Common Theory Public House

Ordered the skirt steak and it was pretty good. I would def come back and have it again

I honestly have only gone back here twice because it is the location of the after party for the Road Runner Sports Adventure Run. Food and beer are priced far too high (in my opinion) for the portion size and the quality. That’s not to say that the quality is bad, it’s that the price would lead you to believe it’s the best burger/​wings/​fries you’ll ever have; and that’s simply not true. Service was decent, but nothing to brag about. All around I give this place a solid «Meh».

Common Theory is located in the middle of Convoy which makes it a great central location to meet up with friends coming from different parts of San Diego. Although parking is limited, the actual Common Theory setting is very open and spacious.
My favorite time to come is during their happy hour. Weekdays 3−7pm. They have a great variety of foods and beers to choose from. When I went this past week, I got the fresh mussels with the Thai curry sauce off the HH menu. My friend got the loco moco from the lunch menu that you can order at any time. The mussels were good. Kind of on the salty side for my taste. It left me wanting more bread or something to eat with the mussels… or maybe more beer to wash it all down. I don’t see myself coming here outside of the HH timeframe, unless I just wanted to grab a beer after having dinner in the area.
Overall super friendly staff, great location and space, variety on drink and food menu to keep everyone satisfied. Been here plenty of times and will be back again!

Decent beer selection. Average food. Service is hit or miss.
Story time:
Asked our server to split the check.
Server said they don’t do that.
I asked another server about this policy and the other server said they can split the check up to 4 per group.
So, our server lied to us about not being able to split the check. Which isn’t really a big deal in the grand scheme of things but it’s just annoying and unprofessional.
The bartenders were nice though. So I will probably come back for the bar at least.

This was a disappointing end to my weekend. Came in to common theory for dinner last night. Well, we thought we were coming for dinner. We actually ended up sitting for a very long time before we were even noticed, and the place was SO out of control loud. I saw multiple people besides myself plugging their ears out of irritation. After a very long time, we were finally asked to order so we randomly selected some stuff (I don’t even know what I ordered it was so loud), but promptly cancelled our order and left. It was so obnoxious in there and the waitress was far too quiet to be working in the loud area, we couldn’t hear anything she said. If you have a party that is being that loud in the future, you might want to ask them to quiet down for the sake of other patrons.

Excellent beer selection — if you are into craft brews, this place has over 20 different types of beer on tap. Very impressed with the selection and the prices are fairly good during happy hours — I believe between 3−7PM. Really like the décor inside too as well — great bar area, some couches and picnic table type seating for groups, and also a large projector screen for sports.
Food was decent for the bar food — didn’t get to try the entire menu, but had the salt and pepper wings (average, a bit too bready for me), pretzel bites (pretty good) and duck confit fries (average). They appear to have a very wide range and selection of food, so I am sure there are some other good items on the menu.

Chris and his staff out together a great restaurant. This place has nice unique taps and with 30 how can you go wrong.
Mon-​fri 3pm-​7pm. Is happy hour and you get food and pints cheaper! BAZINGA!!!
I like the chicken wings with salt & pepper but all are good.
The portion sizes are just right and the food is so delicious. They really put thought and care into their items.
The bartenders josh, Cody and jenae (spelling) are my regular bartenders and are very knowledgable about the beers and try to remember your name. That’s a big plus in my book
Wednesday nights are nice because normally they have a brewery sponsor «PINT NIGHT» in which you buy a beer and take home the pint!
The décor is amazing and has lots of hipness it.
Lastly if you have read this, then you must just go in there and enjoy it.

Don’t let the exterior of this building fool you. The interior is super cool… and HUGE. Oh, and they’ve got AWESOME food.
The menu isn’t huge, but it’s executed really well. I find that to be far more important than an extensive menu that’s just mediocre. The hubs LOVED his Chicken Fried Cheeseburger. Seriously, that thing is RIDICULOUS. My CT Burger was just as good but totally different. Ever notice that some places that serve 12 different types of burgers all taste the same anyway? Not here! Our burgers couldn’t have tasted more different. The fries are super good too!
The beer list IS huge, and that’s always a good thing. You’re bound to find something that suits your buds with a good, long beer list. I had a Beal St. brown from Fat Cat. OUTSTANDING. Don’t remember what the hubs had, but who cares… mine was better.
We’ll definitely be back!

So I came here for a work function on a Wednesday afternoon. As soon as I walked in I liked the cool and relaxed vibe. It was almost hipster however the patrons seemed to be a even cross between blue and white collar. Seems to mesh pretty well. They have plenty of seating to include long tables and outdoor seating for group deals.
I ordered a light beer to start, the long time waiting and it was a very good starting point! I really enjoyed it. The bar tender was so helpful and courteous to us! She was very responsive when I needed a refill.
I also ordered the steak sandwich which was a more sub style cut in half and came with fries. WOW the steak was Juicy and did a lot to fill me up! It was perfectly cooked and succulent. The staff did a very good job preparing it. The price was reasonable too!
After the steak I had another beer to finish off the night. I can’t say enough how good the steak was and the vibe was good too. Really had a good time and good place to stop by after work for a few rounds.

Been here a couple times and it seems like their menu changes and has became more simple, which is great!
This review is during a 2pm weekday lunch day.
So it wasn’t busy at all, open seating. My boyfriend and I sat over by the window and you get a nice little patio view with a breeze. This place is pretty big by the way! You can choose to sit at a table or the bar.
They have a rotating craft beer selection which is also a plus. We wanted to try the Stone Enjoy by Tangerine but of course it tapped out. For appetizers, we split the brussel sprouts with bacon bits. It was amazinggg! It was cooked to perfection with balsamic vinegar and ugh so good. Definitely get that! I wish I got a picture of it but we devoured it. I got the spicy chicken sandwich with fries, which was good as well.
Great customer service, friendly staff, nice place to go grab something to eat with some friends!

Common theory is amazing it has been open for a year and a half and produces amazing beers on tap, has great libations with soju, and a great menu that serves amazing food, some of my favorites are the hell fire chicken wings, flatbreads, mussels, kale salad, and also the Brussels spouts, they have an amazing happy hour from 4 – 7 and has great food specials, they updated the menu and I really enjoyed the edamame hummus and the kalbi skewers were amazing and tender, I really love the owners Cris and Joon they care about there customers, they know there names and just makes you feel at home, I really love this place.
I keep on coming back cause of the quality of their food and amazing customer service from there staff, recently I tried there salmon with couscous and it was very delicious and moist, I also love the kalbi rib skewers are a must and also hummus edamame…
Pls go it’s amazing and all the beer you can try is pretty great selection.

Good place for a beer and chill. Good snacks and food. Large beer menu selection!
Had the Spring Shandy, from toolbox, a berliner weiss beer, 4.5%
This one its that hoppy, but has a little sour kick at the end.
Also had groupie, from acoustic ales, a belgian blonde, 8.0%
Its a belgian, so you assume its light but it is 8.0% so it has a little stronger flavor than most lighter ones. Still good.

Just discovered this place and I will definitely be coming back! We came at 5pm on a Saturday with reservations, but it was pretty open so we changed our seats. By the time we left (around 7pm), it was SUPER crowded — so I recommend coming a bit earlier.
The beer selection is awesome, highly recommend the guava beer if you like something light (was sad that they ran out, but I got the last glass on the house!).
Our server was extremely nice and her recommendations were on point! Service was a tad bit slow, but the Warriors game was on so it wasn’t too too-​bad. We tried the following:
–bacon wrapped corn dog — it’s pretty much a MUST to get and so worth it!
–duck fat fries — another MUST, drooling thinking about these bad boys. Comes with a decent serving of duck on top!
–fried brussel sprouts — again with a MUST get! i mean, they’re fried so how can you really go wrong?
–mussels w/​hellfire sauce — SPICY! This was probably my least favorite, but the table enjoyed them.
–po’boy flatbread — YUM, however it’s super decadent and one piece is enough. would get to share with the table.
–citrus kale salad w/​shrimp — really refreshing to have with all the other super rich food.
Overall: DELICIOUS. Try it, you will like it!

4 out of 5 only because their menu wasn’t vegan or very vegetarian friendly. San Diego is so vegan friendly, it’s almost outdated to not have some vegan options.
Other than that, I enjoyed it. Great service, great atmosphere and a great beer selection.
It’s pricey but it’s a good time.

Hipster is definitely making its way around San Diego, never thought it’d be in Claremont area but here we are. Really nice and eccentric décor as a brewery/​restaurant, some with couches and loungy type areas, the regular bar and tall table area, as well as sit down restaurant tables too. It’s a huge establishment if you can’t already get that vibe.
Great for big groups as it’s so spacious, and they have food menus as well as if you just want to drink. Great selection of beers as well as weird asian alcoholic drinks (like the milk yogurt that you usually find mixed with soju), etc. I didn’t get to try the food as we had just eaten but we did just get regular fries and they were good, but i mean they are just fries. The drinks were pretty damn good too, had to try out all the different type of mixed drinks that they had.
That being said though, I did find that this place was pretty pricey at least in terms of the drinks, but I guess I’m just comparing it to other locations in the area where you can get super cheap drinks in the restaurants. I definitely felt like this was a splurge kind of place– or maybe I’ve just gotten used to the fiancée buying my drinks most of the time since he’s usually the drinker. Either way, I do plan on coming back, hopefully with the fiancée since it’s really nice, and give it another go, maybe try out the food! :)

Great place to have a beer and hangout with friends.
Food is alright… service is always good.

Yoooooooo… why are y’all burgers so freaking good tho??? Like why? What a way to welcome this lil southern girl!
A local recommended this hip lil spot so we thought why not… let’s give it a try. We weren’t even in the mood for a burger but the bartender hyped it up so much so we said… hey why not! Sooooo glad we did! From the warm soft bun, grade of beef, to the fresh toppings. Bomb. Just bomb. It was so good i forgot how mad I was that this place only offers beer & wine. The chicken sandwich was cool. Not better than the Burger tho.
Super cool bartender. Seems like a nice lil chill spot. Young crowd. Can’t say how often I’ll be here but what I do know… If I need a good beer & burger combo this could possibly be one of my go tos for now!

Awesome gastropub off of Convoy! Loving the vibe!
I came here last Friday & it sure was busy. Open seating at the bar. Friendly customer service. & an even better beer & food selection.
Green Flash Passion Fruit Kicker — A fantastic wheat beer. Refreshing & light, I had to order it twice.
Legacy That Guava Beer — Good.
Truffle Duck Fat Fries — Thinly sliced fries soaked in duck fat oil with a heaping amount of shredded duck on top. Delicious, although when you get to the end, the fries are super greasy.
Salt & Pepper Crispy Calamari — Yummy! Nicely crisped & the dipping sauce was tasty.

What a cute spot in Clairemont! It’s half restaurant/​half brewery feel to it. When you walk in, the décor and everything makes me feel like this place would be a place in North Park or something, a bit hipster with mason jars, etc.
The restaurant is pretty big with plenty of tables for seating as well as sitting and they also have big couches! They have a decent beer list and they also have soju mixed drinks and wine. Unfortunately, no hard alcohol here.
I haven’t eaten any of the food here but look forward to trying it out! The food looked amazing and smelled even better! The service here is pretty good, our waitress even told us the cider would «get the job done» and it tastes just like apple juice. How did she know?! ;)

Cool spot for drinks, but didn’t try the food. My friend ordered a burger and chips and really enjoyed it. Very large open space inside with different areas, décor and platforms for your seating pleasure. Booths, bars, high tables, long communal tables… This place can accommodate a lot of people, and for a Friday night, it was packed but no shortage of seats.
I had the Soju Mule cocktail which was pretty light. But More of a craft beer place, with a good selection.
We met Chris, the owner, who was super friendly and down to earth. Waiters and bartenders are also cool. All sorts of different types of people seem to flock here… fun, high energy vibe. Mix of modern, hip, casual.
Parking lot is shared with other establishments (boba tea, and dessert spots), so it might be busy, but street parking also available. I’ll definitely come back with friends and try the food recs given in other Unilocal reviews.