Anthology

It is too bad Anthology closed, as this was a unique music venue and delivered one of my favorite live musical performances back in 2010 when I went to hear Recoil, a musical project created by Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode.
Anthology provided a great ambiance and acoustical quality for the entire set of the night to deliver an eargasmic multi-​media extravaganza.
The triple leveled club itself was sleek and dark, and lit by a blue hue. It was more of a classy spot designed for dining and viewing (though in many spots, from quite afar) rather than dancing, but it did still offer a smaller dance space as well.
I remember Anthology fondly for the remarkable musical act I witnessed, but not for the food and less for the actual physical setup. Great clubs in San Diego are difficult to come by in my experience.

a$$tastic.
I am sooo glad they shut this place down. I didn’t want to write a review while I was still seething with so much anger, so I never got around to it. For THREE YEARS. It doesn’t even matter anymore, does it?
Until you do right by me, everything you thing about ‘gon fail.
–Miss Celie

Do not bring a girl here that you are clearly on the fence in order to rectify things. Yes it may be a good save on your part but it clearly destroys the fantastic vibe that this place offers. It’s as classic as it gets for San Diego and just simply beautiful.
***ok, apparently this place has closed***

Came here with my cousin for a Lifehouse/​Hedley concert.
Probably the nicest venue I’ve been to. Small and intimate, good for acoustic concerts. We only got drinks and pre-​packaged meals for the concert, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere :]
$ 5 parking down the street after 6PM, on weekends and holidays!

A really nice venue. People who gave this place low ratings did so because of the food and the food prices. I can understand that. The food is overpriced and wasn’t all that spectacular. But I didn’t come here for the food! I came to see Goapele! I had tickets to the second seating, but I came early and they let us sit on the patio in front about an hour or so before my seating. They take drink orders and you can hear the music playing from the speakers they put outside. They’ve also got glass doors so you can see the performer!
Turns out the people seated in the patio area (very limited space) get to go to their designated seating areas before everyone in line! We had our choice of seats on the south rail about 5 – 10 minutes before anyone else came up. I highly suggest doing that. South rail seats are decent. I had no idea which rail was the south rail until I got upstairs, but those seats are the ones on the side. Decent, but you have to lean over a bit to see the stage.
This venue is really nice. TVs everywhere so you can see the performance from anywhere in the place. The service is friendly, too! Expect to spend a good chunk of change here. You’re going to have to take it. And you’re going to have to love it!

Came here on a saturday night to watch Goapele perform at her last showing; she had two shows that night at 7:30pm and 9:30pm. The venue looked really cool from the outside.
They said we can come by and wait for our show as early as 8:00 but check-​in at 8:30pm. If you come by as early as 8:00, they let you chill at their outside bar area that has tables and chairs for you to sit; its at the front of the venue, thus you also get to see the show going on from there! They let you order drinks as well! Because we came in really early, we were able to also watch Goapele’s 7:30 show!!! The sound was also projected in all over the venue… totally as it if sitting at the outside area made you part of the show as well! It was awesome! When it came for our show to start, they took the people at the bar FIRST to go in and grab their seats… so, i suggest you come by early and hang out at the outside bar area!
So we got inside and chose our seating. We had the sound end seats at the third floor. The view was ok, but tolerable. We sat in a row with other people, which was a little cramped, but intimate.
The food was way over-​priced for the tiny portions they give you. We ordered the calamari and frites. Calamari was very good, but skimpy in the amount they give you. Frites were not that good, but tolerable. I definitely had better quality gourmet frites. Also, the drinks we good, but not a lot of alcohol. a bit diluted.
Overall, i give this venue four stars because of their:
— stellar service (waiter hooked my bf up with an autograph from goapele!)
— experience: chilled a bit after and actually got to meet both the guitarist and drummer who were both freaking amazing!
— the look and ambiance of the venue.
— the opportunity to have first choice in seating!
— video montages thru out the show.
— opportunity to eat food and drank during the show!
Reason why i pop off one star:
— over priced mediocre food. Be warned!

Had a great time visiting here for a night of Jazz. I was looking for something to fill my time on a Tuesday evening while visiting SD, so I popped open the trusty Unilocal app, threw in my search for «what to do while visiting SD on a Tuesday evening» and low and behold, Anthology was in the top three.
Well I actually searched for «Jazz» but I was just paraphrasing back there. I found a nearby parking spot, and after a short walk we were in for an evening of great music and great drinks!
I loved the cool, eclectic vibe to this place; low lights, intimate seating, best sound in town. Check out their calendar, find someone you’d like to hear, aim for downtown, kick back, relax. ;-)
Happy Unilocaling SD!

Came here recently for a Brian McKnight concert. I loved the intimate atmosphere. The venue is pretty cool as you can dine and watch the concert. Although, you had to turn your chairs to comfortably view the show. Luckily, there was no one sitting to the right of me, so I had some room to adjust my seat as needed.
Service was okay. Nothing spectacular.
FOOD: Highly recommend the sliders! Very juicy and flavorful. Stay away from the calamari. It wasn’t good at all, especially with the dipping sauce it came with. Their «frites» or aka fancy french fries were okay.
Overall, this is a cool spot to watch performances. Just know what food to order.

FIRST thing I can say about the place as I walked through the door: BEAUTIFUL LIGHTING and LAYOUT. I love small intimate settings just like this venue for concerts. I’ve never been a huge fan of the big concerts at an amphitheatre or at stadiums. This place was just right. Came here to see Brian McKnight perform. He did a great job and I had such a great time. Seriously brings me back to middle school days.
As the day came, I was seriously dreading the food because of all the reviews I read. And I know this was a music venue but good food seriously can change the mood on things. There’s I believe a $ 15 minimum per person which is totally do-​able. A drink and an appetizer pp and you’re set. Since we caught the earlier show 7:30 showing, we ate dinner there.
Maybe it was my low expectations or the fact that I was starving, BUT seriously, I enjoyed the food. We shared a small plate, a small app, and a main dish:
— CEASAR SALAD– though there may have slightly been a little too much dressing, I was satisfied. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with ceasar.
–SHORT RIB SLIDERS– okay, it was the HIGHLIGHT of all the plates. Set on hawaiian bread, tender, and juicy, with shredded cucumber, DELICIOUS! I would have ordered two if I wasn’t already getting full.
— SEARED AHI plate with shiitake mushrooms and what looked to be arrobio rice? Either way this was a pretty good dish too. Ahi was maybe a little on the dry side but nothing to send it back for. Flavor was great, ahi was seared and still fresh, mushrooms– can’t complain. LOVED it!
Like I said I had low expectations, but I was seriously digging the food here.
Now, venue and food was great. But because we bought the tickets last minute we had to take what was left. And all there was left was bar seating. We got there maybe an hour before the show started (COME EARLIER!!) and sat in the very very back. We later even had to share our table with another couple. Which because of how chill they were, I was totally cool with after like 5 minutes. They had TV’s in the back so for short people like me, can get a good view. BUT they do need to ugrade their TV’s. We’re coming into the LED/​3-​D era but with the quality on their TV’s, it might as well have been a boxed TV with an antena.
I would suggest anyone coming on a date, to get a comfortable booth or a table on the upper level or front section. Other than the area I was seated and the old school TV’s, this could have been a 5 star + rating for me!

I only knew about this place through my cousins that are from SD and went for the 1^st time on June 12^th. I fell in love with Anthologoy and all I kept thinking about was how come I didn’t know this place existed and how I couldn’t wait to tell more people about it. I was told that the place has only been around 5 years so the interior looks new, and is gorgeous, classy, swanky, and sexy. I love just about any live music, but especially enjoyed the house band that is a jazz/R&B group — which is right up my alley. They played a lot of good music, including some Sade.
Although the venue atmosphere was great, the food and service wasn’t. I had a cesar salad that was presented with about 5 whole romaine lettuce leaves with dressing drizzled on it. I thought, do they think this looks cool or was the kitchen staff just lazy? I didn’t care for it that I had to labor over cutting up my own lettuce when I should’ve been enjoying the music. I also ordered «a» scallop ravioli… yes, just one. It was a little fishy. It was Tuesday so maybe it was left over from the weekend. I also ordered a 2^nd drink that never came so I didn’t fuss and let it go, since I had a long drive home.
Anyway, I was so impressed with this place (despite the dining experience) I’m still giving it 5 stars. I so wish there was a place like this in OC… I’d probably be there all the time!
Tip: there’s a parking lot across the street that I didn’t notice until I circled around again. My cousins didn’t notice either because they parked in the structure down the street. It was dark and I was wearing high heels so I was so glad i didn’t have to walk far. Check to see if you have to pay to park. I forgot to, so was relieved that my car wasn’t ticketed or towed when I got out.

I’ve been waiting to go this venue since it opened, but wanted to wait until they had someone I really wanted to see. The stars aligned, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones announced a show (with their original lineup!) for two nights at Anthology. All four shows sold out! We snagged four tickets for one of the first floor booths (~$ 300) and it was so worth it. That was the closest we’ve ever been to those amazing musicians. The acoustics in Anthology are truly world class. I came home and was immediately looking at their calendar for more upcoming shows.
*The sound in the place … amazing. As close as I was to the stage — I have no ringing in my ears or deafness :) The music was crisp & clear & beautiful.
*Dress Code = «upscale casual,» which basically means come looking good. Girls were in slacks, dresses, and guys were in dress shirts and nice jeans.
*Atmosphere — we felt like such VIP being escorted to one of the four booths on the first floor. The tables are dimly lit, adorned with candles, very intimate. It may have ruined all other club experiences for me now!
*Parking — surprisingly plentiful. There are pay-​for-​parking lots all around, and lots of street parking. Our show was mid-​week and we paid $ 3 for the lot right across the street from the venue.
*Food — if you are on the first floor dining area, I believe there is a $ 15/​person minimum for food/​drink purchases, which you can easily add up to with just a few items. Our bill was ~$ 150 for some appetizers and entrees. Though, you have to expect that’s how it’s going to be in a classy establishment like Anthology.
Food Reviews (appetizers, salads and entrees for all of us at the table):
–Anthology Pomme Frittes: topped with cotija cheese & side of chipotle ketchup. Basically, they were $ 6 fries. Tasty — not earth shatteringly amazing.
–Artistan Farm House Cheeses: for $ 12, we got a small assortment of artisan cheeses, with 4 baguette slices and some honey & jam. This was my favorite appetizer.
–Anthology Ceasar Salad: fresh and simple — the dressing tasted homemade and a bit heavy on the anchovy (which I liked). cracked me up that the romaine leaves came whole and i had to cut them myself.
–Swordfish Skewers: I thought these were delish! They were off of the «tastes» part of the menu, so only four cubes of swordfish… but the eggplant and balsamic accompanying it were divine.
–Baked Rigatoni: I saw a bunch of these being carted out of the kitchen & one came to our table. The rigatoni was presented in a large ramekin covered in cheese. It looked decent — but was just a basic pasta dish. Nothing too special.
*Service — everyone was great. our server disappeared for quite a while and forgot one of our drinks — but when I reminded him, he immediately brought it over, and later brought a 2^nd one on the house.
Bottom line — fantastic venue, incredible acoustics, comfy seats, decent eats, and just be prepared to shell out some $$$ for food/​drinks. Will definitely be going back!

I love this place for live concerts. This review is for Sunday brunch.
It was hard to choose from the crab eggs benedict and the steak and eggs but I chose the latter. The food arrived very quickly! Unfortunately it was a bit under-​seasoned. I asked for a steak knife and learned they have no steak knives in the entire restaurant. That threw me for a loop!
The bartenders (of course I sat at the bar rather than a table) were the best entertainment. Very friendly and talkative while not being too chatty… and cute!
I would come back again if I am invited, however this would not be my first choice for brunch.
Now the live entertainment, I will definitely be back and the best item on the dinner/​late night menu is the burger.

2.10.12: Great Venue! 3 floors of beautiful seating and style. Came here for their Latin Jazz Players and who knew that they won 5 Grammys, but sadly the Grammys took out the Latin Jazz category. Sad right?
The service was great we ordered their Jameson ($ 9), Amber Bock ($ 6), and a mix cocktail called 42^nd street. Their food, we tried their arugula salad and soufflé, not bad and not great, so decent.
The best seats 2^nd and 3^rd floor are the ones facing the stage. No need to strain those necks, so it was nice.
The only complaint is that they squeezed in too many seats to a section. Barely any arm space or leg space, kind of awkward that the guy next to me had his leg on my chair, not his fault, but still my chair is mine… I stood up instead and enjoyed the show. Tempted to give this place a 3 stars but I had a really great time and I will return again.

Wowzers! Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach used to be my favorite music venue in San Diego… now I think Anthology might take first place in my brain. Soooooooo classy. It’s more upscale than the Belly Up. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the Belly Up… but wow! I’m in love with Anthology now.
My friend and I came to see Milk Carton Kids and The Brendan Hines. First of all, great talent. Based on this night’s talent, I would feel pretty confident coming back even without knowing the music of other artists… I would just assume that they are all really high quality and impressive musicians.
We split several appetizers… we arrived at around 6:30pm (before the 7pm cutoff for happy hour!) and got to save some serious dinero on food. Here’s the rundown:
— Fries: We both agreed these were the #1 thing we ate out of all the appetizers we ordered. Covered in really flavorful cotija cheese, the fries came with INCREDIBLE chipotle ketchup that provided a delightful zing in the mouth with every bite.
— Mac N’ Cheese: Has broccoli in it too. Yummy. The macaroni pasta was cute and smaller in size.
— Mussels: Yes! Can’t go wrong with mussels here. The crostini (bread) that comes with them tastes amazing. The cool thing about Anthology’s mussels dish is that it actually comes with Spanish chorizo slices… it’s nice to get that salty sausage flavor in here that packs a punch. Goes nicely with everything else.
— Wedge Salad: It looks so cool. It’s basically a stack of green salad topped with the rest of the salad ingredients. Basically looks like a cake. I didn’t like how it tasted, but my friend was all up in that business. (I’m not crazy about blue cheese, but if you are you will probably go bonkers over this salad.)
Then we got… DESSERT!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND the s’mores dessert. Chocolate volcano cake oozing with chocolatey fudge syrup inside of it, topped with a PERFECTLY crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside marshmallow. Comes with cinnamon graham cracker ice cream. Divine.
The food is AWESOME here. The dessert is REALLY AWESOME here. The venue looks really sophisticated with cool art on the walls, appealing décor, and even the bathrooms look really cool and clean. A+ for Anthology! Oh yeah, and Eric was our server (he was also the bartender) and he was great. Friendly and helpful!

i absolutely LOVE Anthology. I have only been here when my husband is doing sound for a band… no wait… we went there once as guests!
i have seen Brian Culbertson for his Xmas tour here…
Sprung Monkey (i think i’ve seen them everywhere)
umm…i’ve been here at least 5 times. can’t remember why else… probably some smooth jazz act that hubby was working with…
sound: amazing!
view: great from anywhere (except top floor lounge, but there are TV’s there)
food…divine!
bar…amazing selection and prices just like anywhere else downtown… maybe a bit better actually. great drinks,
Happy Hour: is a must! we always went early (for sound check) and i took advantage of happy hour. everything i have ever tasted has been yummy here!
i’ll take any excuse to come back
if i could have a redo on my wedding… i would have booked this place!

I visited Anthropology for the second time last week. The decoration and lighting are stunning and the acoustics are amazing.
I have been to Anthropology before and the food was outstanding. This time the food sucked.
My friend had a bowl of some sort of soup and she did not eat it at all because it was too rich and not a good flavor.
I ordered the Thai papaya salad with shrimp and it was pathetic. Three medium sized shrimp on top of a bed of something that was stringy and lacked flavor. I did not notice Papaya anywhere.
I also ordered seabass, which was a much smaller portion than the steaks that I saw coming out, and in addition the thin pieces of fish were overcooked. I like the idea of beans going with the fish, however the beans were not seasoned well and just tasted of salt.
If you visit Anthology then eat before you go.

We had walked by this place about a month ago when we were playing tourist. A friend of mine told me how much she loved this place. A colleague of mine suggested meeting here as a way to celebrate the ending of the school year. Not knowing what to expect, the partner and I looked at the website and their house band plays on Tuesdays. We didn’t read any more and just headed down.
It’s sort of non-​descript if you don’t know what you’re looking for. It’s at the bottom of a tall condo complex. I like the huge door in the front. The hostess was pleasant, told us to wait, I said we were meeting some people, and she told us to wait again. (Ok, I don’t know how this works). Since my friend made reservations, they had to check us off ‘the list.” (I feel important). Told the host it was our first time here, which usually scores points because they will want you to enjoy your experience and come back.
Me: Does any of this come with gold plating?
It is pricey. But if you look around and soak up what this venue has to offer, they will need to charge a premium. The house band was already playing and they sounded «gooooooooood.» We were at one of the floor «star tables» (not really but it’s a large table in one of the corners where everyone has to pass by you). I will admit, it is quite loud so conversations had to be higher on the volume. The place is «shwank» and chic. We felt a little underdressed, but our money is as good as the people who were trying to impress each other.
I ordered a signature Potion #9 (okay, it’s a fruu-​fruu drink). I started with the asian pear and arugula salad which would have been better if it was tossed together. The arugula was piled on top of the pear slices, dried cranberries and blue cheese. The partner ordered the melon and prosciutto and it was on the small side from my perspective. The melon was wrapped with the ham and included mint leaves, which changed the flavor. Not a winner. They did make up for that with the beef tenderloin which he really liked, if a little on the small side. The food reminded me of that scene in L.A. Story,
Harris: I’m already finished and I don’t remember eating.
I just had the salad and the short rib sliders (big lunch today) which were tender and spicy. The service was great! The server was very attentive. The bus person didn’t look too happy though. They played Sade’s concert video during the band’s break… would be great to see them here live. I can just imagine the madness. But this would be a great place for them, and singers like Cassandra Wilson, Harry Connick, and Adele.
This is a great place to impress people, if that’s what you want to do, like this one woman who we found laughable the whole evening. I would come back but I’d probably eat dinner first before coming here to eat dinner.

My friend’s company rented this out for a holiday party. Great event, cool venue.
Short walk from our hotel.
Get-​whatever-​you-​want open bar.
Macallan 18-​year and Highland Park 18-​year.
7pm Carving station.
10pm Sliders, fries and milkshakes.
Live entertainment.
The only thing they were short on was attentive service (the wait staff seemed aloof and uncaring) but when you receive 100 gold coins and one turns out to be silver, you shut your lips and remain thankful.
My tab: ~$ 180 alcohol bill (pre-​tip, pre-​tax) but it’s misleading because of the markup.

Venue is awesome. However service SUCKS (i give it a BIG FAT 0)
Our waitress was the most rudest person I have EVER met!
The food is ok– but not worth spending $ 20 dollars on a salad.
Really cool place to see live bands!

Ok, went here last night to see Goapele perform and my expectations for this place was pretty high but when we got there.. . holy shit.
The boyfriend and I left early just to be one of the first people in line. got there around 8:40PM. The show didn’t start until 9:30PM. There were 4 different lines designating seats and whatnot. PRETTY FUCKING STUPID! Ugh. It took forever until we got in. I’m not sure why it took so long for them to start letting people in. Yes, we know you just had another showing but was it really necessary to make all the guests wait for almost an HOUR?!
Anyway, Fast forward to about 10:20PM. My group was the last group to get in, even though we had tickets for «bar seating». Which is stupid because they should’ve just let us in first because we were just standing around the bar anyway when we got there so basically, there was no reason why we were let in last. REALLY!?! What moron made the goddamn seating chart anyway… f*ck. We were pretty upset about that and to top that off, it was hella windy outside which made it even worse. So when we walked to the «bar seating» it was the worst place to sit (or should I say, STAND). We could barely see Goapele so we had to watch her on the big screen. I didn’t pay $$ to see Goapele on t.v. W.. . T. . F.. . Seriously, the worst venue I’ve ever been to. Ruined my Goapele experience!!!
After waiting so long, we were hungry so we ordered the Ahi Sliders which were «okay» and they only gave us 3 which was ridiculous, considering it was $ 14. The drinks were $ 10 which was normal.
Oh ya, the venue looks nice inside but it’s super small. I thought it was gonna be bigger? I really wanted to like this place but nope. Hit or miss and this pretty much was a big fat fucking miss.
A note to management: Get a f*cking clue. Good day.