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There was a time when I ate lunch at Wahoo’s every week, sometimes multiple times in a single week. Not suprisingly, I burned out and also noticed a shift in their quality as they expanded into more locations. I have been slowly reintegrating Wahoo’s into my lunch rotation though, and went there for some tacos today.

The Manhattan Beach location is nice, because of its proximity to to ocean and now that the parking structure has been completed up the street, covered parking is easily found. For those who haven’t been to Wahoo’s, you order your food at the cashier, then find a table and a server brings out your food as soon as it is ready. Not suprisingly, in the summer, the Manhattan Beach location can get very crowded around lunch time and I have been there when they refused to take any non-to go orders because all of the tables were packed. There are about a half dozen tables outside and these ones fill up first, simetimes I try to leave my book on a table if it is empty on my way in.

As I said before, the quality of Wahoo’s food has wavered a bit over the years. I can asy that for the last few months, the tacos have been up to par in my mind. My usual is the two-taco combo which comes with rice and beans on the side. You can mix and match your tacos, I often stick with two grilled fish tacos and sometimes I have one fish and one steak. There is a blackened fish option, but the spices are a bit overwhelming, although I am not a blackened fish fan in general.

The two sides of rice and beans are unique to Wahoo’s. The Ahi Rice is a house specialty and has nothing to do with Ahi tuna. It’s a white rice with a light, buttery tast and a few spices mixed in. In addition to black beans, you can also get (and I always get) cajun white beans which are spicy, but not too hot. The flavor is fantastic and when it is mixed with the rice, provides a hearty side to the light fish tacos.

Wahoo’s is pretty cheap too. The two taco combo goes for around $6 and with a drink the total comes to $7.50. There is one problem I have with Wahoo’s and that is the flavor of their iced tea. I always opt for the original brew, the other option is rasberry which tastes medicine-y. I’m not sure if the quality of the iced tea they use is poor, or if the tea is brewed too strong, or if they don’t clean the brewing equipment thoroughly, but the iced tea tastes just a bit off.

For lunch, Wahoo’s is a great get away, and there is something for everyone, including a kids menu. You can find other locations on the Wahoo’s website (which has an awful flash interface.

1129 Manhattan Avenue
Manhattan Beach, Ca
310.796.1044

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.