Fish Guts — Restaurant in San Diego

Last weekend, my wife and I decided to check out Fish Guts. We knew there'd be a wait, and although 35 minutes was a bit long - we’ve waited longer for other places.

Once we finally got seated, things started going downhill. My wife asked the server about the fish sandwich. She bluntly said, "I don't know," and then added, "He doesn't tell us anything," gesturing to the chef in the back, continuing, "I'm sick of people asking." She even said she wanted to put up a sign telling customers to "stop asking about the sandwich." We were pretty stunned, especially after waiting so long in the heat.

By 1 PM, they were already out of three menu items. We went ahead and ordered the beer-battered fish tacos, coconut shrimp tacos, and hongos tacos. The server warned us that the dishes would come out separately, but we didn’t expect each dish to arrive 20 minutes apart. Each plate comes with two fish tacos, which we split.

The shrimp tacos were slightly better than the fish tacos, but not by much. The toppings were exactly the same, which was disappointing. The hongos tacos were forgettable, to say the least.

Living near San Diego, Tijuana, and Rosarito, there is no shortage of good fish tacos, and Fish Guts just didn’t measure up. The food was good, but their recipes, presentation, and service is not game-changing and is in no way worth the wait or the rude service.

What should’ve been a quick 25-minute lunch turned into a 90 minute ordeal (including the 35 minute wait outside). Roughly 15 minutes of eating tacos and 45 minutes waiting for the next taco, sitting on very uncomfortable stools. Plus, with half the restaurant unshaded, we ended up getting sunburned. The whole experience just wasn’t worth it.

With service like this, I doubt this place will last long. I'd recommend skipping it and...

I was so so so freakin excited to try Fish Guts but left utterly disappointed.

I showed up a few minutes after 12 and the place was almost full but I got a good seat at the counter.

I asked the waitress if they had the fish sandwich back but she didn't have an answer and said it's basically still off the menu. But later I spoke with SD locals who said the waitress was wrong and the sandwich is there. So I don't know who to believe.

I started with the smoked fish dip. This was fine. You can't even tell it has fish in it. Which might be fine for someone who doesn't like fish, but when you're at a fish restaurant ordering a fish dish, you want to taste the fish. This just tasted like a serrano dip because the heat from the serranos overpowered everything else.

Now for the baja fish tacos. More like coleslaw tacos because there was so much spicy coleslaw on these tacos you wouldn't even know that you're eating a fish taco.

The tortillas are fantastic. Actually, the tortillas are perfect. They're soft, warm, chewy, and flavorful.

But the rest is a mess. The fish itself is flaky and soft but the batter was soggy and mush. And the size of the fish is like a chicken nugget compared to the tortilla. I'm not expecting a whole filet on here since these are "Street tacos" but c'mon. two bites and the fish was gone, then you're just eating tortilla and coleslaw. There is so much coleslaw that you don't taste anything else either.

After talking to others, everyone said the baja tacos are not the thing to order but rather you should order the sandwich (if / when they ever bring it back) and the swordfish tacos. I don't know if I would return but right now, I wasn't fond...

I feel like I got hustled going here. Tried the fish tacos and was so underwhelmed. The flavor was middle of the road and kind of on the bland side. Each taco had one meager piece of fish, and they were pretty small overall. They make you get two tacos instead of offering them à la carte, which would be better for the customer. The food came out separately, so I had to wait while the person I was with ate their order, which is really stupid and awkward. When I looked up to see where a waiter was to ask where my food was, I didn’t see anyone available so they probably hide in the back to avoid you after they drop off that one plate. It was especially strange since the place wasn’t even that busy. The tortillas were flimsy so a double tortilla would have held up better. On top of that, they didn’t offer any salsas and didn’t have the drinks I wanted. Later, when we walked by 30 minutes after eating, I saw someone with the drink I had asked for, which was disappointing. Overall, not impressed with their pretentious rules. Pa la Cruda across the street has outstanding food and service - head over there instead. It seems like owner is aware of their issues from other reviews but ultimately isn’t doing anything to actually improve. When people are looking around for salsa for added flavor, it’s because your offerings are bland- which mine were, so offer the people some. Don’t be fooled by the hype of seeing people lining up, this place...