Quality Seafood Market

They get 4 stars because the Maryland style crabcake is that amazingly good! However my fried cod was anything but! Very rubbery with fast food fries and frozen style hush puppies. I’ll come back and try something different. Very casual place.

Quality Seafood is consistently damn good. I wish they’d change their name though. If they’re using it as an adjective I understand. As a noun it doesn’t sound right. I was always taught you must clarify quality. Is it low quality seafood or high quality seafood?
Ah well, regardless of grammar I keep coming here :)
The broiled red fish & trout, fried catfish & shrimp are excellent. The sides I’ve had were all very good. Brocolli, seasoned rice, & okra were my favorites. *tip*, if they don’t deliver your wine quickly, just take your receipt to the bar & they’ll take care of you :)

This business rocks. I contracted their Food Truck for SXSW and I was more than amazed with their performance and level of customer service. They are a crowd pleasure for sure. The brick & mortar is a great place to pick up product for your next event as well as hosting dinner gatherings.

Amazing as it gets. Local as it gets. Daily special is always worth it and 2 words. Krack Pie. The Key Lime is amazing as well. Eat everything, you’re worth it.

1) Food got cold fast
2) cold inside the restaurant
3) everything I got was DRY
4) best thing i had on 2 plates was the cold pasta salad on the side (that had red onions) and I was told it didnt have onions… (i dont eat onions and it was the best thing I had… that really tells you something, doesn’t it… we’re setting the bar pretty low)
1) chargrilled oysters. were tiny… good flavor but tiny. not worth the MP we paid
2) blackened mahi mahi — this aint pappadeaux. GO to Pappadeaux. Here it was dry and hard as a rock. not really as blackened as I expected. just plain disappointing. I pour hot sauce all over it just so I could eat it since we paid so much for the meal.
3) blandest coleslaw I’ve ever had and I work in a hospital
4) husband’s mac and cheese was spaghetti baked into square bland dish. eh.
I will not be returning here. For the prices I could have gone somewhere else for better «quality». pun intended.

Came here for Taco Tuesday. All the seafood was really fresh and the flavors of all the different seafood tacos were delicious! I liked that you could select different sauces for each taco. It was so good that I came back on another night even though it wasn’t Taco Tuesday just so I could have more.
I also tried the fried clam. It was your typical fried clam strips.

I went in last week for lunch and after waiting almost more than five minutes to even get service at the counter; much to my startlement… I was rudely addressed (after placing my order) of the cost of each of my items. It seemed like the worker was thinking I was not going to have funds to pay for this… I know customer service has taken a «nose dive», yet this is the first time in many years of going to this place that I have been so rudely addressed as if my casual business appearance inferred the assumption I would not have funds for my payment. What leaves me quite alarmed is that both the worker and I are the minority and knowing my work is a frequent visitor to their establishment and be received this way after placing our order; leaves a somewhat bitter taste of wanting to return back soon.
be wary of late service and inappropriate work staff.

I like being able to see my food and know where it came from before it is cook, and a quick stroll through the market side does just that. Although a majority of items are fried, one still has the option to have the fish grilled or blackened. Try the weekly special or the ‘special of the day’ for something different, especially if one wants to experience the fancy restaurant concoction at a fraction of the price.

For a place with «Quality» in its name, there was very little if any «quality» I experienced here. I came with a bunch of friends for crawfish. Many of the bugs had straight tails (while some say it’s not the case, I know many view this as a lack of freshness) and most of them were pretty darn small.
In terms of flavor, I’ve had much better. There wasn’t much potato either and you have to pay extra if you want sausage. That being said, the sausage was good.
Perhaps ordering crawfish was the wrong way to go. Their other stuff might be great. Unfortunately, the crawfish left a poor first impression and little desire to return.

I loved everything I tried here! Fried and blackened seafood goodness.
The hubby and I tried the bacon wrapped jalapeño shrimp as our appetizer. Can’t go wrong with that. I especially liked the Cajun dipping sauce that came with it that added that little bit of zing to it.
I ordered the blackened ruby red trout (as recommended by our server) with a salad and okra. Let me tell you– I asked for it a little extra blackened (I like it spicy) and it was perfect! My okra was on point and the salad was decent.
My husband ordered the 3 fish platter with crab, catfish, and shrimp. So much food! He got potato salad (pretty good) and side salad. The crab was my favorite with the catfish and shrimp close second/​third.
The wine was reasonably priced too! $ 5/​per glass of house white. I’m sold.

They’re usually alright, but $ 112 for 30 lbs of crawfish, half of which were dead, is ridiculous. I wouldn’t recommend their live crawfish.

The two stars is for the very friendly staff other wise in the last couple years this place has diminished in quality. The seafood is over cooked and they use fake crab aka «Krab» in some of their dishes like the crab and spinach dip even though they are literally in a seafood market and can easily use the real thing !!! This is ass backwards advertising especially calling themselves Quality Seafood Market and want to truly promote fresh seafood. It seems to be popular though I guess the people who eat here are regulars. I really wanted to be positive but everything from the shrimp to the fried clams was rubbery and over fried, the coleslaw was cabbage and mayo at the most it had no flavor and the fish was tough to pull apart from the batter they use. On top of this it was $ 61.55 minus «tip» for two people to eat something i would get for like $ 45 at any other similar seafood spots around Austin. Even Catfish parlor would be cheaper! Now I’m broke and hungry cause I couldn’t force myself to eat all that overcooked rubbery seafood I payed for ! Mc Donald’s will always come to mind before I come here again unfortunately. Save your money unless you have figured out how to turn your tastebuds off or just simply hate quality. Last but not least whoever is over cooking this stuff is probably really cocky and has never been told that the food needs improvement because he or she has worked here forever and thinks they are top chef Austin who can’t get anything wrong. Cheers …

I want so badly to love Quality Seafood, I reeeealllly do. It’s a long time local spot in my area and the folks here are so sweet.
If I based my review simply on that, it’s a 5+ star review, for sure.
However, the food is just so awful 90% of the time. This last adventure in, a friend and I shared the Seafood Plate. All I wanted were the scallops. Yummmmm! I was so excited to have some scallops.
Then, our plate arrived.
What. The. Heck?!
The scallops were literally the size of fried okra. The one bite I had tasted absolutely horrible.
Quality, you have to step your game up a bit. SubQaulity just won’t do.
There’s so much potential for this place; they’ve got a great oyster bar that cooks up oysters (those are a «maybe they’ll be good this time, maybe they won’t» thing, though) they have a nice drink selection, but most of the food is fried and isn’t tasty.
I’ll come back and have drinks when friends are in town that love the spot, but it’s just not a place I’ll go to or suggest.

After hearing great things and reading Unilocal reviews, I had high hopes for Quality Seafood. But my hopes were dashed on the metaphorical, food-​filled shores as we found pretty much everything we got to be mediocre.
We tried:
1) Fried bay scallops — more batter than scallop, these guys felt like I was eating tiny pieces of lead. The tartar sauce was mildly spicy, which I liked — but overall, not great.
2) Stuffed crab cakes — these were okay, but they were pretty seriously creamy and my fiancé didn’t like the panko breading. Personal preference on the breading, but I had a hard time stomaching the creamy cake + creamy remoulade sauce mixture together.
3) Macaroni and cheese — not sure if they ran out of macaroni or if their mac is intended to be spaghetti, but it was definitely spaghetti and cheese. The sauce was good, but the consistency with the spaghetti was odd.
4) Hushpuppies — these guys were not soft at all on the inside. They were little bricks of sadness. I love hushpuppies, but we each tried two (just in case there was a bad one) and gave up.
We ended up leaving most of the food on the plate. Hope that batter can hold me over until the morning…

I’m from Louisiana so I found my Austin Go-​To!
The regulars around me knew their oysters, had great reccs for the menu & other local like food and music.
Great experience, went for raw oysters by the pint to bbq for the Super Bowl, ended up staying & eating some ½ shells while there, good move!

Their seafood menu is quite extensive but I mostly just come here for the oysters and fried food. It’s not a fancy restaurant but the attention to quality, service, and consistency can’t be beat.
I normally get oysters on the half shelf, fried shrimp and fried oysters. All 3 are outstanding. The fried seafood is lightly battered. It always tastes fresh and you get your choice of multiple sides. I love their tartar sauce. It’s more liquid than chunky style but it has an excellent flavor. Perfect for dipping.
The oysters are shucked fresh onsite.
Some day I’ll try something else but for now this place is definitely worth the trip to tame that fried seafood fix.

Stopped back by AGAIN and AGAIN I was happy. Staff was friendly, oysters fried perfectly.

Great place that has been a part of Austin’s history with amazing fresh sea food! Also a great place for happy hour with a cool laid back bar staff that reminds you of old Austin Texas I am so grateful for their expansion because the food is delicious!

The food here is greatness!!! Live music, $ 1 Oysters, REAL Clam Chowder & the Blackened Ruby Red Trout was amazing. Save room for the Blueberry Bread Pudding… To die for!

Our family loves the food, the atmosphere and the staff at Quality. One of our go to spots every week!

Unlike what everyone thinks oysters aren’t bad: contrarary they tastes best with a salt cracker and T-​bass sauces. My wive’s allergy for shelled fish so she eat the cod (plus once before she was pinched by a lobster fish during seafood dinner w/​her previous mother in lawl). All in all I like some shrimps and oyster dinners irregardless of my wife.
If you eat here on some days of the week its specials. My fave specials is tacos night bc for 2 $ you can eat a taco for dinner. The only wired thing is its not the taco you think of like crunchy style with ground up meat and cheeze instead they have fish inside and its not crunch this time. I didnt think i would like this but it tasted fine if you like fresh fish and fresh salsas. Sometimes.

This old establishment brings some of the best seafood in Austin. Their specials of the day are always delicious and unique. The clam chowder, gumbo and étouffée are a great start. They can prepare your seafood in many ways. And of course, they have a lot of raw fresh seafood to be bought and prepared at home!

Surprisingly good market for fish and a decent restaurant to back it up!
The market: Excellent selection of relatively hard-​to-​find fish, all at competitive prices to the local HEB. Of special mention was the regular supply of black drum, as well as the availability of orange roughy, red snapper, and even blue marlin (!). I do have to take some points off for the shellfish; the clams and mussels were all open, leading me to believe that the batch was all dead and needed replacing.
The restaurant: A friend and I had the fried oyster po’ boy, and the blackened ‘black drum’ fillet with corn and hushpuppies. Three out of five for the po boy, which was fresh-​tasting but nothing to write home about. Four out of five for the hushpuppies, which were piping hot, and had a nice onion/​cornbread flavor. Solid five out of five for what must have been ¾ pounds of black drum, perfectly blackened with just the right hint of spice.
For those of you who haven’t had black drum (which seems to make up a LOT of the photos on the main page), it’s a relatively firm white-​fleshed fish. It’s firmer than basa, flounder, or catfish, about the same as cod, less firm and moister/​tastier than swordfish. There’s a really nice creamy-​white texture to the fish and I’ll be coming back to the market to get more to cook on my own.
Averaged out? This place gets a 4 out of 5 on the ‘CTJ Scale’ as noted below.
5 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Jesus good. Would be OK passing away after finishing a plate here.
4 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Mary good. Would be OK being seen eating here by Mother Mary.
3 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Joseph good. Would be OK having a beer here with Jesus’ Dad.
2 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​the-​Apostles good. Meh. Wouldn’t have my last supper here.
1 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Nobody good. I wouldn’t have my penultimate supper here, either.

Are they good? Of course.
But are they $ 60 for 2 people, no alcohol good? Nah.
I’d been here when it was solely a grocery store, so yeah, its been a minute huh?! But, we decided to go grub some seafood, and QS has been on my radar a minute.
We each ordered the fried catfish (2 total) and shrimp (4 total) combo, 2 sides, and a 2 desserts. I was disappointed when my 2 pieces of fish weren’t even full filets of catfish. The fish and shrimp itself was good, but nothing stood out as «DAMN this is some good ass food!!”– The hush puppies were delish, the ranch on the salad was delish, but the potato salad and cole slaw I didnt like. (samples) We decided on a peach cobbler and a sugar krack kake. Both deserts were pretty small and absolutely nothing to write home about.
Im torn. because I LOVE local. I love seafood, but this wasnt the foodgasm that I was expecting.
Would I turn them down, nah! But am I going out of my way to eat here again? Nah.

How did I JUST find out about this place?! I’ve driven right past it dozens of times but never went inside… and what a shame because I’ve been missing out!
A lively place with a bar featuring craft brews, live music (Monday evenings), and delicious fresh seafood and soups!
Pro Tip #1: The way to go here is their north eastern style seafood (grilled or blackened) vs. the southern fried fare.
Pro Tip #2: Go on «Maryland Mondays» and get the King Crab legs special! You’ll thank me later.

This is a rare thing in our fair city. A fresh seafood market. Before I went someone told me «warning it smells fishy». Awesome! Was my reply, I love the smell of fresh fish, oysters, clams, etc. I grew up where fresh seafood was plentiful so this was automatic nostalgia.
Ok enough about how it smells, the seafood both cooked on the restaurant side and raw on the market side are fresh and delicious. The staff are very helpful, they will offer advice on amount and even tips on how to cook your catch. I am grateful we have a place like this in Austin and I will be back every chance I get.

We really like this place. Whether we are making use of the wholesale area within the building for some seafood to take home and prepare or having a sit down meal on the market side, we are always pleased with the quality of the seafood at this restaurant.
They have a full service bar area for my drinking friends and plenty of tables for groups as well. We have enjoyed many of the plates and platters offered as well as some specials off of the ala carte menu.
Thanks for your consistently taking care of us all these years and we can’t wait to come back. It like going to the places along the coast without the 3 hour drive. Thanks!

Okay, maybe I’m being too picky — this place was good for what it is, but what it is is a little too much fried stuff (and bread) and not enough reliance on the amazing taste of the seafood itself.
I got a fried oyster poboy, which was very good, some mac and cheese and fried okra. Now, I’m not saying the food isn’t good — because it is — it’s just that I think it could be better. I left lunch feeling very full, of almost entirely bread and batter — I’d always prefer to feel like I ate a ton of seafood than a ton of bread.
My husband got the crab cake and I have to say that for $ 10 it was the smallest crab cake I’ve ever seen. And don’t get me started on calling it a «Maryland style» crab cake — a true Maryland crab cake would have been twice as big, not breaded on the outside and at least would have had some jumbo lump meat in it — this was entirely filler and backfin. Call it a crab cake if you want, but please can we stop with the fake «Maryland style» nonsense?

Love their oysters and beer. Best in Austin!
We also had their blacken drum, which was recommended by the waitress. And it was delightful. So fresh!!! The beer was extremely cold too. I highly recommend it to everyone who visits Austin!
They also have gift vouchers that you can purchase online and send to your loved ones!

They didn’t bring their A-​game on our food orders today, and since this was our first visit… we may not return. I had six fried shrimp off the a la carte menu and they were the best thing we had…4 stars. My wife had the senior popcorn shrimp and hush puppy plate, the popcorn shrimpies were pretty good but the hush puppies will henceforth be known as sad puppies. I like that you can get as much cocktail/​tartar sauce as you like, but Quality wasn’t what comes to my feeble little mind after eating here.

Shrimp Po’boy was delicious.
Crawfish étouffée amazing as always.
Ambience improved dramatically since my last visit many years ago. Very nice now. Sort of a smaller Papadeaux’s.
My only concern was the Po’boy Roll could have been fresher.

#yelpelitelove
Great seafood in Austin! Only the best.

Ate a shrimp po’ boy from here only to discover a dead insect laying on the bottom of the container (see attached photo).
Not sure what else there is to say.

After reading several reviews, viewing Tony B. and the band The Sword visit this 75 year old joint for fish-​taco night on one of his shows (one member of the band took some hot sauce down wrong and Anthony cited one of his classic ‘Bourdainisms,’ «Tears of fire tonight, burning ring of fire tomorrow») and seeing that QSM also has a «fresh» seafood counter and monger, I was pretty excited about trying both the market and restaurant. Visited on a Tuesday at around 6:30pm — perused the fish counter and «market» — not impressed at all. Very limited shelf stock and fish not looky so good. I always try to avoid glazed over eyeballs and bad fishy smells in both seafood and human beings.
So, onto the dining. Very casual atmosphere. Setup is sort of self-​serve. That is, you walk up to the counter, look at menu on wall (don’t forget to seek out the specials), order, take your drinks and a number to a table and wait for food. Luckily we got there just in time. We waited behind about 3 other parties to order and the line just grew and grew behind us. Post facto, I am dumbfounded at the allure.
Dinner for two please — shared plates…
Drinks: Dos Equis draft = $ 2; Lone Stars = a buck = happy. But, if you want another one, you have to go stand in line again.
Eats: Tuesday is Taco night at QSM. Perhaps that’s why it was so packed the evening I visited. From old reviews I guess it used be «$ 2 Taco Tuesday.» No more. 3 $ Taco Tuesday now — darn inflation! Tried the Grilled Mahi Taco and Fried Catfish Taco. Both A-​OK. Not too bad of a deal, but nothing exciting about either. The half dozen Gulf Oysters at $ 8.99 were fresh and came out quickly; however, all 6 varied in size significantly. Odd. The Seafood Plate set us back $ 15.99. It included 2 small pieces of Cod, 3 tiny Bay Scallops (was supposed to be two), ONE shrimp (was supposed to be two), and a few little hush puppies that were borderline burnt. The «plate» also came with a choice of two sides: Mac & Cheese: congealed spaghetti pasta square desperately in need of some moisture; Fried Okra: Fine, but honestly who can screw that up?
Overall: Pretty underwhelmed by the food. In my opinion WAY too expensive for cafeteria style counter service and especially mediocre grub. Cheap beers and tacos are the only way to at QSM… and that’s the only time I might go back. Seems like that’s the draw for most other people too, as about the only thing I saw leaving the kitchen on that packed Tuesday nights were baskets filled with tacos. Now I know… and so do you.