Baja Seafood and Oyster Bar

I should have known when I walked in to walk out! Besides the atmosphere being super cheesy, the waiters made me nervous. But we stayed, as the décor and waiters aren’t cooking the food. Or are they? Fish tacos, one of my favorite foods, were one of the specials for the night. They were special alright. So special that only a person with no taste buds could eat them! Needless to say this place will not get a second chance with me.

If you need an oyster fix, this is the place to go! They are fresh and massive! Great food, outstanding happy hour (4pm-​7pm). The beer prices are incredible and the food is great. Atmosphere is usually pretty calm when I’m in there, but it gets kickin later in the evening. Frank and Melissa behind the bar will definitely get you taken care of. Close to home and about as friendly as a place can get. This is by-​far my new regular hang-​out. Oh, and who cares whether the tables match the pictures on the wall. The food, drinks, and people are why I go out anyways.

I’ve gone to this restaurant a various amount of times, only because my friends & family members are always craving the oysters on half shell. The oysters is probably the #1 thing to come to Baja’s for. Also, their happy our prices on beer. Other than that, the food is just to get you by. The fried platters are enjoyable. The crawfish is just okay, the boudin balls are kind of dry. One enjoyable appetizer is the peppered crabs. I’ve had food like this before, that tastes better with also better prices.
I’m always a bit confused by Baja’s restaurant environment. I think the paintings on the ceilings are from the previous business which was a Cajun restaurant. Therefore, it’s a bit of New Orleans & tropical décor. Which is both weird and cool at the same time.

I’ve made two trips to Baja’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, the most recent was this week. A friend and I decided to try their $ 10 all you can eat shrimp dinner. As with my first visit, the hostess was warm and friendly and seated us right away. We were quickly greeted by our waiter and placed our orders.
While waiting for our food to arrive, I asked my friend what did they think of the décor. They thought it was fun but a little tacky, I agreed. The restaurant has a nautical theme. When done right, this can look nice, but when done wrong, you have Baja’s Seafood & Oyster Bar. There’s nautical references of fish plaques and such on the walls, a table that scared the bejezzus out of me with a pirate mannequin sitting in it, and a display case filled with pirate themed art. Not to mention, our waiter was in a pirate or shipmate’s costume that was obviously too big for him. All that was missing was the eye patch, fake sword, and accent.
I’m not sure which restaurant was there before Baja’s moved in, but I think it was some place that dealt with Cajun or Creole cuisine. On the ceiling of the dining room, was a mural depicting the lively French Quarters in New Orleans. That along with the pirate/​nautical décor, didn’t match the restaurant fixtures. There were nice tables and booths, with contemporary light sconces along the walls, all which screamed of a classier or moderately nice establishment with a menu to match. None of which applied to the pirate theme and menu that Baja’s Seafood & Oyster Bar was going for.
The same goes for the complimentary bites and birthday greeting. Guests are served duritos wheels (the Mexican puffed snack), it’s was the restaurant’s equivalence to a Mexican restaurant’s chips and salsa. The staff also sung a birthday greeting to someone in Spanish. All of this confused my friend who couldn’t understand what was up with the bland and tasteless Mexican snack (that we believed was store bought) and the Spanish song. I on the other hand got it, because Baja is in Mexico, perhaps they were infusing the Mexican culture of Baja (although there were no Mexican seafood dishes on the menu). If my friend felt like that, chances are most people will also share that same disconnect.
What Baja lacks in style, they make up with their food. It’s the reason Baja’s receives three stars. Unlike the décor, the food is good, at least from what we had. We both ordered grilled shrimp (but you could choose fried and boiled too for the all you can eat special), which was served with a small salad and choice of fries or coleslaw. The shrimp were nicely seasoned and the grilled flavor really came through. A lemon butter sauce accompanied the shrimp but I recommend skipping it. The sauce was overly sweet, so much so that the butter and lemon flavor were masked. Instead, ask for a plain butter sauce which is much better (and not so plain… I swear I could taste more than melted butter going on in the serving container served to us). The fries were equally seasoned well and were freshly hand-​cut and cooked.
My friend and I both felt we couldn’t complain much about the serving size of the special, but we did. The size of the shrimp were small and there were more french fries on our plates than there were shrimp (I guess that’s the catch, fill up on fries, instead of pricey shrimp). I was surprised to see that each time our waiter came back and asked if we were ready for more, he’d bring another plate (which was small too), fries included, while we still had our plates full. Most restaurants wait until you’re finished before bringing out another plate if ordering an all you can eat special. Most also don’t include another order of sides.
I think if Baja’s can go back to the drawing board and maybe get rid of the tacky décor and expand their menu, it’ll be a step in the right direction. Will I go back again? Maybe.

Ick! Methinks not! I made the mistake of not checking reviews and had seen this place open and thought, «okay — new place for seafood». We went last night at Happy Hour and sat on the patio and took my mom who’s visiting this week. Absolutely awful! The name is a misnomer to me, being from So Cal originally and having spent many days down in Baja. I had hoped for some Baja Mexican cooking — what I found, to my disappointment, is just another place in Houston catering to Louisiana fare, and not well-​prepared at that.
We each ordered a margarita on the rocks. Can you say watery? No flavor and very little alcohol. On to the food… Started with the boudin balls (companions stated that they were okay) and the ranch dressing on the side was straight out of the bottle. Yuck! I don’t do bottled salad dressings. Mom had the ceviche which came in an ice cream glass. Problem was… after she had finished eating the shrimp/​scallops out of, the level of the onions & salsa in the glass had lowered to just over an inch from the top (i.e. there was very little fish in it). My fiancé had raw oysters and those were good but, how can you screw up a raw oyster? I had the crab cakes — tasty, and there was crab in there, but I suspect they were processed since they were so uniform they looked like twins.
On to the main course. I was filled somewhat with trepidation at this point (and even thinking about suggesting to my companions that we leave and find the entrée somewhere else) but I decided to see how the rest turned out. My mistake. Decided on something simple: fried flounder, thinking «fish and chips» perhaps. Nope. I asked what kind of batter was used for it and was told «cornmeal». I blurted out «Gross!» before I couldn stop myself. I told the waitress you don’t put cornmeal on a light fish like flounder, and had to peruse the menu once more. Went for really safe stuff: fried shrimp. Came with two sides and a salad. Mom had the fried shrimp and oysters and my fiancé had a daily special of flounder topped with bay scallops and tarragon. My fiancé liked his fish, but the veggies of zucchini and squash was unappetizing and he left it. We all three had fries which were hand cut with skins on and would’ve been better if they were piping hot and crispy when we got them but they were pretty limp. The salads which come with the entrée consisted of bagged lettuce with half of one little onion slice and again, bottled dressing. I ate two pieces of lettuce and left it. The coleslaw was good though — creamy with just the right amount of celery seed. Mom’s onion rings were underdone and a beige color instead of being golden and crispy. I had one and discarded it. The fried shrimp was split down the middle and fried with the prevailing cornmeal batter that everyone uses and pretty tasteless. We joked, while sitting there, that we wanted to tell people that were approaching the restaurant door to turn around and head somewhere else. :-)
The waitress, Margaret, was super nice and had just started waitressing — she’s a friendly gal though and I’m sure she’ll get better with more experience. Everyone has got to learn sometime.
Considering the entrees were around $ 15 – 16 each, it was a waste of good money. We will not be back. I really don’t see them staying in business unless much is changed. Maybe they need to import a couple of cooks from Baja, say, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, along with their fish.

I understand that this is a new restaurant, but it is totally cheesy. I was here on a Friday night and most of the clientele were older people, probably in their retirement age. The problem — there was techno music in the background! What are these elderly people going to do with the techno music!!!
Anyways, on with the food. My group ordered the raw oysters and they seemed fresh. It was good, but not as cold and salty like other places. We all ordered different entrees just to try out everything.
Boudin balls — mediocre. They came with a store bought ranch dressing. I was hoping for a remoulade sauce
Fried seafood platter — It was your standard seafood platter with fried shrimp, oysters, a piece of catfish, stuffed shrimp ad stuffed crab, and onion rings.
The onion rings were really good, but the stuffed shrimp and stuffed crab was sort of… gross? You can tell that it was made of leftover pieces and lots of breading and seasoning. I couldn’t eat it. The fried seafood was good, light batter and okay flavor.
Grilled Salmon platter — it came with the vegetable of the day which was steamed broccoli and zucchini. The veggies were good and cooked perfectly. Our salmon was overcooked and had no flavor. We had to put tons of salt and pepper and tabasco.
Paradise Salad — my pregnant gf had the Paradise salad. She enjoyed it… I didn’t eat it so I don’t have much to say about it.
Overall, I would not go here again…
But, if you decide to try it out, at least ask for Virginia… she was a superb waitress.

I agree with Camille. This place blows. Came here for lunch b/​c they hired a guy with a sign saying lunch specials… so I thought, Oh what the hell, maybe this will be a new hot spot!
Sorry, don’t think I’ll be coming back. If I can remember, I ordered crawfish tails. My friend ordered some fish dish which was the special of the day. Nothing was really good and worth the money. I know seafood is expensive in general but I really don’t like spending $ 10+ for lunch. And especially if it’s not good.