Tamarindo Del Mar

Another excellent dinner. The elote appetizer was excellent and the chips and salsa are very fresh. The chicken mole and shrimp taco was also excellent and the service was very good despite being extremely busy. The noise level is high especially with the music being played in the background but didn't prevent a fun atmosphere. Prices are reasonable. Highly recommend this restaurant.

Amazing experience for dog lovers. Very dog friendly restaurant, has special menu for your pup. Human food was fantastic, really enjoyed the food, the Fig Mole was delicious and the shrimp in the tacos were huge. The prices were excellent for what you got. The Lavender Margarita was awesome, definitely did not skimp on the alcohol! Highly recommend and will for sure return.

Amazing food, great vibe, personable and professional staff! It is consistently a great experience!

Food was excellent! I have been El Tamarindo 7 times this year, and each time the food was great, so very consistent. Service has been mostly top notch and fast, depends on how busy it is. Most of the time I book a reservation and request the outdoor tables with the little fire-pit features, which doesn't always happen, but otherwise I highly recommend it!

The food in Tamarindo was incredible. Great location, great ambience. Everything was good except the service was a bit slow and they didn't pay very close attention but overall, I would go back and I highly recommend it.

We've been here many times and celebrate various occasions. The service is spectacular and the food is awesome! And you can't beat the view!

Great food and great service. Seating outside by the fire pit is a better ambiance. We will be back.

Great stop in Del Mar. our dog loved having her own menu to choose from. Good Mexican food. Off street parking lot makes it even better.

The menu options are good and there are a few vegetarian options. The taco plates are interesting and not Sonoran mexican. The inside seating can get noisy if the restaurant has several tables filled. Overall, it is a good eating experience.

The place itself is really nice and has a great vibe, but parking was a bit of a hassle. The seafood was delicious—super fresh and well-seasoned. On the other hand, the traditional plates could use a little more flavor. The rice, beans, and salsa were pretty bland, and let's be real—those are the heart of any good Mexican meal. Definitely worth checking out for the seafood, but the classics need a bit more sazón.

Our waitress Shauna was very good about allowing us time to not rush through our food. Had the Del Mar margarita changed?

Love, love, love the lobster on Wednesday! Amazing food, outstanding staff! Make your reservation early!

Very good tacos, yucca fries. Good house margarita

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

I have been to many different restaurants in this exact same place, none seem to last too long, so I was excited to see when Tamarindo was opening up. I will say that I stopped in for my first time this past weekend and had a nice dinner, although I got very sick from the Ceviche Costa Rica. It’s located on the ground floor of a small shopping center in downtown Del Mar. There are multiple levels of parking in the parking garage attached for a small fee, which is what I would suggest to do because street parking is hard to find in this part of town. Inside is extremely large with many different seating options, TVs showing different beaches around San Diego, and a very large and lively bar. Every single table was taken when we stopped in for our 7 PM dinner and there was a line when we were exiting. Our server was very very polite and everything that we ordered arrived pretty quickly.

As mentioned the only part of the experience I did not like was the food poisoning from the Ceviche, but the Carne Asada Plate was very good and overall I would give it another chance even though I usually don’t after getting sick at a place. The menu is also very large so it has a lot of options on it which makes it easy to try something new during each visit.

Parking: multi-story pay parking garage attached

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Carne Asada Plate

The highlight of our meal was the sweet corn puree in our Tamarindo Short Rib dish. The tamarind flavor was non-existent, however the sweet corn purée made up for this. We shared a beet salad that can easily be made at home, and shared a couple of drinks. The tamarind lemonade was very sweet. With melted ice and some water. It was much better. The short rib meat was tender and delicious. Dinner for two was under $100.

Though our waiter Max was great, the overall atmosphere was rushed and cold with limited help from staff and a cold patio. The hosts smile reduced after we confirmed no reservation and were offered an awkward high bar seats that we kindly passed on. We opted to wait for a table. The actual bar looked fun, but we saw it after we began to dine. The table flame is more or an interruptor while dining in so I advise you get a reservation. The menu consists of Mexican ingredients used in American recipes.

Parking garage is free for your first 30 minutes, then $3/ each 30 minutes. Unfortunately, drinks from another party were accidentally added to our tab which caused a slight delay when trying to leave. As we paid our parking, we paid $6 after spending 91 minutes in the parking garage. We still love Max, but as locals, we didn't find a desparate need to return, but will attempt to re-create the purée. 🌽 ✨

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 5