Villains Brewing Company — Restaurant in San Diego

Bottom line: We came for a hosted 5-course meal event. The service was okay, the food was great, but the staff wasn't well-prepared for the event.

Check-in: (We arrived 10 minutes before our reservation). The hostess was very friendly and notified us that there was an event and said that the event was limiting seating availability. She didn't ask if we were there for the event or if we had a reservation, she just sat us down in the available seating. When she handed us regular menus, we asked if there was a separate menu for the 5-course meal event. She said "oh you're here for the event?" and then asked us to check in upstairs. We went upstairs and asked some of the staff where we check in at. Some staff members were very busy setting up and essentially ignored us. The upstairs bartender offered us a drink while we waited. We ordered a drink and by the time we received and paid for our drink, our table was ready. Total time from arrival to being seated was about 20 minutes.

Meal: The dishes were delicious. However, at no point in our entire visit did anyone actually confirm we had a reservation or what our names were, dietary preferences, etc. No big deal, but my wife is deathly allergic to tree-nuts (which we indicated on our reservation), so we had to basically wait and see as each dish came out whether she could eat it or not. Each dish was paired with a cocktail, which was nice, but one course was served with a full pint of beer (would have recommended a 4 oz. taster or something easier to get through). Each dish was tasty, each cocktail was good. The lamb birria with red wine was a great pairing! Our only real complaint for the meal was the pacing. It took 3 hours to get through all 5 courses and when dinner finally came out, we had to get it to go.

To summarize: Friendly staff, tasty food and good beer and cocktails. Recommend preparing a little better for the next 5-course meal event, coordinate better across the staff, verify reservations and dietary preferences, and move a little faster through the meal. We will come back, but probably just for a...

Having enjoyed their beers in the LA/OC area, I was Pretty disappointed with our experience here. A big part of the problem is their staff hospitality and customer service. I get they're busy during SDCC weekend, but it felt like all the staff, especially front of house was overwhelmed.

We made reservations for a party of 8 in the afternoon. When we got there, we were told to line up as she was sitting in order of arrival (basically no difference for reservations/standby). When I reiterated I had reservations, she seemed flustered and you can tell they don't have accommodations ready. We were rushed to a place street side with no umbrella coverage (middle of the day sun). When we asked if they could find or move some umbrellas for us, they said yes, but she clearly didn't ask or try as the next time we saw her, she was back at the counter with no one to update us if they found one or not. Same with our waitress and another guy we asked. Basically told "we're busy right now, we can't do that"

Guess I'll hold my sun umbrella out while I eat/drink with one hand

So yea, the entire staff just needs some better training.

Food/drink wise, it's pretty funny. A few times when we tried order, we were told "hold on, let me check if we have that." Chicken breast, let me check, we didn't have it yesterday, sour beer, oh we're out.

If you're out of items, let us know when we arrive, don't waste our time to tell us you're out.

Had to ask waitress for sauces, wasn't offered any

Chicken was hard and tough

Brisket, that's supposed to be one of their best dishes was dry.

Best thing we ordered was the strawberry fields salad. Fresh and refreshing.

For a brewery, they have only about 6 beers on their menu, with some not even being available.

Hazy IPA was decent, but the poor experience, left us not wanting to get any more than the one. Villains missed with this one if they're trying to compete with...

It's a shame this place took over the space that held Other Door Brewing. When we visited San Diego in March and found Other Door, we LOVED it. When we went back in August, it was this new Villains Brewing and it was SAD. The bartender gave us a happy hour menu for late night, but then charged us regular price for our cocktails, which was double the price. I noticed it on the receipt 2 days later and called the place to have them fix it, but they were busy when I called so the manager asked for my phone number so he could call me back in an hour after the rush, which I was fine with, but he never called. I called back another 2 days later and spoke to a manager who told me that the happy hour wasn't valid that night because there was a concert happening nearby, so even though we were given the happy hour menu by the bartender, those prices weren't valid at that time, which is total BS. He said he couldn't do anything about us being overcharged, so I had to go through my bank to get the refund.

As far as the drinks we had, the Gaslamp Scallywag cocktail is not good at all. Stay away from that. I preferred the Vampire Weekend cocktail that my partner had, but the bartender never asked if we liked our drinks so I was just stuck with mine. They also overdid the decor. This place had such a wonderful, classic look to it and now it has this random nautical theme mixed in with the villains theme. It looks like they had too many ideas for this place and were unable to edit themselves down to make it make sense.

We will not...