Restaurant serving colorful, flavorful foods takes over familiar downtown Fresno spot

At a downtown Fresno spot where two restaurants have folded in the past four years, a restaurant is hoping its flavorful foods and late hours will be the key to attract new people and establish a loyal customer base.

Mariscos El Barba Negra, which specializes in Mexican seafood, opened last month at 831 Van Ness Ave. (between Inyo and Kern streets) next to the Spiral Garage. The restaurant is in the building previously occupied by Joe’s Steakhouse for 15 years, then a Country Kitchen restaurant, which lasted less than a year.

The sign for Mariscos El Barba Negra, which means Black Beard seafood in Spanish, hangs just above the windows along the sidewalk and prominently stands out from the street view during both day and night.

The restaurant’s food, meanwhile, shines in a whole other way.

With recipes originating from the coastal Mexican state of Nayarit, Mariscos El Barba Negra serves seafood dishes often cooked to a bright, orange-reddish color, with entrees such as camarones cucaracha (unpeeled shrimp cooked with encabronada sauce), and molcajete el baraba negra (crab legs, mussels, oysters, shrimp, abalone and clams cooked in mas chingona sauce).

Some of their alcoholic drinks come in that bright, orange-reddish color, too.

Like the micheladas and the cervezas preparada. A bottle of Corana came come drizzled with red chamoy with a shrimp on top.

“Their food is delicious,” said Paul Mullen, who has worked downtown since the 1980s and tries to support downtown businesses by regularly going out to eat for lunch in the area. “I tried the fish and it was really, really good; came back and had the shrimp and it was so fresh and so good.

“You know, you can get carne asada and rice and beans just about anywhere. They offer more of a seafood angle, and it hits the spot.”

On any given weekday during lunch time, attorneys, law enforcement, government officials and or those who use the governmental services will dine in at Mariscos El Barba Negra, which is one-third of a mile (six-minute walk) from the Fresno County Courthouse.

Other customers will show up later for dinner or on a weekend before catching a Fresno Grizzlies baseball game at Chukchansi Park, which is one-fifth of a mile (4-minute walk) from the restaurant.

Mariscos El Barba Negra’s proximity, as well as its operating hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, provides that convenience and consistent availability.

“Their hours are great because there aren’t a lot of places where you can dine in that stay open late downtown,” Mullen said.

Yani Morales, a manager at Mariscos El Barba Negra, said they’re hopeful that business is good enough that the restaurant can stay open even later some day down the road.

“We are a restaurant and a bar,” Morales said. “Maybe one day, we can stay open late at night.”

This is the second Mariscos El Barba Negra to open in the central San Joaquin Valley, with the first opening in Hanford. Owner Juan Carlos Diaz, who was not available for comment, also has two restaurants in the South Valley that operate under a different name, Mariscos El Malecon in Porterville and Lindsay.

For those who aren’t big on seafood, Mariscos El Barba Negra does offer a few traditional Mexican food staples like carne asada tacos or burrito, as well as a meat or cheese quesadilla for the kids.

“We would be very happy if you came out to try our food - it’s really good,” Morales said. “We have a lot of options on our menu. I believe that seafood is our expertise, and you’ll want to try it.

“It looks good and tastes great.”

This story was originally published August 9, 2025 at 5:30 AM.