Karl Strauss Brewing Company

The food was the best, had the brussel sprouts, asada fries, and ahi poke nachos. The lego guy in the lights was a highlight.

Great food every time, family friendly

Great beer from this small brewery that originally began in Pacific Beach. The food was delicious and the establishment is very nice, as far as breweries go.

I debated about reviewing this place for a couple days but I just feel it necessary to share my experience. I visited with my family after a day at Legoland, our server & food were great. I don’t remember what the bill was exactly but i do remember with the recommended 20% tip our total came out to $104 (which we left in cash, mind you I physically clipped the cash to the wooden checkbook). As we were leaving, my young daughter and I decided to use the restroom before the long drive home, we took our time of course, my daughter is only 6. As soon as we stepped foot outside the restaurant doors, our server comes running out after us showing there was only $24 clipped to the checkbook. Immediately I was shocked, when I looked over to the table where we were sitting I saw a busser cleaning the table next to ours, I told her to ask him about it. She ran over to him & magically the missing $80 appeared with him stating something like it must’ve have “fallen” when he was cleaning the table or something along those lines, I don’t really remember due to the shock of what was happening. Now maybe its our fault for being so trusting and leaving the cash on the table and I am not accusing anyone of lying but the whole situation just felt off and to be quite honest I would never go to this location again just due to that experience.

The food is quite good. Recently I’ve been disappointed with two things:

1) their removal of the Ahi Salad, one of my favorites which has been replaced by the Mediterranean Salad (just so-so)

2) the increase in prices since I first started dining here.

Otherwise, it’s a great spot for a burger and brew, to take the family or catch the game. I suspect that its proximity to Legoland is why their prices are so high. You can find similar or higher quality food for more reasonable prices.

For example, any salad here (that includes a protein) is going to be $20-25 which seems really steep. They’re not particularly gourmet im a way that would justify that price.

Pretty much any of their appetizers are $15 or over. Likewise, all of their burgers are $20 or over besides their most basic pub burger which is $17. Steep!

You’re looking at easily spending $100 out the door for two people: drinks, mains and an app. There are a lot of places I can recommend within a 15 minute drive that would either cost less or be better.

Anyways, I do like Karl Strauss. The food is good, the staff is great, you won’t be disappointed but your wallet may hurt. This functionally puts them in the $30-50 pp. range when they should be in the 20-30. Just my .02

Oh, their Mac is to die for. I’d probably come here for a beer and a mac alone.

Great spot for craft beer and food!! This is Karl Strauss's location in Carlsbad. They have daily happy hour, 3-5pm, with specials on beer and food

Great beers, awesome staff! Really enjoyed their hazy.

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

Logan was awesome, super friendly and casual, funny, and in the spirit of the season (great sweater). We made it in about an hour before closing on a Wednesday, service was tip top on it!
Logan gave good insights into drinks and food -flavors, strength, etc.
Food was all very well flavored/seasoned and good portions.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Beer Sausages, Crispy Brussel Sprouts Appetizer

We eat here all the time, the food is amazing and delicious however the customer service is terrible. We usually order to go, but the barrenders and particularly the girl who answered the phone on 12/19/24, must have been done doing her job tonight. It's frustrating, because they shouldn't hired such mean and grumpy people

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Fish and Chips

This location has a pub vibe rather than the outdoor brewery vibe. We were seated immediately. Our server was nice. We ordered the fried shrimp, the piggy bank Mac and cheese, the pork chops. For drinks, I got the Chai me a River as a trial and I loved it so now that's what I have at every Karl Strauss. The food was good. Their Mac and cheese is quite well-known and rightfully so - creamy, cheesy and melts in the mouth. The bacon, ham and sausage were great additions to the palate. The fried shrimp was fantastic! The spicy mayo with it gave a lot of depth to the shrimp itself. The pork chops were also great but the star of that dish was the firecracker/spicy mustard sauce. Absolutely delicious and if I could just get that sauce to add to all my food, I would.

You can sit for as long as you want, no questions asked. The pricing is on par with the other KS locations. They have a parking lot and street parking in the area.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Mac and Cheese

We stayed at the resort across the parking lot. Staff recommended the restaurant. Good microbrew selection. The beer was good. We ordered appetizers. The pretzel came with a couple of sauces. The chicken wings were cold. We sent them back and waited and waited. Eventually they showed up. Needless to say the second set was soggy and wierd texture. We took them carry out container to throw them away.
Manager stopped by our table to check in. We asked for our check due to staff that seem to forgot about us. She brought the check and apologize for serving the cold wings. She credited us back one of our beers for the inconvenience. Wait staff were inattentive. Go for the beer but the food...

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 2

Didn’t know what to expect but was very happy with our choice! The meals were excellent and our server, Daniel, was knowledgeable about the menu and helped guide us to the chefs best offerings! Will definitely be coming back!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Fish and Chips, Custom Beer Flight, Wings, Mac and Cheese

Still a great mid level eatery. Probably the best? Of the brewery/food places. Certainly better than bjs or oggis.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Awesome food & very nice and friendly people working there

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

We were so disappointed. The service was terrible. We had to ask for everything, menus, check, beers. The beers are pretty tasteless and a flight of 4 tasters was $12. Ordered the burger and a chicken sandwich, both just under $20. We had to flag someone down to take our order, which was a guy just walking by. We put the menus on the edge, signaling we're ready, which went ignored by all bar employees. It took >30 minutes to get our food, which came out cold. The sandwiches were medium temp and the fries were cold so we sent them back. Had to find someone to help with that as well. After eating, we sat there for about 15 minutes waiting for someone to take the plates and give us our bill. We had to ask for the bill as well from a guy cleaning the floor. We won't be back. Plenty of places in north county for a $20 burger and mediocre beer.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 2