The Background

Bear Flag Fish has been an Orange County staple since it opened its first establishment in 2007. Now with three locations, two in Newport Beach and one in Huntington Beach, Bear Flag Fish continues to prosper.

A part of the long term success, outside of the delicious food, is the freshness of the fish provided. The history of Bear Flag and how it came to be is pretty interesting.

I wasn’t aware, but evidently they have three boats they use to catch and serve some of the fish you find in their restaurants. Nor was I aware that they have their own local processing plant. Pretty neat!

The Experience

I went to the Huntington Beach restaurant which is located at the Pacific City outdoor mall right on Pacific Coast Highway. It’s a great location with it being located right across the street from the beach. You can grab a table outside and have a great view.

This location, amidst a busy outdoor mall crowd, is always going to be busy. The line when I went wasn’t too bad though since I went at a non-peak time (4ish).

The menu has a wide range of seafood options. From sauteed clams and mussels, fish tacos and burritos, cioppino, seafood plates, and sushi. There’s a little bit of everything for a sea food fan.

I’ve had the fish tacos here before but decided to go with the fish burrito on this day. Suitably called the Bear Flag Burrito ($13.25), it consists of panko-crusted white fish, white or brown rice (I went with white), black beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, tommy sauce, and avocado.

The burrito is decently sized. Something that I appreciated was that everything was mixed well together. With some burritos it’s more layered with all the meat at one end and beans on the other so bites are lacking a mixture of everything. Not the case here!

Seemingly with every bite I got some fish, veggies, rice, and black beans. Seems simple enough but doesn’t always happen with burritos.

What immedietely stands out is the freshness of of the ingredients. Everything in the burrito from the fish to the veggies tastes incredibly fresh.

There’s a good amount of fish in the burriro as well. They don’t skimp here.

Flavor wise it’s good but seems a little lacking in flavor. The fish isn’t overly seasoned so there’s not a ton of taste there. The tommy sauce which is some sort of mayo mixture and hot sauce it seems helps but I needed some extra pizazz. Luckily, there’s plenty of hot sauce options to choose from, which I love, and always go great with fish tacos / burritos.

Texture wise there wasn’t too much here. Surprisingly, no real crunch separated itself from the rest of the burrito. I was hoping the panko covering the fish would be a little crunchy but it wasn’t. Texture doesn’t make or break the burrito but it would certailny help it stand out more.

The Verdict

Bear Flag Fish offers fresh seafood at reasonable prices with a deep pool of diverse items on the menu. The quality and freshness of the ingredients are the clear standouts. Although I found the seasoning and overall flavor of the burrito a little bland, the addition of hot sauce quickly remedied this.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable burrito in a great atmosphere with even better view.