Some reviews said this was a dive bar(I love dive bars) but I wasn’t expecting the food to be so good. Probably the best chicken club I’ve had and the loaded fries were like wuuuuutttt. Even the mozzarella sticks were above average, like home made. Service is on point and the drinks are great.
Jeremy S.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Carlsbad, CA
This place is pretty much the quintessential dive bar that caters to the surrounding demographics which is primarily SDSU college students and some regulars. Came here to grab a couple of cold ones and play some pool with my little bro. The place itself isn’t bad, it’s just really loud and can get pretty crowded not to mention the floors can get a tad sticky, lol. The brew is actually quite good and extremely inexpensive, which isn’t bad especially considering you tend to buy multiple. There are two pool tables, which are on the small side and the cues are a bit worn, but hey they get the job done. Overall, not a bad spot for a couple of beers and to just kick back. Keep an eye on the specials as they are quite good, talking $ 1 beers etc… Pros– Great brew selection Nice temperature taps Friendly service Pool and foosball Lots of open space Big bar Cons– Location is meh Parking is rough Cleanliness Interesting crowd…
Zach B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Diego, CA
Awesome Wednesday Wing night. Since moving out here, have been looking for a great place to go for a wing night. Great food, Great prices, and Great service. Highly recommend!
Sabrina G.
Rating des Ortes: 5 La Mesa, CA
I highly recommend Effins!!! Me and my husband have made this our go to bar ! Drinks are bomb and staff is great !!! Not to crowded but fun. If u haven’t been here u should come !!! 5 stars!!!
Anthony R.
Rating des Ortes: 5 La Mesa, CA
Effin’s is one of the more enjoyable pubs of my experience. Great service, a very lively vibe, Wether the pubs packed or even at half capacity. They also have great customer service, in fact better than some restaurants. 5 stars all the way.
Sara T.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Diego, CA
This place is supposed to be open right now, we’ve been waiting outside and trying to call and there’s no sign of life anywhere. My opinion of this place is going down and I haven’t even tried it yet.
Linzy S.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Diego, CA
My boyfriend and I drive by Effin’s all the time and decided to finally stop in and check the place out. We walk in, it’s 1:30pm on Super Bowl Sunday, there are about 6 people at the bar and two tables with happy people enjoying food. We notice only one lady bartender with short curly red hair, talking to her customers at the bar and refusing to make eye contact with us. We grab menus, check for a «seat yourself» sign at the door, looked at the bartender who again refused to acknowledge our existence, waited a bit more and decided at this point staying would be awkward. As a person in the industry I found her completely unprofessional, I hope I never have employees who discourage my company’s profit.
Dylan G.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Healdsburg, CA
So me and the lady went into Effin’s on Sunday night for some quick food. I had a hankering for wings and honestly, this place is one of the only places I’ve been outside the east coast that does wings right. We had three different flavors(buffalo, teriyaki and Cajun whiskey) all which were great. The wings were cooked perfectly and the blue cheese dressing had actual blue cheese in it. We had the three pork sandwich which delivered as sold, all the bacon, ham, and bbq. Great selection of beer, bar staff was friendly and brought food to where we were playing pool despite ordering from the bar. Seems like they have some sort of event or special daily. I’ll be back.
Sparky S.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Los Angeles, CA
If I could give ZERO stars, I would. The blonde is a continuing problem. She treats people like trash(unless you’re a hot guy), or ignores them, or embarrasses them. This is uncalled for. It begs the question of how does she get away with all this bad customer service behavior, and still keeps her job. Yeah, I know what I’m thinking about that! The food, however, is good pub food, but really, the blonde will keep a lot of people away because even good food isn’t enough to balance out bad rude customer service. Wake up, Effin’s! Haven’t been back for a few weeks, so am not sure if she is still… working.
Jay S.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Diego, CA
They would get more stars but after my wife fell coming back from the smoking patio she was in pain. It was raining, her shoes were wet and the walkway was slippery. It’s a good thing I don’t file a lawsuit for her pain. And NO she was not drunk, she had one midori sour which didn’t taste even like one. All they needed was a floor mat for people coming back inside from the rain. The bartender does not know how to make drinks! He couldn’t make a Blarney Stone or a Long Island for that matter. The atmosphere is nice. Not sure about the food but the menu looks good. If there was a different bartender I’m more likely to go back. It’s always nice to hang at a local pub but we weren’t treated like locals. I guess we didn’t go there enough to be known.
Gabby E.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Chula Vista, CA
Please Read!!! This bar has the worst staff! I don’t know who is worse; the bad mannered blond or the manager! Here is the story: On a Sunday night after serving many tables at the restaurant I work at I decided to unwind with my two female coworkers who have never been to Effins. I insisted we go to Effins(drove all the way from Ramona to SDSU area). We arrive and everything is going good. There was two bartenders; a bald guy and the blond. Of course we had our order taken by the guy because the Blond was too busy chatting with all the guys, even though she was standing right in front of us. She never acknowledges me when I come in. She can at least say«hey guys, welcome; someone will be right with you.» But no, instead we are ignored and she never gave any effort to at least make eye contact. Before I move forward please help your employees and give them a lesson on manners, respect and customer service. She obviously does not like her job and does not know how to talk to people literally. Moving forward. I ordered a drink for my friend who never drinks and she gave me the attitude that broke the camels back. I told her to grab her manager and she smirks while pointing to the bald bartender. Instead of coming over and asking what is going on he hands us our check and says, «you’re done! « WOWWOW wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow If this man is really the manager I see this pub going down South REALQUICK! It is called Customer Service !!! There is competition and I will never come back here or recommend this place to anybody! And I will be sure to tell the thousands of employees I have that work with me here at Barona Casino!!!
Trish L.
Rating des Ortes: 4 San Diego, CA
Great local hangout for football and beer! Buffalo chicken fries hit the spot! They are amazing
Tim F.
Rating des Ortes: 3 San Diego, CA
Based on reviews this place is hit or miss. Fortunately when I went it was a hit. Went to watch the UFC fight and paid $ 5 cover. They have ample seating, decent venue and plenty of screens. Didn’t order food, but they do have a good selection of drinks. Little younger demographic being in the college area of town. But overall a fun place to have a drink and relax with friends. Recommended.
Ryan E.
Rating des Ortes: 4 San Diego, CA
Place has good food and a good selection of beverages between $ 3 to $ 7. I went on wing Wednesday. They were pretty good. The Saudis had great flavor but the wings themselves had a strange taste to them. Good place to hang with friends. I think I’ll go back.
Angie k.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Diego, CA
Went here for the sdsu game. Nobody acknowledged us. Sat for like 10 minutes. We left. Service sucked. My husband said he used to come here all the time in college. Had good memories of the place. Too bad t sucks now. Also in response to «jack» who left me a compliment(presumably so I couldn’t respond) informing me there are signs all over saying order at the bar: I saw no signs. And hey I don’t care how big they are or how many you have. Did you hire robots? No. You have humans working in your bar. If they can’t clearly see patrons entering your establishment and take 2 seconds to yell out hey you can order over here than I would still say you obviously have a service problem. The place was far from busy. Geez. I worked in a bar for a year and ALWAYS greeted people as they walked in. Good luck with that.
Joel W.
Rating des Ortes: 5 La Mirada, CA
I’m really not sure why this place has 3.5 stars, I’ve been to 3.5 star places and this is not one of them. Let’s start with the beer, they have a decent variety and some clutch local brews such as Sculpin IPA and Hop Head Red for $ 6 or $ 7 which, if you’ve bought either of those brews anywhere else you would know that a pint of either one of those could run you up as much as $ 14. Now let’s turn to the food. It’s bomb. Order a double chili cheese burger and you will not be disappointed by either the size or the taste. The taste is that of one of the best burgers I’ve had anywhere, and I’ve ordered burgers everywhere I’ve ever been. Their chef is up and coming on the food network and makes some of the best homemade pickles I’ve ever had. Their French fry bowls and wings are also bomb as Hell. Now lastly let’s turn to the service, every single person who works there is unique and an absolute gem, if you live in the area you would definitely not regret getting to know any one of them.
Audrey S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Diego, CA
Love this place! Patrick and Matt are awesome, I wish they were here every night. Great food, especially the wings and soft pretzels. Also great prices If only they had room for more pool tables.
Lauren V.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Morgan Hill, CA
I’ve never gone to this bar and had a bad time, unless the person I was with was a Patriot’s fan on a football Sunday… Effin’s is the best place in the college area to have a good time. Luke is awesome and it’s nice to go to a bar where the bartenders converse with you and don’t act like you’re a drunk idiot(even if you are). Love the casual atmosphere and the drinks.
Pat F.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Diego, CA
To build on my tip posted earlier, Stout Public House may arguably be the best hockey bar in San Diego, BUT Effin’s Pub is by far the undisputed &BESTLA Kings bar/pub in town! It’s not even arguable… We watched all but one of the 2014LA Kings playoff games at Effin’s! Effin’s has been a Kings Watch Party favorite w/a plethora of die-hards, they bartenders give drink specials if you wear Kings apparel during games, they turn the game audio on(LOUD too), and it’s the next best thing to actually being at STAPLES Center! Effin’s rocks!!! GOKINGSGO!!! Hockey aside, Effin’s is really a cool neighborhood bar! All the bartenders we know are super-duper cool(Luke, Frank, & Nick), as are their servers! Their wings are every bit as good as Dirty Birds in PB or BWW, they’ve got some of the best house potato chips, and their prices are more than reasonable. If you like wings, Jameson, and are an LA Kings fan, there’s no better place for you to be than Effin’s Pub!!! This place is about as FIVE star Unilocal spot as you can get!!!
Jonathan E.
Rating des Ortes: 2 San Diego, CA
I really wanted to like this place, but the service was terrible. Even worse, there was only about 8 customers at the time. Arrived at 5 p.m. on a weeknight, so there was hardly anyone there. I was starving, so I immediately ordered wings and a drink. After 5 minutes, was asked if I wanted another drink. I said I’d wait until my food arrived. After another 15 minutes, the bartender(who was having a shot with patrons) noticed my food was sitting on the end of the bar, at this point cold. Well, she didn’t notice — but served it to me and I had to point this out. To be fair she did offer to remake the wings, but I declined as I was hungry and pressed for time. She never offered to adjust the bill or checked back on me again until I was completely finished. And she never brought me my second drink. She did, however, enjoy another shot with her friends. As for the food, I thought the wings were fine except they lacked heat. I can definitely see this being a fun college bar in the evening, but be prepared for shoddy service and boring food. It gets by on location, not effort.