Catalina Offshore Products

This place is a class act Mom and Pop style Fish Market or just Pop. But you get the idea. They sell wholesale too, and that’s great for turning product over. That ensures your going to get fresh product. I’ve been here several times for different cuts of fish and they are great! This visit was for local lobster and Opah belly, bought some clams and Mussels too. Beautiful product and great service! Sampled some perfectly cooked Salmon that knocked my socks off! Great prices, great product, and great service! Oh wow, I said that already,…I think you get the fact that I’m excited. Anyway, they packed my purchase in a box and iced it down. It’s fresh and they help you keep it fresh, and that’s what you want in Seafood. Period! Thanks to Tommy the best fish monger around, keep it up!

If I could give Catalina Offshore 0 stars I would. Be prepared to price gouged. The price on the website is not the price you will pay. My husband called 5 times and clearly communicated the day he wanted to pick up lobsters. We were told that 1.25 lb lobsters were $ 24 each and pre-​orders weren’t accepted. When we arrived we were told the lobsters are $ 30 each. When at the cash register the price increased once again to $ 30/​lb!!! A 50% price increase over the initial price! Unfortunately, we promised everyone lobster for the holiday. Never go here! Pricing is not transparent and customer service is horrible.

Have been buying 90% of my New Year’s sashimi from this place for over 5 years.
Quality is great and you get your order by FedEx the next day for a $ 10 shipping fee for California. Depending on what day New Year’s is. I get the delivery the day before. Friday
for Weekend.
They have a lot of choices, but you have to be dillgent as some fish run out fast, like AHI.
But they usually get those in time. They are very helpfull, so just call them.

Wow! Love this place. Good prices, fresh fish and the everyone working there seems to care. My wife and I are fishermen and we and have experience judging fish quality and these guys are the best you can buy. Super blessing in the winter when we are not catching our own fish.

Being in the mid west fish in general become something too luxury for us to eat. Luckily I somehow found this website by accidentally stumbling though Amazon.
Delivery were exceptional — for only $ 20 bucks (mind you I shipped some little box overnight for $ 60) I get as fresh as I can expect fish right by the door the next day. What can I complaint?!! Think about hitting a local sushi place (not to mention there aren’t that many good ones) and easily pour $ 100 for just so so sashimi, I just can’t be happier that this business actually exist!
Just ordered a bunch again for some big event coming up! I’d be curious how the oyster come out to be (though being wholesale two dozens of fresh oyster are still more expensive than buying one piece at the local San Fran farmers’ market). I have faith in them! Also would be interested in trying the club membership at some point!

I’ve been going here for several years and still continue to go pick up my fresh fish here. Quality fish, friendly staff, and great variety of running fish.

The short of it:
— wholesale seafood
— located in industrial part of town
— open on Sundays now
— great for buying fish and making sushi at home
— Favs: fresh tray of uni
The long of it:
This place has been on my bookmark list forever! Ever since I saw that one episode of Bizarre Foods I’ve wanted to check this place out especially for the uni they sell. This place is not a restaurant, it is wholesale market for seafood and it has a walk-​in fish market for retail customers too. They are known for their freshly caught uni here which some have said is the best uni. Apparently they also export their uni to Japan which says a lot. I came here on a Sunday on my way home from a weekend trip to San Diego. There weren’t too many customers in the fish market area, probably just a handful of us. Luckily, we made it in time and they still had some fresh uni trays available, they only had 3 trays left at 11:30am that day and they close at noon on Sundays. We bought a tray for $ 20 and they gave us a pack of ice to keep it cold on the drive home. The uni was really delicious and it was a great price too! I’d definitely be interested in buying some fish next time I visit the area. They have a website where you can order online and have it shipped to you. Great option if you are no where near San Diego and want to try their great fresh seafood.

I’m very impressed with this company. I threw a sashimi party for 8 people last weekend. Ordered about $ 400 worth of food — albacore, salmon, yellowtail, amberjack, uni, sweet shrimp, soft shell crab, big fish eggs. I placed my order online on Wednesday to make sure I get my 5 trays of uni. I called and spoke with an associate there who assured me they had the uni in stock. I asked for Saturday delivery.
Received my package Saturday morning Fedex delivery at 10 am. Everything was packaged with packs of ice, dried ice, insulated bubble wrap, all in a large styrofoam eski. Everything would have stayed fresh and cold even if I wasn’t home to receive the package right away.
I had my party the following day Sunday. The quality and taste of everything was perfection. I feel like we got a great deal for all the fish we got. Will definately order from them again for our next sashimi party.

I love this place. The boyfriend and I wanted sushi, but didn’t want to pay the high prices for it so we decided on trying to get sashimi grade fish and not break the bank.
They have three sashimi grade fishes: New Zealand Salmon, Tuna, and Yellowtail. My favorite between the salmon and the yellowtail would have to be the salmon, but I’ve always had a soft spot for salmon. The fish was very fatty and were of very good quality. The minimum you can get is a half pound, which for $ 10, is pretty darn good.
The guys working there are also extremely knowledgable about the fish and how to cook them if you buy a non-​sashimi grade fish. I have overheard them giving tips to other customers. I will be back for sure to pick their brains on how to cook their seabass.

I could absolutely live on salmon sushi, but my sushi habit is expensive. I wondered if, perhaps, I could find sushi grade salmon locally… we are, after all, in San Diego. Fresh fish should be available somewhere… So I did some research and found this place. Oh, man, am I glad I did. I can’t wait to go back!
I visited for the first time a couple days ago. The location was easy to find and parking had a bit of an odd layout, but was plentiful. I was intimidated by the idea of walking into this new place, not knowing what it would be like, but it was surprisingly user friendly. I took a number and was helped by a very nice guy who really made me feel at ease and had a great way of making me feel important and not rushed, but also moving me quickly through the transaction. He packed my purchases with an ice pack, which was great, and then I took the sheet he handed to me to the counter to pay.
The quality was impressive. I purchased calamari steaks, scallops, salmon, and ahi tuna, and they were all wonderful. I will ABSOLUTELY be going back!

Pretty much the only place in San Diego I will trust to buy quality fish products from. Get on their mailing list. You can find out when they have new items in stock. We were fortunate to get the rock cod and hamachi collars which turned out amazing with just simple spices on the grill. Inside the store is really fun too. We added to our order with a good 2 person helping of the in-​house poke salad and the uni boxes — BEST deal ever. Everyone was friendly and very helpful. Lots of fresh and frozen items (e.g. imports from Japan) to chose from. My recommendation is for their fresh seafood items only. We’ll be back to satisfy our fish needs and those scallops really looked tasty.
Cool little stores and vendors alongside the back. Picked up some tasty cheese while we were there. It was a treat and a great find!
Definitely recommend and will absolutely return.

THIS PLACE IS SO COOL.
Boyfriend said that he liked it because he felt important being able to tell the worker which kind of fish he wanted. Good service and lots of respect, always a plus.
We came here at 1pm on a Saturday and they still had a good selection of fish – whole, cut, fresh, a few frozen options, AND things like fancy salt (from the Salt Farm), cedar planks, sushi kits, knives – that kind of thing. It is a really super cool place!
We took a number and a few minutes later, we got our 1 pound of sushi grade salmon (we made poke salad with it – so good). We were also given a treat of tuna cooked with salsa from NONE OTHER THAN Tommy himself. It was so good.
The service here really is notable. Everyone is in a good mood, super knowledgeable, wear super cute boots (I know that is what they were going for, being cute, obvi), and take care of business getting stuff done with a long line of customers.
When we were paying, the woman at the register was telling us that our selection of salmon is SUPER good with Salt Farm wasabi salt, then she gave us a sample! So nice! I felt so cared for. The people here clearly enjoy their job and care about what they are doing. It is a nice environment!
You can also phone in your order if you like, and their offerings are available on their website I believe.
I would absolutely come back here for any seafood needs I have. It is so nice to go to a place that will give you a superior product with personalized attention (rather than fighting a mom at the grocery store for a kind of mediocre cut of fish). The quality is amazing, the selection is fantastic, the prices are great, and the staff here are incredible. All in all, an ideal experience.

Absolutely without a doubt the best place to buy fish in San Diego. I have been a loyal customer of this excellently managed establishment since moving to California 3 years ago. Gone are the days of disposable booties and hair caps. they now have a small fish shop right in their wholesale warehouse. With weekly specials emailed to you every Thursday, you are guaranteed delicious outrageously fresh fish for the weekend at a great price. Just order and pick up when ready. Easy! Customer service is stellar. My order was accidentally misplaced once. To make up for this error (mistakes happen) Tommy went out of his way to hook my husband up with more fish than we ordered for FREE. That’s right. No charge for 45 $ worth of great tuna and grouper. Because, as Tommy put it, «that’s how we do it here at Catalina».

Great seafood, supporters of the community, promoters of causes, and great seafood.
Catalina Offshore is awesome and Tommy Gomes is the best.

Seafood as fresh as you can get it without sailing out to sea and reeling in your catch.
I’m glad I discovered this place, this is fresh seafood at wholesale prices offered for sale to the public. Sashimi-​grade fish and shellfish are sold here. They also specialize in seafood from the Southern and Baja California region. This means local fresh catch like lobster, uni (urchin) and Yellowtail or Tuna.
The seafood is displayed in the glass case, or sometimes they might bring you directly to the tank if it’s live seafood. I normally come by this place to get California Lobster when it’s in season (selected live from the tank), or live «California Gold» Grade AA urchin, spines still intact and moving!
Getting urchin in the sashimi box is for wimps, you gotta learn how to crack them open and scoop out the gonads. This however, is not for the faint of heart.
If you like your seafood live and kicking, here’s your place.

Solía comprar allí hasta hoy, que me han vendido pescado en malas condiciones. Esta claro que no volveré.

Looks like they have made some changes!
Their customer service has gotten better! To be honest, this is a really good place to go for seafood with very reasonable price.
Every time when I host a party and when friends visiting in town, this is my most go place!

Catalina Offshore Products is the real deal. Most of the seafood is sourced from Southern California and Baja California. I found out about this place from a youtube video. It is a whole sale fish market that ships all over the world and is also open to the public.
In addition to the public market they have a Seafood Education and Nutrition Center. Open to the public and led by fishmonger Tommy Gomes (the guy that inspired me to visit). The market features food demos and guest chefs.
The freshness and quality of their product can not be beaten. Live prawns and lobsters when in season are worth it. In addition to their famous uni you can find a wide range of sashimi grade fish and quality fresh and frozen seafood.
My first order was yellow tail, salmon, and uni. Everything is incredibly fresh! I’m really excited to try delicacies like swordfish marrow and live prawns next visit.
The website is up to date and user-​friendly. Sign up for the e-​mails to find out about specials. This is the best place to come for your seafood needs, both commercial or private.

Ultra fresh local Pacific seafood? Oh yah!
This is THE purveyor of seafood for SD’s better restaurants.
Broad selection of fresh whole fish, rock and Maine lobsters, shrimp, clams, and other shell fish. Frozen selection as well as uni, salmon roe, canned crab meat etc.
The owner cooks on premises — whatever he wants– and serves it to the patrons. Complimentary & fun.
Industrial area so off the beaten path.

Stone crab gone bad!
Argh– I really wanted to love this place. This was one of those places that I was looking forward to the most on my trip. So excited, I came here on day 2! Fresh seafood, free tacos. What’s not to love?
First off, this place is a mini warehouse. You enter into a mini fish market looking place there’s nothing mini about it. So many fish, shellfish being prep in the back as you pick out your choice of tasty fish in the front. As soon as we walked in, Tommy Gomes came up handed me this tasty looking tacos. I thanked him and ask him what was in it. He said «pleasure, magic, jesus and all that sin a young lady like you need right now» :) Giggles for sure! And boy, he can cook. That taco was delish!
After I ate my taco and drool on all the fresh prodcuts, I decided on what I was going to get. Uni!!! Uni is like that sinful treat I can’t stay away from. I love it, I want it and I must have it every single time. And this place has it for $ 13.50 for a whole tray of 5!!! ZOMG? Say what!!! Foodie gone wilddd. Eeek.
And then there were stone crabs! I love me some claws with little black tips on them. They are so tasty! Not that much work for a whole lot of meat. And guess what?!! They have it for half the price of the restaurants! Surprise surprise. I believe they were $ 13 per pound. So I bought 2 ½ pounds. They also have
Stone Crab — ($ 13 per pound)
Toro,
Scallops,
Oysters ($ 10.95 per pound),
Ahi, Opah,
Crab meat– $ 18.25 per pound
Jumbo Shrimp — $ 19.50
Geo Duck– $!8.50
Chocolate clams– $ 2.50 each
Ground fish (catch of the day) — ($ 8.95 a pound)
Spot prawns! The prices were beyond reasonable! Just amazing!
I ended up buying stone crab and Uni tray only because they were the easiest thing to eat without cooking. If I was staying at condo instead of a hotel, I would’ve bought more stuffs. They all look so fantastic and fresh!
Now here comes the 3 stars reduction. I had 2 Uni right after! It was a ok. It almost felt like not as fresh? And I’ve had many uni before. They did give us an icepack too but it just wasn’t as tasty.
And the crab! That was my biggest let down. I had 2! First was ok. The second one was just bad. It wasn’t fresh at all. It was almost to a point of spoilt. You can smell the amonia!!! It was horrible. We decided to dump the whole bag afterwards. Both Uni and a whole bag of stone crab (2 ½ pounds of it all). To top it all off, I got sick after a few hours. This was day two of my six days long trip.
Takeaway from this experience– even the most popular fish market can sell you spoilt seafood. Eat at your own risk! I’m sure all the other items they have were fresh. I’m sure they were all tasty. And maybe I just happened to chose the two bad/​spoilt things they had. Many maybes but it was definitely not worth trying at the expense of my stomach. Disappointed to say the least.

Who hasn’t heard of Catalina Offshore Products. Or more so about their fishmonger Tommy Gomes. I’ve heard so much about him. I’m not all that into his superstardom from being on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. That doesn’t phase me all that much. What does phase me is all the readings on him from other bloggers, chefs, etc.
I read mixed reviews about the people that worked here. A few customers said that no one directed them where to go. But on my visit, a nice gentleman told me to walk thru the double doors and I’ll see the seafood. Great — thank you kind sir.
I was expecting to see a Costco size seafood warehouse for some reason. I don’t know why. It didn’t seem to be a very big place.
A few key items that caught my eye:
— Hamachi Kama $ 5.25/ea
— scallop $ 23.95/lb and uni
— Chocolate clams $ 2.50/each
— Opah (a WHOLE opah!)
— Chilean Sea Bass!
— Live abalone
So that’s the seafood portion of this review. Stop reading if that’s all that concerns you about Catalina. I’m here to talk about grump Tommy Gomes.
I was just minding my own business when someone gruffly asked ‘can I help you’.
I turned around and about gasped when I saw Tommy Gomes standing in front of me. I felt like I was standing in the famous soup kitchen restaurant from Seinfeld. I gulped in fear and eeked ‘no, no… I’m just, um, looking’.
I had read enough about Tommy Gomes to formulate what, I thought, was a pretty good judgement on the guy. Besides, what you read on the internet must be ALL TRUE right (note sarcasm here).
I figured he would be surly (sorry inside joke on that word), cantankerous, and gruff (or grump/​grouch/​whatever ‘g’ word you want). And I assumed, because he’s well known here in San Diego, that he would, in his OWN mind, think he’s famous and therefore won’t EVEN be at the warehouse.
So I was just taken aback when he was standing right in front of me. I don’t know what happened next. Perhaps he noticed my frightened Meerkat glazed eyes.
But all of a sudden, we were chatting. I don’t even remember what we were talking about because all I kept thinking was ‘wow, he’s not an ahole’.
He gave me a tour of his inventory in the warehouse. You can tell his seafood (& reputation) is important to him.
You will *rarely* hear me admit that I’m ever wrong. Because, well, I’m not. But I was wrong about Catalina and I was especially wrong about Tommy Gomes. There. I said it.
Hey. Doesn’t feel so bad admitting I’m wrong. I should try it more often.
Who we kidding.