Nicksan Cabo — Restaurant in City Centre

Nick San Cabo is awesome!

My wife and I went there to celebrate her birthday. We were greeted warmly and immediately seated as we had reservations. (Highly recommended).

As a tip, on many of the dishes, you can request 1/2 orders so you can try more dishes. Four of the dishes we ordered were 1/2 orders and the price reflects that. I marked them with an (*).

Lobster Sambal: $600 pesos. It had a citrus flavor with a bit of heat at the end of each bite. Sweet and tangy at the same time. The pieces of lobster are served with rice and sprinkles of green onions.

Tuna Tostadas: $75 pesos/each. This was my wife's favorite dish. Fresh, clean, light with a slight bit of spice, along with hints of sesame. It had excellent texture and flavor. The dish consisted of yellowfin tuna belly, sliced avocado, habanero-infused red onions and sesame seeds on a tostada.

Sashimi Cilantro: $265 pesos. Delicious sauce! It came with 11 pieces of the day's catch with avocado, green tea salt, cilantro sauce, and spicy chili oil. The sashimi is seared with olive oil.

Tuna Black and White Sashimi: $132.50* pesos. This dish pops in your mouth! Yummy Asian ponzu sauce!

Sashimi Serranito: $132.50* pesos. The fresh catch of the day is served with serrano chile pepper sauce and a thin slice of serrano chile. It was highly recommended but it was my least favorite dish.

Salmon Yuzu: $132.50* pesos. This was the most interesting dish. Unique combination of flavors. Delicious and mysterious. Dressing was excellent. Thin slices of salmon stuffed with crab, spicy mayo.

On a side note: the ginger was fresh and the wasabi was exactly the way it should taste.

Our total bill was $205 USD with a few alcoholic drinks.

Overall the service was spectacular and the staff was very friendly. We must have had over 6 people tend to our dining needs! It was amazing! Our drinks were never empty and a clean plate was provided after each sushi dish.

If you enjoy sushi and are in Cabo San Lucas, this is a must try.

There is also a Nick San at the Pamilla located near the One & Only...

We have been to Nick San in Cabo over 50 times in the last 20 years...no exageration. We have hosted parties there for 30+ people. We typically spend $70-$100/person each time we go there. On November 24, 2023, five of our family went there for dinner. We ordered the same we always do..."Chef's specials."

On this particular day, they asked us if we'd like sea urchin, which we've never had at Nick San before, and the chef recommended it. We said yes. One person with shellfish allergy said "no," as we weren't sure if that was safe. The four of us who ate the sea urchin became terribly sick within the next 8 hours with severe vomiting and diarrhea. We called a doctor the next morning who immediately recommended a trip to the emergency room for IV fluids and antibiotics. Our blood tests showed an infection and our stool samples/cultures showed E.Coli. I had lost consciousness because of the severe dehydration and was admitted to the hospital for head CT and full cardiac workup...all was normal except for the food poisoning and dehydration.

Our medical bills for all the care were $13,000+...paid with credit card as American Insurance is not accepted.

We had to change our flights because of the hospitalization which cost us quite a bit.

All of us had to miss a day of work because we had to change our travel, including my wife and me, who are both doctors and had to cancel patients.

It took all of us more than a week to fully recover medically and there were additional doctors visits in the U.S. for follow up.

We have called and emailed Nick San multiple times but no one will respond. We weren't asking for money but trying to inform them what happened and maybe something like, "we are sorry this happened. Next time, dinner is on us."

Over the course of the last 20 years, I estimate that we have spent over $40,000 at Nick San and this is how they treat...

Overall, you can expect high end level pricing for average level Japanese cuisine. Nicksan creates a Mexican-Japanese fusion which is interesting but their chefs (sushi & kitchen) are too heavy handed in their work. I would not recommend.

Experience:

1. Gyozas - good flavour but the dumpling wrappers were soggy and disintegrating plus they were not adequately sealed closed, so the stuffing would fall out onto the plate when you picked it up or tried to put it in your mouth.

2. California roll - Fake crab. For a high end Japanese restaurant situated on a peninsula bordered by TWO major bodies of water...one would expect real crab to be used and not imitation material typically found in low-end restaurants (especially when they promote that they fly fish in all the way from Japan...). On the plus side, the overall size of the roll is good (not some enormous hockey puck) but the amount of rice on the outside of the roll is too thick.

3. Nigiri - fish quality, temperature, and freshness are good. Compliments there. However, the formation of the rice was sloppy and loose, the fish was not sticking to the rice and fell off easily, making it difficult to dip into soya sauce. Also, the meat on one of the scallops was falling apart and made for poor presentation. Not a big deal if I'm paying low or mid range prices but at high end prices, my expectations are expecting high end product and skill. The chef should have either used this broken piece of scallop for a different dish (chop-chop roll?) or just thrown it away and presented a whole scallop. One knows the price I paid covers for this kind of food wastage typical of the...