Karina’s Ceviche and Oysters

They have since closed shop — if anyone knows they reopened in North County, please share.

guess it took me tool long to finish and post my view. i see that KARINA’s CEVICHE and OYSTERS closed. deep sigh …
kid’s dragged me here and i have to admit to being more than a little skeptical about a «ceviche» restaurant in an old JACK-​IN-​THE-​BOX. the menu was way too extensive. unless you are overwhelmingly busy (and they weren’t or they would still be open) it is tough to have fresh ceviche with that many options.
everything we had was surprisingly good. some dishes were a bit rough in their conception or execution but still pretty tasty.
oh, well …

Karina’s shrimp and avocado ceviche was absolutely delicious!!! … The outside doesn’t do justice to the food. True meaning of a hole in a wall. … Reasonable prices too!

Bomb! Don’t be intimidated by the strange location and outer look of the place. It is well decorated inside and the food is worth the stop! Karina’s ceviche is so zesty and delicious, the surf and turf burrito has so much flavor and the micheluca I had to drink was yumm! I can’t wait to go back to trying menu options!!!
Great choice if your looking for a Mexican seafood place!!!
I do have one downside… I don’t think the oysters were as fresh as they should be…

After reading reviews, I was a little nervous to check this place out. I am so glad I did. There are 2 things that I love in this world: Avocados and Seafood. Combine them? You’ve got a customer for life. Ceviche stuffed avocados. Huge serving. I split it between 2 days and had lunch for 2 days! Score!
I thought the outside would look a little different, not sure why. Their drive thru is not functioning and is blocked off. The service inside is fast and friendly.
You should check it out!

This place is the bomb! I love seafood & the menu is on point! I had the aguachiles & tostadas de ceviche. soooo good! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Don’t forget to order a Micheluca! Best miche I’ve had in SD by far!

PLEASE COME TO NOR CAL !! OMG this place is amazing ! Everything was on point ! Kids menu was great ! Decent price cute décor ! You can’t and won’t go wrong with this place ! My new ATF !!!

I may have entered here with high expectations, i was expecting to be blown away by the «Karina Ceviche» but it unfortunately wasn’t what i expected also pretty skimp on shrimp. The portions however were large, clean restaurant & average price.
Oysters were very fresh, i would rate that individually at 5 stars ;)

Stopped by for a quick dinner, when this place caught my eye. Service was really great for being one server and quite a handful of customers. I ordered the small fish ceviche, which was fresh and plentiful, but a little too salty. I poured Tapatillo on it so that helped, but not much. Their chips and salsa were fresh which was a nice touch. I should have ordered guacamole because it looked so good. Their Michelukas is BOMB! Icy and refreshing — I wish they were beachfront because this drink was made to be savored on some sand! on a hot day this will cure what ails you. The octopus tacos were tender and delicious. But since they are deep fried corn tortilla shells, I could see how these can get really greasy or heavy if the oil is old. I would stop by again when I’m around the area. Man those Michelukas almost are worthy of the drive on their own, if the ceviche was more on-​point.

Went here on foodie road trip and finally got to check them out. My only problem is I always over order when I try new places out. The great thing about this joint is that their ceviche is great a leftovers the next day. I came to this location and discovered they have other locations closer to my place and a handful o them around sd and southbay. Check them out and order family style like I did so u can try more of menu. Yw.

My Aguachiles were WAY too salty for human consumption, so order these with caution. And that’s coming from a person who can handle quite a bit of sodium and still enjoy a meal.
Okay now that that’s out of the way… the Octopus Tacos here HOLY MOLY. I inhaled it. No joke, I wish I could eat these everyday of my life. There is magic in them. The chunks of octopus were serendipitously soft in texture, and not that tediously chewy, rubbery octopus texture I’ve been accustomed to my whole life.
Karinas shrimp ceviche was unlike any other ceviche I’ve had. The green marinade tasted like freshly juiced cilantro and serrano peppers, and had a nice fresh, «green» aroma. Tangy, cool, and tantalizing. Portion was pretty generous.
The Michelucas confused my taste buds in the best way. I ordered it with a Corona base, and to be honest I couldn’t even taste the beer in it. Michelucas= genius. Genius like, why didn’t I think of that? It was refreshing, sweet, a little spicy and probably in my top 10 best beverages I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking. I wish these came bottomless because they are highly addicting. I was slurping and licking my glass. probably looked like a crazy person. Did not care ‘cuz YUM.
Heads up: they only have those flip-​open style Styrofoam to-​go boxes here. If you order something with a lot of «juice» they don’t have Styrofoam cups w/​lids. We took our leftover ceviche home with us in one of the boxes and marinade leaked everywhere!

Was craving seafood. Came here and wanted to try their famous ceviche. Ordered a small plate of Karinas shrimp ceviche, a dozen fresh oysters and a Michelucas.
Service was great. Didn’t ask for her name but she seemed to be the main waitress there. She answered all of our questions and was very knowledgable about everything.
My Michelucas was sooooo good! I totally licked the outer rim to the fullest! Never thought in a million years chamoy would taste good with beer! Wth!!!
Karinas shrimp ceviche was absolutely delicious! I love avocado and this had plenty of it! It was amazing! The small size was more than enough for the both of us.
Here’s the only downsize… we ordered a dozen oysters. We figured 6 each would quench our thirst. First bite… it was soooo fishy. Second bite… still the same, I thought maybe I’ll get use to it. Third bite… I was still okay with the fishiness… but the mister…
He couldn’t handle it. He definitely had a bad oyster. He spat that thing right in front of my face onto his plate, that’s a big fail in my book. Even with that though, we didn’t make a big deal out of it. We politely asked one of the servers to take the rest away since there was no way I would be taking another oyster, didn’t want the risk of getting sick. I didn’t even tell the server why.
A few moments later or main waitress came back and asked us if there was a problem with the oyster since she can clearly see we finished only half of our order. We told her why, she apologized and said she would just charge us half an order instead of the full. Supposedly they had a shipment in from a different first time supplier… something like that. I thought this was such a nice gesture considering we didn’t make a big deal out of it or even asked for any type of compensation.
I would totally come back here. Service was great, my Michelucas was yummy and Karinas ceviche was delicious. It would’ve gotten a solid 4 stars if not for the oysters.

This place is delicious. I’m a ceviche expert. It’s been my favorite food forever and I have tried it from many different places. This is by far the best ceviche I have ever had.
They have great service and the food is ready fast. I definitely recommend !

Karina cevice, marlin taco and fish taco. Came with complimentary chips and very hot salsa.
Restaurant could be cleaner. Makes you wonder what the kitchen looks like. But only one hostess working she was doing her best to get her priorities done which would be feed the customers.
Karina cevice has way too much of a lime taste for my liking. The Marlin taco was lacking meat. Fish taco was the winner. Dinner was around $ 15.

I came to Karina’s expecting a fabulous meal of my two favorite things, seafood and Mexican food. Lunch went horribly wrong.
I asked the server for recommendations and she gave amazing reviews of almost everything. I teetered between a shrimp ranchero platter and a shrimp burrito with a side of ceviche to enjoy later. Her first recommendation was for ceviche so I followed her lead and ordered the burrito to dine in and the ceviche to go. The ceviche arrived in a leaky styrofoam box which was not appropriate for a take out item. It was fine, it had a very lemony and cucumbery flavor which was really not what I was in the mood for as my first meal of the day. I planned on taking it home so no worries.
Everything started getting progressively worse from here.
My burrito consisted of a gigantic flour tortilla filled with green glop sauce (it looked like guacamole but I was told that it was not) and shrimp. There was no cabbage, tomato, vegetables, rice or cheese in it as I would expect from a burrito. I opened it up and put some of my rice, beans and salsa into it. Essentially I had refrigerated sauce and cold shrimp in a flour tortilla. Yuk. The shrimp appeared to be precooked shrimp, not cooked to order. The waitress came over and asked if it tasted good. I said not really. She said that it did not look good and that they had a new cook so it was not made correctly. I then asked if I could get a couple of shrimp and corn tortillas instead of the burrito. She said that they could make me shrimp tacos and I said ok. I am not sure why she was pushing me to get tacos when I just wanted some shrimp on my plate. I was planning on keeping the rice and beans but she wanted to remake the plate and took it away from me. My son had a fish taco and a cold carne asada burrito.
When she returned she came with two tacos filled with a mixture of diced shrimp (which looked like mystery meat) in a cheesey gooey sauce, and none of the rice and beans. I tried to send it away before I even tasted it because it looked icky and definitely was not what I wanted but she insisted that I taste it. I took a bite and could not eat it. When she returned I asked was in the taco and she explained that it was mozzarella cheese. I told her that I did not like it and she took it away. I did not want anything else at that point so I asked for a check.
I had a voucher for $ 30 and she returned telling me that I needed to order something else to get up to $ 30. She told me about a shrimp taco that has cabbage, grated cheese and crema so I ordered this a la carte.
She neglected to mention that the taco was stuffed with raw onions which totally overpowered the taco. I ate it and then looked at my bill. She charged me for the tacos that she took away and added the 18% tip onto the bill as well. I would expect to only be charged for something that was in my possession not in the trash can. I asked her about the charge and she said that the manager told her to charge for it. I asked to talk to the manager.
She returned and said that the manager was busy… Hmm. There was only one other table in the restaurant and they already had their food. When I got home I followed up by going to their web site to let them know what was going on there and they did not acknowledge it.
I could not justify another star for a company that has bad service, leaky containers for liquid items, inconsistent cold food and a management that does not care.

Thank you Trish for mentioning this place in the weekly newsletter. What a find!
We tried the shrimp ceviche– fresh, tasty, nice portion size. Just what ceviche should taste like. (In fact, much better than the pricey La Costa Resort restaurant) Also had a couple street tacos– one marlin and one spicy shrimp with a side of beans and rice.
The location looks a bit odd– it appears to be an old Del Taco that was revamped. There is seating inside and they use real plates and utensils and provide service at the table, so it’s technically not a fast food joint like what it looks like.
Will be back soon!

I was craving for some yummy ceviche (perfect for summer!) and was so happy that i found this place through Unilocal reviews! I planned to buy the food and take it home to enjoy, but after waiting for my food for 5+ minutes (and seeing everyone else enjoying their food), I didn’t want to wait anymore! I ordered a octopus taco and karina’s ceviche (shrimp), and wow! they were both so yummy.
1. octopus taco: $ 2.95 each, not very big, but with a decent amount of grilled octopus chunks in it, so i got it with every single bite. The octopus was grilled just right, so not too chewy or tough. The tortilla was fried and with spicy pepper, making the taco very spicy but yummy!!! I ended up ordering one more b/​c it was so good!!! (it was very fatty too though, as the taco was dripping oil…)
2. karina’s ceviche (shrimp): the lady warned me about taking it home since there is a lot of sauce in the ceviche. that is partly the reason that i decided to eat there, and i am glad i did. The portion was very good for $ 8.5, and there were lots of avocado and cucumber chunks mixed with small pieces of shrimp. i believe there were probably more avocado and cucumber than shrimp, but it tasted so good that i am not going to complain about it. I couldn’t finish the whole thing myself and still had at least half of it for the next day.
Can’t wait to go back again!!!

Went back to Karina’s Ceviche and Oysters again today. Third visit in as many weeks. I can’t get enough of the Pulpo (Octopus) Tacos. Amazing. Also fantastic on this visit was the green Karina’s Ceviche (fish ceviche in a chile lime sauce). I had no choice but to raise my prior rating to 5 stars. Great place.

Many reviewers have stated that the outside of this place does not do justice to the food and I agree. Passing by this place it caught my eye with its closed down drive thru look and promise of fresh seafood. Could it be true?!?
Yes.
My fish ceviche was awesome. I am trying to go on a health kick to lose some pounds that have been creeping up around my middle so I figured some ceviche with only a FEW chips would be a great way to start out. I am not the type of girl to have a shake for dinner and one for lunch…
Anyway, the fish ceviche was fresh, with a lime zing. The portion was super huge! I tried to eat it all and couldn’t!
The service was really good and I didn’t notice any fishy smell. I was actually surprised how nice my meal was.
Great spot for a fresh and healthy lunch!

This wonderful hole in the wall that I found on Unilocal was as good as the reviews say!
Don’t be turned off by the outside fast food exterior. The place is immaculate inside and houses delicious Mexican seafood and a friendly, efficient staff.
We ordered the shrimp plate in Karina’s sauce which was amazing! The green curry like broth had a hint of coconut went well with the shrimp as well as the rice it came with. It’s ample service was enough for two people.
We also ordered the large ceviche plate which was huge! The fish was so fresh and the jalpenos were potent. It’s perfect for a party of 4.
Karina’s is a must when heading in or out of San Diego! I can’t wait to go back and try all their other dishes!