Fernside — Restaurant in San Diego

The only thing I could think after being here a few hours was, "How did I NOT know this place existed?!" The quick hit for this review - it's nearly 100% perfection. 4.95 out of 5 - easily!

Now, the further explanation -- I still consider myself fairly new to the SD area and dropped by the Southpark area with a friend. We strolled around and basically followed our noses and ears until we landed somewhere. Right off the bat, I was charmed by the menus posted outside of Fernside (which you can find on their website pretty easily). 5 pages were posted to the walls in various places for people to peruse; 3.5 of them were pretty much alcohol/drink options with the first page & bottom of the last page being dedicated to food. I loved it -- they knew what I was there for!

I got the Fernside Burger (pictured) - and this isn't hyperbole: It is the best burger San Diego has given me in my time here. I thought I'd found it somewhere else before, but I was wrong. The Fernside burger is that taste of America people visiting the country want when they come here. It's perfection. Fernside -- if you're reading this, please don't ever change ANYTHING about how you made that beautiful thing!

The ambiance in there is insane!! "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" playing on the TVs. The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" intermixed with other music from the 50s to 90s Hiphop playing over the sound system. Tiki glasses in the shape of well-known beloved Star Wars characters hidden within some of their other glasses. You could get a solid cerveza there - OR - you could pretty much order from the full run of Suntory Japanese Whisky (a personal favorite of mine) they had present. You could buy your table bottles of whiskey the same way some spots sell bottles of wine for their tables (they did wines by the bottle for your table as well, just FYI - but the bottles of spirits seemed like a more unique feature in my experiences)...

Like... WTH - where was I (in a good way)?! How had I never happened across this spot!? It was as if someone said, "You know -- I want to make a bar where the theme pulling it all together is 'the good B-Sides most people don't know about, but should'," and they stuck the landing!!

The staff there we cool as all get out, and the prices of everything were SO reasonable! If you can't tell, I plan to go back there. San Diego just keeps on giving -- I have a favorite brewery here, and now I think Fernside just cemented itself as my favorite bar/chill eatery in the area. Easily.

I gave a 4.95 out of 5 at the beginning, and that's just because I'm being a butt. The place is perfect and EASILY a pleasantly unexpected 5-star experience. It didn't look bad from the outside by any means, but I just wasn't expecting it to be THAT good. The -.05 in the scoring above was because I didn't see the one thing there that seemed like it could fit the space: No arcade cabinet with like... a mix of classic video games on it. Haha - I'm not there to play games, but I was shocked to NOT see it considering everything else the place had going on! And for all I know, maybe it was there somewhere but I just didn't see it. Meh - small nit that honestly doesn't matter.

I saw a family there with small kids in one of the two outdoor eating areas (so, it is kid-friendly for those who want to know) & all of the tables had these little personal-sized fans (I o'no how to describe that part -- you'll see it if you go there). There was a cute fluffy dog outside with a couple at one of the other outdoor/side patio areas - so they're dog-friendly, too.

If you've never been to this spot & are a fan of good burgers, nice drinks, fun yet chill environments, polite (from what I could tell) patrons, and good music/audio-visuals -- this is the...

Taste 5/5 Portions 5/5 Service 5/5

This is a must stop burger shop! Ordered the Fernside (x2 one for me and one for my wife), Nacho Fries, and Grilled Cheese for the kiddo. When I say this is the tastiest burger we’ve ever eaten I am not joking. We’ve had burgers in several states from the East to West coast, this place beats them all! The waffle fries, crusty cauliflower, and fern sauce are excellent.

I’ve had some massive burgers that had mediocre sides, but the portions at Fernside are very generous in both burger and sides. You’ll definitely have leftovers unless you’re super hungry!

Online ordering was quick and easy (they have pictures for most items on the menu and the pictures match what you get). No fancy photography here: what you see is what you get. I showed up 5 minutes before my order was supposed to be ready and it was already packaged and ready to go for me. Service was done with a smile and pick-up was very fast. Park at the Target lot across the street if you’re...

Came here for Happy Hour and I loved it. One of the best Happy Hour menus with lots of both drinks and food items. They are counter service only so you order right at the door and receive a buzzer. Service is very quick here. Drinks are ready right away and food takes only a couple of minutes.

I tried the Mini Nacho Fries and Korean BBQ wings. This was enough to share between two people. The Nacho Fries were delicious. The waffle fries were so crispy and it was topped with a ton of bacon, avocado, pickled onions, and nacho cheese. Would come back just for this. The Korean BBQ wings were good, I would get them again. Drinks were standard.

Really good prices during HH. Located in South Park so parking is pretty easy. This is a good place for groups because you don't have to worry about splitting the bill. Everyone pays on their own at the counter. This place does get busy. Came with a large group of 8 so it was hard to find seating for all of us...