Catalina Offshore Products, Inc. Reviews

The canned smoked Tuna is excellent. Much healthier than store bought. No additives or preservatives and in olive oil.

As soon as you walk in past the office space, in the left hand corner, there is a chef who demonstrates how to cook/prepare fish of the day.

I got some bay scallops, 2 packs of uni (different grades) 1 tuna and white seabass.

Everyone was so nice, but it's hard to get the guys who takes the order for your fish because they are so busy.

If I gave them stars before I ate all the fish, I would have given them 4 but I guess my hopes were so high and when I ate them, it did not meet my expectations.
They were good but not as great as I expected.

But still freshest seafood all over town so I will be back.

P.S. If you use credit card, the minimum purchase is over $25 but if a girl with Ipad helps you then there is no minimum purchase amount.

How did I found this out? We were going to leave just the pre-ordered uni and tuna which made it over $25 easily. But we went to car and we were like, no I think we need to try other things... came and got another pack of uni, white seabass and bay scallops which was less than $25 so we were worried but the Ipad girl let us know there was no minimum amount if she helps us. So that what we did.

Worth every penny, fantastic! Some of the freshest, most delicious, high grade fish I've ever had. Generous portions, excellent customer service. I just used them for the first time and couldn't be more pleased. This company is a rare gem in a modern world. They have my business for life.

Great fish, wonderful service and extremely helpful cooking advice.

My wife and I love nigiri sushi. We would go out and eat sushi all the time but always wanted to make our own. However if you've done your research you would know that to kill any parasites in a fish you need to reach certain temperature(per FDA) requirements. Conventional freezers don't reach that temperature. So we never had the chance to make our own sushi.

Eventually with the lockdown of all restaurants we found CatalinaOp. And to our surprise they offered shipping to Arizona.

We've already done two orders and so far so good. We tried 4 different types of salmon, one type of tuna and some seaweeds. The quality was superb! Absolutely loved it.

The shipping takes less than 24 hours so by the time it reaches our address the fish is still frozen.

With all of that said I would like to express a few concerns. With both orders the boxes had stickers on the outside indicating that there was ice inside. However both times there was no ice anywhere to be found.

Nonetheless I am still giving Catalina 5 stars because the fish is still well frozen when it arrives.

Their website can do a bit of work. For instance one of the tunas says it comes as 1.1 each. Not clear if that is 1.1oz or lbs. I had to email them to find out. Things can be a little better organized to make the website look more user friendly

Here's a few tips if you are thinking about ordering online:
1. If your order reaches $300 you get free shipping. Otherwise shipping is $50(remember it's overnight).
2. Before you purchase look online for coupon codes. Right now there's one for 10% off.
3. Enroll in their email program. They have weekly deals. This week they had a good deal on frozen sushi grade salmon.

This place is a gem in San Diego. The freshest fish at decent prices$$. I come for the Sculpin rock fish and Im never dissapointed. I can never go back to the grocery store to buy fish again. You cant beat fresh! The Halibut ceviche on the weekend is delicious. This is hands down the best fish market in San Diego!! Fyi if there is sculpin in ... you better get there before I do..lol... im snatching it all... lol
P.s thanks Rex

Bought some fresh sea bass, fish was outstanding as well as the customer service.

Where I live, the seafood these guys sell cannot be had locally. Excellent option when you don't mind paying for overnight delivery.

They have never failed me
The Best fish on the West coast
Thank you Tommy Gomes

Catalina Offshore Products is one of the largest seafood purveyors in California and has been in business for 30 plus years. It is a whole sale fish market that ships all over the world. The great thing is it is also open to the public so it provides an opportunity for the home cook to take advantage of the same product used by most of the best Chefs and Restaurants in San Diego.

In addition to the public market which opened in 2012 they added an education and nutrition center that hosts ongoing educational opportunities and events featuring guest Chefs or in this case the man who runs it and 20 year fish monger Tommy Gomez. Todays menu was fresh Thresher Shark tacos. The Shark was cooked with spices, salsa, cheese, and lettuce in a single pan and served on warm tortillas. These were insanely good. You could just picture yourself sitting on a beach in Baja eating these after a day of fishing.

I have been here three times, each with a chef shopping for their restaurant. The freshness and quality of the product can not be beaten.

Excellent variety of fresh fish also can Tunas delicious too

Not a fan of this place. Their prices are exorbitantly high. I felt disrespected when I saw the prices and it turned me off to the whole place. There are probably some key seafood items that you can only find there, but be prepared to get gouged.

Love this place! They have high quality items and good deals. Make sure to sign up for their newsletter!!!

Also they offer FRESH sushi made on site from 10a-2p, not sure if it's offered on weekdays.

Having a dinner for my employees and wanted some blue fin and hamachi for sashimi. David was amazing. There was no hamachi at the counter so he went to the back and grabbed a fresh fish. He then cut the blood lines and skin off all the fish saving me the hassle. Really appreciated his helpfulness and won't go anywhere else for fresh seafood.

A bit pricey, but very fresh seafood! I keep on coming back for the very fresh seafood!

We were excited to check out Catalina after seeing a news segment on it from our local SD channel.
Happened to be in the area yesterday (Thursday, around 3:00 pm) , so we dropped in. It was kind of weird walking in the front door, to what was more or less an office area! No one was present, so we walked through the space to a set of closed double doors, with a sign that indicated that this was the way to the actual fish market. In we went...only to be snapped at by some sort of a receptionist...middle aged lady with black hair...who announced, as if we were a total nuisance, that they were closed. THAT she said, was why the doors were closed. She was seriously RUDE about it! The tenor of her voice was basically "GET OUT"! Wow. We scampered out with our tails between our legs, never to return. No problem though...We love Point Loma Seafood! And that's exactly where we went!

Awesome service and selection. It doesn't get any better.

While I was very impressed with the delivery and the packaging of the salmon and toro tuna I ordered for sushi, the fish left both my wife and I feeling sick a few hours after we consumed it and still feeling poorly 24 hours later.

Be warned--no way to track your online order and no phone support for tracking the shipment.
We ordered $300+ for a party on Sunday. Our order was placed on Thursday and acknowledged. We paid for FedEx express delivery on Saturday (Extra $5) as our order had free shipping.
By 4 PM Saturday (we are in Midwest) we became concerned as we had not received a tracking number, nor had we received the order. A call to the number on the website went to a recording saying online order assistance was closed. We tried the general phone number and the person who answered could not give us any information and then transferred us to a voicemail box.
We tried emailing--and found out our order had not shipped due to an issue with the FedEx label. They offered to ship the following week or give us free shipping (which we already had).
Extremely poor customer service--not notifying us of a problem when they had our email address (and I am fairly certain our phone # as well).
So we will spend tonight re-vamping our menu and driving 20 miles to procure ingredients.

Do not recommend for online orders--unreliable and absent customer service.

Edited to add:
I was very pleased to hear from Catalina Offshore Products regarding my unsatisfactory first order.
They went above and beyond to make an unfortunate situation right---so I am giving them a huge thumbs up and a big thank you!

We were visiting from Nebraska and looking for fresh seafood at a FAIR price. After trying grocery stores and restaurant/markets we found Catalina OP. The owner was incredibly friendly and gracious. We will not buy from anywhere else in the future and strongly recommend this place to anyone looking for fresh delicious seafood. We grilled the thresher shark, opah, and fish ribs and recieved nothing but compliments on the dinner. Thanks for the coastal experience from a Midwestern family.

It is a friendly group of people that you will find helping you in the fish market.

You shouldn't come here. You don't even like fish.

Seriously though it's the best the need to open up a second market further north

Easy in-n-out with covid-19 social distancing. Good selection of fish and shellfish considering the circumstances. Nice fresh uni and other sushi items.

Pro tip: There's additional Tokyo Market parking on the other side of the fence on the Whole Foods side. Those lots have signs saying they're for Catalina Offshore Products guests. The lot in front of the market itself only holds a measly five cars or so.

Great selection of seafood. Always super fresh. You can buy a whole fish and they will filet it there for you. They also sell ceviche, poke, smoked dip. Sometimes crab. They package any live shellfish with ice so it won't go bad. Their prices are a little bit higher than your local grocery but you can't beat the quality so it's worth it. Also have a wide selection of spreads and dressings you can also buy, and a frozen section. I wouldn't buy my seafood anywhere else after shopping here.

Fish was great though pricey. However cleaning wasn't done well with lots of scale which distracted from enjoying the fish.

The halibut I purchased was old, smelled very strong and was quite expensive. The best part was my guests commented on the freshness being off. I went through the process of setting up a commercial account with catalina offshore. The first time I needed to purchase fish for an event, I got to the checkout and they had no record of my business on file! Thank you guys I met with.

Love this place! We are here at least once per week. Always fresh and delicious.

San Diego's premier seafood monger's Tommy Gomes is as close to the fresh seafood he sells as a farmer to his crop.

He sells to the top sushi restaurants around and their non local fish is usually frozen on ship long before most palces which are flashed at the docks. They take great pride in overnighting everything.

They are Southern California's premier uni specialists selling hand harvested gold and premium, both fit for raw consumption. They do sell whole, but can't guarantee it will be live upon delivery, but still safe for consumption.

I frequently use them when I practice my sushi skills because of their variety package which includes everything for the beginner to notice.

What's nice is all their deals are with the fishermen in the boats, no middle men here. With most of their local catch coming from Baja and their offshore feeding grounds, that 1 on 1 relationship is crucial to keep the chain of validation. The man makes the food legit even if I can't taste it I know they take every step necessary to sell the freshest possible seafood.

The cooking emporiums help show local chefs what can be done with all the fish parts. No longer are only Japanese restaurants selling Hamachi kama collars or how black cod which is super sustainable can replace so many traditionally overfished sushi species. Live prawns and lobsters both spiny and cold water when in season are worth it. Their best deal is the pasteurized crab meat. Though not blue or Dungeness, the freshness and amount of stone claw meat is unbeatable. Save a ton of cash when mixed with blue for crab cakes for parties.

My usual order is albacore and yellow tail or salmon, seaweed salad and uni and whatever is in season as most fish are seasonal. Sign up for the e-mails to find out about call in specials and they now have a rewards point program. Get in close and maybe you'll be let back in the warehouse to see the amazing operation they have.

Without naming names or going into too much detail it's the best place to come for your seafood needs, both commercial or private.

Fresh fish packing warehouse open to public. Excellent select of the freshest fish direct from the warehouse! Recommend checking web sight for weekly special

Updated review after Catalina OP reached out to refund. For the record, the refund e-mail came through a little after I wrote my review (but maybe before it went live). But much appreciate the assistance in getting this resolved. I've updated my review, and will try ordering again next time!

Fast shipping and friendly team. Uni tray was damaged in shipping on my third order, but Catalina OP took care of it.

Great selection and very helpful employees.
I hadn't been there since the remodel, it doesn't feel like such a secret, but super easy.
Best place for fish period.

Great place to buy fresh seafood. We usually go here for sea urchin
Their oyster tasting is wonderful. I love Asian style best

This place is the REAL DEAL! I'm so glad I found them on the net.
We stopped here on our way into San Diego for our weeks vacation from Arizona. I'm so glad we stopped. We bought Lane Snapper, Yellow Tail, Scallops & crab claws. All were to die for. Andrew, the general Manager, helped me with the selection of the yellow tail & lane snapper. He was spot on! Even gave me tips on how to prepare them. He was very nice to talk to & very knowledgeable. If we're ever back in SD again, we're stopping here, no ifs and's or buts about it!
We're taking shrimp & scallops back to Arizona for Christmas dinner. This place ROCKS the seafood world.

I've been going to Catalina Offshore about five years. I have never purchased seafood there that wasn't excellent except for one occasion. Two weeks ago I purchased some Big Eye tuna.When I got home the fish seemed a little mushy but had no odor so I cooked and ate it. It was very tasty but again not as firm as it should be. I mentioned this to Tommy yesterday while I was purchasing some Scottish salmon. I was wondering if it had to be a special grade in order to be more firm. He told me if I was at all disappointed in the fish that he would like to replace it for free. He was adamant that I take some home so I did. It was excellent in taste and texture.
This is the best place to buy fresh seafood that I know of.
The bonus is when Tommy is cooking up free samples of fish while you are getting
your order.

So much to look at and try, and it's all as fresh as it gets. We're doing an ahi/hamachi poke tonight along with smoked opah belly and cedar plank steelhead....I can taste it now.

Ordered oysters from here best fresh tasting I've every had... delicious..first time ordering anything from Catalina I definitely will be ordering from here in the future!

As someone who was previously in the wholesale seafood business and has been in the foodservice industry for years I am appreciative of what Catalina is trying to do-provide retail customers with access to a broad choice of fresh seafood. They offer many local species as well as imported species from around the world. There are times when the product has been very good, but there is inconsistency. Be sure to check the product's freshness before selecting and purchasing. On a recent visit I got beautiful Mexican shrimp and scallops. They are very customer oriented and responded quickly when I had an issue.

Tomy makes the experience even more memorable. Great place for fresh fish and also get fresh catch of the season. It is not touristic like Pint Loma seafood. You get the real stuff at reasonable prices

I have experimented with trying Catalina Offshore Seafood as opposed to buying various seafood items directly from San Diego fishermen and farmers market venues (where some vendors provide local seafood), and it's not even a question--buying local and direct has brought me better quality and even a better price!

Being a chef for 20 years I've seen my fair share of seafood they always come through with the freshest prettiest fish, thank you!!!

Fresh Lobster great price everything is fresh and clean!!!!

Great seafood shop. It is part of a seafood wholeseller but they added a shop. Lots of fresh fish and great uni too! I go there for my sashimi.

Unless you catch it yourself, this is the freshest place to get seafood. They have a variety of seafood, from fish to uni. The ground fish mixes several different fish and makes for great fish balls or fish burgers. They'll offer an ice pack to carry your purchase home.

Best local fresh fish. They sell to all the sushi restaurants. Great prices.

Ordered from Catalina for the first time and was not disappointed. Shipment came on time, perfectly packaged. Fish was amazing. Thank you Catalina.

Always a good choice for fresh fish. Join the club and get excellent discounts.

Best prices in San Diego. The freshness is off the charts. And, Tommy walked up and handed me some cooked fish, rice and sausage while I waited for my fish. Five star experience for sure!

What a great place - in a warehouse area so just follow the Google directions and you ll have no problem.

The freshest fish and shellfish, interesting local spices and sauces and a sushi bar.

Super helpful staff especially the fish mongers. This is a pro operation.

This is a great place to get fresh seafood at great prices along with a staff who really knows their seafood!

Fantastic store. Quality top notch, always very fresh fish and weekly specials make it very affordable. Very friendly and helpful staff! Definitely can recommend Catalina Offshore for your fish and seafood needs.

I always go there for fresh fish on Saturday morning. N that will be the only time I recommend everyone else to go. I went yesterday right before they close was a little disappointed. They told me all the fish I bought was sashimi grade, I was not too happy with the quality. I do understand seafood is hard to keep it perfect the whole time, but please do not advertise its sashimi grade when it s not. Overall it s a great seafood market with interesting selections.

Outstanding fish quality. But, don't eat Tommy's fish tacos. They are addicting and of course terribly yummy.

Our favorite place to get fresh delicious seafood. They get it fresh off the vessel. You have a wide variety of seafood. Sushi grade and grill grade alike. They will happily answer any of your questions or help you to select what you need.

Really stellar experience. Got the Sushi grade New Zealand salmon, tuna, and toro. Great quality and the guy who helped me at the counter was super super helpful and answered my *many* questions on their available sushi grade fish. They have several fresh sushi grade that they cut for you and then a lot in the freezer you can personally peruse through too!

Fish is is expensive here but it is worth the cost! The fish came in nice and cooled especially with me living across the US from this business. I will definitely buy here on a weekly basis for now on. Great quality seafood!

No better place to buy seafood in San Diego. There is no better fishmonger than Tommy anywhere.

Love the service and freshness of all their products.

Ordered 10lbs of Canadian Sake. Arrived well frozen. Two problems: 1) One package was damaged, frozen but torn. 2) Labels on all 10 was product of Mexico. I am assuming these were Canadian, but processed in Mexico. Iin any case, they should articulate on their website the origin of the fish.

No reply from customer service on damaged product or on the question of origin after 2 days.

NEVER AGAIN. I ordered various sushi grade fish from here, and after eating some of it, my body hated me for it. To spare the explicit details, lets just say I spent a lot of my night and my morning in the bathroom.

*UPDATE
I ordered:
1.) Frozen Escolar (Shiro Maguro) Saku Block
2.) Frozen Baja Farmed Sushi Grade Yellowtail Fillet (Hiramasa)
3.) Frozen Farmed Sashimi Grade Faroe Island Salmon Fillet (Sake)
4.) Center Frozen Farmed Sashimi Grade Pacific Bluefin Tuna Belly (Toro)

I only ate 3 and 4. I didn't even eat one piece of the Escolar as this is the fish that can cause GI issues if you eat too much of it. Tossed EVERYTHING out after my episode and am counting this entire disaster of an order as a $155 loss. Lesson learned.

Nope, nevermore....

Been here a few times and have been very happy with my experiences. I've bought halibut, scallops, sea bass, and snapper here, all fresh caught with a free bag and ice pack to go. The selection varies, of course, with what's caught recently, what's available seasonally, and the weather. They also honor special cuts and requests (skin on/off). It's best to call beforehand to see when a new shipment is in, and get there early because they do sell out.

Best place for fresh fish. Come early to chose the best!

Such great, super-high quality fresh fish! I asked for advice and got an eduCAtion, from very knowledgeable staff. I had a good-sized fish filleted and was offered the carcass for making fish broth. This is my go-to fish market!

First negative review from a multiple year online buyer! Order was paid for, $$$ withdrawn from account, not delivered as promised, account was refunded. No response for several emails requesting update and simple explanation on why my order was cancelled. Very disappointed as my order was a gift for a great individual who recently returned from the hospital. So disappointed in your customer service! I m sure another company will appreciate our business!!!

** Thank you for the response however let the truth be told, I did receive a email after my inquiry about why my order was canceled, however that email was to let me know I can reorder but no response on why my order was canceled. I never received any phone calls from your company and I will be more than happy to provide a phone record from my cellular provider also I never spoke to any of your company's representative! That statement is a flat out lie. I would have been more than happy to work this issue out over the phone as I stated this order was a gift. I tried sending several emails and if you would like I can post or resend my emails to any representative for review as proof.

I give 5 stars on the fish for sale. This place has a big selection of excellent fish that is fresher and better quality, I think, than what most grocery stores offer. But prices are on the high side.

I give 0 stars, though, on prepared food. Every time I've gotten poke, I discover when I get home that it smells and tastes fishy. Yuck.