Cafe Mingei

Bert and I were at Balboa Park this weekend for the Balboa Park Centennial 2015 Philippine American Celebration (BPC2015PAC). TC was with the troup getting ready for their performance.

We didn't have our morning coffee yet and I'd been meaning to try Cafe Mingei, new coffee place next to late artist Nikki de Saint Phalle's whimsical sculpture, Nikkigator...

which TC used to love climbing over when she was a toddler and small child.

Despite the crappy reviews I'd read online, I still wanted to give this place a shot. It's right next to the Mingei International Museum. It's really small inside but there is seating outside by the Nikkigator.

The menu looks promising but the prices are a bit on the higher side. Seriously, $4.75 for a SMALL Vietnamese iced coffee? I can make mine much much better, thank you very much. There is a really pretty accent wall in Tiffany blue with white line drawings. So cute. They also have an interesting rollcal of flavored sodas, local products (North Park Nuttery nutz and beans from WestBean Coffee Roasters). The pastries are from Cardamom, a small bakery/eatery in North Park which I've been to twice (once with Cathy; the other time with Bert and TC)




My Cortado ($3.25 + .50 almond milk substitution) and savory croissant ($4.50/yikes). The croissant  was covered with poppy seeds and inside was a savory filling of ham, cheese, and jalapeno. It was delicious but the coffee on the other hand was not so good.
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It tasted burnt and bitter and compared to the other cortados I've had, sucked big ole donkey balls. The gal working the counter was super nice, don't get me wrong. But whatever she did, the coffee was no bueno.

Cafe Mingei (next to the Mingei Museum in Balboa Park)
1439 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 293-0003
www.mingei.org

Someone from these other coffe places should tell them this:

"This is how we DO it!"

For better cortados, I would suggest visiting these other establishments:

Lofting Coffee Roasting Works

or...

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Little Italy

as well as...

WestBean Coffee Roasters Downtown

Would I go to Cafe Mingei again? Yes, but not for the coffee, which is sad. Coffee shops can use beans from one of the best roasters in town, but if the workers can't even roast, brew, or pull it properly, then it doesn't matter if they use Folgers or the best beans in the world.