Bear Flag Fish Co

As a preface, a majority of Mexican food will be inferior to Tacos El Gordo and the rest of San Diego’s beautiful Hispanic food scene. That being said, perhaps the quality of ingredients are better around Orange County. Since this is seafood, I thought it probably would be.

This tiny little establishment was bustling with people, so much so that the servers were constantly weaving in and out to try and hurry the food out to customers. It is very cozy, though. The atmosphere was perfect at Bear Flag Fish Co (I’ll refer to it later as Bear Flag). They’ve got a small seating area indoors, and another one outside. Everything seems upbeat and happy (probably because it’s next to the beach). The weather was fair, and the mood was upbeat. As far as ambiance goes, I dig it.

My entire family went on this adventure, so I got to try a whole bunch of things. First and foremost was the appetizer, some chips, salsa, guacamole, and…you guessed it. Poke. Now, the first word I would use to describe it is fresh. You definitely get that crisp taste from the salsa, and the rich cream from the guac. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much flavor in the guacamole, and I felt it was under seasoned. Thank the lord for innovation though, as I used their tangy house-made hot sauce to mix in as well, and that made it worlds better. The salsa was a normal salsa you would find at a fish taco place. A pico de gallo heavy on the acid and cilantro. No complaints there! Onward to the poke. I’m not gonna lie, just looking at it was mesmerizing. I had never seen ahi so beautiful. It was a dark ruby red that I could not believe. I mean, take a look for yourself. Biting into it, however, I found that it lacked a punch in flavor. Traditional poke is marinated for a while in soy sauce/sesame oil, but I didn’t detect that here. This poke must have been made in the morning. Don’t get me wrong, it was by no means bad. In fact, it definitely made my mouth water and I could taste the freshness of the ahi. I felt maybe it might have been a stylistic choice, to not include too much soy sauce (in order for you to taste the fish better), but I would have liked a bit more either marination time or soy sauce. The next thing I tried was the Bear Flag Burrito. That beast came with white fish, rice, beans, avocado, lettuce, and some red cabbage. The balance of ingredients was stunning. Despite it being the size of a large Chipotle burrito, the ratios were still perfect. Nothing overpowered anything, and eaten with the hot sauce, all flavor points are hit. Sweet and salty fish, sour/tangy hot sauce, a bit of bitterness from the cabbage. It’s a flavorful and textural masterpiece. The last thing I tasted were their tacos. Now, I ended up ordering too much, so we had to take the tacos home and eat em for dinner, but I’ll do my best to review them as well. I can’t say much about it, because my taste is skewed because they were in the fridge. Still though, I could taste the quality of fish, the freshness. The texture of the taco itself was balanced, much like the burrito, but of course, it’s best served hot off the grill.

After eating here, it dawned on me the importance of the quality of food. I could really taste how fresh everything was (sorry for the abuse of “fresh”). Even though at times it was lacking in flavor, the food made up for in quality. For that, I’ll give Bear Flag a…

7.5/10

This is a one stop shop for really fresh fish/poke, and quality ingredients. I highly recommend it for all you seafood lovers. Service is fast, and you really get what you pay for!

Bear Flag Fish Co

Price: ~$8-$15 (but they have $2 taco tuesdays :D)

Address: 7972 East Pacific Coast Highway Newport Coast, CA 92657

Phone: (949) 715-8899