Best San Diego brewery experiences

You can easily spend the whole day at Stone (and at their Farm if you're there on a weekend). Awesome food, great place, beer garden and a lot of guest beer etc etc etc. If I would have to choose just one place in SD that would be it. The Escondido location of course.

 

Societe (hipsters) and Alpine(rustic) are musts.

 

oh and if you like good food with your beer, this is a must visit in SD:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/craft-and-commerce-san-diego

One of the best burgers too

 

Beyond your own itinerary, prior suggestions, and given your described circumstances, I would recommend whichever Pizza Port Location is closest to you where your staying. Vibe, food, seating, and excellent beer.

 

For me Stone would be a definite, definitely a great place to hang out. Also I would do Societe and Alpine.

I would pass on Green Flash.

 

You'll find stuff at any of those tasting rooms that you won't find in bottles. A lot of it is timing, of course. As far as the overall vibe goes, all of the tasting rooms are beer centric and have little going on beyond that. If you go while they have food trucks, you'll have that in addition

White Labs is only worth a visit if you are a home brewer or a very big beer geek interested in every aspect of the beer making process. If you are only an end consumer (like me), it's only a curiosity worth a visit if you live in the area.

 

Stone, Pizza Port, Modern Times, Societe, Alpine.

 

Pacific Beach Fish Shop…the TKO Taco is a must. I've heard good things about Blue Water Seafood, but there always seems to be a line. And as for beer, Alpine Alpine Societe & Alpine.

 

Seek carnitas at Carnitas Snack Shack, great food and beer

 

Yup, PB Fish Shop is my favorite. Blue Water's line is pretty much always >45 min to the order counter, especially on weekends. I love the Brigantine restaurants and they are fun places to grab a drink and eat, their fish tacos use to be my favorite, but they are a different beast than what you find at the fish shop type places.

 

el zarape in university heights for fish tacos. modelos is basically your only beer choice, but the fish tacos are the best.

 

Alesmith with most likely have something special on tap that's worth seeking out. The others will definitely have things that are different than their general bottle offerings but they can be hit or miss.

 

The best fish taco in San Diego is probably at a truck called Mariscos El Pescador that's located at a Toys 'R Us parking lot in Chula Vista.

The Mariscos German's trucks (various locations - I usually went to the one in South Park kind of near Hamilton's in the IGA parking lot) are great too but their other seafood tacos are better than the fish tacos. Try the smoked marlin tacos, the octopus (pulpo), gobernador tacos (shrimp with grilled peppers, onions and cheese), mixto tostadas and aguachile. There's another one off 35th and El Cajon near North Park too but I forget where the other locations are.

Short of sending you to a truck in Chula Vista, Oscar's Mexican Seafood makes a decent fish taco.

Similar to Mariscos German in that they're not known for their fish taco specifically, but a great mexican seafood alternative is TJ Oyster Bar. On par with German plus you're not eating off a truck. Romesco usually has some great seafood offerings too but isn't strictly seafood.

 

DougOLis is spot on with the taco recommendations. South Beach Bar & Grille in Ocean Beach also has solid fish tacos, not the best in San Diego, but they're good and it's in close proximity to Pizza Port OB.

People will recommend PB Fish Shop, and I know it's been discussed here before, but it's overrated. I've tried the TKO at least a half dozen times hoping that it will be better, but I'm always disappointed. Putting aside the debate of whether the TKO is good (or PB Fish Shop in general), someone from out of town should be seeking out the classic Ensenada style fish taco, and PB Fish Shop is definitely not the best option for that.

 

I would recommend South Beach Bar and Grill in Ocean Beach for fish tacos if you are in the area. The tacos are amazing but it is pretty crowded most of the time.

 

Ballast Point's definitely worth hitting up -- several locations though, so really depends on what type of experience you want and where you're closest to.

 

Churchill's!

 

Stone Farms is a place I could see a non-drinker enjoy hanging out at for a couple of hours.