Anthony’s Fish Grotto

Very disappointed that we ate there and their food was not good! We are also staying at the Best Western hotel right next door and asked the manager at this restaurant if it was ok if we parked here because of our long work truck that was not accommodated by the hotel parking lot to park in their huge parking lot and was told that it was ok! Owner of the restaurant was not happy that we were parking our work truck and threatened to tow it away!

I am ninety years old and have been going to Anthony’s since they opened, it is my favorite fish restaurant in San Diego and always has been. I met Mama Ghio when she had the restaurant on Pacific Highway in WWII, I went to the South Pacific and came home to her cooking it has always been my favorite, especially the red chowder w/​with Tabasco and lemon. The food has always been fresh, tasty, and attractively prepared. It’s a shame that outsiders won’t be able to enjoy San Diego Bay in a decent restaurant because money has to dictate where Anthony’s is located. San Diego again turns its back on one of its pioneers that helped to build some of its destinations attractiveness to visitors. It happened in Old Town to Bazaar Del Mundo no appreciation for history, beauty, or stability (throw away society for riches), shame, shame. This is not progress its just plain selfish greed!

Everytime we come down to San Diego we eat here. View, food is excellent and added plus is that parking is not bad. The seafood is fresh and the prices are affordable. Very family friendly, highly recommend this place.

Went here for the first time yesterday. Got to be in the dog friendly area. They even have a fenced in area for the dogs to do their business. It’s beautiful scenery too. They keep it nice and clean. Oh and the food was good too of course :)

We LOVE Anthony’s! «We» are my adult daughter, two young children, and my dog.
It’s a nice restaurant for anybody, and great for dogs and children whenever outside dining is an option!
Dogs are allowed outside by the lake. There’s even menu options for dogs! And it’s good. My picky dog likes it.
My grandchildren (2 and 6) love coming here because of the décor (shells and eels on the walls) the dogs, they can walk around, other kids are often here, and they can feed the ducks!

«Best Clam Chowder Ever ! «
My wife and I went to Anthony’s Fish Grotto in La Mesa Ca., for lunch today, and had a great experience. Stefanie S. our server was so nice as she explained the different lunch meals to us. Stefanie started us off with 2 yummy hot freshly baked rolls, with their delicious Sun Dried Tomato Butter. My wife had the Salad an Chowder Combo, which included a choice of a variety of salads, and the famous delicious Red Clam Chowder. I had the «New «Shrimp Grill Cheese Sandwich served with a very good Pineapple Cole Slaw. It was very good as it contained Spicy Shrimp, Diced Bacon, Tomato, Avocado, Jack & Cheddar Cheese, all on a crispy Sourdough Bread. Anthony’s continues to be a good place to go for lunch or dinner for a reasonable price, and to enjoy a beautiful lake view.

Last minute decision to dine here — late afternoon. The service was friendly. We started with clam chowder and had a fish sandwich. Everything was fresh, even the bread! We weren’t familiar with the menu and due to seed allergies, asked to have the cole slaw changed out. They were quick, our food hadn’t gone cold before the sub was made. Would definitely come back.

I took my Mom here to celebrate Mother’s Day, and I really enjoy the style and ambience of Anthony’s Fish Grotto. The giant window looking out to the huge pond with all the ducks swimming, was pretty relaxing and well, adorable.
The hostess was courteous and our sever was wonderful.
My mom ordered the shrimp cocktail and coconut shrimp. The shrimp cocktail sauce was perfect tasting. Not too bitter, tart, or sour. My mom seemed to be very pleased with the coconut shrimp, as you could tell by the look on her face.
I ordered the crab cake and the 1 fish taco plate which was accompanied by 1 side. I was a little disappointed in the crab cake. It just seemed. bland, even with the lemon drizzle on top. The fish taco was on point and the fries were good.
For dessert, my mom and I split the zabaione cake, which was absolutely heavenly! It also comes with some spumoni ice cream (yum)!
I enjoy Anthony’s Fish Grotto, and the only reason I am knocking them 1 star, is because of the crab cake. I really felt like it should have been… flavorful. It was just ‘okay’ in my book.
I would definitely recommend this place. The inside is really cool and the food is delicious!

I guess my review is going to stick out, because it appears we were one of the first groups to dine here since the big renovation. Not sure how it appeared before, but we were definitely blown away by the nautical interior looking out through the waterfalls onto the lake. Did NOT see that coming!
In fact, it’s tough to believe this place is even in this location. When it popped up as an option on Google I was like, «Wait — WHERE is that?» Very strange. But one walk through dining room and it’s pretty obvious a good experience is on the way.
Also checked out the ducks putzing around the outdoor seating area, which is really nice right there on the water. However, not sure I’d ever make a reservation in the outdoor area at or after sundown. There are too many pools and puddles of standing water and a lot of mosquitoes. That just doesn’t make a pleasant dining experience for me!
Food was good and there was an attractive dessert menu, although, we didn’t bite on that because we both felt the entrees were heavily overpriced. Plus the squid wanted to get out and feed the ducks, so there just wasn’t much time to spare.
Overall a good experience and we may come back with a larger group.

Horrible dinner experience tonight. To be fair, I will say that our server was extremely nice and none of this is his fault, however, I will never go back to this place.
I ordered steak and lobster, but upgraded to filet mignon instead of the sirloin. My husband ordered Ono. We get our meals and without thinking I cut into my steak and took a bite. Immediately I was like ‘umm, this isn’t filet mignon’. I look down and see that, whoops, they brought me sirloin. Easy mistake as the meal originally comes with sirloin, with the option to upgrade to filet. I tell our waiter and he says he will go ask the chef. I start eating the lobster.
Waiter comes back and says that the chef says my meal is ‘100% filet mignon’. I pull up a picture of filet mignon on my phone and show the waiter. Then I pull up a picture of sirloin and show the waiter. My steak was CLEARLY sirloin (if you aren’t a huge steak eater like I am and couldn’t tell by the taste alone, the picture should have proved it. My cut of meat was a thin, girlled piece of sirloin! There is not a chance someone could try to argue the meat was filet). The waiter goes, oh, maybe you’re right, what would you like me to do because the chef says he knows it’s filet. I asked the waiter if he would take my plate to show the chef. The waiter agreed and asked if I wanted to hold onto my lobster (again, the waiter was extremely nice and recognized that my husband was eating his meal while I had nothing, so maybe I wanted to keep it to eat something…)
A few minutes later the manager comes out with the steak and assures me it’s filet. I was absolutely dumbfounded. This manager clearly doesn’t know what a cut of filet looks like… He said the chef orders and cuts the meat himself…(well your chef mixed up the cuts then, buddy…). I told the manager that I have never in my life tasted or seen a filet like that. He offers to take the plate and remove it from the bill so I can order something else. I have NEVER sent an order back and asked for it to be removed from my bill, but I was certainly not going to pay for an average sirloin when I ordered filet lol. Especially when the chef and manager can’t even differentiate between the cuts. I said that would be fine and I’d order something else. At this point, the manager takes the plate and leaves the lobster (which is already ¾ eaten at this point). A few minutes later, the waiter comes by and says he will be right back with a menu. I look over and my husband has finished his meal so I take the last bite of the lobster and just admit defeat. Absolutely no point in ordering something else, waiting for it to come out again, and eating by myself. I tell the waiter nevermind. He offers us a dessert menu, we decline, and he brings us our bill.
At this point I’m really annoyed, but still being polite. I open the bill and I see a $ 16 charge for the lobster. Ok, YES I ate the lobster… but seriously?!? After all of that, you are going to charge me for the lobster which I would absolutely NOT have eaten if I had known I wouldn’t get to be eating a meal with my husband and that your chef seriously can’t tell the difference between a sirloin and filet?!? I tell the waiter how ridiculous this is and to tell the manager there should not be a charge on there. I will pay the bill, of course, but I will never come back. He said he’d tell the manager, but the lobster remained on the bill. I left the waiter a decent tip because the issue had nothing to do with him, by the way…
As I’m leaving I ask to speak to the manager again. I tell him that his chef is wrong on the cut of meat he served me. I asked if the manager really tasted or looked at the meat? He said that he had not tasted it, and that it was his chef who confirmed he orders and cuts the filet and that it was a piece of filet. Again, I tell him his chef is wrong or mixed up his cuts tonight and anyone who knows what a cut of sirloin vs. filet looks like could tell the difference from what was on my plate. I also told him I can’t believe after all of that he still thought it would be appropriate to charge me for the lobster. He tried to justify it by saying he took the meal off… well yes, you took the meal off and added a side lobster because I’d already eaten it by the time I realized I wasn’t going to get the meal I ordered! This entire time I am remaining very calm, but being very straight forward. He never really responded to my question of why he felt this was appropriate and just stood there with a look on his face like he didn’t know what to say. After an awkward silence and no response I just walked away from him and told him this was ridiculous.
Had the manager just made the issue right (or had he listened to me about the difference between cuts rather than just assuming their chef was right), I’d give this place another shot. Now, no way! Now I need to eat something because I’m still hungry after a $ 60 meal of nothing… I wish I could swear on Unilocal

Stopped in for lunch. Let me start with the fact that the food is delicious and unique. Thats why this place is worth your business. I have mixed feelings about the service. The gentleman who sat us at our table said he was going to bring us a booster seat for our son. He never came back. Our waitress was very sweet but she offered us some bread and never brought it so that was a thing. But other staff members regularly check in to refresh your drink even though theyre not your server. Beautiful restaurant with a great view of their lake. I would encourage people to try it and make their own decision.

The spicy shrimp pasta had some good flavors! But the seafood skewer and wedge salad were rather bland. Overall just ok. But not gonna go back. My skewer was really undercooked. Nice staff. Nice place. And nice bread w/​tasty garlic butter.

We love this place, it’s way out of our way and we still come here at least once a week. The food is way better then the brigantine and the staff is really personable. The ambience is excellent for any occasion, actually it’s way better then the brigantine also!
We love tony and dustee, they are fun bartenders who make a mean drink and great dining suggestions! Both of them are interesting, smart, and down to earth good people. Obviously, we love them both and will keep coming back for the excellent service and the dining experience to back it up. Del mar has many excellent restaurants and still, this is where we choose to go on our weekend nights.

Excellent lunch here today. Server Stephanie was a joy! So attentive and just really nice. Such a breath of fresh air. Food was all hot and fresh and the drinks were tasty. I eat here often but today was just a great experience. Thank you Stephanie! You Rock!

This place is really dumpy. It reminded me of the cafeteria at a retirement home for two reasons — it has cafeteria seating, and it was filled with the elderly.
The food didn’t poison us, but it was most certainly not worth the price. We also ordered a salad with dressing on the side, and we got a bowl of ranch with a ¹⁄₃ of a head of lettuce floating in it.
The waitress was a little rude, and the whole vibe was just not very good.
Bottom line: not poisoned, but we won’t be back.

WOW! this restaurant is amazing! The best part is that it’s dog friendly! My good friend and I visited on Saturday night, we were seated very fast by very friendly girls. Our server was very nice and the food was very good. I ordered some cocktails and sandwich. The food tastes fresh, and the drinks were on point. We both took our dogs, they each got a treat and their bowls with clean water. Overall, I really recommend this restaurant, food, price and service was amazing. The best part, you take your four legged buddy. I’ll definitely be going back.

This restaurant is a rare find. And, I owe it all to Unilocal.Thank you Unilocal!
My husband and I were interested in great seafood, close to where we live. We were stumped. We thought nothing existed. Then, I remembered how quaint La Mesa is. I knew they had to have something. Thank God we remembered Unilocal.Anthony’s Fish Grotto is amazing. If you love well-​prepared fish (grilled to perfection, not highly seasoned), ambience, lakes, and a classy place to take your dog, don’t miss this hidden gem.
Ask for Carlos, if you go during the day.
We went for lunch. The crowd was mature. The prices were very reasonable for the menu and quality.

The atmosphere here is amazing. Sit outside on the patio and enjoy the beautiful lake view feel the ocean breeze, and feed the ducks.
We ordered the muscles with a lemon, garlic, and white wine sauce. They left the butter out for us because we don’t eat dairy.
These are some of the best muscles I’ve ever had.
The service was very attentive, and very customer oriented.

I have come here at the restaurant in the 80’s, when I was living i La Mesa. Now living in Denmark I haven’t been there since 1991 and then now 2015.
This time I had my family with me and we enjoyed a good lovely tasty meal. As I remember the food, it was fresh and tasteful. Loved to be back. The service was excellent and we had absolutely no compalint. We will return again when in La Mesa.
I will highly recommend the restaurant even if you do not eat fish, they also serve meat, pasta, salads and other things.

Your all I need
My love
My Valentine
Martina McBride
My boyfriend Soo and I came here for lunch to celebrate Valentines day. Have not eaten here in quite some time and was looking forward to it. Shortly after we arrived, the waitress brought out some fresh bread with a tomato herb butter spread. The spread was very tasty and made me want to eat more bread, but I resisted.
While admiring the décor our table looked out onto (think most of the tables do) the mini lake complete with about four or five water spouts (in the shape of a fish of course) dumping a steady stream of water into the lake. To the right of the lake, there is some outdoor seating, a mini dog play area, (yes you can bring your dog to this outside area) and a small game area to play Bocce ball with instructions included if you don’t know how to play, like me.
Personally I love crab, so it’s pretty easy for me to figure out what to order. On the dinner entries you have the choice of picking two sides from the list. The crab was moist and came as two thin patties lightly browned and covered sparingly in the lemon sauce. The coleslaw was very fresh and the pineapple dressing was not too sweet. French fries were cooked to a nice golden brown.
After dinner we decided to go walk over to the outside seating area and look around. We met a nice lady that had two of the cutest dogs that just had to give me some kisses. Nice ending to a wonderful day!