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I was excited to try this place because of Anthony Bourdain. I liked the cute seating area. Service was fine. They give you chips and salsa while you wait for your food. Price was on the steeper side. It was $40 for two tostadas and one fish taco. The seafood was fresh but the flavors didn't quite mesh that well in the tostada with sea urchin and clam. You can skip the fish taco because you can find better in San Diego!
Great spot for seafood tostadas if you want to sit down and have drinks with it. If you want just food and a faster experience, I'd suggest going to the cart across the street which serves the same food. Sidenote, I got the Spanish menu understanding little Spanish so it was fun ordering "blind" and letting the taste buds fully explore flavors! Erizo Con Almeja: had a real ocean taste to it not sure if it had uni, very umami too Singapur: my personal favorite, almost like poke since the creaminess of the white sauce complimented the fish very well Marianne Premium: high quality tuna really shows out and is balanced nicely with the avocado Cachanilla: almost had a ginger spice to it, very refreshing and juicy Definitely a must have in Ensenada but try to go before 11 since the wait can get long if you want to sit in!
The service was great! Nice people, and good recommendations. The sea urchin was interesting, the blue fin tuna was yummy, pulpo tostada was excellent. I wanted the Bourdain experience and maybe made more of what I expected than I had. NOT the restaurants fault. Maybe next time, I'll stick with simple but ALWAYS mexican coke! ALWAYS
Super good! We had to stop by to try some of the ceviche and fish tacos, and we're really glad we did. Service was quick, friendly, and helpful. Our server provided some great recommendations! Now, for the food... -Singapore Tostada (crab salad with shrimp, octopus, and scallops for 209 pesos): my partner said it was a 5/5 and "so good." There was an abundance of seafood on it, and it tasted great. He said it paired great with a beer (he got the Harry Polanco Cerveza Red Ale). -Mixed ceviche with sea snail tostada (209 pesos): my mom tried this one and said it was refreshing, clean, and tasted fresh, not fishy. She really enjoyed it! She said this is great for someone who doesn't like greasy food. -The fish taco (for 69 pesos each): I really enjoyed this! I'm not a seafood person, so I appreciated that this was flavorful (especially with the great salsas and the peanut oil that our server brought over for us to try with the ceviche) and not at all fishy. Overall, we loved the food and service here! Would definitely recommend stopping by if you're in the area after a cruise.
(AKA) La Guerrerense Restaurant instantly became internationally famous when Tony Bourdain called the street stall that proceeded this restaurant the best street food stall in the world. Chef/owner Sabina Bandera's luck took a turn for the better. This is a woman that said prior to having the stall she didn't even like seafood. Unfortunatley, circumstances in her family forced her to think of a way to make money to support her family. Pristine seafood is plentiful in this part of the country and it's also inexpensive. Ease of entry into the street seafood business was easily so the solution was obvious. For someone that doesn't like seafood, she has come up with some of the best seafood tostada topping combinations that I have ever seen anywhere (ceviche with urchin and clams, ceviche with shrimp, octopus, sea snail, scallop and clam, fish pate with scallops, ...). If you didn't know any better, these are combinations that would be put together by world class trained chef. She has great tastebuds and a knack for putting together flavors that even Michelin stared chefs would be hard pressed to do. No, she did not attend culinary school. Bourdain called it right when he declared her stall the best in the world. By the way, did I mention her fish tacos? Yes, I also have to talk about her fish tacos which are nothing less than great. If it was possible, I would eat these every day, they are just that good. Pristine chunks of fish that are lightly battered and fried. Her crema for the tacos is heavy on the mayo side, but it works beautifully with the sweet chunks of fish. Before entering you will see pictures of her with lots of famous chefs that have come here to pay homage to Sabina who is also naturally a brilliant chef. I had the privilege of visiting a few years back and now a visit to the area is not complete without eating here at least once.
The food here is delish! Great menu with yummy seafood options!!! Opted to sit outside and the weather was perfect. There was some live music playing and it was so nice. Me and the hubs tried 4 different menu options, all delish. Had chips and different salsas brought to us. We did have to ask for the p-nut chili sauce. Server was super sweet, and gave all good recs. My fave was the cocktail, it tasted EXACTLY like she described it. (Great English too if your Spanish isn't great). The best cocktail! It was a seasonal offering, so don't remember the name. But delish, sweet & tangy! El Gobernador w Shrimp = Delish! Probably my fave! Of course shrimp cocktail was perf.
The Anthony Boursain hype is real! Every dish we tried was made with fresh ingredients and savory marinades! Tried their popular getraguense with shrimp and every bite was citrusy with a hint of spice. My mouth is watering just thinking of these flavors . The Uni tostada with clans comes its own syringe of salsa with the perfect proportion. Ensenada tacos are a little pricier than the street woods but are perfectly battered. Worth it! The agua mala local beer compliments the meal. Quick and friendly service in a touristy doi that feels local.
comida deliciosa!!! Appetizers: Oysters: the freshness makes it delicious. It's mouthwatering. Pulpo (octopus): it's tender and I love the dressing that they mix with it. Guacamole: nothing really specia, however the chips that come with it is so good. Tostadas: Singapore: the best tostada I've ever had! It's made with fresh crab, shrimps and scallops. Highly recommended! Ceviche Mixto: combination of different seafoods: fish, shrimp, crab and scallops. Pescado; the fish they used was tuna. They have an indoor and out door sitting. Friendly atmosphere and good customer service.
Ensenada was one of our ports on our cruise and so my husband thought we should stop at this legendary taco shop. The area was safe and we were able to navigate using my phone's GPS. Somehow we still walked right past place twice. The restaurant was large and spacious and also had a patio. It was a hot day so we chose to eat inside. I think it's a good thing that we did periodically folks would come up to sell their wares to the people sitting on the patio. There was a security guard who would shoo them away. I had eaten a big breakfast, so I decided to keep things light with the clam chowder bread bowl and a glass of the house made rosé. The wine was good in the bread bowl even better. The clam chowder had a nice touch of garlic, which I am not used to coming from the East Coast server was very nice and spoke English and Spanish languages fluently. My husband, a.k.a. the sauce king normally has to request multiple sauces to get his fill, but here it is standard for them to bring out multiple salsas to try. He tried a number of tacos he thought were good.
Absolutely obsessed with this place! Less than a week before our visit to Sabina's we went to Californios in San Francisco- a Mexican fusion restaurant that has 2 Michelin stars. That was a fantastic experience which we promptly forgot about after one bite of Sabina's tacos. Whether you visit their truck La Guerrerense or Restaurante Sabina you're in for a treat!
Wowza!!! What an awesome restaurant!!! We got a recommendation of trying this place and I'm so glad we did! The service is TOP TIER!!!! All servers are SO GOOD! Definitely something that's noticeable. The food is just fantastic, we order a bunch of different things and everything was amazing. Definitely recommend!! read more
Having gone to the famous mariscos street food stand that is La Guerrerense Carreta on a previous visit to Ensenada, and eating seafood tostadas standing up with my brother in a street alley while having various juices dribbling down my chin, I knew how good the seafood tostadas here could be. But figured I needed a better way to eat it while visiting Ensenada again with my wife. So this time, went to the nearby sister restaurant, Sabina. It's named for the owner of the original food stand, and there are a lot of pictures of her with other celebrities who appreciated her talent in creating seafood combinations. The Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant is within walking distance from the cruise port, and is located in an area with a lot of other restaurants and shops. We came there soon after it opened around 10 am, and had the choice of indoor or outdoor seating. We showed that we were coming from California, by choosing indoor seating. We were given colorful menus and suggestions. We also got complementary chips and salsa, with 4 different varieties of her famous salsas being served. I tried all four of them, and two of them were way too hot, even in moderation. I did really like the green salsa, which tasted more like a simple guacamole. It also came with thinly slices of lime...each small slice producing so much more juice than any lime we get in California. My wife doesn't like raw seafood, so chose garlic shrimp (Caramones al Mojo de Ajo for Mex$405). There were plenty of jumbo headless, shell-on white shrimp, with the butter sauce being very light and not too garlicky. It came with a very good rice pilaf and sauteed vegetables (mostly squash which neither of us are a fan of). I went with 3 choices from the 5 selection 'Champion' list: 1. Erizo con Almeja (Sea Urchin with Clam for Mex$230) - winner of LA Street Food Fest 2011 for Best Original Showmanship 2. Caracol con Lajas de Caracol (Mixed Ceviche with Sea Snail for Mex$209) - winner of LA Street Food Fest 2012 for Best in Show 3. Singapur (Mex$209) - winner of LA Street Food Fest 2013 for unknown category). All three were piled high with fresh seafood, embellished with perfectly ripe avocado slices. None of them needed additional salsa, but adding a squeeze of lime enhanced. My favorite was the Singapore and would try the other two tostadas on the winners list the next time. The best way would be to order all the tostadas and split amongst a group of 4 or 5 friends (there are 6 other special tostadas and you can also create your own with the fresh seafood ingredients). Got two bottles of water (Mex$75 each...not cheap) and a local beer (Vera Niega Mexican Ale, a bottle being Mex$110) that was excellent. Service was attentive and friendly throughout, with multiple servers (Horacio and Antonio) attending to us, all trying to make sure we had a good time. Credit cards are accepted, using a modern tableside POS, and I was happy to pay a gratuity over what is customary. Bathrooms are modern, with individual stalls (most of them gender neutral) all sharing a nice common set of sinks. My wife and I left in fine spirits and it was beginning to fill up more as we left (all dining al fresco, of course). Dining at the nearby original food cart is worth the initial experience, but there is something to having food this good in a sit-down restaurant. Sabina is that place. read more
I was excited to try this place because of Anthony Bourdain. I liked the cute seating area. Service was fine. They give you chips and salsa while you wait for your food. Price was on the steeper side. It was $40 for two tostadas and one fish taco. The seafood was fresh but the flavors didn't quite mesh that well in the tostada with sea urchin and clam. You can skip the fish taco because you can find better in San Diego! read more
Great spot for seafood tostadas if you want to sit down and have drinks with it. If you want just food and a faster experience, I'd suggest going to the cart across the street which serves the same food. Sidenote, I got the Spanish menu understanding little Spanish so it was fun ordering "blind" and letting the taste buds fully explore flavors! Erizo Con Almeja: had a real ocean taste to it not sure if it had uni, very umami too Singapur: my personal favorite, almost like poke since the creaminess of the white sauce complimented the fish very well Marianne Premium: high quality tuna really shows out and is balanced nicely with the avocado Cachanilla: almost had a ginger spice to it, very refreshing and juicy Definitely a must have in Ensenada but try to go before 11 since the wait can get long if you want to sit in! read more
2 months ago
The service was great! Nice people, and good recommendations. The sea urchin was interesting, the blue fin tuna was yummy, pulpo tostada was excellent. I wanted the Bourdain experience and maybe made more of what I expected than I had. NOT the restaurants fault. Maybe next time, I'll stick with simple but ALWAYS mexican coke! ALWAYS read more
Super good! We had to stop by to try some of the ceviche and fish tacos, and we're really glad we did. Service was quick, friendly, and helpful. Our server provided some great recommendations! Now, for the food... -Singapore Tostada (crab salad with shrimp, octopus, and scallops for 209 pesos): my partner said it was a 5/5 and "so good." There was an abundance of seafood on it, and it tasted great. He said it paired great with a beer (he got the Harry Polanco Cerveza Red Ale). -Mixed ceviche with sea snail tostada (209 pesos): my mom tried this one and said it was refreshing, clean, and tasted fresh, not fishy. She really enjoyed it! She said this is great for someone who doesn't like greasy food. -The fish taco (for 69 pesos each): I really enjoyed this! I'm not a seafood person, so I appreciated that this was flavorful (especially with the great salsas and the peanut oil that our server brought over for us to try with the ceviche) and not at all fishy. Overall, we loved the food and service here! Would definitely recommend stopping by if you're in the area after a cruise. read more
21 days ago
Excellent service and incredible food. The staff were all very kind and respectful. The restaurant was very clean, well put together, and comfortable. Exceeded our expectations. Apple Pay, credit cards, cash all accepted. read more
4 months ago
(AKA) La Guerrerense Restaurant instantly became internationally famous when Tony Bourdain called the street stall that proceeded this restaurant the best street food stall in the world. Chef/owner Sabina Bandera's luck took a turn for the better. This is a woman that said prior to having the stall she didn't even like seafood. Unfortunatley, circumstances in her family forced her to think of a way to make money to support her family. Pristine seafood is plentiful in this part of the country and it's also inexpensive. Ease of entry into the street seafood business was easily so the solution was obvious. For someone that doesn't like seafood, she has come up with some of the best seafood tostada topping combinations that I have ever seen anywhere (ceviche with urchin and clams, ceviche with shrimp, octopus, sea snail, scallop and clam, fish pate with scallops, ...). If you didn't know any better, these are combinations that would be put together by world class trained chef. She has great tastebuds and a knack for putting together flavors that even Michelin stared chefs would be hard pressed to do. No, she did not attend culinary school. Bourdain called it right when he declared her stall the best in the world. By the way, did I mention her fish tacos? Yes, I also have to talk about her fish tacos which are nothing less than great. If it was possible, I would eat these every day, they are just that good. Pristine chunks of fish that are lightly battered and fried. Her crema for the tacos is heavy on the mayo side, but it works beautifully with the sweet chunks of fish. Before entering you will see pictures of her with lots of famous chefs that have come here to pay homage to Sabina who is also naturally a brilliant chef. I had the privilege of visiting a few years back and now a visit to the area is not complete without eating here at least once. read more
1 month ago
The food here is delish! Great menu with yummy seafood options!!! Opted to sit outside and the weather was perfect. There was some live music playing and it was so nice. Me and the hubs tried 4 different menu options, all delish. Had chips and different salsas brought to us. We did have to ask for the p-nut chili sauce. Server was super sweet, and gave all good recs. My fave was the cocktail, it tasted EXACTLY like she described it. (Great English too if your Spanish isn't great). The best cocktail! It was a seasonal offering, so don't remember the name. But delish, sweet & tangy! El Gobernador w Shrimp = Delish! Probably my fave! Of course shrimp cocktail was perf. read more
The Anthony Boursain hype is real! Every dish we tried was made with fresh ingredients and savory marinades! Tried their popular getraguense with shrimp and every bite was citrusy with a hint of spice. My mouth is watering just thinking of these flavors . The Uni tostada with clans comes its own syringe of salsa with the perfect proportion. Ensenada tacos are a little pricier than the street woods but are perfectly battered. Worth it! The agua mala local beer compliments the meal. Quick and friendly service in a touristy doi that feels local. read more
9 months ago
FIVE STARS! This place is known for their amazing tostadas, but their tacos are awesome too!! Anthony Bourdain nailed it when he said this place was awesome. Glad our party of 9 tried it. Great food. Great drinks. Great fun. Excellent service. read more
1 month ago
comida deliciosa!!! Appetizers: Oysters: the freshness makes it delicious. It's mouthwatering. Pulpo (octopus): it's tender and I love the dressing that they mix with it. Guacamole: nothing really specia, however the chips that come with it is so good. Tostadas: Singapore: the best tostada I've ever had! It's made with fresh crab, shrimps and scallops. Highly recommended! Ceviche Mixto: combination of different seafoods: fish, shrimp, crab and scallops. Pescado; the fish they used was tuna. They have an indoor and out door sitting. Friendly atmosphere and good customer service. read more
Ensenada was one of our ports on our cruise and so my husband thought we should stop at this legendary taco shop. The area was safe and we were able to navigate using my phone's GPS. Somehow we still walked right past place twice. The restaurant was large and spacious and also had a patio. It was a hot day so we chose to eat inside. I think it's a good thing that we did periodically folks would come up to sell their wares to the people sitting on the patio. There was a security guard who would shoo them away. I had eaten a big breakfast, so I decided to keep things light with the clam chowder bread bowl and a glass of the house made rosé. The wine was good in the bread bowl even better. The clam chowder had a nice touch of garlic, which I am not used to coming from the East Coast server was very nice and spoke English and Spanish languages fluently. My husband, a.k.a. the sauce king normally has to request multiple sauces to get his fill, but here it is standard for them to bring out multiple salsas to try. He tried a number of tacos he thought were good. read more
1 year ago
8 months ago
Absolutely obsessed with this place! Less than a week before our visit to Sabina's we went to Californios in San Francisco- a Mexican fusion restaurant that has 2 Michelin stars. That was a fantastic experience which we promptly forgot about after one bite of Sabina's tacos. Whether you visit their truck La Guerrerense or Restaurante Sabina you're in for a treat! read more
You know it's good when you stumble upon it on vacation, ate it, then crave it and you come back two months later just to eat it again. Was on a cruise two months ago, tried the restaurant when we were at the Ensenada port. It was about a 10 minute short walk to the restaurant in a little nook. They had outdoor and indoor seating. The kitchen is semi-open and the staff there are all friendly. They offered chips and salsa as you seat and look at the menu. Anthony Bourdain had a signature favorite dish that I would recommend: Favorito de Bourdain: Sea snails and scallops. But my absolute favorite was the Camarones Cremoso tacos. The cream shrimp tacos was what I was there for. Even after the second time around, it validated that it was good. I still think about it. The food was fresh and flavorful. I also got the cucumber mint agua fresca and it was so refreshing and delicious. I got the chance both times to see the person who started it all. "Mama" was so nice and shy, got to take photo with her and it was amazing that the staff remembered I was there two months ago. Would highly recommend. They have the street stall across the street La Guerrerense Carreta if preferred for a quick bite instead of the sit down restaurant. read more
1 year ago
Great food, the tostadas are as good as the carreta but we decided to go try the restaurant too, very good and fast service and bathroom very clean. read more
I brought some friends from across the border to try real mexican seafood and they loved it. We ordered oysters (very fresh), the Bourdain special (our favorite) and aguachiles (they needed to be more spicy imo). I like that they have local beer, and our waiter recommended a special sauce for our oysters that was delicious. However, this restaurant is big enough to have a terminal functioning for credit cards. Is cash only and there are no atms nearby. If it was the OG carrito outside, I'd understand, but for a restaurant this popular, cash only is extremely inconvenient. Finally, I followed a drink recommendation from a waiter after he convinced me to try their house version of what I wanted (it was a digestive drink at the end of the meal) and I really did not like it and left it there after a few sips. When I mentioned this to the waiter, I asked him to please take it off from the check, and he said the restaurant would make him pay for it if I didn't. Whether this is true or he was lying are both equally bad, and for that I'm taking another star off from this review. The food is great tho!! read more
6 months ago
1 year ago
3 years ago
What a great place! Hours were a little different than pictured (they opened up a little bit later, and one night appeared open when they were closed), and sometimes pretty busy, but if you can get a table it's worth a trip! This restaurant was my favorite meal in Ensenada. Many creative and award winning tostadas such as sea urchin/clam! Definitely not something you would regularly see in Ensenada. This place also served the best octopus taco I've had! To top it all off, dessert of the day was chocolate flan, need I say more?! They also have a few good looking salsas for $120 pesos, we got the mango habanero! read more
2 years ago
Great services, close to the port. Easy to locate. Food is great but not sure the food from the stand outside can be better?price is not cheap as you think it is in Ensenada. read more
La Guerrerense Carreta was made famous by Anthony Bourdain, and this street seafood stall has entertained numerous famous visitors since. The sit-down restaurant on the opposite side of the street offers an expanded menu (and higher prices), but I went in to sample their wide selection of ceviches. The Pescado con Mango y Habanero was made with chopped fish mixed with mango and habenero; and the Almeja was chopped clams mixed with onion, tomato, and cilantro. But the most special ceviche of all was definitely the Erizo, or sea urchin, which had been mixed into a creamy paste. Each of the ceviches was served on a crunchy toastada and topped with avocado slices. Each table was also started with tortilla chips along with avocado salsa, two red salsas, and salsa macha, or fried red chilies with peanuts in oil. Lastly, I had an order of the Ensenada-style Taco de Pescado, made of a battered fish fillet, pico de gallo, and sour cream on a corn tortilla. While the taco was tasty, the sour cream had an overwhelming mayo-like flavor, which made the taco taste like a Filet-O-Fish. Overall, however, the food was on point, and the service was super friendly and attentive too. read more
2 years ago
For starters the food was delicious. I'm not going to lie. We ordered asada tacos for the kids and the meat was well seasoned. The tacos de pescado & pulpo were good as well. The tacos gobernador de camarón were a bit different then the typical gobernador tacos but still delicious. Service wasn't bad as the restaurant was not busy at the time of our visit. Everything was going well until it was time to pay. Our tab came close to about $100 DOLLARS. We paid and our waiter asked if we wanted changed. My husband said no keep the change. Our waiter in front of us counted the tip money and said it was not the 10% and asked if we wanted to complete it. That alone ruined the experience and left me with a bad taste. The food is already over priced and prior to that we had already bought 3 tostadas for $500 PESOS. We only came to try it because of Anthony Bourdain but it's not worth the hype. read more
2 years ago
Good. Tostadas, ceviche, seafood. Pricy. Touristy. Expect expensive prices for food and drink. Decent service. read more
2 years ago
The tostadas at Sabina never fail. You can always go to the cart but it is always busy. But if you want a sit down place and relax, you go to Sabinas. read more
5 years ago
Not sure what all the fuss is about! I thought the sea urchin tostada would be awesome, like I've heard on reviews. I really didn't think it's the best seafood you could eat here. Fish tacos had no flavor, the rice was not tasty. The cocktails were just bland. I will not be coming back...service is as good, that's why I give 3 stars I really don't enjoy food that is decorated more than really giving taste! read more
TLDR: Not bad but overhyped in my opinion. The best item I got is Tostada Guerrerense. Discretion: this is based on my experience from cruising to Encinitas port. What I ordered: Tostada Guerrenrense, Tostada de Erizo, Tostada Mixta, and Tostada Aimeja. My Favorite: Would recommend the Tostada Guerrerense. Perfect mix of fresh fish, fresh and chrispy onion and tomato, and perfect kick of sour and sweetness. Interior: plenty of seating with beautiful interior design. Transport: 15 minutes from port. Staff was friendly but short staffed so it took a while to get our check (25 minutes just to get our check) Price at about $3 per Tostada. read more
Getting Here: Took the bus from the cruise terminal for $4 a person roundtrip. This is a sit down restaurant in Downtown Ensenada that originally started as a famous food cart. It's been visited by Anthony Bourdain. They are known for their seafood tostadas. When we arrived for lunch, there were plenty of tables and no wait. The waitress did speak English and helped us make menu selections. Everything was tasty and reasonably priced. The only thing I wouldn't recommend is the Pina Colada, which tasted a little watery. read more
2 years ago
Loved the food here! The tostadas were absolutely delicious! My favorite was the campechana and the Singapur! The service was great as well, lots of seating! read more
2 years ago
Whether it's seafood on the street or in a restaurant, Restaurante Sabina keeps up with La Guerrerense. The only difference is that the restaurant offers indoor seating and an option of tacos. I came in for the clam and sea urchin ceviche special...there wasn't any sea urchin. They were out. I also had the famous La Guerrerense ceviche. We also got an order of fish tacos. The ceviches were all very good and delicious. Lots of fresh seafood and bright flavors. The fish tacos seemed to not has fared as well because they were already cooked and sitting under a heat lamp for who knows how long. They were neither fresh tasting or as delicious as Anthony Bourdain claimed with the show that brought Chef Sabina to stardom. Service is very efficient here. Everyone is super friendly. Get the ceviches. Skip the tacos. Have a beer with your ceviche. It'll be a good time. read more
1 year ago
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More info about Restaurante Sabina
Av. Adolfo López Mateos 993
Col. Zona Centro
22800 Ensenada, Baja California
Mexico
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