Restaurant Veneno De Nayarit

Amazing sea food!!! Great service.

Hella crowded, nowhere to go whilst you wait.
It was a Saturday when I went by the way and it took about a good solid 50 min to get us seated. The employees are very friendly and kind. The food was good but I’ve tasted better. It took a while to be served bit I expected as much because of so many people. Although it was good it was not worth 200 $ for. It was to expensive for what t it was. I do not recommend it if you want fish food that is also affordable. Overall it was still a very nice restaurant that you should try.

This is the most amazing Mexican Seafood ever. I love the stuffed lobster and fries. Also, you can bring your own liquor which is a plus. It gets packed so you might have to wait, buts it’s worth it! Tell them the Wolf sent you!

Upon review of my credit card, I was over charged.
I really don’t like it when extra tip is added.
Lesson learned: never pay with a credit card at a place like this…
I am assuming the server added extra tip? Disrespectful considering i tipped over 20%

Delicious and BYOB
Double date, party of four, place was packed at 8:30 on a Sunday
We ordered an appetizer clams, octopus, shrimp, melted cheese, some other stuff
Entrée we shared a large platter with lobster, octopus and shrimp
Good for groups of 4 or more
Langoustines looked good, service was spotty

Came here on a Sunday afternoon and oh my goodness this place was so crowded! We had to wait for a few minutes but shortly, we were seated immediately. It’s a little cozy spot and not much room to walk around so I see they tried to utilized their space as much as possible but it’s very tight. We came in with a party of 3 and were given these complimentary chips with some sort of salsa on top of it and it was very tasty.
For our appetizer, we half a dozen oysters. It wasn’t just a regular oyster where you just had the oysters. No it had toppings with it. Packed with octopus, shrimps and a bunch of other things and it was very tasty.
For our main course, we had this huge platter that had everything! Lobsters, shrimps, crab legs omg it was huge and we clearly couldn’t finish it because it was a lot for just three people. It also came with sides too: fries and fried rice. The fried rice was surprisingly delicious. We also ordered salsa which we didn’t know we were going to get charged extra though so that was a downer. When the bill came, i knew seafood was expensive but I didn’t expect it to be that much. I mean all in all, the quality was very good so you get what you pay for. Next time though, I think we would go with a smaller platter since we are no longer noobs.

service is horrible. Overly priced. The food i I ordered did not have a price, based on other food items similar i assumed my food would be $ 30 – 40. It was $ 65. My husband ordered a soup that had too much onion. More onion than anything.

Way overrrated and overpriced for what you get. My friend and I ordered the platter of prawns, shrimp, mussels and crab legs. The whole thing was too salty, and the shrimps and prawns were not fresh— once peeled, the shrimp was mushy and fell apart instead of being whole. We basically ate only because we were starving since it took us forever to get our food. For a dingy hole in the wall kind of place, $ 120 for a platter of seafood for 2 – 3 people is definitely overpriced and NOT worth it. We basically left half the platter behind because we were tired of eating such salty food, and it wasn’t worthwhile to take it home. We thought the platter wouldn’t be more than $ 70 – 80 dollars since other items on the menu didn’t seem exorbitantly priced. Well, lesson learned: even in dingy places, ask the price when the menu lists Market Price. I don’t mind paying for good seafood, but when half the platter is not fresh and basically inedible, then I don’t enjoy it.
The waitress we had was on her first day and had no idea about anything on the menu. My friend had to ask for a clean fork twice since the ones being brought to her were dirty.
Pass.

I can’t believe I have not reviewed Restaurant Veneno de Nayarit. The seafood here in incredibly delicious and the BYOB policy can’t be beat.
We showed up last night as a party of 4 and brought a 6 pack of Pacifico. You can bring beers, wine, whatever you fancy with your seafood. Luckily, we came on a Tuesday night early but the place does fill up around prime dinner time (8pm) and definitely come early for the weekends if you have a larger group as they do not take reservations. They are also quite generous with a free tostada to start.
While the food may be a bit pricier, the servings are quite generous. I’ve been here now about 6 – 7 times and past dishes ordered include:
1.) Patas de Jaiba Estilo Nayarit — crab legs Nayarit style: Must order. Just do it. Thank me later.
2.) Huachiplancha — Red Snapper, pick your style: I’d say go with the Nayarit style again although the Garlic Sauce was also quite good. I did end up just dipping the red snapper in the Nayarit sauce because it is so tasty. Seriously, make sure you order at least 1 –2 dishes Nayarit style.
3.) Langostinos Estilo Nayarit aka Prawns Nayarit Style. The sauce again makes this and the prawns have a nice crunch to them. We got a full tray yesterday (12). They look large but this they go quickly. They are not that large after you remove the shells so if you’re looking to get full, probably not worth the order. Very tasty though.
4.) Guacamole dip: pretty standard. It could have used a bit more spice, but it was still tasty and a good portion to share.
5.) Pulpo especial: amazing and another must order. It’s a very generous serving of octopus and perfectly cooked/​tender.
Make sure to get at least 1 platter or an order of fries because they are double fried and go very well for dipping in the Nayarit sauce. Our total for ordering the first 4 items for 4 people came out to about $ 132 not including tip. Definitely worthwhile to go with a group and try many more of their dishes.

Do not go here place has horrible service and horrible food. The shrimp is not even clean. I even told them that and the respond from the waitress was that all shrimp are like that. Like really all the shrimp is not clean? Disgusting!!! Un organize place. Food is not even that great
I do not recommend this place at all
Does not even deserve a 1 star

Second time coming here. It was totally worth the wait. We ordered 4 – 6 family platter, it’s comes with little bit of everything, huge portions, and exquisite flavor.
Overall, ambience was good we got to seat in the second floor, it was too crowded in the first floor. A bit pricey but the food is so worth it!!!

I have never been big fan of seafood. I was there last week and decided to give it a try. Cashier — Jazmire was very helpful helping me with right selection. Food tasted great. Thank you Jazmire. I will be back for sure …

Seafood diet. See food diet. See seafood diet! That is exactly what happened at Restaurant Veneno De Nayarit (I dare you to say that. once).
When I walked in I felt like I hit jackpot. Don Omar blasting through the speakers, CHECK. Super tacky yet totally appropriate décor including but not limited to underwater mural and fish props, CHECK. The hot latin waitresses that make asian girls like me feel like. well, girls, CHECK. And the crowds of hispanic people that are enjoying their food, CHECKK!!!
I would recommend checking out the menu and having a few items of interest before coming because it can be a little overwhelming to choose on the spot. Many of the items are also «market price» so you should have a rough idea of your budget so you know how much room you are working with.
For roughly 200 dollars total (plus gratuity already included) we got:
— pulpo especial — GET THIS. definitely get this. Chicago is the city for New American… and octopus. They do it reeeeeal good. And should I say it? Should I dare??? This restaurant might have done octopus the best. Not only is it HUGE plate, but the octopus is so tender and covered very generously with some onion sauce. amazing.
— camarones aguachilis — raw shrimp cooked in lime juice. it was very reminiscent of southeast asian stuff. not for the faint of heart or those who can’t stomach eating raw food. it was good! the waitress kept saying it was really spicy… i didn’t notice it at all. but i will say i noticed it a day later. mhm.
— chapazon del mar — good! a mixed array of seafood in some brown sauce.
— half tray langostinos estilo nayarit — meh. I would pass on this. It wasn’t that juicy and it didn’t compare to anything else.
— fish ceviche — it was good and huge but not what i was imagining. it’s the same topping they use for the appetizer tortas they give to every customer.
— some shrimp nayarit entrée plate — we got duped into ordering this because of the language barrier. however, it was still good but definitely unnecessary given all the dishes we had.
— fries — double fried, just how i like it.
it was A LOT of food. come hungry, bring beer, and make sure you take your anti-​gout medication before you feast. jk, you shouldn’t be eating here if you are prone to gout.

Dined here for the first time tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I’ve been searching for a place that serves good and affordable seafood in Chicago, and this is definitely it. Everything was flavorful and fresh! I really enjoyed the shrimp aguachile and the pulpo (octopus) especial was probably the best I’ve had in the city! Also be sure to get a plate of fries with your meal.
I can see it being pretty expensive for a small table, but if you go with a larger group, it’s a great deal. I will be coming back as soon as I can!

LOVE it here! The shrimp (with shell) and octopus are stand outs, whole fish was excellent, and the seafood-​stuffed pineapple and crab dishes were all great (but not as good as the shrimp and octopus). The prices are reasonable for the quality and quantity, and BYOB is always clutch. Sometimes its a pain waiting for a table b/​c its a small spot, but whatever, once you’re stuffing your face with spicy shrimp you’ll get over it. Definitely a great spot to frequent and introduce to people visiting the city.

A dear friend and fellow Unilocaler Madeleine M recommended RVdN when she found out I was searching for dinner options for a pescatarian. We decided to have dinner here ourselves and had a positive experience. When we arrived, the place was packed, but I made eye contact with a waitress and she came over and gave us a 5-​minute waiting time. Within two minutes, our table was ready, menus offered, complimentary crab tostadas delivered, and drink orders taken. The tostadas were a nice touch over traditional chips and salsa, which was also offered and delivered. Made with habanero peppers, the salsa is sure to please any «chili liker.»
My friends and I ordered the Botana de Camaron al Gusto, which is a platter of shrimp, garlic bread, salad, rice, and french fries. The botana reminded me of the botanas my friends and I ordered in McAllen, Texas. One botana could feed two people, and its possible to ask for «less hot» hot Diabla sauce (I did). Butter, butter-​garlic, and their special Nayarit sauce are additional options. Madeleine ordered the shrimp in Nayarit sauce, and I took the plunge with the hot Diablo sauce. This was a great meal for $ 13+tax. A good portion of shrimp and well-​prepared accompanying sides.
Service was good, but as other Unilocalers have pointed out, I would double-​check the bill-​We had an extra Coke and 18% gratuity already tacked on to the final bill.

Very disappointed in this restaurant! NEVER PAY CASH! My friends and I came to this restaurant to have good food and drinks (BYOB). But our night ended horribly. Knowing we had a big group of people, we paid mostly in cash and two card transactions to make it easier for everyone. We gave 300+ cash, and the rest on the 2 cards. Long story short, our waiter said we didn’t give NO CASH at all and charged one of the cards with pretty much the whole bill. The waiter pocketed our money!
We were so nice our waiter, we offered them drinks and shots just so everyone could have a good night and they took it. But this is how they treat us, calling us liars at the end of night saying we never gave cash? Cops were called.
Other than our waiter, who is a liar, there was another lady who was sweeping the floor and intentionally closed the door and hit me right on my back when I was walking out! How rude!
Everything was just not right about the service here. I will never come back to encounter a horrible service ever again.

El servicio fue bastante malo, el mesero jamás se acercó para saber, si necesitabamos algo. Siempre frecuento este lugar, pero la comida hoy fue pésima.

Good, lovely ambiance but not worth the $ 170 my bill was (for two).
I will certainly go back for its great ambiance and reasonably good food.
I would avoid their platters for two and such (there was no price to it and last thing i expected was my surprise bill).
Prawns were delicious. Guacamole real good. Others (lobster, crab and such) ok.
Good, attentive service.

For the price your not gonna get a bad dish here. I order the Sope Marina something (was in under the impression that it was cold) and it was very tasty!
My wife ordered the civeche and that was 5star quality. I was jealous cause I thought mine came cold like cocktail fashion!
Either way great food atmosphere louder and got being outside cause it was a desert inside!
Wish they hired more staff and cleaned a little better but I still recommend this place to anyone!

Service slow this time
Water on recuest
El veneno is Byob
Is other room upstairs is for large partyes
We get there around 9 –15 pm Friday nigth got a table rigth away
20 Minutes See THE Menu Then THE Waiter Said Hurry Because THE Kitchen Closed IN 10 MInutes…
I see ppl still coming
My friend want a octopus in mild as ajillo salsa sm porcion
The Waiter said we just have the whole octopus not sides ok…
Firs he suggest the tray for 2 with is a huge tray w/​rice, fries, garlic bread, salad, lobster, fake crabmeat, one crab, octopus, shrimps, baby scallops, was good the price 50 something dollars
You can see the kitchen from my table
They had they own party there

Pretty dang good!!! Been about 4 times now. Pretty legit. It’s def a dive, but great food.
You know it’s good Mexican food when your table is the only table not speaking Spanish!!!
We sat upstairs since the downstairs was full. It’s like walking into someone’s house. It literally is like an upstairs apartment with folding tables n chairs with cheap plastic table clothes. If u want fine dining, go elsewhere cuz this ain’t it.
There’s no fridge or kitchen. (All food comes from downstairs) Just a cooler in the corner where they serve out the fish ceviche as a complimentary app.
BUT BEWARE of the hot sauce they give you with it!!! I LOVE spicy food but this had sooo much heat I was literally in tears n couldn’t really eat for like 15 mins cuz my mouth was on fire!!!
We also bring some plastic food prep gloves to crack the crabs with our hands! The servers totally know who we are when we bust those out! Less mess!!! Faster cracking!!!
Service is great! They work really hard lugging those big trays of heavy food up n down those stairs!!!

Whenever I would walk home from my boyfriend’s apartment, from Division along Ashland, I would walk by this place. No matter what time I walked past, it was always bustling and cheery and wonderful smelling.
Well, seven months — yes SEVEN MONTHS — later, I finally had the chance to come here. I moved away from Chicago, and THIS is what I came back to try.
Veneno de Nayarit exceeded expectations.
There is little in this world so luxurious and decadent as eating an entire animal. At Nayarit, that is pretty much the order of the day. The entrees are a full fish, cooked in the style of your choosing, with a side salad, french fries (omg delicious), and rice. It’s a little hard to tell what is going on based on the menu alone, so let me tell you what to order on a date for two:
1. A large horchata to share (or two if you don’t intend to share)
2. the Mojarra, in the Nayarit style (I am 90% sure this is Tilapia, but if it’s going to bother you if it isn’t then you should look it up)
This will be sufficient, unless you are very hungry, in which case you can order something else additional.
When the platter comes to your table, it is HUGE. A single platter takes up a full two-​person table. The fish in the Nayarit style is soaked in Nayarit sauce, which I would buy on its own. It’s a great combination of spices that is flavorful and yet somehow not too spicy (unlike the salsa that they bring you before the meal, which should carry a warning). Don’t forget to eat the fish cheek (it is fatty and delicious, sort of like pork belly), and don’t forget to flip it over and eat the other side.
They bring out a ceviche on a chip for you as an appetizer before your meal, and it is good but a little dry; the salsa, as I mentioned, is terrifyingly hot and I like spice. If you are going to eat that salsa, make sure you have horchata on hand.
When it comes down to it, though, criticisms aside, for all of this food you pay something like $ 15, and it is a TON of food, and it is very satisfying. A whole fish! Who wouldn’t be satisfied.
I also think that this is a variation on the typical Mexican restaurant. Their focus on seafood is commendable and makes everything more interesting.
***They did get our bill wrong at the end, so double check before handing over your card.
***Outdoor seating available.

This place felt like a trip to another country — I loved everything about it. This isn’t a fancy place with ambiance and white napkins. Instead you are crammed into this hole in the wall kind of place and served with plastic silverware and styrofoam plates. I will tell you too, there is a chance you are going to wait. You will wait awhile to be seated, wait awhile to have your order taken, your food brought to you and to pay your check. But you know what, the food is worth it and that’s what you expect from this kind of place.
The food was super authentic and absolutely delicious. I ordered shrimp ceviche, dungeness crab and prawns. The food came with a ceviche-​topped tostada, which had I known I probably wouldn’t have ordered a separate ceviche. However, the shrimp ceviche was amazing. It was super fresh and had plenty of shrimp. The crab and the prawns were in this amazing sauce that was so good I wanted to drink it. The portions are huge so it is likely that you could get one or two items and split them as a table. We ended up taking a small catering tray full of food home. I also had the tres leches cake for dessert, which was good but not the best I’d ever had.
Overall, it’s pricey, a pain to park, has slower service but the food blows everything that I have had like this away and I would for sure make this trip again.

This place is amazing and a hidden gem I’m hesitant to write about because of it getting «too» popular. We were visiting my family in Chicago and had missed our train, so my mom and dad took us to their favorite date stop (double date with the parents, FTW).
First, it’s BYOB. Bring your hearts desire. Regulars usually bring in their cases of beer and the owners will gladly bring you a bucket of ice for it. Then you’ve got the folks that show up with wine, which whatever, I don’t judge you.
Second, this place is always packed. I don’t know that they take reservations, but get there early.
Third. it’s on the pricier end. Do NOT let that deter you. You will get every bit you pay for not only in the amount of food, but in the quality and taste of the food and in the service.
The food is FRESH, I don’t know how they do it but it. is. so. damn. FRESH.
Moms and I decided to split the crab legs, and were unable to finish it between the two of us. It’s that good, and there is that much on the plate.
Mike got a huge fish, I honestly can’t tell you the name, but it was HUGE, like almost the size of the table huge, and also came with rice and veggie. We lived off of that for the next week (think: breakfast fish tacos, lunch fish salad and dinner fish pasta).
AYYY I cannot get over this place.

Si realmente quieren conocer el original sabor de venenos restaurant vayan al de la polaski ellos tienen el sabor original el de la ashland es franquisia osea no son originales el de la polaski tiene mejor sabor y porciones mas grandes cuando prueben ese sabor original de alejandro el dueño y su hermano amador y chuy que empaz descanse se van a chupar los dedos y nunca volveran al de la ashland ese es administrado por un mecanico jajaja que compro el nombre imaginense creen que amador el anterior dueño le iva dejar sus recetas no manchen enserio comparen y veran que no les miento su paladar y su bolsillo me lo van agrdecer recuerden venenos sea food restaurant el original y? pongan atencion y? El primero en abrirse en chicago no importa la distancia tu estomago y tu cuerpo te van a dar gracias y tu dinero vale lo que gastas jajaja me salio rima no gasten dinero en la ashland que su sabor y porciones no se comparan los originales venenos primos sin broma son los de la pulaski es una diferencia muy grande y los reto a que comparen precios y porciones no son iguales tu bolsillo lo vale maneja 15 minutos mas y veras que el ssbor no es igual añeñe sabroso… riquisimo

Camarones a la diabla. Deliciosos pero peligrosos :)