La Jolla Mom
Karl Strauss Brewing Company This popular brewery crafts some of the most award-winning beers in the world and has eleven brewpub locations across Southern California. Their lineup of locations includes a Little Italy hot spot that offers great stouts, ales, and more along with food that’s rich enough to hold its own against the company’s 140 varieties, like duck fat pretzel bites, truffle fries, and smoked pork belly braised in — what else — beer.
Ballast Point Ballast Point started as a home brewery 25 years ago and grew into one of the best breweries in Little Italy. It now has nine locations in and outside of California. The Little Italy tasting room and restaurant is one of the brewery's main research and development sites. It has a fantastic menu with locally-sourced farm-to-table food, and offers patio seating and a private event space in the Kettle Room.
Bolt Brewery Bolt Brewery has a hip, industrial atmosphere with food to match. You can pair any of their 20 beers on tap with a pizza or bar snacks, and relax out on the patio. Wednesdays are trivia night. Not all of San Diego’s breweries are dog-friendly, but this one definitely is.