Mariscos "El Güero" — Restaurant in West Covina

I’m never coming again and I do not recommend! Not only is the food awful, the staff is also dishonest, and yet will still expect a tip for terrible service. I decided to try this restaurant out with my family because we were all convinced by the high reviews. However, the restaurant itself was completely empty when we arrived at lunch hour (around 1pm) which is never a good sign but we sat down and decided to try it out anyways. Our waitress took our order very quickly (we were her only customers) and told us that the fountain drinks were unavailable because the machine was broken so we obliged and ordered canned sodas. Tell me why the fountain taps were perfectly functioning for the staff to come and pour themselves drinks though?? Anyways, when the food arrived, I instantly regretted ever trying this place! The 7 Mares seafood soup was watered down, flavorless, with a couple mussels on top and what looked like canned clams. I usually order this soup at restaurants because of the abundance of seafood it usually has! It was disappointing and tasted disgusting, 0/10. We also tried their garlic fried fish; it smelled like an old stinky fish and tasted like dirty water so I’m guessing that this fish was already going bad. It was a complete waste of money, 0/10. The cocktail that we ordered and tostadas (mixtas) were also lacking freshness, seafood variety, and flavor. The salsa that we were served as an appetizer was awful as well. Have you ever tried a salsa that tasted like Tajin and tomatillo? Me either and I don’t recommend it. When it came time to pay, our waitress refused to give us a paper receipt because ‘we don’t do that here’ but reminded us to tip her. After lying to us and never coming to pick up all the dishes/napkins that we had pushed aside throughout our meal, AND I was still hungry because the food was inedible?? The audacity. Anyways, please do yourself a favor and don’t be fooled by the reviews! There are better restaurants with better services in LA and unfortunately, this place does NOT...

Update on 8/22

Really good spot for Mariscos. On this trip, they were out of oysters and the 3 tacos dorados didn’t do it for me, but the mixed cocktail and the garlic grilled fish were spot on. Cocktail was fresh and had great flavors. Not all cucumber and caldo. The fish filet was cooked well and had a tomato garlic sauce that was amazing. The tacos dorados had a lot of shrimp, but i think there was cheese mixed in that didn’t mix well for me. Would have been better without the cheese for me. The chipotle dressing they serve with it was bomb though. I’m old school, you don’t mix cheese and seafood :) The other thing I would suggest is a second salsa option. The one salsa they have is tasty on food, but not the best for chips. ——-

Came with med expectations, because just like sushi, only fresh seafood can be had on the west side of LA or a very busy spot. Anyway, it was great for me. Oysters were fresh enough, which is the test for me when it comes to Mariscos. Pretty basic with limes and crackers, but on point for what I wanted and expected. Cocktail was a bit sweet, but bearable and tapatio fixes all. Service was on point. Very friendly and quick. Ordered the first cocktail without onions. Hate to send something back, but no issues and an apology. Should not be a highlight, but these days it is. Especially when they don’t give any lip and just say sorry, I’ll fix it. Ordered a little extra to go and look forward to the next trip. Great experience overall for me and look forward to the next visit and hope to try a...

Let me begin this review by stating that I attended this establishment on a busy Sunday afternoon.

I ordered 2 fish tacos which were just average. The tortillas were store bought, rather than handmade and the taco only had cream and cabbage. I'm used to having fish tacos include other ingredients such as tomatoes, cilantro, and onions. I guess I should have asked what it included, but I'm so used to fish tacos including those basic ingredients.

You must spend at least $10 in order to use a credit card. I wish these establishments would just give you the option to pay for the fee. That being said, the cashier was long enough to let us use a credit card even though our bill was less than $10.

Chips and salsa are offered for free, the chips were light and crispy, but the salsa was average and definitely store bought.

The servers were friendly, but it was extremely busy and thus it took some time to place my order and pay for the order as well.

I did not try anything else other than their fish tacos, and thus I can't speak about the rest of their food. But their fish tacos were...