TJ Oyster Bar 1 “El Original” — Restaurant in Chula Vista

TJ Oyster Bar is a family-run San Diego mariscos institution that has been in operation since opening up a small restaurant in Bonita in 2002 and subsequently expanding with two additional locations in South Bay. This restaurant at 4246 Bonita Road is the original location, initially envisioned as a "taco shop," now a counter-service bar with an open kitchen.

I began my recent visit with their "Aguachile Verde," a traditional preparation of raw shrimp, cucumbers, and red onions cured in lime juice with serrano chiles. The spicy and sour broth would endear itself with Wilbur Scoville and is not to be trifled with -- it will not only clear out your sinuses but melt them down as well. The flavor is off the hook, and I could eat a bowl of just the red onions marinated in this aguachile broth. Save some for your tacos.

I give two thumbs (eight arms?) up to the "Octopus Taco," a petite corn tortilla stuffed with grilled chopped tentacle that is slightly sticky and slightly charred, sweet and chewy, but crispy-edged. The zippy mayo-based white sauce used at TJ Oyster Bar is mostly savory and rich, but a bit tangy too. Despite this stuff being nothing short of creamy heroin, it is wisely applied sparingly on this taco. Cilantro and onions round out a wonderful octopus-forward taco that you'll remember for its chunks of meat rather than its garnishments. The "Grilled Fish Taco" is the same as the "Octopus Taco," but with very soft grilled fish instead. If you must do one or the other, go octopus. I suggest adding TJ Oyster Bar's salsa roja to these tacos.

Like the other tacos served at TJ Oyster Bar, the "Baja Fish Taco" is compact and petite, but it is everything a fish taco ought to be: crunchy beer-battered fried fish, reasonably ratio'd vegetal accoutrements (cabbage, onion, tomato, cilantro), and the mysterious white sauce. The tortilla could be better, but wherever they source them from do a decent job as packaged tortillas go -- you can taste and smell corn in them, as you should.

The last taco I tried was the "Shrimp Taqueso," which is similar to a "taco gobernador" in that it consists of shrimp that have been grilled so their surfaces brown in a corn tortilla with melted cheese. It was alright, kind of a shrimp quesadilla de maiz. This taco needed something else to really "pop," and I would suggest going full-on gobernador-style with sautéed veggies, or providing chipotle sauce on the side. The tortilla is grilled to melt the cheese and make the taco sturdier, which I appreciated because I could sense that this gooey filling, combined with gravity, would otherwise be determined to fall all over my shirt. As with the other tacos, using the salsa roja available here is...

This place tends to be hit or miss the last few times. The food is great when done properly. Last time i went my order was wrong, i ordered 3 shrimp diabla tacos and an octopus taco. The octopus was on point but my diabla shrimp wasn't seasoned correctly, so i basically ate 3 salted shrimp tacos. You can tell if it's done properly because the diabla seasoning gives it a different color, but i didn't check my food before i got home. My father ordered 8 fish tacos with the veggies on the side so he could reheat them at home and the guy taking the order seemed upset and charged extra for the veggies on the side. The time before this i went when dine in was still available and ordered 3 octopus tacos, the chef got mad when i pointed out they were burnt. I wasn't rude about it either i just wanted non burnt food since it cost 4$ a taco(octopus). It was very busy that day so i understood and waited for them to be remade. I would still recommend this place but make sure to double...

The food is great, especially their salmon tacos. The customer service needs some serious work though. When I went to get some water the jug was almost out. Regardless I was able to get a cup, but noticed the rim was all crusty with food. Gross. Not wanting to make a scene, I asked the guy working the register if they had bottled water I could buy but he directed me to the cups. When I told him the cups were dirty, this is what he said. "I know for a fact the cups are clean," before proceeding to go fill up the water jug. What kind of worker argues with the customer, when clearly they don't do a decent job at cleaning their countertops? So dissappointed in the lack of service that I won't be coming here again. Make sure you clean the counters of crusty food before putting the rim of the "clean" cups on a nasty surface that has other people's...