Point Loma Seafoods: A Fish Market That Happens to Serve Lunch, Since 1963

Overview

In 1963, Kelly Christianson and his wife Marie started selling fish out of about 250 square feet on Emerson Street with a single display case.

The hot food came later, and it came by accident. They started cooking fish for the employees' lunches. People noticed. Eventually they started selling it, on the principle Kelly had set out from the beginning: sell the highest quality fresh fish, then prepare and serve it hot on the freshest sourdough bread, under their own tartar sauce. That's where the slogan came from, and they still use it — "The Freshest Thing In Town."

Sons Jack and John came into the business. A bigger building went up in the early 1980s. In 2010 they rebuilt again, on the exact footprint of the original, this time with indoor seating and an upper patio looking out at San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline.

Sixty-plus years later it's still the Christianson family, in the same spot, on the Point Loma sportfishing basin.

Here's the one thing to understand before you go, because it changes how you use them:

This is a fish market that serves lunch — not a restaurant that happens to sell fish. The order is the wrong way round from how most people treat it.

Look at the printed menu and you'll notice how much of it simply says "Market Price." Crab. Oysters. Sashimi. The cocktails. That isn't the restaurant being coy. It's because the fish is bought daily by the owners and management, from importers, brokers and local fishermen, and what's good today isn't what was good last Tuesday.

So the move is: go look at the display case first. Read the specials board. Ask a clerk what came in. Then order. Walking up and reading the laminated menu without looking at what's actually behind the glass is using this place like a Rubio's, and you'll miss the entire reason it's been here since Kennedy was president.

And right now, one thing in particular is worth asking about: California spiny lobster season runs October through March. It's open. It's local. It has no claws and the tail meat is firm and sweet, and it's the single most seasonal thing on the premises this month.

What to Order at Point Loma Seafoods

• Whatever's on the specials board. Said once more because it's the actual advice. Their highlighted local catch includes local spiny lobster, yellowtail, white seabass, swordfish and bluefin tuna.
• A fried seafood sandwich on sourdough — the original dish, and the reason the place exists. Alaskan cod is the classic; there's also breaded calamari, Sea of Cortez shrimp, Eastern clam strips, bluepoint oyster and dry-pack scallop. The combo is cod, shrimp and a crab cake.
• The crab cake, which is Mrs. Kelly's recipe. If you want to sample rather than commit, the Small Appetites section does two crab cakes with fries or slaw for $14.38.
• A seafood cocktail. A quarter pound of whatever you choose — jumbo Mexican shrimp, Canadian bay shrimp, Dungeness crab, bluepoint oysters or their own smoked fish — with lemon, crackers and Mrs. Kelly's tangy cocktail sauce. Market price.
• The smoked fish, which they do themselves over real hickory, eight to twelve hours. It shows up as a cold sandwich, on a salad, and in the cocktails, and it's the thing most first-timers don't realize they make in-house.
• Sushi, which nobody expects here. There's a dedicated PLSF sushi chef and a real list — unagi, hamachi, a softshell crab roll, and a "Special Pizza" roll of assorted wild seafood topped with garlic mayo and broiled.
• Chowder in a sourdough bowl, topped with cheese and parsley. New England or Manhattan, in a cup, bowl or quart.
• The onion rings. The one customer review the restaurant reuses on its own site is about the onion rings, which tells you something.
• Mrs. Kelly's lemonade at the self-serve fountain, or something from what they describe as a vast tap and bottled beer list.
• A chocolate chip cookie on the way out — also Mrs. Kelly's recipe, in the Grab 'n Go case.

How to Visit Point Loma Seafoods

• Address: 2805 Emerson St., San Diego, CA 92106
• Phone: (619) 223-1109 · Email: info@pointlomaseafoods.com
• Hours: opens at 10 a.m. daily. Closing time — see the note below; their site publishes two different ones.
• Seating: indoor, plus the upper patio, which is the one you want. The view is San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline.
• No reservations, no online ordering, no delivery, no shipping. You go, or you call for takeout.
• It's cash-register-at-the-counter energy, not table service. Expect to order, wait, and carry your own tray.
• Go at an off hour. This place has been famous for sixty years and sits in a working sportfishing basin. Noon on a Saturday is not the move.
• They fry in cholesterol-free oil, which they'll tell you on the menu.

Two Things They Do That Most People Don't Know About

They'll process your catch. This is a working fish house, and if you come off a sportfishing boat they'll fillet and smoke what you caught — and you get your fish back, not a share of someone else's.

• $20 minimum on any processing
• Filleting: $2.00/lb for whole fish over 15 lbs · $2.50/lb under 15 lbs — about 3 to 5 days
• Hickory smoking: $3.00/lb, calculated on the whole weight of the fish — 5 to 7 days
• Vacuum packing: $1.00 per bag, on any processing or retail order of $10 or more
• Billfish: $2.00/lb, smoked or filleted, vacuum packing included free
• Fees go up for fish that aren't whole, and anything left 10 days past its ready date gets destroyed. Set a reminder.

They do party trays. Twenty-four hours' notice, $100 minimum, which they describe as a light appetizer spread for 8 to 10 people. Shrimp, crab meat, crab claws, lobster, oysters on the half shell, assorted smoked fish, ceviche, whole smoked or poached salmon — and they'll put non-seafood items on there too. Order on (619) 223-6553, not the main line.

That makes this a genuinely good and under-used option for a holiday party in Point Loma or Ocean Beach, and it's about to be the season for it.

The Takeaway

Go at 10:30 on a weekday. Look at the case before you look at the menu. Ask what came in. Order it on sourdough with tartar sauce, add a cocktail of whatever's best that morning, and take it upstairs to the patio.

What makes Point Loma Seafoods worth writing about isn't that San Diego has a good fish-and-chips counter. It's that this one is still the same family in the same spot on the same footprint, buying fish off the same water, sixty-plus years after a husband and wife started with one display case and 250 square feet — and that the hot food everybody comes for started as something they made for their own staff.

For more San Diego spots worth knowing, browse our Local Picks — and if Point Loma is a place you're considering rather than just visiting, our Point Loma neighborhood guide covers it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Point Loma Seafoods? At 2805 Emerson St., San Diego, CA 92106, in the Point Loma sportfishing basin. There's only one location — no second restaurant, no franchise.

How old is Point Loma Seafoods? It opened in 1963, founded by Kelly and Marie Christianson. The family still runs it, and the current building sits on the exact footprint of the original.

What is Point Loma Seafoods known for? Fried seafood sandwiches served hot on sourdough with house tartar sauce — the dish the business was built on — plus a daily fresh fish market and in-house hickory-smoked fish.

Why does the menu say "Market Price" on so many things? Because the fish is bought fresh daily by the owners, so availability and cost change. Check the display case and the specials board before ordering.

Does Point Loma Seafoods take reservations? No. It's counter-style — you order, you wait, you find a seat.

Is there outdoor seating? Yes. The 2010 rebuild added an upper patio with views of San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline. It's the better place to sit.

Can they clean and smoke fish I caught? Yes. Filleting runs $2.00 a pound for whole fish over 15 pounds and $2.50 under, hickory smoking is $3.00 a pound on whole weight, and there's a $20 minimum. Turnaround is about three to five days, and anything left ten days past the ready date is destroyed.

Do they cater? Yes — custom party trays with 24 hours' notice and a $100 minimum, which covers a light appetizer spread for 8 to 10. Call (619) 223-6553.

Do they ship or deliver? No. There's no online ordering, no shipping and no delivery listed. Phone takeout or go in person.

When is local spiny lobster available? October through March, per their own fish market notes. It's in season now.