Recently, one of my co-workers, "K" mentioned a mariscos place in San Ysidro that her husband really enjoys....they especially like the fish tacos there, which are priced at just 99 cents. A couple of weeks later, I found myself in the area, so I made sure to stop by Fish Mart, located right off Dairy Mart Road.
The place looks very bright and clean, and the young man manning the front of house was quite nice. From the posters and such, it seems like this place specializes in Pescado Zarandeado - whole grilled fish, but since I was solo, I thought I'd go with just some tacos.
Right after placing my order, a basket of chips and a mild salsa was delivered to my table. Fairly thick, but crisp this was a nice way to kill time and relax until my tacos arrived.
The first to arrive was the Tacos de Pescado (fish taco - 99 cents). It looked quite impressive, look at all that crema, pico de gallo, guacamole..... but where's the fish?
It's really hard to complain about a fish taco that costs a buck....... this was quite substantial, but the fish was kinda puny. I will say that when I pulled some of it out to have a taste, it was fine, crisp, light, mild tasting. But under the cabbage avalanche...... Still two of these would probably go pretty far with regards to filling you up.
After that taco, I expected my other two tacos, the Marlyn ($2.25) and Gobernador ($3) where going to be pretty hefty..... well, I was wrong.
These were pretty small, just compare to some other examples of the same type of tacos. These looked positively wimpy.
The better of the two was the Tacos de Marlyn - the smoked fish.
While waiting for my tacos, I asked the young man where his family was from; and was told Sinaloa, so I expected this to be much better than it was. Very mild, very underwhelming.....
The Gobernador was more skimpy......
Not much to say, other than it was also a bit greasy........ the photo speaks for itself.
I was certain that I was missing out on something here, so I glanced over at the other two tables with customers... and they were all eating fish tacos! Perhaps Fish Mart has some wonderful specialty.... I'll let you tell me if this place is worth another visit.....
Fish Mart
2036 Dairy Mart Road
San Ysidro, CA 92173
you should check out the place i found by the las americas outlet! i forget the name at this second, but i blogged about it recently. a pretty damn good 99 cent fish taco. they also have a 99 cent potato taco that is decent too =)
Posted by: DD | Monday, 28 March 2011 at 09:16 PM
aw too bad, hope it was just a bad day for them.
Posted by: kat | Monday, 28 March 2011 at 10:35 PM
Hi DD - Thanks for the rec!
Hi Kat - I think this will be pretty much it.... but am looknig to see if anyone has recommendations.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 29 March 2011 at 06:54 AM
Looks like a case of quantity over quality. Although like you said, considering you could probably fill up on two of them, it's hard to argue with spending only 2 bucks for a meal nowadays.
Posted by: Jason | Tuesday, 29 March 2011 at 12:48 PM
Hi Jason - Well it sure wasn't quantity over quality for the other two tacos.... more like "none of the above". ;o) I agree $2-3 for a meal is some kind of bargain nowadays.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 29 March 2011 at 06:59 PM
check out the food truck called mariscos el prieto on 4th and main st in chula vista. it is only a buck including tax and they give a nice sized piece of fish.
the best fish taco truck in san diego in my opinion.
Posted by: Buddha | Wednesday, 30 March 2011 at 11:51 AM
Hi Jeff - Guess where I went to on my way back from Fish Mart? Stay tuned......
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 31 March 2011 at 06:46 AM
Mariscos El Prieto and Mercado Internacional is my guess!
Posted by: Buddha | Thursday, 31 March 2011 at 11:12 AM