Paisano Bros

Only place to buy fresh crab! Right off the boat! Friendly… It’s fun to pull in and watch the boats pull up and unload delisious fresh crab

My friend and I were on a quest for live crab. We drove by a couple of areas that we had luck in the past, down near the trailer park along the water from Vira & Robert, and down Westshore Road. The developers mowed the crab shack down Vira & Robert worked out of near the trailer park. There were no signs anywhere that indicated anybody had live crab. I said «excuse me» to a couple of younger fisherman to ask if anyone had a lead on live crab that completely ignored us. By chance a NICE middle aged fisherman told us to «check out Paisano Brothers or The Tides and price and availability depended on their mood.» We were about to find out what he meant by that. We pulled into the parking lot of Paisano’s, and a very nice man on a small forklift told us we would find live crab at the end of the dock. We thought we wanted 8, but after they were weighed in at over $ 110 ($ 13.75 per crab), and were then told they were $ 6 a pound right off the boat, the eldest of the Paisanos’ mood went from curmudgeon to really crabby while removing the largest two from the bag. Then he not only weighed our crab with the bag, but in the bucket as well for $ 83 ($ 13.83 per crab). We bought 6 live crab. Next time, we will just hit the market on College Avenue in Santa Rosa for live crab which is less money than at the boat dock. For the time and the price of gas it took to drive out there, and exorbitant price of crab in Bodega Bay, it is not worth paying $ 2 more per pound than the stores with live and cooked crab.

This is a stand to buy live crabs not a place to eat. It looks more like a little shed with a huge tub full of live crabs outside. There was only one guy there when I went, he bagged the crabs up for us and we were on our way. They are located right next to Spud Point Crab Company. The crabs were very fresh and feisty. Its cash only.

Well worth the drive from North Bay to Bodega Bay. I was directed to Paisano Bros by a café in Bodega Bay. The men working there are super friendly. One of them pulled two feisty live crabs out of the big tub on the dock. Clearly these guys (the crabs) had just been caught that morning. It cracked me up that the crabs were just thrown into a large black trash bags for me. They were clawing like mad trying to get out of the bag. Of course, they calmed down as soon as I put them in the ice cooler in my car. (Bring a cooler and ice.) We cooked them that evening at home and had perhaps the best crab of our lives.

Fresh, perfect dungeness crab straight off the boat. Super nice, helpful people helped me pick a couple 2-​pounders. Not super cheap ($ 5/​lb) but couldn’t have asked for better place to shop for dinner.

stopped by to pick up a few crabs this weekend. A kid in training sold them to us (presumably his parents were the fisher-​people), we cooked them up, and all was well in the world. Absolutely fresh and delicious, worth the trek down the hill from Hwy 1. Thank you, Poseidon, for the fruits of your bounty, and thanks to Paisano Brothers for selling us fresh crab, straight off the pier.

Update: So sad, but the last few times we dropped in on Paisano Bros., they were closed. It was a poor crabbing season and a nonexistent salmon season, and the boats weren’t bringing much in. Sigh. I don’t know the story, but hope they are back when the crabbing season starts in the late fall.
Paisano Bros. has agreements with most of the crab boats in Bodega Bay, and as a result, are the most dependable source of great-​looking, caught-​the-​same-​day crabs. They also own the market on fresh salmon in the summer.
Mark and I took a pleasant drive to the wharf where the friendly proprietor fished out five large live crabs for us to take home. We brought them home and boiled them — Mark made the sweetest crab pasta ever. Fresh Dungeness crab is soooo the best of the state– it is one of the reasons we are proud to call ourselves Californians.
You will get warm and courteous service, a fair price, and the freshest of the fresh at Paisano. It is worth the drive to take in the scenery, chill with the infamous birds of Bodega, and score a few crabs.

Freshest of the fresh.
Go here!
You have to cook it yourself though. Whatever is fresh is here.
The man running this is a real, fisherman gentlemen. He’s in his «office» watching football with his cohorts after returning from a catch.
It’s so exciting to peer in at the crabs in the large containers & even on the days when I’m out in this direction and not happening to buy (for shame!) they are so nice to let me stare and photograph.
I wish I could give this place extra stars, it’s truly the best! YUM!!!