Kearny Mesa / Convoy · Best Wings in San Diego
Cross Street Chicken & Beer Review
Last updatedRanked #1 of 4 in Best Wings in San Diego
The best fried chicken texture in the county, wings included.
Score breakdown
- Taste95/100
- Consistency90/100
- Value84/100
- Atmosphere80/100
- Uniqueness92/100
The verdict on Cross Street Chicken & Beer
Ranked #1 of 4 — 90/100 in our Best Wings in San Diego coverage
Korean double-frying produces a crust that stays crisp under sauce for far longer than American-style wings. The soy garlic is balanced rather than sugary and the spicy carries real gochujang depth. Waits run long on weekend nights.
What to order at Cross Street Chicken & Beer
Cross Street Chicken & Beer appears on more than one of our lists, and the pick depends on which one you are reading:
- Soy garlic and spicy half-and-half — from our Best Fried Chicken in San Diego coverage
- Korean fried chicken, soy garlic — from our Best Korean BBQ in San Diego coverage
- Original soy garlic Korean fried chicken — from our Best Restaurants on Convoy Street coverage
Order half soy garlic, half spicy — the contrast is the whole point.
Is Cross Street Chicken & Beer worth the price?
Cross Street Chicken & Beer sits at $22–30 — the budget band for this category. Nothing else we ranked in this category lands in the same price bracket, so the comparison is against cheaper or pricier alternatives rather than a like-for-like rival.
Cross Street Chicken & Beer FAQ
Is Cross Street Chicken & Beer expensive?
Cross Street Chicken & Beer is priced at $22–30, which puts it in the budget band for this category. There is no other option at the exact same price point on the same list, so treat it as its own bracket.
Is Cross Street Chicken & Beer worth it?
It scores 90/100, 4 points above the 86 average for its list. That's a solid recommendation within the category.
What should I order at Cross Street Chicken & Beer?
We recommend the Soy garlic and spicy half-and-half.
What else is nearby Cross Street Chicken & Beer?
Hidden Fish (92/100 in our best sushi in san diego list) and K Sandwiches (92/100 in our best banh mi in san diego list) are also ranked in the same neighborhood, so it's easy to pair a visit.
Every list Cross Street Chicken & Beer ranks on
Cross Street Chicken & Beer shows up on 4 of our ranked lists, taking the top spot on 1 of them. Places that hold up across more than one category tend to be the safer recommendation when you are booking for a group with different tastes.
What works
- Strong taste — scored 95/100 in our ranking
- Strong uniqueness — scored 92/100 in our ranking
- Strong consistency — scored 90/100 in our ranking
- Top-1 finish out of 4 spots we scored in this category
Know before you go
- Atmosphere is the weak point — 80/100, below the rest of its scores
- Order half soy garlic, half spicy — the contrast is the whole point.
The full review
Korean double-frying produces a crust that stays crisp under sauce for far longer than American-style wings. The soy garlic is balanced rather than sugary and the spicy carries real gochujang depth. Waits run long on weekend nights.
On our weighted scale it earns 90/100 — the top score of all 4 places we evaluated for best wings in san diego. We eat at the places we rank, pay full price for what we order, and re-score when a kitchen, chef or menu changes.
What to order at Cross Street Chicken & Beer
Soy garlic and spicy half-and-half
Price: $22–30
How we scored Cross Street Chicken & Beer
Every score on this page comes from the same editorial rubric we apply to the whole category: taste, consistency, value, atmosphere, uniqueness. The criteria are weighted toward what matters most in the category, compared against every other place we ranked in the same list rather than against an abstract ideal. We eat at the places we rank, pay full price for what we order, and re-score when a kitchen, chef or menu changes. Scores are editorial judgments rather than aggregated user ratings.