Public House 131 — Restaurant in San Diego

First time checking out Public House 131 and I’m glad we did! Easy reservations on OpenTable, although they weren’t needed for the timeframe we visited. Studying their menu in advance, I was impressed and had high hopes for some of their unique offerings. This family friendly establishment certainly elevates traditional gastropub fare. Service was professional and efficient although not overly personable or friendly. I think it may have been the manager gentleman. Restaurant is clean, spacious and comfortable. Impressive draft beer selection on tap. My wife’s margarita looked and tasted exquisite.

I started with an order of Fried Calamari, which included poblano chiles, morita crema and lemon. It was outstanding and beautifully presented, although somewhat of a petite portion. My Flat Top Double Cheeseburger was excellent! Made with two nicely seared beef patties, double cheese, bacon, pickles, grilled onions and dijon. One of the best burgers I’ve had in a long time, that I can tell you! I had onion rings on the side and while they seemed rather institutional, they were fried to a perfect crispness and there was a generous amount. For dessert I highly recommend the English Toffee Bread Pudding (no raisins). While it was unfortunately cool in the center it still tasted great overall....

Where to start... Complete lack of management in this restaurant. From control of the flow of seating to ticket times it was just an unpleasant experience. Our server did everything they could to take care of us and was obviously swamped because the host is allowed to just slam the servers with table after table without staggering. Servers are overwhelmed and trying their hardest, ticket times when we were there were 30 minutes or more and there was zero manager presence. Being in restaurant management for 20 years I would think someone would be touching tables making sure the guests were having an enjoyable experience, especially if I saw ticket times in excess of 25 minutes. Our food came out cold and overcooked and flavorless. We ordered the Craft Burger. Truffle Mushrooms?? Please. Regular mushrooms if anything. Zero flavor besides the burger itself which wasn't even seasoned. We ordered Medium Rare, got a hockey puck. Just zero guidance for the staff and no floor presence from whoever was managing. In a post Covid world where restaurants are clearly struggling, it's sad to see such subpar effort given from the operations team at Public House. We live in the area and we both agreed that we won't be back. Save your money and eat at Rubios nearby. At least...

Blood Orange Martini, not very sweet but tasty (blood orange syrup, vodka, and club soda), vodka martini, bruschetta, blackberry martini, and a charcuterie board. It is nice to see people out and about. Public House has plenty of space between tables and follows all Covid protocols. The food is tasty, we got the bruschetta and the charcuterie board. The charcuterie was packed with good meats and cheeses and had little extra goodies in between (strawberries and some chocolate). The bread was nicely toasted and had a good chat on it. The bruschetta was tasty as well. The drinks were good, the orange blossom martini was a bit tart, not real sweet with a bit of blood orange and a little bubbly from the club soda. The vodka martini was good, strong, two olives just how I like them! My Mom also got the blackberry lemon drop, beautiful drink and refreshing. Good food, great service. All in all a great local...