The Linkery

woodychandler

Pennsylvania

4.63/5  rDev +5.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

Now, if both UKBrewing and Cuz. Colby Chandler of Ballast Point (Home Brew Mart) recommend a place, where should you headed?

The entry was angled to the corner at 30th Street and North Parkway with the kitchen to an angled right. Big, open-windowed garage doors on both corners. Walls were lined with booths with a number of standard tables and chairs center. The whole place was designed on a concentric circle. Brick-red walls, soft lighting, dark chairs.

Great, rotating selection of beers.

Food: German-style, house-made (!) sausages. My second favorite to salmon.

Server: A really cute redhead named Kerry who was wearing her hair in Pippi Longstocking-like pigtails. Oh, ma coeur! She was very patient with me and somehow resisted my advances. Usually, my charm works. Ha!

12-24-2009 13:16:17 | More by woodychandler

Yetiman420

Ohio

4.33/5  rDev -1.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$$

I did a three day brewery, brewpub, beer bar tour of San Diego and made a stop at the Linkery in the late afternoon on Sunday after stops at Stone Lost Abbey, and Ballast Point. My goal was to kill some time and consume well more water than beer.

The Linkery occupies an open corner location on the 30th street corridor which is lined with shops, bars, restaurants, and down the street from the Toronado.

The Chargers were playing the Raiders and there was a very busy bar caddy corner which was loaded with Raider fans doing a lot of cheering. There were 4 other people at the bar and two in the dining area all sort of watching the game.

I had the sausage plate with an additional sausage and a half pint of the cask Alesmith Halloween Red Ale. I didn't take very good notes but I recall the cask selection was ok and since I'm not a huge fan of cask beers, I didn't take much of an interest in what they had.

The sausages were all made in house. I had a Brat and a Kielbasa. I've made sausages a number of times and take an interest in any place that makes their own. These were pretty tasty but provided a little sticker shock when the tip-included bill came. The water they serve is infused with sage which I enjoyed.

I'd recommend this place to those that can say artisanal food is of equal or greater importance than quality craft beer. Also keep in mind their draft selection is all cask.

10-18-2010 02:41:22 | More by Yetiman420

sholland119

Pennsylvania

3.95/5  rDev -9.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$$

Frankly a disappointment. Checked out the menu before our arrival in SD and loved the concept (local, fresh, constantly changing array of sausages. Who doesn't love sausages?).

We loved the look of the place. A bit bright but comfortable. We grabbed seats at the bar. Service was prompt for the first half of our meal; things derailed a bit when a former employee (or current employee with the night off) stopped by and had a meltdown, which distracted the whole staff for the rest of the meal.

Beer selection was nice. We visited during SDBW, and they were coming off a Green Flash night. We love GF beers so that was cool.

Food was described beautifully (and adventurous: beef heart anyone?) but execution was lackluster. Sausages were bland and too dry, accompaniments were also just ok. It was not bad, just well below the expectation set by the concept and what they are striving to be.

HV

04-02-2012 15:35:52 | More by sholland119

corby112

Pennsylvania

4.33/5  rDev -1.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Decided to stop by for dinner and beers during a recent trip to San Diego. The Linkery is a somewhat trendy, farm to table restaurant in North Park that specializes in house made sausages. They also have a nice selection of ten rotating taps and a pretty impressive bottle list.

The place looks kind of small upon entering but it is on a corner and the seating wraps around the bar area and continues down a long hall. Large chalkboards are visible from every seat with the specials, sausages and drafts. Spacious with a dark farmhouse vibe and very high ceilings.

A gratuity of 18% is added to every bill and no additional tipping is accepted. This is a source of complaints from some people, but that's mostly because they are cheap and have a distorted view on tipping. That being said, the service here is excellent. Everyone from the host to bartenders to servers were incredibly friendly, helpful and most important, knowledgeable about beer. Our server in particular was very knowledgeable about beer, moreso than most people who post on the forums of this site. In addition to being knowledgeable and friendly, she always made sure our glasses were full and that we had everything we needed.

The food and beer list were both very impressive. They had several different sausages available and all of them were delicious. We tried andouille, Greek, American farmhouse and one more that I can't remember. All were delicious. The entrees looked great as well but were a bit pricey.

They only have ten taps but they are carefully selected with a nice selection of local SD beers, other CA options, casks and even some east coast offerings. They even had some beers from Moonlight which was a nice surprise. In addition, they had a very impressive bottle list including several vintage options. VE060606, VE090909, 09 Supplication, batch one Consecration and GF Rayon Vert too name a few

Overall, I was very impressed with this place. A really cool place to hang out with friends, have a great meal and drink a nice variety of high quality beers. Highly recommended!

01-16-2012 07:43:14 | More by corby112

Floydster

California

4.58/5  rDev +4.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Some friends and I checked this place out for a quick beer after breakfast at Hash House A Go-Go on Sunday, parked right alongside it on the street and noticed it had a very modern look that was wide open, never saw the old location but this place looked cool, atmosphere was upscale with people fitting that mold, most of the employees were young and suprisingly knew a lot about beer, we sat down at the bar and immediately saw the taps board, there was six total but they were impressive, they consisted of Firestone Opal which I ordered, Parabola, Telegraph Stock Porter, Mad River Jamaica Red, Alesmith X, and Boon Mariage Parfait Gueuze, they also had a cask of Firestone Double Barrel, prices were a little steep and my 6 ounce glass of Opal wheatwine was seven dollars and change when it was all said and done, they charge tax and gratuity up front, and do not allow tips, but you can donate to local charities on your way out, I was glad to see some of the Firerstone from their brewmaster dinner was left over, no complaints about the quality in this place, it was very clean and organized, now perhaps the best part about this place is its bottle list, some of the cool things it includes is Alesmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout for only 33 dollars, quite the deal since it is twenty dollars when released at the brewery, do not know how they got them but all power to them, they also had a three year vertical of Stone Old Guardian, Russian River Temptation, and Port Ne Goein Saison to name a few, only bad thing about all this is that you cannot buy bottles to go, the food looked amazing but like I said above we had just ate, sausages in particular looked awesome and you can choose what ingredients are inside, cool idea and I will definitely be taking advantage of that next time I am there, was not exactly cheap but their selection was impressive and I will definitely be going back, you should check this place out as soon as possible if you are in the San Diego area

10-30-2008 19:22:37 | More by Floydster

Loki

North Carolina

5/5  rDev +14.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$

One of my favorite places in San Diego. I love the farm to table concept. I love the in house butcher. The fact that they can serve up to eight casks at a time without a major change. I love that they have their own wine, in cask, in the restaurant. Oh, and then there is the beer and food selection.

The atmosphere is lively, upbeat, local, and probably a bit hip. Fantastic mix of all ages. Good layout. Very busy. The place seems a live and has a great presence.

Quality: Top shelf list of beers both on draft and in the bottle. Small production beers, seasonals, and tons of craft beers, with a huge emphasis on local beers. From cask Stone Ruination to 09 Lost Abbey Angel's Share to aged beers.

Service: They add in 18% gratuity to all checks automatically and don't accept additional tips. (if you think they deserve more you can donate to the charity of the month) So anybody walking by can and will help you. You're never far from a server and never have to worry about your server being overwhelmed. All of them seemed knowledgeable and more than friendly. Including the manager who I spoke with briefly on the way out.

Food: Fresh, dynamic, seasonal, and creative. Fantastic menu, full of flavor, and with choices you will not find in many other places. (well maybe in SoCal). Fantastic sausage. Great lamb.

Value: for what you get, the freshness of the food, and beer, the value is fantastic.

My second favorite place that I went to in San Diego and my favorite place to eat and have beer.

11-12-2009 22:50:37 | More by Loki

botham

Illinois

4.3/5  rDev -1.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

Linkery is an excellent wine and beer bar on 30th street in San Diego. the place specializes in Sausage, and has a decent wine and beer lineup. four taps and five casks, with obscure and unique offerings.

aesthetically, the decor is the kind of 'artistic' that old white haired ladies think is new and fresh. streetside seating with open walls and a bar that faces the inside, right next door is a meat market, connected to the space, with the general aroma of smoked meat throughout the place from the open grill behind the bar.

quality and service were great. the staff knows beer, and the proper glassware and clean conditions leave nothing to be desired.

selection is decent. four taps, five casks and thirty or fourty bottles, with odd offerings that center around wild ales, sours, and lambics. this BA had two berliner weisses and an unblended lambic, all very fresh and quite tasty.

overall, this is a very lax place to sit down and enjoy some good beer. the clientele seems to generally know their stuff about beer or wine and are interested to talk about the drinks at hand. make this a stop and the local feel will be very apparent. cheers!

08-16-2009 17:30:21 | More by botham

drpimento

Wisconsin

4.08/5  rDev -6.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Went there last night for the beginning of San Diego Beer Week for beer and dinner. Had a great time! Had to stand at the bar for a few minutes waiting for a table enjoying a neat offer of 2 half pints of the same beer, one cask and the other regular draft. All the beers were great! We were soon seated, had a fabulous dinner and order some their own bacon and a couple each of all the sausage links they currently had (six) for take home. Service was friendly and good. Good vibe. But the cost kind of blew us away - $200! We ordered a bit more than we knew we'd eat so we'd have great munchies for later - like today. But I just discovered that one of the items we brought home was the wrong one. I'd go again, but be very careful to pay closer attention and ask cost of each item.

11-05-2011 17:19:59 | More by drpimento

dbalsock

Vermont

3.88/5  rDev -11.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

I can definitely see why this place was added to BA. Any restaurant that's determined to have good cask ale deserves a chance for review, imo. The selection is pretty small and the local beers are commonly available. However, they have some coopers that I haven't seen anywhere else, as well as a few bavarian beers I haven't seen before. Because of the small selection, the cask ale is necessary to keep avid beer drinkers coming interested. The food is very good, and it is worth it to have a whole dinner here. The atmosphere is not what one would expect from a beer bar, but this place isn't a beer bar. It's a restaurant that cares about gourment food, wine and beer. It provides a delightful eating experience and is certainly worth stopping by for anyone interested in cask conditioned beer.

03-11-2007 04:28:15 | More by dbalsock

ocmpoma

California

4.7/5  rDev +7.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$$

visited on 3 Apr 10:

The Linkery is a great place that turns off lots of people because they include an 18% fee for table service and don't accept tips. If you're not averse to excellent food and drink that also doesn't require you to rely on underpaid servers hoping for a decent tip, this is a great place for beer, as well as house-made sausages, great breads, wine, etc. etc. etc.

My wife and I visited on Saturday while waiting for a reservation at a place nearby; later on she said that the Linkery was well worth the trip; our actual dinner destination, not so much.

We had their beer flight sampler: Aprihop, Levitation, Coronado Brewing's red, and Green Flash's stout. All but the Aprihop were on cask, as the place prides itself on having a great selection of brews on cask. The Aprihop was on tap. All were excellent, and the bartender was, as usual, very knowledgable about the brews, as well as the food. A great place.

04-04-2010 20:50:20 | More by ocmpoma