Jane A.
Yelp
NICE VIEW AND CHEAPER LOBSTER
"Baja Lobster" is spiny lobster. Lets not get worked up and excited. I see these creatures all the time when diving in California.
This place only caught attention because it's not one of the overly popular lobster restaurants. And according to TripAdvisor the lobsters are good. Of course, the goal is to look for those underrated places and bring them up in reviews and word of mouth.
1) Puerto Nuevo, "infamously known" for their Baja lobsters. Here's my take on Puerto Nuevo, small town that caters to tourists yet nobody speaks English. It's the lobster town yet I didn't see anyone catching lobster or seeing fresh lobsters being catered into the restaurants but the "claim" is that all these people are fisherman and they catch the lobsters right there in the water. What I saw in Puerto Nuevo was dust with the dirt roads leading to the shops and restaurants in which you get valet service. And when I mean "valet service" I'm being sarcastic - you have a bunch of random Mexicans approaching your car waving you down to park at their restaurant. It's annoying AF. The Siete Mares parking guy was actually very cool. When approaching the restaurant I pointed at home and said "I want to eat here" and he pointed me to park in their garage. He speaks well English and was very kind. I appreciated his generousity.
2) The restaurant has a waterfront view, two floors, top floor has optional outdoor seating. Restaurant was clean. And it's not packed with people. There were about 2-3 other parties there, all Mexicans - that's a good sign that the food must be good because sometimes I don't trust places when the crowd is all tourists.
3) Service from waitstaff was good. I appreciate that although there was a huge language barrier, we were able to get by with pointing at the menu, and understanding a word or two from each other. Several waiters came to introduce themselves by first name. Very humble and friendly people.
4) Food and drinks was good. First, they bring out fresh tortilla chips with salsa, fresh chopped tomatoes and onions, and a ton of limes. The tortilla chips were kind of greasy, straight from the fryer but too greasy for my liking. Ordered a Pina Colada and the Medium lobster which came with a basket of fresh flour tortilla, bowl of orange rice, bowl of beans, and a platter of the lobster.
MEDIUM LOBSTER ($22 as quoted on the menu) - The lobsters are prepared fried. Medium was the right size for someone of my size or someone who wants to eat lobster without over doing it. It's one lobster cut in half. So if the waiter asks you (in Spanish) how many, keep this in mind. The lobster comes with melted butter and I highly recommend putting it to use. Frying the lobster also dries out the succulent in the meat and if you are a slow eater, oxygen by the minute makes the meat even dryer. However, the flavor of Baja lobster itself has a different taste than the lobsters (California and PNW/Alaska). Baja lobsters have way less meat then other lobsters because THEY DON'T HAVE CLAWS. The meat is all in the tail. Spiny lobsters have a subtle sweet taste in their meat but lobster in taste doesn't have a huge distinction from other lobsters - they seem similar. And for the price, $22 is cheaper than the neighboring restaurants but $22 is still kind of pricy for what you get.
PINA COLADA (105 pesos as quoted on the menu) - nice to sip on but the liquor pour was weak. Maybe not existant.
5) The bill. For my portion, I was quoted 501 pesos OR $28. 396 pesos for the lobster and 105 pesos (for the drink. 396 pesos to dollars is $20.18, but the menu says $22. So if I calculate 501 pesos to dollars is $25.23... BUT if I take what the menu says $22 + $5.35 = $27.35. So basically, they charged me correctly at $28 dollars (they rounded up), however their own peso calculation on the menu was under. Luckily, they didn't try to rip me off. Conversion app comes in very handy!
Next time I come back here I'd like to try their other seafoods. Until the next visit...