Pretzels & Pints — Restaurant in San Diego

I came in on 12/10/23 as an actual Philadelphian who had just moved from Philly 4 days prior. I was excited to come and took the #2 bus up to this location, specifically, to watch the Eagles-Cowgirls game.

I read on Yelp they had Hefeweizen (3 people specifically mentioned hefeweizen in their reviews). I walked to the bar and asked what did they have as far as hefeweizen and the staff member said just look at the list up on the wall. I said I'm not really a beer drinker, so idk if any are hefeweizen which is why I'm asking you. He proceeded to give me a hard time.

I said, Well, if you don't know if you have hefeweizen, do you have any ciders? And instead of just saying "Yes" he said can't you see the cider listed on the board up there? I asked for his name before I left the establishment and surprised he said "Boomer." I had looked thos place up before I went to it so I know that meant he was the 'owner' who was acting rude towards this actual Philly patron.

Let's be clear, this man is from Delco, not Philly. This place is clearly for one type of Philly fan with one type of 'look' that I'm sure if I fit, I would have gotten more service. I will not be back nor do I recommend to anyone who is actually from PHILLY. I did not feel welcomed there at all and left feeling really let down, bc I really did want to try the Philly pretzel and have a good time there.

Anyways, I walked to True North around the corner. They have way more TVs, food, and drink options. Someone in there told me someone recently got stabbed up at Pretzels and Pints, which I believe because from what I experienced there is zero security or crowd control... Nobody was even...

Really loved the decoration inside and the pretzel was tasty, I hate to give it three stars. My first time here, I enjoyed it for the most part. Paid about 20$ for a pretzel and beer. Staff didn’t seem too welcoming. As I was sitting inside though and watching, it doesn’t seem that food handling is taken seriously which makes me reconsider everything. From what I saw, the bartenders are doing quite a bit of the food prepping/handling. This includes doing their job, pouring beer, cashing out, then immediately going from there, to hands directly on pretzels and serving to customers. I will say it could’ve happened and I missed it, but I did not see any handwashing going on, which was directly in front of me. One would think tongs or gloves would be more so implemented when handling the food. Shame to see. Makes me wonder what their health code rating is.

13Sep2024-update Came back to try it again cause I did want to give it another shot. Disappointed again and don’t think I’ll return next time. The staff at the front, tatted blonde, was really rude. Myself and my brother were ordering separate tabs and had only ordered a beer each then I was simply trying to ask about the size of the pretzel. She quickly cut me off and made it clear that I need to go talk to the other server and how she can’t answer my question even though we’d be eating the pretzel together. The way she had went about it was really rude and I was completely taken back by her tone and how it seemed like she was trying to belittle me. Honestly don’t think I’ve ever encountered customer service that bad. And just follows suit with my initial...

In what I can only assume is some sort of sociological effort to put all of the Philly fans in one place and thus save the rest of San Diego from them, this place exists via, I think, some bizarre portal to Eastern Pennsylvania. The denizens of this establishment have an intricate series of rituals for every possible positive outcome during Philadelphia sporting events, which mostly involve loud communal chants and banging on furniture. A woman named Lykheng (which I think I spelled correctly) glares at them in constant protective judgement, a comforting bulwark whose continued side eye and beer service keeps these degenerate lunatics from total barbarism. A man who I can only assume is the owner wanders about with two main responsibilities: 1. Turning excellent music on during the commercial breaks (which he does with astonishing precision), and 2. Running through the establishment with two cowbells after a Philadelphia homerun. Everyone is friendly, which means they are equally willing to fight you or purchase you a citywide special, according to your tastes. They sell some insane, delicious canned beverage that seems equal parts irradiated apples from three mile island and tears of William Penn, and it is 5 dollars. They offer a wide variety of pretzels so that you can experience real Sixers-fan-level regret after you order something other than the Philly. There were literally several dozen witches here, and they fit in perfectly.

I think I'm a Phillies fan now. I blame this place, the best bar in North Park. Don't come here or you won't...