**** Mariscos el Cata is now Cocinas del Monte.
Back in February, I noticed that Mariscos El Cata was opening on Congress Street in Old Town. Then, at the end of May, while driving thru Old Town after a visit to Old Town Tequila, we noticed that El Cata seemed to be open. Since the parking lot at the corner of Twiggs and Congress was empty, we parked and walked on over. And yes, El Cata was open. At that time we were told that they were open from 11am until 7pm daily. So, we decided to head on over a few days later.

The place was empty except for two folks dining in the vast patio area.

We didn't quite know what the drill was and I walked in and flagged down the very friendly gentleman working. We got a nice table overlooking Congress Street and were handed menus which were quite vast in the offerings. Also of note was that there were two prices indicated, for cash versus credit card.

We placed our order and some nice chips, with a tangy salsa verde were provided.

We were also asked if we'd be needed "salsas" and for the heat level....of course the Missus said picante. And a couple of bottles of El Cata branded hot sauce were provided.

I really liked the heat of the Chiltepin Rojo.
We placed our order and after a short wait, our dishes started to arrive.

First up was the taco de pescado. Sadly, as you can tell, the fish had been over-fried and was almost black in color. It was also quite dry, probably from being overcooked.
Next up, the Taco de Camaron. In this case the shrimp was perfectly cooked, plump, mildly sweet, and well seasoned.

The sauce wasn't too rich and had a hint of sweetness to it. The tortillas, which were really mild in maize tones, wasn't up to the task here and fell to pieces quite quickly.
We also ordered the Ceviche de Camaron.
I swear I tasted some soy sauce in this ceviche negro; but I must be imagining things. I liked this refreshing dish. The shrimp had been chopped and for me, it made a nice bite when including the onions, cucumber on a tostada. The Missus thought the dish was short on shrimp and had too much "other stuff" for Her taste.
Right when this dish arrived, the nice gentleman came over and apologized....they had forgotten the other two tacos we ordered. This was soon rectified.
Next to arrive was the Gobernador.

This was pretty mild in flavor overall and it really lacked the layer of flavors that bell peppers add which add crunch with a nice chlorophyllic touch and onions which add a nice sweet pungency provide. Again, the tortillas just gave in and didn't make thru two bites. We also thought this was a bit over-sauced.
Finally, the Taco de Marlyn arrived.

The marlin was much milder than we're used to and this was also over sauced for our taste. Still it wasn't bad, but again, those tortillas didn't make it thru the first bite.
The place seemed to be going thru some opening issues, which is to be expected, though I would think having two other restaurants in Tijuana, the formula for the dishes would be the least of the place's problems. The guy serving us was nice and "El Cata" himself was on hand and came by to say hello.
And so, we were going to give the place a short pause before returning. But then, I saw this episode of Crossing South and we thought, well, why not give them another shot before leaving for our trip to Mexico.
The place was again quite empty, obviously still in soft opening mode. This time a very friendly and cheerful young lady waited on us. We placed our order and soon enough 2 Tacos de Pescado arrived.

The strange thing being, after our previous experience with the fish tacos here, we didn't order any tacos de pescado! We were the only customers in the place, so I don't think this was anyone else's order. In the end, instead of making a big deal out of it, we just had the tacos. Two key points regarding this was that this time the fish wasn't over fried and was moist, if a bit on the fishy side in flavor and El Cata was now using double tortillas which ensured that our tacos wouldn't be falling apart. the batter was also crisp and light. That's a step in the right direction for us.
In terms of our order; it seems that these two tacos replaced the Camaron a la Diabla and the Pulpo a la Diabla we ordered. On the positive side of things; we were only charged for tacos de pescado, not the more expensive tacos we ordered.
We did get the Taco de Todos Los Mariscos, the most expensive taco at $6.50 (cash price).

Again, double tortillas were used. The shrimp were plump and perfectly cooked and the pulpo was so tender. Loved the addition of red and green bell peppers and onions. Oh man, did I wish we had our pulpo taco! The avocado added a nice slightly sweet creaminess to the taco as well.
The Missus wanted to try the Aguachile. So, I ordered the Aguachile de Camaron with Salsa Verde.
This was a nice portion of plump shrimp. Though that salsa verde was very mild and really lacked acidity. And because of that; the shrimp never "cooked/cured" in the sauce. It was basically raw shrimp the whole way thru. The tostadas provided were tasty and up to the task, but that sauce was really weak.
We did enjoy the friendly folks working here. I like the quality of the shrimp and the pulpo in the taco was delish, so hopefully the next time I'll actually get pulpo when I order it. It'll be nice to return in a few months to see how things are progressing.
Mariscos El Cata
2543 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 11am - 7pm
Sat - Sun 11am - 8pm
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