Mariscos El Pulpo

We came in for a Sunday lunch and had some of the best tacos ever. At our table, we tried the Ensenada style shrimp and fish, the grilled fish, lobster, pulpo enchilado, and grilled shrimp taco, served with a side of sliced avocado and guacamole. They bring the tacos out with a crema sauce and tomatillo salsa that are very tasty. Along with some dos Equis and lime, the lunch was spectacular! After our meal, we split the churros, which were also extremely tasty. I definitely recommend if you’re looking for some authentically delicious Mexican seafood.

From outside you’d think this is another tourist trap restaurant in the gas lamp area. However upon coming in and ordering that is far from the truth.
I was rather hungry so I ordered a fish burrito and someone else in our group ordered their fish special plate. The burrito used a great tortilla and the contents were well portioned so there was plenty of fish. The fish special had well cooked fish and good flavor.
It’s a great value and quality place for it’s location. Would come and dine here again!

Showed up and quickly requested 6 margaritas for my friends and I. Gave him my card and asked him to close me out. Everywhere on all the signs and menus it says $ 9 for margaritas. When I got the bill 2 minutes later for $ 10 each, I said, «hey it looks like I’ve been charged an extra dollar per drink»
The waiter said «oh we raised our prices».
Then I said «it says $ 9 for margaritas EVERYWHERE».
Then the waiter said «oh you ordered a different more expensive margarita».
I said, «no I didn’t, I said 6 margaritas»
The waiter responded, «well it’s too late, they already started making it».
I was pretty upset, but later on in the dinner the waiter came up and apologized and brought be a free shot of tequila. I thought that was a great gesture and way to resolve what wasn’t a big deal but it made the difference in whether I’ll be back or not. Now I think we will!

The shrimp and chorizo tacos were the bomb. Excellent! Also really enjoy the flavor of the shrimp ceviche tostada, but the tostadas were stale. Used my tortilla chips instead. Problem solved.

Big fan of this place. Went there for taco Tuesday the other day and it was fantastic!

Not impressed; I wonder if the good reviews are from tourists?
I lived in San Diego for 40 years and miss good shrimp tacos. On a business visit, came here hoping to get some.
I ordered 2 shrimp tacos, a lobster taco, and a side of rice. The waiter brought me an empty plate; I presumed for chips, but no chips ever showed up. Not sure what that plate was for…
The shrimp tacos were on one dry, slightly cold corn tortilla each, with a tiny bit of cabbage and very pungent red onion. Although the shrimp were decent, the accompanying sauce was underwhelming.
The lobster taco had no texture and tasted only of chipotle.
They also forgot my rice.

I’m so obsessed with this place that I’m really surprised that I hadn’t written a review sooner! I like to try different places when I’m out of town; meaning, I don’t keep going to the same places over and over again so that I can try out as many places as I can. Mariscos El Pulpo, however, is my greatest exception. Each time I’m in San Diego I have to stop by for their AMAZING seafood and micheladas. If I’m lucky I will find myself devouring my favorite tacos twice in one weekend trip.
My favorites are hands down the chipotle shrimp, and the shrimp culiche tacos, the oysters and aguachiles, of course paired with a beer or chelada. I can also vow for the regular shrimp, the lobster and the chipotle octopus tacos, the seafood caldos (soups) and the ceviche. Can’t really go wrong with any of the food here. The service is also great and the ambiance is fun.
P. S. bring change for the juke box!

Very good mixture of seafood and Mexican cuisine! Very different and delicious!

Hijole… pinches mariscos deliciosos. No hablo español, pero la comida es tan autentica, que me dejó hablando español.

The green habanero hot sauce is the best thing about this place. I had the «shrimporizo» yeah you guessed it, shrimp and chorizo burrito. It was pretty good but better topped with the green sauce.

Authentic Mexcian seafood — a huge variety of mariscos, ceviche, beers, and more. Great low-​key atmostphere, air-​spray art on the walls. Make sure you bring some money for the jukebox too.

Everything was great. Went Saturday morning for ceviche and coctel de camaron. Yum. the grilled fish tacos are awesome too.
Great service too

Quede desilusionada de este lugar… la comida no fue lo que esperaba para nada, los tacos no tenían sabor, el guacamole tampoco, el ceviche de camarón, osea… en si nada :(me lo habían recomendado que estaba bueno y que los precios un poco elevados .(.eso si fue cierto) una tostada de camarón 8.00 pero pues si hubiera estado sabrosa pues vale la pena, no creo volver a visitar este lugar otra vez y se me hace increíble que tenga tan buenas reviews, lo unico positivo que encontre alli fue que el lugar esta arreglado muy bonito eso si me encanto .:)

Greatest Mariscos restaurant! Their Campechano Coctel transports me to the beaches in Mexico…

Ahh, Mexican food. Who goes to San Diego without having Mexican food? Since we were already downtown, my family decided to stop by Mariscos El Pulpo for dinner.
There wasn’t a wait at the door at all and there were plenty of tables left inside. You walk in and seat yourself so we snagged a large booth near the front door. The walls at Mariscos are painted from top to bottom with ocean life pictures like mermaids, sharks, scuba divers, and other nautical scenes. It truly is a sight to behold. They even serve their food on fish-​shaped plates. How cute is that?!
While we didn’t get our server’s name, we were immensely pleased with his help that was both quick and courteous. A plus for that!
For our food, we ordered the following: fish ceviche, house ceviche, shrimp taco, Mahi Mahi taco, Ranchero fish fillet, shrimp Ranchero, and a shrimporizo burrito. After seeing the portions sizes, we realized we should have ordered two dishes less. They were huge!
I ordered the burrito and I am not kidding when I say it is the best burrito with shrimp I have ever had. Most Mexican places only serve chicken or steak with their burritos, and this place not only serves shrimp, but great tasting shrimp at that! The burrito was filled with spicy chorizo, creamy avocado, and decadent shrimp that had a good bite to them. Tasted like heaven!
As for the ceviche, I loved the house ceviche. It came with octopus, tangy vegetables, and even two full oysters. It was my favorite when compared to the fish ceviche that had too much of a lemon tang. I didn’t try the other dishes, but my family seemed to like them a lot.
For dessert, my sister and I shared a flan that was surprisingly dense like a cheesecake. But it tasted like every flan should, even with the raspberry sauce.
Prices here are, for the most part, reasonable and you leave feeling pretty good since everything was mostly seafood and you don’t get a lot of grease. I certainly enjoyed my dinner at Mariscos and hope I can find a similar place in the Bay Area!

My favorite marisco spot. The surf and turf taco are my favorite. I’ve tried their ceviche and that was good and so was their octopus tacos. El pulpo décor is really cute under the sea theme. It’s right on market street and a must stop after partying in the gaslamp district. It stays open late and is connect to the bar next door. So you can eat and party next door of you like.

A decent spot but maybe I just don’t like the Gaslamp section of SD, it’s a tourist zone that is predictable and lacking an edge despite the many restaurants and clubs. Bro/​brah culture dominates. But for Mariscos el Pulpo, maybe I just caught them on the wrong night.
I arrived at 9:30pm on a busy night in the ‘hood and the kitchen staff was already well into close down clean-​up (the kitchen is open only until 10pm, which is often when dinner starts in NYC). I sat at the bar and service was spotty and mostly slow, but very friendly. I ordered shrimp cocktail and the cocktail sauce was very watery and they seemed to skimp on the shrimp (but not the onion). The shrimp aguachile appetizer was fine, with a nice spicy kick and a good portion, but the cucumber and shrimp combo was just okay. I probably should have chosen a tastier option like the ceviche.

Craving tacos and wanted to try out La Puerta but unfortunately it was an hour’s wait and we were starving, so we crossed the street to Mariscos El Pulpo instead. Small joint but friendly service. Also a little bit on the pricier side in terms of tacos.
I ordered the Pulpo Ajillo (sautéed octopus in a garlic and ajillo chile butter) and the Shrimporizo (sautéed shrimp and chorizo with grilled onions, cheese, avacado & chipotlé cream sauce in a flour tortilla) in the restaurant. The octopus was good, very unique. Chewy. I really liked the combo of the shrimp and chorizo. I liked it so much I decided to get a Shrimporizo burrito to go.

Excellent service, quick and tasty seafood tacos, and they had good hot sauce provided on the side!
The ambiance of this place, reminds me of an underwater sea cave! Pretty cool to be sitting in while indulging on seafood!
I got their raw oysters as the opening refresher! Yum!
I loved their octopus tacos! It was delicious. Opt for their deep fried fish tacos instead of grilled! It is tastier — especially when you add lime juice zest and hot sauce on it!
A good spot to satisfy your seafood taco craving!
Nom!

Just the absolute best margaritas n octopus tacos here… The regular octopus in garlic butter is tender n tasty. Every time I come to town, I must get my 4 tacos fill. Service is decent enough, not 100% but they don’t neglect you. This place like many others have tacos Tuesday where the price per select taco is much lower.
There’s street parking but during peak hours or weekends, just park in the mall garage and validate your ticket at a machine inside the mall. It’s a short walk.

My boyfriend and I got here at 9:30pm last night. They closed at 10 so I figured we had plenty of time. But nope. Although they allowed us to come in, they started closing up shop before we even ordered. They literally were wiping down the tables with soap and cleaning supplies and sweeping and spraying windex on the windows. I get that they close at 10. But I figured they took their last customer at 10, not had to be out of there by 10. It was actually a terrible experience thinking about it. We were rushed, the food and drinks took forever to come out, and all that cleaning madness was going on. Yes. We could have taken off and went elsewhere, but once we ordered we were committed and didn’t want to be rude and leave. :/
Anyway. The food itself was good. We got the fish tacos, and house ceviche, along with chelada and beer. Wasn’t bad at all.
I would just suggest going to this joint before 9pm or you’ll be rushed and feel weird as the workers just clean around you.

Being downtown for the afternoon, and craving some fish tacos, I ended up here. It was packed inside so I found a seat outside with a view of the busy street. I ordered their daily special number #1 with two fish tacos grilles, with a side of re-​fried beans and Mexican rice. The meal also came with a complimentary basket of corn tortilla chips and salsa (
).
The combo meal was pretty good but with a few areas that needed some improvement. The grilled tacos were well seasoned and tasted find, but the fish was a little overdone and dry. A tad less time on the grill would of been grand. Re– fried beans were okay and had a nice creamy texture with bits of pieces of tender beans, but they were quite bland on arrival, which I noted to my server. I took some salt and pepper and made them a little more palatable. The rice was alright with a mild flavor and came with some vegetables in it. It was not the traditional tomato orange Mexican rice, but it went well with the meal (
).
Overall, good grilled fish tacos, but I have had much better. Service was fine, but I do have to say I was a little offended that they made me pay for my food before it even arrived. The girl told be it was because I was sitting in patio and the door was closed at the entrance, yet the the door was wide open when I arrived and the whole time I was sitting on the patio. I think they thought I was going to eat and run, so yes, I was offended… but the review does not reflect that, but the quality of the food and its preparation.
Oh yes, they make their tortilla chips in house and they were quite good. The salsa tasted good, but did not pack much heat.

Esta muy sabroso creo que en lo personal los ceviches el agua Chile y el cóctel son de las mejores cosas para mi y miren que soy del sur de México buen ambiente creo que la mesera que me atendió muy atenta en todo momento ánimo sigan así

Pulpo Enchilado