Costa Brava

Came here with my good friend, never had tapas. Omg loved it. Our waiter Matt suggested a great bottle of wine, forgive me if I know no names I’m a little tipsy. But it was a great white wine paired perfectly with seafood, it had a hint of pear, and apple in it. The bread and aioli spread is bomb. We had a shrimp and garlic tapas, clams and a red bell pepper stuffed with crab. Everything was amazing. I left full but still wanted more. Bill came to around $ 80 that’s with a bottle of wine. So not bad. And customer service was amazing. Can’t wait to come back.

This place is great. We came here on a Saturday afternoon and sat at the bar. Miguel was very knowledgable and suggested some great tapas. I cannot wait to come back here.

Seafood paella was awesome!!! We also has escargots and squids and they were delicious too but a little oily. I love the butter that comes with the bread, so good! The ambience was great but it was kinda loud. The waiter who served us was very nice and funny. Good place to hangout with friends.

Came here for valentines with reservation. Got seated right away and ordered the paella (it took about 45 mins for it to come out). We got a tapa to start off– ordered the escargots. It wasn’t that special but I can smell all the paella around me as everyone was ordering the paella!!!
Let me just say it is the BEST paella I’ve ever eaten. I’ve had paella in LA and it’s not the same. You can taste all the juicy seafood broth in the rice and everything was so creamy. Every bite got better and better. I would come back to San Diego just for this paella!

A group of 5 of us came to Costa Brava based on a recommendation from a friend. We wanted a casual Tapas place to catch up and enjoy some Sangria. Heads up: if you have never been here before drive slow. This place is literally hidden behind a bush. We drove past it twice before we realized where it was. Also there is no parking (at least that we could find) so hopefully you will get lucky and find street parking close by.
Two of our friends arrived early so the host would not seat us until the rest of the party arrived. Luckily there were not busy and we were seated right away. They also have live music (at least on the night we came) which made the whole experience a little more authentic. The ambiance is sort of sensual casual with a little Spanish flavor. The menu was HUGE and kind of blew me away. There were so many choices it almost gave me anxiety. The tapas range from about $ 5 — $ 25 and they have a very wide selection of cold and hot items. Since we had a group of 5 we figured we should order a few to share. We ordered the dates wrapped in bacon x2 ($ 7.50), patatas ali-​oli ($ 5.75), tortilla espanola ($ 6.75), croquets de pollo ($ 6.95), and the pan tomaca con jamon ($ 10.95). You also get bread (you will have to ask for butter). Everything was delicious and came out pretty quickly. Most of the tapas came 5 to a plate.
By the time we ordered dinner we finished off 3 pitchers of sangria and were pretty full from the tapas so we decided to share the paella de mariscos ($ 21.50). They have 2 different paellas. The one we ordered comes with saffron rice dish with shrimp, mussels, clams, and calamari. The other option is the paella mixta ($ 19.50) which comes with saffron rice dish with chorizo, chicken, shrimp, mussels, clams, and calamari. Overall I thought the paella was just decent. I would have liked for it to have more flavor.
For dessert we ordered the tarta de la casa ($ 6.95) which is a chocolate cheesecake and the crème brule ($ 8.95). The crème brule was delicious. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the chocolate cheesecake but my friends loved it! Overall we had a great time and our sever was very attentive. I will definitely be back soon.

So my second date with this woman she wanted to show me her neighborhood. So she took me to «her spot» as she frequents this place as it reminds her of her college time spent in Madrid Spain. The first impression was «great layout, nice venue».
The idea is to order 3 – 4 tapas to share. Get a variety of multiple things. We decided to go for a couple glasses of wine and had some interesting dishes. She ordered so I have no clue with names. Needless to say, the sausage was killer, cold seafood salad was delicious and the potato with sauce was actually lovely.
Very nice staff, overall a place to try.

I absolutely love this place! The first time I went was shortly after coming back form Spain and was having major withdrawals. It took me back and made nostalgic. Their patatas bravas are delicious, just be careful because they are hot! Their sangria is delicious. Go during happy hour and the pitcher is $ 8. You can’t beat that! Every time I go, I go with the intention of making past two or three tapas and order a plate. However, that never happens. We order way too many tapas and are full to order.
The grocery store next door, pata negra, is a great place to get wines, chorizo, cheese etc. We bought chorizo and can’t wait to add that to our paella. I have boughten basque cidra and white wine that is hard to find elsewhere.
These two are a must when in San Diego.

I will start with this: I don’t like tapas. I think tapas might mean «pay a lot, leave hungry» in Spanish. That is what happens when I get tapas, and that is what happened at Costa Brava.
I went with a large group and ordered a lot of different plates. I ended up ordering more, and still got a fish taco on the way home. But, as I stated before, that is just how Tapas are, and I tried not to hold it against Costa Brava. The food that we had was REALLY tasty. Very good, and we had a huge variety.
I really liked the stuffed peppers and the omelette that we had. The upside of Tapas is that I got to try several things that I probably would not order, but really liked. Between that, and the fact my wife likes tapas, we will probably go back.
Given that we will be going back, I am already dreading the check situation created when places won’t split the check. We went with 10+ people and most of us ended up going to an atm to pay our one friend back. I don’t remember the exact policy but I remember that they refused to split our check and it turned into a nightmare.
Based on that situation, and the fact I left hungry I give this place two stars.

Writing this review is going to make me hungry!
Costa Brava is tucked away on Garnet hard to see but just look for a big green bush across from the Vons gas station.
I’ve visited a few times for HH and the service is always great– HH is the best time to go as they have a number of items/​apps for a discount. There is a Spanish guy who likes to serve us numerous Sangria’s to make sure we leave happy! We don’t mind at all. I do recommend the patatas Bravas (spicy potatoes with cheese), the chorizo, and the jamon iberico.
You will not be disappointed after a Costa Brava visit– thanks for being in my neighborhood!

Excelente servicio, excelentes tapas!!! Excelente equipo de meseros. Super amables y amigables. Buen lugar para ver partidos de la Liga Espanolaaa. Hala Madrid!

Came here for an office goodbye party. Flowing sangria and tapas! Love the atmosphere and the food was to die for!
The menu:
Rolls with garlic spiced aioli– crunch on the outside warm on the inside. So flavorful!
Mushrooms in sauce– flavored perfectly, enhancing the natural flavor of the mushrooms.
Papas!!! The best I’ve had– covered in melted Gouda or a more spicy cheddar. Crispy and gooey. These are crave able.
Crostini with tomatoes– so so good! Fresh and both sweet and savory.
Sangria for days– so good and fragrant.
I will be coming back to taste a full range of goodies and will certainly be recommending this place to others.

Wanted to check out a Spanish tapas place here in SD. This place met my expectations after trying their filet miñon brochettes, delicious oxtail platter, and their bacon wrapped dates! Yum!
Their service is excellent! Young guy waiters are attentive and give you their suggestions on specials and on best dishes to order. Ambiance feels like walking into a Spanish bar in Madrid or Barcelona. Really enjoyed our experience here and the homemade sangria and their amazing crema Catalana for dessert!

What a fabulous little find!
I met a friend here for brunch one afternoon and immediately fell in love with it. The ambiance is very friendly and quaint — I seated myself comfortably at the bar, awaiting my lunch companion to arrive. I immediately ordered a glass of Costa Brava’s infamous red sangria. It’s masterfully constructed, chock-​full of of fresh fruit. It wasn’t too long after my date arrived that we realized we needed a full pitcher of that delicious liquid red elixir!
To quell our raging appetites, we ordered the Patatas A La Brava and the Tortilla Espanola. The Patatas A La Brava are spicy potatoes coated in a rich, creamy cheese sauce. Utterly divine and will surely catapult you into ecstasy. My Tortilla Espanola, a wonderful Spanish potato omelet with veggies was phenomenal. I enjoyed every tasty morsel of that construction. It was executed to perfection.
I can’t wait to come back for dinner to order the much raved about Paella. I really want to have that dish, and will surely wait the required time to enjoy it!

How have we not heard of this place in all the years we’ve been coming down here???
We spent a hot Saturday in La Jolla and wanted some refreshing sangria to cool us off. After searching through numerous Unilocal listings, we finally found this place. Sounded amazing so we rushed right on over. It was easy to find and we got parking on the street right outside the front door.
It was around 4PM when we walked in. There were a few people seated in the outdoor patio area, none seated inside by the bar or main dining. Even though it was super hot, we decided to sit with the rest of the diners in the outdoor covered area. At least the sun wasnt beaming down on us. At first our server seemed very snappy and understandably why seeing that he was the only server servicing all the tables at the time.
Anyway, since we were there during their happy hour which is available EVERYDAY from 4pm to 6pm, we went ahead and ordered a pitcher of sangria ($ 8) and some water. the sangria comes in a yellow ceramic pitcher (which makes it look super authentic) with the apple cubes still inside. Each pitcher yields about 5 glasses. it’s not your typical sweet sangria you get at other restaurants. we asked the server how they are made and he said they add brandy and triple sec! after a few sips… we can feel it! It was so good, we even ordered a 2^nd pitcher.
For food, we ordered the grilled lamb skewers ($ 5), sauteed chicken in garlic and wine sauce ($ 3), escargot in parsley and alioli sauce ($ 5), chorizo sausage sandwich ($ 3). Each tapas was enough to satisfied the beau and I.
We started chatting with our server, Orlando, about our upcoming trip to Spain and suddenly his eyes widen with a big smile across his face. He then shared all his wonderful experiences while in Spain, and recommending various things to do and see while we are there. He even referred us to a friend of his who lives in Seville and gave us his contact info!
The beau and i had such a wonderful time here that i am still in awe that we have never heard of this place! I wish we lived closer so that we can come every week!

I came here for happy hour on a Saturday with 3 other people. There were probably only one or two other tables besides us there, so that was already pretty awesome — I like calm happy hours.
We ordered a pitcher of sangria for $ 8 and a bunch of tapas! Tapas are priced around $ 2 – 5 but be careful because it adds up quick. We ordered for ourselves as well as to share. Some of the items I got: house bread with alioli, blue cheese croquettes, chorizo sandwich, mushrooms in garlic, spicy potatoes and potatoes with alioli. My friends were feeling fancy and tried their escargot! Prices are awesome for the quality of food. Portions are definitely small tapas portions — but they all felt just right! Both the potato orders were definitely my favorites based on price, quality and portion. The sangria was also a favorite — don’t even get a glass, two people can easily finish the pitcher!
I had a nice time here and Costa Brava is a nice change of scenery from the usual PB scene. Service was quick and friendly — our waiter was being a bit silly, we think/​hope it was to entertain us on this slow afternoon haha. There were quite a few tiny flies hovering around our table, most notably over our sangria! Not really the restaurant’s issue but it was just annoying. Other than that, happy hour here was great!

$ $ $ $$$$$ $$$$$ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$$$$$ $ $ $ $$$$ $$$$ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $$$$$ $ $ $$$$
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$$$$$ $ $ $ $ $ $$$
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $$$$$ $$$$$ $ $
$ 8 Sangria Pitchers… YEEEESSSSSS!!!
$ 2 – 5 Tapas Galore: sausage sammies, deep fried anchovies, deep fried tuna pastries, olives, mushrooms, potatoes, croquettes, and more… so many to choose from! I took photos of the Happy Hour menu.
Be careful though… the four of us still managed a bill of $ 127…SOAB!!! To be fair, a few drinks and food items we ordered were from the regular menu. Also, the hardworking, handsome, and friendly male staff admitted that the HH items are smaller than full versions. Honesty is appreciated! But 3 – 4 of these small tasty HH tapas items would be enough food to make a good meal. I’d love to come back and order strictly from the Happy Hour menu and stick with the $ 8 Sangria pitchers.

Spanish cuisine and Spanish feel~
Costa Brava is a nice, Spanish restaurant located in Pacific Beach, a little more inland on Garnet. I first came here five years ago while being wined and dined and fell in LOVE with this restaurant. It was super romantic, with dim lighting semi-​fancy, and a beautiful ambiance. Then I came back a year later for dinner and also celebrated my birthday dinner here. It’s nice to come back here years later as I recently had brunch and it’s still remains the same, great food and service!
–huge selection of cold and hot tapas
–my fave items here include: their garlic aioli that comes with the bread, that stuff is so savory. also their tortilla espanola, brussels sprouts, and jamon serrano. and an item off of their secret menu. chicken stuffed pastry with a special sauce
–sweet staff, friendly server Cesar. very helpful and efficient providing recommendations
— each item ordered tasted fresh and was addictive
— drinks here are great, from the calimocho to the sangria
This place is semi-​pricey, but worth every penny! The ambiance is incredible and the food is top notch ;))

$ 8 for a pitcher of sangria?! Such a great deal for happy hour! I came here with some friends for happy hour my 1^st time. They have a long list of tapas available.
I had to come back here for date night with the husband. Our server warned us right away that if we were planning to order paella we should order it right away because it would take about 35 minutes. We told our waiter we needed time to look over the menu. He came back 3 times & we felt rushed to place our order.
Aside from that, we loved everything else! The restaurant felt homey & authentic. We ended up ordering 3 tapas, Patatas a La Brava (spicy potatoes), Champinones Al Ajillo (sautéed mushrooms in garlic & wine), and Datiles Con Tocino (dates wrapped in bacon). Highly recommend all 3! The potatoes weren’t spicy to me, but they were still DELICIOUS with the sauce. I never would’ve thought bacon & dates go well together, but it was the perfect combination of sweet & salty! We ordered the Salmon Relleno to share as our entrée. So good! It was seafood stuffed salmon in a lobster bisque sauce & saffron rice. I kinda wish we didn’t share! Haha! We also ordered a pitcher of sangria. It was more than enough for the 2 of us!
Definitely coming back & would love to come when they have live music!

Any person striving to become a true Unilocaler better make their way over here to baseline exactly what a 5 star restaurant is.
I visited on a Friday evening with no reservations and was seated in less than 20 minutes. The wait didn’t feel like 20 minutes, as I was keenly observing the environment here — half the guests were here for date night, and half were in groups of 4 or more. Everyone seemed to be drunk off sangria — lots of hugs, laughter, and flirting going around. The food smelled amazing. The outside patio was candlelit while the inside had dim lighting. The bar was packed with people both drinking and eating. There was a couple in the back sippin’ on wine and cupcaking. The ambiance, right off the bat, was very romantic.
We were seated and our waiter, Orlando, came by, undid our napkins and placed them on our laps, and asked if we had any questions on the menu. This was my first time having Spanish tapas, so I asked what were the best dishes to order. He let u know that some of the entrée dishes are also available in tapas size. He gave us a minute (literally), came back, refilled our drinks, and we were ready to order. We decided to go with the garlic shrimp, spicy potatoes, oxtail (originally an entrée) and filet mignon skewers (originally an entrée).
The first to come out was freshly baked bread with butter (which was texturally a mix between butter and an aioli) and our garlic shrimp. Orlando told us to put butter on our bread and then dunk it in the garlic sauce. Best advice ever. Not to put a damper on any of the other dishes, but this was by far my favorite part of my dining experience here. Orlando was not so much with his words, but when he did speak, his words spoke volumes. The bread, butter and garlic sauce… I don’t think I could ever eat bread and butter alone again.
The garlic shrimp dish was delicious. There was an unmistakeable garlic essence in this dish, and the butter that we dunked in the sauce only added more flavor. We finished our bread and shrimp, I looked up and saw Orlando, and within a minute our next dish was up: spicy potatoes.
The spicy potatoes are crunchy! That crunch surprised me because the photos on Unilocal make them look soft. The sauce reminded me of a dynamite sauce you usually get at sushi joints. The crunch element definitely makes the dish.
The filet mignon skewers, oxtail and more bread were next in line. Orlando had mentioned that the filet mignon was cooked with just salt, pepper, and roasted peppers. You get 2 skewers which is more than enough for 2 people. If you get this and the garlic shrimp, please dunk your filet mignon in the garlic sauce. Btw, it now makes sense as to why the garlic shrimp comes out first — that sauce has multiple uses!
The oxtail in itself was very delicious, however it might be a little too heavy for tapas. I assume it to be a hit as an entrée, which is the restaurant’s original intention, but hey, we still finished the plate! The meat fell right off. It was incredibly tender, and the sauce was very rich. Truly sinful.
Orlando was a hit! He sensed when we were done eating, and as he was refilling the waters of the guests adjacent to us, he whipped out the dessert menu without saying a word. We started laughing hysterically because we did not expect that coming! He circled back and whipped out the dessert menu one more time, I laughed and said no thank you. Totally regretting it now because I could use some crème brûlée as we speak. Orlando was so charming, was very attentive to our table, and was very knowledgeable of the menu and of what a great first tapas experience should be like.
I left the restaurant with a huge smile on my face. Costa Brava gave me my most favorite dining experience thus far. If you want to know what the saying «drunk off food» means, please make your way over here. I will most certainly be back. Wit GREAT food and GREAT service, this place is the perfect spot for an enjoyable and relaxed evening in San Diego.

I love this place. It is loud, vibrant, warm and… Spanish! What’s not to love? Food is amazing, both appetizers and entrees are winners and they also have a great wine selection. I’ve been there several times but mostly sit at the bar, where bartenders are also fantastic. (Rique is the best)
$ 5 get you a nice glass of their house Tempranillo, which pretty much goes well with anything you might eat. For food my top choice is always the Oxtail. Man, that meat melts in your mouth! $ 18 gets you a full plate but if you’re in a mood for just a bite, for $ 14 you can get one that comes with potatoes smothered in that awesome sauce. Smaller portion but just as delicious.
Their appetizers are fairly priced and my favorite are the patatas bravas. My goodness, way too good. The lamb skewers are also so good. Garlic shrimp is also fantastic. Their happy hour cuts the prices even more so you definitely shouldn’t miss it. I’m there almost every week. You should too!

I’ve been meaning to try Costa Brava for a while but forget to due to the fact that it’s hidden behind lots of greenery.
I visited Costa Brava for happy hour on Friday with my bf.
We walked in and were immediately greeted by a few people. We were seated and our server came over right away. Our server was great he was very funny and made a lot of great recommendations.
We started by having a pitcher of their sangria which is only $ 8 during HH. We had seven different tapas between my bf and I which was definitely a lot of food but couldn’t resist.
We had the octopus ceviche, blue cheese croquettes (there were 3), chorizo, patatas a la brava, chicken, lamb skewers (2 skewers) and the calamari.
*The marinated octopus was delicious with nice thick pieces of it and a nice ceviche like marinade. I loved it my bf didn’t care for it.
*The blue cheeses croquettes were recommended by our server and were nice and different.
*The patatas were good but not spicy at all, although they were tasty I was disappointed in the taste as opposed to others I’ve had.
*The lamb skewers were very tender.
*The calamari was ok nothing special
*The chicken was very nice and had a good seasoning reminded me of Mexican pozole.
*The chorizo was delicious and I can really appreciate some nice thick chorizo unlike the packaged stuff we get here at the grocery store.
I liked the atmosphere of Costa Brava and all the Spanish décor, you are really taken elsewhere when your there.
We plan to add Costa Brava to our date night rotation :)