Harbor Fish Cafe

All we had heard was how good the fish was there, so of course we went! What a disappointment!!! NO FISH it was ALL Batter! Shrimp was not any better! Could not eat any of it, paid a horrible price for nothing edible, left and went Cessys where we loaded up on ice cream! DO NOT waste your time or money there! There r too many other good places to eat n Carlsbad!!!

Mark J. Said it all. Terrible fish and chips. Very little fish in the serving. Very disappointed. We have come to Carlsbad each summer for over 20 years and this was a place we liked to frequent. No more.

Love this place because its unique with the outdoor ambiance and great customer service. I love the Carlsbad Fish Taco — 1 is enough! It’s enormous. I get the grilled fish; it tastes so good! Large pieces of fish and good flavor! The children’s plates are good portions too. My 12 yr old who orders now from the adult menu was happily satisfied with the children’s shrimp and fried plate. Give it a try — you’ll be happy you did!

This is a good place for fish and chips. The location is great.
I gave them 3 starts because the fish was good but it was a little bland. Overall it was okay. The view though is amazing.

Good food for a quick lunch with a killer view. The fish tacos are massive! Seriously, there was an entire fish in one taco. It’s a little short on flavor so it’s needs the lime, salsa and cream sauce for sure. The house brew is decent too; light and easy to drink. Would’ve given them 4 stars but they wanted to charge full price to refill my 2 kids’ lemonades. Really? 2 adults and 2 kids bill comes to $ 50 and you can’t let the kids have a free refill?

DONT DO IT. I ordered the grilled Ono fish taco (Cajun) about four hours ago, and have been running to the bathroom since. I also ordered an iced tea (NO free refills by the way), but I’m guessing it was the fish or sauces that came with it that is the issue.

Really good fish and chips at a good value. The views are even better. We enjoyed the clam chowder and grilled fish tacos, also.

Ate here our last night of vacation and it was the icing on the cake. Delicious food. It can’t get more fresh than this. We will be back for sure next time we’re in town.

Love coming here Very friendly staff great atmosphere fish tacos are huge and very tasty it’s the best love it!

The fish and chips is unfortunately extremely heavily battered which makes it inedible for me, unless I remove most of the batter. In this era of health consciousness, heavily battering fish is like serving you pure cooking oil with your fish. Call me a purist but I eat fish and chips for the fish and not the batter.
The fish and chips plate costs $ 12.95 and comes with two pieces of fish and fries or slaw. There is so little fish (in this case, pollock) that I would estimate that there is $ 1 worth of fish in each plate of fish and chips.
To add to the insult, the child’s menu had a macaroni and cheese which is actually pretty good but the portion is so small that my 2-​year-​old easily finished it and was still hungry.
To the owner, I would ask that you use more fish in each plate of fish and chips and try lightly battering your fish for a year and see what kind of reviews you get. If I know my fish and chips, I would say it would taste much better and folks would be much happier. As I was leaving I was thinking «tourist spot» and wishing I was not a tourist today. I won’t return to eat here until I read that the recipe has changed.

Great fish n Chips… but pricey for what you get. Good beer, great view. Really wish they would knock off about $ 2 on every item, then it would be a phenomenal place. It’s really too bad, so much potential but EVERY single person I have talked to about this place says «I hear it’s pretty expensive for fish n chips»… and they are all right. But again, good food, great service and great view.

We sat here to catch a sunset. We weren’t really hungry but felt obligated to buy something. The gal was probably THEE BEST WAITRESS I’ve ever encountered!!! I didn’t get her name, but she had long blonde hair, petite maybe in her late 20’s early 30’s.
We ordered clam chowder and some zucchini sticks. Walked out with a $ 10 bill. The clam chowder was good when it first came out, but turned watery, before we could finish it. Flavor was good though.
Zucchini was awesome! They need to change up their ranch dressing to something different. It was not good.
What I like most??? It was quiet!!! No overhead loud music. I really appreciated this. Very quiet even with a crowd. Very peaceful setting. Come at about 6 – 7 pm. Sunset was at about 7:15 tonight. It was gorgeous!!!

Well I found this spot walking at one of my fav beach areas in North County and I’ve been here like 4 times in the last 3 weeks… I always get the same thing. Fish and shrimp combo with clam chowder. Mmmm. Chowder. *Homer Simpson voice*

3 stars is pushing it for this place but because the service was good, I’ll give them the 3.
Expensive for the food you receive.
We ordered fish and chips: mostly batter… barely any fish.
Fried jumbo shrimp: good, 5 pieces = $ 14 = WHAT? RIP OFF
Their beer was good.
Clam chowder was good as well.
TOTAL: $ 47 (You decide)

Tried this place a couple of years ago and was blown away by the size of the fish. I think they’re fryin’ up marlin here.
The Harbor Fish Café has three things going for it:
1. Great view
2. Cold beer
3. Large fish
I can’t really offer a lot of opinion has I only come to this place once in a blue moon and it’s usually to get a Po Boy or Fish Taco.
We started with fried zucchini app but beware; they are cut length wise instead of into chips so carnivores might not be able to handle this. I can usually eat anything deep fried but even I can’t handle a whole vegetable.
Today I got a Fish and Shrimp combo with fries. The fish is not outstandingly flavorful but I love the thick batter on the fish. Put some Tartar sauce on it and wash it down with a cold Pacifico and you’ll be alright.
The wife ordered the swordfish. She wasn’t too pleased with it. I’m blaming this one on her. This was the first time she ever ordered swordfish and she ordered it from a café instead of, uh, let’s say… a table cloth and cloth napkins establishment.
Please forgive me Harbor Fish with the swordfish description, I don’t mean any disrespect, but the wife should have waited to order a dish such as this for dinner instead of a beachside lunch.
As far as service goes, the servers did us just fine. My most negative thing for the restaurant is no refill on soft drinks. $ 2.75 is a little pricy for a Pepsi with no refill.
That’s why I drink beer. I know that there are no refills on beer.

Fish & chips to-​go from this place while a day on the beach was perfection!!! A+++
Additionally, good selection on kids menu, yayyy!!!
Everyone ate, Thank you Harbor Fish!

Tourists-​pay attention!
I had the traditional fish and chips, about $ 10. Pricey, but the view is crazy good and you can’t buy that sunset, or the characters you’ll see here.
The food was very good. I’ve had truly crappy food on other beaches in California for twice the price from Capitola to the border.
If you’re a tourist, have a bite here on the lawn and watch the world go by. Its why you came here in the first place, right?

I came here on a Saturday afternoon for a late lunch and had a great time. Harbor Fish Café is located alone Carlsbad Blvd and right on the water. The portions here are very generous and the view is unbeatable.
I ordered the Carlsbad Fish Taco and my mom ordered the Harbor Fish Taco. The only difference between the two was that mine was spicy. It had a nice kick and was pretty good. It wasn’t the best quality out there but it was definitely acceptable, especially since we had an awesome view.
The attire is really casual, so it is a place to eat while you’re spending the day by the beach.

Fish and chips with a view!
Located along Carlsbad Blvd, Harbor Fish Café is a great place to watch the sun go down and have a cold drink with some seafood.
Harbor Fish Cage offers a wide range of beers,‘including the house beer which is something worth trying out if your unsure what your looking for on the drink menu.
Sampling the fish n chips and a few beers, I can highly recommend and afternoon time. Car parking can be a little hard to get either along Carlsbad Blvd or Ocean St.
The attire is really casual, so don’t worry about shorts and flip flops. Although the place has an amazing location and the cold beers the food is on the average side. Not crazy but acceptable.
Overall
Drink: 3 – 5
Food: 3 – 5
Service: 3 – 5
Coming back: Yes

After sitting out on the beach and playing in the waves for a few hours, we stopped over at Harbor Fish.
Brilliant idea.
This restaurant has that cozy, beach side feel. It’s über casual and family friendly. Great service too. Once we were finished, our server came by and said: «Can I grab those plates before the wind does?»
The patio is right along the highway, which is too bad, but the street traffic does not detract too much from the lovely ocean view.
You can get shrimp, clam strips, a burger, fish tacos, crab and fried fish — likely cod. They do have weekday specials and a menu for children that contains corn dogs, a cheese quesadilla, fish, shrimp and mac & cheese. They also have grilled sourdough and cole slaw.
And the prices are fairly reasonable, especially given the location. I was surprised.
Food is pretty decent, to go along with the amazing views.
I went with the clam chowder and the po boy, which came with a side of fries.
The clam chowder was a tad bit too thin and did not have enough vegetables or clams. But the flavor was OK.
Po boy was pretty good. The batter on the fish was a little bit too thick, but the flavor was nice. Also, the food was slightly over salted, but not too overwhelming.
Fries were mighty tasty!
They also post the sunset time so you can be sure to snag a seat and watch from the patio. Pretty sweet.
If I were visiting the area again — which I intend to – and needed a quick lunch before leaping back into the ocean, I would give Harbor Fish another go.