Cowboy Beer Restaurant

Interesting. Let’s get most of the negatives out of the way up front. The décor is hideous. The food is overpriced. The poor ventilation made it a bit uncomfortable by the end of our meal even on a crisp San Diego autumn night.
But taste is king and the food tasted pretty darn good. Our server, Shirley, was a sweetheart. She was very attentive, constantly checking in on us. We never had to use the call button. She also provided us with some good recommendations which was fantastic because as well-​versed as I am in most Chinese styles I don’t know jack about Taiwanese drinking food. My Taiwanese friend was absolutely no help because he’s clueless. And the only items on the menu our two white boy friends recognized were Ballast Point and Pacifico.
We ended up ordering boiled fish in hot sauce, sizzling beef, three cup chicken, water spinach, and fried stinky tofu. All solid. The three cup chicken was the best tasting dish of the night. Loved the garlic cloves and sweet soy sauce. Out of all the dishes, the three cup chicken made me feel like I was eating a home-​cooked meal the most. The only problem was that the chicken came with small bones. I’m used to carefully eating around tiny bones at home but I don’t want to deal with them when I’m eating out.
There was Sculpin IPA and Pacifico on tap that night. You also get 5% of your bill if you pay using cash.

I want to clarify that this place DOES NOT have the best chinese/​taiwanese food in San diego, theres nothing special about this place besides the odd theme that just doesn’t make sense and the food was bit pricey.
I didn’t understand their theme at all, it was like a mixed of taco shops with some mismatched dining tables and chairs, with windows blocked by some plywood with golf balls on it and some random flags on the ceiling. I also thought their uniforms wasn’t very appropriate, a couple of these girls had their behind showing almost.
I though the food was okay, it wasn’t spectacular, the only item that was worth trying was the 3 cup chicken, other than that, you can find a lot better food around here.
On a good note, they do open til 2 am and they do have beer on the tap.

Cowboy Beer Restaurant is a small and unique restaurant with the BEST CHINESE/​TAIWANESE FOOD IN SD! I really recommend the Kun Pao Chicken and Taiwanese Fried Rice Noodle.
PS: You get 5% off if you pay cash.

The restaurant maybe is unusual to a San Diego local, but it’s rather familiar to LA folks who have been to Taiwanese pub style restaurants. It serves tapas-​style dishes, entrees, and beer. This particular one also has Szechuan-​ish style entrée dishes in addition.
A service button on the table!
FYI: Taiwanese satay is different from Southeast Asian satay you’d find in Malaysian, Singaporean, Indonesian, Thai dishes, etc.
You get 10% off if you pay cash!
Watermelon juice sans sugar: really good.
Papaya milk: very creamy, almost a «fluffy» texture, you can taste the papaya and it’s not too sweet.
Oh good, they served the food as they are off the stove!
1. Beef and Lamb skewers: Both skewers have pepper seasoning sprinkled. The beef has a sweet marinade, while the lamb have an cumin-​based herb — which reminds me of Beijing-​style lamb skewers. Both really tasty, although I had a piece of lamb fat and that was not palatable.
2. FRIED Stinky tofu (on the app section): this comes with a dipping sauce and pickles. It’s actually not the stink-​iest I’ve had, then again I wouldn’t have eaten them if it was more stinky than this. Other stinky tofu dishes on the menu are more like the braised tofu style, so they are not fried like this one.
3. Taiwanese style wings: I didn’t eat it, but was told that the seasoning on the wing is a bit overwhelming if you didn’t eat more of the meat from the wing.
4. Popcorn chicken: your famous boba stop snack in restaurant form. It’s not salty, the chicken is crispy and juicy but for some reason there’s some flavor missing in this dish that I can’t quite name.
5. Grilled corn: it’s 2 full ears of corn cut into 6 smaller pieces. I don’t know why, the kernels are kind of gooey in texture, that was gross I couldn’t eat another one.
6. Oyster pancake: ok, I expected yam flour and the tangy spicy sauce in this and there was none. It was more like an oyster omelette. To be honest, it was good, the egg was fluffy, oysters tasty but it was way too salty to be eaten on its own and better with rice, and that’s easily done (their rice is free!).
Entrees
1. Fried rice noodles: has dried shrimps shiitake mushroom, julienned carrots. Hot off the wok, right amount of salt and grease, and very flavorful. If you’ve had dried seafoods (dried scallops/​shrimp, sea cucumbers, etc.), then I’d be sure you’ll like it.
2. Taiwanese fried rice: not my favorite, though it’s not too oily. I am quite picky with fried rice…
3. Satay water spinach with beef: really tasty, the beef is not overly processed with baking soda that usually reduces the beef flavor. The baking soda is a common practice in Chinese restaurants since it breaks down the protein and makes it tender.
4. 3 cup chicken: it’s always one of my favorite Taiwanese dish, and they nailed it!!! chicken thigh chops sizzling in a pot and so fragrant~~~~ @_@
5. Fish: i don’t know the name of this dish, but it reminds me a bit of the Szechuan style, bean and chili with tofu and some kind of fish filet in an oily sauce. It is soooooo good, we asked for a little spicy, but it actually came out like a 3 – 4 on the Sab-​e-​lee scale. Be careful of what you ask for!
Ambiance is definitely on the casual side, don’t get too dressy and you might come smelling like the food you just ate! Service was above average on a Wednesday night.

Went here yesterday and wasn’t too impressed. This place is so oddly decorated, and the whole them is just ridiculous.
Came in on a Friday evening around 8 and the place wasn’t that busy. Took us several minutes to get seated. We were greeted by a nice young lady and she explained to us the «button» system if we needed any service.
We ordered some food and waited. It was kinda hard to have a conversation in this place. The music is set to volume level 9 and the place is just really noisy. We ordered 3 separate entrees, and they brought them all separately. Literally 5 minutes apart, which was kinda odd. I kinda like having all my entrees all at the same time.
We ordered the following:
Kung Pao chicken: Wasn’t too bad, the chicken was cooked beautifully, but it was too sweet for me. Perhaps that’s the difference in Taiwan?
Beef Skewers: They were priced 6 at $ 10, which was a little too steep for my blood but we ordered anyways. They were cooked decently, but the taste was a little off for me. They sprinkle on some kind of chili powder that I didn’t like.
Pork Fried Rice: Was actually pretty good minus the fact they put lima beans in it. I would probably order without it next time (if I ever return).
All in all it was a decent experience. We used the button twice, and once they never came. Not sure if we were using the button correctly or not. The food was decent, the service was ok, but the prices were what got me. We paid $ 40 for 2 entrees and an appetizer.
What got me even more was the fact they charge you an extra 10% to use your credit card. What??? They got a star lowered for that. I had a slight argument with my partner about dinging them a star. But with the prices as high as they were, I don’t think they need to pass on the «credit card transaction fee» onto us.
Mind you our server barely spoke english.
Probably won’t return. Sorry Cowboy Beer!

Came here three times already, but only get to try their food once, and here is why…
After the first try, I instantly fall in love with the food here. Everything is so authentic, flavorful and I really like the ambiance here. Came with a group of six friends. We ordered the Three-​cup chicken and squid, satay water spinach with beef (沙茶空心菜牛肉), Stinky Tofu, Hakka style Pork Intestine with shredded ginger (客家薑絲大腸), bamboo shoots chicken soup and cumin lamb. I especially love the taste of their pork intestine with shredded ginger and water spinach with beef. However, I will not recommend the cumin lamb.
The second time I came, it was after not eating for the whole day, and I was super hungry. I looked up their closing time and was super excited to find out that they closed at 2am (as stated on Unilocal). Got here at1 am and they are closed already. No one was in the restaurant and the light was off. My friend and I decide to go to some other Korean restaurant instead.
So i guess the Hours listed on Unilocal are not always accurate right??? and I definitely made an mistake believing that a Taiwanese restaurant would open till that late on a weekday. Maybe I should have call them directly to check.
The third time I attempted to visit again, I called beforehand to check for their closing time. I was told that they close at 1am, and the last call for food is 12:30 am. Ok that sounds about right. Got here around 11:40 pm, and they are closed. The light was off, the door was locked, and no one was in the restaurant.
WHAT. THE. FUQ.
The food at Cowboy Beer Restaurant is pretty over-​priced even though it is tasty. I personally wouldn’t mind paying a little extra to come here when I’m having serious craving for Taiwanese 熱炒.
Will definitely come back again and update my review based on later experience if they get their shit together.

The concept is still weird to me, but the food is good. I had the twice cooked pork and the 3 cup chicken. The twice cooked pork could have been spicier and the pork a tad more crispy, but the flavor was solid. The spice level was a slow burn in my back of my throat, but nothing uncomfortable. The 3 cup chicken was sweet and savory, but tasted better the longer it sat in the soy sauce juices. Towards the end it had a lovely deep sweet flavoring that coated the chicken.
As per usual of Asian restaurants, the service wasn’t very good. But at least they have the call buttons on the tables.

I guess this for people too lazy to drive to the Convoy area? Poor value and way too expensive. The slutty outfits are a gimmick and won’t keep me coming back.
If you’re a rich Chinese UCSD student, this is place is for you.

This place is so nonsequitor I don’t really know what to thing/​say/​feel about it except that what we ordered was pretty good. My favorite thing that we ordered was the fried vermicelli noodles. It wasn’t quite as good as grandma makes it, but definitely the best I’ve had in San Diego!
I saw a lot of people eating the hot pot so I’d like to come back another time for that.
I’m not sure why everyone says its Taiwanese though because I thought that they had a lot of different types of chinese food.
The uniform of the servers is so weird though. It’s just. weird, but not soo weird that I’d not go back because I am definitely going back to try that hot pot.

Came into the restaurant greeted by two waitresses showing too much cleavage for a dinner service. The place was pretty empty with a table occupied by two other dudes. The food had great flavor but was pretty salty AND overpriced. We ordered the Tofu with Brown Sauce (I think it would’ve been more appetizing if they renamed it to gravy) and 3 Cup Squid. The tofu was lacking in ingredients for $ 10 and the squid ($ 13) only filled ¹⁄₃ of the bowl it came out with and was overcooked. :(Chinese food shouldn’t be this expensive.
Ultimately Cons:
— Dishes too salty
— Scandalous dress code
— Expensive for Chinese food
— No pictures on the menu (They really should have some since Chinese-​English translations could be a little off)

Went here last night with wife and a couple of friends. Chatting it up amongst ourselves, it took 45 minutes or so for a server go come take our order… we later realized why: There is a «CALL» button on each table you are supposed to press to let the server know when you are ready to order. Live and learn. :)
The food was really good. My two favorites were the Taiwanese Fried Rice Noodle (O1) and the Water Spinach with Fermented Bean Curd (F9). My tastebuds gave the Pork Fried Rice (N1) the bronze, but it was still very tasty (and notably the best pork fried rice I recall eating). The Taiwanese Style Salted Prawn (I7) was very good, but we had to peel each of the shrimps ourselves which was a bit of a task (yeah, I had to ask for more napkins).
To help wash things down I got a Sculpin on draft (seemed like 12oz for $ 5.50), while my wife had a bottle of Taiwan Gold Beer.
It was a Saturday night, and the servers were *literally* running around non-​stop; seems like they could have used another one; it’s amazing there weren’t any collisions.
Décor is hard to describe, but I’ll give it a shot: it looked a fraternity bought a warehouse, threw up some sports memorabilia, and invited over a sorority for a kegger during which they all drew on the walls. Then they threw some tables and chairs on the concrete floor, added in a very small bar, and opened for business. The open warehouse style of the place combined with a concrete floor made it quite loud; but not so loud that we had any trouble hearing the conversation at our table.
Price was reasonable: 4 entrees and 2 beers for $ 60 before tip.
No doubt, we’ll be back.
NOTE: THEY ARE CLOSED ON TUESDAYS
Although it says this on the Unilocal hours, I never looked there, and to my chagrin when I showed up on a Tuesday they were closed… Why would I look at the hours on Unilocal; I mean I never heard of a restaurant who is closed on Tuesday’s (Mondays, sure, and even Sundays, but this is the first restaurant I have ever heard of being closed on Tuesdays… I am really curious as to why they picked that day).

Very good food but a bit expensive.
Stinky tofu not stinky enough, but it’s pretty much the best in SD.
Sour veggie intestine (酸菜大腸) is served in quite generous portion.
3-​cup chicken (三杯貴妃雞) very tasty, albeit the meat is a bit tough.
Smooth egg shrimp (滑蛋蝦仁) as good as any I’ve had.
I like the casual atmosphere and dedicated parking (hate going to restaurant and can’t find parking).

After living in Taiwan for a couple of years I was missing their version of a bar/​izakaya scene.
Lo and behold, just a couple streets away from me is Cowboy Beer Restaurant.
I’ve been going here for a couple of months now, bringing new friends each and every time I go. Here’s my critically acclaimed review of this establishment…
Service: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
The service was outstanding. Every time I’ve gone in, I’m greeted at the door and get to choose my table. The waitresses are always cheerful and willing to suggest good food. I’ve not have a bag experience here.
Food and drinks: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
The food is beer food and it’s amazingly authentic. They’ve managed to recreate one of Taiwan’s most infamous 小吃 (snacks)臭豆腐(stinky tofu). It’s odor and taste and pungent and a bit spicy. The texture is crisp yet the perfect firmness for this dish.
Their hot pot is also amazing. Something I’ll try again when the colder months come around the corner.
The beer selection consists of mostly lagers, but the prices for the pitchers can’t be beat.
Final thoughts:
Overall I’ve been consistently satisfied with everything about this little gem and I will be returning repeatedly bringing with me friends and a night too young to call quits.

Let’s face it, the name is weird. But the food is so good!
This is within walking distance of my house, which is now dangerous for me. A friend and I came here at her recommendation, and I must say – my expectations were well exceeded.
The décor is very interesting and eclectic. I find it hard to describe in a word, to say the least. There are drawings on the walls, inflatable beer bottle on the ceilings, animé cards all around… it is fun! They greeted us very warmly when we walked in, which is so nice!
We ordered the mapo tofu and the bamboo pork. THEY ARE SO GOOD. The portions were very large and we took more than half home (I want the leftovers now, omy). For the portion, the price is not bad at all. $ 22 pre-​tip for both dishes!
Good for groups, and perfect for sharing. I would recommend and would like to see this place break the curse of short-​lived restaurants in this location.

We stumbled into Cowboy Beer Restaurant as it’s one of the only restaurants in Clairemont that has late hours. There are definitely pros and cons to this place but I’m still giving 4 stars because the food was amazing.
Pros:
–Super Good Food (like the best Asian fare I’ve found in So. Cal thus far)
–Weird but oddly charming décor — I can’t quite find the reasoning behind pairing Flags, Animé Trading Cards, Dallas Cowboys gear and an assortment of colored golf balls on display on the back wall BUT I somehow appreciated how random it was
–Very Clean restaurant
–A huge variety of legit Asian food — mind you I’m too big a puss to try the pig intestines with pig blood or edible frog BUT I’m all for having authenticity and options.

Cons:
–For a place called cowboy BEER restaurant, the waitress knew absolutely nothing about beer. My boyfriend asked what type of beer they had on tap — lager, amber, etc — our waitress replied no — they have bottles and draft.. . They might want to educate her a little bit about the beer basics
— My friend ordered a hot plate meal which they present by bringing out a burning hot plate and then pouring the meal onto the plate. The waitress just poured the liquid on the plate and sprayed us all with burning hot oil. The guy she was working with (manager? Chef?) was clearly embarrassed and explained that she was still in training and cleaned up the oil from the table and floor. I’m super understanding of new people who are training BUT it would have been nice if they’d have sent over drinks or something to make up for getting scalded by burning oil.
Tips:
–The Kung Pao Chicken is amazing
–The Tofu /​Basil hot plate is amazing — just stay far away from the plate when they serve it
–They have a button on the table to call your server — i thought that was a cool option
— They are a little pricey but the portions are huge. When you order– keep in mind that you’ll have plenty to take home. A meal ranges from $ 9ish to $ 25ish per item.
–Rice bowls are an extra $ 1

Cowboy Beer Restaurant… I was definitely not expecting much just by the name of the place. Walking into the restaurant and seeing a whole bunch of random decorations from country flags hung on the ceiling to a Dallas Cowboy poster next to a Chargers poster… I was definitely STILL not expecting much from the place. However, don’t be entirely fooled because they serve some pretty dank Taiwanese food.
You definitely have to try the Sichuan Boiling 2 Kinds With Hot Sauce. There’s an option between chicken, fish, beef and lamb. I went with the lamb and beef and do not regret it at all. The spicy sauce goes really well with rice and there’s actually a good amount of meat. Also, must try the stinky tofu. You’ll see why when you get it.
On top of that, the service was good. The waitress was able to help us out with ordering our dishes and the food also came out incredibly fast but that was probably because we were the only ones inside at that time.
Honestly, the best part of the place was… a pitcher of Sculpin IPA for only $ 14.50! Pretty damn worth it.

This location doesn’t have the best track record for restaurant survival. When I first arrived in San Diego, it was the dearly departed Ba Ren. Then Chili Max replaced Ba Ren but kept the Sichuan-​style food. Then Chili Max decided to become Hunan-​style instead. And now Chili Max has become «Cowboy Beer.» Yes, that’s right. I’ll pause while you go, huh.
Although the waitresses weren’t wearing cowboy hats when I went, I feel confident in saying that Cowboy Beer represents a true fusion restaurant in the sense that, if I were in China, this is what I would expect to see labeled a «Western» restaurant. So it’s fusion from the other side of the much bigger pond. To start off with, the complimentary bowl of peanuts with a custom spice mix were just awesome. Additionally, the sanbei («three cup») chicken was fantastic and so much better than the version I had recently had at San Tong nearby. I was told that the restaurant had a new Taiwanese chef, and he made great use of basil, an uncommon ingredient in Chinese food, in this dish. Furthermore, the chicken was quite tender. On the other hand, the Hunanese Mao-​style pork was dry and not terribly flavorful. It’s existence on the menu is likely a holdover from this address’s previous incarnation.
Overall, the food and the very friendly cowgirl staff definitely incline me towards making return visits.
Summary: Yee-​hah.

My Rating Verdict Level
Food: Good, authentic taiwanese dishes 7
Service Fast. They have a buzzer 10
Waitress/​waiter Shy, hard to understand 5
Selection Very large menu and neat items 10
Ambience loud, the customer were chewing with their mouth open 4
Exterior Hard to find not much decorations 6
Interior weird, the theme doesn’t match the name. No A/​C. Smells like sweat 2
Average: 6.3

There is so much WTF going on in this place; it’s marvelous. It feels almost like an American themed restaurant that would be down the street from your $ 11 per night hostel in China. They really just don’t quite get it and that’s part of what makes it so fantastic. I can imagine the owner growing up in China watching bootleg John Wayne movies on VHS with a poster of a 1974 Mustang taped to the wall above his bed.
Enough about the décor…
No, more about the décor! It’s a random mixture of Mexican beer signs, Dallas Cowboy paraphernalia, playing cards (yes, playing cards randomly taped to the walls), ropes, cow skulls, and international flags. The waitresses have cowboy hats, but sadly were not wearing them when we were there. They are hot and wear incredibly short skirts though, so that’s a plus.
The food…
Seeing as roughly half the menu made my stomach turn to think about eating I’m assuming this place is super authentic. No fried egg rolls and fortune cookies here. You’ll find a splendid assortment of «edible frog», «duck tongue», «pig intestine with pig blood», and «stinky tofu».
About that stinky tofu. It stinks. Don’t let them convince you otherwise. It really, really, really stinks. No, seriously. It really stinks. It’s horrible. Like, a comically bad smell. It made a table of 8 of us all gag. I mean, it burns your nose and works it’s way into your sinuses. And not a burn like «Oh wow, that’s really spicy gumbo» burn. This was different. The smell had character. It was almost insidious. I honestly gagged just talking about it this morning with a coworker who joined us last night. Then we tried to eat the stinky tofu. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Only one person was able to keep it down. Maybe eating squishy cubes that smell like a high school wrestler from Calcutta’s gym bag after it sat outside through the entire rainy season is your thing, but it wasn’t ours. Pass.
Other than that, everything was tip top. The fried, powder, salt whatever chicken was really good. I’m told the edible frog was imminently edible as well. The banana toffee what have you was delicious.
Here’s a tip… everyone in your party doesn’t need to order. The portions are big and made for sharing. Place an order for every 2 – 3 people you have eating with you.
Anyways, I’ll be back.

Cowboy hats on waiters, «Cowgirl Up» signs, western-​themed furniture, and they serve… Chinese food! Awesomeness all around. The name puzzles, but the food is legit and delicious.
Large menu with many offerings, and they also have an «American menu» if you’re into that kind of thing. We weren’t. No fork either, thanks.
Restaurant full of Asian men, so you know you’re on the right track when it comes to dining at an Asian restaurant.
Delicious salt and pepper shrimp, spicy eggplant, duck cooked in beer, and chicken hot pot. I’ll be back!