California Fish Grill — Restaurant in San Diego

Fish & Chips in Mission Valley? Yes, please! It's easy to miss this eatery as it is at the quiet end of a strip mall, away from all the other restaurants. Parking is plentiful here, so that's a plus! It's changed a lot since the last time I came. What used to be counters to order are now computerized kiosks machines. I was surprised, but it was a pleasant experience as the screens were large and there were nice pictures of all the items on the menu. The system was very user friendly and promoted selections for sides and substitutions.

The seating area inside and outside were kept clean and attended to pretty quickly after patrons left. Although ordering no longer done with employees, they are still there to set your order on trays for you to pick up at the station. They also bring out lingering items that aren't ready from the get go. All staff was friendly and pleasant. Wish they had a station for condiments and sauces, but you need to ask for everything and all the items are individually packed: Malt Vinegar, Tabasco, ketchup, etc.

We ordered the 3 piece fish & chips, Coconut Shrimp, and a bottle of Stone Delicious IPA. Yes, they have wine and beer. The portions are generous and the prices have not been inflated like many places. The batter was nice and not too thick. The fish wasn't as flaky as I like my Fish & Chips, but it wasn't bad. The coconut shrimp was well seasoned and standard. The only thing that needs improvement is their "new" cilantro lime slaw. It's really lacking any specific flavor.

Overall, solid fresh fish & chips and a great value. Will definitely...

So I ordered the fish n chips and the portions were HUGE! Three big pieces of fish with a ton of seasoned fries. Pretty damn good considering it was only $8.99. My wife ordered the wild salmon and rice which she said was delicious.

My only complaint is that they didn't include tartar sauce with my fish n chips. For a restaurant that specializes in seafood, you would think including tartar sauce with a fish n chips meal would be your number one priority (at least for web and phone orders).

I called the restaurant and asked if that was normal? The woman I spoke to said they have a self serve condiment bar, but they never mentioned that to me while I was there. I had to eat my fish with KETCHUP 😠. It's like ordering a cheeseburger, getting home and discovering they didn't include the bread. She said she would take care of me next time I go in, whatever that means.

My advice to California fish Grill (company wide), make it a policy to ALWAYS include tartar sauce with fish n chips, condiment bar or not. It's the signature condiment for that meal. Relying on the employees to mention that there's a condiment bar is just a bad idea because People forget.

Other than that, the food was great...even though I had to eat it with ketchup. I would have been happy to give this place five stars but because I didn't get the full fish n chips experience, I have to give it three stars, just for the tartar...

We have long enjoyed either dining in (or during covid doing curbside pickup). However our delight at having more items back on the menu, such as trout, was tempered by their now mandatory computer screen ordering of your food. First off, despite having a staff person's help, and seeing dine in selected, our order was packaged to go, and to top it off no text was sent advising the order was ready. After seeing numerous people who ordered after we did, I went in search of our dinner, only to find it sitting in a row of to go sacks. The staff (including the employee who helped me place the order for dine in) then removed it from the packaging and placed the orders on plates. Naturally the salmon and trout were only lukewarm. While the staff was very pleasant, and the food good although not hot, it was a disastrous experience. Clearly there are glitches with the programming. And on Sundays, when we dine there, many diners are seniors and using a self-order screen that was not intuitive, was problematic for many. I do order regularly online for pickup at other restaurants, so when I say California Fish Grill needs to improve this program, I think I know what I am talking about. The experience was just miserable enough that I will have to weigh whether or not the desire to enjoy some of the new items is outweighed by the...