Neighborhood

jjboesen

Maryland

3.66/5  rDev -10.9%
vibe: 2.25 | quality: 3 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

This was the eleventh and final stop of my San Diego Beer Week 2012 trip. It was my least favorite one as well. Was it because my departure flight left in less than 12 hours? Was it due to exhaustion? Or was I simply beered out?

To be fair, Neighborhood does have an excellent selection: Firestone Walker, Avery Out of Bound Stout and Pizza Port Truck Stout. But sometimes a bar needs other attributes, ones that this place seemed to lack. There was something wrong here. My first indication was the venue: blatantly soulless, uncomfortably dark, impossibly crowded, and arbitrarily crammed with tables that surrounded the Lilliputian bar area.

And above this Hadean scene was a deer head mounted on the wall, a bizarre afterthought with dead glass eyes staring down listlessly at me while the over worked server brought out a pricey beer along with a glass of water containing a cucumber. WTF!

That said, the beer selection and the service were excellent. Perhaps the best way to end this review is with a line from “The Big Lebowski:” “Sometimes you eat the b’ar and sometimes the b’ar eats you.” The Dude abides.

03-25-2013 23:22:20 | More by jjboesen

UCLABrewN84

California

3.93/5  rDev -4.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.25 | $$

I recently visited Neighborhood in San Diego on a beer weekend trip. It's a smaller space with some patio seating, bar seating, and a cluster of tables. Lots of hip Obey type decorations and artwork around the place. They had approximately 20 beers on tap with a pretty solid bottle list as well. The beers in my group were served in different glassware for the same beer ordered, so I am not sure they were really paying attention to that. Service was pretty good but somewhat slow since we were out on the patio. The selection of beers was very good with some rarer beers available. I would come back if I was in the area.

03-12-2013 16:32:21 | More by UCLABrewN84

crossovert

Wisconsin

4.25/5  rDev +3.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$$

Definitely tries to be a hipper place. One bartender, a guy off duty, was the best one, the rest kind of wallowed around, but they were nice. It was maybe the best taplist I have seen in SD so far (haven't been to hamiltons or toranado yet) and def probably the best in the Gasslampish area. Lots of rarities, highly rated beers, solid locals. A good array. They also had a rarer bottle cellar that could be peered into. I was there on a busy Tuesday afternoon and the place was packed. The food menu for lunch was short and sweet but I got the tuna sandwich and it was good. Funny thing is a lot of stuff I have been ordering in SD has been what the staff has been eating too.

07-26-2012 15:17:58 | More by crossovert

tobelerone

New Jersey

3.8/5  rDev -7.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

This is a pretty interesting place and I went twice while in San Diego recently. Lots of cool stuff on tap and in bottles, I was able to have some Pliny here as well as a nice sour by Telegraph. I enjoyed it a bit more in afternoon rather than in the evening; it's a bit small, cramped, and dark, but it felt light, airy, and more relaxed on a quiet day at 3:30pm.

There's something vaguely pretentious about this place I can't quite put a finger on but it didn't bother me as much as it did my companion, who didn't feel at home with the hipster-y vibe. Everyone was either friendly or at least disinterested and keeping to themselves. Service was decent enough but also a bit more interested in talking amongst themselves than say, letting me settle my tab.

I wasn't able to try the food either time I visited but I've heard it's good. I hope I don't sound like I'm knocking Neighborhood too much; it really is a nice place and another great beer destination worth checking out in SD.

01-05-2012 05:13:06 | More by tobelerone

sholland119

Pennsylvania

4.33/5  rDev +5.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

One of our favorite stops during our vacation in San Diego. They had a great lineup for SDBW, so we were there several times.

A cool urban feel to the place, though a bit dark and a bit cramped, due to the popularity of the events going on. We managed to find seats at the bar or in the dining room after a moderate wait.

Tap list was very cool, with a nice bottle list as well. Taps were heavily centered on Alesmith, or sours, or whatever brewery they were featuring that night. But still some nice locals, a broad selection of styles, something to please everyone.

Service was pleasant, if a bit flighty at times. Food was good on the whole, though the cutesy presentation at times took priority over the quality of the dish. A bit expensive too.

HV

11-23-2011 19:16:41 | More by sholland119

madpentzer

California

4.33/5  rDev +5.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

The atmosphere here is very chic and modern, which for fine dining or maybe a club is cool, but for a beer bar not sure it fits.

Beer selection is good. They always seem to have some Pliny on tap and many other interesting craft and belgian selections. The bottle selection isn't huge, but always has some good beers.

Service is pretty good here, there's just usually a wait and servers always seem a little too busy.

I love the bar food here. Especially the Neighborhood Burger. It always comes perfectly cooked and tastes delicious.

The value here is reasonable for being downtown. The food isn't expensive, nor is the beer on tap (some of the bottles can be quite pricey though).

11-19-2011 22:23:06 | More by madpentzer

AdamBear

Pennsylvania

3.66/5  rDev -10.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$$

Atmosphere: ultra modern and "chic". very small inside with lots of modern art. the average patron here appeared to be more of a martini type than craft beer type...at least that is how they appeared. very crowded. it might be difficult to find a seat. loud as well.

Quality/Selection: I was very impressed with the selection. there was a large number of beers that i really wanted to get here. I ended up getting a Stone Green Tea IPA which is very rare on the East coast, so i was excited about that. my girlfriend found a really tasty hefe for herself.

Service: its a busy place, so getting the bartender's attention might get difficult.

Overall, its definitely a place I would want to go to again as long as the crowd was smaller.

08-20-2011 21:47:28 | More by AdamBear

ThreeWiseMen

California

4.38/5  rDev +6.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Stopped in here for some food and beer prior to the Giants-Padres game yesterday afternoon. We sat at both the bar (initially), and then at the window table (if you've visited, you know what I'm talking about).

I cannot imagine a better place for afternoon beer drinking. The Neighborhood is a small bar that offers both indoor and outdoor seating, but regardless of where sit, you'll be able to enjoy the fine San Diego weather; all of the windows and doors open wide and welcome in the cool, ocean breezes. The interior boasts a modern-industrial-artsy theme, with exposed ducts and rafters; ancient, incandescent light bulbs; a giant wall mosaic; ceiling murals, and more! Cheerful conversations filled the air. I couldn't ask for more.

But what about the beer? While the tap selection wasn't as deep as other San Diego hotspots, it was still impressive, and the bottle menu filled in any gaps. I went with a Maharaja, followed by a cask version of Sublimely Self-Righteous dry-hopped with Simcoes, and then a couple of Sculpins. Lots of IPAs on the tap menu (as you could probably gather from my choices), with a few darker beers and Belgian ales. The bottle list included several rare(r) offerings from breweries like Alpine, The Lost Abbey, Firestone Walker, Russian River, etc.

The food was also quite tasty: gourmet pub grub done right. We ordered several different burgers and wraps, along with onion rings (fantastic!), and spicy mac n' cheese (decent). Each entrée comes with hand-made potato chips, with were also good.

Our service was friendly and attentive, and the prices were pretty reasonable, though you may want to ask about the size of each beer before ordering. All in all, we had an excellent time!

07-18-2011 00:15:00 | More by ThreeWiseMen

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

4.15/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Visited a couple of times on a recent trip to San Diego.

This is the place to go in the heart of downtown as most of the other highly rated beer bars are north of downtown.

The atmosphere is typical of a good craft beer bar: friendly, fun, trendy, etc. The tap list seemed to be about 30 strong with a lot of really good local and other US craft beer. Bottle list was also very stellar (although I did not order from it). My only complaint is that they didn't really have anything all that rare on tap over the 3 days that I was there. Also, very heavily focused on AleSmith. Didn't see any Alpine on tap while I was there, which was disappointing as well. More Bruery and Lost Abbey would have been nice as well. Selection also included some Belgians and covered all styles in general.

Food was good as well. Had a couple of different items over my three visits which were all good.

Service was friendly and knowledgeable but a touch slow at times.

07-07-2011 01:03:36 | More by TheSevenDuffs

kazmanbrew

California

4.45/5  rDev +8.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

I asked the bartender at the hotel bar where he goes for beer and he did me right. He recommended a few places in various areas of the city, and I decided to come to the Gaslamp for The Neighborhood. I thought that if it sucked or was too touristy, I could easily find another bar. I was not disappointed.
The Neighborhood is great.
The staff is knowledgeable about both food and beer. The beer selection is good with about 1/3 being local beers. The food menu is unusual, but very well prepared.
I'm only here three nights and plan in coming back.

04-12-2011 03:04:55 | More by kazmanbrew