Brigantine Seafood Restaurant

Reviews 3

WA

Walter Macalma

This is one Brig I would love to be sent to. I could spend a lot of time here and looking back on all these years, I kind of have, so I won’t write that typical (how have I not written a review already?) Go ahead drop by name on Tuesdays, see what happens. Well, they’ll bring you fish taco’s is what will happen and if you get an afternoon off, during the summer, maybe between the Fair and the Races. Maybe it’s one of the best fish taco’s in San Diego. Well it actually is, but I’ll dive into that later. With the crown jewel of their 6 Brig’s you really have to come here over all the others. Look at this location on any map and tell me your not impressed by it’s proximity to the water, open flood plains, sunset views, Del Mar valley views, views of the fairgrounds. Actually take a look both inside and out because the décor, ambiance inside, is far less what you’d think Del Mar would be. On the outside patio it’s just beautiful, some string lighting, very backyard garden wedding venue-esque feel. The service is great whether you are there for tacos and oysters or a special occasion dinner date, thought the bartenders when you belly up are pretty cool. Prices are still Del Mar but they have a legit HH, sure it’s not sandy sandals fresh out the water type place like you might find in Encinitas or Carlsbad, but it’s hard to be underdressed here during the day. They do classic seafood dishes like mac crusted mahi mahi which seems very Hawaiian, but the lemon butter rounds it out well. Avo lime butter on the swordfish is clean, but not too noteworthy because it’s such a simple recipe one could easily do this themselves. Plenty of seasonal specials. People sometimes order the filet mignon here, but it’s not a steakhouse. I love their small plates from littleneck casino clams (damn degenerate gamblers, probably come here after the races too) to poke wonton tacos. The char grilled octopus is very med and not chewy at all, probably double cooked, then ice chilled and grilled. It’s an oyster bar so getting their daily selection is prime, don’t get the Rockefeller, what’s the point of having fresh, briny mollusks if your going to cook away the essence or as I like to call it “the thingness of the thing” Finally the fish tacos. If you come here during happy hour the fish they fry and put in your tacos were caught that morning, you heard me. That morning. This automatically boosts their quality and ranking way up in the charts over maybe more authentic places. Sure I won’t get into the whole shark vs. fish and how they do it in baja versus here, but it’s as good as if I caught it myself. The fish piece will most certainly stick outside the tortilla like a foot long hotdog does a bun. Think the size of a small phone in each. Fair warning they put cheddar cheese on these, but you can ask for that on the side. Also this is America so they offer Ranch dressing on these too, but again side piece that ish. Dinner reservations are recommended. Bathroom is on point. Valet parking is a must, but I often uber over from the fairgrounds because I’m rarely sober.

LI

Lisa R

We just came from this restaurant and I need to warn people to watch out for the waiters there, and the people who call themselves the managers. My son took us to this restaurant because he has gone several times, loved it, and he had a gift card to use. After ordering our drinks and appetizer he asked the waiter to check his gift card to make sure he had the right one, he had been given two for Christmas and wanted to make sure he had the 100 dollar one with him. The waiter brought it back with a printout like a ticket from a cash register that had zero dollars on it. He set it down and said it had "nada". Those were his words. This upset my son and he decided to run home, only a couple of blocks away, and get the right gift card. It took him about 30 minutes to go home, look all over and then come back. When he arrived he said "I think I was just cheated out of 100 dollars!" The waiter heard him and said, well, maybe I can check that again, which he did, and voila! His 100 dollars was on the card after all. We asked how this could be and he just said, "well the numbers are the same, you can check it yourself" which we then did and found they were different by one number. We then decided to ask the "manager" who told us the card could not be read by swiping, it had to be punched in and that was how the mistake happened. The only problem with that was the waiter in the meantime told the rest of us at the table that he had swiped it both times and he didnt have any idea how those machines worked so he couldnt tell us how something like that could have happened. The manager my son spoke to just told him that was too bad that he had been told that, but in the meantime we were telling the waiter we thought he should talk to a manager, since we thought our son was talking to a bar maid, and he went off and came back telling us he was removing our sons burger and beer from the bill for his inconvenience. We never saw that manager that told him to do that, but the "manager" my son spoke to didnt offer any compensation for his time and aggravation. So, the meal that was supposed to be a nice Easter dinner turned into an upsetting and mediocre event. The burgers were pretty good, but really, fifteen dollars? AND you have to pay about seven to park? My husband thought the fish n chips he ordered were ABOUT as good as the frozen ones you get in the grocery store. Better than fish sticks though at least. I had the veggies as a side and they were stone cold when they arrived. My daughter in law to be seemed happy with her fish, so at least she had a nice meal. The bottom line is that we will not be eating at this restaurant again, there are too many good options in this area to put ourselves through this type of mess. Also, we hope not to ever buy another gift card for this restaurant.

JA

Jason Edwards

San Diego is famous for its "Taco Tuesday," the happy-hour-all-day restaurant specials each Tuesday throughout San Diego County. Although the frequency of these Tuesday happy hours is likely due to the business savvy restauranteurs identifying that Tuesday is generally the slowest day of the week and therefore offer bargains to boost business, whatever it may be, it is a great day to find food and drink deals around the city. It is also necessary to note that "Taco Tuesday" specials dont always involve tacos. This weeks highlighted Taco Tuesday hot spot, The Brigantine in Del Mar, actually does specialize in tacos. The Brigantine is a lovely, albeit loud, restaurant/bar on the northern outskirts of Del Mar, located at 3263 Camino Del Mar (Historic Rt. 101) overlooking the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Every Tuesday in their Oyster Bar section of the restaurant, they offer a reduced price on a variety of tacos, including their grilled mahi-mahi, grilled swordfish, buffalo chicken, carne asada, and of course their famous battered fried fish taco (which were delicious) to name a few. Although not the cheapest Taco Tuesday around, the Brigantine does offer a nice variety of hefty, high quality tacos. As stated, the fried fish tacos were scrumptious, and although somewhat dry, the grilled swordfish taco was also very tasty. Even though the place was still packed at 8:30pm, that didnt stop the tacos from coming out within 5 minutes of ordering them. One criticism is that the service was lackluster (and they charged $10 for my raw food vegan bro to get a lettuce and tomato salad), but it did not diminish the dining experience. Also, the Brigantine fails to offer drink specials to go along with their Taco Tuesday menu, something that really grinds my gears. Despite shortcomings in service and drink specials, as far as their tacos go, Brigantine gets 4 out of 5 stars and is worth a visit on Taco Tuesday.