Located in Little Italy, Ironside Fish & Oyster was recommended from a friend and it did not disappoint. There is nice outdoor seating while also having a fun, unique atmosphere inside. The happy hour has a good amount of choices food wise. Would definitely come again!

This was our first meal in our weekend trip to San Diego. We ordered a pasta dish, the clam chowder (so good!), and the big platter. The platter was definitely the most interesting dish of the night, because there were raw oysters from six different locations in the US and South America.

The spaghetti was perfectly tangy and the clam chowder was so creamy. I'm not sure if it was just because we were hungry, but we were definitely considering ordering seconds. The doors of the restaurant are really cool and actually open outwards! We thought that was cool. We sat outside and it was pretty warm because of the heaters, despite it being nighttime. Our waiter even turned on another heater for us.

The oysters were really fresh and tasty!! The lobster roll was good too. It's shareable among two people as the portion is pretty big.
Ambiance is unique and detailed. Service is good too.

We had an enjoyable evening sitting at the chefs counter/table at this bustling seafood restaurant in busy  Little Italy.  I was able to make a counter reservation the same day for a Thursday evening spot at 6.

Service was a bit slow, and they changed servers after we ordered drinks (and sat waiting for 20 min) but once the change was made, things seemed to go fairly smoothly.  We started with a few of the thick and meaty peel-and-eat shrimp doused in an old bay wash and served with aioli -it's nice that you can order by "the each" so you can get as many or few as you want.  No matter how many you get, they definitely "taste like more."  They are so good part of me was wishing I'd just gotten more and some grilled bread.  We also split the ho-hum house salad that was very light on the dressing.  For our main, sharing the decadent lobster roll with fries was just the ticket.  Prices seemed fairly reasonable for a place of this caliber.  With a few glasses of wine w and sharing things, before tip was only $114.

You definitely need a reservation.  We took an Uber from the hotel despite having a rental car and were glad we did as parking is super limited in the area.

Recommended

Great ambiance and service. The raw oysters were fresh.

Loved the bone barrow and bread, that was my favorite dish. Definitely would be back for the fresh oysters.

This is a fabulous seafood restaurant. Everything from the ambiance to the food, drinks, and friendly staff make this place worth a visit. I really dig their lobster roll but the seafood platters are also worth splurging on. Drinks are top notch. My favorite is their white Negroni.

If you're looking for an intimate ambiance + fresh oysters

Loved the dining space and little attention to details. Their bar has a lighting fixture which I think is inspired by octopus tentacles. There is also an artsy octopus on the ceiling- fun atmosphere to eat & also admire the space :^)

Oysters were fresh and tasty. Comes with lemon slices, vinegar, horseradish, & various hot sauces. I recommend trying two different types of oysters. You can ask the waiter to do half of each. Our whole table ordered the octopus buccatini which was delicious + the perfect portion for 1 person and to also have enough room for dessert after. Flavorful without being too salty  Also loved the design of the plates. It's little details like this that make eating out an experience in addition to the food.

Our waiter was amazing and gave us great recommendations. Genuine and attentive sum it up perfectly.

Thank you Ironside :^)

I'm reading a book set in Virginia in which people eat a lot of oysters. This inspired me to find a new spot to binge bivalves. Ironside is pretty fantastic visually. The wall of piranha is pretty rad. The "swimming" octopus is like something out of a Jules Verne novel. Really cool how there are different bars inside Ironside: oyster bar, bar bar, and breakfast bar. We ordered Virginia oysters because duh!, clam chowder, tuna melt, fish and chips, and a boilermaker with mezcal. We greatly enjoyed everything, but the server forgot the oysters! Right out of a Weird Al video. Ugghh. Outside of that, it was amazing. It was an honest mistake, so we'll go back to obtain those oysters one of these days.

One of the best seafood restaurants I've been to.  Food, service and ambience were all outstanding