Pizza Port Solana Beach

connlion

Arizona

3.38/5  rDev -19.7%
vibe: 2 | quality: 4.5 | service: 2 | selection: 4.5 | food: 2 | $

Sought this place out on a recent trip to San Diego. I had expected it to be a Rock Bottom or BJ's kind of brewpub. Wrong! This is a truly unique establishment that I would characterize as California beach town grundge. We were there on July 28 when it was 95 degrees at the beach and walked in to find that the place was not air conditioned. When you walk in, you have to order your food at the counter on the left and the beer just beyond. The place is set up with picnic tables to the right and video games in the back of the room. Lots of kids running around. The pizza was way too doughy - like eating a loaf of bread with your pizza - still haven't had a decent pie west of the Hudson. The beers, however, were terrific - I had a Hefe and an IPA to wash down all that dough. The bald guy pouring the beer was especially helpful and gave me a few samples to compare different styles. In the end, it's all about the beer. Try to transcend the crappy pizza and the surroundings. Close your eyes and sip the beer!

09-19-2006 03:20:22 | More by connlion

amatuerbeerguy

Oklahoma

3.41/5  rDev -19%
vibe: 5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | $

To start with , it looks like a run down store front. The atmosphere is exceptional laid back, bench seats out front, arcade games, and soveniers hanging on the wall. Quality is what you expect from Pizza Port. Service was average, for you had to go to the counter to order, then wait there. Selection was small when I was there, they had like ran out of six beers minutes before I walked in. Food did not have any here. Value was inexpensive. It is a nice little joint. You can see the brewery almost as you enter. There even is a plank to cross to get to it. Brewer was sitting in bench having a pint. Talking with patrons. Nice. highly recommend if in the area. Train from LAX stops in front of the place

11-25-2006 01:17:54 | More by amatuerbeerguy

botham

Illinois

3.53/5  rDev -16.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

the quintessential surfer hangout. pizza port in Solana Beach is a low-ceiling, picnic table, order at the counter type of place with surf boards, ropes, and other random pieces of beach-esque objects hanging around. the catch: the beer is great and the pizza is even better.

atmosphere is explained above, with a bustling aura. this place apparently gets packed nightly, giving it a curiously intriguing atmosphere.

quality and service are on-par. beers are all served in tumblers, with friendly staff, and a general lack of excitement for great beer, but the beer and food make up for it.

selection is good. ten to twelve house beers with other various guest taps from souther California.

food is great. the pizza is why this place is well known and it definitely lives up to the hype. the Carlsbad is excellent!

overall this is a solid stop for beer and pizza, but only during off-peak times. patrons tend to wait in line for up to twenty minutes to get a single beer during peak times, which really demonstrates the problem with deli-style ordering and no waitstaff. check it out. cheers!

08-16-2009 01:41:04 | More by botham

indiapaleale

Massachusetts

3.55/5  rDev -15.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $

Ahh, Pizza Port. We managed to get a table outside which was key. It was just a great day to sit outside and have some pizza and great beers. Don't miss out on the beer buddies!!! The selection of beers was great, I love it when places have their beer and other local beers on tap. It shows a lot of class. Service is interesting, one line for food and the other for beer. The inside has random surf stuff, some Port Brewing and Lost Abbey stuff on sale and a big screen TV showing surfing. The draft list was great...4 in house IPAs (dry-hopped Belgian IPA was interesting) along with some other great stuff. Hop 15 on tap is such a great thing! We filled up some growlers as well which is another plus about Pizza Port. Not to be missed if you are in the area!

01-28-2008 23:35:06 | More by indiapaleale

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

3.6/5  rDev -14.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$$

Lots of wooden tables inside, slight row of bar seats outside, but no tables or close bar service. Always the socal surf vibe going on. Arcade in the back. Nice line to just go order beers.

Beers and pizza are always top notch. This 'original' pizza port location seems to have less variety on tap and less of the heavy hitters they have come to be known for when I visit. Still good though. Also the most expensive. I got charged $20 for a REFILL of the Swami IPA. Clarified, no, still $20 for a refill. Ripoff, especially when the better Psuedo or Poor Man's is cheaper at other locations.

Still a cool place with good pizza and beer, but give me San Clemente or Carlsbad any day.

07-11-2011 15:21:07 | More by Beerandraiderfan

spazaru

California

3.61/5  rDev -14.3%
vibe: 2 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $

As a long time Pizza Port customer, this one is not nearly as nice to visit as the Carlsbad location. It's not really their fault, but it's just too crowded all the time. I guess that's what happens when you offer great beer at great prices! The people in Carlsbad seem friendlier too (customers and staff). The house made beers are usually great although I've always thought their house IPA was really bad (especially by San Diego standards), and don't understand the raves it gets. On the other hand, when they have their Frank Double IPA available, it's awesome and definitely recommended.

Definitely worth checking out, but if you can, make it up the coast a bit to the Carlsbad Pizza Port. Better atmosphere for sure. Also, what's up with Pizza Port's growler prices? $11 for refills is $2 or $3 more than anyone else charges including Ballast Point, which is my favorite brewery in San Diego.

10-08-2005 16:12:46 | More by spazaru

Floydster

California

3.63/5  rDev -13.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

Stopped here last night after a fabulous trip to Stone

Ordered a Rogue XS Old Crustacean barleywine first, and it was served in the appropriate glassware, five dollars was a good price for this, considering a 750 ml bottle is around fourteen dollars

Other guest beers there were Lightning Fulminator, which I tried later, Russian River Damnation, Ballast Point Yellowtail, Sierra Nevada Harvest and Brown, and Fox cider, not a bad selection, but not as good as Carlsbad

They had about eight of their own beers, Grumpy's Pale and Hot Spots Hefeweizen were the two that I had, also there was a cream ale, Ponto Pale Ale, and amber and stout, pints of their own beer were only four dollars, but unfortunately they did not have any Lou P. Lin, Synergy, or the Mother of All Beers

Had a pepperoni and sausage pizza, but it was not as good as the one I had at San Clemente a couple months back, the sauce was very different and lacked the sweetness I liked from the last place

This Pizza Port was very crowded and loud, took us about fifteen minutes to find a seat, a lot of young people, seemed like a college crowd even though it is not really close to any bug universities

Getting bear was easy and fast because you just walk up to the bar and order one right there, bartender was nice and gave me some free taster glasses

Place was pretty cheap, only spent twenty-five dollars total, fifteen for the pizza and the rest on brewskies

Probably my least favorite of the Ports, but still not bad and good beer selection for the small amount they carry, would go back if I was in this area and was too lazy to drive to the fantastic Carlsbad location, or further down south to the Liars Club or O'briens Pub

11-16-2007 00:47:24 | More by Floydster

mrkun

California

3.7/5  rDev -12.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

Was already pretty tipsy and had consumed a lot of beer when I went here with several friends. They have a lot of open seating and some arcade games in the back. The atmosphere is pretty lively with everyone drinking their beer and eating pizza. The employees looked like they were all high school students. The beer selection wasn't all that great to be honest, nothing great was present. The pizza was alright, but wasn't anything special; the toppings often just fell right off the pizza. It's a fun place, but I really don't think it lives up to the hype.

06-17-2011 07:20:02 | More by mrkun

Damian

Massachusetts

3.85/5  rDev -8.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 1.5 | $$

I visited Pizza Port Solana Beach on my West Coast trip this past summer. Being an East Coast guy, I find the combination of "beer and the beach" to be an odd yet intriguing concept. When my friends and I arrived here on a weekday evening, the place was packed with both families and groups of adults. Inside, patrons sat at long picnic tables. We were lucky enough to snag one of the few tables on the deck out front. My friends and I ordered a seafood and veggie pie and I had a pint of their Hop 2 It double IPA. The Hop 2 It was quite good. It was a zesty, highly-hopped, West Coast DIPA that reminded me much of the Pliny the Elder I had sampled a few days earlier. There were about ten or so other Pizza Port tap offering (some of which were only available at this location) as well as about a dozen selections from other craft breweries. The wait for our food turned out to be unbearably long. When I checked on our pizzas, I was told that the kitchen screwed up our order. This unfortunately happened twice. The first time we were offered a free Caesar salad and the second time we managed to get a free pitcher of Shark Bite Red (no complaints here). The Shark Bite Red was amazingly rich and well-balanced. I simply could not imagine a better beer to pair with pizza. As for the pizza however, it had much to be desired. The West Coast may have the girls and the weather to brag about (and, dare I say, the beer) but the East Coast is definitely king when it comes to pizza. I think I may have had more impressive pies from Dominoes at 2 AM. This aside, I really enjoyed my visit to Pizza Port. I will be sure to remember my "beer on the beach" experience again when I am back in Massachusetts, shoveling snow in mid-January.

11-12-2007 15:55:17 | More by Damian

Oxymoron

Colorado

3.88/5  rDev -7.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$

Like many before me we made a trip to San Diego and made Pizza Port one of our destinations. The location was easy to find located on very busy Pacific Highway 101, although parking was a bit more difficult. But after our third trip around the block we got lucky as someone else was leaving. Once inside the place was a bit small with picnic tables lined next to each other amongst video games and random surf boards and surfer memorabilia.

To the left of the entry you can order food and beer. Although there really wasn't much of a bar, there was a big selection of beer to chose from. Both Pizza Port beer, roughly 10 or so, and guest beers, roughly 9. There seemed to me a bunch of Reds/Ambers Sharkbite, Sharkbite Imperial, Swami's IPA (although IPA felt like a Red). There were a few other beers, Irish red, pale, honey ale, dubble, porter, imp porter among others. Guest beers included Alesmith (My Bloody Valentine), Russian River, Avery, Sierra Nevada, Victory, Alaskan, Foxbarrell & Craftsman. We ended up taking a sampler of a few beers and I eventually got a pint of Swami's IPA. Overall the guest beers were fine, but there was a common theme with the house beers having a slight soapy finish.

We also ordered the Roam Pizza. It was ok, maybe a little overcooked but still decent. The price was typical. The staff mostly consisted of kids serving the food and two bartenders who were pretty busy, even on a Wednesday evening. Nice enough but because of so many people didn't really get to talk to anyone so not sure how knowledgeable they were. I did check out the brewing equipment just behind the bar and in a sunken area. Nice but pretty small for the amount of beers they had.

We did also go to Carlsbad later in our trip I if I were to go again I think I would suggest just to go there. More room, food was better, beers were better, and good staff.

02-19-2008 19:43:06 | More by Oxymoron