Klein Seafood

I really think Klein is getting undeserved scores. I haven’t seen a fish monger this far into the Midwest that compares. They sell real, never frozen, beautifully fresh whole fish. They also sell fillets, which I can’t vouch for, because why would you buy fillets when you have the opportunity to buy something that is visibly fresh, with a nice clear eye and no fishy smell? If you don’t want to deal with filleting on your own, they are professionals and will scale and fillet anything in the case.
I also think that the seasonality of the whole fish demonstrates their commitment to freshness – you can only get certain items at specific times of year because that’s when they’re available. I think a lot of the comments I see here are strange – for a fish market, it’s not smelly. It’s smells like fish and ocean, but never rotten. Honestly, I have a feeling that the reviews are coming from people who are used to buying their fish at the supermarket, where there’s no smell because the previously frozen fillets are still thawing in the case. This is a real fish market for people who know what to do with something beyond salmon, tuna or cod, or trout.
By the way, they do sell those fish, and make a mean smoked trout. It has bones because fish have bones.

Definitely know you are in a fish market. The smell hits you coming through the door. That’s what an enclosed fish market smells like.
If you take some time you can find some really fresh fish. They will filet them and send them next door to be fried or broiled for you. Add some hush puppies and you got lunch baby.

My family celebrates a traditional Italian Christmas Eve — meatless and everyone MUST eat 13 dishes. I had struggled for years after moving to Akron to find a fish market until, about 3 years ago, a co-​worker told me about Klein’s.
First off, it’s not in the best part of Akron. I’m saying this living in quiet West Akron, but this place is not ideal.
Second, I second the review that defined this place as «ripe». When I was walking in there today, a young boy was leaving with an actual clothespin on his nose. Funny, but 30 seconds later he would have been offered $ 5 for that little life-​saver!
The selection inside, however, is pretty good. Lots of fresh fish, shellfish, etc. My load for the day was sea scallops, shrimp, squid, crab and smelts. All priced where I expected it and service was prompt and attentive.
For a Northeast Ohio fish market, this is good — although this would be considered the coastal equivalent of Rally’s.

Arr! It gave me scurvy!
Ok, no scurvy over here, but, I did have some issues.
The place is connected to a little take-​out place that sells fried versions of the seafood they sell fresh and it seems like they have a nice little thing going on.
I walked into the «raw seafood» side because I wanted some fresh seafood. It was ripe in there. I mean, I expected to smell fish, but this… my senses didn’t know whether to freak out or shut off.
We got red snapper and crawfish. The red snapper was filleted for us, which ended up being two shredded flaps of fishmeat, scales, and bones. That was a throw-​away even after cleaned and cooked. It just tasted past its prime.
However, the crawfish were awesome. I was able to take the pre-​seasoned, precooked crawfish (from China, sadly), and dump them into a crawfish boil with corn and sausage and potatoes and Old Bay for maybe 5 minutes (since they were already cooked) and they came out perfect. Not a single mushy or flat tail.
For the crawfish, I will return, but nothing else.