Karl Strauss Brewing Company

Seanibus

California

3.58/5  rDev -3.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

not bad, particularly after a long day at next-door Legoland. The food is decent, the beer is OK (though I find it fairly amateurish both in bottle and on draft). The atmosphere is generic stripmall pub, but the service is perky and attentive. This location is next door to a business oriented hotel and the day we visited, the bar was dominated by what appeared to be coworkers attending some kind of convention, and as a result they were insanely loud. Not a bad stop, but nothing to go out of the way for.

02-15-2012 04:58:05 | More by Seanibus

ThreeWiseMen

California

3.65/5  rDev -1.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

Stopped in here after a long drive a few days ago to snag some lunch and a beer. It was right around 3:00 in the afternoon, so the place was damn near empty.

After pulling up a seat at one of the small tables near the bar, a waitress came by with both beer and food menus. Their special beer for the month was "Full Suit", a Belgian brown ale, which the waitress described as, "kind of like Newcastle with fruit." I thought that was funny. Anyhoo, I was feeling something light so I went with the Pintail Pale Ale. As for food, I was surprised that they didn't have more vegetarian options. Other than a garden side salad, I don't think there were any non-meat options to be had. Also, the food prices seemed a bit higher than they should be. Either way, I eventually settled on the seared ahi salad entre.

Service was pretty speedy (although I was one of about five customers), and the food and beer were both satisfactory. However, I was upset when the bill came around and I was looking at $23 for a pint and a salad, especially since my salad was pretty small. I guess they don't do afternoon beer deals.

All in all, the Carlsbad Karl Strauss has decent, but limited, beer and food selections. The atmosphere is comfortable, and it's set up much like a BJ's. Ultimately, the high(er) prices were the kicker. I probably won't be back.

03-30-2011 18:45:29 | More by ThreeWiseMen

fatalbert23

California

4/5  rDev +7.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4.5 | $$

I love the strauss!!! I live mins away and hit up their happy hour every chance I get. The normally have a special 10th tap which varies based on season and selection. They also have a wicked cask night which is first thur of every month, i think or maybe last thur, but is an awesome time and you can drink until it runs out. The beer is pretty standard and good selection for selling nationwide, however Carlsbad has many better craft breweries. All in all I really like this place and the food is amazing when paired with the selected dishes for each beer. Drink, eat, have fun

04-07-2009 23:47:19 | More by fatalbert23

sorryassdan

Montana

4.08/5  rDev +9.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

My wife and I were moved to the hotel/resort next door from another resort, and we were pleased to be next to the brewpub. The atmosphere was OK, loud and lively, typical for young crowd. Flat screen TV's in bar area were not overpowering.

Decent beer selection -- I had their specialty of the month, a Saison that was quite good. Peppery and citrus notes, dry finish. I ordered the suggested paired appetizer, duck pot stickers that complemented the beer perfectly. My wife had a no frills cheese burger and fries -- it was cooked just right, typical pub fare. Prices very reasonable, except for the Saison, which was served in appropriate tulip glassware, but less than a pint for $5.95 was a bit pricey. We're going back for happy hour to try some more brews.

Service was excellent -- very attentive without being cloying, friendly servers, prompt service.

03-10-2009 05:16:16 | More by sorryassdan

Floydster

California

3.5/5  rDev -5.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This was my last stop on my way home from San Diego on Tuesday, its main purpose was to pick up a growler for my dad and I to share that night, it is right next to a hotel off of Palomar Airport Road, went in at 10:00 am and there was only two other people in the whole restaurant, they had some nice brewing equipment set up right behind the bar, I ended up grabbing a half gallon jug of Bock of America, it was their special tenth tap, cost twelve dollars and some change, they had nine other taps including a double IPA, IPA, amber lager, wheat, red ale, pale ale, and a few others I cannot remember off the top of my head, atmosphere seems laid back and similar to the other locations I have been to, food is decent usually but did not have any at this one, their beers are just okay to me for the most part, so I would not necessarily go back here whiule in this area, only reason I did this time was because Pizza Port did not actually open for another hour, no guest beers or anything, just their products that are plain and simple, might be worth checking out

10-30-2008 20:00:53 | More by Floydster

Tdizzle

California

4/5  rDev +7.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I visited this place with a big group of people on a Saturday afternoon around 4:00pm. The place wasn't very crowded and we were seated immediately.

A- The interior of the restaurant looked kinda like the inside of a brewing warehouse, but that seems to be what they're going for. You can see the brew kettles through large glass windows and there were cases of their beer in random piles all over the place.

S- The service was fast and the waitress was attentive. We got our beers quickly too.

Sel- They had about ten of their beers on tap. I had the Scotch Ale which was very good. They also offered their Oktoberfest and a Belgian Tripel.

F- The food was pretty good but nothing that would stick in your memory. I had the veggie burger and I enjoyed it. The other people at my table enjoyed their food as well.

V- The beer and the food were not unreasonably priced given the quality.

Overall, this is a good place to stop and have some flavorful beer along with a decent meal.

09-23-2008 03:55:57 | More by Tdizzle

spazaru

California

3.43/5  rDev -7.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | $

I used to hate Karl Strauss because I'm a fan of super-hopped IPAs, Imperial Stouts, and other big beers, and KS definitely doesn't offer anything like that.

Lately, though, I've been stopping in more often. I've decided it's just different, not necessarily worse than the Stones and Pizza Ports of the world.

As far as atmosphere goes, it's a little sterile, but at least they apparently sweep and clean their restrooms more than once a week unlike Pizza Port Carlsbad, which is typically filthy, although lovably so in a beach shack kind of way. The other nice thing about Karl Strauss is you can usually hear your conversation, even when it's fairly crowded.

The servers are usually friendly, attractive young women who don't know much about beer. That's not too bad, since KS beers are usually mellow interpretations of a given style and don't need much explaining.

The beers themselves are fairly low-octane, offering a nice respite from the 10% double IPAs down the street. At happy hour a 22 ounce of any style is only $3.95 which I consider a good deal, and they won't knock you on your butt, so you can have a couple if you wish.

Favorites among the lineup are the Stargazer IPA (an english style IPA, not a hop bomb), the Blacks Beach Extra Dark (Schwarzbier), and the Downtown After Dark brown ale.

All in all, worth a stop if you're in Carlsbad and have had enough of Pizza Port. Decent tasting beers in a comfortable environment. Nothing earth shaking but beats Corona and Bud, and would be a good place to break novices into craft beer.

09-29-2007 23:38:14 | More by spazaru

tonistruth

Nevada

3.63/5  rDev -2.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

Located on top of a hill that kinda overlooks the flower garden thing on the hill in carlsbad by the 5. So that is cool, but the parking lot sucks. It basically shares a parking lot with the hotel next door, i got lucky and found parking cause someone was leaving. Inside was pretty spacious, big showcase of souvneirs as soon as you enter. T-shirts and stuff are were kinda cool/funny. Placed was crowded when i got there, not it was light hearted.

The place definetly caters to its beer, the menu is one doublesided page, one page is all about the beer. Beer was surprisingly better than i thought it was gonna be. The sampler was the six standards they have. The ipa was tasty, but kinda weak at 34 ibus. The red trolley ale was damn good, as was D.A.D brown ale.

No guest beers, all house which is what i like to see from brewpubs. Unless the guest beers are craft (like pizza port).

Food was nothing too great. I got some buffalo wings. The sauce was alright, but the wings were long and skinny (good thing they were boneless). More like buffalo slivers. The part i still dont understand is why they serve on top of shredded lettuce. The lettuce gets all over the freakin wings, and you gotta spend like 5 mintues cleaning off the wing so you dont accidently eat some flavor strangling lettuce.

Service was attentive and friendly though.

05-06-2006 20:51:30 | More by tonistruth

SteveO1231

Connecticut

3.48/5  rDev -6.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

My favorite of all the KS establishments that I have been to. Take the Palomar Airport exit off the 5.

Small little restaurant most of the seating off to the left and in the back, the bar and kitchen off to the right. Through glass windows behind the bar you can see all the brew tankards. Not sure if they brew at this location or not.

Brews are a little bland for the styles, food is pretty good and the service is good.

I like to go for lunch, grab a sandwich, the beer sampler platter and a growler fill to share with some of my less adventurous buds.

Cheers!

01-21-2006 04:26:27 | More by SteveO1231

surfadelic23

Florida

3.88/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$$

Like most of the Karl Strausses, this place is very nice aesthetically. We tried the StarGazer IPA which when compared to some of the other SoCal IPAs was a bit mild. Also tried their red trolley which was ok... The best they had on tap was the Minden Maibock which was the best brew I tasted there. They also sell sampler trays which is always nice. Their food, while good is a bit expensive for what you get. This is located up by the flower fields and is a nice place to grab a brew and something to eat after doing the touristy thing...

08-25-2005 16:34:55 | More by surfadelic23