Lamppost Pizza/Back Street Brewing - Irvine

Late stop on a Sunday. Pizza size was shut down but the bar was open. About 12 beers on tap including a few guest brews. I had the cold IPA which was fine and a sample of the hef, which wasn't great. Mostly locals hanging. It is what it is.

Visited on 7th July 2014, just as Happy Hour started (3.30). Basic layout, Pizza joint on the right, bar and brewing equipment to the left. A couple of TV screens but not much else on the walls. The Pizza half reminded me of my old school canteen it really is that regimented and uninspiring. Luckily the bar area and brewery had a bit more going for it. A chalk board advertised the selection, their own brews at the top with the four or five guest beers below. I had a six beer flight of their stuff: was not overly impressed, but had a pint of the Session IPA afterwards as I thought that the best. Snack food from the Happy Hour menu was taken, it was fine. Service was good, very quiet customer wise, but was the Monday after the 4th of July.

25 June 2014. it’s basically a "brewpub" in a pizza joint/sports bar. didn’t have food but it looked good. lots of tvs for sports. constant stream of locals of all ages. lots of teenagers and families. beer was pretty poor sadly.

Rating from 2007:

This place seemed kinda out of place for being right in the middle of Irvine. The main dinning room had a bunch of long benches and a counter where you could order pizza. The bar area was basically just a counter in front of the fermenters. It was pretty busy when we went in on a friday night.

We didn’t try the food but the pizzas looked good, can’t say much more about it than that. We tried the beer sampler of everything they make. It was actually 2 samplers of 6 different beers. Didn’t think much of the hefe, the regular pale and IPA were alright. The coffee beer might be popular with the coffee drinkers but I personally didn’t like it much. Basically the beers are decent (though with a few bad ones).

The service was pretty good; the bartender and the waitress were pretty helpful. I enjoyed the place and will probably stop in again at some point. We spent $34 on 24 samples of beer and 2 pint glasses + tip. Not bad.

I’ve come here a handful of times and it gets worse each time. The house beers are typically awful, the atmosphere in the bar area is depressing, and the service is just kind of meh. Not really worth it unless you’re a serious ticker.

(Visited 07/2008): Lamppost/Back Street is located on Culver drive not too far from I-5 in a strip mall, and I actually had trouble finding it the first time I went by. Parking is plentiful in the lot.

The outside is not much to look at, and there is a small patio. The interior is segmented into a bar and a pizza place. The bar is on the left and runs almost the whole length of the place. They use a chalkboard hung across from the bar seats to show what they have.

The beer selection is decent. Back Street has 7-8 beers on draught including a couple seasonals, and they are available in a sampler. The beers are above average for the most part.

Service was good on weekday evening. The bartender was friendly and able to explain the beers available.

We did not try any food on this visit.

Overall I don’t think Pizza Port will ever feel threatened by this place but it’s a decent stop in the Irvine area.

Small, quiet place thats usually teeming with baseball fans that have just finished competing at the city fields located near by. Every once in awhile, a unique and somewhat uncommon style can be found on tap depending on the season. This place is infinitely better than the majority of chain brewpubs found in the area, as the beers are all decent examples of their styles. The pizza is pretty good too, and I love to catch my favorite sporting events that I can’t get with my limited cable subscription while hanging out here.

nice place, good food, a nice patio, lots of tvs to watch. Service was good, selection was good, but the beer w/ the exception of the IIPA was pretty blah.

Had a BBQ sandwich. It was good and very cheap. The potato salad was also good. Good service. All but "The Hopfather" were bland boring beers.

There beers are pretty bland. None have any hop flavor. Pizza Port blows ’em out of the water.