August 25, 2010
This place is pretty close to work. The selection is obviously mostly just Karl Strauss stuff. The food is decent, the value is ok. Mostly, the biggest attraction here is the ambience, as the restaurant is overlooking a small pond, and the whole restaurant is just in a very chill environment. Big ups for the decor.

May 10, 2009
Attended the Karl Strauss From Beach to Brewery fest on May 9th. Tons of different beers on tap, 20+. Great ratio of guys to girls, it was about 50/50. Everybody there was really nice, even the security! The extra taster ticket were a little steep, 5 bucks for a 10oz cup when you ran out of taster tix. Good thing my buddy Kevin was working.

March 4, 2009
(Visited 07/2008): This Strauss location is on the north end of SD not too far off the 805. Parking is fairly plentiful outside of peak hours.

The exterior is very pretty, with seating in a Japanese garden. There is a pond with fish and turtles, and hanging plants around. The inside has curved tables, mirrors and a small bar near the entrance.

The beer list is decent. Strauss has around 8 beers on draught with a couple seasonals. The beers are available in a sampler. They are average for the most part but a couple of the seasonals are solid.

Service on a weekday night was good. The server was knowledgeable about the beers in the sampler as well as the seasonal beers that were not on the menu.

The food at KS is pretty good. My dinner was the mac and cheese and it was enjoyable.

Overall this place earned points for the atmosphere and food where I can overlook not being a big fan of their run-of-the mill beers.

July 6, 2008 [ Updated September 18, 2008 ]
Pretty cool setting with a huge japanese garden. It’s pretty obvious this used to be a sushi/hibachi place. Food was pretty good and the beer was decent. All of the food I tried was good, and the portions were large. Overall, I’d say this is a good neighborhood place, but not really a beer destination. Not too many minuses, but not too many pluses either.

July 15, 2007
One of the most beautiful restaurants, because of the Japanese garden and coi pond outside, yet a very relaxing down-to-earth crowd. A couple of beers are good like the Hefe, Jeff and Jerr’s hootch, but I recommend the sampler for RBer’s. The food is good and prices can be a little high, so I recommend the chicken strip appetizer as a meal.

May 7, 2006
Awesome food, great atmosphere. Their beer isn’t really anything to go nuts over, but it’s on par with most microbreweries. I work close to here but can’t get anywhere near it at lunch time. It’s a zoo. Plus, I don’t need to be teasing myself by going to a brewery for lunch and settling for iced tea. But for dinner, this place has good food. Love the Johnsonville Sausage Platter.

February 7, 2006
Phenomenal setting in a Japanese garden. Their Sunday brunches are really good. Karl Strauss is all that is served, but they do treat you to some of their brews that you can’t find anywhere else.

July 12, 2005
the exact opposite environment that i am looking for when i want to go out and try new beers. yuppie biotech crowd and way to expensive food. the best part is the scenary- a beautiful koi pond that basically surrounds the whole restaurant.

June 22, 2005 [ Updated November 22, 2011 ]
Beautiful Japanese garden surrounding the the Koi pond. Good food and plenty of it, but it ain’t cheap. Service is good even though it gets pretty busy at lunch time. Good selection of house brews, but they are kind of light. Beer for people who don’t like beer, the yuppie crowd. 8/13/10 Over the years, most of Karl’s beers have improved considerably. 11/22/11 Good selection of house brews, with som really good seasonal and special releases.

December 5, 2004 [ Updated April 1, 2009 ]
Really cool setting with Japanese garden style landscaping and outdoor seating overlooking the Koi pool. Food is excellent, but kinda pricey. Good selection of brews, but most are just average.