Public House 131: a neighborhood gathering place
By Debbie L. Sklar
When Bob Adamson opened Public House 131 in Scripps Ranch in 2018, he wasn’t looking to build a restaurant far from home. He wanted to create a neighborhood restaurant he could walk into without a long commute.
Adamson has lived in Scripps Ranch for 28 years, about two miles from the restaurant. Before opening Public House 131, he owned a brewery and several other restaurants, but the opportunity to open a business in his own neighborhood appealed to him.
“I thought I would love to own a restaurant in this neighborhood and not have a commute,” Adamson said.
Today, Public House 131 occupies a space that previously housed PizzaRev. Over the years, Adamson gradually sold his other businesses, and by 2022, Public House 131 had become his only restaurant.
The name combines the traditional term “public house,” often used for a pub, with 92131, a reference to the ZIP Code of the restaurant and the community.
Adamson described Public House 131 as a gastropub, with an emphasis on scratch-made food, craft drinks and locally sourced ingredients.
“We have a chef, not just a bunch of line cooks,” he said.
Rather than relying on frozen or prepared foods, the kitchen makes its dishes from scratch. The restaurant also features local craft beers, with Coors Light as the exception, and a cocktail menu largely designed in-house.
Public House 131 serves lunch and dinner Mondays through Fridays. On Saturdays and Sundays, the restaurant opens at about 10 a.m. for brunch.
The burger is consistently the restaurant’s top-selling item, Adamson said. Among the dinner entrees, the chicken schnitzel is another longtime favorite.
But the food is only part of what Adamson considers the restaurant’s identity.
Public House 131 has developed a strong base of neighborhood customers, with Adamson estimating that about half of the restaurant’s sales come from regulars.
“I love just being a part of it,” he said. “I love that I know most people that come in, that are our customers.”
That neighborhood connection also helped the restaurant through one of the most difficult periods in the restaurant industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented major challenges for Public House 131, as it did for restaurants throughout San Diego. Adamson said support from customers and suppliers helped the business survive.
He also saw a dramatic change in the restaurant industry after the pandemic, as many establishments that had closed did not reopen. For the restaurants that remained, he said, business increased significantly.
Public House 131 has continued to benefit from that shift.
“Business is insane,” Adamson said. “Not much has changed for the last few years.”
Adamson grew up in Orange County and attended California State University, Fullerton, where he earned a business degree. He moved to San Diego after college and has now spent about 35 years in the area.
Although he enjoys the restaurant business, Adamson said Public House 131 will likely be his final restaurant venture.
For now, his focus remains on the Scripps Ranch restaurant and the community that has supported it since 2018.
“I just love my neighborhood, the closeness of the community,” Adamson said. “I’ve liked Scripps Ranch since the day I moved here.”
Public House 131
10393 Spring Canyon Road, Suite B
(858) 537-0890
