Mariscos Playa Hermosa

"The Maldonado family has been making the party happen for over 20 years at this cheerful, brightly colored cantina, which draws crowds for its excellent Mexican seafood and oversized, lavishly garnished bevvies. The huge menu features just about everything oceanic you can think of: raw oysters, fried calamari, ceviches, aguachiles, seafood soups, shrimp dishes of every description, lobster enchiladas, fried red snapper, tacos (the octopus are fantastic) on and on for pages and pages. The hard part is narrowing it down to one thing. By the way, there are turf options for the seafood-averse." - Mcconnell Quinn, Chris Malloy, Nikki Buchanan

"It’s always a day at the beach at this 16th Street stalwart, Phoenix’s favorite Mexican seafood restaurant painted in eye-popping colors. The multi-page menu featuring 25 appetizers alone offers every Mexican seafood classic imaginable — raw oysters, shrimp cocktails, seafood tostadas and soups, grilled or fried fish — as well as a slew of surprises, including mango habanero aguachile, hot lava steak, paella brimming with grilled shrimp, grilled octopus and mussels, and El Peligroso, a pricy seafood challenge amped up with fiery Carolina Reaper and ghost peppers that earns diners a t-shirt if they can eat it. Colorful cocktails (some rimmed with Tajin) reflect the same “go big or go home” attitude." - Nikki Buchanan

"Fun, bright, and colorful, for over 20 years Mariscos Playa Hermosa has been serving up seafood dishes with flavors from Mexican beach towns. While most Mexican restaurants in town have some kind of seafood component, the affectionately known MPH specializes in it. The large menu is overflowing with options; it would take multiple visits to get through all of the aguachiles and ceviches alone. There are shrimp and fish dishes to satisfy every palate, specials like lobster or crab enchiladas, and even a whole grilled octopus." - Asonta Benetti

"This lively, brightly colored cantina is one of the best places in town for fresh, well-prepared mariscos. The huge menu, divided into multiple categories to keep everything straight, features 16 tacos. Besides the usual seafood tacos suspects — grilled fish, breaded and fried fish, and shrimp — there are lobster tacos, excellent mar y tierra tacos (combining grilled steak, shrimp and mozzarella) and messy but good grilled octopus tacos overflowing with tender, caramelized octopus, melting mozzarella, tomato, onion, red cabbage, crema, cilantro, queso fresco, and spicy zarandeado sauce. Don’t fill up on the complimentary chips (so fresh and crunchy they’re irresistible) or the complimentary ceviche tostada." - Nikki Buchanan