Ballast Point Brewing Miramar — Restaurant in San Diego

Taken from my yelp written on June 25, 2017. Came here with about 8 people on Saturday June 24, 2017 at around 20:00 (8pm). My 3 friends ordered beer and some appetizers. I did not order anything because I am the designated driver. We sat on the outdoor tables. This is my first time coming into a brewing/bar place. I know there are several around the area, but I believe this one is the busiest of them all (at least at time when I went). The first thing I like about this place is huge. The whole area was filled with many people inside and outside just enjoying their drinks and chatting. This place feels alive at night. You can obviously tell I have not been out very much. Anyways, it was a good feeling, good vibes. The second thing I like about this place is the amazing service they had here. You order it in a designated area around the sit down bar, pay for it, and they will look for you either inside or outside tables. It must be tough for the servers to look for people especially outside as some areas of the tables are dark. We were in that spot and they managed to find us. The other thing I liked was the atmosphere. Most people were talkative and were enjoying themselves. The outdoor had some game where people were throwing sacks in a hole. It was entertaining watching people doing just that. There are televisions to watch sports as well. I can say that I enjoyed chatting with my friend and catching up with some other ones. There is also a designated spot for smokers on the outside bottom level of the tables. A couple of my friends smoked there and spent quite a long time there. Although I did not have anything to drink, I was able to eat some of the appetizers they had: truffle fries and fried calamari. I was amazed at the taste of both of the food I had. I would recommend it. My friends who drank (I think the beer was something with a "Flight" in the title) loved it. One of my friends got buzzed and my other friend said it was only 5% by saying "how could you with just one glass". Be warned that there is a high chance of getting buzzed if you are a lightweight. I highly recommend their beers on my friend's behalf as that is what most people come here for. They have a huge selection of beers to pick from in a menu and I heard that it changes daily. One thing I would definitely not recommend though unless you have the budget is to eat a big meal here. I was hungry, but the burger was $14-16. I think it is a bit pricey, but my friends said the beer was reasonably priced. The one thing that I did not like about coming here was the fact that both the street and the parking lot were full of cars. There are no additional areas to park either as the backroad of the street (Trade St.) had construction signs at night saying you can not park there. The worse part of looking for a parking spot is seeing an empty spot to only have a motorcycle using that spot. Even though they are considered a vehicle, I wish they would give that room to an actual car since motorcycles are way smaller and can be parked in almost any open space. We took about 10 minutes to find parking. Be warned if you come here, be prepared to spend time finding a parking spot. They also have a valet parking. To conclude, do come here for drinks and appetizers. It is an amazing environment full of people just enjoying their drinks. I come here mainly to socialize and becoming a designated driver. I saw several little kids running around the outdoor area too so I was not the only one who was sober. My friends all liked the beers and I liked the appetizers, but do prepare give time to...

This is the crown jewel in Ballast Points kingdom, designed to be their main production brewing facility and years ago the plans seemed ridiculously grand, but no one really knew they would outgrow our wildest forecast and be expanding basically every year at this point bringing in new tanks and equipment consistently to meet demand. HUGE, like hide a Costco inside huge. All these years later its still big too. They are building their 6th location now in Roanoke, VA which is the new thing for Socal breweries to do, have an East Coast hub/brewery to better service demand.

Maybe I was 9 when Jack White opened a little home brew mart and maybe none of us knew it would grow to here it’s come, but it’s not about when you got on board. It’s about how 1 beer grew a brand. Sculpin, in all it’s golden grained glory outsells most breweries in San Diego, actually is the best selling craft beer from Socal drank in California. Ballast Point to be has always been the little brother to Stone and even took a back seat to Green Flash in the expansion arms race, but BP did somethings no other SD Brewery has/is doing. Good beer, lots of it, have it everywhere, don’t change the recipe. Even before their record $1B buyout to Constellation they were in the process of being the first Socal brewery to go public and their distillery was the first micro in San Diego since Prohibition.

Parking is always an issue, but then you get inside and all those people driving those cars had to go somewhere. Restaurant seats a few hundred with additional seating, bar and rec area outside. Both bars get crowded and service can be slow and despite all the people here they will always feel understaffed with the speed people are ordering/drinking at. When it’s slower the service is excellent when ordering from any staff, they are very knowledgeable and I really like mixing beers so I tend to pick their brains for combo’s I’ve not thought of (lots of their R&D is constantly changing and hard to keep up with). Prices are still within line with the industry/region, so they aren’t building themselves on the backs by charging too much. Décor is open, airy, social. I’d recommend eating in the dining area versus the bar area as it’s going to get packed and busy around you. The food is pretty basic, no award winning chef’s doing some seasonal 7 course menu here. Beer cheese pretzels are ok, their beers flavors are prevalent in the sauces. They don’t skimp on the salt. Chips are alright, salsa and guac lack that fresh boldness we expect. Barmy chicken wings need way more heat and aren’t bad for not being fried. Duck confit nachos could meld the flavor profiles together better, can’t lose sight of the cheese.

I could write on just the beers alone, so if you’re wondering if they have good beer, yes. Do they have a variety, yes. In the beer world they are well respected, in the public they are well respected and if those aren’t enough to get your out here, nothing will. Bathrooms are surprisingly small considering the capacity and amount of liquids consumed on premisis. Take the tour, it’s educational and impressive and I’ll let you learn about those things by taking it rather than ruining it for you. If you want to learn about their spirits, their original location has been converted solely for that, but they have no food there. There are newer, closer, less crowded breweries around, I still come here from time to time because lets face it I love Sculpin, it’s good enough to build a $1B...

Been going here for years and service has declined since covid. To be fair, all the beers they create are amazing and I'm only writing this review in hopes they focus on service. We went in Saturday afternoon and waited at the front desk to be seated. Nobody was there. The hostess then came in through the front door and looked at us and walked away, without a word. We kept waiting, more people came in and were waiting too and nobody came. Several minutes later I saw her chatting with staff, and she slowly made her way back to the front, without an apology or any acknowledgement. I know I'm turning into Dennis from it's always sunny in Philly, but come on. She then told us the patio is open seating, I wasn't sure since I haven't been in a while. So we went to the patio. Realized we couldn't pay with cash because you have to order through a website in your phone. We ordered and while waiting, noticed French fries someone threw in the dirt by our table and nobody cleaned it. The staff seems unfriendly and like they don't care about their job in the patio area. When the staff brought our beers, much later than the appetizer we received almost instantly, she didn't even look at us. I even said thank you. She acted like we weren't even there. This seemed to be how most of the staff was in the patio, just rude in general. Ever since covid the forced the patio customers into paying online and not getting a server, which is a lame idea now. The patio is so nice here with SD weather it should have excellent service out there. But you should expect little to no service outside. They also didn't even ID my guest when they brought our beers, which doesn't seem right. I guess because one person orders with a credit card it's all good for the party? Similar thing happened another time I went, we ordered a few beers, and then when they brought them they told us you can only order 1 at a time per person. We'll why didn't a server tell us that? If you want decent service I would suggest being seated inside. I hope that the owners put some more energy into the service in the patio, and hope they bring the servers back to that area. We're not in covid anymore and staring at your phone for 10 mins to order, instead of enjoying the setting is lame and should be an option only,...