Cast Iron Trading Co. — Restaurant in Stockton

Visited Stockton on February 24-25, 2018. Three of us started off next door at the local brewery, which had a band playing and was a little too loud. The staff there suggested walking next door to Cast Iron Trading Co., both for good food and a diverse selection of beers on tap and in the frig. I am SO thankful for that piece of advice!

The food was excellent! We had sliders with sausage from Lockeford Meats (a Lodi institution), which were super tasty - great sausage complemented by a slaw and soft but substantial slider buns. The brussel sprout tacos were killer. The sausage pizza special was very good, but is really kind of rectangular flatbread, not a typical pie. All the food was very tasty and I highly recommend it. We met the chef once the kitchen shut down, and he was a very nice, personable fellow.

The beers on tap were excellent, and quite diverse, even though there were only about 8 or so. A few I had not heard of, and I am an avid beer enthusiast. Even better was the refrigerator that had dozens of cans and bottles covering a broad spectrum of beer styles, all from breweries across the US and even into Europe. Our group tried about 7 of those cans/bottles and not once were we disappointed.

Owner Eric Lee closed the place up, and chatted with our group and another couple. He was congenial, informative, and also a beer enthusiast. Chatting and tasting beers with him was the highlight of our trip to Stockton. Looking forward to heading back in a few months and seeing what his beer guru has ordered up.

While not cheap, this place had excellent quality and selection. I am happy to pay a little bit more for great service, great food, and very tasty beer.

Wishing Eric the best of luck in his business! He's off to a...

Out of the items pictured, I only truly enjoyed the tots and the cucumber slices that came with the grilled cheese sandwiche. The tots themselves are $2 and you get an ok amount of them for the price; they were hot, crisp, and nicely seasoned. The burrito while being the most expensive thing shown, $8, it was also the biggest disappointment. While the burrito is a decent side, there was no taste to it. You cannot tell that there's carnitas, French fries, and some kind of chipotle sauce wrapped in the tortilla. Lastly, we've come to the grilled cheese that came up to $7 and wasn't listed on the small menu. For $7, you would expect to get at least some actual fries on the side. Nope you'd be wrong to think that, you get the sandwich and some delicious cucumber chips (total of 3). Otherwise its your standard grilled cheese with some fancy toppings, that at first is great but quickly becomes old in your mouth. The establishment itself was nice, the woman working as cashier seemed to be in a little rush and didn't inform us of the price of the grilled cheese sandwiches until after I had tried to figure out why the bill...

Easy to find with a fun atmosphere and a no nonsense menu; that's what we were promised and that's what we found at Cast Iron Trading. My coworkers and I were in the area for a business meeting and the general foreman on the job said this was one of his regular haunts. Sandwiches and salads was all we were really looking for, but instead we found a place I'd love to visit again. The employees were welcoming and the artistic and industrial decor made it feel like a cool place to hang out, rather than dine and dash (as in eat fast, not skip paying ha). All six of us ordered something different, with my gluten-free needs being fulfilled by the one salad option, though the sandwiches had a GF bread option as well. With just two dressing options, I opted for the Green Godzilla ranch-style dressing, I wasn't sure it would be more than a classic side garden salad, but boy was I surprised. It was flavorful, quite large in size, and...