Friends Fish & Meat Market

I went in for fresh fish, and the best looking option was mackerel. Sadly, it had been frozen and was thawing. I tried to trust that a Chinese fish market in a Chinese neighborhood would be good quality, since Chinese people eat fish regularly. But the flesh was weird, even after I cooked it. I tasted a few bites, but it was pretty rank. I was actually afraid to eat it. But hey – it was cheap. Maybe my issue is that it was afternoon and all the good stuff was gone?

This place pretty much sucks. I’ve gone in to buy tofu. Tofu touches other meat dishes. Woman who assisted me was super rude. Maybe she hates white people. Seems to be somewhat common in Excelsior. The worst part is I have the runs after EVERY time I eat their food. After about 6 times I stopped going. Don’t recommend it.

i go here for the dungeness crab. it’s much cheaper than any of the seafood places on mission, and i always find the crab here meatier than most other places.
in addition to fresh seafood, they have meat, and they have a small take out counter… i wouldn’t recommend it though.

In this neighborhood, this is the place to go for fresh fish. They also sell meat, but I think my family only stops by to check out the fish. Crab here is great! You can buy the entire one, throw it into the steamer. Voila! We’ve found the prices to be lower than Chinatown sometimes.
For the most part, parking is plentiful. It is conveniently located next to a small vegetable store too… One stop shopping on Geneva?

I have purchased at least $ 500 worth of live crabs from this place over the last 5 years. They have competitive prices and good crab.
There is also a counter that is stocked with plenty of Chinese food that I have eaten on occasion. It is good. It sounds like I missed out on the large chicken drumsticks (see Shawn S’s review below).

I went to a house party a few months ago and ate a fried chicken drumstick so crispy and delicious that it prompted a lengthy investigation on my part. Where did it come from? Why was it so freakishly large? And (having observed that the whole batch consisted solely of about 50 drumsticks) what happened to the rest of all these chickens?
The second and third questions had some disturbing ramifications, so I quickly nixed them.
As for the origin of these delicious drumsticks, I asked my friend, who asked her friend, who asked… well, anyway, I learned the chicken had come from Friends Fish & Meat Market in the Outer Mission.
I confirmed this recently when I hosted a birthday party for my girlfriend. I ordered 25lbs of fried chicken from Friends for about $ 50, and it was the same delicious heap of freakishly large drumsticks, deep fried Chinese style for a light crispiness that is unmatched.
Oh one more thing… during my investigation, I heard this joint serves a great char siu, but that remains unconfirmed for now. I plan to follow this lead and report back.

If you’re in the Outer Mission/​Cayuga Terrace/​Excelsior/​Crocker-​Amazon vicinity this is the place to buy fresh meats and fish. Though what I really like is the «to-​go» lunch counter that serves up inexpensive, yet quality, beef chow fun and char siu.