PB Tap Room

The Happy Hour Reviewer

By The Happy Hour ReviewerPublished 04/17/2009

PB Tap Room Garnet Avenue can be a tough grind for a bar. There’s plenty of seasoned competition, and college kids can stay married to a favorite happy hour or late night hot spot for years without venturing through the doors of a new establishment. Sometimes it seems like you have to perfect some mysterious combination of discount taco nights, flashy eighties rocker bands, comedy acts, or free cheesy dip just to stay out of the red.

Or not. Sometimes you just have to serve good beer. At the PB Tap Room, the plan for success is to serve up a simple no-fuss homemade pizza-and-salad menu alongside fresh local brews. Plenty of wall-mounted flat-screen TVs and exuberant (but canned) music complete the picture.

“We just got finished with a 14-hour test for the landscape industry and we came here to decompress,” Tim Saunders of Solana Beach said, polishing off a Yellowtail Pale Ale pitcher and pepperoni , sausage and mushroom pizza with two PB buddies one Sunday night. “It’s chill. Hell yeah, I’ll be back. Coming from the Northwest where it’s mainly microbreweries, it’s hard to find that vibe in San Diego.”

PB Tap Room is definitely not a microbrewery, but it does serve 35 local brews from AleSmith Brewing Company, Stone Brewing Company, Ballast Point Brewing Company, Green Flash Brewing Company, Port Brewing Company, Karl Strauss and Coronado Brewing Company. I went for the dark and delicious Green Flash Nut Brown, but was definitely tempted by the special brews on rotation: a 7.7% Stone “Ruination” brew created with magnum and centennial hops, Port Brewing’s “Carlsbad Chronic” and the Green Flash brew “The Freak.”

If ordering a salad makes you feel better about swilling beer and wolfing down a massive pizza, PB Tap Room is one step ahead of you. Salads range from about $4 to about $8, depending on size and selection. Options include a basic green salad, classic Caesar, chopped antipasto and Greek salad. My buddy and I passed on the fried apps (garlic fries, onion rings, calamari) and shared the large apple-walnut salad that was pretty tasty and definitely big enough for two, maybe three. We couldn’t agree on the dressing, but our waitress was nice enough to bring tow different kinds in little plastic cups.

Our pizza arrived hot and steamy, and flavorful enough that I didn’t have to firebomb it with red pepper flakes, which is how I normally season my pizza. We had originally selected the Goat Cheese Pizza, but quickly swapped it for the BBQ Chicken Pizza after our waitress revealed that, mysteriously, the Goat Cheese Pizza doesn’t actually include Goat Cheese. The BBQ Chicken Pizza comes with a crispy crust, topped with melted red onions, puddles of Gouda cheese, just enough barbeque sauce, and plenty of chicken. Really good, and under $20.

Other pizzas to choose from: the cheese-laden White Stone, classic Tomato Basil, spicy Thai Chicken or Santa Fe, the aforementioned Goat Cheese Pizza, a Veggie and an interesting sounding Insalata Pizza that comes topped with mixed greens and salad dressing.

The menu also includes a Philly Sub and a meatball sub, both under eight bucks.

Padded red and black booths line the wall at the PB Tap Room, and long red tables and chairs fill the back end. Belly up tables by the big open windows in front are key for checking out the foot traffic and perennial traffic mess on Garnet. A functional bar extends through the entire length of the place, with a semi-attached island that creates a cozy dam between the booths and the main floor. Distressed-looking murals feature images of Coronado Bridge, Crystal Pier, PETCO Park and the Gaslamp District.

PB Tap Room A clean, open-view pizza kitchen anchors the rear of the restaurant. Diamond cutout windows alongside the bar serve as display cases for bottled beers. Concrete floors and big mirrors are standard pizza joint touches. Passing by the stacked rows of kegs en route to the bathrooms is cool.

Aside from the beer, the crowd was another attraction at the PB Tap Room. No need to get all gussied up or slicked back. Everyone seemed casual, chilled out and happy to be there.

“We kind of grew up in the pizza industry, said Kevin Conover, one of the owners. “Our parents own Leucadia Pizzeria in North County, and I used to brew beer as kind of a hobby. This (location) came up and we decided to go for it.”

Happy Hour is Monday thru Friday from 3 to 7pm with $3.50 Pints/Cocktails/Wine, $12 Pitchers/Wine Bottles, & $2 off all appetizers. Other specials: $7 Beer & Soakers every Monday from 7 to 8pm, T & A Tuesdays from 7 to 11:30pm with $3.50 Taps, and half-priced apps. Also, check out their Cask Nights on Mondays and their popular LAB art events.