*This review is of the restaurant, not the upstairs patio*
Our family of 4 enjoyed our dinner here at Nick's. we were seated right away, which was a nice change. My teenage girls ordered quesadillas and I had the house salad w chicken. Hubby had one of the daily specials - shrimp w angel hair pasta, ice tea tasted great. We all liked what we ordered enough that we would get them again.
Our server was fine... not bad, not great, just fine.. Another employee passing us saw my daughter's hoodie naming our home state (on the east coast) and struck up a conversation b/c he used to live there. I appreciated the kind, personal interaction.... wasn't pushy, just friendly.
Had a friend in town and he wanted to come here for the oysters. Â It was a Monday afternoon so it was pretty dead in the neighborhood. Â When we got up stairs the waitress took our drink order. Â I was only having a soda, but the man and his friend ordered a Stone IPA. Â The waitress recommended they order a pitcher. Â Fast forward to later when we got the check, we were a little surprised to be greeted with an $18 bill for the pitcher. Â It just seemed a little steep for a pitcher price and I guess I would have expected maybe a little bit of a heads up that the upsell was so high.
Anyway, we sat on the patio and the man and I split the buffalo chicken sandwich while our friend had oysters and a salad. Â All in all the food was mediocre. Â While I appreciated that they were slow and only had one employee working the floor, there were only two other tables and if we needed anything we pretty much had to go inside and get it. Â I would have expected just a little more on the service front.
Anyway, they have a little parking area and the view is nice on the patio on a sunny day. Â It's certainly not the best food or service, but it does the trick to fill a meal.
love the atmosphere--laidback and casual. but the other yelpers are right--the beer is warm. stick with the cocktails. we ordered the combo sliders and sent back one of the burgers because the meat was too rare. the replacement patty was 1/2 the size of the first, which we thought was not very good service, but it was late and we were already full.
Review Source:Took a road trip down to San Diego and had some friends who are local to PB show us around. We diverted over to Nick's like lemmings after deciding Open Bear was a tad too busy. Turns out Nick's was almost as packed being Memorial Day weekend, but I don't regret ending up here at all.
We went straight upstairs to the open air patio and got to soak in some sun and enjoyed the cool breeze as we got a few pitchers of beer. A great place for socializing in a relaxed environment. The wait staff and bartenders seemed under staffed during this holiday evening, but they took care of business. I think it was this one Asian girl serving the entire patio area, but she did a good job, even coming by to check on us. Maybe I was distracted by the eye candy and the good company surrounding us (including my beer) that I didn't notice how long it was between her checking up on us, but either way it was a good experience.
I didn't get to indulge but the happy hour specials looks awesome. The closest thing we (SJ) have that resembles Nick's HH is St. John's Bar & Grille which I frequent and you should try if you're in Nor Cal. Nick's is now on my list of recommendations or places to visit in San Diego. As I write this review, I wish I was back on that patio!
I decided to give Nick's a second chance and Im glad I did. The manager resolved the previous issue in a very professional and courteous way and I was pleased that he took this seriously and that every customer matters. We were served in a timely manner, the staff was friendly and overall it was a good experience that makes me want to go back in the future.
Review Source:Wandered into Nick's while on vaca in San Diego... met up with some friends on a Tuesday night which apparently is the night of the tricycle races. Â The place is straight out of the early 1980s. Â Old carpet, vinyl covered chairs and barstools... not a sight to be seen. Â The fun that could be had in such a setting, however, is epic. Â We split tons and tons of pitchers of beer amongst the 5 of us, and partook in a tricycle slolum around the pool tables which got kind of heated. Â People are really into this! Â Some guys obviously practiced, whereas we were just having fun. Â None of us won, but we sure enjoyed watching! Â We got some food too which on Tuesday meant $3 tacos. Â They only had meat/fish fillings though, so i asked if they could just give me veggie tacos. Â They asked me what I wanted inside, and on an impulse I said 'tater tots'. Â The bar tender said that wouldn't likely be possible, but when they came out they had tots inside. Â Not sure what happened behind the scenes, but for $3 late night bar tacos, these things were delish!
Nicks has a great outdoor area too for smokers, and people who like seeing the beach from the bar. Â It was really a pretty spot.
If Nicks did some cheap renovations, it would be GORGEOUS. Â The layout of the place is great, the food is solid, the booze is spot on. Â For what it is, however, it has appeal. Â I'm glad we checked it out.
Stopped by here on a Monday night after doing some shopping at Ralph's next door. I was drawn in by the large patio on the roof which has a beautiful view of the ocean. I ended up sitting at the bar since happy hour was still going on. The happy hour deals were really good for food and drinks and for draft beers you get a tall for the price of a pint. Great selection of local and craft brews on tap.
Monday also happens to be half price burgers, chicken and quesadillas all night long and I mean are you kidding me?? I got a great blackened chicken sandwich with tots for like $4.50. This wasn't a happy hour sized portion either oh no! Full on dinner and it was freaking amazing.
The ambiance and feel of the place is mellow but classy. I didn't get the usual PB rats and locals all eying you down while you try to drink which was a nice change of pace. The bartender was really cool and talkative which was sweet because it had been a long Monday.
They have activities during the week as well like tricycle races, haha, and trivia night on Wednesdays so I'll definitely be back later this week to have some more great food and ride a child's tricycle!!!
TUESDAY Tricycle races!!!
Makes me feel like a kid again. There are teams that get pretty competitive but it is a GOOD TIME. My pointer is to lean your body into the turns and wear comfortable shoes. Its fun to beat boys!!
The cocktail servers, and staff are so nice. Great neighborhood spot
My girlfriend and I visit Nick's fairly often and our experiences have actually been mostly positive. Â For the most part it is a good local place that serves food later than anywhere else in PB. Â We've eaten at the bar, we've eaten in the restaurant, and we like to eat upstairs during the day when it it's nice and take advantage of the patio.
On Wednesday 3/13 we went in for burger and beer, walked upstairs to the patio and was greeted in a very hostile manner by the older gentleman serving and bar tending. Â He gave me a hard time for having my longboard skateboard and told me I had to leave it up front by the stairs and couldn't keep it with me by my table. Â There were 2 guests at the bar, and no one seated and he had an attitude about the whole thing. Â We live in a beach town, most of us skate everywhere, I am not a punk kid, and this wasn't a busy nightclub scene. Â It was noon on a Wednesday and the bar was empty.
The whole experience was uncomfortable and hostile from the beginning and to be honest, I have been able to skate anywhere in PB and not get a hard time. Â My girlfriend and I will just take our business elsewhere where we don't get an attitude, where we get a smile and a hello before being lectured on having a skateboard and how I may decide to use it as a weapon against someone.... Â Yea, against the 2 girls at the bar, mid day?? Â No thanks, no more!
I ordered some Delicious Tacos along with a Spinach  Salad. Was able to seat in the patio area overlooking the beach and other PB bars from my good old days back in the early 90s. All in All it was a awesome birthday lunch. Can't wait to come back.
Maybe next month. Service was good, cute waitrsses, great prices. If I  didn't live 75 miles  away this would be my new twice a week lunch spot. The Margaritas where excellent. Drink 4 and stumble to the beach.
Ok so here's a tip, Do not order from the actual dinner menu. This place must be for appetizers and burgers.
My husband and I had a late date night last night, being that it was so late and Nick's kitchen is open till 1 we wanted to try it out. Lets just say for the prices it is awful!!!. He got the crappy short ribs and I idiotically got crab legs. I guess seafood restaurant doesn't meant what it used to. Market price for still cold crab is ludicrous. I know everyone is like super healthy, but a little butter on veggies and some salt go a long way, and cooked carrots shouldn't be hard right? Â
The only things we did really enjoy is the appetizer, the service and the drink. We had the potatoes skins, super bomb!!! The bartender was super nice and friendly.
Again I have to say for the amount we spent ( close to $80) for the two of us I am super disappointed. If they just used one side of their menu I'm sure they would have almost all positive reviews.
Oh on a side note we stayed downstairs but it sounded like it was poppin upstairs!
RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!
My boyfriend and I were on vacation and wanted to stick with local restaurants. Â Being on the beach, we thought eating some fresh local seafood would be a great idea! Â A quick Yelp search pulled up this place and showed it had fresh seafood and was a sports bar (in our mind, great micro brews). Â We also passed by, and it looked like a cool place. When we walked in, the host had one of those corporate polo's with their logo on it. Â First red flag, we should of ran then. Â We saw him pick up big plastic menus like the ones you see at Red Robbins. Â 2nd red flag. Â The moment we sat down we looked at each other and 2nd guessed our choice, but some how talked ourselves into staying. Â It can't be that bad.
After our waitress read us the specials from a piece of paper I decided I was craving some crab, so I ordered the crab legs. Â My boyfriend went with the fresh fish of the day, Mahi Mahi. Â Now lets breakdown why this was the worst dinner either of us have experienced.
Side Vegetables: Baby corn and Baby Carrots. How can carrots that looks so wrinkly and over cooked be so damn hard?!??! Â The baby corn look and tasted like it came from a can. Â Neither of us took more than one bite.
Mahi Mahi: Â It looked like it was one of those frozen fishes that come in a plastic package that you throw in the microwave. Â And it was super dry. Â Only a few bites were taken of this. Â Oh yea, it was supposed to be crusted in Panko...
Rice: The Mahi Mahi came with sticky rice, not sure because there was no Asian theme to the meal that we could tell, unless the supposed panko was the connection. Â But either way the rice tasted funny and was a really weird. Â Not normal sticky rice. Â Not normal steamed rice. Â Not sure what was going on
Mashed Potatoes: Had so much damn butter we couldn't finish it. Â On the bright side, it was real potatoes.
Crab: This crab was far from fresh, yet they felt the need to charge us Market price. Â I was really craving crab & was starving, so this was the only thing we finished.
Though this seemed to be our waitress first waiting job, she was really nice, therefore we didn't deduct her tip because the food was horrible  Total (including tip): $84.  We could of got good food at a swanky place for this price, instead we got food that was worse than dinner at Denny's.  How this place has the reviews it does is beyond me, the happy hour must be pretty damn good
Oy. The food is not good here. My veggies tasted like they had been frozen and reheated. My friend said her rice tasted a bit like cleaner. The salmon was overwhelmed with nuts I had to dig to find the fish. The cocktail i got tasted like a gummy beat shot. I guess what I'm saying here is nothing tastes as good as it sounds on the menu... Be warned.
I'm giving it two stars instead of one because of our AMAZING waiter. He was very attentive to our large party and gave us all individual checks!!! What service!
Came by tonight for happy hour and to watch the game. Â This review is only for the upstairs bar area . Was clean, lot's of seating, lot's of TV's and outdoor seating looking at beach (without tv's) Â
Great happy hour, half priced burgers/chicken sandwiches/quesadilla's, and drink specials as well. Â Service was good, food was solid, and beer was cold. Â And to top it off, it's a UofA bar which makes it that much better for us UofA alum! Â :)
Come here on a Thursday for their Burger and Beer Special. It is like $8 and you get a burger with fries and a beer. You can choose to add cheese to the burger for a dollar extra and also upgrade your beer to a premium beer for another dollar. Still a great deal since the burger is big and delicious.
The upstairs area is the place to be for Thursday Night football games like when I went or weekend football. They have pool tables and plenty of seating at the bar upstairs. The also have an outside deck with ocean view and the whole area is surrounded by TVs for all of you sports fans.
Be sure to get a pitcher and split it when you come here so you can keep the beer going all day during the game.
The bartenders are nice and this place has never disappointed me!
This place gets a 3.5 from me. It's definitely better than your average restaurant bar, because they have a pretty sweet burger/beer deal ($7?!) and the food is actually pretty decent. I had the ahi tuna appetizer as my meal because it turned out to be quite a large portion. The seared and seasoned tuna over rice was pretty good, but I've had better. They offer half portions of the salads because apparently they tend to be generous with portions for most menu offerings, but I do wish they offered all of the salads in the half portion.
There are two floors, and the staff is incredibly friendly. I would definitely come back, as I bet this place would be teeming with people around happy hour and the evening. I could see why Nick's would be a local favorite, as it encourages a relaxed yet fun atmosphere.
Good solid beer selection and nice drinks. Â 22oz frosty IPAs! Â Food was 2 notches better than 'good'; it was truly solid! Â (Linguine for one of us, short ribs for the other).
Tiny bit crowded and noisy, but it is 'kiddy-land' around the beach; not the establishment's fault. Â Our server was very good indeed!
Nothing special here. Very overpriced - I could've gone to Chili's and paid a lot less for the same meal. My bf and I came to Nick's because the wait at World Famous was an hour long; and we've wanted to try Nick's for awhile so we decided to give it a shot.
The service and speed of food was good; and the best part of our meal was probably our crab cakes appetizer. My bf ordered the NY strip steak, and I ordered the mustard crusted salmon. Nick's should probably expand on their seafood menu, especially since they advertise "Fresh Seafood" from their restaurant windows. Their seafood main course options consisted of 3 types of salmon dishes, and maybe 2 other different dishes. Both my salmon, and my bf's steak came with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli/carrots. Nothing spectacular there.
Overall, Nick's was good, but we probably wouldn't come back, especially since there are much better restaurant options in PB.
A-OK...That about sums it up. Â Been here a few times and things I like about it are"
- decent happy hour specials
- easier parking (usually)
- views
- lower % of PB DB than your average Garnet bar
Other than that it is still a PB bar and on weekends this place will catch the overflow of Garnet. Â Usually a pretty chill place and fairly roomy upstairs with a decent sized deck on the west side. Â Was here for St. Pat's Day and the DB's were in full force. Â Oh well shame on me for hoping the weather would keep em away.
***this review is for their upstairs bar area
I go here all the time. I love their vibe, beach scenery, and sports bar theme. They recently rethought their menu and I particularly enjoy the new offerings. I love the chicken ceasar wrap. It has a hint of chipotle in it so there is a smoky aftertaste that's yummy! I also like their chicken tenders which comes with different sauces because there is no breading, just grilled chicken tenders (good for watching the carb & fat intake). Their champagne deals during football are good, but it does get crowded. They put coverings over the pool tables so that does help a bit, but they are still low with a bar stool.
Oh! And they have happy hour everyday from 4-7 & 4-close I think on mon or tues. Eitherway, if you're in the neighborhood, you should stop in to catch a game or take in a sunset :)
P.s. they offer food until 1am! Good for late night munchies!
P.p.s. they do have a downstairs dining area for romantic evenings and a little more upscale food for dinner.
Nick's got the job done. I was visiting girlfriends over the weekend and I needed to watch the women's World Cup and my girls needed to drink.
Miller's was jammed packed = no bueno.
Walked down the street to Nick's and easily found some seats and a shit ton of HD tvs to watch the game = bueno.
It was kind of a pain to order drinks since our cocktail server would ignore our group after dropping off our first round (I figure it was because we were girls). Umm, we came to drink. We WANT to give you our money, lady! So I had to walk to the bar to get our drinks at least once. Bloody Mary's are legit...prices are reasonable...nachos came out fast when our munchies hit! But the staff was super friendly and I was watching a win-win game (USA vs. Japan--being hapa I win either way! Plus, you got to love an underdog story!) with my girls...Bloody Mary's were legit...prices were reasonable...nachos came out fast when our munchies hit...so yeah, I can't complain.
Side note: watch out for the women's bathroom. Someone broke the tank in the first stall while I was there. Yikes!
HH is amazing. the Papas Quesadilla is a must... mashed potatoes inside a tortilla... YUM, even for those like me who hate mashed potatoes with a passion. The rooftop is fun for a nice day of drinking and playing around PB with friends, at night it is usually chill (unlike most other bars in the area). Downstairs is a quiet intimate dinning area and bar with a few different TVs to watch sporting events. Whether eating dinner, trying out the HH menu, or enjoying a cocktail one is never disappointed in this bar/restaurant establishment.
And it's a UofA Wildcat bar for fellow alumni.
Whoever said you can't put mashed potatoes in a quesadilla is damn liar and has never eaten at Nick's At The Beach. I am now convinced that a 'dilla sans papas is a 'dilla wasted. Mmmm. I can taste the carbo-overload right now.
AHEM. Anyway-
Despite my lady friend and I having a less than stellar time here on Valentine's Day, this past Sunday redeemed Nick's times a thousand, I now think we should have owed our crappy day to being bitter and hungover.
+Fun (re: not PBesque) crowd
+Great happy hour
+Bombsicle patio
+Nice bartenders
The stars say it- Yay! I'm a fan.
I visited Nick's recently for a casual breakfast on the rooftop, an A-OK but slightly underwhelming experience.
There are some tasty omelets here, and basically they were what lured us through the door! Â I like the omelet with crab and brie, and my boyfriend's a fan of the one with Mediterranean flavors.
Service was friendly and efficient on a slow Sunday morning, nothing over the top.
While the rooftop area is alright, it's a bummer that the view is pretty much of a parking lot. Â Nick's would do so much better on or closer to the boardwalk, and no doubt they lose a lot of business to flashier Firehouse and Ale House.
This place should really be called Nick's NEAR the Beach rather than Nick's AT the Beach. Â I realize this is all semantics, but you can only really see a small segment of the sand and ocean from a distance down the street while sitting on the small, rooftop patio. Â My vision was also somewhat clouded by all the ash and ciggy smoke out there.
Otherwise, it's pretty much your typical PB bar in disguise as a restaurant / sports bar / pub. Â It seems like the place suffers from dissociative identity disorder. Â What I think they're really good at though is being a shitty beach dive that's a clone of a clone of a clone of the million other equally shitty beach dives in the area.
Not sure where some of the other reviewers are getting the idea that Nick's attracts a "non-PB" crowd. Â There were definitely enough requisite bros with flat-brimmed hats and wife beater t-shirts to qualify the place as PB'ish to me. Â My ID was also scrutinized like most of the other PB'ish places in the area. Â Yes, that is me in the picture, I'm well past the age of 21, and I know where I live. Â You can go back to your protein shake now dickhead (end rant).
The free parking they advertise on their website is a complete joke. Â It's literally 5-6 parking spots up front. Â I guess that's more than most of the places in the area, but nonetheless it's a pretty piss poor of an excuse for a parking lot. Â Do yourself a favor and park on the street.
The food wasn't bad, but the service was atrocious. Â The torta I ordered was passable and satisfying, but we were completely ignored by our waitress for the remainder of the meal and we had to order our drinks at the bar. Â The place wasn't crowded either. Â Fortunately, they made up for this by serving decently priced draft beers in glasses the size of a small keg.
2 stars overall, but I would have given this place 3 stars if it weren't for the lack of service we received.
I've been here numerous times throughout the years I've lived in SD. Starting with the group I use to hang out with that lived right there in PB. Back then, we were all pretty much at that stage of our social life where hanging out in PB  was pretty much a weekly routine, if not more. But now those pals who's pad we once would crash after a long night of bar hopping and card  games, now have homes in suburbia or moved out of state. But even though our lives have changed, the scene at Nick's remains the same, and so are my feelings for it which is....blehhh.
I should love it. It's got the upstairs sports bar area which connects to the rooftop/outdoor deck. Â It has the components for me to be in love with it, but I'm not.
Food both dinner downstairs and appetizers...fair.
Drinks..can't go wrong with beer.
Pool tables and TVs... yeah it's there, just no wow factor.
The experience has been fair to below. Why I've ended up there more than once or twice or three times? I dunno.
..
No I'm not, Nick's at North Park yo.
This place is ok...usually pretty crowded and Ive only gone a few times when PB was my home.
Yea you could actually see the water if you had the right table. The food was decent, not outstanding.
I cant even remember the last thing that I ate here, just that the waitress was freaking cute, she was outstanding.
The final destination for the night. Â Oh wait, it was still pretty early, maybe around 830 or 9 but when you've been drinking since 3 p.m., it feels late. Â
The crowd here is a little better than your average PB bar. Â Not much, just a little. Â There is the same flat billed guys with skinny barely dressed girls but there seem to be less of them. Â
They have a decent selection of beer on tap - way better than the one in OB. Â And, I like the papas quesadilla. Â And... The outside patio is pretty nice.
As far as PB goes, Nick's is definitely one of my preferred low-key hang out destinations!
I should know, considering I have been to approximately 70% of the bars in PB, but that's another story :o)
Anyway, back to the task at hand, Nick's is a pleasant, laid back beach bar with an upstairs, outside patio overlooking the ocean (albeit, from a little bit of a distance, but you still get to enjoy the nice ocean breeze!). Â There always seems to be a table on the patio that you don't have to hunt down and there are AWESOME happy hour specials!
If you are ever looking for a place to sit down, relax, soak up the sun and chit chat with your friends over a pitcher of beer, Nick's is definitely the place to do it.
Went to Nick's this morning after a run up Mt Soledad in the rain. Â We were soaked but they still sat us. Â The place was completely empty. Â
I had Nick's Big Breakfast with 3 eggs, 3 Aidel chicken sausages, potatoes, toast, and pancakes. Â A huge meal and all very good. Â The sausage was just a little spicy. Â The eggs were over easy, just as I had asked. Â
My friend had the carne asada and eggs. Â He actually finished before me. Â
The service was great. Â We sat near the bar so we could watch some of the football game that was on, Ball State v. Rutgers. Â They actually have 4 flat panel tv's above the bar. Â
It was a little pricey. Â My meal was 10 bucks sans the coffee. Â I could go to the Mission for a little more fancy meal for less money. Â But I did like the fact that it was not that busy.
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