Karina's Mexican Seafood — Restaurant in Chula Vista

Went here 2 years ago, sat at the bar, and remembered it wasn't that great. My husband and I were looking for somewhere to eat tonight so we thought we'd try again (maybe it was just a bad night 2 years ago??) Sat at the bar again - it really is a beautiful bar and you are compelled to sit there.

We were greeted by an initial bartender who could not speak very good English and didn't know what I meant by "add a shot of "grand marnier" which I thought was strange. He brought me the Happy Hour margarita which was way too sweet and filled with mix. This was followed by a visit from the "regular or main" bartender who came and when I complained, she re-made the drink. It was a little better when she made it, but still a little sweet, but OK enough to drink it and not send it back again. This is not what I would expect at a Mexican restaurant; usually margaritas are the best at Mexican restaurants, but not at this one.

Why am I writing this review? I want to make sure people in the area know the service and food is very poor - it was poor 2 years ago, and in 2024, it is still poor. No improvements at all. At the bar, I did not feel welcome at all. It was a very slow Monday night. But even as slow as it was, I was not greeted properly and it seemed like the "regular" bartender was paying more attention to the single men at the bar then to my husband and I. We felt ignored. The entire time, I was eyeing the menu and thought I would order another margarita since I didn't love the first one. But the bartender never came over to see if I needed anything else. When I looked over to the first bartender (the first one who mixed the sweet drink) I noticed he was eating food and drinking some iced tea right next to the door to the kitchen. I thought this was a bit of a faux pas for your restaurant staff to be eating/drinking in site of guests while on shift? I don't know. But what I do know is that he never came by our space again. So that left us with the bartender who was paying more attention to the other patrons....so we were basically SOL the entire visit.

Next the food. We ordered the taquitos off of the Happy Hour menu. What we got were - carnitas tacos. These were not tacquitos. And as much as I like carnitas tacos, the tacos were cold and no salsa was served with them. I tried to waive the bartender over but she would not come over. Finally my husband and I "gave up" and asked for the bill. Only when we asked for the bill, did the "main bartender" ask us how everything was. We told her the food was cold. Her response was "Oh...." but did not offer anything/offer to get the manager, comp anything on the bill.

Never again will we go back to this restaurant. It is very sad. There are not many good restaurants in Chula Vista/Otay Ranch area - It would be nice if such a beautifully designed restaurant had great service and food to back up the beautiful decor. Maybe someday we can hope that either the management will take initiative in improving the service/food, or maybe we can hope another great restaurant will take over the beautiful space. I will not go there again unless it changes hands,...

Sigh, where do I even start. My husband and I finally decided to go on a date after almost a year of our baby being born. We were looking forward to having a relaxing and great time while enjoying each others company which was far from what happened.

When we got to Karina’s there were only 3 tables full- meaning they weren’t busy at all. To start, our server seemed a bit distracted. She asked for our order more than once. When I went to the bathroom I saw her coming out of a stall crying- awkward. A few minutes after going back to my table my husband and I saw our server leaving her apron and leaving the restaurant. We thought she was taking her break, but she never came back. Another person started to serve us without an explanation or introduction.

We ordered an aguachile and 2 orders of 2 tacos each. The tacos were delicious. When my husband started to serve himself from the aguachile, I saw a black long hair coming out of a shrimp. We waited a while for either a server or manager to walk by- but nothing. I had to get up and tell someone. They removed it from our table and offered to bring a new one. We agreed. Did I forget to mention that when they brought out the aguachile they did not bring us tostadas nor a serving spoon? I had to ask multiple people to finally get them to our table.

Second aguachile- we waited a good 30 min for the second aguachile to get to our table. Finally, the manager took the aguachile to our table without an apology or saying anything. Ok?I serve myself my first tostada and I’m eating it with such delight when I see a long blonde hair coming out of another shrimp. Ay ya yay! This can’t be happening to us AGAIN?!

I tell the server and she questioned the hair. She said no one in the back kitchen has blonde hair. She did. Whoever prepped the shrimp could have. I hate being like this but I just couldn’t believe this was happening to us. First date night after having our 8 month baby girl and we were having such a horrible experience!!! Instead of having it remake the aguachile a third time we asked for tacos. Waited yet another 30 min.

When we asked for the bill everything was charged for. Aguachile and all. Upon leaving the restaurant I did express to the manager- Ismael- how disappointed we were with the service and the lack of costumer service from his behalf. He did not once apologize for the hairs in our food. He did not once apologize for our server leaving us without an explanation. He did not once asked if everything was good. He did not once offer to not charge the aguachile we did not even eat.

Poor service.

Poor food quality.

Poor customer service.

I will be making a phone call to corporate and...

Mediocre food, slow, overall EXTREMELY disappointing service. Don’t come here. There’s a reason they have 2.5 stars out of 500 reviews!!!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON THE KARINAS IN OTAY!!! ESPECIALLY FOR LARGER PARTIES.

They don't understand quality service.

We booked a large party through an event coordinator (Alex) who doesn't seem to know how phones or emails work. We booked for a party of 22 because they seemed more enthusiastic than most about accommodating our large group for a birthday party.

First they quoted us at $45/person minimum and once it was time to finalize the reservation they changed it to $75/person. A 3-course meal of app, entree, dessert, and drink. They gave us 6 appetizers to split between 22 people!!! and tried to charge extra for more app orders. Our $45/person includes the appetizers?!

Second, we had some last minute cancellations so that was fault on our end, but after communicating that to the hosts they decided to charge us $45/person for every person that didn't show up(7 ppl, $315 total). We told them we're willing to contribute a big portion of the share of the no-shows towards gratuity. The final decision was up to Alex, who again, hasn't answered any of our calls or emails in a week!!!!

What kind of event coordinator goes MIA during an event????

Lastly, my fiancé's 24th bday was the reason for the celebration and she didn't get her food until EVERYONE WAS DONE EATING. We notified the server and still nothing. Finally desserts came out and everyone got their desserts and when it was my fiancé's turn to order, they tell her theyre all out of the dessert that was listed on our menu.

Excuse me for having bare minimum expectations of a restaurant who KNEW they would have a large party that evening. But that service was bottom of the barrel out of everything I've experience in the hospitality industry. It was so frustrating to have to pull the lead and servers aside and explain how important it is that at least the bday girl gets her food and the dessert she prefers.

Never coming here again. Especially not for a larger group. They don't know how to provide quality service unless you're a group or 4 or under. Extremely...