Surf's up in Yorba Linda?

 

Seasurf Fish Co. 

18401 Yorba Linda Blvd. 

Yorba Linda, CA 92886

I admit I was not overly excited about going out to eat with my parents. After a month or so of not seeing them, Katie and I made plans to drive up to Yorba Linda for a visit. My lack of enthusiasm had nothing to do with my relationship with my parents, but rather their choice of restaurant that they wanted us to eat at. They excitedly picked this new seafood restaurant, Seasurf in the newish Yorba Linda Town Center, which is pretty close to their house. 

The Seasurf menu did not really take hold of me when I checked it out online. I was at a loss for what to order when I was perusing the menu before we were going to be having lunch here on a recent Sunday afternoon. I decided I'd look at the pictures on their Yelp page, and just go with what seemed to be the most popular. I'm not sure if I was just not in the mood for seafood, or if I was just being difficult. If I'm being honest, it was probably a combination of the two. 

Seasurf has two locations, this Yorba Linda spot, which opened for business in January, and a location little farther south in Del Mar, which has been serving customers since 2017. Both locations get high marks from Yelp reviewers, as they both have four and a half star ratings. Their website states their mission statement as wanting to serve high quality and flavorful seafood in a fast-casual setting, at a reasonable price point. 

The Seasurf menu is pretty ambitious for a fast-casual spot. My unofficial count has them offering close to 50 items. These include burritos, tacos, bowls, grilled fish options, poke bowls, sandwiches, and their specialties. Prices average around the $12 mark, with a lobster pasta dish being the most expensive thing on the menu at just shy of $17. Ordering is done at the register, and then the food is brought out to your table. Let's see if my apprehension about Seasurf was warranted, or would I be pleasantly surprised. 

As I usually do in a seafood restaurant, I have to give their version of clam chowder a try. At Seasurf that means I ordered their Fisherman's Wharf Clam Chowder ($3.99). This creamy chowder contained both baby and sea clams, cubed potatoes, onions, and celery. This was a pretty solid effort. I liked the creaminess of the chowder, the clams were prevalent, but not overly fishy, and the celery and potatoes added just enough texture to not distract from the clams. A few more clams would have been appreciated, but this was a nice start to my meal. 

My niece Kaylie was eating with us this afternoon and wanted to give the Guacamole and Chips ($4.99) a whirl. Kaylie is not a very adventurous eater, as you will see in a bit, and she was absolutely shocked that Seasurf dared to dress up their guacamole by adding some corn, tomatoes, and red onions. She likes more traditional guacamole. She ended up picking around the corn and other things and ended up enjoying the guacamole underneath. I thought it was okay, but I wish they had decided to dress up the avocado with more spice and maybe some jalapeno. It came across as a little on the dull side for me. The chips were nicely fried though and tasted pretty fresh.   

My mom is very predictable when it comes to seafood restaurants. She will always steer towards fried fish. She's also a light eater, so if there's a kids menu she will try to order off of it. She checked off both of those boxes by getting this Crispy Fish and Chips ($4.99). This little meal comes with two fish sticks, fries, and a side of tarter sauce. I assume the fish was cod just like their regular order of fish and chips. It was fried nicely, with a good batter surrounding it. I did not try the fries, but no complaints from my mom, who finished everything, which is kind of rare for her. 

As I mentioned earlier, I was kind of at a loss as to what to get at Seasurf, so I left it to the fate of what Yelpers thought was the best item on their menu. Most people raved about the North Shore Garlic Shrimp ($14.99), so that's the direction I went in. This peel and eat shrimp was a good choice. I got six pretty good-sized shrimp that came with an excellent ginger garlic sauce, a scoop of rice, and an Asian cucumber salad. I usually like the shrimp already peeled, but the sauce on the outside of this made it delicious. I'll ask for an extra side of it next time. I'm not usually a cucumber fan, but this salad was a nice side to go alongside the sweet and briny shrimp. The rice was fine on its own, but I used it mainly to sop up the excess sauce, as I did not want to waste a drop. The Yelpers got this one right, this was an excellent choice.  

Katie is up next and went with the Mahi Mahi ($13.99) one of six options from the grill section of the menu. They offer three different seasoning choices and Katie went with the garlic butter. Not the most photogenic of all the fishplates I've snapped a picture of, but it ended up tasting pretty solid. The fish was moist and had a slightly sweet taste on the back end of each bite. This usually comes with rice, but Katie asked for double ponzu greens with tomato relish and they were happy to oblige. She left Seasurf pretty happy with her meal. 

Another happy camper was my dad, who ordered the Blackened Jumbo Shrimp Alfredo ($14.99). This came with fettuccine as the noodle and garlic, olive oil, mozzarella, and cajun seasonings all mixed with a wine cream sauce. My dad called this the perfect amount of heat, which was present but did not overpower the rest of the dish. He was also pretty pleased with the price point here, as he was glad it, "did not break the bank." 

As I mentioned earlier, my niece Kaylie is not very adventurous when it comes to food. This was not only her first time having clam chowder and trying a bite of Katie's mahi-mahi, but it was also her first time ordering poke. Come on, live a little Kaylie. She got the Spicy Poke Bowl ($10.99) here at Seasurf. The cubes of ahi were marinated and tossed with yogi Sriracha for a tinge of spice, then rice, pickled cucumber, avocado, and nori were added to the bowl. This was a fairly generous sized bowl, which Kaylie had no hope of finishing. She was not really a fan of the texture of the poke, and I'm not really sure why she ordered this in the first place. I thought it was good but wished for a little more spice. The bowl featured fresh produce and fish, which is what you most want most when eating poke. I don't think Kaylie will be having poke again for a while, at least until her tastes mature a bit.  

Even though Kaylie was less than enthused about her meal, my apprehension about Seasurf was unwarranted. I actually was pretty impressed with what I tried here. The flavors were vibrant, the serving sizes were generous, which is something you don't often expect at a seafood joint, and the price point was manageable, even for my dad, who always keeps one eye on how much money is escaping his wallet. I still enjoy Slapfish more, but Seasurf will due when you want a more straight forward, casual seafood experience. 

Out of five bales of hay, (because this restaurant started in Del Mar, home of a horse racetrack, where I'm sure they go through their fair share of hay), five being best to zero being best, Seasurf Fish Co. gets 3 bales of hay. 

For more information about Seasurf Fish Co., head to their website by clicking here: https://www.seasurffishco.com/