Take the Bait Seafood Bar

Seafood boil, drinks, and a game a pool afterwards! I absolutely love it here. Service was amazing and our bartender Valerie was the sweetest. I definitely would recommend this to everyone.

We went on a Tuesday around 6 pm and it was not busy at all! Great time to get happy hour and their midweek special to save some money. The Alaskan crab and lobster tail boil was delicious, but be prepared to get messy! The service was awesome (we had Jack serving us). Don't sleep on the margarita flight!

I've never been to a seafood boil place that has so many cool and delicious cocktails! We ordered the snow crab legs and shrimp boil. It was really flavorful, and the mild was pretty spicy (be careful!) We also ordered the sakerita flight which came with 4 mini margarita with different flavors. The presentation was beautiful. The service here was also great! Jake, our server, was super attentive and friendly. This is my new go-to spot for crab boil :)

The food was amazing. Will definitely come back. If you are a seafood lover, you definitely need to check this place out. The cocktails are so good! Costumer service was great we had a lot of food recommendations from Derian! Will definitely bring my family back!

Recently opened. It's a little tricky to find at the moment (they're waiting for their sign to be delivered), but it's right next to the sushi place. The decor is fun, fish hanging from up above watching their friends on the plate. 🤣 Seafood tower was good!!! The seafood tasted fresh and the sauce is on point! I love that it has a slight kick to it and even better is the hot sauces available on every table. They're really tasty. There was only one wait staff, but it wasn't busy at all, and he was awesome! He knew it was my first time there and he told us about their specialties, his recommendations, he checked in on us to make sure everything was tasting good and if we wanted more. It was a great experience. They serve cocktails and have beers on draft.

This place is amazing! I love the atmosphere and the drinks were so tasty. Also loved how fast everything was served. I highly recommend you check out the sea food boils. Everything was delicious!

I loved their seafood boil and the best part was that I got a pound of shrimp for free with an order of selected seafood boils. The price and flavor are worth the visit. 👍🏼

Menu is limited. Beer flight comes with $72 special. Also Ordered seafood mix tower.. just Ok. Well waited 1 hr for our food and it never came. Afterb talking with the waitress were taking the order to go. No.. won't be coming back.

Take the Bait has an amazing Happy Hour menu on Thursdays-Sunday from 4:30PM-6PM. You get 25% off all appetizers and the draft beers are only $5! There aren't many places that do happy hour over the weekend so I hope they continue these specials. You can definitely get full off of the entire appetizer menu. Jumbo Coconut Shrimp: Comes with 4 pieces. Very good pieces of shrimp, very crispy. The coconut isn't very subtle so if you're not a fan, then you might not like this. But the mango habanero sauce was so good. It's a sweet sauce and I didn't notice much of a kick. Fried Calamari: Looks like mini onion rings. The breading reminds me of a mozzarella stick breading where it's kind of smooth, a little bit of the panko-like breading. Also very crispy. Shrimp Ceviche: Served with some chips but they weren't very crunchy so it was a little disappointing. The ceviche itself was standard and wasn't too fishy-tasting, can't complain about it. Ahi Tuna Nachos: Ahi poke mixed with wonton chips, spicy mayo sauce, and eel sauce. The ratio of poke to nachos could've been better. But these chips were a lot more crunchier than the totopos served with the ceviche. There were also this smoky flavor to it...or maybe it was like a spicy chipotle sauce? Whatever it was, I enjoyed it. Pulpo a la Gallega: Comes with 6 skewers with a slab of potato and a piece of octopus. This was a crowd favorite and we ended up ordering a second one. The octopus is super tender and has this delicious chargrilled flavor. Highly recommend! Seafood Tower: I should've read the menu description a little more carefully because it's essentially ceviche but with a variety of seafood. The scallop was really good, super soft and silky. But besides that, it's pretty much the same as the shrimp ceviche. Don't order both, just choose one and you'll be good. Seafood Boil: This isn't part of the happy hour menu but we ordered one to see how it compares to other seafood boil restaurants in SD. And if it wasn't for the good experience with their happy hour menu, I would've rated this lower because of the seafood boil. To start off, the sauce came out in a bowl separately which was different. It was very thin, buttery, not much flavor, and didn't stick to the shrimp well. The sauce is everything in a seafood boil and without it, it's just boiled shrimp. Overall, a good meal besides the seafood boil. I would just come here for happy hour but if they change their recipe for the seafood boil, I'd be willing to come back and give it another shot.

I loved their seafood boil and the best part was that I got a pound of shrimp for free with an order of selected seafood boils. The price and flavor are worth the visit, especially on Wednesdays when it's happy hour all day They have pool tables you can play for free.

I came here for drinks. I'm not too big on seafood so that wasn't really the attraction for me. I had a margarita flight. It was pretty good. We also had calamari and coconut shrimp. Not bad options! The place was kind of dead but it was early. Plenty of parking.

Came here on a Tuesday around 5:30 pm. The location is in a little strip mall with plenty of parking. We walked in at the restaurant and no one was there. Waited a few minutes until we ended up seating ourselves. We finally was approached by the server, gave us menus and told us that they cannot serve the drinks on the back of the dinner menu. I was looking forward to the sakerita. Bummer that we couldnt order it. We ordered tuna tower. But it was more of a tuna stump. The tuna itself was good. But the sauce around it tasted like catsup and some other hodgepodge of ingredients that was off putting. The octopus flat bread tasted like it came from the frozen section of the grocery store and just added octopus on top. The octopus was pretty tender though. The shrimp boil was disappointing. Shrimp tasted like it was boiled first and then just put the sauce on top. I've had better shrimp boil. The entire time after we were served our food, server never came by to ask how our food was nor asked us if we wanted to order more drinks nor did he refill our water. Overall, I wish I didn't "take the bait" i wont be coming back.

I had a taste for mussels #seafoodboil since #takethebait was close to me. The service was great the food was yummy just the way I like it. The decor is so cute gives you a total sense of that it's a seafood restaurant. Our waiter was very attentive the restaurant was on a quiet night. I will definitely return sooner that later

Dined at TakeTheBait this past weekend. We dined in at 6:30 on a friday night the food was good and service was standard. We ordered 2 lbs of shrimp at different spice levels, coconut shrimp (which was delicious), lb of lobster, lb of mussels and clams, french fries, flight of margaritas, and a Royal Cruz. It was only 1 wait staff at the time when we went in and he was accommodating and polite. Our Top recommendations are the spicy shrimp and lobster broil spice level high both lemon pepper and cajun with a Royal Cruz cocktail and cant forget the coconut shrimp as an appetizer. Would like to mention they will be doing a change to the menus and we can't wait to come back and see what new updates and changes they made. Don't forget to follow @GoosbyTwins on your journey for more amazing LA SD & Beyond Travel | Eatery + Cuisine | Experiences!

came right when they opened and seated immediately cos it was empty. first impression, the place is super cute and great decor. however, once we sat down we noticed there were 2 out of 5 plates dirty on our table. we swapped them ourselves and turned the dirty plates back to the waitress. happy hour is from 4:30-6! not a ton of food selections but it's a good deal to get a lb of shrimp free with another pound of seafood boil purchased. we got the cajun crawfish and lemon pepper shrimp. they were nice enough to split the flavors - usually it's all mixed together. after trying the crawfish we realized it's very little meat...only the tail is really edible so you're paying a lot of weight for the head that you can't eat. we went for a second round of only shrimp, one lb of each flavor. the fries were really good, cute shapes but quite a small portion for what they charge, esp because it's usually shared with the table. drinks were discounted too. margaritas were good! good flavors that didn't taste too sweet and they were generous with the alcohol. per person, it came out to about $28 each. not bad, but I think the staple spots like boiling crab are a better choice.

Take the Bait is a Seafood Bar located on Clairemont Mesa Blvd in Convoy area of San Diego. The location is attached to Mikami Revolving Sushi. According to their website, Take the Bait is focused on craft cocktails and the freshest seafood. A foodie friend wanted to have his birthday happy hour there. We went on a Tuesday evening in late December. We tried the following: - Shrimp Flatbread - Seafood Mix Tower - Calamari Food was delicious. I never had seafood on pizza. Seafood on all the dishes were really fresh! For cocktail - I tried their Coconut Cove. The birthday boy tried their SakeRita Flight. Service was personable. Their was 1 person dedicated and he gave us everything we requested. Ambiance was smart casual. ENJOY!

So I took the bait and entered this new seafood bar in Kearny Mesa which is an extension to the south end of the dining area for Mikami Bar & Revolving Sushi (same ownership). The space was neatly decorated with all sorts of maritime creatures as wall art and objects hanging from the ceiling. The planned opening was delayed multiple times before the debut occurred during the first weekend of this month. I knew seafood was going to be featured on the menu, but I couldn't tell from the name that boil bags were the main draw which I was not interested in. The other choices were limited to three appetizers, three flatbreads, three seafood towers, and one salad. I hope there is a plan to offer more than just these offerings in the future because for the amount of social media advertising, I had expected a deeper lineup of food. The Seafood Mix was the tower I chose for my meal. It was a mound of cooked octopus, scallops, and shrimp cured in fresh lime juice, chiltepin, red onion, and cilantro. There was the perfect amount of acidity in the dish. Some packets of generic saltine crackers were provided. Bread or tortilla chips would have been a better choice as a carb to sop up the liquid. I didn't receive a $6 opening promotion for a tower, however if the regular price is $15+, then another layer to the creation would have been appropriate.

No raves but on a 5 pm on a weekday it was quiet. It's connected to its sister restaurant Mikasi i think is the name (revolving sushi restaurant). I chose it because it was a new place. Its funny that the bartender is the server too. Derrian did do a great job and very patient with waiting for us to order. Pluses or minuses. Plus- seafood, (calamari and shrimp flat bread was good) If you have a healthy appetite or sharing with friends, I would order 2 or 3 flatbreads for the group. Sakarita flights (although wasnt getting buzzed - fairly sweet (dragonfruit, strawberry, lime and i don't remember the other one) . Sharing worked out for 4 diners. Derrian the bartender. Minus Small menu Seafood mix tower was not as exciting as it should be. It needed more acidity while the red pepper kick was not enough as the sauce. Not a busy place but only opened recently. Would I go back maybe if Im nearby like shopping at Ranch 99 across the street. Parking is not bad because its a shopping center which most closed by 5 or 6 pm Friend also brought a cake that Derrian served.

This restaurant was really good, but it was hard to find. The restaurant itself did not have a sign. It was not busy at all for lunch. This is a great place if you love seafood. Fresh seafood, great service, cocktails, beers and interesting décor. I liked that the menu was not overwhelming. SEAFOOD MIX 22 Tower of octopus, scallops and shrimp cured in fresh lime juice, chiltepin, red onion and cilantro SPICY TUNA 18 Tower of ahi tuna cured in lime juice with cucumber, cilantro, red onion, tomato & avocado SHRIMP FLATBREAD 19 Shrimp, pepperoni, mozzarella, baby arugula, mixed bell peppers and marinara. -This was so good. We ordered a second one because it was so good. It has a lot of flavor and big pieces of shrimp. SHARK BAIT | 11 Red wine sangria with berries and sake. -This drink was refreshing and not too sweet.

I'm on the fence with this place after a few visits. My last meal was more of a 3 star experience but they do excel with some key things so Ill just give a 4 overall. We took advantage of their $6 seafood tower before expiring and I thought it would be good to try the spicy tuna after a successful mixed seafood experience. Gross. This item is drowning in sauce -- basically hot sauce. I get the name, but I has thought it would be more like classic "spicy tuna" preparation like sushi in terms of spice and be more like ahi poke but formed together. My mistake for comparing it to other desirable things. They really need to rethink this dish and not have it coated in this sauce. Let the tuna shine!! It wasnt appetizing in appearance either. Got the shrimp flatbread again and you cant go wrong there. The menu is just very very limited. I guess they have decided to go the direction of being primarily a seafood boil spot (it is news to me that it is a highly popular things especially for the convoy district). Not our thing, so... I also learned after inquiring again about what the heck happened to the amazing ceviche they showcased at the yelp fright night and what got us hooked on them. Apparently the owners decided to do a "bait and switch" (pun) literally the day before and none of the staff was prepared for the sudden menu change. Kind of shocking. I'm telling you guys: BRING BACK THE CEVICHE. With such a limited menu and now just a few things we'd come back for, its hard to be a repeat customer. I hope they continue to evolve their menu. New to the past visit was getting their sake flight "sakerita" which was absolutely delicious. Actually couldnt tell they were margaritas made with sake instead of tequila. They have really found a great way to utilize having only a beer and wine license. I would highly recommend that and the price ($15) is respectable for what you get. Beautiful presentation as well. From attending the opening evening (packed) to a week day evening the week of xmas and completely empty leaves a bit of uncertainty for how it will do. Seems like a tough time to open at the end of the year. I do hope they continue to tweak as they go and keep people coming back. Its a tough location to be in. Oh and I hope they are working on getting a business sign up. Its hard to even know where they are. And bummer location right next to a terribly stinky cigar shop. It smells awful outside.

Take the Bait is amazing! A colleague and I had the Seafood Boil Special where we could choose what kind of meats we wanted. It came with side AND a flight of beer! THE SERVICE, THOUGH. Beyond fantastic. Darian and Jack assisted us with our reservation and made sure that everything arrived hot, on-time, and flavorful. I will definitely be telling my friends and colleagues about this place! The ambiance was also good. Smelled fresh! 5 STARS

Fresh seafood, great service, cocktails, beers and interesting decor. What's not to like? If you like hot sauce, try their hot sauces! They have a kick to it and they are very tasty. This spot might be a bit hard to find because there is currently no obvious sign, but just look out for the Japanese restaurant; this is right next to it. In fact, they have a connecting door.

A fun spot for happy hour drinks and shooting pool, but the food and service was just okay.

This place was so awesome! It's super clean and the staff is so sweet. The food was amazing and their drinks are ! I highly recommend stopping by and indulging! They have a cute selfie wall too!!!

We visited on a quiet mid afternoon with very few other guests around. We've had this on our list for quite a few months, but just couldn't work out the timing. So the anticipation was pretty high with the seemingly good reviews. However, I can't express how disappointed we were. We started with the fried soft shell crab, and this was quite good with the ponzu dipping sauce and salad. Unfortunately, this is where the biggest part of the goodness ended. We ordered the peel and eat shrimp with a garlic butter/cajun sauce. Spice level was mild which apparently is between the low/no and hot. The shrimp was very fresh and a nice size. We also added 2 pieces of corn for $1.50 each. The problems soon started... The bag boil looked well spiced and appropriately hot thru the meal. We've been to this style of service before, and were stunned at the completely BLAND taste of anything in the bag. It seemed well colored with herbs/spices, but only tasted like water boiled shrimp. And to make matters worse, only ONE of the 2 corn were present, and it was clearly FROZEN corn. Completely mush. Come on folks, during the 2 weeks around our visit, Walmart had FRESH corn for .25/ear that you could have halved just like that frozen crap. How am I so certain of FROZEN corn? We ordered 2 and brought it to our server's attention. Within 2-3 minutes, we had the second. And although the surface kernels were hot, the cob was COLD. Just as a frozen piece might be when quickly boiled for a couple minutes. FRESH corn, as was the shrimp would have eased the frustration of the lacking spices Overall, a completely underwhelming experience. I find it hard to believe the other reviews could be so wrong. There were some pluses, the nice size fresh shrimp and soft shell crab. But remaining BLANDNESS and mushy corn is a total miss Probably will not return

Stopped by for some dinner- heads up, it's like a boiling crab or crab hut (where they give you seafood in a bag by the lb). The menu isn't extensive... the drink menu is more elaborate. We started with the calamari - it was ok, but I probably wouldn't order it again. It lacked flavor and had too much breading. We also ordered a lb of shrimp with 2 corns and a side of Cajun fries. The shrimp was yummy and huge. A 1lb bag comes with about 10 shrimp in case you're planning on sharing. (They don't do half orders). 3 spice levels- mild I think, or the middle one he said was a solid 7. We opted for the lowest spice and it still had a kick. Corn was a must. The fries were, eh. Something to munch on, on the side. We shared a margarita flight- SUPER good. The restaurant shares the space with a sushi place... like walking from Victoria secret into Pink. And it wasn't busy. I'm not sure how it is on the weekends (today was a Monday night) Service was ok- the server was friendly.

Stay away from this place. There is a reason it is empty despite this huge Google ad campaign. Everything tastes like freezer burn, especially the shrimp. I don't want anyone else to "take the bait" so I write this review as a warning for those doing research before spending their hard earned money. The place looks nice but the "corporate" chef sucks or has allowed management to force low quality food into the recipes. If they start using fresh food then there would be no reason for them to fail at all. The waitress knows nothing about the menu or the food. I assume she doesn't eat there because it is so bad. My advice is for them to respect our time and money if they expect a return visit from anyone. I felt remorse after our "meal" because I could have gone anywhere else on convoy and had a better experience

Take the Bait just became my new go-to spot for crab boil! :) This restaurant is located in a shopping center so there is plenty of parking. We ordered the snow crab legs and shrimp boil with cajun and lemon pepper mix seasoning. It was really flavorful, and the mild was pretty spicy (be careful!). We also ordered the sakerita flight which came with 4 mini margarita with different flavors. The presentation was beautiful AND they tasted amazing! The service here was also great! Jake, our server, was super attentive and friendly.

The location is great with lots of parking. We ordered the crab boil but was a bit watery for me and it didn't have garlic pieces even though I asked for the combo for all three sauces. Also, you don't get any sausage samples bc you have to order that as a separate item. I was with two of my girlfriends so we enjoyed having the space to ourselves and the service was great!

Cute place. Drinks were delish. Octopus was tender. Service was a little slow...but it appeared to be mostly a one man show the majority of the time and he was doing the best he could. I would come again

Calamari was good if u eat it while it's hot. Big portion. Sakerita flight was good and sweet. Seafood tower was good, decent portion and fresh. It was dead quiet between 5-6pm (happy hour 4-6pm) but it must be because it's new and not many ppl know about it. I wouldn't know about this place if it's not from Yelp. Good service too. I would go back again.

Let me start by saying I don't drink often at all, maybe you can relate. When I go into a bar, it's a little awkward every time because I don't know what to get. Derian asked a couple questions and was very friendly and encouraging and what he made me, I liked it! There's something here for everyone whether you're a big drinker or not. Check this place out, love it..

Great service!!! ordered the seafood mix tower - it was delicious in every bite-wish it came with some tortilla chips i think it wouldve made it better. Also ordered 2lbs of crawfish with lemon and cajun seasoning.... sooooo flavorful and juicy. Ordered chicken katsu with fries for the kiddies and the katsu sweet paired perfectly with the crispy katsu. Last but not least we order two micheladas and that was perfection! Yummy! Will definitely come back to make rsvps for their $72 special, cant wait to try it.

Take the bait is a new seafood bar that just opened in December! They have amazing seafood boils, sea food towers and amazing appetizers like a whole jumbo octopus! Featured: *Sakerita Flight: Dragonfruit, guava, strawberry, lime *Whole jumbo octopus *Spicy Tuna Seafood Tower *Seafood Boil including lobster, snow crab and shrimp Take the Bait @takethebaitsd is located in the space next to Mikami @mikamisandiego in Convoy. This is an amazing place for a date night for seafood lovers! When we got there they took our appetizer order but took a long time so I had to flag down a waitres and tell them we wanted to place the rest of our order. Just be prepared for a 2 plus hour dinner. Other then that it was super good!

It was our first time here. We ordered the spicy tuna tower & the fish didn't taste fresh but mushy. The sauce was way too tangy & sour. Chicken katsu (kids meal) chicken was too much breading and it was so hard for the kids to eat because it's so hard and paper thin crunchy. Fried calamari had way too much breading & lacks so much flavors. All three of each ordered 3lbs each of different seafood boil, it did not taste fresh but tasted frozen & drenched in SALTY sauce and I must say it was not edible it was wayyyyy too salty like the cook poured in jars of salt. So disappointed for it being our first and last timers there. But our server Kristina was the most sweetest server. The place is nice & clean. It is shared next door with the sushi place. 4 stars for our server Kristina. Honestly the food could of been better. Cooks should taste the food before serving it to their customers.

This place is amazing! I love the atmosphere and the drinks were so tasty. Also loved how fast everything was served. I highly recommend you check out the sea food boils. Everything was delicious!

Went here for the first time and will definitely be back! We stayed in the bar area, Jax was our bartender and took really good care of us. The happy hour menu is perfect, their chips are homemade and so good. The GM, Jonathon, showed us around when we arrived and took good care of us! We played pool and stayed till closing :)

Attended an event here. Very fun vibe, and the service was excellent. The wait staff was friendly and very attentive. The GM was willing to get sushi from the sister restaurant if we were interested. The prices were great since HH pricing was going on. A good place for a gathering.

We went here last night! I was a little nervous due to some of the reviews. This place was great and food was delicious. Price's were really food too! Service, atmosphere, and food all amazing. Will definitely go back.

Came to Take the Bait last night and enjoyed the beer flight! One of the best Mango and Citrus beers I've ever had. All of them were very refreshing and complimented my seafood boil! Definitely recommend trying out this place and will be back soon!

We went on a Tuesday a little after opening and it wasn't busy at all! Great time to get their happy out and midweek deals. The service was phenomenal by Jack & I enjoyed the Alaskan crab and lobster tail boil. Dont sleep on their margarita flight!

This place was exceptional!!!!! The food was amazing and the portions were extremely generous. Jonathan was also truly welcoming and amazing!!!! I love love love and loved his energy. What a great experience indeed!!!! Thank you Jonathan.

Tried their $72 weekday special. It came with a flight of draft beers and a ton of seafood. We couldn't finish it all but it was pretty good. The shrimp was huge. But I felt like the crab and crawfish was a bit overcooked. I wish it was a bit fresher. Also the place was kinda empty.

I'm visiting San Diego and ran across this place on Yelp. Everything was soooo good. I like how they offer Cajun boil and Mexican food. Plus full bar! We got the pound of snow crab with both lemon pepper and Cajun seasoning. Sauce was bomb. We also got the seafood mix tower. It comes with shrimp, octopus, and scallop. They are not stingy with their meats. The michelada mix that comes with the dish was so good. Also got a mix drink, I forgot the name. Everything was clean, music was fun and upbeat. Most of all, GREAT SERVICE!! Would definitely come back whenever I'm back in San Diego. Left very satisfied!!! (:

I've had many seafood boils in my life and this one here BY FAR- is the worst. Michelada was mostly ice. Saketini flight tasted like watered down jolly ranchers of indiscernible flavors. I should have been warned by the fact that there were only 2 tables occupied on a Friday night.

First of all who is rating these restaurants? My friends and I were highly anticipating this restaurant, all the Facebook photos were amazing. My friends brought me here for my birthday dinner. We went the last Saturday, on their grand opening, hence we thought it would be crowded, but only 2 others in restaurant. First of all I thought this was suppose to be a seafood restaurant. The menu is very limited, not even a bowl of clam chowder, let alone a fish dish. Didn't really matter we came for the whole octopus. Ok so let's start with just the layout of the restaurant. They had cable sleeves all along walls to hide the power cords. Come on!, you couldn't hide them behind the walls? I have never seen a restaurant do this. Second the bathroom were very dirty all the grout lines along the sink looked as if it was they been through years or wear and tear. Not only were they dirty but torn up. Wow! You would think a brand new restaurant, everything would look brand new and clean, but I guess you can't make assumptions. The sink too was dirty and had mold in several areas. Okay not to continue but let's get to the food. I should say something positive at least since they are a new restaurant and the yes the seafood tower seafood mix was literally to die for. The presentation was amazing and the octopus was cooked perfectly and literally melted in your mouth. The bay scallops were tender and shrimp perfectly cooked. Even the sauce was delicious. We were impressed. And then it went all downhill from there. we ordered the jumbo calamari...thinking it was jumbo. Nope it was the usually tentacles and small squid rings you see everywhere. Calamari is suppose to be crispy, these were unfortunately soggy. We sent it back and they remade us another one that was somewhat crispy on a few pieces but soggy as we got near the center of the dish. They did comp us for the calamari. Next we ordered the whole octopus. This was the main reason we came here. Usually most restaurants serve just a single tentacle leg. We only found one restaurant in San Diego that makes a really good octopus on a consistent basis, but we are not talking about that restaurant here. Presentation I do have to give them a star. The octopus looked amazing on the plate. But that's about all. We started started with the tentacles and they were a little hard to cut since they gave us each a butter knife to use. The tentacles were a bit chewy, but not as chewy as we have had at the other restaurants. But as we got near the center we were no longer able to cut the body with a butter knife since the octopus was undercooked and rubbery. I sawed off the head (I had to use extreme force since it was so rubbery) thinking melt in your mouth. Unfortunately the head was inedible. I tried so hard to chew it but ended up spitting it out. We couldn't eat the body nor the head of the octopus they were inedible. This was the first time I couldn't finish my food in any restaurant. For $25 we would have expected something more. This was a huge disappointment for our party. Now if they could only cook the whole octopus like the octopus in the seafood tower then they would have a winner. Next we ordered the shrimp boil with corn and white rice. The white rice was hard and undercooked. For $3 you would think it would have been cooked better. My friend couldn't even eat it and she loves rice. The corn though was delicious. And as for the shrimp, though it was cooked fine it was absolutely tasteless with no flavor even though it was in a lemon and Cajun sauce. The shrimp tasted like it was boiled then the sauce poured on top and served, hence not enough time to marinate or soak so it had a bland flavor. We did order a few drinks...you can't really go wrong with mix drinks and a beer. In the end they gave us this tiny feedback card where you could literally write one sentience. The the card had a semi gloss coat hence wasn't matte finish and the pen couldn't really write any feedback clearly since it's hard to write on a gloss coat of paper. With one or two tiny lines how much feedback can you really leave in the end. Would we come back?...it is highly doubtful. The seafood tower was amazing but our overall experience was poor. Would we recommend to our friends no way. There are so many seafood restaurants in San Diego and grand openings are meant to impress not disappoint.

This review is for the bar only and not the food. The two girls were very nice, but very inexperienced on making cocktails. We came in yesterday just for the drinks and this was probably the longest we've ever waited for a drink and they weren't busy at all! The girls kept on looking at their menu on how to make the drinks. We waited 35mins for two drinks, and canceled the other drinks because it was taking way too long. The worst part was the drinks were God awful. We won't be coming back sad to say.

Great customer service, great food! Really nice looking place, Im definitely coming back.

THROW THIS WHOLE PLACE AWAY AND SHUT IT DOWN! Went in yesterday at 5:15 PM with a friend to take advantage of happy hour. There was a table of 4 and we were at bar. We ordered drinks which were very tasty, and then we put in the order for coconut shrimp, fries, ceviche, and fried cauliflower. This is where the problem started. We didn't get the first plate of food which was the coconut shrimp until 6 PM. My friend didn't get her food until an hour later and the cauliflower still did not come out so she canceled it. My fries also came out an hour later so I wasn't able to enjoy it with the coconut shrimp. Then a guy further down the bar I believe also got coconut shrimp and mine look like little baby shrimp. We were about to just close everything out and just walk out and the bartender said The Chef is also working the restaurant attached next door. What the hell??!! There were people that came in after us, and got their food quicker than us. There were also people that walked in and didn't stay long and left because they got no service. The fries weren't well done and my friend started to feel sick from her drink. I asked for a manager and the bartender said that he is available, but the Chef is here. Nope no thank you. If you can't have a dedicated shift to a restaurant, you shouldn't be operating at all. The bartender was nice and just kept saying sorry as we asked, where is our food, but that is not enough, and no one should ever go here. I would've got better and quicker service at Long John Silver. Just no, never again.

Good food, good drinks, very reasonable priced, both food and drinks. Not the biggest menu, but because of this I can say that I had a lot of what they offer, so I can say that most of the menu is excellent. Especially enjoyed the service from the bartender Derian, highly recommend this place will definitely be a regular place in my rotation

I'm surprised to see so many 5-star reviews. We went to Take the Bait the weekend of their grand opening. Upon arriving, we were greeted by a friendly woman who was very informative and told us about their specials - $6 for any of the seafood towers. The place was very empty - only one other table on a Saturday evening - so we sat at a booth. It took about 10 minutes for our waiter to come greet us. I only briefly worked in the restaurant industry in college, but I get it, it's a tough job. I have a lot of respect for anyone in the service industry. However, I do expect, at the absolute very least, a friendly greeting. Our waiter came over, didn't say hello, didn't tell us his name, just looked down at his pad and paper and said "What can I get you?" To be clear, he wasn't rude or unfriendly, but didn't make any effort to be friendly, either. We ordered the calamari and two seafood towers. The calamari was chewy and kind of soggy - not crispy like just-fried calamari should be. But the flavor was good. The seafood mix tower was delicious - by far the best part of the evening. It was fresh and had a great variety of seafood. The sauce was a perfect blend of spice and tangy. The spicy tuna tower was satisfactory - the spice was a little overwhelming and masked the real flavor of it, but it wasn't bad. I was a little disappointed that the tower didn't come with chips or anything else to spoon it on - there are little packets of commercial saltine-type crackers already on the table that you can eat with the towers. I would have liked some tortilla chips, flatbread, or even cucumber slices to go with it. We also ordered a couple of beers which were fine, although the waiter had to come back less than a minute after my husband ordered his beer to ask what he wanted. Not a huge deal, but again, the place wasn't busy at all, and it took another 10 minutes for the bartender to bring the drink. When our bill came, it didn't include the discount for the towers - that's a difference of paying $30 vs. the $12 we were told we would be paying. We mentioned it to the waiter and he seemed surprised - perhaps some kind of miscommunication going on between the kind lady who greeted us initially and our waiter. The restaurant was clean and I dug the aquatic theme. Music was rather loud and "clubby", which seemed a little out of place for 6:00pm when there was a family with kids sitting at the table next to us. I really wanted to like this place, as we had been waiting for it to open for months after reading an article in the Reader, but overall it was a disappointment. Not sure if I'd go back.

Yas was the best server/bar tender I've had the pleasure of being assisted by. Her hospitality and service made my experience the absolute best. If you come here, ask for her.

It was a very good Seafood boil! I liked a lot! Was not Salty like most! Had a super nice sauce! One guy working at Noon! Ran his ass off ! To keep customers happy! If not for him ! Would have walked! Big guy ! Bald with beard ! And he did ! Needs more help! Owners! Very cool old school bar type ! Needs something ! Great food in a Dull place ! Sill give it !

Seafood was good. The fried calamari wasn't really flavored or fried well so I don't recommend that. The bartender Kristina was really great even though she was the only one there. Sake choices where good and overall good vibes!

Really good food and drinks! We had micheladas and signature cocktails. Must try the Calypso.

While the presentation of the food was very nice, the taste was not that great. The towers were smaller than expected and incredibly spicy. I normally enjoy spicy but this was a bit much for me, may be perfect for someone else though. The shrimp tower was spicier than the spicy tuna tower too. We also got a salad without dressing (did get some after asking ). The kids chicken and fries were good though. The only winner tonight was the sakerita flight! Truly delicious. I left with a good buzz but still hungry so me and my partner went through the Popeyes drive thru afterwards. Moral of the story: Come for the drinks, not the food.

We had an amazing experience at Take the Bait the other night. Food was out of the world so fresh. Ceviche for appetizer and the shrimp and crab leg bucket. I also really enjoyed my sangria.