Soda & Swine’s second location inside Liberty Station recently opened. The new place is much larger (it occupies the former space of Roseville Cozinha) and has more parking too. The menu is the same and I really like all the natural lighting and outdoor dog-friendly patio.
There is also a pretty cool foosball table running through the middle of the restaurant, which can be reserved for larger parties.
For those unfamiliar, Soda & Swine specializes in meatballs. There are a variety of flavors or you can build-your-own. You can also choose the style it is served in, such as slider, submarine, a la carte, or with spaghetti. They also have a long list of side dishes too.
I went to check out the new location with CC for lunch.
Dirty Fries
Meatball, pork belly, mushroom gravy, jalapeno, parmesan
We started by sharing a half order of the dirty fries. The thick-cut fries were covered in gravy, and topped with pieces of meatball, crispy pork belly, jalapeno and parmesan. They also gave us two dipping sauces in case we wanted to add even more flavor.
I ended up ignoring the dipping sauces as the mushroom gravy was enough for me. I enjoyed this side. It had a good balance of protein and gravy sauce. It reminded me of poutine but without the cheese curds.
Chicken, Pesto, Mozzarella Slider
I decided to do a build-your-own meatball, which I ordered in the form of a slider. The meatball was tender and flavorful. I usually order the meatballs a la carte, so this was my first time eating it as a slider. I’m generally not a big fan of the bread part of sandwiches and I felt like the bread was drying out the slider a little too much, so I ended up ditching my bread halfway through.
Banh Mi
CC order the Banh Mi slider. While this did resemble a Bahn Mi in appearance and had all the usual fixings, I didn’t really feel like it tasted like a banh mi sandwich, especially since it included a healthy dose of red sauce (the menu lists it as sriracha aioli but when I was eating it, I vaguely remember thinking it tasted like a sweet and spicy tomato but maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention). I’ve had meatball banh mi sandwiches before, but the version here just tasted to me like a Soda & Swine meatball topped with pickled vegetables and cilantro.
Overall, we had an okay lunch experience here. I think, if you love Soda & Swine, you’ll really enjoy the newest location. The space is so much bigger and open and they did a great job designing the place. I also like the parking situation better. I’ve always liked Soda & Swine’s meatballs and some of their sides, but it’s not somewhere I crave or visit often, and I felt the same way about this newer location. I’ve heard that there are plans to expand the menu here eventually so we might be back later to check that out.
Menu:
Soda & Swine
2750 Dewey Rd
Ste 104
San Diego, CA 92106
https://sodaandswine.com/
I was down at Liberty Station for a work dinner and we walked by the new location the day before they opened. Otherwise, we definitely would have popped in! I agree that I don’t necessarily crave their food, but I’m glad they’ve opened in a spot with more parking!
i’m glad they opened a spot with more parking too!
As always, I had a great time catching up with you at lunch!
The sauce on the banh mi did look like marinara but it was Sriracha aioli.
hmm, i was wondering about the sauce. i read in the description sriracha aioli but i remember when I tasted it, it seemed more like tomato based flavor. it was definitely fun to hang out with you!