True North Tavern

We went here last night and ordered the queso dip n it was absolutely disgusting!!! We waited a while just to get some service and were given this horrible $ 8 appetizer. Tried telling our waitress that it was terrible n she just handed us our check. We decided to leave n head to cantina grill for amazing margaritas. Long story short, horrible service and even worse food. Would definitely not recommend this place unless u just want to kick back n drink a few beers.
–very disappointed San diego native

Came here with the family and we all had to leave because I was under 21? An understandable policy I suppose but it was 2 in the afternoon. A sign or something would be nice so we could have made other arrangements.

Good place to go near by home. I Will definitely come back… especially nite time. It’s more fun…

1 strip in the $ 11 buffalo chicken sandwich. Vibrant, cool place to hang out. Food was unexciting and poorly made.

Summary: mixed crowd, casual dress attire, many tv’s, full bar, bar food, a pool table, dance floor, downtown bar vibe, & no cover charge.
This place is okay, nothing special. I’ve been here many times and every time has pretty much been the same. Busy on the weekends, can be packed with standing room only depending on the night (games on tv/​events/​holiday etc), music is good when there is a dance floor, average price drinks, your typical bar food (burgers, sandwiches, chicken tenders, tater tots), mixed group of people (all ages & races), no dress code (different clothing styles from jeans and tshirt, to slacks and dresses), servers and bar tenders are average, and it’s in a good location to walk around or bar hop.
The drinks here in my opinion are too sweet, not strong at all and are pretty boring. The beer selection is okay, and what you order is what you get. I get the racer 5 ipa, one of my top beer choices. The food is real greasy and average, don’t expect greatness here. The tots are good, and you pretty much can’t go wrong in ordering them. (street corn & loaded tots are good). Nice finger food for enjoying a cold beer.
Good spot if you’re looking for the downtown vibe, no cover, and more parking options. If you want to grab a beer, hang out, and not worry about dressing up, this place is for you.

Racists. As a Mexican Tourist, i couldn’t get inside with my RadyLane Crossing Visa (RFID). It is a Federal identification for people that are not citizens. Thats a way of discriminaton… But well, i didnt dake any drama, its just sad.

If you’re looking for a clean, modern place to drink beer, eat good food, and be surrounded by TVs, come here! We are visiting San Diego and had a wonderful experience at this bar around lunchtime on a Friday. The bartender, Casey (sp?), was awesome, fun and had so many recommendations for things to do while we’re in town. We got the street corn tots which were delicious and huge. Then spicy barbecue wings and the cheddar chicken biscuit which was incredible. Definitely check out this place if you’re in the area!

Always packed, despite the 3 star review. This is a good late night bar. Period. Bartenders are on point. Drinks are strong. Crowd is (for the lost part) friendly. The place is clean, including the restrooms, and the drinks are reasonably priced. Great weekly specials.

Where do I start? I’ll start with the most important, my niece who barely looks 21, wasn’t even carded, so who knows what the ages of these people are that are dancing (grinding) and drinking. Police right outside should have been a huge red flag. We were there for a birthday celebration, never again will I ever set foot in this disgusting establishment. A man who looked to be in his 40’s-50’s, took my niece’s drink right from underneath her nose. We were a group of 16, sitting at a table, drunk people just taking our seats then try to argue with us. We lost a bracelet and cell phone and basically we can kiss that good bye, the manager, would not let me back in to search for the items. Disgusting guy grabbed one of our friends, the husband tried to confront the guy, then we were asked to leave. They did us a favor, this place is awful!

This place was okay: precursor another awkward first date… anyway the place is packed on a Friday night and super loud with televisions on every wall. The basketball games were playing & then this Japanese show where they are in a huge obstacle course & a fight. You find your own seats & then wait for a waiter to come. She was super prompt and a very sweet lady. I ordered a Mule and it was great; a tad sweeter than I enjoy I like to taste the ginger more but it’s fine. I ordered some tater tots house style with carne & my only bit of advice would be ask for the sauce on the side because they get soggy before they get here. I also ordered wings and they were fine nothing to complain about I enjoyed the sauce on the side thanks to my waitresses suggestion! Also tried this biscuit thing it was the smashbrown one it was good but the biscuit can’t hold up to the filler of the egg sauce bacon and hash brown; it fell apart halfway through but still delicious. Overall not too shabby for a hangout on the weekend or a game night. Just not my scene but it was cool to try.

I was formally apologized to. After dealing with bad patrons all day I just caught the brunt of it. I commend the apology and professionalism.

Visited San Diego last week, during the storm, and wanted to go to a place to watch the Warriors. Went to True North and it was not busy at all. Got a nice booth facing a bunch of TVs, but this place has TVs everywhere, so no matter where you sit, you will have a good view. The food was good; ordered tots, a salad, and wings, which was all shared among three people. Not sure if it was happy hour, but there was a special on beers, where some were $ 5-​$ 6. I had a milk stout based on the recommendation of our server, and it was very good. My boyfriend had a peanut butter cup beer, which he enjoyed very much, it smelled just like a peanut butter cup.
Overall, good experience. Good service, good food, good place!

I’m having a bit of an identity crisis… I normally HATE sports bars– something about going out and spending money just to stare at a TV and not talk to your friends rubs me the wrong way, but the food is SO damn good that I have to say… I’ve become a bit of a True North fan.
Of course, a group of us did wander in here hungover around the New Year– and our menu selection reflects that fact: loaded tots, grilled cheese, chicken tenders, and the jalapeño burger. No salads here. The more perky members of our group ordered bloody marys– a bit of a risk at any bar but these were quite good– made with their own bm mix. And CHEAP– I think we paid about $ 4 a bloody. The rest of the beer/​alcohol selection was pretty good, as well– everything from grapefruit sculpin (cans, not draft), pineapple cider, other local beers and specialty mixed drinks.
Service was also great– our waitress accommodated our constant water refill requests with true empathy and was great throughout the meal. The venue, being so large, also makes it easy to score a seat, unlike other bars around the area. Anyways, food, price and service was excellent on a busy new years eve day. Can’t say that I looked at a TV once or that I would come here in the evening to experience the club, but this club/​sports bar may have won over this non-​sports-​fan foodie.

I ended my beer adventure night here at True North where I donned my Warriors shirt and watched as they attempted to extend their unbeaten streak another game against the Boston Celtics. I managed to find a seat at the bar and I ordered loaded tots with avocado and a pint of Karl Strauss.
There were lots of TV’s in here as well as seating at high stools and tables. Unfortunately, not too many Warriors fans at first but I heard some of them later on as the game progressed.
The tots reminded me of the tots I had at Teeth SF in the Mission District but the formula is the same: tater tots equals magic and it’s the kid snack that never gets old.
Warriors won in OT and I left a satisfied customer probably because my basketball team won. Thanks True North Tavern for carrying the game for this out of town visiting Warriors fan.

I came here to watch the chargers game on a Sunday. Pretty good crowd and setup. They have $ 5 bloody Mary’s and you can get a carafe of sangria for $ 20, not too bad. I had a house salad and it was very good. House salads can be plane and uneventful, but this one was great! It had beet strings and other veggies on it. The balsamic dressing was bomb! Totally made the salad next level. I was very pleased that I tried it! My friend got the loaded tots and those were pretty good too. They had a good cheese sauce on top. They are very heavy so be prepared if you are having this as an app. The rest of the me I looked pretty good, so I’d be back to try something else! Good place to watch a game!

I have been in True North before. I am a fan of the atmosphere and I think its a good sports bar.
This time I ordered their mushroom biscuit slider with tater tots. B. The slider was good, but they were on biscuits and I didn’t take that into consideration when I ordered. It was too much, I really should have went with a regular bun. But I am always a fan of a good tater tot.
Service was great, and on Mondays they have trivia, it was fun!

Never had a chance to eat the food because the service was terrible… ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON!
My friends and I came in hoping to watch the Warriors game. The place had people but most of the tables were vacant. Seeing this, we looked around for a TV that wasn’t being watched and asked for one of the TV’s to be changed. The sever was immediately rude and said the one we asked about was being watched. which is fine… we then asked about the other one and she said she’d look into it. 10 minutes passed and we didn’t hear anything from her except we see her walking around. We had to hunt her down again and ask. This time she sounded annoyed and said she’d have to ask her manager, but didn’t know if he can right away since he was probably in the kitchen. We were still in a good mood so we said thanks while we went away.
During this whole, small request, we were sitting at a large table waiting. With the whole 15 minutes we were sitting, no one greeted us. We weren’t quite sure who was staff during this whole time (took us a moment to flag the aforementioned person about the TV.
While waiting and not being recognized as customers, we noticed that a part of the bar was stacked with used plates and glasses. Very unsanitary. I would of taken a photo but we were annoyed with the horrible service and left. The channel was never switched during this time.
I was looking forward to checking out their food. The menu looked awesome but the service was horrible! It wasn’t even busy! A Saturday at 2p? I’d day there were about 5 tables occupied and 8 ppl at the bar. That is nothing for this place.
Horrible. No wonder this place is at 3 stars.

Stopped by here last night for a drink and some Monday Night Football. I’ve been coming here for years but realized I never wrote a review for it.
It’s the North Park cornerstone. It’s one of the biggest bars in North Park. Back in it’s hey day the line to get in on the weekends went around the block. The music was great and it was the spot to be. I haven’t been back for the club nights in awhile because the music has changed. It’s usually a hit or miss nowadays.
Now when it comes to being a sports bar, this place is the spot to be. NFL Sundays, you can spend the whole day there. They play ALL the games. It can get pretty crowded so you want to show up early or at least by the first game of the day to grab a table or seat.
I’ve come for NBA games as well. So if there’s a game, they’ll be playing it.
The bar is huge and they have small bar in their outside patio. They have 2 pool tables inside.
I always get their famous original loaded tater tots to snack on. A good pairing to any drink really. They serve all drinks and they even serve pickle backs! (Jameson shot with a pickle juice chaser). They also have a delicious shot called the Breakfast shot.

Need a place to get a whole bunch of people together last minute? Maybe with football? Craft beer and crappy beer? Er, sorry the usual suspects: Bud, Coors, etc. Then True North will do the trick. Looking for great food, a wide variety of craft beer, and quiet atmosphere? Maybe some healthy, non fried options? Then this is not the place for you. It’s an alright place, but don’t expect to be amazed.

We came here to meet some friends on a Monday night. It seemed like an awesome place. The kitchen was closed, or I would have definitely ordered food. Instead, I enjoyed a couple craft beers. The beers I had were good and the service was great as well.
Although I can’t comment on their food– I can say that their beers were reasonably priced and it was a nice spot for us to hang out. We had a good time. If I return to San Diego in the future, I would definitely come back for a game of pool or one of their specials!

The place is clean. The food is mediocre.
I ordered crispy chicken tenders tossed in Buffalo and it came with carrots and celery. It was decent. I’ve had better. They’re a bit stingy on the carrots and celery BUT the tenders were a nice size.
The server said their big thing is tater tots. I tried them and they were not that great. They were pretty greasy and flavorless.
Our server, Cassandra, was nice. Good service no complaints there.

Food is OK, the atmosphere is nice and you can have a good time if you’re with the right crowd, I like the throwbacks they play (songs that you don’t always hear playing at other popular spots). The food really isn’t anything spectacular. I think a lot of people like the tots because it’s not that common to find tots like that at other restaurants, but they’re really heavy and pretty standard when it comes to tots. Nothing exciting or special.
BUT last time we came, there ended up being a shooting. Someone got shot in the butt. Just makes you wonder about the crowd that’s coming to True North and if it could happen again. We were lucky enough that the shooter didn’t come in the shoot up the place, I think he came to shoot a specific person, but still scary nonetheless. Can’t really be safe anywhere these days.
Come early and get a seat. Come late at night and be prepared for it to be standing room only. Also, if you get here early enough, you’ll probably miss the cover charge if that’s a concern for you.

Comida poco saludable pero sabrosa y buena bebida.
Genial por las noches para tomar unos tragos, muy buen ambiente, especialmente los martes cuando celebran el Twuesday Taco Nightmare (o algo así). Te tienes que comer 2 tacos enormes, los peores que hayas comido nunca, con una cantidad indecente de salsa hecha a base de chiles habaneros y ghost peppers en 5 minutos para que tu foto aparezca en The Wall of Flame; si no lo consigues irás al Wall of Shame. Por 1 sólo bocado que no pude terminarme, mi cara está en el Wall of Shame… Si quieres pasar un rato infernal, pero te divertirás de la leche, ¡participa!