Restaurant Review: Long Story Irish Pub — Where OB and Point Loma Can Now Meet for Lunch

Long Story Irish Pub
4204 Voltaire Street
Ocean Beach – Point Loma, CA 92107
(619) 269-0690

By Wally Robertson

Normally there’s nothing new to say about the Long Story Irish Pub that hasn’t been said already. A staple of the neighborhood since opening in 2020, with favorable reviews in the San Diego Reader and elsewhere, it’s an easy favorite of locals to unwind after work for a pint with friends.

Located at the northwest corner of Catalina and Voltaire, in a large, airy space that still feels cozy, it offers some of the best “pub grub” in town when you realize the time or don’t want to bother with trying to cook when you get home.

But for many who work in the area during the day and only know of it as a view on their commute or as they make their midday way to Pop Pie Shop at its catty-corner — or 7-11, Cesarina or Don Tommy’s, as one’s time and budget allows — it’s just been a pleasant but empty Victorian storefront.

So allow me to be the first to tell you: Long Story is now available for lunch.

Making this change just a few weeks ago, Long Story opens at 11:00AM Monday through Friday, just as it does on weekends, instead of 3:45PM (their website and online listings haven’t been updated yet); and the kitchen starts serving at noon. And you’ll be happy to know you still don’t need to be three drinks in for the food to taste amazing.

Their most famous item, the Irish Eggroll — an original invention of corned beef with pureed cabbage and carrots in a large eggroll wrapper brushed with butter, basically a fried Reuben without the cheese — is the happy accident of trying to come up with an Irish taco. (You can ask, but it’s a long story.) It’s absolutely delicious and definitely more of a meal than an appetizer.

Of course there are sandwiches and burgers aplenty, with their actual Reuben just about the best — and meatiest —I’ve ever had outside of a Jewish deli. Be sure to get it, and pretty much anything else, with their “Story Sauce.” And my favorite burger is the B&B, which is a half-pounder with a blue cheese/crumbled bacon/Dijon rosemary aioli topping that you don’t know whether to eat or propose to.

(On the topic of burgers, know that all of theirs are 8-ounce, “smash” burgers — which cook faster. So if you like yours medium, ask for medium-rare.)

They also have chicken sandwiches and salads, that I’m informed by those who don’t share my preferences they approve as well. So I’ll go out on a limb and suggest you’ll agree.

But of course, no Irish pub would be worth its salt without fish and chips. Long Story’s do not disappoint. Thick segments of whole Atlantic cod fillets encased in a crisp and tasty beer batter shell that’s not bready, and keeps all the juices intact until you bite into them. Just be sure to hold them over your plate when you do, and enjoy with the house tartar sauce.

What else is there to say? The fries are amazing: proper, string-cut potatoes — not the sad, undercooked slabs that still seem to be served everywhere — and dusted with minced parsley you can actually taste. And the house mustard is whisked with Guinness, which of course makes everything better.

The staff is friendly and understanding of the time constraints of the working stiff; and the moderate-volume background music is a relaxing mix of rock classics. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard the Grateful Dead at a restaurant, until “Sugar Magnolia” drifted out of the speakers last time I was here.

I’ve written all this with a sense of worry. This has been my secret, the lucky penny I found looking for something different close enough to where I work that wasn’t the same-old, same-old. Hell, the most expensive lunch plate here costs almost the same as a fast-food chain “combo” meal. And I don’t want to have to fight a line when I get a break.

But I’d like for them to be able to continue to cater to a lunch crowd and not have to go back to opening at 3:45PM.

So, Long Story short (yeah, you knew that was coming), give ‘em a shot. Or wait until later in the day and have them serve you one or two before you try their food. Either way, you’ll be glad you did.

Sláinte!