Marinitas

I occasionally stop by for their brunch around 11:30-noon on Sundays. They have a limited but delicious brunch menu. I highly recommend the breakfast tacos. They also have a well stocked Bloody Mary bar (I believe only during Sunday brunch) where you can build your own Bloody Mary drink. Just be sure to ask for your favorite Vodka or Tequila as they will pour a low end options without telling you.

I am a senior whitehaired lady and went to Marinitas with two teenage girls after a play hoping for a nice dinner. We had never been there and looked forward to trying it. The place has a huge bar so perhaps the reason we were ignored was that we obviously weren’t going to rack up a big bar bill. It was not crowded but no one brought us anything except a menu, so after looking at the menu for a long time and realizing even chips were 50 cents, we walked out. No one said anything except the girl at the front desk who sneered, Thank you. So we went next door to Mi Pueblo where we were warmly greeted and seated even though it was packed. Menus, water, chips and salsa immediately appeared. We felt so at home! Great food and service. Lesson learned — avoid the pretentious place with Christmas decorations still up and stick with the tried and true. Mi Pueblo cares, Marinitas doesn’t!

Gave this place another few chances and 3 years later and they haven’t update the menu AT ALL. What kind of place never ever updates their menu? Also, I was sitting at the bar and watching one bartender make pretty great marg’s while the other one didn’t even bother to sir, not to mention shake the drinks. I felt bad for the table that was getting some seriously lazy drinks sent out.

Perfectly balanced margaritas, delicious tacos, and an amazing, yet very different dolce de leche cake for desert. Add to that a lot of big screen TVs where we got to watch the Warriors destroy the Cavs by 35 points in Cleveland. Going back soon with more friends.

I don’t often eat late-​night Mexican in Marin, but when I do, I go to Marinitas. Actually now that’s a lie. At this point, I consider myself a regular, especially for their late-​night happy hour (9:30-close) $ 3 guacamole, $ 5 margaritas and then some. Good chips and salsa to start you off. Good margaritas and good tacos. I usually get the chicken tacos but I’m a fan of the fish tacos as well. If you have a sweet tooth and still have room, my favorite dessert is the Tres Leche — it’s pure goodness, like milk-​my-​cat good.

Any of their appetizers are amazing. We ordered their dip and it was mouthwatering oh my goodness!
For lunch I had the fish tacos. Yum! I will definitely be back for their specialties on Wednesdays and Thursday’s! The servers were also skilled in everything. They knew how to bar tend, serve, and bus. I really like this place.

Great food with a warm, homey environment. Takes Mexican to the next level. This is way beyond delicious and its gourmet. I highly recommend the chile relleno. It has been hit or miss with the service lately… training for the holidays?

The food is still good, but the service and ambiance has gone way downhill. The last three visits, we had to wait almost an hour for entrées. Additionally, it used to be good for kids and families, but now they have added, in addition to the TVs in the bar, big projection screens in the dining room, which are constantly showing sports. This now feels like more of a sports bar than a relaxed or family-​oriented restaurant.

Been here several times so this is a compilation review. In general, a really nice atmosphere, nice date spot. The food is hit or miss. Had some really nice, well-​composed, flavorful dishes and some that missed the mark entirely. A solid Margarita and good ambiance go a long way! I sat at the bar for happy hour most recently and was basically ignored by the two bartenders. Churros con chocolat for dessert is a definite highlight!

excellent service and very high style Mexican food
will return

Hey Jennifer R. From Los Angeles «lost in San Rafael». You are lost, you’re actually in San Anselmo. If you want a burrito with beans and rice try next door at Mi Pueblo, or Taco Bell or Chipotle perhaps. This is actually a normal sort of high end Latin restaurant where you order off the menu, not decide what you consider normal Mexican food, expect them to stuff it in a tortilla and then get annoyed when they won’t make it or serve it to you with a strawberry margarita slushie that is not even offered on the menu.
What they do offer us high-​end Rick Bayless style food. Arguably a little pricey but Mi pueblo is next door if you want good and cheap traditional Mexican food. They do have a good happy hour but I wish I could find the happy hour prices somewhere.

Never have I ever had so much fun in a restaurant in Marin like the fun I have at Marianitas! Delicious drinks and food to share with friends and a beautiful décor. What else do I need? Service is friendly and fast.
I’m a big fan of their veggie/​goat cheese quesadilla, salmon tostaditas and all the ceviches. Yum! With great vegan, vegetarian, GF, meat options this place is one of the only places you can bring a big group and make everyone happy!

The ambiance is really comfortable — wide open with natural breeze as well as some fan or AC which made it very pleasant on a warm day.
I wanted to get a few side dishes and they wouldn’t let me get things on the vegetarian platter without ordering the entire platter. No substitutions. So, a couple of the platter items were mediocre. In addition we got guacamole and pinto beans; they were not on the platter.
The food was pretty good except for the «roasted sweet potatoes» were really like steak fries with a hot sauce on them.
I prefer a «can do» attitude. The waiter asked the «chef» and apparently what I wanted was just too much for them to do even though there were very few people in the restaurant.

Hey caipirinha! (In the tune of the Macarena, of course. I don’t even know that song/​dance, but the beverages are so good, it makes me want to sing it!)
The chips and guacamole are much better than average and I couldn’t stop eating them.
I wanted the chicken enchiladas with salsa verde, but they don’t do it; only the veggie enchiladas. I reluctantly ordered the veggie because when I want green sauce, nothing else will do. I didn’t even miss the meat. They were that yummy!
Dessert was a tres leches (no I don’t want to autocorrect to leeches!!) cake. It also was scrumptious.
I am not even embarrassed to say I returned for the same meal three times in one week, sharing my new-​found knowledge with more first timers. I wish I were eating the veggie enchiladas again today with an empty caipirinha by my side.

Nice traditional Mexican restaurant with a nice ambiance. Overall pretty good service and staff were nice. From the outside this place looks a bit gloomy and quiet, but inside looks pretty clean for the most part and always seems to be somewhat active. Service can be a bit slow when there is a party or event going on, so be sure to order quickly and a couple reminders to your waiter/​waitress couldn’t hurt! Although take note: we had ordered some guacamole off of the menu ($ 6.95) expecting a medium/​large sized bowl. We were given a small platter that lasted a couple people about less than a minute to devour.
Overall: I would recommend this place to a couple or group of people visiting the area, but for a party of locals– be prepared to wait a bit longer and shell out some more $$$.

Awful! Can’t and won’t say much more. And why is this place still open? My dishes tasted like they were straight out of a can. My friends were disappointed as well.

Still a great place to go and be casual and relax. But please bring back the Feijoada!
Consistency, over years makes a restaurant great. Guess what? This restaurant is consistent.

This is not a traditional Mexican restaurant, however, it is a great restaurant! The food is delicious! My favorites are the Salmon Tostaditas, Ceviche Trio, Marinitas little gem salad, and Bistec Argentino. The ingredients are quality and dishes are well rounded. The margaritas are delicious as well (I don’t like mine very sweet).
I like the dim lighting. It creates a relaxed ambiance, even with how noisy it can get because it’s so popular. I’d suggest making a reservation, as it is often crowded.

I went back and tried this place again and was very much hopeful when I walked in around 6:30 Saturday night. I only got 2 steps before I noticed the entrance was blocked by a waitress talking with some people she knew that had come in. This is fine, except it was blocking several people from the hostess stand and me from making my way to the bar.
As soon as I sat down the bartender, Miguel, asked me «What do you want?». I asked for a menu. He came back a few minutes later and took my order. That was the last time I had contact with him until I laid my credit card out in front of me to pay. No water was ever brought and I wasn’t able to flag him down to ask. Also the chips are still $ 7.95 so I passed and had a chip-​less meal.
I had the house margarita for $ 8.50 and it was pretty good, although I was surprised to hear the bartender tell another patron that they don’t do blended drinks. I also had the steak taco for $ 5.99. When the bar-​back brought it out I was surprised at how small it was and I wish I could tell you how it tasted but I’m afraid that four small bites is not enough to accurately taste anything. I can say that the guacamole that made up most of my taco was delicious.
Maybe my experience would have been more enjoyable if I had the other bartender in my section. I don’t know his name but he has a goatee and is always friendly. He asks his patrons how their food is and even busts their plates. I can tell he is a professional by the way he just smiles and nods when the other servers come up to talk smack about their tables. Please hire more people like him.

Clearly THE place to be in San Anselmo, Marinitas definitely lived up to my expectations. The place rocks just for the décor alone!
We ended up going on a Tuesday night a few weeks back when it was medium-​busy, but the hostess, servers and bartender were definitely stressed out. There were plenty of open tables and yet our party of 3 had to wait more than 20 minutes to be seated. It didn’t matter so much to us because we were all catching up while we sipped on our $ 12 margaritas (!) Yes, I appreciate that they are squeezing limes daily to make them — that’s awesome — but at least one dollar of each drink must be going towards that cool décor. Fine.
The Tuesday Special was Chicken Tamales ($ 12.25) or Shrimp Tamales ($ 14). I went for the Grilled Flatiron Steak Tacos instead — they were awesome. When we finally got a table the server was more than professional and on point. We noticed sort of a private room towards the back where a larger party of 15 – 20 was having a birthday celebration… it looked like they were having an amazing time and that this would definitely be a cool place to have a celebration in the future.
There are definitely some daily specials that I would like to try out on another day when I visit.
Obvious parking can be a little tricky — but, like almost any busy downtown area in Marin… if you are a little creative and willing to walk about a block and a half — it’s not really a problem at all. Can’t wait to try Marinitas out again!