The Local Eatery & Drinking Hole

Here is a real quick update for ya…
The Local was our pick last weekend to watch Mexico get their butts beat against Chile so we decided to have some lunch and drink our sorrows aways. The cocktails and food are always on point but my meal on that faithful Saturday afternoon was especially memorable.
Props to you for slinging that last piece of yellowtail, Jenna. It was yummy but I must say that the dare to venture off my beaten path paid heavy rewards when I ordered the lamb naan sandwich. Per your recommendation I got a bit extra tzatziki sauce and I couldn’t set that sucker down! With arugula, tomato, onions and feta cheese complimenting the seasoned lamb it was a sandwich that you’d expect to find and a cuisine specific restaurant and not a downtown sports bar. Absolutely delicious.
Well done, bravo and a massive thank you for setting me up with my new menu go-​to item at The Local!

Loved this place! Awesome service, great happy hour appetizers, delicious drinks! My favorites were the piña colada and coffee drink! The spring rolls were awesome, especially because of the sauce! TV’s everywhere, do playing fun music! Cutest bathroom I’ve ever seen. Go here!

UPDATE: After checking my bank statement just yesterday, I noticed the charge has been corrected. Sadly, no one from the restaurant ever reached out to me, even after I posted my original review. Not to get more details, not to offer assistance to correct the charge nor to let me know that it had been corrected. But still glad they took care of the overcharge.
FYI… I did call the day after I dined there once I realized the mistake but the woman I talked with didn’t seemed concerned nor apologist that it happened. Just stated several things I needed to do to prove it and to get it corrected. That’s why I left the review below.
ORIGINAL POST: This is normally one of my favorite «go to» fun places! Normally, we love it! And actually last night was no different. So, the problem… My total bill was $ 42.00 including tip. My bank statement is showing I was charged on my debit card $ 78.84, an overcharge of $ 36.84. Clearly, someone added extra tip money. What a big disappointment. Bad employees can ruin the reputation of a great place.
If you go, take cash… Or you will have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get your refund.

We had our Baylor football watch parties here last fall and the staff was SUPER accommodating. They let us decorate our table and put on the game with the sound on a few of the TVs every week. So awesome. They open at 9 AM and have lots of table seating. Parking kind of sucks because it’s down town, but that’s to be expected. The atmosphere is great and fits in with downtown.
The reason for 3 stars is the food is average and sometimes the service is just average too. I got their ceviche and I won’t be ordering it again. I do like their fish tacos though, so get those if you come here! I think the bartenders are awesome, but the waitresses need some training in terms of their attentiveness (I don’t really like flagging people down) and general tact with customers. On time I ordered fish tacos and said to the waitress, «can you put the crema on the side?» She made fun of me for calling it «crema» and actually said, «Aww that’s so cute you called it ‘crema.’» I’m thinking first of all, you’re like 19 and making fun of your customer? Not cool. I said, «ummm that’s what you guys call it in the menu.» She said «oh most people say sour cream.» Thumbs up for that one.

Looked for a cool sports bar and we found it! Great Service, tasty happy hour appetizers and cool vibe ! And right across from the Grant! We will be back!

Went here twice in 24 hours because we were so impressed with the food, service and drinks. We will be back.

Now THIS place was AWESOME! From the super freaking awesome décor — Tom Cruz in Top Gun, to Marilyn Monroe, to The Anchorman crew… & they were all holding local SoCal beers.
The place was spacious and very welcoming. They didn’t mind changing the TV’s so I could watch my Blackhawks! The service was awesome & the food was so good. The drinks we’re strong but not too strong, so we were def getting what we paid for.
SO pleased w my visit here, I’ll def be back!

I’ve never tried the food here but $ 5 Jameson all day, everyday? Oh my gosh… I’m kinda glad I don’t live close by or my liver would be crying. Oh how I would take on their offer and come everyday! (Not an alcoholic, by the way). However, this was our spot for the weekend when my friends and I stayed in San Diego at the gorgeous US Grant hotel across the street.
They have a great list of locally brewed beer as well as a full bar. Very spacious with lots of TVs so it’s a great spot for groups to hang out at. They got bar seats, standing tables with stools, booths, chairs and tables seating; all types.
Cool staff and may I mention the pretty hot pink and white color ladies bathroom? LOL. Had awesome nights here while we stumbled back across the street. Thanks to US Grant for providing us complimentary bottled waters for those hangovers.

My wife and I were in San Diego for a week and stayed at the U.S. Grant Hotel on 4^th and Broadway downtown.
After checking into the hotel around lunch time, I spoke with a bellhop or two about good food in the area. One of them was quick to point out The Local, which is right across the street. In fact, you can see the restaurant from the valet area at the U.S. Grant.
Now onto the important stuff, the food! I went with the Street Fries. It’s basically served as an appetizer for a group but is the right amount for a meal for one if you’re interested. That’s what I did!
Fresh fries… Smothered with carnitas, cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo, cotija cheese, and fresh jalapeños! Not bad at all!
I went with a water (boring), however I did note that they had quite a beer selection as well! And the atmosphere… Pretty cool place! It’s downtown San Diego, open to the awesome weather, in an old historical looking building, and in a great location!
Visiting San Diego and looking for a place to grab a great lunch with a cool atmosphere? Try The Local!
I docked 1 star just because they were a tad slow. Then again it was lunch, so I’m being picky! But hey, I’m entitled to my own rating! Thanks Unilocal!
Unilocal on.

The «bomb mi» chicken was good — it’d earn about 3.5 stars by itself. Unfortunately the rest of the dishes were a bit meh. Happy hour was a surprisingly poor deal. It looked like the dishes were half-​price but I’m certain they’re also a lot smaller so it just lets you order more things without really getting an extra value. For example the ahi tuna poke was 3 tortilla chips with only a small dollop of poke. The lumpia was 4 miniature lumpia.
Not terrible, but not awesome, at least for happy hour.

Great place to go for a beer and a snack. The atmosphere here was great, open concept with lots of natural light and views of the brewing facilities. Staff and patrons were very friendly and helpful.
The front of the pub features a decent selection of beers on tap. If you are in the mood for something fresh and delicious I would recommend making your way to the back, where this pubs own brews are on tap and well worth a try!
The buffalo cauliflower was delicious and on the spicier side (which I like).
I will be back for sure and excited to try more tasty beer options and vittles.

With and average of 57 beers on tap, it’s no wonder this place is always packed, but I stopped in to check out their brunch, given I heard goof things about their pozole. On this day, they happen to be making the green chicken pozole which came with a few warm corn tortillas, chopped onions, cilantro, and jalapeño peppers. Speaking of peppers, it also came with a roasted and seasoned giant jalapeño pepper for only $ 7. Oh yes, just for kicks, I also ordered a side of house made bacon.
They offer a good amount of soup which was tasty, but perhaps a little heavy handed with the salt. It had a very good viscosity, creamy enough to coat my spoon well and liquid enough to to call it a soup. Although the chicken that came in the soup was tender and very flavorful, I did feel that the soup needed more for it. Not every spoon full had chicken on it, but definitely had tender morsels of white hominy.
I really liked the fact that they added a half of sliced avocado to the soup. That’s great stuff in my book, and that they finely chopped the fresh onions, cilantro, and peppers. I used the corn tortillas to make pozole tacos, oh yes I did, and I also made bacon tacos with that side of bacon! I like to roll that way.
The bacon was made in house and had a nice light maple glaze with a touch of brown sugar on it. It had a very good color, a crispy texture and a bit of a chew that I love in a good quality bacon. Very good bacon, and I imagine it would taste mighty fine in an omelet, a BLT, or even a thick juicy burger!
I ate at the bar and service was great. The gentleman bar keep provided great conversation and service. I also had the opportunity to speak the female manager who was very friendly and upbeat.

Great place to drop in before a show at the Civic Theatre, or anytime really! I mention the Theatre because the server was aware of a showtime that night and asked if we were going, which we were, so she sped up us getting our check and whatnot. I guess this happens often!
The food was pretty good — tried the nachos (no meat, and really, none was necessary because the plate was massive on its own– Big Ass Nachos is the right name for this dish!) and fried calamari. The calamari was some of the best we’ve ever tried. The sauces were great too. I know my friends liked their carnitas fries as well. The beer list is very extensive and their cocktails are standard but tasty. It just does seem a little pricey for what it all is, but Im sure The Local makes a great happy hour. I’d definitely come back!

Really relaxed and fun place to grab a drink with friends or get lunch with coworkers. The remodel was well done and doesn’t make you feel like you’re at a dice anymore.
Tables a plenty sometimes served community style.
The food can sometimes come with a hefty wait, but it’s always delicious and worth it.

Excellent Beer selection, décor and food. Had the Ban Mi style sandwich and it was great. Nachos with barbacoa was amazing.

My girlfriend and I were in San Diego and decided to come and check this place out. First off it’s a really nice space. It’s décor goes really well with the them. Even the men’s bathroom was awesome. The bathroom is decorated with WWF characters. This takes anyone whoever likes wrestling on a trip down memory lane!
Now on to the food. We ordered the pretzel bites w/​cheese, the crispy tacos and the carne Assad fries. The pretzel bits were pretty good but the cheese was lacking. The rolled crispy tacos were my favorite. Super crunchy and well seasoned meet.
While finishing up dinner with some drinks, there was a guy that had way too much to drink approach us. He kept asking us to have a drink with him, but I politely declined. He continued to the point where he spilled his shots on our table. I was trying to be nice about the whole thing being that me getting in some type of trouble wasn’t really worth it! The security guard can over and escorted this guy out of the restaurant. They did a good job of getting him out of there, but the bartender should’ve know when to cut him off
In all, I had a great experience and would come back when I’m in the area.
2016 Unilocal 100 Challenge– ¹⁰⁄₁₀₀

Awesome bar. it’s in the perfect location, it’s open and «airy» with a bunch of windows. The service was great and they’re dog friendly.
Happy hour had some solid deals and they have a bunch of local beers on tap.

Went for Happy Hour and dinner. The wings were great and so were the pretzel bites. The nachos were average. Should have added the surf and turf.
Our server was great. Let us try a couple samples of draft beer before we ordered. Beer was really cold.
For dinner I had the Brisket Poutine sandwich. It was ok. Would probably try something different if we go back.
Another positive is it is a Arizona State Sun Devil bar. There were great tvs so I guess it would be fun for a game.

Always great food! Great selection for beer and booze. Most importantly Go ASU… Ok but seriously my friend came from the east coast and we came here for some late night eats and drinks, Ron was a great bartender, conversationalist and stand up gentleman. Keep it classy Local.

A great place to relax, enjoy a beer, and some sports multiple tv. I was in downtown for jury duty when my phone needed a change. I was wondering around DT for a good place to eat and came across The Local. I talked with Meara about needing an outlet to charge my phone and she was on it! Although the bar was full, I was a party of one, she found a table for me along with an outlet. It’s this small thing that Meara did that I will recommend all my friends and family to visit The Local. If the service will help the customer, it’s a plus for me! Thank you Meara! I hope your manager reads this and gives you recognition!

Fun night at the Local with food, drink and company. I love Red Trolly ale, they have the freshest one on tap. Good atmosphere and spacious for big party.
Ordered Chicken wing. It tasted delicious and gone in a few second

Had lunch here today. We were shown to a table almost right away. Server was attentive but not overbearing.
Was tempted to go with the lobster tacos but decided to go with a bowl of shrimp/​lobster bisque and Mahi Mahi on a rice pilaf.
Both were very good. I wish the bowl of soup was just a bit larger. The Mahi Mahi was cooked perfectly a d was very moist. Quite often this fish is overcooked. I think the rice could have been a bit more flavored. I assume they don’t want it to over power the taste of the fish.
After finishing the meal my lunch companion and I sat and chatted for a while and we never felt pressured to clear out.

We just arrived from Boston and were starving. We were staying at a hotel nearby and stumbled upon this place. They have about 10 big TVs and the Pats game was on just about every one so we were sold. We sat down and were addressed promptly even though our waitress was also serving a table of 8+ people in her section. They had a good beer selection and the menu looked interesting so we tried some food.
We ordered the sweet and spicy boneless wings, the ahi poke, and the brisket rolled tacos. Overall, I was not impressed. The ahi poke was mixed with avocado and cucumber and served with chips. It was watery and the ahi didn’t look incredibly fresh. It certainly lacked flavor. The boneless wings were excellent and came with fries. However, you only got 3 fingers for $ 10! Ditch the fries and throw a few more fingers in there. The brisket rolled tacos were flavorful but dry. I would pass on those next time.
I’d come back here for drinks but would probably skip the food.

I came here for trivia on Wednesday. It started around 7pm and ended at approximately 9:30pm. We had some beers and food at «Local.» Since it was trivia night, they had a special for Guinness IPA for $ 4. Also, there was a Guinness representative actually giving out free samples of the IPA. It was pretty tasty. I am pretty sure that even the myriad of drinks that they had were also good. Also, I had ordered a Chicken Bahn Mi Sandwich accompanied with a side of fries for an additional $ 2. I was impressed with their food especially from a bar. The place was completely full for a Wednesday night which is a testament to how good this place is. I wish that they had more servers though as we waited a long time to even get an order for food. At least they were good at separating our bill without having to ask.

This place is pretty fun. If you are into local beers or are looking for a good place to catch a game I would sugest stopping by here. We ran into this place on accident and was happy we found it. Great service at the bar from the bar tender, really fun, lively, helpful and tentative. I would recoomend the chicken enchiladas, even though this is more of a bar scene with bar food, they have a decent menu with a lot of different optionsd. I couldnt skip on trying some new enchilads, glad I did, they were fantastic!

I’ve always been a fan of the Local even before their remodel, but WOW! They did an amazing job! Let’s talk about the Men’s restroom. If you grew up in the early 90s and remember watching WWF, the bathroom art work is a pleasant surprise. Whether you grew up to Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect or Bret Hart, there is something for everyone in this bathroom.
With plenty of TVs and beers on tap, The Local can comfortably accommodate a buttload of people! There’s something here for everybody. The last time I was there, I noticed an upside down christmas tree towards the back of the bar and I cannot wait to go back to see what they’ll have up there next.

I would never expect high quality food at a small local bar to be this good!
1. The Big Wet Burrito. 15“x6″ massive. Feeds 2+ Green sauce tastes better than the red. ⁴⁄₅. With price relative to size… you are definitely getting your money’s worth.
2. Lobster Taco ⁵⁄₅ wow! Very tasty. Will come. back to. reorder this!
3. Fire Birdy. ⁴⁄₅ spicy and well balanced flavors. Ordered as a wrap
4. Vietnamese Noodle Bowl. ²⁄₅ noodles are served cold (strange) and tastes kind of too healthy for me lol but still had a good experience trying it
5. Corn croquettes with cotija cheese, chili powder and sour cream drizzle. 2.5/. Its ok. A bit pricey for the quantity they give you but tasty.
6. Big Ass Nachos. 2.5 its alright. Great for sharing
7. Short Rib Burger. Wow! Unexpected. I thought meat would be gritty but the short rib is ground up into a patty and cooked medium. So, so juicy. Hoisin BBQ sauce, caramelized onion, melted gruyère cheese with garlic aioli is divine on a fresh brioche bun. ⁵⁄₅. Definitely a keeper.
8. Brisket. Barbacoa Taco 2.5÷5
9. Street Fries. ³⁄₅
Environment: renovated nicely. Came Fri night and they had a DJ. Place was pretty packed and few people were dancing to old school beats. Love this place!

Perfect for lunch, The Local serves up so many beers on tap and specialty bottles, you’re sure to find something you’ll like here. Located on 4^th, it’s within walking distance of the court house, if you’re like me and got stuck with jury duty, this is the spot to spend your two hour lunch. For lunch it draws a mostly male, local businessman crowd. While I was there a business owner was planning with one of his colleagues how he wanted to develop their employees as business leaders. So, if that’s your thing, you’ll fit in fine here. If it’s not, don’t worry there is enough sporting events televised along with 90s/​early 2000s pop rock music videos. When I was here, I got the pleasure of seeing «Fly» by Sugar Ray, which instantly put me in a good mood.
I sat at the bar, well actually I was strongly encouraged by the hostess to sit at the bar since I was dining alone. Sure, I get not wanting to give up a table to just one person, but it was kind of odd sitting at the bar since the bartender was chatting with regulars about her recent vacation and I was sitting there like, «hum, hey, can I get a menu?» I’m all for treating your regulars well, but sometimes it felt like I wasn’t a priority or as important. I ordered two tacos with a side of rice and beans for lunch (total $ 12). Both the chicken adobada taco and the crispy carnitas were fairly large, so I didn’t really end up needing the rice or beans. When my food was delivered there was also a red salsa that was a bit too hot for my taste. Also to note, the chicken taco has a bit of kick to it.

I’m not a fan of Bars… really. But this place is on point. Laid back, decent food (not the typical ‘pub’ fair), good service, and a wide variety of drinks. And by wide variety, local beers and spirits and by that, I mean stuff that you just don’t run to a local liquor store and get. They don’t take them selves too seriously as a «local hang out», such that you’re not the outsider when you’re the newest in the door. Just off the beaten path of down town.

If you are on jury duty like I was, this is a decent stop close to the courthouses where you can get lunch and a beer if you like. Very close to the trolley on C st. and 4^th ave. They have a good beer selection the 4 – 5 time I’ve been here and the food is consistently good. Have tried the burger, tortilla soup, chick Caesar salad and this time the tofu spring roll. Happy hour best time so you can save a few $$. Parking can be a problem but what do u expect downtown.

My date and I were in a bind. It took us much longer to get downtown for our 7pm showing of Pippin and we still needed dinner. Even though this place was packed, somehow the host knew that we were going to see the show at the Civic Theater and we needed to be in and out! We promised we wouldn’t linger, so she sat us at a table that was reserved for another party coming in soon.
I ordered off the Happy Hour menu and got an order of lumpia (which was average) and sweet and spicy wings that were tasty. The wings had just the right amount of sweet and spice without one flavor overpowering another.
We were in and out in like 30 minutes! Such service! Will definitely be back and hopefully not feel as rushed.

The Local is one of those places where you want to return just because the menu is chock-​full of quirky items, all of which are intriguing, but one’s stomach of course constrains them to just one at a time.
Arriving to a crowded restaurant with little time to spare before seeing a musical at the Civic Center, I didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on my choice of entrée, and thus I decided on the most ridiculous one of the lot: the brisket poutine sandwich. This sandwich ended up being a hot mess, mostly in a good way. The typical poutine curds, gravy, and what not ensure that the meat comes off as juicy and flavorful all the while make it a tad difficult to consume. Nonetheless, I didn’t leave behind any sloppy seconds.
Summary: Poutine on the ritz.

Haven’t been to the local before their renovation, but I heard the change is amazing. The place is nice, has an open garage design, lots of big screen tvs, and a nice selection of beer and food. Plus the music was on point. Came here for a birthday dinner and I had the brisket pouttine. Melted cheese with brisket over fries, I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty amazing. I was really surprised how good the food was. I finished that dish no problem lol. Overall a nice experience here, wouldn’t mind coming back to watch some games and have good food.

Came here on a Saturday night for a friend’s birthday. Right when you enter, it’s really loud. But since it’s a bar as well, I didn’t mind so much.
As I looked at the menu, I was kinda confused on what they served. It was a mixture of different kinds of Asian food as well as Mexican and American food. We got the Vietnamese Noodle Salad and Brisket Poutine. The Vietnamese Noodle Salad dish wasn’t really Vietnamese haha. It included lumpia (which is very much Filipino) and ground chicken skewers. It was really good regardless. I just wish there were more meat and noodles than there was lettuce. The brisket poutine was really good! I liked how they added an equal amount of meat and fries!
The bathroom was really nice and clean so that was a plus haha. I did not expect it to look that way. The mirrors were really nicely designed.
It was a good experience overall.

Wow,
I had always been a fan of this place but its so much better after the remodel.
So much more room. Its brighter and has loads of new massive t.v.‘s.
They are in the process of setting up their own brewery on site as well.
Along with all the changes the did a bit of an overhaul on the menu too.
I was there with a big group for Monday Night Football and got to sample the following from the happy hour menu:
–The Fresh Spring Rolls (with chicken)
–Brisket Poutine
–Lumpia
–Coconut Calamari
–Big Ass Nachos
It may sound like regular bar food but the quality and taste make it much more.
Cant wait to come back to get into the full menu.

We’ve been coming regularly on and off for trivia on Wednesdays. We started to fall of 2010 when trivia was hosted by Magicaland, with Jason who was the best! We tried out his replacement and didn’t like the new company but came back this July for the new host America’s Finest. Wednesday’s for trivia they have a $ 4 beer special, a $ 4 Jameson special AND they have the daily $ 4 dos xx larger or Amber. (Can you say deal in downtown San Diego the Gaslamp?!?)
Recently, the Local underwent a remodel and when we came back we were surprised to see it wasn’t much larger but nicely decorated with a soon coming in house brewery. We’re looking forward to checking that out. The environment and atmosphere is great ⁵⁄₅ but could use more seating (especially on event/​city events).
The food, I’d rate 4/​5, see my pictures, I had tried almost all the menu until the recent update. My favorite is the black bean plate, chicken or carne, beans, rice and tortillas all fresh and tasty for less than $ 12, can be shared for a lite meal! We also enjoy the big a$$ nachos for an appetizer, or the Greek or chicken sandwich. My favorite dessert is the mud pie-​the bacon sundae left a little to be desired.
The service is generally good. We’ve had a few hiccups with table reservations but overall the staff are friendly. A shot out to the new friendly young gentleman host, Chips (Jessica I believe) and the a friendly tall bearded man not sure his name who have helped us a lot recently!
Overall, a good «local» bar can’t wait for to try the brewery!

I eat here often now with my monthly trips to San Diego. There’s a great beer selection, however I’ve found they are often out of the more unique stuff the people in my group are interested in.
Food is good bar/​pub food not just your typical burgers and deep fried garbage.
I’ve had the carnitas nachos several times and I’ve been happy. Others in the group had the tacos and loved them.
This place can get super busy so be patient. They have large tables to accommodate big groups and sometimes you can share a table with a smaller friendly group. I’ve heard they have a mimosa special on the weekend, which I’m going to need to check out :)

Haven’t been to The Local in a while? Go. The remodel is absolutely awesome!
I loved The Local before, but damn they’ve stepped their game up. The revamped space is open, airy, loaded with televisions and pouring an ass-​ton of great beer. Seriously, there is not a bad seat in the house, which is going to make this a great spot to watch football this season regardless of what the dimwitted Chargers do.
The menu has also pulled a Caitlyn Jenner with a bit of resemblance to what it once was, but rocking a whole new look. I tried the poke, the chicken spring rolls and one of the house-​made pretzel balls. Everything was very good and I think that there is something really nice about eating remotely healthy in a place that you’d only expect greasy burgers and fries. Sure, they offer that too, but even the pickiest of eaters is sure to find something they like on the new menu.
Oh yeah, the tanks have been installed and rumor has it that The Local will be serving their own branded beer in September — looking forward to it, guys!