Toronado - San Diego

jwalseth

California

4.45/5  rDev +0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Can't say enough about the selection, atmosphere or food. Funkier bar food that pairs well with their changing beer selection. I started with a local IPA and moved right into a oak barreled coffeee beer. Top notch ownership that results in great beer & food! Could use a bigger venue but it would loose its feel. I had the jalapeno burger and it was prepared well with a nice cucumber side. Also, the vegan option wasn't bad - I would definately make this a stop on a Saturday afternoon. great selection - maybe a little more background on some of the beers for the novices (including myself).

02-16-2012 05:22:08 | More by jwalseth

SoCalStout

California

4.58/5  rDev +3.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

This place is awesome. The beertenders are very knowledgeable, friendly and even willing to share their own beer. I was given samples of Hopslam, 547 Haight, and a very good homebrew. Great tap selection with very reasonable prices. The bottle list rotates and is decently priced and on Sundays its a dollar off any pint. Amazed that there was some Cable Car Kriek and Cable Car 2009 still available and got a bottle of each to share with the pals. Absolutely loved the place and even made 3 new friends due to the open friendliness. Great beer, people, food and times!

Cheers!

02-13-2012 07:22:03 | More by SoCalStout

mactrail

California

3.2/5  rDev -27.6%
vibe: 2 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

They do have plenty of beers, and it's not totally obnoxious. Not quite the toilet of the SF location, but they do seem to be working to recreate that special smell of twice-fermented spilled beer, fungus in the walls, and a breeze off porta-potties.

Service? They really don't care if you live. And if you die, do it out on the sidewalk. Uncomfortable chairs. Acoustics designed to blare every scrape and muddled bass note. Ugly little patio out back between the narrow buildings.

Lots of beers, though their board is quite uninformative with just a brewery and a beer name. Uh, Bear Republic Tartare-- what's that? Oh, a Berlinerweisse. Not helpful if you want to know anything about beers you've never heard of. Or how strong they are. Prices are a little higher than some places but not outrageous. Lots of regional beers. Many common ones also available in bottles.

Best feature is the case of dozens of mostly antique Belgian and German beer glasses. I still don't know why having a long beer list should imply that patrons want it to be noisy, uncomfortable, and hipper than thou. I occasionally stop by on an early weeknight to see if there is anything interesting on tap, but one beer and I'm gone.

02-11-2012 06:54:20 | More by mactrail

corby112

Pennsylvania

4.08/5  rDev -7.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped by here during a recent trip to San Diego. I first tried to go on a Friday night but it was so packed I didn't even go in. I would highly recommended going at night only Sunday thru Thursday or during the afternoon.

This place is basically a narrow rectangular room with a long bar on the right with tables lining the left wall. Not nearly enough seating during the busier times. Even late on Sunday night most of the tables were occupied. The bar had plenty of space available though.

The place is very clean with beer signs everywhere and rare bottles behind the bar. There are also two coolers on each side of the bottle containing a theoretically nice selection. Although this place was more spacious and cleaner than the SF location I prefer the grimy vibe of the original location. Also, the juke box at the SF location is pretty awesome, elevating the vibe.

Service was pretty good here. I didn't go in when it was crazy busy so I can't comment on that but it was busy enough on a Sunday night and the one bartender held it down, taking care of everyone quickly. She was also very knowledgeable and patient putting up with all of my questions about unfamiliar locals. None of the beers on draft have descriptions but she knew about all of them.

Toronado has a great reputation for having an amazing selection but to be honest, I've been kind of disappointed in both locations. They did have 50 taps with lots of one offs, cool locals and BA stuff but the bottle list was pretty weak. Not too many rarities and the ones that were available were very expensive. Lower tier rare beers like the eclipse variations were close to $50! Also, 30+ of the beers on draft were from Pizza Port. They had an event on NYE with over 60 of their beers on and these were the left overs. Fortunately, most of them were excellent and pretty rare. The rest of the list was pretty impressive.

Overall, this place was fun but didn't live up to expectations. Not as cool as the other location but the service is much better. The draft selection is quite nice but the bottle list left a lot to be desired. Maybe I'm just a jaded Philly guy. If you are from out of town, be careful when you go because the place can get crazy crowded.

01-17-2012 21:14:43 | More by corby112

100floods

California

4.24/5  rDev -4.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I've been to the Toronado San Francisco more times than I care to count. So when I finally made it down to San Diego Torondao #2 was a must see destination.
The few friends of mine that have been there said that it's pretty much the same, but way cleaner. A weird common thread of observation, but man were they right! The place was had much more lighting and didn't harbor the smell of stale beer. Compared to the one in SF this place immaculate. Only a small portion of a wall was covered in stickers, and as my girlfriend said, "I don't feel weird peeing in this place." I mentioned commented on the cleanliness to one of the bar tenders and I was met with several, "NO! Don't worry! Give us 20 years and it'll be the same," as if I was insulting them or criticizing the joint, no way. I was impressed!

The crowd had a few people from the SD beer scene (staff, beer geeks, etc), but was mostly college kids. The space was bigger and I liked that I didn't feel cramped. Plenty of room and space to order.

Their beer selection was pretty good. There were a lot of spaces on the menu that were empty (I'm guessing because it was the end of the year and likely just run out stuff, or whatever), but what they did have was a good selection of belgians; a surprisingly small local presence (The Alpine and Ballast Point selections were outstandingly great!); and some other predictable go-to selections that you'd find at most beer bar selections. Judging from the signs Pizza Port Brewing was going to have an event on New Years eve, so the lack of beer was probably a means to make room for the event. I wish I had stayed a few more days.

They had food, too, but I didn't try any.

Overall this Toronado wasn't identical to it's original up north: No stink, really nice bar tenders and no metallica to be heard. I think I still prefer the grit of the SF location, but they was no doubt a great experience.

12-30-2011 22:10:25 | More by 100floods

tastyales

Nevada

3.73/5  rDev -15.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

Well i had pretty high expectations of this place. It is def one of the better beer bars in SD. But it lacks in customer service the bartenders have some attitude. And judging on the craft presence in SD i would think they would try to be a little more inviting. Over all beer selection kick ass Taps and Bottles they will have something you are looking for. Also have some Vegan Food that is a plus. World class bar would recommend but there are other bars in SD with or have better beer selection and less attitude. Maybe i caught the staff on a bad day but the place wasn't really busy.

12-19-2011 08:34:34 | More by tastyales

jzeilinger

Pennsylvania

4.53/5  rDev +2.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Had the opportunity to visit during San Diego Beer Week this year, I've been to the San Fran location so I was really looking forward to visiting this location...which we did...three nights in a row!

The atmosphere is very plain, nothing fancy, just a straightforward beer bar in a hardcore kind of way. The beer menu is to die for for a mixture of craft taps: barley wines, porters, stouts, pale ales, and heavy on the IPA's which no complaints from me. There's no table service so you need to go to the bar to get your own beer and also order your food at the bar. When you order food, your're given a number that's placed on the table and they bring the food out to you, One night I had a burger and another night chicken fajitas, both were excellent. I can't say enough how impressive the beer menu is...reasonable prices, excellent beer selection, good food, what's there not to like about this place? If I want to nitpick, the only complaint would be the eclectic selection of music on the jukebox which is no big deal, I don't pick my beer stops based on the music selection. HIGHLY recommended San Diego beer destination.

11-22-2011 15:33:29 | More by jzeilinger

coolparrot

California

4.53/5  rDev +2.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I have been to the Toronado in San Francisco before this one! I did not try the food, but the Burgers look good! Beer selection is good and the Vibe is great! I love the Monday night beer specials if they are still doing that! I have yet to totally explore the North Park Beer scene but I would recommend this spot (esp. Monday night). They have a lot of beers half off as they try and flush out their kegs. Fresh beer on tap is always the best! That you can find here for sure! Later at night it can be standing room only as it's kind of a small place but I'm down with that! I'll be back soon!

11-14-2011 20:16:29 | More by coolparrot

yayarea

California

3/5  rDev -32.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | $

What a disappointment. This place is mediocre in every aspect. The service is borderline terrible and the bartenders don't know much about beer. In terms of beer selection, it's good but nothing special. They carry several of the better breweries but rarely anything other than the flagship beers that you can find at other bars and stores. Also, charging a dollar for a sample of a beer is ludicrous, especially when the bartender can't tell me much about the beer other than "it's good". Well I would certainly hope it's good, otherwise it has no business being on tap. This has not been a one time affair either. I have tried Toronado SD on three separate occasions and each one has been a letdown.

10-20-2011 15:05:04 | More by yayarea

ZX6Chris

California

5/5  rDev +13.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$

This place is awesome. The beertenders are very knowledgeable and friendly. Great tap selection with very reasonable prices. The bottle list rotates and is a little higher priced then I'd like but where else are you gonna pick up some Cable Car?

Great location in the heart of North Park. Special's for SDBW, anniversary parties and brewery nights. Everything you'd expect from a great craft beer bar.

Lots of great beer people to meet here. BA's, people in the industry and others that just love great beer.

10-13-2011 05:08:50 | More by ZX6Chris