Hill Street Brewing Co - Oceanside (CA)

5 /5 Kareem Pinkston: Hill Street Brewing is finally open in South Oceanside and theyre bringing some great food, barbecue and brew to the Oceanside community. I attended their soft opening, and Im very impressed with the decor of the inside and the fact that they are leaning into a perspective of "locals-forward" in their business approach. So far, Im thoroughly enjoying the drinks and that the place is very clean and well organized. Service is extremely friendly, even though many of them are just learning the ropes. They have a full bar filled with whiskey, tequila, rum, and many mixers. One of the aspects that I can truly appreciate is that they will be having local discounts, military discount discounts, $.75 wings on Wednesdays and also a bottomless mimosa brunch on the weekends. Ive heard that they will even have an upstairs private room that can be used for private events, bachelor parties, football get together and will also be part of a membership program. Hill Street Brewing also enlisted the skills of the MasterChef Kennedy, and she is able to specialize and not only superior meats and barbecue, but also vegetarian and vegan dishes. I can also appreciate that they have a heavy duty smoker on premise that will supply authentic smoked barbecue made in-house.

4 /5 Erich Cervantez: This review is for their Happy Hour. Came with a couple of people on a Wednesday around 4pm. Happy hour goes from 3-5:30pm EVERY DAY. Drafts, Wells and House Wines are just $5, and all starters are $10. We ordered a couple of beers (Mexican & Hazy Pale Ale) and a House Red (Pinot, Cab was out). Also ordered the Brisket Nachos ($10), Lettuce Wraps ($10) and Loaded Fries ($10) with Pulled Pork ($5). We also received a little bowl of complimentary cornbread! So good! And now the food. First off: the $10 Brisket Nachos may be the best happy hour deal in all of Oceanside. Yes, you heard that right. Compare this to the sad happy hour nachos at Enzos BBQ and youll see what I mean. The plate is HUGE and we absolutely loved it (refried beans is a great touch). The jalapenos are spicy so watch out. Sooooo damn good. The Loaded Fries came out and they are also HUGE. Granted it was $15, not $10 since we added pulled pork. Very good flavor and the fries themselves are seasoned. The Lettuce Wraps were disappointing. Compare these with Yard House, for instance. Portions were small. They used shredded Jidori chicken, but I would have preferred it diced and the chicken didnt have much flavor. I did really like the Thai Chili sauce - wow that was HOT but the flavor was bomb. I would pass on these next time. The beers were good. I feel like they need more draft options. Only 13 beers and for some reason they printed the beer menu with the smallest font possible. Not very "old people" friendly. Just make the menu and font larger...easy peasy. Our server, Katie R., was OUTSTANDING. By the time we left, the place was getting packed and she brought the bill and boxes promptly with a smile. Great service, thank you! (there was one issue with the bill, the Lettuce Wraps were $18 instead of $10 but she corrected it with the proper change). The place is very large, plenty of seating although the round tables in the bar area were a bit small. The ice waters come in huge cups and there just isnt much room for 3 people. Around this time, the sun was setting and totally in our face. Would be nice to install a screen or something in the windows just to cut down on the glare? We will definitely be back for happy hour again for those nachos and something off the regular menu (burger, fish & chips).

5 /5 Kevin Crawford: I was a little skeptical when seeing the review rating, but checked the low ones and instantly realized most of the negative reviews were from locals who were mad about the bright pink neon. So we decided to go and are so glad that we did. Attentive service, good music playing, and really good food. They were also helpful with some allergies we have. We had the Dino rib and the whole roasted vegetable platter. More than enough for two people and it was so freaking good. Street fight was by far our favorite Hill Street beer. I hope this place does well, much better than the last two places that were at this location.