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It was a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon (everyday in San Diego is like a warm Sunday afternoon, isn’t it?). Besides our morning coffee, we were on an empty stomach, fully prepared for what would be a four-stop fish taco extravaganza all over town.

Let’s do this.

First stop: South Beach Bar & Grille, in Ocean Beach. Well regarded as one of the best fish tacos in town, and their website claims to be the best in the WORLD. Although their site also chirps horrible Coldplay muzak that irks my soundsensitive bones, obviously I couldn’t skip this.

Plus, @fauxbrizio pointed out that they had FRIED OYSTER TACOS. Holy cannoli.

We showed up around 1pm and the place was packed– the Chargers were playing and everyone was in high spirits. It has a sports bar vibe so I would’ve never guessed that this was the Home of the World’s Best Fish Taco. We’ll see about that.

Of course, this was the first stop, so I had to pace myself, right? Yes, yes.

Our cute server came and asked what we were getting. I panicked. I want everything. “I’ll take a fried fish taco. OMG and a fried oyster taco!!!! How are your grilled tacos? Yah, ok, I’ll take that too.”

Cue Kristi’s incessant eye-rolling.

Real quick- What I was looking for in this tour was the best Baja-style fish taco, which I prefer. It’s a simple marriage of tortilla, fish that is battered and FRIED (not grilled), chopped cabbage, pico de gallo (of some sort), and crema (white sauce). Limes and cilantro, yes.

@mmmyoso had suggested I get the crema on the side here, so I followed suit. Apparently, they over sauce– although come on, could you really oversauce anything??

OMG these are HUGE! Left is the oyster, middle is fried fish, right is the marinated grilled mahi-mahi. Ohhhyahh.

Fried fish: lightly battered, huge fish portion. Crispy, hot. Maybe too much salsa? But the tortilla was fluffy and the fish very fresh.

Grilled mahi-mahi. I didn’t think I would like this since I’m not a huge grilled fish taco fan. But it was awesomely marinated and super flavorful. Thumbs up.

Holy shit the OYSTER TACO. Perfectly battered, lightly fried, it was utter heaven in my mouth. Total FLAVORIMPLOSION. Seriously genius.

Kristi’s shrimp taco. Isn’t she gorgeous?

KRISTI
South Beach offers corn tortillas for all tacos and that makes me happy. French fries felt fresh like In-N-Out style but thicker.

NATE
You missed the lobster taco, which could be my favorite fish taco of all time.

I had never seen this before, but this Just Chili California hot sauce was the bomb.

Hey dude.

Oyster Tacos FTW!

Ahhh…

Next stop: Tin Fish. Stay tuned!

South Beach Bar & Grille
5059 Newport Ave # 104
San Diego, CA
T: 619.226.4577