Mariscos el Torito

Ceviche El Torito, muy recomendable @chanadrys

Todo excelentisimo tanto la comida como todo el personal

El mejor ceviche del hemisferio norte, sin lugar a dudas. Prueba el de atún, ¡Está increíble! Todo está bien servido, con precios muy razonables. Aparte hay música en vivo y un ambiente bastante agradable para disfrutar de los mariscos y una Pacífico bien helada.

I had the ceviche de camaron and it was pretty tasty. We got there during a busy hour and it took a little bit for us to sit but as we waited every waiter asked if we had been helped, which I appreciated. It’s outdoors so the heat and humidity can get pretty intense but when in Mazatlan, it’s expected. They also celebrate birthdays. They give you a shot, shake your head and sing to you while making all kinds of noise by hitting plates together.

It’s the go to place around here. Most taxi drivers recommend it (they get paid for it) and ads all over the place. But it’s worth it. Service is good and food is even better. They have a variety of molcajetes which are always delicious. Green spicy salsa and beer bucket next to you are the cherry on top.

Great ceviche!!!
This was our best part of our recent trip to Mazatlan. The fish was so fresh and barely «cooked» with the citrus. They also weren’t afraid to heat it up with their hot salsa on the side and peppers in the dish. Make sure to get the Ceviche El Torito (mixed seafood ceviche).
I’m not sure why we don’t have this level of freshness and quality in the US, but if you are ever in Mazatlan or in Cabo (there is a location their too) you have to stop in.

The fish here is amazing!
Coming from a cruise ship (no, we’re not usually cruise-​type people, but we were on a cruise), it was a bit of an adventure getting here. We walked all along the blue line since we wanted to see a bit of the city. Long after the blue line was over, we had walked through the heat, and the place was still over a mile away, we flagged down a pulmonia (their open-​air taxis) and got there in no time.
The place is pretty big and, as we had arrived for an early lunch (maybe around noon), it was pretty dead. Good for us! My Spanish is not good; besides that, I hadn’t really brushed up, as this was not a planned vacation into a Spanish-​speaking nation. The entire menu is in Spanish (as it should be; I try to avoid places that translate too much) and only one person in the whole place spoke English! Our lovely, fairly old, server Javier saved the day. He claimed to not really speak English, but his English was better than my Spanish, so we were a match made in heaven!
This place is all about the ceviche, so if you go there, don’t waste time trying to get too much that’s cooked. Jim G. and I had done a little research ahead of time, so I had a few ideas about what I wanted to order, but Javier helped us a lot. He certainly helped us to not order too much!
We ordered the mixed ceviche; I think it’s called the Ceviche El Torito. There were shrimp, octopus, abalone, and some sort of generic whitefish. The fish was incredibly fresh and oh so good! On the table are a variety of hot sauces and hot salsas (and they are seriously hot and tasty!), mayonnaise (I thought it was weird), salt, along with some packages of tostadas. We also ordered the Aguachile Camerones; Shrimp with Chile Water (some things don’t translate). Super fresh shrimp, butterflied, freshly tossed with lime juice, chile, red onion, and cucumber. The shrimp were pretty much sashimi as they arrived at the table. The ceviche was great, but the aguachile blew me away! We had been told that this was one of the best seafood places in the city, and I think we heard correct!
About halfway through our lunch, the place was pretty packed! And, good news, friends, we were the only white people there! Authenticity at its best! Javier was great, the food was outstanding, and the prices were incredibly reasonable. This was one of the highlights of the cruise!
One thing to consider, while they will accept American Dollars, the exchange rate they’ll give you is way worse than you’d get if you actually exchanged your money for pesos. Javier was super up front about this; he said that if we walked like two blocks away, we could exchange our money and end up paying less. Our bill should’ve been $ 38.00 (crazy cheap, considering we had lots of beer!), but it ended up being in the mid 50s, because of the restaurants ‘exchange charge.’ I’m pretty sure they also take credit cards.
One way or the other, if you like fresh fish, you must go here!