Holiday Fish Market

Would have been 5 but I messed up and got chicken instead of fish… still great but that fish is no joke! Lesson, get the fish,!!

Cool spot in East Oakland to grab some soul food. I had the turkey with gravy dinner with mac n’ cheese and collard greens as sides. They also give you a piece of corn bread. It was pretty tasty. To finish off the meal I had the sweet potato pie. It was delicious, though I am biased because it tasted like pumpkin pie which I love. I also had the fruit punch mixed with lemonade as the lady recommended and it really hit the spot. After grubbing out, I spent close to $ 18 bucks though I kind of expected that with soul food. The staff here is really friendly and you can tell that they put a love of love into their food.

I had the smothered chicken with mashed potatoes, black eyed peas and mac n cheese. Delicious! The only thing I was not happy with was the fact that I had shared my meal with my husband! Next time I will NOT be sharing! I Also had the peach cobbler and it was amazing! I will most definitely be coming back! Although the restaurant is not in the best neighborhood, that will not deter me from going back! Good food and friendly staff!

I found Holiday Fish on Unilocal.This food is the bomb!!! I highly recommend this place, the employees are great, particularly the 2 women u will see there mostly.
I Call on my college mates at Chabot and all bay area college students, who love great food{red snapper, fillet, and cat fish, spagghetti, meat loaf, chicken, pork chops, prawns, oysters, and more!!.Also, their prices are reasonable. This great place, is worth coming to Oaklnd! and of course they sell great pies{banana pudding, peach cobbler, sweet potato pies, even a cake.}. IF u want it ready, call ahead and order. Most of the time, your order will be ready 4u. I GIVE this place 5 stars, because of their food, prices, and the staff!!! EATing their food is like going on a Holliday!!1

Great place. For two white boys though the neighborhood can be a little scary. Service was great, food was excellent and price was really good! We will definitely stop here again if we are in the area… and it is daylight :-p

great place to get good down home soul food love it home away from down home meal but not the best parking out side

D E L I C I O U S
I’ve been eating there for years and have always received excellent service as well fantastic home cooked meals like I used to get from momma when I was a young man.
The smothered chicken over rice is fantastic and the fried fish & fried chicken is seasoned wonderfully. The greens are prepared without meat which is a nice change especially for someone like me that doesn’t eat pork.
Mac & cheese and a variety of other sides and desserts including the peach cobbler are also very well prepared and on HIT!!!
Thank You HFM for keeping it really down home for all these years!!!
Blessings

This place is old school been here for a long time. An from soul food to fried fish… oh let’s not forget the lemonade… ITS THE BEST. it really doesn’t matter what u get when your finish U will be full an ready to go to sleep

The Catfish on the bone is something special and everything else very good as well. Really appreciate the friendly staff and generous portions as well. Huge selection of sides and desserts freshly prepared every day. All at reasonable prices and although the neighborhood isn’t exactly posh once you step inside you are in a different much more civil world of yummy goodness.

Great customer service. Food was on point. Got the smothered chicken rice n gravy yams mac n cheese thang for 10 bucks. Lets just say I was satisfied. Warm vibe from the cook, will be back.

Yummy!
We ordered a 3 pc snapper with fries and a 7 pc cat fish with fries. it was 21 dollars which isn’t bad at all! Food was really good! I saw the mac and cheese and greens and what not behind the little glass they have up. it looked good but I don’t eat everyones soul food so I just went with the fish and fries lol but I may try the yams and stuffing next time I go there.
A must go!

Just like grandmothers cooking on Sundays.

Okay, so the person who used to make the peach cobbler here when I was a teenager obviously doesn’t work here anymore. The last time I ordered it, it was nassssty. Blech!
But lemme tell you what is good — anything they serve with gravy is the biznass — it’s made with elfin magic or something. It is the best gravy I’ve ever tasted. The turkey wing dinner with greens and yams — BOMB!
Fried chicken is slammin’. Although I can’t eat the seafood myself, every time I see someone bite into it their eyes glaze over like they just wet themselves. It makes me wish I could eat it. Cabbage is good. Beans are just okay (including blackeye peas). Mac & cheese has yet to make an impression on me.
If you’re curious, you just gotta try it for yourself. Don’t be afraid of the location.

I haven’t really had much soul food but this is pretty good. The only reason I came here because I work only minutes from here and they probably looked at me funny because they probably dont see many Asian girls come there. In any case, I wanted to venture out and try soul food and I read the other reviews so decided to give it a try. I ordered the catfish meal that came with pieces of catfish fried with corn meal so its not greasy, corn bread muffin and I asked for yams but she gave me mac and cheese which was pretty good.
For $ 10, the portions were pretty big and I ate it over two days of lunch. Even on the second day the catfish wasnt greasy and still flavorful. Soul food is only something I can eat once in a blue moon. I’m glad I ventured out to try it.
Don’t expect anything fancy venue either. It looks more like a cafeteria with a few tables you seat yourself.

Yeah, getting there might seem like a trek through mordor (re: paranoia like someone’s trying to cop your ring or a big shifty eye is watching, epic battles brewin’, etc.) but Holiday Fish Market is SO worth it. I haven’t had down home cooking like this place in forever! The fish is fresh and even though it’s fried, it doesn’t taste oily… Quite frankly, none of their food was oily or greasy, which is a real winner when it comes to fried food. There were plenty of sides to choose from (a ton of vegetarian dishes too!) My mac and cheese was creamy and full of flavor. I tried my dads yams too and they were perfect; not too sweet, not too rooty and bland either. My relatives back in the old country (aka the south) used to make banana pudding with the vanilla wafers and I haven’t seen it even once on the west coast so I was pretty excited to find out they made it. I don’t wanna offend my great aunt gin but Holiday Fish is giving her desserts a run for their money! The owners were amazing and let us sample anything we were on the fence about ordering and we ended up walking away with wayyyyyy more food than we could eat but we liked everything we tried. I cannot say enough good things about this place. Holiday Fish is definitely an East Bay gem.

I like this restaurant. You will too if you like high quality, down home soul food. After tasting (We were a party of three.) and eating the fried chicken, the fried red snapper, the fried catfish, the yams, the mac and cheese, the collard greens, the banana pudding, the peach cobbler and the fresh squeezed lemonade, all I can say is «Mama, they’ve got ya.» These folks burned.
Don’t come here if you are looking for ambiance because the trappings are Spartan. Come here if you want incredible homemade, daily made-​from-​scratch food that is served by some of the nicest folks that you want to meet. Marcus, you’re my new homeboy. Keep dishing up the gold.
Before closing, I’ll mention that Holiday Fish Market has this thing called the Clothesline. If you aren’t in the mood for their fried oysters, fried shrimp, smothered chicken, turkey legs, pork chops or meatloaf, you can call up Marcus and company to find out what daily special they are serving on the Clothesline (Too cute!!!). I will be calling daily to find out when they will be serving up their oxtails. Suffice it to say that this was a very nice Unilocal find.

My cousin and I try to come here every other Saturday or during the week when we need a Sweet Potato Pie Fix!!! The $ 10 Chicken dinner special is our usual with the green beans, mac and cheese, and candied yams… yum yum YUM!!!
My husband and daughter can’t wait until we get home so, they can eat the Chicken. Try them if you haven’t been there you will not disappointed. Just know that they are NOT open on Sundays :-)
Also, the lemon cake and carmel swirl cake are great!
The service is fast and friendly.

this place isn’t for the faint of heart but for food adventurers.
situated amidst bordered up storefronts and «for rent» signs is this building proudly proclaiming $ 10 dinner specials which includes one meat and 3 sides. choice of meatloaf, shortribs, turkey wings, smothered chicken or pork chop.
–meat loaf: a couple of hefty slices, covered with spanish sauce.
–mac cheese: very cheesy, best i“ve had
–candied yam: sugared up and so sweet.
–collared greens: plentiful and a little bitter.
— fish dinner (13.50?) w/​2 sides. four pieces of sole lightlly battered with corn meal. i knew the fish was fresh cuz i saw the seafood delivery truck pull into the back (pucci’s).
–potato salad-​sweet tasting, almost a meal in itself.
–dressing-​complex mix of various spices, corn meal & breading,
–cornbread, kind of dry.
friendly service, worth repeating. actually in the daytime, this part of the ‘hood isn’t that bad. good food. peach cobbler looked pricey.

No wonder this place is called Holiday. This is the quality of food a cook puts all their love into because they’re making it for a special holiday. Only it’s today and every day, and it’s not you doing the cooking! Call me corny if you want, this shit is for real.
Truly, this is the best soul food I’ve had in all of Oakland. Somebody puts a lot of love and some secret special ingredients into this stuff. I’m hooked.
3 of us went and ordered a variety of stuff to go. The staff were sweet and service was quick. Behind the counter there were a few framed family photos and a copy «Soul on Bikes,» a book about the East Bay Dragons black motorcycle club. It was near closing time. A slightly drunk and friendly homeless (?) woman came in and was given some free food.
The fish is tender and delicious, breaded with crispy cornmeal. Way better than JJ’s. The mac & cheese is creamy and flavorful with a little crispy cheese edge — vastly superior to every place around here. The greens are excellent, the cornbread muffins are moist and lovely. The potato salad is really good and different than any I’ve had — a little vinegary and with sweet peppers. And then dessert: the peach cobbler made my eyes roll back into my head — it’s a little spicy, served warm. Damn. And sweet jesus, that sweet potato pie is unbelievable — spicy and gooey, the top a bit caramelized… this food is crack!
The only thing I don’t recommend is the chicken. Too greasy and salty for my taste. But everything else was so good I can’t even bring myself to take a star off for that.
They’ve got like 10 kinds of fish, and other sides we didn’t try include black eyed peas, yams, corn bread dressing, red beans, string beans, succotash, and okra. Not to mention meat loaf, pork chops, and who knows what else.
Next time I go pick up some ribs, I’m stopping at Holiday Fish for my sides. Nobody does it better.
Fat-​friendly rating: 5 stars. Totally comfy and accessible.

This isn’t a fish market. It’s a restaurant. And they have awesome fish. I got the regular catfish (with skin-​n-​bones) and it was fried to perfection. Soft and buttery, it just melted in my mouth. Even the potato salad was good.
They did get my order wrong. I ordered a three-​pieces of fish and a piece of fried chicken and got five-​pieces of fish instead. That’s okay. That just means I’ll have to go back to try the chicken.
The sign says they’ve been around since 1972 (just like me!)