Baja Sharkeez (Southern California)

food: 4/5
experience: 3/5
overall: 3.5/5

Sharkeez is the sheezy. It's more like a bar than a restaurant (well, it is a bar) but they do serve food here. I come here to dance and meet college dudes even though I already graduated. You can get on the stage where the DJ is and dance up in front of everyone and survey the crowd. There's a couch up there too.

Sharkeez has five locations all throughout the South Bay, in Santa Barbara, and in the OC. The one I frequent and the one the above portion is referring to is the Manhattan Beach one. It's the one where all the LMU students go and I used to go there so it's kinda engrained in me now. But I also like the Huntington Beach one cus downtown HB is hatnin'. It's order at the bar, seat yourself.

Aside from the bar, Sharkeez main gig is Mexican cuisine. My first dish here were the mixed fajitas. Marinated steak, chicken, and shrimp.

They give you a hefty portion size and they also give you several sides (below) - guac, beans, rice, tortillas, pico, and corn cakes which I skipped. The meat is marinated and seasoned to perfection, nice and moist and hot. Shrimp also marinated in a lemon garlic butter. Typical fajita mix of bell peppers, onion, tomato.

You can get each of the above mesquite meats in tacos as well. Or you can get a whole wood-fired plate of either the smoked BBQ chicken (four pieces) or BBQ slow-cooked tri-tip (8oz) with beans, tortillas, and rice or corn on the cob. Love me some steak, yes'm. Medium rare, as always. Chicken is good but steak is primo. Though as I said with the fajitas, their chicken is great too.

Also on the wood-fired BBQ menu: 8oz pan-roasted mahi mahi, broiled in lemon garlic butter. Mahi is one of my favorite fishes so I went for that plate. Can't go wrong with barbecue either.

So granted this was not a whole lot of fish. It's decent, and the salsa is good. If you like fish you'll like it. Nothing amazing though. The beans that come on the side of the wood-fired plates are honestly where it's at. They have pico de gallo mixed in and they have a really smoky flavor. Tortillas are whatever.

Next up were the street tacos. They have mesquite chicken (pollo asada), carne asada (tri tip), and blackened or fried shrimp or fish. I saved the seafood for next time and went with the meats.

More savory goodness. Again, seasoned well, not plain, very flavorful. The carne asada has sweet chipotle sauce on top which is exactly as good as it sounds, and the pollo asada has avocado tomatillo sauce on bottom, which is alright. Both come with cheese. Also on their antojitos/finger food menu: the quesadilla, which I got with more mesquite chicken.

Toasted to perfection. Nice and crisp. Think they might put some butter on it. Inside is pepper jack and queso fresco, I believe, plus peppers, with a sprinkling of cotija on top. I got chicken inside and they put plenty. You can also get carne in there. And this shit is huge so it will keep you satisfied for a while.

As for the rest of the tacos, here's the run down. We already covered the chicken, carne asada, and shrimp. So we got four kinds of fish left.

The Baja fish taco and the fish taco especial are the same taco but the second one has guac on top. They were nice enough to give me two especials. Guac, battered fish, and chipotle cream with a bit of queso fresco and onions. The battered fish is not my favorite to be honest. It's a small strip of fish and the batter just isn't very tasty. Not compared to other fish 'n' chips I've had.

Now these are good. There's more fish in them for one. The mango (left) has a little mango salsa on top, mango, tomato, peppers. Mango salsa plus fish makes for a nice tropical combo. And then the fresh grilled (right) has the delicious chipotle cream on top, plus more of that shredded queso fresco.

More Mexican food: the burritos, flautas, and enchiladas.

The enchiladas come with one of both cheese and chicken. The cheese has the red sauce, which is spicy but slightly sweet; and the chicken has green tomatillo sauce which I'm not a huge fan of, but it also contains cheese. Taco on the side comes in beef or chicken. Beef is more flavorful in my opinion but their chicken is still good.

I haven't had flautas in a long time so I loved these. Crisp flour tortillas with queso fresco, chicken, cheese, and corn inside. They're pre-made (unfortunately) so I had to dig the corn out myself but for pre-made food this is legit. Nice and crisp and fresh. Comes with a decent amount of guac which is just alright. A little liquid for some reason.

Two kinds of burritos, the Mazatlan fresh and the twice grilled. I went with the twice grilled first.

It's a crispy tortilla, inside of which you got your black beans, white rice, cheese, caramelized onions, and meat if you so choose. Not a bad choice. It's filling but not too huge. You can get any of the burritos "wet" with red sauce or tomatillo sauce.

And the Mazatlan. Pass on this to be honest. It's mostly just guacamole. There's cheese in there and meat if you get it (I advice you do, otherwise this is one mushy lame burrito). Plus some onions and cilantro. If you get meat it comes with a sauce so that does make it a little better. Shrimp and fish come with chipotle crema so I suggest that. But for the price this kinda fucking sucks. Sorry guys. I like everything so far but this is a dud.

Got some healthy salads if you're tryna be a goodie two shoes.

This is the kale Caesar, sans kale, because I hate kale. It's got pico de gallo and cotija cheese on top, plus the creamy avocado (I think) Caesar dressing on the side. Yummy dressing. Be sure to get it on the side. All atop a crisp flour tortilla with melted cheese on top. Achiote chicken on the side to complete it.

The Cabo islander is pretty basic. Lettuce, tortilla strips (not pictured), beans, avocado, and shredded queso blanco I think on top, over a bed of that yummy buttered rice. Definitely need to get the fish on top to make it a complete meal. The dressing on the side is decent. Raspberry vinaigrette or something.

The last salad which I didn't try is the crazy chicken, which has their marinated chicken on top plus queso fresco and the other usual toppings (beans, corn, whatever). After our last experience here I decided I was kinda done with Sharkeez.

Not in the mood for Mexican? Their burgers are delicious. Seriously, they rival In-N-Out. I got the regular flame char.

I get mine medium rare so it's nice and juicy. Add cheese, guac, and/or bacon at your leisure. But make sure to get the seasoned fries on the side with the garlic aioli. The aioli is like a cross between ranch and sour cream but more liquidy, and with garlic, of course. You can even get just the fries in a basket with aioli, ketchup and cheese melted on top; or you can get onion strings on the side instead (or as a basket, as seen below). They also have a burger based in Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce that comes with cheddar, bacon, onion strings, and aioli. Very decadent and equally bomb. I kept it simple. Another meaty all-American item: the boneless chicken breast bites. Also known as chicken nuggets. Get them naked or with buffalo sauce (I got mine on the side).

This is some damn good breading. Definitely get the sauce on the side because it is spicy (as it should be) - therefore, delicious, and to be savored. I got these alongside the onion rings:

That way I could dip the chicken in the garlic aioli. Love that stuff. Their onion rings (or "strings") have a thin batter, so much so that it flakes off. Not the typical heavy batter you find at other restaurants that can be overwhelming. They're plenty big though.

Honorable mentions to food I didn't try (mostly cus they're corn): the nachos de queso, which are loaded chips with refried black beans, queso blanco, jalapeños, cream, pico de gallo, and guac. The 10-piece fiery buffalo wings with buffalo sauce. And the rolled chicken taquitos, with mesquite chicken, poblano chiles, and jalapeño jack cheese. Oh yes, and the multitude of drinks and literal Jell-O shots.

Sharkeez has happy hour from 2-7pm but during lockdown/re-opening they did away with it for a bit so no comment there. All the stuff available during happy hour is on the regular menu as well. They used to have brunch but it looks like they did away with it. Too bad, cus they had my signature chicken & waffles on the menu. Shame shame shame.

So our last visit here, at the end of August, saw a lot of changes thanks to lockdown, including stupid regulations like temperature checks, erratic seating patterns (seats were available but the waiters decided they were busy), no menu to look at (a QR code that didn't scan), etc. Our waitress served us late which was very frustrating as I'd been fasting all day. Two other parties seated after us got served before us. That's always annoying. And on top of all that we both got sick after eating and threw up. No bueno. Sharkeez, you've changed, and not for the better. Au revoir.