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The best fish tacos in San Diego, please. Hold the kids

By Catherine Dehdashti, 

After my trip to Europe with kids last summer, I was ready for an adventure without them. My husband, Mohammad, had a conference in San Diego—giving me the perfect opportunity to tuck our boy and girl away with their Memaw and create my own adventure. Fish tacos are a San Diego specialty, so I decided that would be it—I’d go on a five-day fish taco bender.

"Mividita" catfish tacos at Mama Testa

For my first lunch, I went to Mama Testà Taqueria, where I ordered the $8 Mividita, corn tortillas fried in place “Guerrero style” around fried catfish with coleslaw and queso fresco, served with rice and beans. Being my first meal away from the kids, I could have sworn that when the plate came I heard a girl’s voice “Ew, what’s that sauce?” and a boy “Why are these radish thingies on my taco?” I looked around and remembered I was all alone. I asked the waitress to recommend a beer.

 I’m not sure if the catfish was farmed or wild or sustainable or whatever. I’m not Michael Pollan of the Sea. I’m not even impressed that Mama Testà beat Bobby Flay in a Taco Throwdown. I’m just a woman who was shocked to realize it was just me and my fish taco, and a damn good beer at 11:30 a.m., and that nobody was judging me. And that the first joint I visited offered five homemade salsas, and I hadn’t been the one to burn my fingers roasting peppers over the open flame. It was a happy day.

George’s at the Cove’s Ocean Terrace online reviews promised a special, whimsical homage to the San Diegan fish taco. The ocean view in La Jolla sounded right for our first date night. Even with the February evening temps in the 50s, the gas warmers made it feel like a summer night. The service was excellent, and the wine selection good. I’d read that this precious taco was made with yellowfin tuna. I’d read that they fried the avocado, that it didn’t have or need tortillas, and all other manner of myth about chef Trey Foshee’s “deconstructed” fish taco.

Fish taco at George's at the Cove Ocean Terrace

It was a starry night, and we don’t have enough of those alone and never with palm trees and ocean in view. Mohammad ordered us an impressive grilled local octopus as a starter, and for himself a perfect Loch Duart salmon with farro salad and pesto. 

But if you are all about finding the best fish taco, by George, this wasn’t it. It wasn’t that it wasn’t worth $12. The fish, which tasted more like swordfish, was better than your average taqueria fish. But it was otherwise average, a few chips of mango and a smear of jalapeno crème fraiche that didn’t have any heat. I mean, look at it. But again, the terrace’s ocean view—priceless!

The next day, it was time to scrap and save. When you search for “best CHEAP fish tacos” on the internet, you get some wildly different opinions. Some of the slams, possibly, are those of the competitor, such as the one below when my search led me to Oscar’s Mexican Seafood. Would you go here if this is what you found on your Google map?

Worrisome review on worrisome map page says "Their food always comes out cold and even tasted like pure GARBAGE!..."

To be fair, the Google Map photo must have been taken before Oscar’s moved out of their truck and into this spot. (By the way, lots of reviews said Oscar’s tacos were “the bomb” and “dope.”) It still looks mostly just like the photo, but there are some tables and stools outside now, and a nice mural painting on the wall of the original Oscar’s food truck.

Fish taco at Oscar's Mexican Seafood

When we walked in, we may have looked a little frightened. A customer with movie-star looks assured us we were in for a treat. We ordered fish tacos, of course. What kind of fish was it? Gosh, I was a little nervous. I forgot to ask. Then I got too busy smothering it in their homemade sauces (go with the jalapeno cream sauce, which was much tastier than George’s) and scarfing it down with a coconut drink while Mohammad went back for spicy shrimp and octopus tacos.

Just goes to show that sometimes the place you think you should definitely not cross the doorstep of is the place you must try. And if you think octopus sounds “gross” or “weird,” maybe you should just stay home with your Memaw.

Octopus taco at Oscar's Mexican Seafood

 So Oscar’s had been a cheap night for sure—maybe $20 for five tacos and beverages, and all good. So maybe the tortillas weren’t house-made, but they were fine.

We thought we’d spend our savings in the Gaslamp District. I know, we’d scrimped at Oscar’s to make up for our L a Jolla meal. But remember, Mohammad and I are a date-deprived couple 2,000 miles away from our children for five days, so we aren’t going to just go to one fancy-pants place. This is what credit cards are for. Saltbox was getting good reviews, and its menu looked right up my alley.

Shishito peppers at Saltbox

Our appetizer, the flash-fried shishito peppers with lemon-ginger cream, may just look like a pile of vegetables, but it was one of the best things I ate in San Diego and it was worth going there just for that. So was the rum and sage drink I had called “The Silent D.”

If only the woman at the table next to us had been like a silent D. Some diners are so obnoxious. But, I tuned her out, and when my, uh, fish taco, came, I made my best fish face. I wanted to become friends with that whole fried bass, she was so beautiful.

Feeling an affinity with whole bass taco at Saltbox

Now, $28 for enough fish taco for two people (although I ate most of it myself) is not entirely ridiculous. That bass was probably the equal of at least four Oscar’s tacos, and came with a bowl of black-eyed peas and fresh, thick corn tortillas. On Tuesday nights, it’s only $15. I ate as much as I could, crunchy fried bass skin and all. Well, not all. I left its head--I’m not Andrew Zimmern.

Marisco's German Taco Truck

Finding Marisco’s German Taco Truck was the most maddening odyssey of the trip. They don’t have a website, nor do they tweet or do anything to help customers find them, but the Yelp site shows right where to find them in South Park. Apparently they have trucks in other neighborhoods, but the South Park one is most reliable. Before going to the Yelp site, I’d driven first to Point Loma looking for the truck that was supposed to be near the beach. One website had said to look behind the Fold and Fluff laundry. It wasn’t there. I kept driving and found a whole street devoted to medical marijuana. That would’ve been a good neighborhood for it, perhaps in front of the “Stuff to Puff’ store.



Marisco's German Taco Truck shrimp and octopus tacos

Once I found the truck, which by the way is not German in any way that I could tell, I got in line. It was in the parking lot of an IGA Gala Foods, but there were more people there for Marisco’s than for the grocery store. Once I got my $4 tacos and a glass bottle of Coke, I sat on a wooden stool in that parking lot, and put my plate on another stool.

The shrimp and fish were deep-fried, but not at all greasy. The corn tortillas, while perhaps not housemade, were just right. The people serving the goods from the truck window were friendly, and the extra fixings and sauces were fresh, free, and plentiful. The octopus, like at Oscar’s, was marinated and grilled. And it was, as one review had said, “totally dope.”   

Marisco’s was parked in the least comfortable and least scenic setting possible, and don’t even think about getting a beer or a drink. No bathrooms--not even in the grocery store, not even if you begged.

It was too bad Marisco's German wasn't still parked in Point Loma by the beach, but…I’d found my best fish tacos in San Diego.

Roof of Carnita's Snack Shack

I heard about lots of places I didn’t go, so if you’re a local and you’ve been to South Beach or El Zarape or another place that you think is the true dope, please leave a comment. Carnita’s Snack Shack gets lots of love for its ahi tuna taco, but I didn’t go. I arrived at ten minutes after 12 and they were closed. A woman came out and went to her car.  I asked what time they opened. She said “Noon,” and then sped away. I didn’t go back. Maybe I missed something, but I have a feeling that place was really more about the pork. Just a guess.

Lots of people are saying the best place to get a taco around San Diego nowadays is Tijuana. We just didn’t have time, and we hadn’t brought our passports. But next time Memaw wants to watch the kids, we’re totally there.