"Suppliers and customers alike describe Issacson and Stein as unique even among rival fish sellers elsewhere in the United States, the kind of old style place where the daily selection are written by hand.?

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"The odor wafting down the block toward Moto and Follia may not be auspicious, but this wholesaler-cum-retailer is actually fairly civilized and easy to navigate. Just pick up some plastic gloves and a bag and grab whatever looks good."

If you've ever been at one of the city's top restaurants, enjoying blackened mahi mahi or a grilled tilapia, chances are they bought it from Issacson's Lucky you: Issacson's sells to the general public, in addition to chef-run kitchens."

I was looking for some Alaskan King crab legs and lump crab meat for my anniversary dinner this weekend, and decided to head down to Isaacson & Stein. I'm definitely glad that I did! This place has a fantastic selection, and they're extremely efficient. The lines are quick, everything is set up in a helpful and logical way, and they even provide a fish cleaning service (which I didn't use since I was only procuring shellfish, but I definitely will in the future). Anyway, great place, wonderful selection, reasonable prices - I'll definitely be going back!

Give me some mussels.....not muscles! A little shoutout to the funny man cleaning up some fishies who cleared my deer in headlights face. Lookout king cappy on the slow boat to Alaska, you need not climb aboard for this fishing season. Or next season for that matter, what you need to do is get yourself down to Isaacson's for your seafood needs and deeds. A wholesaler for seafood, doing a fast double take. Wholesaler indeed! First things first, when you begin your trek through the cab of the store grab some gloves at the counter, snag a bag and figure out what you want. Then it's all up to you to hook it and book it, in the bag that is. From Alaskan Cod to Red Snapper filets, there's quite the selection all at very low prices per pound. The snapper was somewhere around $10p/lb. Everything is in motion and everyone slickered up is there to help you out and laugh through the process. I ended up walking away with 2lbs of mussels rounding out to under $7, which is absolutely insane so you know yours truly will be back every single time I am in the mood for them. All of the items are freshly packed on ice and are constantly being checked ensuring the freshness. There is also a freezer for bulk purchases that are pre-frozen. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all. This is probably the best steal of a deal to find in terms of seafood and quality.

I absolutely love this place! Baby octopus and calamari for $4/lb? Copper river salmon for $10? Fresh rainbow trout for $5? Yes, please! Everything here is cheap (1/2 - 1/3 the price of Whole Foods), fresh and delicious. It's also pretty fun walking in, putting on the gloves and selecting my own fish. I'm now planning to learn to shuck oysters so I can take advantage of the great prices sometime soon. I haven't had the friendly folks in Isaacson & Stein clean any fish for me yet as I'm somehow always in a hurry when I visit, but hope to have the chance too.

"One of the best things about living in River West (and that I miss very much) was living so close to Isaacson and Stein."

"This place exceeded all my expectations! Chicago is a steak city without a doubt, but this place is making its mark for home cooks and the city's best chefs alike."

"Awesome wholesale place open to the public reminds you that fish actually come from the ocean. Glove-up to select your items and get in touch with the hand-to-mouth essence of seafaring man. Fun place, great prices, as fresh as it gets for the open market. Highly recommended."

I used to go to Dirk's and pay ungodly prices for decent fish...thankfully I have been set straight. Isaacson's is the place to go. The freshest, widest, selection in the city (and if you're looking for something in particular they can give you the date when it is in season, and when it will hit their store) and you won't walk out feeling ripped off. The staff is no nonsense but knowledgable.

"This is as fresh as downtown Chicago is going to get. Restaurants get their fish from here, and the real foodies get it from here or Whole Foods (which is always 2-3x more expensive). You can get your standard fillets of tilapia, farm raised or wild sockeye salmon, swordfish, tuna, grouper, marlin. But the interesting fish are skinned skate (yeah, I see you French people looking up), chilean sea bass (endangered Patagonian toothfish), halibut, cod."

"Wide selection of seafood. Prices are decent. If anything, this place is great jsut because it is one of the few remaining places that represents what old chicago used to be back in the day. It is located near the warehouses and loading docks of randolph street. If you want the mercado feel this is the place. There hours are a bit weird, and parking can be impossible, but if you come during off-peak weekend shopping hours you should be fine."