A-1 Seafood Center

A very small local seafood place. Not a very large selection for fish pretty much local fish. No credit cards. Only cash or local check.

Great spot to pick up seafood for the weekend grill… very dependable because the food is always fresh! The family that owns the business is friendly, knowledgeable and always accommodating.
The selection and food is much more reasonable than all the surrounding supermarkets.
A1 Seafood is worth venturing out on Route 37!

What a cool little place. I must have passed it hundreds of times on the road to Seaside or to a place to eat on Fisher, and not realized just what type of seafood they had other then craps (in my mind), I kept going. To be honest, the outside didn’t impress me and since the building is set back from the road, it’s easy to pass it plus you have Gregory’s (what’s with the attitude when you walk in Gregory’s?) and Pisces which up to this point was my favorite place to get seafood in Toms River for takeout. Well, I stopped in and loved the fact that the majority of clams, crabs, and sea scallops were harvested for the most part from local waters and so would be fresh for the day. They also import some fish, fresh oysters, crab legs (monsters they were), and other sea food for the freezer. The day I went, they had snails. I’ve never eaten them before but after seeing the huge amount of snails, I might go back and try and talk the wife into cooking them for me. (I’ll burn the house down, trust me with my cooking abilities).
I mentioned the outside. It needs a makeover which is probably why I passed it so much but I’m starting to eat more and more seafood (allergic for 4 decades and it seems to have dropped off) as a way of eating healthy so I walked in. I could always walk out but I found myself talking to the owner (over 30 years now) and a friend that works there and both were knowledgable about their offerings and where they came from and different ways to prepare the seafood. They offered samples to try out and I felt welcome to this local business. I’m sure I talked their ears off and they listened patiently to my ramblings about my lack of understanding about seafood. This is an old school seafood place, take out only. I can imagine that it hasn’t changed much in 30 years.
While I was there, more locals kept coming in and out and considering the counter space is limited, I can imagine the A1 Seafood Service selling out of product easily on a good day. They close after the 1^st of Jan for 3 months but I’ll be back before then for the Sea Scallops and might try the crabs (which would be my first time eating crabs that were fresh when I cooked them). Give them a try and tell them Scott the printer repair guy told you about them. Maybe you’ll get a sample of crap cakes they make themselves.