Karl Strauss Brewery

Delicious food and beer! Helpful servers who are knowledgeable of all house beers! Will definitely be returning. The shrimp Po boi… YUM! And the Hummus is out of this world delicious! Very cool restaurant!

Wow! Now that was expensive. Trapped in Terminal 1 gates 1 and 2 you are left with no choices at SAN except Karl Strauss Brewery. Once you are past security the choices are limited; in this case, limited to one.

Ew. Microwaved omelet tasted like a sponge

Cannot wait for remodel to be done

Ok spot to spend some time while waiting for a flight. Has one TV for sports.
Ordered a Karl Strauss Amber Lager — 9.
Also had a Hawaiian Pizza, which is brought over from California Pizza Grill. It was fine.
Service was below meh. Took long time to notice me. Was given a water with no ice, and was never refilled. The place only has about 10 seats, and it wasn’t crowded.

I never expect much in the way of foodie niceties at an airport so it was a pleasant surprise to find a local craft brewery there while waiting for my red-​eye (read: trying to get sleepy drunk here). It was a bummer they didn’t have 2 out of the 3 seasonal offerings (time to print new menus people!) but the red trolley was just fine with my CPK pizza. All beers have are served in 14– or 20– ounce pours at jacked up airport prices. On the plus side, the woman serving (who also runs across the airport to retrieve your food, poor thing) was lovely.

Small airport bar — food is mediocre for the genre. I like being able to get a Red Trolley before a flight, but it’s not exactly in a central location.
But hey, it’s not like there’s anything better in that terminal.

Being from Canada and a craft brew nut, I wanted to hit as many brew pubs as possible.
This place is really nice and has a beautiful entrance.
I tried a flight of assorted tasters and a few one oz testers. The service from the bartender was very good and she was nice and friendly.
I liked the beer but found it low on character. They all kind of tasted the same.
I didnt try the food but it looked really good.
Cheers!

Small location, but the only location if you want a beer at gate 1 and 2.
Staff is pleasant enough and always push the upsell.
Point in case — if you order a nacho — and they say steak or chicken, they just added 2 to 3 dollars to what you thought you ordered.
They always push the «go bigger» for $ 3
But really, i’m held captive and i have a beer in my hand, so i’ll be there, enjoying a cold one before i fly.
Staff is relatively friendly and know how to get you your drink and get you out the door when your flight is ready to board!

So, Gate 1/​Gate 2 is usually the gate you fly out of when going to Vegas from San Diego for the weekend — so what a nicer way to start then having a drink at Karl Strauss?
The beer & drinks are $$$ — if you order a drink if you double it it’s an extra $ 3
Wi-​Fi is pretty spotty here.
But, do I normally sit here & have a drink while waiting for a flight? Yes

Their own lager is average compared to other lagers I’ve had. The waffle fries were tasty but the lingering layer (s) of grease afterwards was not pleasant. The service is so nice. The waiters could care less if you need to sit at their tables but don’t feel like ordering their food. The drinks are expensive. There’s nothing really that special about their lagers here.

Why would you operate a large well respected brand as Karl Strauss and then take that reputation to a captive airport crowd and give us crap?
Because no one tells them they can’t. VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS AND YOUR FEET PEOPLE.
Avoid this place … Most airports restaurants around the globe are really stepping it up. The current management of KSB is not doing their brand a proper service.
The worst I’ve ever had.

I’d give this place a 3.5 if I could so just rounded up.
Sat down and was helped right away by a friendly, smiling Hispanic lady. I ordered the $ 12 Swiss burger and though she didn’t ask how I wanted it cooked like other Unilocalers said, mine came out just fine. I put some mayo and ketchup and it was good to me. I loved that they had criss cut fries instead of regular and it came with a crisp pickle. Waitress recommended I get the fountain seat instead of bottled cause it’s refillable. Good call cause I needed a refill! Sid got the chicken n chips and it looked dry but I didn’t try it so I dunno but he said it was ok. Waitress came back 4 times to check up on us and refilled our drinks once each. She didn’t push sales and I didn’t feel like she was checking up on us TOO much to the point that it got annoying, it was just right. Place was clean.
I think $ 12 was pricey but thats airport pricing for you. Total for the 2 fountain drinks, chicken n chips and Swiss burger was $ 31. Like I said, pricey but that’s the airport for you. If you can’t afford it, grab a sandwich at the shop then.

Beer guy here.
Stuck waiting at Gate 1 or 2 in San Diego airport?
Welcome to Karl Strauss, your only choice (on this side of security).
I was here at the end of a short business trip. With over an hour to kill in the late afternoon, beer and nachos seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately it was all slightly below par:
– Their IPA rates a 4 out of 10
– Their Amber lager… 5 out if 10
– Their nachos were OK… a little too soggy in spots
Service was very friendly and prompt, however, so I’ll round up for that.

I was in San Diego for about 24 hours and didn’t want to leave town without a Red Trolley. I was extremely excited when I saw there was a Karl Strauss Brewery right outside my gate at the Southwest terminal, but that happiness was shortlived.
The servers here are some of the most aggressive salespeople I’ve ever met (and I’m in sales and marketing) and did not allow you to enjoy an already flat beer pour by their constant fish market screaming at anyone in a mile-​radius!

Follow my lead, it’s a REVOLUTION, or something
Ok if your here to have a pre boarding beer/​cocktail and you haven’t been able to sneak you flask of scotch, bourbon, rum, or vodka past the security cavity-​check point, this is your place!!! And I fully salute you for your attempts at pre vacation debautchery!
If you have fallen out of bed in the style of Hugh Grant’s «4 weddings and a funeral» screaming, «Oh holy F#CK, were late» at your partner… this may be the place to settle your nerves with some adult libation AKA: valum-​lube.
If, however you are expecting something that resembles freshly prepared food for a fair price dont hold your breath — you may explode tic tic. too late!
What you will recieve off the abridged menu that even the late and great Ms. Hellan Kellar could read by squinting, is something that resembles instant egg material, precooked and reheated meat product, stale bread portions obviously prepared by some baker from never never land… All snuggled in with American cheese food no doubt produced by all of those happy cows they are raving about; all for a low low one time only no-​ky jelly included-​price of 8.99 or was it 9.99? for that amount of money i can sway a small child to poke me in the eye when my boarding details are anounced, providing me with just the right amount of preboarding sleep to suffer the rest of the trip!
seriously stick with the Bloody Mary — its a snack and drink all in one!

Let me document for you the exchange I had with the bartender at this little beer depot in Terminal 2 of the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport:
Me: «I’d like an IPA please» (I’m from Portland, we drink IPA’s)
Bartender: «Would you like a big one or a small one?»
Me: «How much is the big one?»
Her: «14 or 20»
Me: «This beer costs $ 14!!!» (having just been raked over the financial coals for a bottle of water and a small coffee at the HMSHost-​run Starbucks a mere 30 yards away, I was only partially shocked)
Her: «No, silly! It’s not that expensive, a large is only $ 8 and change»
Me: (deadpan) «That’s not that much cheaper than $ 14»
Her: (smiling) «Oh, come on. That’s not bad for airport price»
Me: (shrugging) «Make it a big one.»
Otherwise, this spot provided me with a cold, tasty, local IPA for a ridiculous price in a setting with a table and an outlet for my laptop, and I sat and reveled in the free wifi at the airport.
It would easily be 4 stars if it weren’t for the ludiucrously exorbitant prices. Come enjoy a $ 5 pint at the Laurelwood in PDX some time and see what I am talking about.

So a buddy of mine has a batchelor party last weekend in Vegas. Couple of my friends fly out the night before to get an early start to the debauchery. I decided to fly in the following morning.
So here I am chilling in the terminal lounge and what do I see but you friendly neighborhood Karl Strauss. It was about 10:00 AM, but I decided to get my pre-​funk on with their Shock Top Draft Beer which is basically your Belgian wheat ale. I figured I should catch up to my friends who by this time has gotten into who knows what type of trouble.
I also had me their Bacon Cheddar Burger which came with potato chips and a pickle. The burger wasn’t actually half bad to be honest with you. I agree with the other review, it would have been better if they asked how I wanted my burger to be cooked.
They got a bar where you can sit and chill and watch sports. Fully stocked bar with top shelf liquor. The Filipina aunties were in full effect making sure everyone’s drink was topped off.
The gate where this place is located is kinda strange. This section of the terminal only houses 2 or maybe 3 serviceable gates. So there’s probably not a lot of foot traffic as one would expect.

If you want to feel gassy on your flight, to mess with people, eat breakfast here! I like farting on planes because there is so much overhead circulation and so much white noise that, unless you lift your leg a little or something, no one knows who did it!
This is the Karl Strauss in the mini-​terminal at San Diego International Airport. The only restaurant there.
Sit at the bar and lube up before flying the friendly skies but don’t eat a breakfast croissant sandwich while doing so.
It was a flat, oily croissant (probably microwaved) with a sausage patty, scrambled eggs and… the worst part… American cheese. With the croissant as oily and wet as it was and with the grease patty and American cheese, it was a belly bomb, definitely not… da bomb. And it came with pre-​packaged, refried diced potatoes. That’s it! All unpleasantly packaged in a styrofoam container to bring on the plane.
Oh well, what do you expect in an American airport at 6am? At least it was hot food.

If you fly Southwest (gate 1 or 2), this is your soul option. It’s not bad, per se, but the sparcity of the menu is… well… sparcity.
A handful of burgers and sammiches, a few salads, and breakfast (NOT served all day) is all there is. And I’ve seen better prices for airport food, even in my limited travel experience.
It IS a full service bar, and the Karl Strauss craft beers are decent. Note, though… $ 8 for the big glass that they serve by default…
Props… for employing little old Filipino aunties and lolas (grammas)… this IS San Diego, after all…
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Oh… even at the airport? Rampant modelesque’edness?! WTF?