Common Theory

The food was AMAZING! Try the Fried Brussels and the Pork Belly Mac & Cheese. Josh was a fun addition to our time there as well!

Chose Common Theory for a birthday celebration with 11 family members. The dining room was spacious and airy, with high ceilings and a comfortable "industrial" vibe. Food choices were an intriguing offering of Asian/Mexican/American gastropub fare with some vegetarian options as well. My Wagyu burger was excellent and the Duck Fat Fries are a must have! Our server Nadia had only been on the job for a couple of weeks but handled our large party like a seasoned pro. She had a good knowledge of the menu and was able to answer questions about spice levels on certain dishes. She also responded to our special requests, numerous questions, and joking around with a smile and a good-humored attitude. Nadia definitely contributed to a fun birthday dinner!

I would let you know how the food was, but they refused to give my family a table for my birthday dinner.The backstory...Each year, on my birthday, I choose a fun restaurant to celebrate with my family. I saw Common Theory and it looked like a great fit for that goal. A few hours before we headed down there, I called ahead to ask if there would be any issues with a party of 9, which is just my husband and I, our kids, and their significant others. I could not get a hold of a live person, as the phone reservation inquiry is on a loop and directs you to make the reservation online. As it was only a few hours before we expected to go, I filled it out the online form, but figured we may just have to wait a little bit once we were at the restaurant. I mean, it was a Tuesday at 5:30, on Convoy, shouldn't be a huge issue, right? Wrong. My husband and I arrived first and I went inside to inquire about the wait for a party of 9. The man at the front desk told me he could not seat us. I saw 3-4 open tables and thought I'd help him think outside the box a little. I asked if we could sit at 2 tables. Again, I got a very flat, no. Me: "You mean that I have 9 people here at the restaurant for my birthday, and you are telling me you won't seat us?" Him: "No, we cannot accommodate your party. You should have made reservations a week ago."Now I've been to a lot of restaurants in San Diego for my birthday, and friends, this was a first. We live in a tourist town and I have never had a problem getting a table, even at restaurants down at the beach, during prime tourist season!Thanks to Google, Yelp, and others, I was able to make a mad search to find a replacement birthday dinner location. Thankfully, STP came in clutch with a happy staff, that quickly made room for the cash paying birthday girl!I will never return to the elitist Common Theory again.

Great spot with something for everyone! They always have a good variety if local beers (and craft kombucha), have a nice menu with some vegetarian options, and a cool "speakeasy" type cocktail bar tucked away in the back! Always a great spot to meet friends for a drink or bite after work!

They do have a happy hour!! Woot woottt. There's plenty of parking in this plaza and plenty of stuff to do after you drink. They have two bar areas and play some good music!! They also have an outdoor patio if you prefer to be outside. Our bartender was very attentive! They have a variety of beer ranging from stout to cali creamings to hard seltzer. If you also want some hard liquor they have it as well. The ramen across the street is a good way to Dinah the day off. Will be back!! Beer range from 7.50-10.00

This is a pretty central location off Convoy St which makes it a good meeting spot, not to mention that it has plenty of space with both indoor and outdoor seating. There is a parking lot that gets full fast so if you can come earlier, it's usually better. I guess I would consider it more of a gastropub with a variety of foods to match. I was fortunately there for happy hour and they have a pretty good selection. The one thing that wasn't very intuitive was the menu, navigation wasn't very intuitive once you scanned the QR code. We ordered the cheesy bacon fries, BBQ chicken flatbread and Chinese sausage flat bread and they were all pretty good. They were also having a raffle drawing for padres tickets in honor of upcoming Father's Day and our waitress entered us. I thought this was unique and pretty cool. The other cool feature is the Realm of 52 Remedies speakeasy which I will have to check out in my next trip!

First visit and I was impressed. You'll miss this place if you're not looking for it, but don't let the outside fool you - there is PLENTY of seating indoors and a cute patio on the south side.The drink menu has something for everyone and the Cool As A Cucumber was tasty, but be cautious as you will likely gulp it down!My Bulgogi Rice Bowl was absolutely delicious and the portion was so large I had leftover for lunch the next day. My cousin enjoyed her Caesar Salad and also had leftovers.Our waitress was incredible. She kept our waters full, checked on us just the right amount of times and at the right times throughout our meal. She dropped the check and let us be as we had a lot of catching up to do.I would absolutely recommend Common Theory and hope to visit again on my next SD visit.

I always forget this gem is out there!I hadn't been here in a few years and I was missing out for sure. Food was delicious. The chicken katsu was so good, the crunch of the crust was my favorite part. I didn't have one of the drinks but I did hear they were pretty good and strong lol. The service was pretty good but you could tell they were a bit short staffed. Loved the ambiance as well. I will definitely be back again!

I had a frustrating experience with this restaurant. I made a reservation, but I never received any confirmation, either by email or phone. Tried calling multiple times to get confirmation but no one has followed up with me within a week. I have never experienced this type of unprofessional customer service by a restaurant. I would never recommend Common Theory for future reservations or group dining.

Came here for a work party on a Tuesday at 5 pm, the parking lot was already packed but the inside was very spacious so it wasn't crowded and we had the whole outside deck reserved for our party of almost 20 people. Josh and another server constantly came by to check on us and were happy to answer any questions we had. For our table, we got the salt and pepper crispy chicken wings and buffalo cauliflower to share. The wings were too spicy for me but the cauliflower was nice and crispy and delicious with ranch! I also ordered the bulgogi cheesesteak with fries for myself. The roll was warm and crispy but the bulgogi was way too salty, I spent the rest of the night gulping on water.