Mexican restaurants sit all over Murfreesboro, and now the area has a few seafood establishments, but for a seafood spot with a Mexican twist, the town now has Mariscos Sayulita Nayarit.
The eatery has found a home on Rutherford Boulevard in the large restaurant space that formerly housed Mellow Mushroom—a space that has since exchanged its groovy tie-dye theme and hippified school bus for colorful sea art.
A sprawling octopus, painted on a sea blue wall, greets visitors in the small lobby area as they arrive inside Mariscos. Immediately after a party sits down at a table, a server brings not only the customary chips and salsa (like customers expect at any reputable Tennessee Tex-Mex place), but also a couple of tostadas topped with Mariscos Sayulita Nayarit’s marlin ceviche, setting it apart from the abundant, standard, area Mexican restaurants right away. This particular ceviche has a spread-like consistency—the marlin is very finely chopped—and a delicious, mild taste, not overwhelmingly fishy.
“The marlin tostada they give you as an appetizer is delicious,” Elizabeth Bounphongsy said, pleased with her recent dining experience at Mariscos Sayulita Nayarit.
This place is a house of ceviche (a seafood salad typically made with raw fish cured in a citrus juice marinade and various vegetables and seasonings, for the unceviched), and dedicates an entire menu page and a half to its various ceviches and the towers and tostadas created from them.
There’s scallop ceviche, octopus ceviche and a cold seafood molcajete. Get your ceviche served in a pineapple or a coconut. There’s oyster ceviche, aguachile (a freshly tossed shrimp, pepper and lime dish, similar to ceviche), octopus ceviche in a creamy sauce or fish in a mango sauce.
The ceviche Sayulita makes a lovely looking tostada, with much larger chunks of meat than the complimentary marlin tostadas. It does contain that marlin, as well as whole shrimp and chunks of crab and octopus.
For $6.99 it is a rather generous serving of seafood.
And, unlike the ceviche found at some establishments, the tostada Sayulita is not overly heavy in raw onion; some who enjoy the dish avoid it at times due to what it can do to one’s breath the rest of the day.
If you like ceviche, then this is the place.
“Everything is super fresh and homemade,” T.J. Henderson reported. “They have some awesome soups,” he added, noting that the bill can get quite expensive, though the quantity and quality was “top shelf.”
If all of the ceviche sounds a little . . . raw . . . allow the aromas of bacon and cheese to bring you back to land.
Go to Mariscos Sayulita Nayarit and tell them “camarones rellenos.” Trust me. Those little things are incredible. These items contain shrimp and queso wrapped in bacon, taking the concept of bacon-wrapped shrimp (a glorious thing in itself) to a whole new level.
Further exploring the large, large menu, Mariscos fries whole fish; the bones can be a little hard to navigate around while eating a whole fish, but if you need a entire snapper on your plate to get the full experience of the ocean, Mariscos serves them.
Joel Kinstle appreciates the range of dishes at the place, from the smaller tostadas and appetizers for those just wanting to dip their toes in the water and sample something new, all the way up to extravagant family-style platters for diners wanting a impressive presentation and full seafood feast for a group (some of these platters loaded with all manner of seafood and topping $150).
“Pineapple cream sauce on salmon? Never would’ve thought of it, but I think of it often now!” Kinstle posted in a comment.
Another recent diner gave the octopus ceviche and fried snapper high praise.
In addition to all of the seafood, Mariscos Sayulita Nayarit does indeed offer some of the standard Tex Mex selections more familiar to the people of Middle Tennessee—quesadillas, taco salads, fajitas and such.
Tacos de Pescado
But it projects an obvious seafood theme. Regarding the name, “mariscos” translates to “seafood”; Sayulita, Nayarit is a city and state on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The restaurant leads a culinary adventure to a beachside Mexican town.
Along with the marlin tostada and chips and salsa served to everyone, do not overlook the small cup of a light orange / peach-colored sauce.
Careful! This is habanero sauce, and is quite tasty if you want a dab, or a lot, of heat.
“The restaurant itself is beautiful. The color and decor make you feel like you’re near the ocean. The brightness opens up the space,” another local diner, Mandy Johnson, reported after a visit. “The salsa was a roasted, deeper red than any other salsa we’ve had at a restaurant, but it also managed to be bright and refreshing. It and the chips—thinner than normal but not as thin as Chuy’s—were top notch. Our margaritas were also delicious.”
She tried the Antojitos Sayulita, an appetizer with fried pieces of fish and calamari, and said she found the fish in the dish very good—“they had an excellent crunch and flavor”—but did not care for the calamari. “Chewy, strange coating, and all small rings.”
She went on to say that her dining partner’s main dish selection, “some type of fish diablo,” was great, the fish, the sauce, the rice and all, and that “the plate was beautiful.”
Most platters at the restaurant come with rice, bread and French fries, and a small salad garnish with a bit of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and orange slices. And don’t forget about the chips, salsa and marlin tostada; the point is, even with a single platter, you get a lot of food.
Mariscos Sayulita Nayarit also hosts live entertainment—a mariachi band on Fridays, karaoke on Saturdays, and more music on Sundays—and on some weekends, patrons can pack the place for the shows.
Matthew Harris stated that he thought the food and the music were great after dining on the Pina Rellena as the mariachi group performed.
“Fantastic portion size . . . I had plenty to take home,” he said. “The band that was there was awesome.”
While many report that dining here can get fairly expensive, Mike LaMure proclaimed in a 2022 comment that it serves the “best seafood in Murfreesboro,” and numerous folks have echoed his thought.
Other seafood connoisseurs say they found some of the seafood overcooked.
But if seafood, mariachi and drinks sound like a good time, then this colorful, fun and comfortable spot is your place. And as large and creative as the menu is, it surely contains something even the most adventurous diners have never eaten.
“Great seafood! Great service! Beautiful building! Amazing mariachi!” Angela Bauer said.
If you are grossed out by seafood . . . just go somewhere else. There are crab claws, fish eyes, octopus tentacles, lobster tails and oyster shells at every turn. But if you are a more adventurous eater, at least as it relates to Mexican seafood, dig in and taste the ocean!
Mariscos Sayulita Nayarit
2955 S. Rutherford Blvd.
Mon.–Thurs.: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Fri.–Sat.: 11 a.m.–12 a.m.; Sun.: 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m.
615-617-3451
Tacos de pescado (fish tacos): $11.99; Tostada Sayulita, Nayarit, aguachiles or octopus: $6.99; Caldo de camaron (shrimp soup): $16.99; Langosta rellena en crema de hongos (stuffed lobster tail with cream and mushrooms): $45.99; Shrimp cocktail: $15.99; Shrimp alfredo: $16.99; House margarita: $5.99; Filete a la diabla (fish filet in spicy sauce): $14.99
