Elite Event: Home & Away

Better late than never… for some reason this review got lost in my drafts! a thousand apologies!
This was event was a perfect way to end a great weekend.
A solid group of San Diego’s finest Unilocalers a a few plus ones made up for a fun time.
The evening passed through fun games, delicious and refreshing drinks and great conversation with my fellow Unilocalers.
This was my cousin’s first Elite Event ad he had the time of his life!
I really like H&A’s atmosphere, they way it is set up, you can’t help but to enjoy yourself and maybe… even maybe some people can actually put their phones away and have face to face interaction!!!
Be very very careful with the big Jenga… it is a lot of fun but can also crack a glass or hurt your foot if you are not careful lol!
Overall a fantastic evening thanks to H&A for their hospitality.
A big shout out to Brad and Sandra for taking such great care of us!

Off the beaten path in an area I seldom frequent, Home & Away was a little venture; we found it in a less inhabited part of Old Town and street parking was a breeze on this lazy Sunday. The location and simple logo made the place inconspicuous. When doors are closed you may not see it unless you’re looking for it, or unless you hear/​see lots of people having fun with a bunch of bar games, which was in full swing after they opened for Unilocal business and Elites and a few +1’s trickled their way through past Sandra. This was actually my first event as a +1 (thanks Nina Z) and I could tell it was going to be another awesome event from Brad.
The boozy offerings were aplenty (though I only tried one of each featured cocktail plus a pint of craft beer) and the «light bites» were anything but! The portions kept churning their way out of the kitchen – I really couldn’t get my hands off of those seasoned Tater Tots! The Buffalo Wings were good, too. I was on the fence with the tacos; one meat was fine, the other meat (chicken I think) was a tad smoky for my liking, but it was nice to try everything out. Thank you to the server who kept our stomachs happy and to the bar staff who kept glasses filled and areas clean.
As for the space itself, I’m into the layout: indoor bar/​counter seating with ambient lighting and an open deck for the majority of the games. Whether Jenga or table tennis or corn hole or foosball, everyone seemed to have enjoyed the mild and friendly competition amongst each other. As always, it was cool to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones.
I don’t make it out often enough to these parts to be a regular, but best of luck to Home & Away! Hope it becomes a popular watering hole just for the atmosphere and hospitality!

Date of visit: July 12, 2015 (I’m a little behind on my Unilocal reviews, as I’ve been on vacation)
After four days of Comic-​Con, I was in the mood for three things — a good drink, a place to sit down, and intelligent adult conversation (seriously, a lot of the adults at SDCC are emotionally stunted! Then again, this is coming from a guy who was dressed as Charlie Brown, carrying a Vikings drinking horn, and rocking a Sailor Moon tiara that evening… but I digress). Thankfully, I found all three at the Home & Away Elite Event.
Loved the ambiance out at the bar; watching everyone enjoy themselves with Ping-​Pong, giant Jenga, foosball, and cornhole was a sight to see. I even surprised myself by teaming up with Cinna B. in a game of cornhole against Ace and one of his buddies… how the heck I had enough energy to play, much less stand, is a minor miracle. But then again, as these are great Unilocal Elite Events that Brad and Sandra hold for us, I would dig deep for these!
While we’d been told that this would be a beverage-​only event, we were pleasantly surprised by the food that was offered by the Home & Away crew. The house wings cooked in a teriyaki and buffalo sauce were amazing, with a crispy skin; the tater tots were fried to near perfection; and those street tacos were very filling! (As I had been mostly subsisting on beef jerky, granola bars, and peanut butter and crackers during SDCC, having real food was a treat for me!) In terms of the drinks, I was happy with my St. Archer White Ale (which I poured into my drinking horn and got plenty of surprised looks from my fellow Elites as I was drinking from it). The mixed drink I had earlier that I’m blanking on also was refreshing.
It was great seeing my fellow Elites, and even made some new friends that evening — it was also good to see who’d come from Comic-​Con and share our mutual experiences. And, I scored a Unilocal Frisbee!
As per usual, thank you to Brad, Sandra, and the Home & Away staff for hosting us lucky Unilocal Elites and for a great event! See you all on the next one!

I’ve been to H&A before and wasn’t quite impressed but this Unilocal event changed my mind about H&A.
H&A is a cool venue with many games and seating, and also a game area that takes half of the parking lot. Good thing there’s ample parking to make up for the limited parking in their private lot.
When I came I only had a beer, so this time I decided to have a cocktail instead. I got the special mule and aloha derby, both very refreshing and delicious. We didn’t realize there was going to be food at this event and had eaten a humongous meal. So I only did small tasting (like a bite) of their offerings. I did enjoy the tots more than everything else.
What was awesome was all the board and bar games. They had big blocks of jenga, darts, foosball, bag toss, etc. it was a fun night! I would definitely come back since I live so close to it.

It was great to come to this event on my Friday, which is most peoples Sunday. I was familiar with the old neighborhood bar that used to be here (Kelly’s PUB). It was classic and out of date. I really enjoyed seeing what happens when its «out with the old and in with the new!»
The new owners have really brought this well known bar to a new level of fun! The new bar was interesting and beautiful. I loved all the wood details everywhere, with the big screens to entertain us. Plenty of games were placed all around to make them accessible to everyone. The new design has a great open feel! Everyone is able to see everyone else in the bar.
The outdoor bar area complete with ping pong was a big hit! And the beer selection was out of this world! The bar food was fabulous! Especially considering how small the kitchen is. The service was super fabulous too! We even got to see some of the Sea World fire works from the parking lot!
Thank you for a very chill night out of fun and games with fellow Unilocaler’s! Brad know’s how to plan a good thing. And special thank you’s to the staff of Kelly’s for rolling out top notch hospitality and good times!

It was all fun and games at Home and Away, the craft beer and sports bar in Old Town. While I was dodging the giant toppling Jenga game (tiimmmberrr!), I was sipping a new brew in the old town. A beer that tastes like cream soda… I loved it! The Mother Earth Cali Creamin was a new taste for me. (-;
This was another laid back, buzzy YEE, planned by our CM, Brad B, who is truly steaming hot this year! Thank you, Brad, Sandra, and the fine owners and staff of Home and Away.
I also appreciated their version of the Moscow Mule, which was short and strong, and not too sweet.
The wings were messy and yummy, and the company was even yummier. Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold. So the old saying goes.
If you like beer and games, head over to this friendly pub in old town, which has plenty of space for games.

This was the perfect way to end the weekend. Super casual and chilling with cool peeps is my type of Sunday. I started cooling down with a couple Mules right when they let us in!
It was a bummer that I was entirely stuffed right before coming (had beef ribs at Phils right before) so I couldn’t enjoy as many tots and chicken wings as planned! But the Mules and Aloha Derby drinks made up for it!
After knocking back a few dranks, it was time to get down on some foosball and ping pong. Having a few challenging rounds while buzzed makes those 2 hours we had here totally fly by super quick, especially with the good company!
As for the oversized Jenga? Man, it was great watching everyone try their best not to have that massive tower collapse! Good thing no one got their phone smashed up, haha.
Cheers to Brad and Sandra for always scoring cool spots, this was a great way to spend our Sunday evening. And cheers to the staff at Home & Away for hosting us and providing awesome hospitality!

This event was so chill. I loved every minute of it. We had fun games, fun people, fun food and drinks.
I tried the Aloha Derby first and it was delicious. I loved the mix with bourbon. Very good. It was so nice of Home and Away to let us try any of the craft beers that we wanted. They have such a great selection of beer. Many that they had on tap were beers that I hadn’t ever tried. I had the Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA and it was my favorite beer of the night. Definitely try this if you want something different.
I loved that there were so many games to play. I had a great time playing dominos with Lesley, Walter, Jeff and Max. I also got to me a lot of new people since the event was so much smaller than usual. I was glad that there was a little bit of food. I loved the tater tots and I am not a tots person. They were so crispy and just right.
I would definitely come back to Home and Away with friends. This place is so relaxing and chill. The staff was so nice. Everyone was in a great mood.
Thank you so much Brad and Sandra. This event was awesome!

Where does a loyal Unilocaler go to unwind after an intense ComicCon weekend? No better place than Home & Away, Old Town San Diego’s only combination craft beer bar, sports bar and game spot.
Another great Unilocal Elite Event was held last night at Home & Away on San Diego Avenue. CM extraordinaire Mr. Brad, accompanied by his competent and ever graceful intern, Miss Sandra, put on another really fun event. The staff of Home and Away were friendly and generous, providing a great selection of draft beers on tap for us to chose from, various tasty house wines, a even a couple of custom cocktails for our delight. And if that wasn’t enough, we were served delicious wings, tater tots, yummy tacos all evening long to help fill our hungry bellies!
All of the regulars were there — Jack, Steve, Chang, Daphne, Jennifer, Mel, Missy, Lisa, Melanio, Ace, Jazmin, Walter, Leslie, Sunny, Jimmy, and all the others I am blanking out on right now!
We played lots of beer pong (just kidding– it was ping-​pong), giant jenga with crashing 2x4s, baggo and other table games. The more we drank, the funner the games became, especially jenga!
Thanks to the owners and management of Home & Away for a fun time. You have a very cool place! I will be back… and thanks to Brad and Sandra, of course. You guys are the best!

If there ever was a casual event, this was it. Home and Away opened their doors to a game filled event paired with Moscow Mule, Aloha Derby, and a long list of fine craft beers, and wines, but the biggest surprise was the great eats Home and Away offered.
Yes we had tater tots, but they were Home and Away tots fried to a perfect golden brown crispy goodness: a handful of these little guys and a big gulp of ice cold beer was the ticket. They offered trays being passes around with house wings with a nice sauce of a teriyaki and buffalo concoction. The wings were well fried and had a nice crispy skin. Finally, and the best of the night was the mini street tacos. The meat had a great smokey flavor acquired from their smoker right outside. Well done on the smoking process. The tacos were great and I hope they put them on the regular menu.
The event offered a variety of games and the most popular one was no doubt the giant Jenga. During every round, every waited in anticipation for the giant tower of Jenga-​Jenga blocks to come crashing down. I think people played that game the entire event. Ping Pong was another game and foosball were two other fun games.
The staff at Home and Away were great and provided service with a smile. The young lady passing out food on the trays was great. She would go out of her way to make sure everyone had the opportunity to try the food. The bar keeps were very cool and friendly and made some great drinks. My hat goes off to the kitchen staff. Nicely done with small bites!
Thank you Home & Away and Brad. Great stuff!

Wow did Brad ever out do himself last night. That was such a fun and laid back event!
Home & Away is a great little sports bar tucked away on the outskirts of Old Town. They have a small parking lot and street parking was plentiful. I loved the way they designed the bar décor, it’s charming and perfect for this setting. The ping pong table and foosball table were great, as well as all of the board games, including the giant Jenga game. There’s plenty of fun activities here. The staff were extremely friendly and accommodating.
I tried both of the cocktails offered: the Moscow mule and the Aloha Derby. I have to say the Aloha Derby was my favorite, maybe I just prefer bourbon, but it was quite tasty. I sampled a couple of the craft beers and they were all good. Later on in the evening Sunny and I decided we needed shots and headed to the bar. I ordered Jameson shots with pickle backs and Max was a good sport for joining in with us even though he doesn’t like pickles. The bartender was careful to strain out all the seeds from the juice, so I’m sure that helped. Every time I went to the bar, I was helped right away and the service was great. I will definitely recommend Home & Away to friends. This was a really fun place.
Sunny, Jeff, Max and I played dominoes at our table. I should say I attempted to play. I just didn’t get the hang of it and Walter ended up playing for me while everyone pretended I was still playing. While they maintained the charade, I ate some of the snacks that were offered. The tacos were pretty tasty, but I really enjoyed the tater tots. I guess I’m more of a kid at heart.
I also got a chance to chat with Mel, Vin, Jack, and Sandra, and I finally met the infamous Ace in person.
Thank you to everyone at Home & Away for hosting us. And thank you to Brad and Sandra for all your hard work in setting up this fun event. I had a great time and I’m looking forward to seeing everybody at the the next one.

What a great way to end a Sunday night! I had such a blast hanging out with old and new friends. Home & Away is definitely a hidden gem and the best part is? There’s parking right in front!
Brad had warned us that there wasn’t going to be food at the event but lo and behold– trays of chicken wings, tacos, and tater tots started coming out of the kitchen! I was super excited because I was starting to get hungry and knew that the drinks would not hold me over! I loved, loved, loved the tacos and will come back just for them!
The staff was super friendly and made sure everyone was taken care of and they even were on top of cleaning up after us! Thank you Home & Away staff for being so efficient and providing such great customer service!
All in all, I had a great Sunday with my Unilocal family and Home & Away really made it feel like home for me. I grabbed one of their regular menus and will be back sometime soon for a quick lunch or dinner!
As always, thank you so much Bradizzle, Sandra, and Home & Away for making us Unilocal Elites feel like kings and queens with such amazing events! The Unilocal schwag was spectacular and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this summer will bring! You all are so good at what you do and I’m really glad to be a part of this community!