The Little Fish Market

RIP Little Fish Market, you will be missed.

Out of business, closed. Sign suggests going to one of their other two locations. I like the tuna fish sandwich at this location. Too bad it closed.

This was an unplanned stop… as we had been at Fashion Valley, and were trying to find a place we wouldn’t normally find in the LA area where we live… also, with a cranky toddler in tow, we needed something that appeared family friendly.
We weren’t expecting Legal Seafood, mind you.
Well, in we went.
Good things — GREAT coloring package for our 2-​year old, who loved paging through the booklet… bread was fine, and the garlic cheese bread we got was excellent. My wife liked her clam chowder, and our little girl was pleased with her basil cherry tomatoes…
BUT…curiously, they even put ice in our toddler’s kid’s milk.
Ice in milk? What, refrigerator not working?
At least we knew the rest of our meal was hot. Everything else was overcooked… the fish and chips I ordered, our toddler’s chicken strips, and the way-​too-​small prawns that accompanied my wife’s steak.
About that steak though — she got two of them, both ordered medium rare but with the first one cooked well-​done, and the second one pan seared and nearly raw… almost as if the chef decided he was going to scew with us for his fouling up the first steak and having it sent back. Now mind you, my wife can be picky about her steak, whereas I am not, but still, the first one was way overcooked and I tell you, that second one was still mooing.
While we did get comped on the steak foul-​up, it convinced us that this was one San Diego experience we planned on not ever repeating…

Normal…
Food is just normal.
Fried clams with tartar sauce pretty bland.
Potatoes au gratin and steamed veggies are bland too.
Salmon is just okay.
Can’t give good remarks, but also cant give any bad marks.
Went here on a Monday night, very empty!

These fish houses take a piece of fish which is pretty decent quality, throw it on a grill with (insert spice here) and then BAM, you’ve got a meal.
In San Diego and any seaside town, you’ll find many of these small fisheries. So what sets this one apart? Nothing. It’s small, it’s got a good location, but there is no Sham-​wow factor in the food.
So, if you’re craving fish, you’re at Qualcomm or mission valley area, go ahead. Otherwise, I wouldn’t go out of my way.

This is a 3.5 star review.
I have spent much of my money over the years at this location. Mission Valley’s grotto style Fish Market. There was a time I went to lunch here 1 – 2 times a week!
A smaller menu than the larger Fish Market locations, this was a perfect little place for lunch. The food is delicious, and I adore their clam chowder. It is my golden standard. I also love their smoked fish plates. The tarter sauce is out of this world, and the only tarter sauce I will eat.
However, where they used to be a walk up counter for ordering, with self seating and a laid back atmosphere… they are now a sit-​down restaurant. The wait staff is slower now, which sucks. The prices have gone up as a result. I get that they needed to draw in a dinner crowd now that there are a lot of apartment houses across the road, but the service and atmosphere suffered greatly.
That being said, those who are not used to the old style would probably love it as a casual fish market that you don’t have to drive to the beach for. I like this place much better than Anthony’s.

I’ve been here only for happy hour, and they’re not too bad. from 4 – 6 or past 8:30 p.m. on the weekdays, they have a great steamed clam dish in a yummy garlic broth, ahi poke served with wontons, and really cheap desserts.
Never waited, and it’s centrally located for a quick and easy bite.

One this is for sure. The sourdough bread they give you is a win.
Here are some items I have eaten: the caesar salad with grilled salmon has a great piece of tender, juicy, better than I could ever make, salmon filet. The salad part was mediocre. It was like they spent no time preparing it and it tasted we and old.
The grilled swordfish tacos were above average. They came with a good dipping sauce and the fish was well cooked.
Cheezy Garlic Bread is a must.
Basically, I give any of the entrees an above average rating (solid 4 stars) and the sides they come with a 2 to 3 stars. My review should be 3.5 stars, but rounded to 4 b/​c I like this place.

We brought our newest employee to The Little {*)))-{ Market for his initiation lunch and unfortunately what followed wasn’t pretty.
Initially we all came in and we were all :)
We made some jokes, told stories, laughed around a bit and at some points we were like :‘D
Eventually our waitress came by and she was super friendly so I gave her a ;-)
After a few more minutes of :) and: D the waitress came back and on my plate was a {*)))-{
I was :-D to try out my food but after the first bite I was more :-|
Eventually I finished my {*)))-{ except the eye and tail so it was -* — { but it was so disappointing my mouth felt :(and my stomach was so ./​_​\. that it was painful when it went out my (_._)
It’d be hard to recommend a place like this even the biggest fans of {*)))-{ …not even my little =’.’= (although she actually hates fish)
Overall it was pretty :(

Frankly there are better fish choices in San Diego than Little Fish Market. The service was alright but the food (lunch menu) left much to be desired. I had the swordfish, which at most decent restaurants is pretty good but here literally tasted like a cross between sponge cake and a water balloon. I can guarantee that I’ll never come here again.
The cherry side dish is also super-​over hyped media.

My GF and I went here one time and that was more then enough for me. The staff was very unfriendly and our food was bland. It took a long time to just get our lunch and we were almost the only people here. Everything here was so bad the only thing that makes me wanna give a 2 star rating was that the side dishes were pretty good. I will not be eating here again. I agree with J.B. that it was probably healthier than fast food but I much rather have gone to eat McDonald’s for quicker service and tastier food.

Apart from the Denny’s in Buttonwillow CA, this is probably one of the worst experiences I have had with hospitality in my dining experience. If the food wasn’t tasty, they would have gotten a 1. On New Years Day, Hans and I headed down to Ikea for some new furniture for our new pad, it was mid afternoon and we both needed to eat as we were starving. It was either Island’s or TLFM and since both of us had been to Island’s we decided to try someplace new, mostly so I could Unilocal about it. It turned out to be a Unilocalers wet dream.
We walked in hoping to look at a menu hopefully so we could decide if we really wanted to eat here, but got roped into being seated by the aloof host who told us to sit where we wanted which we did so we could just see the menu. We chose a spot near the kitchen and were greeted promptly by a bubbly informative server who took the time to explain the menu and took our order… so far so good right? I ordered the 3 piece fish and chips and Hans ordered the Swordfish. We got our drinks and from there it all went downhill.
After waiting for what seemed like an unacceptable amount of time Hans was finally served his meal by someone other than our server. Except one of his sides (the french fries) was missing. No explanation was offered, the plate was just dropped in front of him and before he could ask, the replacement server was gone. The fish, although tasty, was not what he expected, instead of a thick steak, he got two thin pancake sized slices.
After what seemed like forever, at least 10 minutes, we had to flag down some dude (I think it was the aloof host) to find out where my food was. I mean, Hans was eating slowly and he was still almost done with his food by the time we were frustrated enough to ask. During this time there was no sign of our original waitress, nor did any replacement come close enough to our table to pull aside and question. He said he would go see what the problem was.
Probably 3 minutes later my food arrived (via a completely different server), and so did Hans’ missing french fries. I hate to admit that my fish and chips were pretty tasty and hot, despite the poor service, and I’m wondering who exactly was at fault. I’m inclined to believe that it was the kitchen staff because there wasn’t really enough time to start my plate from scratch between the time we asked and the time my food was served. it’s like they forgot to turn on the fryer or something, a fact that wouldn’t have been so irritating had that been explained to us from the get go.
Our original server stopped by half way through my meal (Hans was done eating) to apologize, not explain, just apologize. I quote, «I’m sorry» waitress shakes head and repeats «I’m sorry, I’m just trying to take care of everyone». She goes and gets refills of our drinks (and screws that up), and that’s the last we see of her.
I finish my meal, and after another long wait, have to flag someone else down for my check. Nothing is comped. I should have spoken to the manager at this point but decide to just pay the bill and leave because I feel my temper flaring and my blood pressure rising, and don’t want to create a scene.
In summary, I have to say I will not be back. If the service is this bad all the time, I don’t know how long this place will stay in business. Times are tough and most people I know will not tolerate being forgotten.

After a long drive from CH to SD … I’m thinking I want to eat before entering Qualcomm. You know that daily question that we each ask ourselves: «What doI feel like eating?» For me I wait for inspiration to strike at anytime so what brought me here was a sudden itch in the crotch area.
I was super hungry so I made a quick stop by The Little Fish Market, at least I thought it would be quick. It’s actually a restaurant type place where you sit and order but I just wanted to pick something up and head out and they were able to scratch that itch of mine.
After looking through the menu, I decided on a sandwich. Lucky for me the menu said crab meat sandwich and not a crab louse sandwich … that would just be horrible. (don’t you just love wikipedia)
Biting into a sandwich with lettuce, red onions and crabs on toasted sourdough would just be wrong, unless you’re into that freaky kinda thing down in SD.
If this review was about crabs … it would get 1 star, but it’s about The Little Fish Market and the tasty crab meat sandwich I got from here. So check it out if you want some seafood-​ish type food and are near Qualcomm.
Scratch that itch of yours …

I hate restaurants that treat solo diners like second-​class citizens!!!
I recently went here for a late lunch after a visit to Ikea. I asked to be seated on the patio, only to be told that, «there are no tables available on the patio for one person.» From the seat at my indoor table, awkwardly placed against a curved wall, I could see that the patio was less than half full and there were open, clean 2-​seat tables outside. It was nearly 1:00 so clearly the lunch rush was over. Grrrrrrrrr.
The crab salad sandwich was fair, but nothing special. It had bits of crab shell in it — I suppose for crunch and to show that they use real crab. The waiter was friendly, but the service in general was slow. This place will be low on my list for a return visit.

We had just got done shopping at Costco’s and pumping gas and my friend just so happened to be so kind that night and said he would treat all 3 of us out to some grub @ the Fish Market.
I was never a fan of seafood chain restaurants as their seafood is usually super bland. Well most American-​style seafood is very plain in my opinion and the fish is almost 100% of the time filleted.
So we came in and got seated. Took them a little while to take our orders down. I remember ordering some catfish and my other friends ordered salmon and yellowtail.
Funny thing is we all got different fish, but they all came out looking identically the same (besides color) with the same look and same exact seasoning. WOW… They must be very original plates :/​
The taste was very bland for all three entrees. I tried my other 2 friend’s plates and it did not taste impressive at all.
The portions were ok but kinda skimpy and does not fill you up at all.
Pricing here is ok, not too expensive but for the price you don’t really get satisfied.
Don’t think I will be returning to this place anytime soon…

They serve primarily fish and seafood entrees. Little Fish Market, who knew???
I feel weird writing a review for a place that I haven’t actually eaten the seafood, but seriously… would that stop me? NOPE.
This is what we ordered for the 3 of us:
Kid’s linguine with cream sauce for myself (Because I’m 8, be quiet.)
Kid’s cheese pizza
clam chowder
Garlic cheese bread
3 beverages
It was either order from the kid’s menu, or settle for salad. They REALLY don’t have anything for veggie people. And, I’m sick of salad.
The pasta was okay, in a «bland-but-i’ll-add-some-salt-and-pepper-and-it’ll-be-okay» kind of okay. Huh?
Anyway, the boy had cheese pizza, and he and I were both disappointed, considering it wasn’t even cooked all the way. The damn crust was gooey and raw. What the hell. He may be 10, but even 10 year olds can figure out when you F up a pizza.
The best part of the entire meal was the garlic cheese bread. It could have possibly been the best garlic cheese bread I’d ever had in my life. But, that’s not saying much, I could have made it at home myself.
1 star for the bread, and 1 for the service. Eh. Maybe the fish/​seafood entrees are better. Who knows.

My first time at this place. Fish Market down by Ikea parking lot. I was kind of apprehensive at first since the line below the name read off «quick service restaurant». When I think of quick service, I think of fast food a la Long John Silver’s and such. I was pleasantly proven wrong. This place was more comparable to a casual sit down joint. Nothing fancy shmancy. It was a warm day out and I had dropped off my daughter with my mother in law to watch for a few hours.
I decided to sit at the patio which was covered btw, but was still very well lit with the numerous side windows and such. I looked at the menu and noticed a lot of intriguing and delictable items to try. I wasn’t that hungry, but I knew that I wanted to consume something fresh and satisfying. My server recommended the lobster salad or better yet the Lobster Club Sandwich with Fries. I opted for the club salad.
After a reasonable wait, I was taken aback by the presentation. Normally I don’t think you can do much in terms of sandwiches and presentation. However just seeing the sight of the 4 equally scrumptious cut pieces was enough to make my mouth water. The lobster meat was tender, however I did question whether it was lobster or langosta. But I didn’t really care at that point. My compliments to the chef as he placed generous amounts of lobster meat along with my cool avocado /​guac, onions, tomato, and lettuce. I told myself i was only going to eat 2 slices and save the rest for later. I found myself finishing up everything on one sitting. I barely touched my fries.
Pros: comfortable atmosphere. I checked out their happy hour menu and looks pretty reasonable.
Cons: Mission Valley Traffic especially near the Ikea.
Overall: First time here was a good experience. I intend to check out their Avcoadao stuffed lobster/​crab salad next time I“m there.

Smells Phishy…
Came down for lunch this afternoon, I know it’s a fish restaurant but damn when I walked in the smell was almost as bad as Plah Rah also known as fermented fish used for authentic papaya salad/​most Thai/​Lao dishes. That’s not a good sign. Maybe I just have a really good sense of smell?
I ordered…
Ice Tea= Nothing special
Pacific Yellowtail= Looks like the frozen talapia sold at Henry’s, not too much flavor, tuna in a can probably tastes better.
Side Dishes:
Steamed Vegetables:= Carrots were dry ashy chopped up fingers.
Basil Cherry Tomatoes:= didn’t looked too fresh very soft didn’t look red more like a marroonish color.
I also ordered dessert, I had a really tasty crème brule at the fish market in del mar so I assumed it would be just as good. For some reason this one here tasted very SOUR.
I am eating peanut butter crackers to make up for my unsatisfied meal ;)

4 Stars for the freshness of their fish. I’ve been here two times and have had the Mesquite Grilled Pacific Yellowtail and Smoked California King Salmon. Both were cooked well and quite tasty. For the quality I don’t mind paying the slightly higher price.
The reason why I didn’t give it 5 Stars was the fact I ate at the one downtown off of Harbor before eating here. I was impressed by the atmosphere and having dinner while watching the sunset with my date.
The wait staff here is always friendly, quick, and courteous. So if you’re in the area I’d recommend stopping by. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ve always liked the regular Fish Market restaurants, and we found a Little Fish Market when we’d make our regular visits to Costco and Ikea. The Little Fish Market offers a more limited menu compared to Fish Markets, and the atmosphere is a little more laid back. Their menu is also printed daily, depending on what kind of fish they have fresh that day.
The fish is freshly grilled and is served with a selection of two sides. Their sandwiches are also done very well and they’re served with fries.
Recommend: Halibut, Snapper, Yellowtail
Stay away from: shrimp cocktail.