By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com San Diego Nightlife Blogger
There’s always something fun happening when it comes to San Diego nightlife. Here’s the latest news from bars, restaurants and craft breweries all over the city.
Bars Bring New Entertainment To Gaslamp, Pacific Beach
• Fat Tuesday Slushy Bar Comes The Gaslamp Quarter
A taste of New Orleans – not in food but in a drinks – is coming to the Gaslamp Quarter. Fat Tuesday, the slushy-drinks bar that has been giving Bourbon Street tourists both a chill and a thrill since 1984, is replacing Henry’s Pub in the Gaslamp Quarter.
That will certainly shake things a bit when it comes to nightlife, for this is not a sit-down-and-watch-a-game kind of place. It’s an all-out social scene, fueled by frozen concoctions going by the names of Electric Lemonade, 44 Magnum and Cat 5 Hurricane. It’s going up really fast and is due to open the last week of June. I met the regional manager, a seemingly nice fellow named Chad, who told me he’s looking forward to bringing this different type of bar to the Gaslamp.
• The new brewery at 9th & Island, Village Brewing, is now open. It’s in the historic two-story house which Half Door previously occupied and I am happy to report that the new owners haven’t changed much inside. It’s still very cozy with dark wood and has some hard-to-leave-here seats at the bar. They brew their own beer and I had two plus pints two samples, and the red ale with the interesting name of We Will Never Recover From This is my favorite (tab for two beers: $18). The menu looks both basic and interesting at the same time, basic in that it has burgers/sandwiches and salads with the nescapable tacos and the interesting with BBQ plus chicken and onion rings appetizers that I have to try to adequately describe. From a crowd standpoint, I was happy to see it was busy and lively on a late Saturday afternoon before a Padres game.
• Speaking of pre-Padres bars, the former Basic Pizza across from the stadium is buzzing before games, too. It’s now called Far Corner Pizza and it’s more of a stand up mingling scene than at Village Brewoing. After the games, one of the best places for fan interaction is Smoking Gun.
• Maverick’s Beach Club Bingo Nights
Bingo is no longer what your old aunt plays at a bingo parlor. It’s becoming a social activity in bars, like trivia. Proof of this is in Pacific Beach at Maverick’s Beach Club, which has bingo nights on the first and third Thursday of the month in June and September and in July the 3rd and 31st. There’s a DJ, prizes, $5 Dobel Tequila Shots and $5 Jiant Hard Teas. It goes from 7-9 p.m.
• Tiki Pool Bar Now Open At Omni Hotel
At the Omni hotel by Petco Park there is an open-to-the-public tik bar on the spacious pool deck called Tiki Social it’s open-air layout – and heat lamps on the lanai – make you feel like your in Hawaii. I was there on opening day and will be going back again. And maybe again, and again and, well, you get the idea.
• Cheap Drinks For Gaslamp & East Village Happy Hours
I’ve come across some pretty good drink prices for Happy Hours in the Gaslamp and in East Village. Tom’s Watch Bar by Petco Park has $4 beers, wines and well drinks from 4-7 and 9-close, Monday thru Thursday. Exceptions are when the Padres play or “premier” sports are shown on its TVs, like international soccer matches…Toro has $5 drinks Thursday nights until 10:30…Whiskey Girl has various drink specials 9-close Sundays thru Thursdays. Tuesdays it also has karaoke, one of three places that does that now in the area (the Lamplighter and Warewolf being the others)..Patrick’s, the neighborhood bar at 4th & F, has $5 pints of Guiness weekdays until 7.
San Diego Restaurants News & Openings
Tired of waiting in long lines at breakfast restaurants on weekends? Then put these two places on your radar.
• 6th & G Breakfast Company Serves Up Big Meals In The Gaslamp/East Village
• Sally’s Resturant In Seaport Village Has New Weekend Brunch Items
• Several San Diego restaurants, 22 of them, in fact, have earned top honors in Wine Spectator’s 2025 Restaurant Awards recognizing excellence in their wine programs. See the full list here.
San Diego Craft Beer News
San Diego continues to get more craft beers from its breweries. Here’s the latest San Diego beer news.
Here’s a new beer from Original 40 Brewing, a Bavarian-style lager that’s being served in North Park:• Original 40 Brewing Launches New Beer
• Karl Strauss Brewing Company and Green Cheek Beer Co., are re-releasing their Squawk Box IPA. First released in 2023, it will be available on draft and in four packs of 16-oz cans at Karl Strauss’ four San Diego brewpubs in 4S Ranch, Carlsbad, Downtown, and Sorrento Mesa, as well as Green Cheek’s Oceanside tasting room. Squawk Box is a citrusy IPA with notes of sweet orange and stone fruit that was inspired by the citrus groves of Orange County. The summertime beer is 6.6 percent alcohol-by-volume, and it is also available on draft at restaurants and bars throughout San Diego County.
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