Turtle Bay Taqueria

So it’s Wednesday around 7 pm. My wife and I decided to give this local taco joint a try. Big mistake!
There was one other couple in the place and they had already finished their meals and were just talking. The server was very nice and took our order in good time.
We ordered tacos for her and flauta’s for me. It took 20 minutes for the tacos to show up and ten minutes later my meal arrived. It was horrible. The chicken in the flauta’s was thick plank cut pieces and terribly over cooked. They were deep fried to the point where once you bit into them, they turned to paint chips in your hands. I suggest that the cook either stop drinking during the day or management replace him. We will not be returning. OH! and they charge you $ 2 for a basket of corn chips… not cool.

Good food, good service. It was good. I’d recommend it if you want a solid taco experience.

Randomly found this place, and so glad we stopped to eat here! Shrimp fajitas and shrimp quesadilla were fantastic! The kids menu was great (some Mexican and some traditional America for my picky kids). The service was great! Small, quaint interior. Very very clean. Great value for the price! We will be coming here again!

Food was good service is fast and it is cute. By the out side you can’t tell how clean it is. I’m glad we came by. I lived here forever and never stopped by!

I have been coming to Turtle Bay Taqueria in Seaside for many years. Recently however there has been a decline in the food and atmosphere. Tonight was the worst which compelled me to express my experience.
Hubby and I entered for dinner. We sat in a corner booth and noticed a moldy smell in the restaurant. We decided perhaps a leak from all the recent rain but it still goes down hill from here. Waitress took our orders, I ordered a Sea Garden salad with Cajun rockfish, and hubby ordered the chicken soup and the tostaco special with salmon. When my salad arrived it housed the flattest smallest piece of fish, the dressing (honey mustard vinaigrette) was mediocre, hubby’s tostacos were piled high with cabbage but he had difficulty finding much salmon. He had to ask for his soup twice because it never came. Finally, when he was done with his dinner the soup arrived. Hello? To make it worse the waitress must have asked us five times if everything was ok. But where’s my soup?
When he took the money up to the counter to pay for our dinners he noticed that the grill and under the grill looked dirty. Double yuck.
With all the new and exciting restaurants in Seaside I don’t think Turtle Bay in Seaside will remain on my rotation list. I still can’t get that moldy smell out of my nose. Ick.

Healthy seafood selections, and very tasty. I like to ask the servers for their recommendations. They know what tastes good. The burritos are really good and big! Even my tall teenage son had enough food. Try the fish or the chicken burrito. The bowls are pretty good too. The bowls are smaller portions but still enough to fill me. The grilled tilapia bowl comes with brown rice, black beans, and a slaw that includes some picked vegetables. Delicious. The burritos can be dry or wet and they also include some of the same picked vegetables and brown rice. There are also choices for enchiladas, plates, tacos and salads as well as quesadillas, which my kids also like. The service is friendly and efficient. Good quality food that we like to eat every time we are in the area.

Undercooked rice, bland food. Salsa is kept in the fridge which ruins the taste of the tomatoes.
My body is unhappy I ate there.

On my way home from the doctor, I stopped in for lunch. I eat there periodically and love their «Chicken Mole Enchiladas». I felt extra hungry, so ordered a «shrimp taco» in addition to my «Chicken Mole Enchilada». However, when my Enchilada arrived, it was stone cold and I was so hungry that I ate it anyway. Next, I attacked my taco and it was freshly hot with a delicious salad of chopped cabbage and an outstanding dressing. The shrimp were nicely sauteed and all rolled up in a nice tortilla. When the waitress bought the bill, I told her about the Enchilada not being warm. I said this had happened before because the overhead light was not strong enough to keep the food warm till delivered. I said I had told the cook before, but nothing was ever done. The waitress assured me she would tell the owner.

Nice, cozy, casual place and the staff was accommodating, but I was not impressed with the food or the prices. The calamari was delicious, the sand dabs had too much breading on the fish.

Cheap and delicious Baja Mexican dishes. I had the shrimp taco and was not disappointed. Their veggie bowl is also stellar. Feels like «real» Mexican food!

Bad and good:
The bad: Atmosphere not as pleasant as the one in Monterey. Seating is a bit cramped – so much so that I smelled more than I cared to of the other customers (one guy with way too much cologne; another who reeked of cigarettes sitting next to me – yuck!) There was food on the first seat I went to. And a big fly kept pestering me. My seafood pasta special looked like a mess and wasn’t all that appetizing texturally. The layer of black refried beans on the bottom of the bowl didn’t help much. I’m not normally one to believe that seafood and cheese should never be combined, but in this case, it was a mistake. It also could have used some fresh herbs and/​or veggies. Also, I’m not sure on why they serve tortillas with pasta – completely unnecessary.
The good: Service was friendly. The lobster sauce, seafood, and pasta had good flavor. I added some of their fire-​roasted salsa, which helped add some zip & freshness.

I’ve been coming to this location for about 5 years and is it consistently a good place to eat. I usually come for lunch and order one of the bowls. Chips and salsa excellent every time, their salsa is one of my favorites out there.
I’ve never thought to review this place till I saw some of the negative reviews that I feel are quite opposite of what I have experienced here many times over.

Unfortunately, the Seaside location seems to be having some issues. They are closing early, around 8pm or some nights earlier. It has also become difficult to reach anyone by phone here to place an order. We call but it just rings and rings, and we usually call around 6pm. I hope this place gets their act together. It used to be such a great little restaurant, but their flakiness is becoming a big turnoff!

I love Turtle Bay! Called in a take out order last night. Hubby was going to pick it up when he got off work. I called at 5:15 and the girl asked me to hold. I was on hold for over 5 minutes and could tell they were not talking to customers, but to other employees or friends. I hung up and tried to call back for another 10 minutes, but it was busy. Called the Monterey location and talked to the manager. He apologized and took my order. He said he would send it over to the Seaside location for pick up and they would call to confirm my order. She called back about 5 minutes later and just said, «I’m calling to confirm your order, it will be ready in about 10 minutes». No apology for making me wait on hold or for not being able to get through. My hubby gets there to pick up the order, pays and leaves. Calls me to ask what I ordered because it seemed cheap. I was thinking they gave us a discount for the inconvenience. No, they forgot to include my my hubby’s calamari wrap. So he has to go back to the restaurant to get it and they make him pay for it. I called the manager back at Monterey and he again apologized. Said he would call Seaside and talk to the manager over there to see what they could do. My husband was still there for another 5 – 10 minutes and he didn’t call when he was there. He left. The manager at Monterey called me back and again apologized but said my husband was already gone when he called. He said he would talk to the general manager and get us a gift certificate. He said he would call me back this afternoon. Well… they haven’t called. I might have just eaten my last grilled shrimp taco… :(Will update this review if they do call and honor what they promised for the inconvenience.
Manager from Seaside just called. offered to give me a 20% discount or free item. I have to give them my name when I go in. Personally I think they should have mailed me a certificate or a even buy one get one coupon. I really don’t want to go in and give them my name and ask for something free. She was very nice about it though.

This is my first review and sadly I give it a one star. I have heard good things about here and so with some friends we came to eat. When I go out for Mexican food there’s one thing I love most. Authenticity. When I ordered my overly priced nachos I was gravely disappointed. There was kraft fake nacho cheese sauce on them. Who goes to a Restaurant to pay for in a jar nacho cheese sauce? Super bummed about the experience and you had to pay for chips. Not a huge complaint but still. Never had that happen. Go to Michael’s instead!

This was one of my ex-​wife and my favorite places to eat when I lived here a decade ago. The food’s okay, but there’s much better nearby. If they brought the price down it’d be worth eating at (Quality vs. Price), but it’s too expensive for what you get.

I had high hopes. Nothing spectacular.
I do want to mention the waitress was very nice to the next table over. Sent back the noodle dish 3x because they weren’t getting it right for a little picky girl. Now that is service. We on the other hand didnt get much attention.
Ordered the fried oysters meal that came with fries, beans and broccoli, and rock cod special. Few pieces of oysters, not huge in size. My cod came with a huge chunk of lettuce. Unless it is butter lettuce it should not be served like that. Their hot harbanero sauce was pretty good.

(this rating is for the Monterey location) 4 full stars for what it is — A great little offshoot business from the nearby Fishwife featuring cheap, healthy Mexican Coastal-​Belize selections in bistro-​style colorful restaurant with concrete floors, friendly staff who take your order at the counter, and loud piped-​in salsa music that gets every kid in the place (and some adults!) shaking their derrieres. I absolutely love the fish taco bowl and fresh salsas. There are many healthy options to choose from and the restaurant is family friendly. While this is not a great date place due to the humble ambience and the elevated noise leve, I love to stop in for lunch or grab a bite on the go and am always rewarded with a great tasting entrée.

I got the baja fried fish taco combo plate, the fish was fried well, not greasy, but I couldn’t understand why they put black bean paste in the corn tortilla it just made the taco dry and I had to drench the tacos in salsa, it needed the yummy white sauce that usually accompanies fish tacos. Then I get the same tasteless bean paste on the side with rice pilaf, wtf! My hubby got the shrimp bowl and said it tasted OK but the side salad in the bowl tasted awful because of the awful thousand island dressing which didn’t mix with the rest of the bowl. My kids quesadilla was fine, they were nice enough two split the plate. I wish I could give a better review, because I really liked the server she was great and very nice.
Monterey, I beg of you, please stop leaving a bad taste in my mouth with your mediocre, tasteless food, and your bad servers, man I miss SD.

I had not been to turtle bay in almost a year before today. I went for lunch with a friend. We both ordered bowls, I got the steak and she got the grilled shrimp. Both bowls came with wild rice, pureed black beans, cabbage slaw, and our respective meats. We both throughly enjoyed our bowls.
We also ordered a side of guacamole and chips, they were both OK. The chips were a little over fried and the guacamole didn’t really have enough acid for my taste.
The bowls here are what really keep me coming back, the black beans are so smooth and go well with the wild rice.