Junkyard Sports Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Oceanside

Updated Review (2025): It's been about six months since we last visited Junkyard. I knew they made a lot of updates and wanted to check out the new place. We had eaten some excellent Italian food next door at Mangia de Bevi and popped in here for a quick drink and some $3 tacos (for Taco Tuesday).

Before walking in, we noticed a whole new door had been created and could not enter the previous door so already that was a big change, but we were prepared for seeing the inside. Wow! They nearly doubled the square footage by blowing a way out and taking the space next door.

We sat at the bar. It's happy hour virtually all day every day (M-F only) from 11:30 to 6:30pm, so we ordered some $7 Happy Hour margaritas. They were quite excellent and I could easily mow through several of these in a heartbeat.

We also ordered the $3 tacos, one of each: carne asada, carnitas, and achiote chicken. The chicken looked like it had a lot of flavor, but it really didn't. All tacos needed a little more salt. The green salsa they add to the top of each is really good however.

Service was great and around 3pm it was pretty empty inside but when we left, people were beginning to trickle in.

Overall this is a really nice renovation they did and I'm anxious to try out the food. I heard they had a $20 beer & burger special we need to check out. Next time!

Old Review: Can't believe I've never reviewed this place. We first started coming to the Junkyard way back when it was in its old location, where Grandmas is now. Back then it was a total dive bar. Really terrible drinks and lots of drunk patrons.

Well, fast forward to 2024 and the drunk patrons are still there but the drinks have gotten way better. There are more bathrooms, more space, chairs and tables. And karaoke!

The food here is okay - not going to win any awards, but the last few times I've been here, it's been really fun and now with the new Arena nearby, I predict this place will do gangbusters as there isn't any...

I was super excited to try the food here because I heard it was so bomb and not going to lie, it’s good!! Shout out to the cooks for putting in work into their cooking. But man, the waiters have to get it together. We walked in and no one greeted us until a young man, I believe who worked in the back, greeted us and told us to sit down and someone will be with us. It was our first time there so we went to go sit down at a table. 10 minutes passed and no one had came. The young man who greeted us cleaned the table next to us and asked “have you guys been helped yet?” We said no not yet and he said “oh let me go get someone who can help you”. He went to go talk to someone and came back to check on us and said “they said she’ll be right with you, they said the person who was taking care of this area just got out.” It was really nice that he came back to check on us and keep us updated. My question is: “if someone is off, who is suppose to be covering their shift or their section of seating? That’s not team work, that not communication. You’re just leaving customers out there by themselves”. About 6 more minutes passed and the girl finally came. She said “oh sorry about that”. When she came, I had seen her when we walked in and then she saw us when we sat down so I knew she knew we were here. That’s honestly messed up. Man that’s horrible service, if I was working there, I would make sure all my customers are taken of at the moment they get there. We stayed because we were hungry and because we heard the food is good and again, it was delicious! Sucks that the food is good but not the service! Hire some good people who will actually take care of the customers. The customers who were waiting next to us, also left because they took forever to take care of them! That’s not good. Looks like there needs to be more team work and communication with the waiters but for the cooks, y’all keep doing a good job!! Next time, I’ll...

We had a large party, so right off the bat, they informed us that they would add an 18% tip automatically. Ok, no problem.

Prices are really high, but we thought the food would be fantastic to justify these prices. Not the case, we learned.

Beer seemed fine. Waitress took everyone's order at the same time, although we had different checks since we are a soccer team.

Ok, so from the first dish to the last dished served took 45 minutes. That means some of us were done eating and sitting there while others just got their food. Horrible. Most of us had burgers, so why wouldn't you put more patties on the grill? I think the cook was doing one plate at a time.

Burgers were small and no fries. Really? $15 small burger and no fries? Ok! Salad was straight from a romaine bag you buy from Vons. Terrible. Pizza had uncooked dough, so we sent it back. Not impressed with the food at all.

$4 for a can of rootbeer. They tried to charge $6 for it but we caught it. Shame.

They have a robot that brings the food out. I'm wondering if it takes some of that tip.

Sky high prices, small portions, mediocre food. We won't be returning next time we play...