Rockin' Baja Lobster - Gaslamp — Restaurant in San Diego

A bunch of colleagues of mine recently converged on San Diego for a convention and were staying in Gaslamp. Like any good host, I wanted to treat them to a San Diego Mexican-style dinner, preferably from a place that I could reliably count on to not food poison them. Rather than bring them all somewhere I would typically eat, which would require exiting downtown, I brought them to this place. My reasoning was as follows:

1. As downtown goes, the prices are not exorbitant -- the happy hour specials and "Taco Tuesday" specials are great value.

2. The patio is a nice place to "people-watch" from while enjoying your meal.

3. My colleagues were from Florida and Rhode Island. I reasoned that even bad San Diego tacos would do the trick.

4. In my previous experience, I found that the food here, while not in the upper strata of what is available in San Diego, is not inedible.

5. I have been eating a bunch of tacos this summer, and "tourist restaurant taco" is a box I had yet to check.

Since I didn't set my expectations very high, I was rewarded with a reasonably good meal. We started with the "Crispy Calamari" and "Grilled Shrimp Cocktail." Both were forgettable, but inoffensive -- my only complaint being that the cocktail sauce with the shrimp was too runny and thin. The "Shrimp Taquitos" arrived as our final appetizer, consisting of six corn tortillas filled with blackened shrimp and jack cheese, deep fried until crispy, then topped with pico and cream sauce. These were crowd-pleasers and very much reminded me of the popular Asian appetizer where whole shrimp are wrapped in rice paper and deep fried (e.g., "Goong Hom Pha" in Thai cuisine).

For tacos, we shared orders of the "Lobster Tacos," featuring legit sautéed lobster, fire-roasted corn, avocado cream sauce, pico de gallo, cotija, and sriracha aioli, all on a flour tortilla. After having so many bad or mediocre lobster tacos in my life, I was thankful that this one was excellent. The taste of the lobster was clean, its texture taut and pleasant, and the sauces and other toppings worked well to create a combination of sweet, spicy, and rich to fittingly complement the king of all crustaceans.

Less successful were the "Surf and Turf Taco" and the "Blackened Fish Taco," but neither were awful. The steak in the Surf and Turf Taco was chewy, but the taco was otherwise decent. The Blackened Fish Taco does not feature any actual blackening of the fish, it's just a regular grilled fish taco. Good taco, but my expectation was not met.

The "Lobster Corn Chowder" has a very nice buttery flavor, and a thick broth that is a cross between a chowder and bisque. Be forewarned that there is good amount of corn and soft bits of potatoes in this soup, but just a bit of lobster. I recommend the Lobster Tacos as the better inexpensive way to sample the lobster here.

Again, the key to dining here is to set the right expectation. This is a tourist restaurant, essentially San Diego's version of "Bubba Gump Shrimp Company" or "Señor Frog's." Downing your drinks efficiently so you can get to the next round as quickly as possible will also help increase your enjoyment and appreciation of Rockin' Baja Lobster's...

I walked around for a while looking for a nice place to grab an affordable and flavorful lunch and ended up checking this place out. It's very close to where I was staying (Pendry).

Let me start by saying that my server, Ruby, was so nice and friendly that quite frankly I would've had a good experience even if the food hadn't been all that great. But, I actually did really like the food, and I think we stumbled upon something pretty innovative.

So, these guys have basically admitted what we all knew - fundamentally, tacos and burritos are kind of the same thing, it's just what you wrap it in. So, instead of having a tacos section and a burritos section, they have a section called "Tacos y Burros" and you can order them as tacos OR get them as a burrito where they basically just take three tacos' worth of filling and it all in one big flour tortilla and serve it "wet." Pretty cool.

Well, one thing they offer is a vegetarian taco with Nashville hot cauliflower. I thought to myself, you know, every time I get those big burrito plates, I always end up regretting it later because you get meat sweats and there's all that salsa and cheese, etc. Wouldn't it be interesting to try a burrito like that but with spicy, fresh veggies? So, I went for it.

It's not VEGAN, but you can get it without cheese and then I'm pretty sure it would be vegan. It was definitely vegetarian though, and it was definitely Top 5 burritos of my life. The ingredients were fresh, the whole thing had such a distinct flavor and character, and if I'm ever in San Diego again I will make time to go back and eat this thing once more.

So, to sum it all up - great, friendly staff, great food, great location. If you went into this place and you were disappointed, your expectations were not in line with what this place is. If you want to have an elegant dining experience, there are places within a block of here that can give you that. This is a chill, laid-back bar and grill with great food for a good price and friendly staff. Get the espresso martini and...

Food and service was great instead for the date of April 2th, 2023 at 8pm. It was my 6time wanting to enjoy their comfort and dishes. When I was sat at a table and a few mins later I was told the server asign to my table would not serve me. I felt so insulted because the reason was at first "That I stiff the bill." I never hear such terrible ways to call somebody a theif since I never done and dashed at all with my 5 meals I enjoyed from there. I did rudely asked who the heck is this person was who called me a theif and to have an owner or the waiter in question to talk to me. Later, the nice hostess came back and told me a different reason. "He said you never tip so he won't serve you." I work for fast food so I understand but I never ask anybody for a tip since it's just fast food. I told her still feeling frustrated. While the hostess was re seating me since I gave up. I was told "your fast food, it's not worth tipping for" what the heck was all that for. I get insulted being a paying thief who don't tip, to a fast food employee that doesn't deserve a tip for serving fast food. I left the restaurant after a few minutes because I FELT UNCOMFORTABLE and super insulted. Won't say their food is terrible, it's great but if you don't want to feel exclude, you better tip them because apparently they get payed cheaper than an McDonald's employee. So please feed your Baja waiters and waitresses. They get paid dirt cheap and will not serve you if you don't tip them. As I was raised on these words.

Overall, tipping in Japan is not customary. The Japanese culture is one that is firmly rooted in dignity, respect, and hard work. As such, good service is considered the standard and tips are viewed as unnecessary

So I guess, they are saying tip them so they can do better in servicing you and your party. So that you can indeed get a...