Ocean Pacific's

This highly popular seafood restaurant has three locations, all elaborately decorated with maritime artifacts and naval memorabilia. The décor is like visiting an impressive maritime museum. The headline of one consumer review I read said “the décor alone was worth a visit” and I’d have to agree with that. Unfortunately, the food is not worth a visit.

A consumer reviewer going by the pen-name of Mozart1956 stated this about his visit to the restaurant in late-December of 2018:

“Ocean Pacific's features an impressive and eclectic collection of nautical memorabilia, including a whale skeleton, lots of navy stuff, diving outfits and much more. They nailed the sea theme thing big time. However, the food and service are quite average, so go for the unique ambiance, but don't expect haute cuisine. I tried the albacore, it was dry and overcooked. Same with the shrimp appetizer. The chupe de mariscos was not special. The waiters were dressed in navy uniforms but were not particularly attentive. Our food arrived warm, but not hot. It clearly spent some time waiting in the kitchen, even though it was brought out with those metal covers that hotels use for room service to keep food warm.”

This was a mirror-image of my experience. Our stuffed-mussels appetizer was more cheese than seafood. And rubbery cheese at that. The shrimp in the Spanish pil-pil was grossly overcooked and had not be deveined. It was chewy, like rubber. Rubber would have been more appetizing since it doesn’t have a digestive tract running through it. The fried calamari would have been tolerable, although a bit too chewy as well, had it been served hot. Few thing are more non-appealing than battered fried-foods that aren’t served hot. There was probably about a tablespoon of tarter-sauce for the entire platter of fried calamari.

For the main-course, I ordered the grouper covered in, you guessed it, overcooked shrimp. To add insult to injury, the fish was served luke-warm, was slightly overcooked and was tasteless. It was sitting in oil and melted butter. Of three appetizers and two main-courses dishes, the only one that even reached mediocre status was the conger-eel fish stew.

The service from an ultra-friendly and somewhat humorous waiter was acceptable, but not much more. And, when running the credit card and asking whether the tip should be included, he urged us to tip higher than the customary ten-percent.

To make this experience all the more painful the check was one of the highest-priced I’ve witnessed in all of in Latin America. We spent more per person on this sub-standard cuisine than we did at the gourmet dining experiences at both Ambrosía Bistro and La Bodeguita de Miguel Torres on the following day.

Were it not for the impressive ambience, the rating wouldn’t have even been enough to rate a review.

So, if you want to see the array of naval memorabilia, go to the nearest location, order a cup of coffee, explore the restaurant and admire that impressive display of museum-quality relics. And be sure to not let the waiter gig you for an extra tip on that cup of coffee. But if you want some good seafood, you’d be best advised to go to one of the restaurants at the top of our list of the best seafood restaurants in Santiago. This one is not on that list!