Miguel's Cocina — Restaurant in San Diego

Parking was difficult we had to walk a half mile to get to the restaurant. We walked in expecting to wait 15min like Google’s live wait time said. The hostess just looked at us, no greeting, no smile, just looked at us like we interrupted her. I said 2 please. She sat us immediately, outside with an ocean view, kind of, lol. It was the docking area for the restaurant, but still the ocean. It was nice outside, 8pm, cool crisp air. Our waiter, Ivan, arrived and said I’ve got your chips on the way, do you need a few minutes, your chips are coming. I felt like he tried to hard to be nice, he felt fake. He seemed in a hurry, preoccupied, we didn’t have his undivided attention while we ordered. Then the hostess interrupted him while he was taking our order and he just started talking to her about if he was suppose to be in that section. He wasn’t paying attention and didn’t write our order down, guess he thought he could remember it. He couldn’t… The food took a min to arrive, but was hot. My husband ordered a classic fish taco, no salsa, and cheese enchilada plate. Comes with spanish rice, beans, and lettuce on the side (like most mexican restaurants.) I got a Chimichanga plate, with No tomatoes. It also comes with the plate standard of;  spanish rice, beans, and lettuce on the side. I added a Fish taco a la cart, which comes with two corn tortillas, lettuce, 1 radish slice, a green onion stick and a lime wedge. The fish taco we both had, mine had to much cabbage, and the cheese was on the cabbage not the fish, so when I removed some cabbage the cheese went with it. (Also comes with Salsa, but we said No salsa. We don’t like tomatoes) We both agreed the fish fillet, however, was juicy, flaky, tender, So good, I think it’s the best I’ve ever had. The ranch fish dressing on it was amazing. His cheese enchiladas were good, cheese enchiladas nothing special. My chimichanga burrito had crispy edges, but a mushy middle, it was over stuffed with unseasoned, wet, yet dry to taste, shredded chicken, mixed with salsa Fresca, it also had tomatoes on top. I said No tomatoes. I didn’t send it back because I didn’t want to wait again for the food. The beans were hot and creamy, but seemed small in portion to the rice. The spanish rice was a bit to hard and dry. I know it suppose to be dry, but it was dry, dry and under cooked slightly, eatable still, but not my texture of choice. When we finished eating we waited for the check, when it didn’t arrive we got up to search for it. The hostess, a different girl, said we pay the waiter, we turned around to find our waiter, who almost ran in to us, as he was flirting with another customer. He didn’t even acknowledge us, as we stood 2ft from them. He fed a piece of paper out of the receipt box and wrote his phone number for her. Then when he was done with her he looked over and said, you guys done? Yes, check please. We paid cash left a small change tip. (I tip based on the service, your already paid to do your job, you have to earn your tip. To do this, from me anyway, all you have to do is smile and get the order right.) When my husband turned around he dropped a $20, and the hostess gave back to him. Nearly pushing me out of the way to do so. I read all great reviews so maybe this was a bad crew night, I’m not sure, but I will go again and recommend to a friend, for the fish tacos and hopes this was just one of those night’s for multiple...

This place used to be my favorite restaurant to visit. My last visit which was on New Year's day 2024. Let me start off with the young lady Hostess who sat us at our table was very friendly & professional. It started to go down hill from that point. We were one of the first customers that came through the door at 10am. The guy who gave us the chips, salsa & queso was rude. He just threw the chips down along with the salsa & queso. Didn't get a Smile or a greeting from him. Then, comes the waitress. We typically order our food once we ask for our water as we come to this restaurant often. We have been coming to this restaurant for about 8yrs at least 8 times a year. So, with that being said. The waitress took our order nothing special or complicated for two people. She brings our water that we requested. My water cup had a ring of strawberry juice on it which was a Complete Turn Off because I asked for water. The inside & outside of the Cup was Dirty and it had something floating in it. The waitress seen it as she tried to turn it to where I would not see. I immediately called her back and showed her the glass ....She looks at it.... didn't apologize and said....Ohh....like I was bothering her as No one was in the restaurant for her to serve. We were the only table for her to wait on. She replies by saying let me get you another water. I immediately was discussed it because I did not know if I was going to receive my food the way I normally would receive it. So, she bring's me another water and still didn't apologize. 10 minutes later we received our food. When she brought our food I had asked for some paper napkins. We waited....and waited... No Napkins were brought to us. So, we look around and she's on the side talking to her colleagues and laughs & smiles at us. We call her over and asked what happened to the napkins and she just fluffed us off and said let me get you some for you. At that point, I was done. She never came back to check on us. The Veggie Enchiladas we ordered were made different. It was made with Soy Sauce on the veggies. I Never had a Mexican Veggie Enchilada made with Soy Sauce. It was a terrible combination with salsa, rice & beans. We asked for more water ....She Never refilled it. This is a Given....If you see that we are Out of Water in our cups. You come and ask if we want it refilled. This is Your Job As A Waitress. You learn this in Waitress 101. We Will Never Come Back to this Miquel's Cocina San Diego. The way we were treated was like TRASH. We Paid a pretty penny for our meals like $60. The Guy who served us the Chips...The Waitress & The Cook SUCKED....The Food was Terrible! This Miguel's Cocina has Gone to the Trash. The people who work there are Unprofessional & Not Appreciative of...

I'll give miguels a solid 4 stars. That's for the experience in total: the fare, the value, the location/setting and the hospitality. The fare was forgettable. We ordered the calamari, pork belly quesadilla, chicken chimi and 2 cokes. By forgettable I mean I can't remember anything we really liked about it. And the chimi was $15. That's $15 for a chicken burrito. The burrito wasn't awful, it was fine, I mean it was afterall deep fried so I liked it enough. It just wasn't anything I'd order again. The quesadilla tasted like the sum of its parts. Pork Belly and quesadilla and that's all. It didn't magically meld together to become anything unctuous and super savory. Instead it tasted like bland pork belly in a plain quesadilla. Definitely not ordering this again. 3 stars for the food we ordered and the value we paid for it. The location is however stunning. They had the bay front window wall open for a fresh breeze and clear visibility of the sailboats whizzing bye. They were close enough that you could throw food at them if you were ratchet like that. 5 stars. Complimentary chips salsa and queso? Why yes please. And we did take notice that the basket of chips runneth over. That's great hospitality. The service staff were friendly and checked on us several times. The hostess situation was different. 2 for brunch? Okay that'll be about 30 minutes is that okay? It's okay. Good let me have your cellphone number and a name.

45 minutes later after having downed a coffee each and then a double scoop each of Gelato (sold by the Cafe window out front) and taking pictures upstairs and downstairs next door at Ketch, we had no option but to check back in even tho they specifically asked us to STAY OUTSIDE until the called. When we gave them our name they didn't know who we were. What happened to our name and phone number? Your guess is as...