General Notes
City Tacos is a modern tacos institution with locations all across San Diego. This review is for the one in Pacific Beach, right by the pier. They have some really interesting flavor combinations. Their fish tacos are DELIGHTFUL and definitely the best fish tacos I've had to date. There are probably better taco restaurants for the more traditional tacos like carnitas or carne asada, but this place does not disappoint for their more innovative house specials.
Negatives
> The corn tortilla has a bit too soft of a texture. As a result, it also doesn't have the best structural integrity and breaks easily in taco form. I forget which; either my carnitas or surf & turf taco disintegrated half way through.
Dishes Tasted
- ★★☆☆ Elote Asado -- Solid dish; a bit too cheese-heavy for my taste but solid nevertheless.
- ★★☆☆ Carnitas -- slow-cooked pork carnitas topped with cilantro, onion, guacamole, and crunchy chicharron. The chicharron doesn't make any sense in the context of the taco, but all the other components work well.
- ★★★☆ Crispy Shrimp -- Taco of the month, December 2021. I don't remember the exact ingredients but the shrimp was beautifully fried and the flavors worked together really well.
- ★★☆☆ Surf & Turf -- grilled arrachera & shrimp over a bed of asadero cheese topped with cabbage, onion, tomato, cilantro, finished with an avocado slice & lime aioli. Decent taco but personally not the biggest fan of surf & turf combinations in general.
- ★★★★ Pescado -- golden-fried mahi mahi with cabbage, pickled red onions, habanero and strawberries drizzled with cilantro, chipotle aioli, and fresh cilantro. The best fish taco I've had to date. Fish is fried perfectly, and all the other ingredients complement and balance each other perfectly. Acidity, freshness, texture, all so well-balanced.