Restaurant Review- Karl Strauss Brewing Company

This was my third time visiting Karl Strauss in Temecula. To be honest with you I am not sure why as I don't remember past visits being all that great. Karl Strauss has several locations in and around San Diego including their Tasting Room & Beer Garden. I feel like when I read the menu at Karl Strauss the descriptions of all the food sound amazing, and when I actually receive my meal I am left feeling disappointed. Yes, some of the items I have tried there have been pretty good  but never as good as they sound, with one exception...

On this particular visit I decided to try one of their "life changing" mac and cheesees, The Piggy Bank. Made with large elbow noodles, gorgonzola, gruyere, and cheddar cheese, and a crispy parmesan breadcrumb topping and the addition of Beer-brined bacon, Black Forest ham and Andouille.  This was everything I was promised. Cheesy, crispy, and filled with pork yumminess. It was so good in fact Chris, who ordered the Spicy Shrimp & Grits kept coming back to my plate.

Pan-seared shrimp, beer deglaze, sriracha butter, cilantro, broccoli, avocado, roasted red peppers, and creamy habanero jack grits. While the flavor of this entrée was okay, like Chris said "if something is described as being spicy and has the addition of sriracha and habanero in it, well it better be spicy". This unfortunately was just mildly zesty. I also didn't enjoy the texture of the grits. They were kind of gritty and crunchy and not the smooth creamy texture I feel grits should be. Also if you look closely at Chris' glass of  Double Chocolate Imperial Stout you will notice a large crack in the glass. How was this missed by both the bartender and our server? Ugh. Neither of us enjoyed this chocolate stout by the way.

The little one was with us on this particular outing and she ordered the Meat & Cheese Board. Zoe’s nitrite-free Coppa Salume & Genovese Salami from Santa Rosa, California, with Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog, Tillamook Aged Cheddar, creamy Cambozola, fig chutney, candied pecans, Granny Smith apple slices, and Sadie Rose Kalamata bread. While every thing was good it was just a meat and cheese board, nothing special.

I also decided to try their signature year around beer flight; Follow the Sun Kolsch, Red Trolley Ale, Mosaic Session IPA, Tower 10 IPA. I enjoyed the first three, Red Trolley was my fave and the Tower 10 was much to bitter for me, it was left behind.

I don't think we will be making a fourth visit to Karl Strauss anytime soon. They recently opened up a Ballast Point in Temecula so I think we will give that a try instead.

Karl Strauss Brewing Company
40868 Winchester Rd.
Temecula, CA 92591