many factors that can go into making your final decision. After extensive research and visits to multiple locations, like the most powerful magnet, we kept getting attracted to The Prado at Balboa Park. And what a fantastic choice it was! Although The Prado has historical significance, each of the letters in the name has equal significance to us. The “P” stands for Presentation, Preparation, and Price (and who wouldn’t want those three items for anything, but especially for a wedding?!). Marcy Melley of the Prado was our contact and she made sure everything was to our detailed specifications. She was in constant contact with us and made sure this part of our wedding was stress-free. Her experience and professionalism was superb! Of course there are locations that are less expensive, but like the old adage says….. you get what you pay for! The “R” stands for Reception. The Reception room is one of the most important aspects of a wedding. All of us have been to at least one wedding where something has gone wrong with the reception (the room was too small, the chairs were uncomfortable, the temperature was too hot or cold, the lighting was bad, or the food was terrible). With our wedding EVERYTHING was perfect! The room was tailored to our party size and the attention to every little detail was unsurpassed. The “A” stands for Aesthetics. The beauty of The Prado is Amazing! With a wishing well and a beautiful fountain as the backdrop, our wedding could have been a scene out of the most romantic novel or movie. And for any bride and groom looking at a wedding magazine, it is likely you will find a picture of a wedding taking place at The Prado. The “D” stands for Dinner. Our dinner was one of the finest meals for any occasion! The Prado has been named one of America’s top 10 restaurants by Gourmet Magazine and they have received the coveted four star award by the California Restaurant writers’ association. We received the highest quality of food with the best service. Any food critic would give this restaurant and chef two big thumbs up! And of course the dish washers have the easiest job, because there is no food left on any plate! The “O” stands for Outstanding! A wedding is an event to remember for a lifetime, and The Prado has guaranteed this to happen. Indeed everything was outstanding! From the professionalism and experience of The Prado staff, to the exquisite meals, to the beauty of the surroundings The Prado is the perfect destination for any bride and groom!

We had our wedding reception at The Prado. It was the first and only place we looked at for our reception venue! I knew long before I was engaged that I wanted my reception there. At first glance, the grand ballroom looks rather simple and old. But once it is decorated and lit properly, it looks absolutely amazing. Our theme had a lot of Spanish-Italian influences, (since I am part Spanish and my husband is Italian) so the ambiance was perfect for our wedding style. Marcy Melley, our coordinator at The Prado, was amazing. We planned our entire wedding reception with her mostly over the phone and via email since we don't live in San Diego, and she ALWAYS responded right away and answered every single question I had about anything and everything at The Prado. And when we were finally in town for the wedding and met with her in person to discuss final details, she was always on point, professional, fun, and super helpful. She was even accommodating and patient when my husband's father (who was not so welcome in our wedding planning process but took it upon himself to talk to her) had some less than polite thoughts on our wedding reception and decided to tell her. (Talk about embarrassing!) Marcy is truly a professional and she made the wedding planning process infinitely easier and much more enjoyable. On our wedding day, it rained...A LOT. So things had to move around at the last minute and we didn't get to have our cocktail reception in the fountain courtyard like we had planned. But the staff at The Prado made it all work out and everyone had a grand time. There were two other events happening at the same time, and we were all confined to the building due to the rain, but somehow it all worked out perfectly. The synchronized service was fabulous, the banquet captain was attentive and introduced himself to my husband and I at the reception and checked in on us throughout the night, and our guests had nothing but praise for the wait staff. One guest couldn't eat the first course (lobster bisque) due to a food allergy, and without asking he was offered a salad instead. I somehow managed to leave behind our scrapbook from our photo booth, but the staff kept it safe and on Monday morning, Marcy notified us right away that she had it for us. *Whew!* Though The Prado is quite pricey, we have nothing but praise. Food was great, people were great, room was great, EVERYTHING was great. :)

WOW, the Prado is an amazing wedding venue and as soon as we got engaged, we knew we didn't want another venue. The architecture and setting is so beautiful and the surrounding area in Balboa Park is the perfect setting for a wedding. All our guests are still taking about the gorgeous ballroom, the beautiful courtyard (where we had cocktail hour), and the lovely outside setting of our ceremony. Also, we worked with Andrea, who was such a sweetheart and very attentive to my questions, but everyone we met there were very friendly and helpful. We also took most of our wedding pictures around the Prado and all over Balboa Park and I still love looking at how beautiful the setting is. Also, the food is delicious and our guests keep talking about how delicious everything was (we had the buffet!).

Overall Prado provided very nice ceremony site, service quality, and catering service. We had a great beautiful wedding. The only thing to take note is that they may overcharge your beverage. They did so to us and we had to ask for detailed beverage consumption and got back to them. They did refund those over-charge. It's a wonderful spot to hold your wedding!

The Prado was so accomodating and great to work with. They were flexible with our requests. The only thing that I have to complain about is that I asked to be served all of my cake flavors, and it didn't happen. The team is very professional and really know what they are doing. The service was great and the food was wonderful. I couldn't be more pleased with how our reception went! It was beautiful!

The Prado was the perfect venue for our ceremony and reception, they did an outstanding job! Our guests raved about the ceremony setting, the amazing food (we did the filet and shrimp for dinner) and the gorgeous ballroom for our reception. Everyone at the Prado was great to work with, especially Sally who was our catering manager.

GORGEOUS VENUE!!! Andrea Pena was a true professional!! She was so flexible and extremely attentive to our specific needs and requests. VERY MILITARY FRIENDLY!! Loggia room was perfect and the food was outstanding!!! A great price for an exquisite and elegant event. We could not have asked for a more perfect day!!

My overall experience was good. The ballroom is amazing and the food is great. Their service was good, but I wish they would do a better job at explaining all the aspects and timeline better. If you don't ask, it won't be explained to you. Make sure you read the contract very carefully and that the price won't change for the year that your wedding takes place verses when you sign the contract. Mine did. We eventually got our original price, but it was another stressor that we hadn't expected that we had to take care of.

I loved this vendor! The Prado is so easy to work with, the food was incredible and the space was beautiful. The coordinator Marcy Melley is a dream. She is always very quick to respond and helpful with suggestions! Amazing!! if you can afford it, do it! You won't regret it!

This venue is wonderful for any events - the ballroom is gorgeous, and the service is impeccable. It is pricy, however it seems fairly reasonable for a venue of its caliber in the area.

The most beautiful venue ever

This was a great place to have a wedding. The Prado matched our expectations. The food was great, everybody liked every dish and the facilities structured helped with the logistics. For the ceremony they have a great patio Spanish style, surrounded by flowers with a center fountain, the rain didn't help but it was great otherwise.

Overall, delicious. They are a bit spendy and they don't have a lot of flexibility but we really enjoyed it.

Reception Dinner: The Prado Restaurant, Balboa Park Wow…the Prado went above and beyond expectation! Mind you, this is NOT the same as the package they have when you get married at the Prado, this is simply a "group dinner" you can have for any kind of party, not normally for weddings. We chose to go this route because we had a very small wedding (20 guests) and did not require the usual DJ/Dancing/Etc. They offered us four menus ranging in price from 35 to 50 dollars a plate. Each menu had a choice of appetizer, three main course choices (all looked delicious) and they substituted a wedding cake for a dessert choice. That’s right, substituted, not “charged extra” for it! We dealt with Rita, the manager. She was difficult to get a hold of, both by email and phone because she is so busy. We ended up choosing a $45 dollar menu offering top sirloin, pork osso buco (sp?) or mahi mahi. Oh my gosh I could eat there every day. The pastry chef, Penny Watkins made our cake just hours before the wedding and it was DELICIOUS. It was a simple chocolate cake with fruit between the layers and white frosting. It was topped with some stargazer lilies from my florist Eris Wilson. The Prado also gave us a private room for our dinner. It was out of the way from the main restaurant so we had plenty of privacy. The room was a bit dark but it was beautifully put together. I wouldn’t have changed a thing! Extremely classy venue. http://cohnrestaurants.com/cohn/pradobalboa/restaurant.html