Tikul Coastal Mexican

Took a date here and was generally pretty happy with it. The setting is causal. There was a band playing at the time, which I liked. The serrano Margarita was a lot better than I expected. I’ve since re-​created it home and it’s now a staple at parties at my house on hot summer days. The ceviche was mediocre, palatable, but nothing special. I had the fish tacos for an entrée and they were excellent. This place is a little pricey, but hey it’s in La Jolla at the cove, so it’s expected.

I wish there was more food that they gave you. if you go here, you should definitely get an appetizer because an entrée won’t be enough. They’re guacamole is sublime so I’d go with something that has that in there. I had this chicken, apple, glazed onion dish for the main meal and it was pretty good. However, it was a bit odd seeing such a big plate with such a smallish piece of chicken.
Oh, and I wouldn’t call this place the cheapest but it still was a good meal.

this place is great. be prepared though, the prices are high, the portions are small, and the drinks are stealthy.
the ceviche isn’t that great, i’d recommend trying something else.
the lobster taquitos are the best tasting dish we had here. the portions again were quite small, but this dish was pretty heavy.
the fish tacos are amazing!
make sure to try the fresh 10.

We are on vacation in Coronado and decided to come up to La Jolla for the sunset. We wandered up on the strip looking for a place to eat. After some back and forth decided to give it a try. WOW! We ordered and shared appetizers that were all great… but wait until you taste the sauce the muscles are served in. You need a spoon to drink it like soup after the muscles are gone. We all ordered a different entrée and everybody was thrilled! It was undeniably the best meal we’ve had on this vacation and one of the best meals I’ve had. We’re from NY, so we’re surrounded by top restaurants, but this stands up to any of them.
And let me not forget the beautiful live music.
don’t miss this place!

We came for lunch on Friday and all immediately commented on how beautiful the restaurant was.
It didn’t seem like it was that busy, but the staff was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. A bit of a turn off at first, but, it was politely explained that they were newly open and this was one of their very first times being open for lunch and I felt that a completely understandable response to the situation. As hurried as the staff was, they all maintained their composure and made us feel welcome.
Even with that said however, I was a bit surprised that took nearly 20 minutes to get menus. The staff was attentive and explained that the person that knew the code to print the menus was not there. A minor annoyance but it gave us all time to chat and more importantly — drink! I was introduced to the cosmopolitan martini made with grand marnier instead triple sec. DELICIOUS!
We were served rectangular tortilla chips and a bland melon/​mango salsa. I think it would have been great with a little more onion and a chopped fresh jalapeño. The flavor may not have been quite there, but the presentation was great and very unique.
Once we got the menus we noticed the selection (at least for lunch) was quite limited. I am very open minded when it comes to food, but one person in my party is very picky (eats like an 8yo if you ask me). Our waitress was very accommodating and was able to let her order a couple quesdaillas
I ordered the tortilla soup with chicken. The soup was quite good and, once again, the presentation was awesome. I mean it’s just simple soup I thought, but they present it in a way unlike anywhere I had ever seen.
My uncle ordered the Lobster Taquito. Even as an appetizer, I did feel it was quite small. It was about the size of a spring roll or small egg roll. I was assured though that it was delicious.
A bit overpriced, small portions and slow service were some definite drawbacks, but the ambiance, unique presentation, tasty, high-​quality food and super friendly staff did make the experience much more enjoyable than it would have been thus a four star rating instead of just three stars.
***I will definitely be back! My original review had some information that I thought had been correct but was not. The manager, Renee wrote me regarding my mistake and was polite, professional and showed genuine concern for some of the issues I raised. I feel that was a brave move, and with the individualized attention she showed and the manner in which she addressed me, I think Tikul could set the standard for other La Jolla based restaurants. With their friendly staff, great location and unique presentation, they are definitely off to a great start.

Late on a midweek evening we walked into Tikul.
Ordered the sopes — very tasty black beans on a crunchy base, but I thought they were beef sopes and we got not a shred. Perhaps I misread the menu.
Got a ceviche app. which was bland and tasteless to the extreme! Asked about it and it was taken away to be ‘fixed’. We were told it had not been salted and that they had remedied that. The first taste was fine, a definite improvement, but whoa, we ended up with mouthfuls of crunchy sea salt crystals in parts of the dish. And who forgets to salt? The grilled shrimp on potato and corn with shredded jicama was a great dish — succulent well grilled shrimp served with very tasty and well prepared sides.
The noise factor is loud. Especially when the blender from the bar across kicks in. The space is sleek and smart. The side patio looked very inviting. The staff needs a bit more experience perhaps? The bus person dropped his tray and broke glasses twice while we were there!
Maybe I would go again and maybe I wouldn’t.

Not impressed. Very surprised at the reviews, I
I don’t mind spending money. hell this meal wasn’t even on my tab, and yet I felt taken.
Lets start with the appetizers, the guacamole is an appetizer here for $ 10, it was good, nothing special. I asked for ONE appetizer of the coconut shrimp ($ 15 for 3 shrimp), he said it would be better to probably order 2 for the table, i said thanks but we just want 1 of each of the apps. He brought 2. He must be hard of hearing… I don’t blame him because this place is SO FUCKING LOUD! All older relaxed groups and yet the acoustics of the place made it sound like a nightclub.
My poor pops doesn’t eat fish, that left him with 2 choices on the menu, he opted for the $ 20 CHICKEN BREAST and it was overcooked and dry, I would say unpalettable. My mom got the Adobado crab enchiladas. Made it a point to ask the server if it was different than smoky mole, which adobado can and can’t be sometimes. My mom hates mole, server said she would love this dish though and talked her into it. She did not like it at all, i tried it and it tastes like a mole sauce to me.
My scallops were embarrassing, I got 3 scallops, and 3 tablespoons of mashed potatoes. $ 25. fine whatever, but they better be good. These were the worst scallops I’ve ever had, no joke. First off these were probably U-​15 scallops, should be the biggest most badass scallops like U-8.but they weren’t. These must have been the diet scallops. To make matters worse, they were seared off wayyy to long before service, they were cold and slimy by the time they got to be. Almost unedible. The entire scallop tasted raw with no temperature or textural distinction. Booo. My brother got the Filet, which he liked but said the portion was too small as well.
My margarita was good, didn’t care for a second so I opted for a Dos Equis Lager. They were out. You have a handful of beers available, none on tap and you run out of Dos Equis lager… how? At $ 5/​bottle with limited choices you should have it always there. If i were to go to a place like The Neighborhood and they tapped out of a cask beer I wouldn’t think much of it, but that I thought was pretty sad.
2 stars only because the place is nice. Probably a good date spot if you don’t want to chat with her/​him too much. The family and I got a pizza on the way home. I won’t I will be back.

Cool ambiance with live music. They have a happy hour and a coupon on
to offset the La Jolla prices. The ceviche was ehh in terms of flavor, but it was fresh. The margarita with Serrano was excellent. The spinach salad was excellent. The seared tuna was 24 $ and a large piece. I thought it was good, but lacked some flavor. There was to be a corn purée on the bottom, but I think it was actually potato and not good. Service was hit and miss. The hostess was super nice to us, but our server was MIA most of the night… We still had fun though, and I would have given them a 4 star but we only saw our server 3 times, and there was a long stretch when I could have used another drink.

Skip Azul and go next door to Tikul. A great new restaurant that just opened in the heart of La Jolla. I have eaten there twice now. The fish tacos are excellent! They have a lot of fresh fish dishes and it’s not your typical mexican food, more coastal fresh fish.
If you like margaritas this is the place, all the margaritas are fresh from scratch and some interesting flavors. I have to go back just to sample them all. Try the «Serrano Margarita» it is wonderful and it has a subtle spicy flavor that warms you mouth.

Very good food, fair pricing, great service. The Salmon/​beef presentation was unique and delicious. The red snapper adobe cooked melted in the mouth. A great acoustic jazz band topped it off.

Wow well I had a completely different experience from the other reviewers. I went to Tikul cause a friend said he had been to Puerta Viarta and this was a resturant that had there or that cuisine was from PV. It sounded intersting. well it was interesting but unfortunately I wouldn’t go back for the food.
The drinks were a bit to weird. 10 of us went and none of us liked the serrano mararita… the melon martini sounded interesting so we tried that and had a second one and had to send it BACK. it was inconsistent with the first. «another bar tender had to make it» their words not mine. When one of our party decided to switch from margaritas and martini’s to rum to see of we fared better. they told us that they don’t carry high end rum. just the well plain stuff. surprsing for La Jolla. They should really have zaya or 7 anos /​/​/​
As for the Ceviche. well it was not served with chips. whats up with that? nor with crackers…
We were served bread when were we waiting for the warm tortillas. don’t they make torillas in Puerta Viarta?
I order the chillian sea bass, the one pictured here on Unilocal page… it was just ok. on the oily side. on bed of carrotts. while it is hard to mess up chilean sea bass. it wasn’t very «dressed up». overpriced if you ask me. they could just grilled with salt and pepper and been better off.
The décor is great, the music was nice. not loud enough and lots of breaks… location perfect.
We you all might have a better experience. My suggestion mix in the wierd margaritas with the regular ones. serve chips with cheviche, serve tortillas. good ones…

After Jack’s passed away last year reasons to head to La Jolla after dark have been few and far between for me. There’s hardly any good bars, and my near cove dining experience has been restricted to simply Smashburger. La Jolla is more of the type of place to take a date to and I haven’t been on sequel one in ages. Most places surrounding the area are hella expensive and I’m not about to drop a grip of dough on a first go around with someone that I’m probably not going to see again.
With that being said, if I start diggin a «beautiful baby» or fall into some dollar dollar bills ya’ll Tikul would be a place I’d go to on the reg. I pronounce it «too cool» cuz it’s sexy but not overly sexy to the point that it makes me feel inferior. Lighting is set just right at somewhere between, «I kinda like you, but lets take it slow» and «It’s business time.» (Think Flight Of The Conchords not actual business) The cream colored booths are cozy and great for either canoodleing with your boo, or chillen with a friend-​girl or friend-​boy.
I came for a media sneak peak and stayed for the oodles of margarita flavors and acoustic tunes. As I sampled the Ceviche Tropical Tikul with shrimp, scallops, fresh fish, jicama, passion fruit & mango nectar the live music was drowned out, and all I could hear was an Enrique Iglesias tune in my head. This seafood medley could definitely be my hero baby!
In summary, the restaurant is at the La Jolla Cove so if you come expecting value menu prices you pretty much need to be hit over the head with a tack hammer, but if you’re prepared to splurge a little then you’ll certainly be satisfied with what your cheddar gets you at Tikul.

Close to 4 stars. We really enjoyed our meal here (wandered in during their first week), and think it’s worth a try, but I had some reservations too.
The redo of the former Pasquale space is quite nice. Open and airy. The live music from a Latin trio was really great — and I’m not necessarily a live music fan for dining — a nice ambiance, adds to the atmosphere, at an appropriate volume. However, the open doors on two sides made it pretty chilly inside on a foggy June evening.
Cocktails were good but had room for improvement. E.g., I’m a fan of spicy cocktails, but I’m not sure that a blended (i.e., slushy) serrano pepper margarita is really the classiest way to present a higher-​end margarita. I’ve had the same drink done better elsewhere with high quality ingredients.
Food was delicious. But quite rich and not very spiced. I honestly think you’d have a hard time believing in the «Coastal Mexican» slogan on the menus after eating here. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in the flavors themselves, but you might feel misled if you expect something reminiscent of high-​end Mexican.
It’ll be interesting to see how this place evolves. The menu seems pretty limited now, but may expand as the business does.