Costa Brava

This restaurant is such great food and such great prices for seafood! They are famous for their Shrimp cocktails but I think the best thing is their pozole on the weekends also the micheladas! Better than any I have had in Mexico!

The best best best mariscos in OC. Must try the shrimp and abalone cocktail. And all of the soups. Catfish and tilapia. No better spot.

Rica comida. Me Encanta Comer aqui. Great prices and shrimp. I got to say I love coming here with my girlfriends.

A 4 star review of this place? OK let me be realistic about this place, this place was disgusting from the moment I walked in have you people even seen how dirty dusty and outdated this place is! Service here is absolutely horrible there was one lady walking around who didn’t even speak English very well. It took forever for us to get served and they served rock hard stale chips. I noticed the lady was eating the chips before she was serving them to people. To make things worse she didn’t even wash her hands, I wish I would have seen this before I ate any of the chips disgusting! The chile rellenos were below par and the shrimp tacos we’re not very good I could tell that the shrimp was way over cooked. I’m just happy I didn’t get sick off the shrimp because it didn’t seem fresh. The ceviche my girlfriend ordered was soggy and flavorless in a giant bowl. After we’re done eating it took forever just to get the check because apparently in the only have one machine at the bar. Our server was complaining about the owner’s son talking about he was taking forever processing our payment. I noticed there’s a lot of trash and dirt near the kitchen floor. The worst part was those weird tacky fish on the mirror we’re completely full of dust. This place is definitely a Kitchen Nightmares type of place. It’s sad because this place would do so well if it was a real mariscos place. Will never come back here again, the quality of this place is a disgrace to mexican culture and food.

If you want some delicious Mexican seafood this is the place to be, I come here often on the weekends with my family, I like getting a margarita and i normally get a cocktail de camaron and they play Mexican music so you get a feel of Mexico for a little while.

costa brava, a little hidden gem in costa mesa next to el toro bravo. initially, my friend and i got confused with the two and we were supposed to go to el toro bravo, but came here. food is very similiar, but one is dine in type and one is take out type.
after we ordered, they gave us chips and salsa. wow. the salsa was so good! it had a good kick to it and the chips were fresh. you know a place is good when their chips/​salsa is good, and it was free!
i got two carne asada tacos. comes with white onions and cilantro with two tortillas and about a half of an avocada. yup. you get so much meat on your taco! and the hot sauce they give you is even better than their salsa cus it is more spicy.
my friend got the ceviche. honestly, it looks like yack lol cus they just give it to you on a plate. no tortilla or anything. but when i took a bite, it had so much flavor!
i wanted to try their shrimp cocktail, but the presentation looked a little funky to me. its in a goblet kinda cup with salsa and tomato juice? it didnt look familiar to me, so i chickened out lol.

So I’ve been going to this restaurant for over 10 years and this is the second review I do for this restaurant. My previous review had a five star and I love everything about the restaurant the food was always great quality with Great seasoning and taste! The price used to be good. Every time I went with my family we ordered at the same exact thing over and over again. Today we did notice that the prices went up significantly. My son ordered two asada tacos, my husband ordered the shrimp plate and I ordered a shrimp cocktail as always. All of the food did not have enough seasoning or it did not have a fresh taste. The shrimped tasted like it was already precooked, my husband shrimp plate tasted like barbecue shrimp instead of shrimp that is supposed to be in a seasoning called a la diabla. I’m sorry the barbecue is not that. The service was the same, same employees really nice sadly the food preparation went down and quality. They still use the same type of meat for the tacos but the taste was not the same. One of our family friends had told us that the cook is not the same cook and I guess what he said is true because we did notice a big change in the way the food was cooked. Which is a big sad face because now we have to find a new seafood restaurant to love!!! Even the mexican freshwater drinks (tamarindo) didn’t taste the same. When I say I was a big fan of this restaurant I am truly speaking with honesty and not to be mean and give them a one star but I won’t be going back there again– and I wasn’t happy with having to pay more money for worse food. Even my son who is 10 years old said that The food he ate today was not the best and that he’s had better tacos made at my home. And food trucks that sell tacos for a dollar lol… We hadn’t been to this restaurant in almost a year and I guess a lot changed. :(

Absolutely fabulous! Only had room for s fish taco. Scrumptious! Will back asap to try everything else!!!

The salsa was not spicy and did not taste good. The shrimp was over cooked. Overall, I would not come here again… El Torito is way better than this even a food truck. Needs new chef and decorations.

By far one of the best hole in the wall places. Be brave and walk up its worth the long wait in line. Everything is prepared to go. Great for large quantities and small. Use Bravo to feed all my family at events. Lunch just cause is great to.
Truly great authentic food!!!

I’ve had better experience here before. Carne Asada taco was good, fish taco was weak. 90 degrees outside and no AC. Next time, yes I’ll be back again when it’s cooler, I’m going to try their ceviche or cocktail.

Friendly workers, they have loud Banda music, great way enjoy a drink. They have mixture of food tacos. cocktail shrimp. Good place

Came here cause this was the nearest place at the moment where they had micheladas.
It’s not to obvious here, but this is seafood focused placed.
The food was okay, service was terrible (specifically a male waiter that was serving us). He was extremely rude with us, both when we asked him if a particular dish was «good» and when we asked him for separate checks for our orders.
First and last time here.

Este lugar es de lo peor. El servicio del mesero es terrible. Con esa actitud no se gana al cliente, usualmente las divas son alegres y chistosas no amargadas y desabridas como este.

Enjoyed the food. Staff was courteous but the Mariachi was loud. I like the more peaceful environment however I did enjoy it overall.

This is a pretty legit mexican restaurant.
I do not speak spanish so if you are like me, you may be hesitant when you enter but the food is tasty. They bring out chip and salsa when you enter. Great!
Some of the things ive had were the like the steak and shrimp combo which I would skip, but definitely get the shrimp cocktail. It felt like and endless bowl of shrimp for like 12.95. The oysters are really fresh and were huge. They gave us an extra oyster too so Thank You! The carne asada taco are like 2.50 or 3 dollars, it huge so I make it into 2 tacos. My boyfriend loves it but it not a must try for me. The winning charm was the staff are really friendly.
It is one of those places that is great to add to your roladex of eateries.

Husband had the smoked pork chops. Amazing! So delicious. Order these if you love bacon.
Oldest son had the carne Asda and claims that his food was the best at the table.
Youngest ordered a quesadilla and french fries. Pretty sure there was more cheese in the quesadilla than tortilla.
I had the chile relleno. The rice that came with our entrees was so tasty! I also ordered the shrimp cocktail to share with the husband. Both of us were too stuffed to eat much of it, but there were so many shrimp in it; it was definitely worth the price :)

had huge cravings for ceviche. was on our way to kayaking in newport beach, so i found this place to swing by for some lunch! very loud mexican music playing the minute you walk in. we’re the only asian people here. we must be in the right place.
they brought out some chips and salsa and HOLY CRAP the salsa was SPICYYYYYY, fresh, and delicious. i mean, i LOVE spicy, but this was just. wow, it was burning my tummy… but i couldn’t stop eating it, so addicting. as to not have any unwanted bowel movement when stuck in the middle of the newport back bay, i had to call it quits.
ceviche: crushed fish was a little dry and more cooked than im used to. lots of avocado and over all, still tasty. comes with a few tostadas for your scooping pleasure.
shrimp cocktail: my bf ordered this and… it was then that i learned something new. shrimp cocktail and cocktail shrimp are two completely different things! hahaha imagine my surprise when they brought out a glass of shrimp in this tomato juice…“wait, aren’t they supposed to put the shrimp on the rim so you can dip? this isn’t cocktail sauce…” well, i’ll tell ya, shirmp cocktail is much tastier. the cold cocktail was sweet, flavorful, and refreshing on the hot day.
not sure how much shrimp cocktails usually are but $ 13 seemed a bit steep for… any appetizer-​ish item. we originally came in hoping for tacos as well, but apparently they only serve those on the weekdays :(no problem, awesome taco shop a few doors down.

On our way to Newport Beach we stopped at Costa Brava which is my favorite place for Chile Relleno. They have excellent salsa and chips too. It’s become a must stop whenever in the area. They have great corn tortillas and the Chile Relleno is stuffed with delicious cheese and lightly battered. Today’s was a bit wet, but still muy bueno. If there is a better chile relleno I’d love to know where. What this one might lack in presentation it makes up for in flavor. One of these visits I’m going to have to try the seafood and a michelada.

I love mariscos. These were the freshest, largest, and cleanest shrimp I have had in a long time. Not only was the quality amazing there were so many shrimp in my coctel I could barley stir in the picante. Good music, good service and very reasonable prices. Come eat here, you won’t regret it.

I was kind of let down by this place.
Ceviche was only ok. Consistency was different than I’ve had at other mariscos places.
Garlic shrimp was whatever. Didn’t like the sauce at all. Not the normal mojo de ajo sauce.