We tried Marisco’s 7 Mares for lunch. Marisco’s promotes itself as a seafood restaurant and we’ve been hoping to find a good one in town. Assuming it would be crowded during a weekday lunch rush, we were surprised to find only one other party dining on the day we visited during prime lunch time. We were greeted and taken to our seats quickly. Waiter was very pleasant and left us with chips, hot sauce and the menu to decide.
The menu at Marisco’s is extensive. Three large pages, front and back, of dinner choices. As someone who considers themselves a foodie, I must say that a menu that large is a chef’s nightmare, and not much better for patrons. The restaurant bills itself as a seafood restaurant, and while there are seafood choices, and several dishes with fish, it’s not a seafood restaurant. It’s a Mexican food place hiding behind, but not quite reaching, an upscale fine dining establishment with the word ‘seafood’ all over the door and promotional materials.
The menu however shows the indecision of the owners and who they want to be. The poor chef is faced with at least 100 items on the menu ranging from typical bar food like wings and burgers, an over abundance of Mexican dishes, many with fish, a handful of seafood dishes with Mexican flavors, and American dishes. With that many dishes to prepare, the chef will be unable to excel in any one direction. It’s a shame.
Because we sought out Marisco’s specifically for seafood, we both ordered shrimp dishes with the ‘traditional white rice’. If you have an aversion to cilantro, like some do, you’ll want to avoid the rice or request no cilantro. We were not told if there was a lunch menu, and I didn’t see one on the menu itself. To be honest, it was information overload on choices, so we focused on the seafood section to limit our choices. I had the Camarones al Mojo de Ajo which was shrimp in a garlic onion spicy puree, and my dinner companion had Camarones Frontera, a bacon and cheese wrapped shrimp dish, both with the ‘traditional white rice’.
Every thing served was cooked well and overall had good flavor. The garlic puree was a bit too oily and either the shrimp or the paste had a slight metallic or ‘off’ flavor. Wasn’t horrible, and I didn’t get sick, so it might have just been the shrimp. The bacon wrapped shrimp had good crispy bacon flavor, but lacked much cheese or jalapeno. Because we both had come in expecting seafood, I was slightly disappointed in the choices, but that was my expectation of wanting seafood, not Mexican food.
Will we go back? I’d say Marisco’s 7 Mares is a nice place for a date night when you’re wanting a bit more extravagant Mexican dishes. If you go for lunch, I’d ask if there was a lunch only menu to avoid the dinner time prices. Overall, we had no real complaints about Marisco’s other than the overly large and confusing menu.