A very nice and unique place, probably the only bar and eatery that I have ever been to that is actually on a pier (above the water)! Nice hidden gem in San Diego on Shelter Island! They seem to specialize mostly in craft beers (which they rotate a lot), as well as hot dogs/sausages. The seating is mostly outdoors and is great for people watching, plus you get a nice view of the water. Cheers!

Do yourself a favor and come to this place. Small location with predominantly outdoor seating specializing in sausages and beers. Amazing view of the pier and for people watching.

Chill little spot on a small pier, swell place to enjoy a sausage (tip: the hotdogs are much smaller) and a beer. Nice staff who lets you sample the beers if youre undecided! Can get very windy though.

Great view, amazing dogs! The beers and pretzels are pretty good too. Social distancing is far beyond the recommended 6 feet which is great. The staff are very helpful and friendly.

Loved it! Right out on a little fishing pier. Big parking lot right along the water. Very dog friendly restaurant and employees, which was really nice. Great food and large local beer and cider selection. Not too crowded on a Friday afternoon.

Very cool place with delicious beers. My favorite its the chai cider (its not a beer but its delicious). The bratwurst is much better with onions than with red cabbage, and you can also order a combination of the two. The setting is great, you sit outdoor in the pier. Although it can be crowded, so you might have to wait a little bit. Its just a classic cool place.

Welcome stop w interesting selection of special beer on tap w boat dock

Great location on the pier. While we were there we witnessed a boy catch his first ever fish and a lady catch a ray. Lots of folks there catching their dinner. And after a morning of fishing step over to Fathom. There were a dozen craft beers on tap. They make their own sausages and we had delicious bierwurst and spicy Italian versions. The Buddhist came with a stewed red cabbage with clove accents and the Italian had a thick homemade marinara. We also had a bacon wrapped Baja Dog with a jalapeno Pico De Gallo. The owner and staff were very open and friendly. The view and the food were well worth the drive.

Decent place for a bite, beer, and people watch on Shelter Island Pier. They offered a Sunday Brunch menu but we waited until 12:45pm for Lunch. Had the Baja hot dog, burger, Societe the Pupil IPA and Newtown Apple Cider. Order at the counter and delivered to our table. Sure, you pay for the location so dont expect cheep. $6 dog, $11 burger, cant remember the beer prices. Convenient and satisfied.

We finally made it to Fathom hoping to get some sausages...but there are no sausages on the weekend brunch menu. But I gotta say, the burgers are delish! Oddly, they use a bun that works more with a sausage, but it turned out to be fine with the generous burger patty. And I finally got to try Pliney the Elder...yum!

The best hot Italian sausage in town and the Pliney excellent as always!

Great beer, and the Greek dog has taziki sauce. Get your favorite draft beer and relax in the sun.

Has a killer beer selection, and one of the best thing I have ever eaten, Chicken pot pie sausage!!

Great food! Busy but fast so it really didnt matter.Had Sunday Brunch with some friends and it was perfect. Not much seating tho.

Great fresh made sausages, dogs, and craft beers!!! Go for the nut brown ale. The Baja is delish AND you get served by the coolest pirate. DOG FRIENDLY!!! Not a ton of seating right on the pier but plenty of beautiful spots to chill and eat a dog all around.

Great place, end of Shelter Island pier! Great staff many microbrews to chose from. Good food! Happy place. You should definitely give it a try!

Kids just started fishing and bought bait and a knife spent $12 that is pretty inexpensive. Kids had fun

Excellent place! The drinks are wonderful and food is exquisite. Try this wonderfully unique San Diego dining experience. 😉😉Plan on outdoor dining. Youll love it.

If you doing know about this place you beef to go. They have a craft brewery list that changes constantly, but with a few strongholds. Their food is delicious and prefect for a bar/pier. The view is awesome and theres a constant amount of people always fishing, which gives you a source of entertainment. Check it out!

Great place to check out boats and scenic views of the city

A “shack” on a small pier, calling itself a Bistro, and serving homemade sausages?? A wild combination and concept but it all makes sense when you visit! Solid list of rotating local craft beers, delicious food, and a no-nonsense salty yet friendly staff.

Been coming here for years. One of the nicest places to take a friend and enjoy the views, great beer, and tasty casual food. The beer list is outstanding, fresh, and always has a good variety. Nice people working there are the icing on the cake!

Are you looking for white tablecloths and silverware? This is not your place. But if you are looking for a friendly place to enjoy a beer while watching the bay, this is yourlumping. And, if you are not an IPA lover, they have quite a selection of brews on tap that dont taste like theyve been strained through dirty sweatsocks! 😉 The sausage are delish- not sure whether they have poorly behaved children in them or not (not really, but you should read their sign) as are the burgers and chicken lumpia.

My personal favorite place in San Diego to enjoy a beer.Great service, great beer selection that rotates often so you get to try different styles and different breweries (not just IPAs).But the views of the ships going by, from kayaks to aircraft carriers, is priceless.Oh, and ignore stupid reviews like the one attached....

Great place, food is good and on the pier

Great little bait shop and restaurant with and awesome beer list!! Big stouts and porters to sours and ipas...

If you like beer and sausage, this is a must stop. First off, the location is awesome. Its a tiny place on a fishing pier with a killer beer list and house made sausage. Its not very big with a few tables inside and a couple more outside, but what an atmosphere. I had a spicy Italian sausage when I was there and it was pretty good. If youre a beer nerd, you wont find a cooler place to have a good beer.

Awesome place to relax and have a fishing day with your family or pets. Fathom Bistro is perfect if you wanna get a quick bite to eat while waiting patiently for a fish to bite your line. You can get good eats and some brewsky if you choose...its all good...bring a light jacket in case you get some cool breezes from the ocean.

My husband loved his burger. Beers were good and lumpia was amazing. I got a bierwerst sandwich and was disappointed. It was very dry and overly beer flavored. I still want my sausage to taste like pork. You cant go wrong with the location however.

Another beautiful fun filled day, spending the later part of the afternoon on a pier over the San Diego Bay waters while enjoying a fresh, cold pint at Fathom, way, way awesome indeed!

Delicious and different food, certainly to not disappoint. This is definitely a return to spot. The owner and staff were super friendly, the 24 hour drunken fruit bowl started the day off right, along with the view of the water, downtown, yachts and snow covered mountain a far from a recent storm we had. LOVE THIS PLACE

One of my favorite places to take people in from out of town. Great beers. Even better service.

My first thought when my husband said we were going to try a new place and we pulled up to Fathom, I had second thoughts and really did not want to look at the menu. I learned very quickly not to judge a book by its cover! Its amazing!!My husband orders the Fuego Dog (Bacon wrapped Vienna Beef Dog, with Pepper Jack Cheese, Jalapenos, Serranos, Fathom’s Chile Death Sauce & Mustard). I ordered a Wedge Salad and a Fathom Burger. We shared the Chicken Lumpia and ended up getting a second order, as they were so good!The place is small, the food and drink selection is fantastic. The view is awesome and its fun to watch other fish off the pier. On Sundays you can meet their friendly Pirate Kevin! He is a blast to talk to and a welcoming host.

There were very nice people working there. Great food and drinks as well.

Love this spot. Wonderful food, lots of beer choices, and stunning view.

Great spot for drinks, weekend island brunch or daily fresh made sausages. Right on the water with a rotating tap list, check it out!

The burger was delicious! The mimosa was, too! Staff was great. Definitely recommend checking out.

The absolute best hidden gem in San Diego, come have a pliny and Loco Moco for lunch on a Sunday

A great selection of sausages and beers! Try the chicken pot pie.

Thanks for nothing. Waiting in que for 25 min(and thinking hell, it must be great) waiting for my food other 10 min. All okay - for good food. But what I received was a one-side burned and other-side cold small thing for 10 dollars. (Picture) This was the worst food I had in the USA so far.

Small but good menu good selection of beer nice to go to when its nice outside

Good beer selection, great location and the food is good.

Fuego dog was great! Very tasty! Also had a very wide selection of taps. Clean place that’s quaint and homely.

Wonderful everything! Perfect Saturday. Unbelievable amount of edamame in perfect seasoning. Killer view, folks and atmosphere. Pleaae do it.

Best comfort food in town! Everytime we take our yacht out we stop here! Cheers!

It was very good. Burger and some chicken things along with a dark brown beer, view and a sunset.

Good beer. Good hot dogs

Great service, and a huge selection of crafted beer, my favorite food here is the blue cheese vegi burger, and a killer view to boot

With Daniel & Sebastian best food & Drinks

Always a favorite! The views are hard to beat and employees are great. Add that to a solid selection of craft beer and yummy food, and these guys are one of my favorites.

Cool vibes here. Great lumpish!

Wonderful staff and beer selection. Lovely experience.

Good food and friendly staff

Great shop and the fishing at that pier is great!

Great quirky atmosphere. Delicious sausages and good craft beer selection

The staff is so nice, and the food is wonderful.

Great selection of tap, friendly staff, nice place to hang out by the pier.

Friendly service, good pulled pork, great beers. Unique dock location

Nice little spot to have a beer! Lots of parking, near the water, and lots of Jaques Cousteauesque items used for decor!

Good for meat in cases.

My favorite place in San Diego! Great beers on draft, excellent food...and the absolute best location on Shelter Island!

Great stop! It was recommended to us a few years ago as we passed through the area. Id call it a hidden gem, as you wouldnt typically stumble upon it in the normal course of touring San Diego. Very respectable draft beer list, along with cans & bottles. Compact pub food menu, with some fun options for brunch on Sundays. Dog-friendly... need I write more?

Great food and nice place

A good hotdog.

Great experience, great owner, great food / drinks.

Burger was yummy, service was great!

Fathom is the best pier beer food spot in SD! Simple, effective and great location. A good fundamental beer tap selection and simple but tasty food menu. And the views are great and the locals are fun. Polite and attentive service all around.

Fantastic place fantastic food and drinks

Great food and and plenty of beers to choose from IPA to domestic beers

The Bristol was closed at the time. But we went out and fish The shelter island Pier. Didnt catch anything but still had a good time.

One of my very favorite restaurants in San Diego because the food is unique, fantastic, awesome, different creative, and the location is really cool, its right on the pier in beautiful gorgeous shelter island...... I always crave this place when Im away from it...... I love their amazing sauces that they put on the rice dishes.... When you go up to the counter and order your meal make sure you check out the kitchen area they have amazing selection of herbs and spices that they use on the food its very very impressive and the food is even better....... This is a quaint, cozy, spot highly highly recommend♡♡

Such a cool place... surrounded by high-end hotels, restaurants and music venues on San Diegos swanky Shelter Island, Fathom offers simple yet superb grub at absurdly low prices. Grab a beer from a solid, on-tap selection and sit on the pier while soaking in both the sun and the world-class view. Owner almost always onsite and makes everyone feel welcome. Youll love it and youll love showing your friends the chill little locals spot you discovered...

This off the beaten track eatery makes its own German style sausages, served grilled on a bun, and carries an extensive list of craft beer on tap. Overall a delightful place to have lunch or come for and evening stroll, stay for dinner and spend a cool evening by the water.

Always a colorful and entertaining experience. A variety of exotic sausages to delight the carnivores and repel the rest of us. But the generous and ever changing craft beer menu makes it all worthwhile. While you are at it, bring a fishing pole and try to catch fish for dinner. I think it helps if you are Vietnamese, fish seem to volunteer to go home with them.

Friends in Maine (of all places!) recommended this place. It is fantastic! It isnt fancy but the food is incredibly tasty. They have a nice beer selection to go along with it. You can sit outside and watch the bay in action while you enjoy your meal.

Nice place to fish but it was dead that day

Not what I expected for what we paid for.

Food is excellent. Fire the pirate though. Not a pleasant intro to the experience.

Had a great burger!

It was closed probably due to pandemic. It appears a bit trashy. We used to operate the same shop under the name Sharkeys.

Great little place. Sat outside and enjoyed an incredible sandwich of pulled pork topped w/kimchi. Big local beer menu too

Good spot for pier fishing.

You’d think San Diego would have more on-the-water dining options. Glad to have this place around. Great tap selection and surprisingly good food. Can be a little crowded on weekends and space is limited, but it’s always been worth the wait. Stunning views and fresh ocean air.

Great location

Very tasty. I had a cousin come into town and she asked me to go back here. The bill was appropriate for the quality. Feeling here is like a restaurant in Fort Worth I liked.

The finest of offerings in an out of the way place on a fishing pier in the midst of Shelter Island. Great food...in an excellent maritime theme. If your timing is right, you may be able to happen upon some Russian River Pliny the Elder.

We love this place. Great beer, amazing location. Very low-key spot with good music and nice views.

Sausages and craft beer - on a pier. Sounds like a song. But its the best! Indoor and outdoor seating - dog friendly.

Best staff ever!!

Good food and drink. And a real pirate.

Great beer list and atmosphere! Didn’t try the food yet but they grind the meat for their sausages themself and their prices are great! Friendly service.

Very small bistro with very big beers. ♡♡♡ Had a PLINY!!

Very cool place with really good selection of craft beers and very tasty pub food. Right on a small pier on Shelter Island, can sit inside or outside, or even take out (food). The food is very well made and delicious. Make their own sausages which are terrific!! Very friendly folks who work here as well.

Great place. Love the pirate

One of the best kept secrets in San Diego. Amazing selection of beer. The sausages are to die for. My favorite one so far is the chicken pot pie sausage. Go in and see for yourself!!!

Late night visit during a short trip to San Diego. A rather solid selection of beers, minimal wine options, and a short menu. However, the food was enjoyed by all, and the atmosphere on the water did its part. I had the spicy Italian sausage roll which was excellent. The kitchen was seemingly tight quarters and as such, staff by what appeared to be the absolute minimum. The orders took a bit to get out, but the establishment itself recognizes this as they have a sign explicitly addressing their speed. Overall, I would undoubtedly recommend though not if you were on a quick timeline.

Best of everything! Food, service and atmosphere! Homemade chicken basil, pesto sausage for me was the best I’ve ever had. Sea Hunt video playing while listening to great music. Beers are top rated. They will give you samples to make sure you like it. So skip the fancy restaurants and go there. Open @3:00PM.

This is a great little unassuming Shack with tasty sausages and many craft beer options. There are limited food choices Beyond sausages and beer, but its the perfect spot to sit and relax for a bit on the pier. There are many parking lots along Shelter Island Drive, so that should not be a problem.

Take some time for a trip out here. The perfect place to sit on the pier with a pint of Pliny in hand and watch the boats come in and out. Good food too.

This place is a best kept secret in San Diego. On the water, craft beers that constantly rotate, hand made sausages, awesome staff, and great conversation inside and out. Hours vary depending on the customers:)