Mariscos Ensenada

The first time i went it was good, 2 time back i ordered a campechana in a molcajete… didnt get the molcajete and there was no seafood in the canpechana just like a few shrimp floating around in a bunch of red soup. So so so so SAD!!! I sent it back paid… OVER PAID FOR SURE because we ordered just 2 cubetas (6beers) DIDNT WANT TO ARGUE WITH THE OWNER… DISSAPOINTMENT FOR SURE. I know they over charged us because they thought we were drunk from the cubetas… the food in the pictures looks NOTHING LIKE EHAT THEY BRING TO YOUR TABLE. ALSO ANOTHER ANOYING THING I PERSONALLY DIDNT LIKE WAS ALL THE LITTLE KIDS RUNNING AROUND NOT BEING SUPERVISED BY THEIR PARENTS… AND UGGGGGGGGGG!!! CRYING BABYS!!! Im trying to eat listen to music and have a good time! Not baby sit othercpeoples kids and get served EXACTLY WHAT I DIDNT ORDER!!! Their excuse for not having the molcajete was they were busy and so the just served it in a bowl and tryd to pass it off on me.

Went here for Christmas Lunch today and I am so very glad I did! I had a huge plate of spicy grilled shrimp with onions and avocado with a name I could not pronounce. (Yes I’m a gringo) The food was out of this world! So tasty! While it was spicy, it was exactly the right heat to make the dish perfect! The homemade tortilla were great and the horchata was the best I’ve had!
I’ll definitely be back to try other dishes!

Is this place really closed down?

Great shrimp enpandas, i love the filete relleno. live music is great on saturdays… Good customer service and prices are good. I recommend this place.

Worst experience ever, I can’t review their food because I never got my order. Went to lunch with 2 other people and they got their food, but I didn’t. After a while I just canceled my food and left. They didn’t even apologize for not bringing me my food. My friend got a tostada and said it was crap, it was hot. Tostada de ceviche is not supposed to be hot… gross. don’t go to this place.

This is a classic Mexican Seafood restaurant. Good food, huge screen tv’s for soccer games, and really weird murals of mermaids. What others have said is true, the servers all look like they’re from Sabado Gigante, so this place isn’t really family friendly. In fact, now that I think about it, this place is totally aimed towards men who like to drink and watch soccer. I prefer coming here for lunch and not dinner because it’s calm and less packed. The music is too loud for my taste.
Anyway, the seafood is good, Filete Relleno (Stuffed Fish Fillet) was great. They give you chips and salsa in the beginning, they’re so addicting because the chips are freshly made. They also give fresh handmade tortillas. I tried the Agua de Pina and it was a tad too sweet. I wasn’t really surprised, though. Most restaurants make aguas frescas too sweet.

The food and service is mediocre. I ordered a pescado sarandiado and sadly what I got was a sad thin piece of fish filet,(that was probably straight out of the freezer) which I could barely see. It was masked with unripped avocados, a mound of grilled onions, cilantro, and tons of raw onions! So, if you want to pay extra for the ASS you’ll defitnetley see, be my guest.

I came here on a whim and WOW!!! Lets just say I will probably be making a trip out here from Santa Monica more often than I thought. So lets get down to it. Being a mariscos place I already know I have to order something fishy. So I opted for Mojarra Frita. (Fired Tilapia) It was served with rice, beans, small side salad which is served in the main plate (weird) and not a separate plate, but whatever… and hand made tortillas! Nice touch! The service is AMAZING. I had the pleasure of meeting Alma and Mia aka ALMA MIA! lol =) Alma was awesome. She is very personable and always approached our table with a sincere smile. She later introduced us to her sister Mia and she was no different than Alma. Same nice smile and came by to check on us frequently. The food was good and the service was great. On a side note I always like to try Micheladas from different Mexican joints, THIS PLACE IS NOW THE BEST PLACE ON MY LIST FOR MICHELADAS! If you haven’t tried a michelada order one from here. I came on a Sunday and there are also musicos that come in and play at your table for a small tip. I happen to like that so + points.

this is a great spot for amazing food. They have so many different meals to pick from. i dont see how you can go wrong with this place. have to give it a try atleast once.

When I stepped into this establishment it may have been a Sunday, but man did it feel like I was on the set of Sabado Gigante. For the first five minutes of soaking up the utter awesomeness that this place is, I was looking around wondering where Don Francisco was chilling out.
So why does it remind me of the longest running variety TV program in Latina America? Well, the first thing that pops out is the waitresses. They are wearing what has got to be the shortest skirts that a waitress could possibly wear and still have the joint pass health code standards.
There was live music blaring, so the ability to converse was really tossed out the door. Oh yeah, speaking of doors. It may fool you with its ambrosia colored paint job and strangely residential location — but I assure you that it’s not someone’s living room you’re eating out of.
I guess the downside to it being in a residential area and hidden as such like that is parking. The lot will only hold so many cars as it’s pretty small. So you’re looking at a nice couple of blocks walk when yo do find a spot not taken by the residents around here.
Once you get seated, you’re going to want to look around. Or maybe you’re not. Depends on how much «dirt» you’re comfortable in your food. To be honest, I don’t mind that the place looks like a mess. A little dirt in your food never hurt anyone and probably helped our immune system from not being a complete pansy on you.
Let’s just say that the atmosphere around here is beyond entertaining and interesting. You’ll be looking at things like glitter on a painting or sea shells as a wind chime and just get lost in thought — because man, this place is really strange.
I have to say that the service is more flash than substance. And I don’t say that because a waitress bent over to pick up some dropped items on the floor. I speak ill of the service because it’s hailed upon through a button that you press at your table when you need something — at least three times I pressed it it was ignored.
Ironically enough, when we weren’t pressing it and it was a different table, they would come to us asking what we needed. Oh technology, you can be a cruel mistress sometimes. But again, I don’t think they hire the wait staff for their waitress skills.
All this talk and nothing of the food? Well then — I can easily say that some of these dishes are awe inspiring. If you’re a seafood lover, you probably will want the many many versions of shrimp they have on there.
I’m willing to bet that unless you’re someone who can handle a lot of meat, if you’re rolling up in a duo here, you can probably split a Molcajete De Asada and still have left overs after both of you are stuffed to your neck with that hot plate ‘o’ meat.
I’m pretty sure that your average American will probably run the other way when walking in to this joint or that the very idea of eating here would put the fear of god into them — But man are they missing out on some tasty food and excellent people watching.
Service leaves something to be desired, but then again, I doubt skills as a server are a requirement on that job application.

Parking — Very limited so if you go in a group try to carpool there.
Price — While the food is very good, I fee some items are a bit over priced considering the location, and quality of the estrablishment.
Cleanliness — Its in Santa Ana, so not a clean city to begin with, the place looks a bit rundown, and outdated.
Atmosphere — Be prepared to get hit up to buy CD’s, DVD’s, Chiclets, Music from the live Banda!, and the deaf guy that goes around leaving overpriced items on your table.
Overall — I only come here for the Molcajetes (Seafood or Asada) they are pretty amazing! Bucket of beers arent too bad… but non the less I’ve never gotten sick from this place so I guess thats a good thing! lol

Don’t eat at this place.
Did you see the kcal 9 news report?!!
They allow people to drink 24 beers in a 3 hour period and leave the establishment drunk.
Neighbors say this kind of thing happens frequently where patrons leave the place drunk pealing rubber as they leave.
This is gross negligence and against the law!!! As a result a little boy was killed by a hit and run driver w/​o a license! The little boy is dead because this palce is more interested in short-​term profits rather then being responsible bar tenders!
Don’t eat here!

I drive all the way up from San Diego to eat at this place. The service is excellent, the prices are very reasonable & the food is awesome. If you are a die hard Mexican-​style seafood fan, then this is definitely a place worth visiting.
All of the appetizers on the menu are good. Some of the main dishes come with homemade corn tortillas (be careful, they are steaming hot!)
If you are not a fan of loud music, you’ll have to visit this place early, as the norteño bands start to pour in at 2pm or so looking to make some money.
Friendly (and beautiful) waitreses. Fast service, great food. Yes they speak english & remember it’s CASH ONLY.

#49 garlic shrimp was great. handmade tortillas tied everything together.
shrimp cocktail was ok.
next time getting two orders of the garlic shrimp so i won’t have to share.
not a fan of super loud mariachi music which there was none during our meal. it looked like it was going to start right as we were leaving.
cash only.

Went here with a coworker, had the cerviche mix and boy was it good, huge amount of cerviche and pretty clean place. Will definatly be back.

Not good… if you look closely at the establishment you’ll see how dirty the place is, and how dirty the kitchen is… gross! The food was overpriced and bland and the waitresses looked like ghetto mexican hookers. the other people eating there looked like dirty mechanics. and you could actually see tire shops as you look out the window from your table. check it out for yourself if you dont believe it could be that bad!

experience was great
unlike Mariscos la Sirena where they wear skin tight pants and in your face cleavage tops, this place the women wear skin tight short dresses really really short dresses makes you wonder if there is another section to the restaurant that is the «champagne room», (couldn’t find it)
The food was good had the camarones a la diabla, that took 3 Coronas to soothe the spiciness, oysters were not half bad, real good portion size except for the lobster tail my brother had, that was not worth the money tasted over fishy.
overall the place is small, stays busy, lots of waitresses but the service is just below being great.
the only draw back is the Mariachi bands, they are live and very competitive there was 3 in the restaurant almost to the point of annoying not one would give it a rest almost like a battle to get the customers.

They wouldn’t accept my
certificate

I have to admit that the only times I have patronized this place have been late post-​bar Lenten Friday nights… but every time I come here, I honestly have never been disappointed in anything I’ve ordered!
The restaurant exterior betrays a well-​fluorescently-​lit and traditionally decorated interior. Although the chairs and tables look somewhat beaten down, the positive attitude and outstanding dress of the servers totally make up for it all.
Although the menu is quite extensive, you can’t help but feel obligated to order what you came here for: mariscos, no? Most of their seafood platters are to DIE for and are HUGE. I have to recommend pretty much any soft taco with pretty much any seafood — particularly the fish and/​or shrimp. Each kind of filling is cooked in a variety of ways, so make sure to ask someone if you’re unsure what you’re ordering. But by far the best entrée I’ve ever had here is the shrimp taco (and believe me, they are HUUUGE) sauteed with garlic and butter. Very simple, but very good. The shrimp are gigantic and cooked to perfection. For starters you can’t go wrong with a croquete — I would recommend the empanada also, but I wasn’t a huge fan of it.
Everything is so reasonably priced here — even the beers. But the service is quick and kind (maybe it just seemed like that since I’m pretty gone every time I’m driven here, but seriously, it has never been bad or slow), and the food definitely does not disappoint. Since I work right down the street I definitely plan to come here for lunch/​dinner one day, and maybe I will revise this review when I do :)