Mitch's Seafood — Restaurant in San Diego

Mitch's Seafood is one of several "fast-casual restaurant" style seafood-oriented places in San Diego. Mitch's is in the same class of restaurants as Blue Water Seafood in Mission Hills, El Pescador Fish Market in La Jolla, and nearby Point Loma Seafoods, but minus an embedded fish market in the operation.

As someone who grew up in New England, the food and atmosphere of Mitch's reminds me more of a dock-side seafood shack on the Rhode Island coast than something I expected to find in Southern California. It is a small place with a dingy woody atmosphere, not dirty or unappealing, but quite unassuming.

I couldn't leave here without ordering the grilled fish that is Mitch's raison d'être, if all of the reviews are to be believed. On a Tuesday in March, Mitch's "Grilled Market Halibut" featured a grilled and nearly blackened half-pound halibut filet from the Sea of Cortez. The fish's snow-white flesh tasted fine, had firm and dense texture, but a delightful taste aside from a bitterness imparted by whatever they're using for their seasoning blend, or the grill itself. The bitter tones are non-trivial and somewhat distracting - not enough to make eating the dish unpleasant, but a cleaner tasting prep would have been at least twice as good. An oily chimichurri-like "herb salsa verde" sauce adds fat but not much flavor. I'd rather have had the fish better-salted prior to cooking than the unctuous salsa verde sauce. Thankfully, the tart and acetic cole slaw, spiked with jalapeños and cilantro, was solid and arguably the best thing on this particular plate. I'm not a cole slaw person at all - and, in fact, this can't really be cole slaw. The fact I finished every bit of it is proof that they didn't serve me cole slaw.

The "Grilled Oysters" are pretty good -- not New Orleans good, but San Diego good. On the day I had them, they were six briny oysters from Hawk's Point (Washington), grilled with breadcrumbs, bacon, parmesan, corn, and leeks. They are served with crostini slices that can and should be ignored. The oysters are a touch rich due to the rendered bacon grease and melted parmesan cheese, but small and hence manageable. I commend Mitch's choice to use corn in this dish, which gives it an unexpected sweetness; one doesn't think of pairing corn and oysters, but it works.

The reason I came to Mitch's was to try their fish tacos. The first taco I ordered was the "Beer Battered Alaskan Cod Taco," which featured one big chunk of cod, both juicy and flaky, deep-fried until crispy but still light in color and flavor. The fish is put in a double layer of middling corn tortillas and topped with lime crema, shredded cabbage, tomatoes, and onions. There's no heat in this taco, so I used the glass bottles of "Mitch's Pineapple Habanero Salsa" provided at each table to liven it up. Aside from not being a fresh salsa, it's a relatively weak sauce heat-wise for a product made with habaneros. Thankfully, however, it added a sweet and sour flavor element to help cut through the batter and tortillas and everything else. I wish Mitch's was as good at taco construction and achieving an appropriate balance of ingredients inside tortillas as they were at frying fish. They're a seafood restaurant first and foremost, which is why their fried battered fish taco is not the best in the city, despite the actual fish itself arguably being the best.

Similarly, the "Grilled Wild Shrimp Taco" - made with same ingredients as the Beer Battered Alaskan Cod taco -- suffers from poor overall taco construction. Also, the shrimp is grilled in the same way as the grilled fish, making the surface a bit bitter. These achingly middling shrimp tacos are another example of "taquero" being a truly skilled role - and that even the best ingredients and meats don't always make...

I stumbled upon Mitch's by accident as the place I was headed to was closed. The restaurant was packed and there was a line out the door to order food, but that didn't deter me from getting my seafood fix. Don't let the line scare you off, as there are signs on the tables advising to not sit until you've ordered/gotten a number for your order. The line moves at a pretty steady pace and the seating is pretty much on a steady rotation as well. The interior is filled with pictures of fishermen, fishing and all that sort.

The menu boards on the wall provide a very wide selection of seafood to all your stomach's desire. Make sure to check what's featured on the 'Sustainably Caught Seafood' board for some choice local fish. If you're looking for lobster, they do have a Spiny Lobster special for whole or half lobsters, which are caught the day of, off the San Diego Coast! My partner and I got the Grilled Octopus, served on an arugula & white bean salad, and topped with a herb verde sauce. We also ordered the Mixed Seafood Platter, which included Coconut Shrimp, a Crab Cake, a piece of fried fish, fried calamari, all sitting on a batch of french fries.

It took about 10 minutes to find someone leaving their seats for us to sit and luckily it was outside, facing the water. We enjoyed our bottle of Sauvignon Blanc while waiting for the food to be delivered to us. It took about 20 minutes from ordering to the food arriving. The Grilled Octopus was underwhelming as it was under seasoned and slightly overcooked to the point it was overly tender. The Mixed Seafood Platter was a great value for the portion, however it had hits & misses. The Coconut Shrimp was good and the fish was fresh and flaky, perfectly fried. Unfortunately, the calamari was over fired to the point of being shriveled & super chewy. I love French Fries, but these were quite soggy and glossed in oil.

Overall it was alright, but I'd definitely order just Fish & Chips and an order of just the Coconut Shrimp instead of the Fried Mixed Seafood Platter. Maybe next time I will try one of their cold raw seafood offers: Ceviche of The day, Oysters on the Half...

Took my family of 5 for lunch recently. Cost was about $100 for the 5 of us, which included 1 kids meal. Wasn't super upset with the prices, but worth noting.

My wife got the fish and chips plate and our kids meal was a fish and chips (half size order). There was really no difference in the two portion sizes. Almost identical except one cost significantly more than the other.

I had the crab cakes, which I thought were great. No complaints there. Coleslaw wasn't for us. None of us really cared for it, but slaw is very subjective so I won't bag on it.

My son had the wahoo sandwich, which he loved.

Daughter had the clam chowder and a baguette. Here's where things started to slip. Chowder is served almost immediately at the counter but they didnt give us the baguette (which was like an additional $4 btw). Her plan was to use the baguette to soak up the chowder. She started eating the chowder so it wouldnt get cold but it took so long on the baguette that she was practically finished before she walked back to the counter (after waiting 15 minutes) and asked for it.

There is VERY LITTLE inside seating. And the outdoor seating is all bar seating, so a group of 3 or more will struggle to sit together. We sat on the end of the building with 2 of us around the corner and the other 3 facing a different direction. Even that wasn't a problem, but we kept getting wafts of trash while eating, which was really the killer. There is a waste disposal collection area right by all the outdoor diners, so you're smelling that garbage while you're eating and it was just really off-putting.

I realize a lot of these problems are problems they cant really solve bc there isnt space to spread out any further. But there's no way I'd ever return here with more than 2 people or unless I was taking my food to go. I was actually surprised this place has a 4.6 star ranking, honestly. Decent food, a touch pricy in my opinion, average service (at best), and just a horrid setup...