15 Best Mariscos Spots Around Los Angeles
Everyone knows that LA has amazing tacos, pizza and breakfast burritos. But when we’re craving something fresh and zippy, we turn to the city’s many mariscos where we can tuck into raw shrimp in spicy aguachile sauce, Baja clams swimming in broth, and of course, crispy seafood tostadas doused in lime. Although we take mariscos to generally mean seafood from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, the word actually refers to shellfish. Of course, most mariscos restaurants and trucks also tend to serve fish dishes, so you can find fish tacos and ceviches alongside scallop aguachile and other mariscos dishes. The LA area has a wealth of great mariscos spots, from food trucks serving up a quick lunch to beautiful, sit-down restaurants. And so, these are the 15 best mariscos around Los Angeles.
The Best Seafood Restaurants in Los Angeles
Holbox
1. Holbox
Location: Downtown
Available for delivery/takeout: yes
This counter seating stall inside Mercado La Paloma serves some of the best seafood in the city that rivals even fine dining restaurants. You can’t go wrong with any of the Yucatan-style seafood here, from the shrimp aguachile to the clams from Baja california to the octopus taco served with squid ink sofrito. Holbox is more than a food hall stall, but they also offer an outstanding eight-course tasting menu. The tasting menu is offered on Thursdays and Fridays for $115 per person.
Fiona Chandra
2. Del Mar Ostioneria
Location: Mid City
Available for delivery/takeout: yes
This seafood truck in Mid City quickly became one of the hottest trucks in Los Angeles. Parked in a strip mall on La Brea, Del Mar serves up shrimp tamarindo habanero aguachile, and lobsters are wrapped in cheese for tacos made using handmade blue corn tortilla. The aguachile negro is another popular choice that’s become of their signature items.
Fiona Chandra
3. Mariscos Jalisco
Location: multiple locations
Available for delivery/takeout: takeout only
Mariscos Jalisco is always on the list of the best food trucks in Los Angeles, and it is well deserved. The truck is famous for their shrimp tacos, served in a crispy fried tortilla and topped with guacamole and a flavorful tomato salsa. For those who dare, the Poseidon tostada is piled high with octopus and shrimp and topped with a very spicy red aguachile. They have four restaurants around the Los Angeles area now, making it easy to grab a taco.
Fiona Chandra
4. Coni’ Seafood
Location: Inglewood
Available for delivery/takeout: yes
Coni’ Seafood comes from Los Angeles mariscos royalty. The family ran Mariscos Chente, which became one of LA’s most popular mariscos restaurants. Today, their daughter Connie Cossio has taken over operations and reopened as Coni’ Seafood, serving the same great Nayarit seafood dishes using her father’s recipes that made Mariscos Chente great. Try out marlin tacos or the camarones borrachos, cooked with tequila.
5. 106 Seafood Underground
Location: Inglewood
Available for delivery/takeout: takeout and dine-in, no delivery
Sergio Peñuelas worked at Mariscos Chente and became known for his fish grilling skill. His pescado zarandeado, a whole snook that is butterflied and grilled, earned him the nickname “snook whisperer.” These days, you can get his pescado zarandeado and other mariscos dishes in his backyard in Inglewood. The backyard atmosphere is on point, but they do get packed on the weekends and the wait times can be long, so plan accordingly. No website available.
6. Mariscos El Faro
Location: Highland Park
Available for delivery/takeout: yes
Mariscos El Faro is a long-time Highland Park food truck serving Sinaloan-style seafood and it was one of the early seafood trucks that use high quality seafood, like the one in their shrimp aguachile or the salt-cured sea bass tostada. Masa empanadas are filled with shrimp and cheese and served with a smoky dipping sauce.
7. Simón Food Truck
Location: Silver Lake
Available for delivery/takeout: yes
Simón food truck in Silver Lake serves seafood dishes unlike what you’d typically find at other mariscos trucks. The truck is run by two cousins who came from a well-known fine dining restaurant in Oaxaca. Here, fish taco gets the al pastor treatment with a smoky flavor paired with charred pineapples, fried soft shell crab is served on top of freshly made tortillas. Their specialty shrimp ceviche is served with a complex aguachile negro.
Jakob Layman
8. Loreto
Location: Frogtown
Available for delivery/takeout: dine-in and takeout, no delivery
Loreto is one of Frogtown’s hottest dining destinations and also one of the hottest mariscos spots in town. The sleek restaurant comes from the LA Cha Cha Cha team but with a menu that sources seafood heavily from Mexico. The torre is a tower built with shrimp, bluefin tuna, Mayan octopus, scallops and uni. Torta ahogada gets the seafood treatment with lobster instead of the usual pork and even the street food favorite elote is gussied up with uni aioli and topped with a sliver of fresh uni.
Mariscos Za Za Zá
9. Mariscos Za Za Zá
Location: Frogtown
Available for delivery/takeout: dine-in or takeout, no delivery
Mariscos Za Za Zá is the counter-service, lunch-time sibling of Loreto. The menu is more condensed and casual, but there are some fun dishes not to miss. Try the los tostilocos, a popular street food snack that here is made with Doritos, Colima-style fish ceviche and avocado. Una costra por favor is a taco made with shrimp, black beans and pasilla chile all wrapped in a blanket of melted cheese. The dining area is all outdoors but the vibe is on point, surrounded by pink buildings and cacti that transport you to the Sonoran desert.
Fiona Chandra
10. Playa Amor
Location: Long Beach
Available for delivery/takeout: yes
Chef Thomas Ortega’s Playa Amor has been serving refined Mexican food in Long Beach since 2016. Tender octopus is charred and served over cauliflower puree with aji verde and aji rojo sauces and fish tacos feature beer-battered fried cod. Don’t miss the Maine lobster served Puerto Nuevo-style when it appears on the menu.
11. Ceviche Stop
Location: Culver City
Available for takeout/delivery: yes
Although this one is actually a Peruvian spot, it deserves a place since one of the most popular Mexican seafood dishes, ceviche, has origins in Pre-Hispanic Peru. At Ceviche Stop, chef Walther Adrianzen is putting a twist on traditional dishes. There are blood clams and sea urchin ceviche, Peruvian scallops topped with parmesan and yuzu kosho. The Hangover ceviche is one of their most popular dishes, thanks to the presentation in a soda fountain glass and topped with a handful of fried calamari.
12. El Muelle 8
Location: Downey
Available for takeout/delivery: yes
This spot in Downey was opened by two music industry friends who lost their income during the pandemic and decided to open a restaurant. The restaurant is the first US franchise of El Muelle 8 in Culiacan and serves up tacos with a steak of ahi tuna with salsa bandera. The Molcajete Especial is a must for seafood lovers and large enough to share—scallops, shrimp, octopus, snail, fish and crab are all served in a stone molcajete. The menu is large but offers unique dishes that are worth exploring one by one.
Ka’Teen
13. Ka’Teen
Location: Hollywood
Available for delivery/takeout: takeout, no delivery
Wes Avila’s Ka’Teen is a piece of Tulum in Hollywood with the leafy outdoor seating and coastal Mexican cooking. While Ka’Teen is not strictly a mariscos restaurant, there’s plenty of it on the menu. Avila serves California spot prawns with green aguachile, and the campechana here is a mix of hamachi, scallops, tuna, and shrimp served inside a whole young coconut.
Fiona Chandra
14. Mariscos Linda Truck
Location: City Terrace
Available for delivery/takeout: yes
Mariscos Linda Truck in City Terrace is a no-frills truck that locals head to for a quick, cheap lunch. The prices are right, the seafood is fresh and the portions are generous. The Ensenada-style fish taco comes with a piece of fried fish almost as large as the tortilla itself, and the tostada mixta also does not skimp on seafood. There’s an indoor dining area right where the truck is parked, so you can take your time and enjoy your meal there.
Fiona Chandra
15. Palmilla Cocina y Tequila
Location: Newport Beach
Available for takeout/delivery: takeout and dine-in, no delivery
Palmilla is where you go for some seafood and margaritas in a stunning environment before or after a day on the beach. Palmilla in Newport Beach is designed by an award-winning architect and the design itself is worth checking out. They have a large menu and, being in Newport Beach, offers a lot of seafood dishes. There’s a menu of ceviches served with plantain chips, chile relleno stuffed with lobster and shrimp, and even their own version of surf-and-turf.
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