When I go out to a restaurant I always want to try a little bit of everything to get a feel of the menu but don't always get to do that because I don't go with enough people or the portions are way too big to order. I sure didn't have that problem here! My friends and I headed to Costa Brava on a whim so we didn't have reservations. It was a Friday evening and was extremely busy. Our estimated wait time was about 45 minutes to 1 hour. While waiting, we just hung out at the bar. We started off with a pitcher of sangria. I'm not too big of a sangria fan but this place had great sangria with tons of fruit bits in it. Let's just say we ended up ordering several more pitchers before we got seated and ordered even more after we were seated. That's how good it was. The food was really good. I got to try so much and everything tasted great. Their bread rolls were amazing along with the garlic aioli. Our waiter was awesome and recommended some great dishes for us to try. So far my first experience there was great and I hope to have many more. read more

The patatas bravas here were really crispy, but otherwise pretty flavorless. All the other tapas were also only okay.

A hidden gem in Pacific Beach - Spanish and Basque Tapas - Romantic Ambiance This is definitely a great date place. It is in walking distance from/to my house and represents my Basque heritage which are bonuses! I had a dry white wine that started with an "H" from the Basque region. It was definitely dry, but I liked it. We ordered the 5 Spanish Cheeses. I am a cheese lover and this slightly disappointed. However the calamari was fabulous and the mushrooms were good too! For dessert we shared the Spanish Creme Brulee and the Caramelized Ice Cream...both were phenomenal. A Must Try! read more

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It was our second time here for dinner, and it didn't disappoint. I enjoyed the pulpo and paella. Our server was excellent and friendly.

Doesn't look like much when you pass by because the restaurant is well covered by brush. Once inside you get a feel of authentic Spanish ambiance. The bar is fairly small but cozy. We arrived during happy hour and ordered the OX Tail with potatoes to start, and I must say it was delicious! This dish resembles Mole with a hint of citrus, you won't be disappointed. For the main course we ordered the Mixed Paella which consist of chicken, sausage, clams, mussels, calamari, and rice with peas. Although I have not tried any other Paellas I thought this dish may had a little too much wine mixed in which sort of gave it a bitter taste. This dish was not to my liking and should have tried other appetizers that were offered. read more

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Many people will say this place is better than cafe Sevilla. While it is better priced, I wasn't overly impressed with any tapas and a few dishes that both have were much better at cafe Sevilla. While Sevilla can be touristy and crowded, the food was def better. However, that's not to say costa brava wasn't good, it was. Solid service, easy parking, spacious / small wait make this all a great addition to Spanish tapas dining in SD. read more

From the lantern lit patio to the deliciously authentic Spanish food, Costa Brava is one of my all time favorite restaurants. They really have everything you want from an excellent dining experience. I've been here many times with friends and it is always a great time. We come here to celebrate most birthdays and special occasions as well. The service is excellent and the food is simply fantastic. My favorite is the bacon wrapped dates and the bleu cheese filet mignon. I came in last night for Valentines day and the service was still impecable even with the holiday crowds. We didn't feel rushed at all and enjoyed ourselves for almost two hours. From appetizer to dessert I didn't have one complaint. This is how all dining out experiences should be. read more

Costa Brava - Filet mignon - Tapas Bars Near Me - San Diego, California

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We left San Diego about 5 years ago, and since then we've lived everywhere from the East cost to the West coast and the middle of the country, we have not been able to find a place as delicious as this one! We talk about it and miss it all the time! If you are in San Diego this restaurant is a must! read more

I have been here a few times. The atmosphere is nice. The food is delicious. The service can be shotty. Pretty good the first time, descent the second time, and poor the last time. I do think the last time they were just understaffed and the waiter got flustered. Though I think a good attitude and better communication goes a long way. read more

San Diego has a lot of fake ass Euro themed spots but this one takes the cake for being extra disgraceful. I chalk up the good reviews to straight up ignorance and the fact that San Diego is generally unsophisticated when it comes to cuisine. So, the place: The kitchen and back of house are filthy, the staff is lazy and uniformed and the food and wine is bland and unauthentic. In addition to the shitty staff, grimy food and wack theme the staff gets perturbed if you don't like something. Instead of taking constructive criticism graciously they will ask you to leave so other customers don't hear the feedback. Well I hope my review lets the ownership know that there are still some people that won't put up with shit. read more

¡Bienvenidos a España! Best Spanish Restaurant in San Diego, period.Authentic, Delicious & foreign ;) I know there are other Spanish cuisine restaurants, but nothing like CBrava. Place is exquisite from the dinning room, to bar and outdoor patio. My favorite factor about this place is that they play futbol & every major Spanish soccer team game. Free passport to España. This high end restaurant is transformed into a Spanish bar with red jersey wearing soccer fanatics, beers & tapas. Don't expect to leave sober, especially when Spain wins'! Okay... Food: delicious, order a variety of items and share. It is all tapas size, meaning small portions so order a few. My **all time favs: patatas bravas, croquetas, champiñones, pimentos, Bacon Wrapped Dates (wow). Drinks: sangría, beer, anything! Have fun & enjoy, guarantee you will return over and over again. read more

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So went back several times since my last review. The waiters are so attentive! and there were so many of them. so service still excellent. The owner is so warm and friendly, all the staff recognizes me and are super nice. Went on a Sunday night and they sat us right at the front of the Flamenco dance floor. It was great! Another dish to try is the Pulpo caliente (cooked octopus with course salt and paprika)...mmmmm, so good. Oh, and there is parking in the back of the restaurant. Hard to see from the front, but they are next door to a travel store. read more

Costa Brava - In back, the carocales (snails), left the pollo and the right is the potatas bravas - Tapas Bars Near Me - San Diego, California

The Zarzuela de Mariscos is fantastic. So much fish, prawns, scallops, clams and mussels in the marinera sauce, which is more akin to a stew with so much flavor in it. Highly recommended this place in PB!!! read more

Favorite restaurant in San Diego hands down. Fantastic service and terrific food.

I cannot wait to be back! I was here for a Sunday gathering with some coworkers to celebrate a birthday. We did lots of tapas and some wine, delicious. Every single dish we tried was great. The servers were prompt and courteous, my favorite dish was the Almejas a la Marinera, yumm. The location itself is great! plenty of space, you get privacy from street walkers and it feels spacious. Parking it's tight but we got lucky that day read more

This is just a great spot to go to with friends or for a date. The espresso martinis are incredible and all the yummy tapas make for a very fun meal. Absolutely LOVE this place!!!!! read more

It serves just decent Spanish tapas, and the atmosphere is pleasant but I would not go back.

The best possible atmosphere for some great Spanish food! I almost couldn't find the restaurant hiding behind the tall brush in the front, but it really enclosed the outside patio to make me forget I was even in PB! ..Awesome! The food was delicious! - Spicy potatoes (flavor and texture- perfect!) - Mariscos - Calamari (so meaty!) - Skewered lamb and filet mignon (filet mignon was melted in my mouth!) - Bread and ai oli sauce - Escargot (snails in a verrrry tasty sauce! I forgot I was eating snails!) - Spanish sausage (chorizo: so crispy and good with the bread!) - Olives - Whole shrimp (soo juicy) - Clams - Flan (perfect texture for my liking) - Ice Cream - Sangria! (Yummy and sneaks up on you! You almost forget you're drinking alcohol. Oops! lol) As you can see, my party of 4's order was quite a lot! Luckily we knew someone pretty well to give us a discount (Thank you! :] ). My boyfriend and I will definitely come back, but probably during a special occasion or Happy Hour. The prices are quite high for my budget, but it is SO GOOD that I can not skip out on this restaurant just for that reason.. read more

This review is super overdue, considering the fact I go to Costa Brava at least once a month. My fiancé and I love this place for date night and other special occasions. The music and the Spanish vibe is so nice, and sometimes they have live performances. Love how you can share various delicious tapas with the group and of course we always have to get Ox tail smothered with a beautiful wine reduction. Also, don't forget the sangria. It's the best sangria in town. read more

This is hands down my favorite restaurant in San Diego. The food is immaculate every single time. The service is quick and very attentive to your needs and your table. You leave feeling like you have joined a new family. I always go for the chorizo bites, bacon wrapped dates, and cheese croquettes. read more

Great food!! There's sangrias are outstanding and filet mignon so delicious! A+. Great service. Beautiful place!!

Authentic, good food, great atmosphere, and excellent service. One place we regularly go to for dinner when in SD!

Love the food, love the experience, love almost every aspect except for one of the regulars that frequents the restaurant. As you can see on my food blog "Gerard Corrales" is a menace to Society and a misogynist to my community. I consider costa bravas 10/10 but if you have the experience I had with Gerard at this establishment it makes it -1/10. Don't put yourself through what I had to. read more

We were sat a a table in front of a busy service station when there were many more tables in better locations to sit at, and we had reservations. The wait staff was nice. The seating out back was pretty. All the food was pretty terrible. Each dish was worse than the next. Ended up cutting the meal short and going to get food somewhere else. read more

This is a great fun restaurant! Very affordable and terrific food. First time here but will be back often. Loved the $20 bottle of Spanish house red, seafood dishes and sauces magnificent. Great fun meal! Thank you. read more

Came back to Costa Brava again with my mom Eva because this place is just so amazing. They had a Hamon tasting on Saturday so we had to come. Javier was here again (I swear the owner lives here :-).) The service again was amazing as well as the food. We enjoyed so many menu items including the Hamon and again everything was just perfect. We started with thePulpo A La Gallega octopus with olive oil and spicy paprika which was cooked to perfection, it was so tender and juicy that I almost cried.. OK actually a tear or two might have actually slipped out and then I regained my composure just enough to order Caracoles Al Alioli which is escargot in a parsley alioli sauce or snails. This was also perfect especially in texture. We moved right on into Rabas fried calamaries or squid. Next came the essential Tortilla Espanola Spanish potato omelet with onion and egg. The portion sizes are just perfect for either one or two people and there is no need to add any kind of sauce because the flavor is not needing any type of cover. You may be getting tired of the word perfect but it isn't over yet. Please hold and I will go to my thesaurus to look up another word meaning perfect.... OK I am back.. Thanks for holding.. The coffee and the Anise were also flawless.. Here are the other words that describe this place appropriate, bull's-eye, certain, dead-on, definite, distinct, exact, express, faithful, fit, ideal, model, needed, on target, on the button, on the money, precise, proper, required, requisite, right, sharp, strict, suitable, textbook, to a T, to a turn, true, unerring, very I am sure you get the picture by now. I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! read more

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Hands down best Spanish restaurant in Southern California. I came here with my Spanish boyfriend today and he was extremely satisfied with everything absolutely no complaints. We had the Jamon Serrano, patatas alioli, chorizo, pan con alioli, croquetas con Jamon, and more... We have tried food at other spanish restaurants NO ONE CAN BEAT THIS PLACE. Not to mention the drinks were just on point! We had been looking for good sangria and we had sangria as if we were in Spain. In other words the best. It was delicious very smooth and tasty. Our waiter Cesar and owner (I think) Javier made us feel like at home. Super nice people! You must come!!! read more

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Average tasting food and way overpriced. Had the pulpo (octopus) and the paella mixto. The pulpo was okay but not something I would try again. Ordered it bc I wanted to try something new. Not spicy. It actually lacked flavor. A little bit of lemon helped but it was still missing something.. Had a meaty texture w some gelatinous bits. The paella was a complete disappointment. The highlight of the paella was the chorizo. The waiter said it would be a 45min wait but it actually only took maybe 20 tops. Ordered it for 2 ($19 per serving) but it could easily have fed 3 people who have eaten an appetizer. Came here on a Thursday night around 745 w no reservations. Was seated promptly but the small restaurant got packed quick! The waiters all seemed really nice. My soda/water glass was left empty quite a bit but it wasn't like my waiter was lazy, he was working his a** off tending to his other tables. There was live music. Two guitarists. The lights were dimmed and there was a candle lit on each table. Quite a romantic setting. There are 2 private restrooms, one stall each. Be prepared to wait on a busy night. Complimentary bread was served along w garlic butter. The garlic butter was overwhelming. I recommend sitting on the patio on a busy clear night bc it can get really hot inside. There were a ton of ceiling fans but none were turned on. Two stars for the excellent service? I feel bad for giving them a bad review based on 2 items. I really want to go back and try other items but I don't think it's worth the drive to PB. read more

Costa Brava - Pulpo tapas - Tapas Bars Near Me - San Diego, California

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My wife and I adore Costa Brava. It's an incredible happy hour in an establishment with a true pulse. They're a family, and you feel a part of it each time you visit read more

We went for dinner with another couple and we ended not ordering entrees, because the appetizers are AMAZING. We had a lot of food and the price was surprisingly low! Highly recommend this place. It feels like we were traveling! read more

amazing spanish food cant wait to go back again! great vegetarian even vegan options read more

A group of 9 of us came here on a sat evening during happy hour and we pretty much took over the whole bar areas. The happy hour was only good for the bar area and each table seats like 3 people only so it was pretty intimate haha. We ordered pretty much everything on the hh menu and the ones that were outstanding were : spicy potatoes (must try. we literally ordered like 5 of these), lamb skewers and of course the sangria for drinks. The service was superb as well. read more

Costa Brava - Hh menu - Tapas Bars Near Me - San Diego, California

THANK YOU to ARTURO and MIGUEL who made my BIRTHDAY here at Costa Brava an AMAZING EXPERIENCE!! I'm a regular here at Costa Brava and every chance I get to introduce friends to this place, I am on it! Come here for happy hour, come here for dinner, or come here just to watch the soccer games. No matter what you do, you'll receive excellent service with exceptional food, and amazing SANGRIA. If you get a chance, sit at the bar. Arturo, Miguel, and Ruben will take care of you! Happy hour is amazing with their $8 pitchers of delicious Sangria. Tapas such as the escargot, the lamb, oxtail, and shrimp seriously have me craving for this place ALL the time. LOVE YOU COSTA BRAVA!! read more

3.5***Only restaurant opened on Christmas. Great customer service! Our waiter shared interesting stories with us during our dinner. Majority of the staff are from Barcelona and they visit frequently. He worked at this restaurant because it felt like home to him. They have live music and dancing indoors but we sat outdoors. Luckily it wasn't cold for us but the waiters were freezing. You would think they are warm from running around but nope. On to the food. I would recommend ordering their tapas. I think that's what they are known for. But tapas are expensive! So we ordered main dishes instead. Salmon stuffed with seafood in a lobster bisque sauce: I had better salmon. Loved the idea of the dish though. The seafood was better than the salmon. The texture of the salmon tasted off. It wasn't dry though. The seafood was perfect. I had to savor every bite. This dish also came with rice and slices of cucumber, broccoli and two baby carrots. I'm not sure why it did. The accessories to the dish kind of sucked. The vegetables weren't fresh and the rice was cold and bland. I mixed all the sides in the lobster bisque sauce and that helped. Mixed seafood: shrimp, mussels, fish, scallop in marinara sauce. The quality of the seafood was poor. Reminded me of the time I had seafood at a Hotpot restaurant. Spanish creme Brulee: the waiter convinced me to order it. I didn't want to break his speech and tell him I was going to order it already. It was creamy like he promised. Also not overly sweet. Great quality and quantity for the price. Red wine: $5 for a full glass, not too shabby. That's something about Spanish wine that is just so great! Free bread was so addicting. We had 2 servings and an additional serving after our meal were done. The bread was so warm, soft and chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. We loved it. We asked for olive oil and it came with balsamic vinegarette. I tried it with the butter in the basket and olive oil wins. read more

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$8 for a pitcher of sangria?! Such a great deal for happy hour! I came here with some friends for happy hour my 1st time. They have a long list of tapas available. I had to come back here for date night with the husband. Our server warned us right away that if we were planning to order paella we should order it right away because it would take about 35 minutes. We told our waiter we needed time to look over the menu. He came back 3 times & we felt rushed to place our order. Aside from that, we loved everything else! The restaurant felt homey & authentic. We ended up ordering 3 tapas, Patatas a La Brava (spicy potatoes), Champinones Al Ajillo (sautéed mushrooms in garlic & wine), and Datiles Con Tocino (dates wrapped in bacon). Highly recommend all 3! The potatoes weren't spicy to me, but they were still DELICIOUS with the sauce. I never would've thought bacon & dates go well together, but it was the perfect combination of sweet & salty! We ordered the Salmon Relleno to share as our entree. So good!! It was seafood stuffed salmon in a lobster bisque sauce & saffron rice. I kinda wish we didn't share! Haha! We also ordered a pitcher of sangria. It was more than enough for the 2 of us! Definitely coming back & would love to come when they have live music! read more

Costa Brava - Sautéed mushrooms in garlic & wine - Tapas Bars Near Me - San Diego, California

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This place was nothing short of amazing! The service was phenomenal and we had literally no wait for food. Everything from the Sangria to the escargot was delicious. Highly recommend the Bacon wrapped dates! The flan dessert is incredible!! The only thing that was mediocre were the Friday anchovies as they just taste like fish fries but no matter they were unique, and we were told they were not necessarily recommended but we chose to do it out of curiosity. Our waitress to try to save us! The octopus was probably amongst the best I've ever had- cooked perfectly. GO HERE! read more

Costa Brava - Tapas happy hour is amazing - Tapas Bars Near Me - San Diego, California

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I needed to update my previous review in order to profess my love for this place. Honestly, Costa Brava could set me on fire and i would still come back here to eat. It is that good and that amazing. My fiance and i came last weekend for dinner. We were sat outside which wasn't my fave but i don't even care because i was in a state of euphoria. I have been to Costa Brava a few times but it was the first time for my fiance. He let me order and i have to say, i did not disappoint. We had the brussel sprouts, the oxtail, spicy potatoes, chorizo, shrimp in garlic, dates in bacon, marinated mushrooms and the creme brulee. Let me tell you something, it was seriously one of the best meals we've ever had. And oh my god, the fresh rolls! With that garlic aoili. Stop. My fiance was so impressed and wants to come back asap. Everything we got was delicious. Our waiter was friendly and charming and our experience was wonderful. Everytime i come to costa brava, i leave with a huge smile on my face and a full belly. Costa Brava will forever be a place i recommend to people and a place i will always want to stuff my face at. read more

Love this place so much. I've been coming here for at least a decade ! Every time I come in it's always delicious. Brought a couple new friends and they were very impressed. Matt was our server and he was amazing as always. I'm so glad I'm back in San Diego so I can go to my favorite restaurant! Thank you for the great times ! read more

Go here all the time. Food is good, atmosphere is great. Wonderful for families. The gambas a la plancha are a staple. Servers always remember everyone. I love it here. read more

One of my favorite places to go out with family or friends. The food and drinks are always amazing.