Marisco’s El Veneno

Finally got to go to the famous «El Veneno» yesterday. I had heard so many things about this place that my expectations where very high. I was very very disappointed!!! The customer service is awful my server didn’t even come once to ask if we needed anything. I had to reuse the plate I was given from the complimentary tostada they had previously given me so my husband could let me try some of his food. I waited about 20 min to place another order for my daughter’s taco. We where sitting next to the register so I helped myself in getting my own to-​go containers because the waiter never came to check on us. I’m usually a very good tipper but yesterday if I could have I would have just left the place without leaving a tip but my husband said «that’s not right.» We ordered a stuffed pineapple and it had no flavor and lots and lots of cheese which took away the taste of the seafood. Not worth the waiting and the long drive I did for this.

Love it! Brought my mom here for her birthday, great service, delicious food, byob, if it wasn’t for the lack of restrooms I would give this place a 5 star rating.

Food was Delicious but that service was ahh let’s say not the best. There micheladas were delicious!!!

Yep, good food, had the crab legs, you have to ask for them because they’re not on the menu. Had the dozen oysters, but for the price I expected them to be mediocre at best, and they were just that, mediorce… they could have done a better job of cleaning them too.
We went on a Saturday, arrived around 7:30 and waited about 30 minutes for our table for 6?
No parking, street parking can be a challenge.
Prices were decent

The food is good and the portions are large. The one thing I don’t like about this place is the service. My food always comes out with a problem and it takes the waitress forever to bring us our beverages or a bucket of ice when we BYOB

Viva Cristo Rey, Viva la hipocrecia viva, viva la desigualdad con los trabajadores viva, viva la explotacion laboral viva.

Great tasting food when I first started coming here. We became regulars and most of the times out visits were pleasant. Long lines on weekends and during lent. Byob a huge plus both locations on south side pretty roomy. Love the rotating table. Lately the flavor of the food hasn’t been the same. The amount given has also been reduced. One of the last times there my husband ordered the langostinos which are market price and at the time were $ 25. So not worth it they served him like 8 which are cut in half already so technically 4 pcs. I got the piña rellena (stuffed pineapple). Half full of cheese just a few shrimps and the rest scallops. Not worth my money at all. The place was pretty full when we got there and it quickly emptied out. Out plates how ever took a long time. By the time we got the last plate some of us were already done eating. Good at first and then the quality of the food and service deteriorated. Only get 3 stars due to taste!

Delicious! BYOB and the best seafood you can find in Chicago. Can’t beat the prices. You HAVE to order the octopus and the mussels. It was a very long drive to get here but it was definitely worth it. I will certainly go back and let my friends know about this hidden gem in the city

This place is really good. I’ve never been disappointed or had a bad meal or bad service here. It’s BYOB, which is nice. My favorite things from here are the camarones sarandeados. The sauce is soooo good. I’ve also had cocteles and the pina rellena which were both very good. The only drawbacks are that it’s sort of small and cramped, the floor can get slippery from the ice buckets, and it can be hard to find parking.

My all time favorite restaurant! I love, love, love this place. If you love Mexican seafood, this is the place to go. The food is delicious, the portions are huge, the prices are reasonable, and its BYOB. Bring a 6-​pack of Pacificos and order some langostinos! Plus, they give you a tostada to start. they’ll prepare micheladas there for you, you bring the beer. For those who don’t drink alcohol, they have really good limeades, too. Yummm… my mouth is watering thinking about this spot.

My favorite seafood spot in da Chi! Never lets me down, always good service and its BYOB! If not bringing a drink, consider the fresh squeezed limeade for $ 5 served in a huge chalice. I recently discovered its less crowded for lunch so we decided to bring my mother-​in-​law for sunday lunch and she loved it. We didnt have to wait for a table and the food was delicious as always. She will definitely be back she says, as I did after my first visit.

Fish here is great! Is does get packed in here so you might have a wait. I can do without the mariachis coming in and playing loid ass music in my ear though. I love the huachinango al estilo nayarit!

Customer service is bad!!! Theres was only 2 tables and they took almost 15 min to notice us… plus food is ok, nothing to die for…

El Veneno gets 5 stars for the crawfish. Super good.
5 stars for featuring free BYOB (w/​ice bucket) and a free ceviche tostada.
This was my first time ever going to El Veneno, and my friend insisted we went to this Pulaski location because the Crawfish are larger than what’s usually served at the Augusta and Ashland location. Since then, two other people have shared that same sentiment with me. So it sounds like there is truth to that.
All I know is that the crawfish were beyond delicious.
Yo, it was so good that I was accidentally eating antennas. That sauce was everything.
2 stars on their prices. In my opinion, $ 100 for the jumbo crawfish plate was too high.
With that said, I will definitely be back. But not as often as I’d like to.

Seafood joints are always a scary thing to try because you don’t ever want to go anywhere disgusting. Thanks to previous reviewers I felt more comfortable eating the food here. This place is BYOB and they even bring you an ice bucket… if you asked 17 times. The food was spectacular, I tried prawns for the first time and they were delicious! We also had an array of shrimp which were amazing. Unfortunately, the service was terrible. Understandably so, it was a busy Saturday evening and our waitress was no where to be found. Not sure if they were understaffed or what the deal was but I’ve heard this place is always busy so I assumed the staff was aware of that as well. To me, the staff should be quick and aware of their many guests, clearing out empty dishes, asking if we want/​need anything… instead we waited for too long for an ice bucket, too long for napkins, too long for our food, etc. I’m going to stick to ⁴⁄₅ stars because of the service, but the food. THE FOOD! It was all excellent. Maybe it was a bad day for the staff so I’ll let it slide. But don’t be deterred, the food will leave you thoroughly satisfied.

Great place to hang out with friends. Their specialty is Langostinos Nayarit style. They are big prawns butterflied in shell and sautéed in their special buttery spicy sauce. A bonus is its BYOB, they have a limit of three beers per person. The only drawback is they have live music and they are super LOUD, it’s very hard to have a conversation.

Went on Sunday, waited for someone to seat us, turns out a security guard has to take down ur name and then seat you. We waited about 30 minutes for a table, ordered our food, had to wait about an HOUR for the food, all I got was a fried fish which was pretty burned, not seasoned, & SOAKED in oil, my husband got a half a tray of shrimp. The half tray turned out to be only 8 shrimp for about $ 23!!! Which is way too much for only 8 shrimp and there was a piece of plastic mixed in. Then when the waitress came around, we got the bill 15 minutes AFTER we asked for it and to pay we had to wait in line for another 10 minutes! And let’s not even talk about how dirty the place was, garbage on the floors, ketchup on the walls, and no one even cleaning it… Never again!!!

I went to El Veneno for the first time on a Friday night with a group of 8. We were seated fairly quickly and were offered a ceviche tostada on the house which was really good. I wish the waitress had told us the HUGE portions that are served so that we wouldn’t have ordered so much food. My husband had the huachinango sarandeado which could have easily fed 3 people. It had good flavor but I liked the camarones sarandeados the best. It came with a side of salad and fries. I wasn’t too fond about their fries since they seemed overcooked. I also tasted the camarones huicholes which come in a red sauce and they were really good as well. We brought our own liquor and spiked the lemonade that they sell which was huge as well. It was a good meal and we never felt rushed to leave especially since we were the last ones there. Overall it was a good place to go for a casual night out. The noise level was decent and we were able to hold a good conversation. You will find people coming from time to time offering to sell CDs, movies, flowers, etc… but once you say no they leave.
One last thing, don’t let the name fool you. Veneno means poison, but thankfully we were all ok after eating their food :)

Garbage service. After running up over $ 300 bill for 6of us, we were asked to leave so that they could finish sweeping our area and they can be able to leave at the end of the night.

Raw oyster, Garlic oysters great. Oysters Rellano? I’m not sure how this is Nayarit style, plenty of uncleaned shrimp, octopus, not cool with the surimi imitation crab, not cool with the restaurant depot mozzarella loaded on top and really no flavor. The white mushrooms stuffed inside, threw off the theme. The salsa is really yummy venom, don’t mess with it unless you like it hot, but the tostadas are STALE. Byob and tortilla chips too. The ceviche they greet you with is phenomenal, the best around but again, how are you a Mexican restaurant and mess up your tostadas?
Service was friendly, clean place. Fun, mariachis great. Not truly pacific authentic but awesome.

How could this place only have 1 review? I get it, the other location is probably more popular, I mean, it was the original location and is only 3 blocks away, but this location is just as good. And less noisy.
To get you started, you are served a complimentary glass of water and a tostada de ceviche. (awesome!) The restaurant is BYOB. (double awesome!)
My favorite dish is the camarones diablos, or something like that. (Triple awesome!) It’s peeled shrimp in a thick, spicy red sauce (awesome x4) served with fries and rice and garlic bread. (garlic bread– YUM! Awesome x 5!)
And that explains the 5 star review.