El Ancla

Price is slightly higher than other seafood establishments but the taste somewhat makes up for the price. Food is fresh. We had a large order or mejillones (mussels) is a spicy sauce sautéed in onions price of $ 28 for about 24. We also has the carne asada which was slightly small but the taste was fantastic. It has a grill char with a lime taste and the cut is thick for the price of $ 15.00. This place is BYOB which is fine since there’s a ⁷⁄₁₁ 10 steps away. Street parking is scarce. I would give have given 5 stars but the waitress needed a better attitude. She’s serving 8 men that are drinking and they’re loud. Understandable for this establishment but she has a dry attitude and very snappy with her remarks.

I love seafood and have given up on Red Lobster. I have been driving past El Ancla for quite a while. So, for my fourth wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided to give it a go. We ordered a lobster split in half and filled with a lot of seafood. It was on a huge platter, decorated with the best garlic bread and the tastiest rice I’ve ever had. The service was excellent. We will definitely going back there to try other things.

Best sea food in Chicago. The service was great, very attentive and willing to answer questions. The food takes little time to be prepared and comes out soon, which is fantastic if you are hungry. The food itself is the best. I can’t member the name of what I ordered, but it had shrimp and octopus. It was fantastic! It was equal parts salty and sweet, also gigantic! The large portion easily feeds 2, unless you’re really hungry!

This place has some legit food!!!
I ordered «camarones ahogados» and «mejillones» and 6 oysters on there she’ll.
The michelada mix looks a little crazy but don’t let it scare you its one of my top 10 in the city.
The seasoning was awesome on the mejillones we ate every single one. They were finger licking good !!!
The only reason I gave it 4 starts only is the prices. Same dishes everywhere else are significantly cheaper.
The «Micheladas» mix was 4.50 which I also found Ridiculous. At the end of the day it’s maybe 2 ounces of Clamato some hot sauce Lemmon and salt.
They charge a BYOB fee for a bucket with ice. So many places don’t charge you for this.
I would maybe go back if I was in the area and was hungry.

Something diffrent for this area which is great. Ambiance is nice, feels cozy it looks small but I’ve seen groups of families there and didn’t seem to be over crowded. They brought out complimentary ceviche with tostadas and some great salsas. My wife ordered the Langostinos plate and she loved it. They were pretty big. I ordered the camorones momias which is shrimp stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon! That shh… was FIRE! They have BYOB and bring out a bucket with ice for your beers (they charged 3 dollars for that). Every one there seemed to enjoy the place. I definitely will be back. 5 stars because I can’t really complain about anything.

BYOB. Absolutely delicious. I had the molcajete. The portion is huge. The broth is delicious and there are tons of delicious things in there like scallops, crab legs, octopus, and prawns. They were super busy on a Friday night.

Great atmosphere great food! Ordered Lagonstino dish fresh and delicious, server was friendly and attentive. BYOB they were able to provided bucket and ice for drinks.
Definitely come back again!
FYI no parking available but still a spot to check out!

I was invited here last week by an former student of mine. It is a long drive from the lakefront but well worth it! The name, El Ancla, is Spanish for The Anchor. And the seafood specialties were delicious. He had preordered grilled red snapper and the mixed grill. The last was terrific — so much better than the seafood mixed grill I had in San Diego last fall.
The meal started with ceviche and two salsas — a Serrano salsa and an habanero one. My server, Julio, warned me both were hot and the red salsa was scary hot. Boy was he right! But both were good with the ceviche. The owner, Rafael Pelayo, greeted us mid meal. He was outgoing and gracious.
I loved this restaurant, and if they opened a second place nearer the lake, I’d be a regular.

Food was good… a bit pricey for the value. Service was absent. We were there 2 hours on a Saturday at 11:30 (and were the only customers) and the waitress passed by maybe 3 times. She disappeared after taking our orders. In the end, I went to the bar to ask for our bill after waiting 20 minutes for it. The waitress was sitting at the bar talking to a friend.
Not a bad place, but there are plenty of good restaurants with better service.

I was looking for some seafood for Holy Thursday and I can tell you that this place isn’t it. I started with the appetizer, small shrimp cocktail. It should have read shrimp swimming in V8 with avocado and onions. Not good.
I then ordered as my entrée shrimp in spicy butter sauce. They bring you 20 whole shrimp, heads, legs and guts included. These shrimp were not deveined and I can tell you this was gross. Expensive too. I was hoping that this place would be a hit for me but it was a miss for me. I won’t be going back.

Had a great time here last night ! The food was amazing and our waitress was so attentive. So happy to gave found my new favorite mariscos place ! I no longer have to take trips to the south side for decent mariscos :)

The red salsa really is on the hot side. I eat fire, and I had to take it easy. Okay, here goes. The House special oysters were some of the cleanest and most fresh I had had in Chicago. The grilled mussels were good overall, a bit on the salty side due to the sauce, but seemed to balance when eaten with the fresh cucumber and tomato that was with them. Friendly service, clean place. I will be going back to try the caldos, and the larger platters. Very nice change of pace for the area.

My family and I stopped to dine at this restaurant when we were craving Mexican-​style seafood last night. We had no expectations, and I am pleased to report that we were pleasantly surprised by how delicious everything turned out.
The green and red table sauces were tasty and spicy; the red one was VERY spicy. Be careful when trying it! It might not seem spicy at first, but give it 30 seconds for the heat to build. You’ll see what I mean :-)
We were a group of 20 diners and entrees ordered varied widely. Stuffed pineapple, red snapper, shrimp cocktails, ceviche… they were all delicious! The octopus was tender, the scallops and shrimp seemed fresh. No unsatisfied diners at our table.
Try it for authentic Mexican-​style seafood dishes. You won’t be disappointed!
By the way, the place is BYOB. Take as much beer in as you want; no hard liquor allowed.

Fire! Got me burnin’, burnin’, burnin’
Walked right into El Ancla… after 30 sec pulled out my stopwatch on my phone… 5 minutes later I was finally greeted at the door… yep this is about to be a 1 star review. (AT&T guy walked out around the 3 minute mark which is the only reason why I didn’t walk out at that point myself.)
Was given the menu with a magnifying glass which I thought was hilarious. $ 10 burger from kids menu? Yep 1 star is in your faith.
Julio I believe brought out Tostada De Ceviche (Tilapia) so my final negative thought was boy the sauce/​salsa is small. I had trouble deciding between the Camarones Momias & Pina Rellena. Julio mention to order the Pina Rellena and that he would make one of the Camarones momias for me to try and to order next time I come in.
Tostada De Ceviche — After trying the Ceviche I enjoyed the flavor very fresh and then I added a nice dollop of red sauce/​salsa to one of the tostada and then my mouth turned to fire. Oh! That’s why you get a small portion. Think of using it like wasabi as it’s even stronger then that. There should have been a warning about that but the heat was good. Received about 8 Tostada so was able to use with the rest of meal.
Pina Rellena — Shrimp, octopus, crab, corn, chili peppers, in champinoes cream and melted cheese. Served with rice, salad, and garlic bread. 5 stars for everything that was on the plate. Used the Tostada’s and really enjoyed my meal. It wasn’t to sweet as I was a little worried about. It was mostly when you got down to the bottom with the cream but that’s when I added the red sauce/​salsa to balance it out.
Camarones Momias — Seasoned shrimp, fried, stuffed with mozzarella cheese and wrapped in bacon. Served with rice, salad, seasoned potatoes and garlic bread. I will be getting this next time. I only had a small sample and it didn’t have mozzarella in it but even without it I thought this was very good. (the only drawback I would slightly have with this is wishing I could order it as an appetizer vs a meal.
From reading from the other reviews it seems like they are addressing the problems which is great when the owner listen to the customers (even when they are wrong and just complaining lol) minus my 5 minute wait at the door I really didn’t have a problem. I did notice Rafael at the bar after my food came out and not sure if you/​he cooked my food at the time but it was excellent. Keep up the good work. Will be back and recommending this place.

Holy fucking shit. The fact that this place is BYOB did not faze me for a sec. There is a 3 dollar charge for an ice bucket but bring how much ever booze you like.
Let’s get down to the food. When they serve you the salsa with the chips, its verrry spicy! And I like my spice and my girlfriend is from Pakistan and even she thought it was spicy as hell. You’ve been warned.
For our app, we ordered the oysters in the shell «especiales» which has everything on them. Very delicious and fresh. They came with shrimp, octopus and avocado on them, so good!
For our platillos my gf ordered the langostinos which is basically a species between crawfish and lobster? (Not sure, so sorry if this is a lie). But whatever it was, oh my god. Perfectly spiced and flavorful, we could eat it all day. Next, I recommend the pina rellena. Its essentially a stuffed pineapple. I love food stuffed with other food, It is one of my favorite things about food in this world. But this is a pineapple stuffed with shrimp, octopus crab, scallop, bell peppers and fundido cheese. This pineapple is what Latin island dreams are made of. Perfectly sweet with a seafood tang. Add some hot sauce and you will know what it is to love again.
The service here is spectacular. Consistent, friendly and helpful. Our waitress was very sweet. The menu is all in Spanish but the staff speaks fluent English and will assist you in the choices you make.
Our bill was very cheap for the quality of food and service and quantity we received! I’m blown away! Everyone should try this place at least once!

The 3 stars are for the ceviche, that ws really good. The atmosphere is meh, no music, one server who did not seem to know anything (even when something said Market Price, whats the price? I don’t know let me check, 3 minutes later…, and then what do you put in this? Eh I don’t know let me ask, uuuuummmm ok? ordering took forever, and the food took a little while to come out, it was just the 2 of us in the whole place)
We both got the stuffed pineapple (the stuffed lobster was ~$ 50, I wasn’t really sure if was worth it considering I have gotten for the same prices at much fancier restaurants) so I didn’t get it.
The stuffed pineapple was meh, the mixture was too cheesy and sweet for me to taste anything else.

Really great addition to the neighborhood. A top-​notch Mariscos place that rivals some of the best/​longest in the business. If you can see past the fact that this place is devoid of any design style or character, rest assured the effort went into the food. Think Chinese restaurant on this one. It’s usually the most unassuming places that are the most epic.
Free homemade michelada mix for my 40’s of corona that I bought at the 7 – 11 next door? Don’t mind if I do. I love BYOB places… and I especially have a spot in my heart for places that take it to the next level. I think they were just being nice offering the mix for free as I saw it listed on the menu for a couple of bucks. However, next time, if need be, I will gladly pay for it.
Food was fresh, inventive, and definitely something that you would be hard pressed to find at any other restaurant on the NW side. Other reviewers have said it, but I will second: Get the Mocajete and the Pina Rellena and say goodnight. For 2 people, that is more than enough food. With drinks and an app, it could easily feed three!
I hope this place continues to deliver on quality of food and service. If so, they’ve got a winner.

I’m writing this review on my way out of the restaurant. I’m giving it three stars for a few reasons. Music situation there is there is no music if the box is not playing you you’re just sitting there in silence which is pretty uncomfortable. Also I noticed that we were told a price for the crab leg platter and it ended up being $ 8 more than what she quoted us.
I usually get WAY MORE Chapuzon. At another nayarit style restaurant, for the price, I also pay about 10 – 15 $ less for the crab legs.
The service was basic.
We waited about 8 minutes to place our food order.
But we did get a michelada mix pretty fast.
The food was good.
I wish there was more nayarit sauce.
It might be worth the trip to make it back to the city.
2 things. BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE, and play some music! Jeez I know you have a jukebox but sitting in silence is the WORST.
especially for a $ 100 meal for 2 people.

I can’t even begin to describe how delicious the piña rellena is. So flavorful, so cheesy. I swear I didn’t even know exactly what types of seafood was in it (I know it had shrimp and octopus) but I kept wanting more. My friend ordered the molcajete and it was amazing. It was spicy, and juicy. We also had a couple micheladas (it’s BYOB!!) They provide you with the mix which is pretty damn good as well. I’d love to know what their recipe is!
Service was great, atmosphere was nice, bathrooms were clean. Overall, we enjoyed our experience and highly recommend this place. :)

We ended up at Ancla by accident. We had dropped off friends at O’Hare and our GPS warned us of «severe traffic» and routed us down River Road to Irving Park. It was dinner time and we started looking for somewhere to eat. When I saw the Mariscos sign, we pulled over and decided to give this unknown a chance. How lucky for us!
Service was friendly with just the right amount of attentiveness by Josslyn (sp). Instead of the tired chips and salsa served as an appetizer at most Mexican restaurants, we had a delicious little bowl of ceviche served with tortilla chips and saltines. It was best with the saltines. We both got the fried red snapper, I with garlic sauce and my husband with Ancla sauce. We were served the whole fish (I asked them to cut off the head on mine) and it was SO good! It came with salad and rice. It was very reasonable too, at $ 18. Downtown where we live it would be double the price or more.
Note: as of now, anyway, it’s BYOB.