Palmer’s Direct to You Market

I visit Palmer’s to get fish and other meats. The quality is higher than supermarket choices and the price is lower.
I have never tried their premade food not because it doesn’t look good, but because I am having fish for dinner already.
I recommend the quality and service of their meat departments.

I just discovered this place but have been twice already in the last month for lunch. Both times I ordered the crab cake sandwich. It’s so good, lots of crab, and a healthy portion too! I get the fries as a side and they make them nice and crispy. They even sell the yummy sauce they put on the sandwich so I picked some up from the grocer side for the next time I have a sandwich at home! I wish they were open for dinner and I’d probably go there regularly.

Awesome place for lunch! Soup and sandwich combo was filling and very tasty. I got the clam chowder (excellent) and the ham sandwich was as good as anything you can get at panera. Difference is, this is more reasonable.

Came for the fish fry and left underwhelmed. Fries were not as generous as other places, but that’s OK because they werent very good. They tasted like they’d been fried twice. The roll tasted old. The fish was OK, nothing sensational. The best part was the homemade tartar sauce, which is better than the ubiquitous Kraft packets, but still heavy on the mayo and not enough pickle. The worst was the coleslaw: tasteless. If you don’t like coleslaw, youre out of luck as they wont let you sub mac salad, as most places do. You’ll be forced to go a la carte.
Try Bay Front Restaurant. See my review.

Love this place! They have the freshest meats, seafood and the friendliest most helpful customer service. Always greeted with a smile and able to answer all my questions.
I LOVE the lobster bisque — its so good! Smooth with some fine chunks of lobster — wonderful flavor/​hint of sherry. The bowl size is a meal at $ 7 — Highly Recommended. You can get fresh fish cooked to order with options such as fried, blackened or grilled and then you can choose the sauces/​toppings. They also cook other meats to order. They also had the cheeseburger chowder today which is also flavorful with chunks of ground beef, potatoes and cheesy broth.
They also sell a nice selection of local sauces, rubs, spices to match with your meat purchases.
Check this place out and don’t leave without your lobster bisque!

Just DAYUM! You want excellent prices on Fish and yes Meat come here. They are way more affordable than Wegmans! Thanks to Matt who assisted us when we had questions about Munk Fish and even took time out to print out a recipe to make it and gave us other info to help us along with his recommendations. We’ve been here twice it’s not a huge place but they have excellent stuff and they make their own tarter sauce, yum! Listen don’t be afraid to take advice or ask staff for help they are excellent and they will go out of their way to help! Cheers we will be back!

DO NOT BUY meat from these guys. For the third time I got rancid meat. Short ribs this time bought same day.
I called and spoke to some knuckle head «team leader» and simply told him they were bad and wanted a refund. I wasn’t even pissed just wanted them to make it right. I think we are talking about $ 8-​$ 9…I tossed ribs and package because they smelled up my entire house !
Señor knucklehead informed me he can’t refund without a package. Which I wasn’t about to dig out of trash, smell my car up and drive back to the market. Señor knucklehead refused to honor a refund without the package. I told him that he want going to loose a customer over it and he said «fine.»
I will never shop at this store again. A small place like this lives and dies by their rep, this kind of service is unforgivable.
Hope the $ 8-​$ 9 was worth it señor knucklehead.
I’ll be at Wegmans buying more short ribs if anyone needs me!

Probably a 3.6 for prepared foods.
Food: I ate here once when staying nearby for a wedding.
I got a bowl of fish chowder, which came with a roll ($ 3.50). The roll was good on its own, but far better when dipped into the chowder. The chowder recipe changes weekly, and was filling and high quality. I supplemented the chowder with two sides ($ 1.50 each): mushroom stuffing and steamed broccoli. They did not have fresh brewed iced tea, so I just enjoyed water. My meal was tasty, and a good value. I would eat at Palmer’s again.
Atmosphere: It’s a fish market, and it smells like fish. You order at a counter, and the food is nicely displayed. There are some tables and chairs in the center of the market, and some more outside.

Got an English fish fry and catfish, both were gross! English fish was extremely soggy, the chips were too thick and not crispy, the catfish was completely bland and flavorless and the breading sloughed right off, and the fries were soggy and gross. $ 20 down the trash.

If you are looking for good meat and really good prices look no further. They have fresh and frozen seafood and even a decent place to have a lunch.

Great place to have a casual meal. Disappointed that they don’t offer whole belly clams. Fried seafood dinner was very good. Seafood bisque is outstanding! Not too salty like many places and you can really taste the sherry. Quite impressive.

Palmer’s market is AMAZING. Not only does it have the freshest seafood, the freshest poultry, and the freshest meats but their café/​restaurant portion for lunch (or dinner on Fridays) is spectacular!
Whenever I’m cooking something with fresh meats, I go to Palmer’s almost every time. Everyone is extremely friendly, they’ll cut meat there for you on the spot if they don’t have exactly what you need, and the tenderness and flavor speaks for itself. They know what they’re doing and they’re extremely good at it. Their spice rubs they sell on the side are especially great too! I like their montreal chicken seasoning for sure.
In terms of the restaurant/​café side — it’s extremely well-​priced and the best fish I’ve had in town. Their sides are good, their burgers are good, their chicken sandwiches are good, everything is just made brilliantly. I have to say some of the best meals I’ve had in all of Rochester were enjoyed at Palmers. Special props to their pulled pork and lobster bisque — yum!

I love Palmer’s fish and chips. It’s basically «Kentucky Fried» fish made with very fresh ingredients. The batter and seasoning are fantastic.
The fish (cod) is light and fluffy and is only fishy in the good way (because it’s fish) and not in the «this fish has been sitting around too long» way.
The chips are American-​style chips (i.e. they’re crisps, not home fries). They are fresh-​made too and are salted perfectly.
I got the fish and chips meal via takeout and the whole meal stayed crunchy for me even in the styrofoam takeout container. It came with some mild and tasty tartar sauce which I actually ended up using very minimally because the seasoning in the batter was so nice.
This is a fantastic place to get fish and chips. Note that the fish-​fry is also very good, but doesn’t have the same awesome battering job that the fish and chips has. I recommend it, but I am really into the Palmer’s fish and chips.

Palmer’s Market has a great selection of fresh seafood at prices that actually allow you to bring it home, rather than simply admire it as a display of ichthyoid art. The quality is wonderful, and the selection is phenomenal. Mussels and cockles (alive alive-​o) oysters, clams, lobsters and crab of various types all looked fresh. I believe I was drooling once I saw the shrimp, and that was before I even saw the scallops. They had tuna, salmon, sole, sea bass, sword fish, cod, tilapia, steel head, trout, and more! All of it looked fresh, absolutely nothing looked tired or old.
If you want to pinch a penny a little tighter they also had a very good looking selection of frozen fish at slightly lower prices.
As if this weren’t enough for a great rating, they also have great looking meat, at better than supermarket quality and better than supermarket prices.
Don’t feel like cooking? They have a prepared foods area where they did all the work for you.
As for the staff, they were very friendly and quite knowledgeable, I love good customer service, and they did a great job.
To top all of this off, you can enjoy a great meal right there if all of this food shopping has worked up an appetite.
If you want to buy fish in Rochester, this is where you need to buy it, unless you have a Bugatti Veyron in the garage at home, in which case you can probably just drive to Wegman’s Pitsford or charter a plane to your yacht and catch it yourself.
There you have it, great fish, great meat, great prices, and great customer service. What more do you want? Go already!

When we first moved to Rochester, we shopped at Palmer’s and thought it was great. But, it is much more convenient to go a block away to Wegmans ;) so we stopped going here. However today, I was really pining for some swordfish and it is just way too expensive at Wegs (for a family of 4). I remembered that we really thought they had a great seafood selection at Palmers. so I checked their website and ding ding ding, «bingo!» swordfish on sale for 11.99 a pound?! Yay!!! So off we went to Palmers and believe me I am kicking myself for not returning sooner! Not only did they have a great swordfish selection — they had beautiful wild sockeye salmon, lobsters (sigh!!), dover sole, bluefish, trout, amazing looking colossal shrimp… on and on. Being a Boston girl… I love my seafood, and Palmers did not disappoint. We even picked up some NE Clam Chowder at the prepared foods area, yum! Their meat selection is really excellent as well, and the quality and prices are competitive. They have cuts and selections that you would have a difficult time finding unless you went to a «better Wegmans» and you would pay much more. They have duck, they have rabbit, they have frog legs, they have irish bangers… and of course they have strip steaks, pot roasts, chicken breasts etc. Their employees are helpful and very customer oriented, which is a bonus!

Delicious, HUGE Friday fish dinner-​came with fries and cole slaw. Great price for the amount of food you get. The atmosphere is really neat, take a look around at all the meat selections while you wait for your good. Quick service, we went later in the night so the wait wasn’t too bad at all. I definitely recommend Palmer’s for fish fry.

My husband and I love this place! Mostly we go for the fish fry, but the clam strips are outstanding! Big and tender, like I have never had before. We are big fans of the homemade tartar sauce too. Oh and the soups too… delish.
I will admit I’m not a huge fan of the seating there, which seems loud and «fish-​bowlish» to me, especially if it is very busy and people and watching for an empty seat. But this hasnt kept us away.
Most every time we end up buying something from the meat counter to try the next day. We will keep coming back here!

It’s all good, for the most part… Palmers has long been known for their prepared fish dishes, and was one of the first places I went to for a fish fry when I moved to Rochester waaaay back when.
Flash forward to their new prepared foods department, capably managed by Jay Cohen, formerly of the Rio Bamba. Since its opening, Palmers has quickly become one of my go-​to places when i need to pick up a quick dinner fro my family. There’s quite a wide variety of entrées to choose from; so far we’ve loved almost everything: fried scallops, clam strips, Fish Fry (natch) & their totally awesome C.A.B. (Certified Angus Beef) burger. The only item we haven’t been thrilled with was their buffalo chicken strips, but Jay tells me I must’ve ordered them on an off night.
It’s a great spot to get a bite of eat if you don’t want to take home, rivaled only by Wegman’s Food Bar, which MUST’VE been inspired by Palmers.
Mmmm… I want to get a Chicken sandwich RIGHT NOW

Palmer’s was so close to getting a 5-​star review that I feel just offal, I mean, awful about not giving it to them. Four stars for what they provide and minus one for their lack of interesting options.
All of the meat products I have brought home have been top notch, sometimes even better than Wegmans (gasp!). The steaks are more tender and beefy than the Cryovac’d Club Packs at Wegmans and the variety is just as good. In my opinion, beef is what Palmer’s does best. There aren’t as many porky options as Wegmans, but there’s a decent selection of ribs, chops, and roasts. There is a fair amount of chicken, but nothing exceptional or unique in the poultry area (I didn’t even see Cornish Hens).
The fish selection is good and shockingly fresh, albeit uninspired. Yes, they have scallops, salmon, haddock, little necks, and lobsters. They have frozen crab legs and shrimp in the freezer case. I even bought some seafood sausage, which cooked up rather well on the grill this summer. However, their seafood selection isn’t even close to that of the Pittsford Wegmans. No extensive selection of oysters, no steamers, no live king crabs. No cockles!
It’s probably a cost thing. I mean, how many live king crabs do you think Wegmans sells in one day? I guess it doesn’t really make sense if you’re not a multi-​billion dollar company.
I think the single best thing about Palmer’s is the restaurant /​prepared foods section, and I would probably give Palmer’s 5 stars if that’s all it was. Being a supplier for a bunch of local restaurants, it makes sense that Palmer’s has some of the freshest, cheapest seafood in the city; however, some genius over there decided to capitalize on this fact and develop a way for customers to enjoy these products on the spot. What they call «meals-​to-​go» is basically a counter service restaurant, comparable to Wegmans new Food Bar, with a more extensive menu. You stand in line, order at the counter, get a number, and your meal is brought to your table.
Starters include mini crab cakes, fried and sauteed calamari, scallops, buffalo chicken tenders, fresh soups, and meaty and non-​meaty salads. They cook steaks to order and two 4 ounce tenderloins cost a mere $ 12.99. My father said the rib-​eye was one of the best he’s ever had. I generally order from the seafood menu, which allows the customer to choose a fish and a preparation method (grilling, frying, pan searing, etc.) and your meal is cooked to your liking in a matter of minutes. The pan seared scallops are probably the best scallops I’ve had outside of my apartment. The fried haddock is a Rochester classic, and the Bouillabaisse provides a plethora of fresh fish in one dish. Nothing on the menu costs more than $ 15 and you never have to leave a tip.
Palmer’s doesn’t have many organic/​natural/​free range options, but I don’t think they’re catering to that particular audience. Also, they don’t carry any offal or poor people’s cuts, such as hearts, pork belly, organ meat, or feet. Thinking Palmer’s was more of a butcher and less of a meat market, I asked one of the guys behind the counter if they had any beef tongue. Much to my surprise, the guy looked at me like I was crazy, laughed, and said, «No, we don’t carry THAT.» Therefore, if you’re a poor person, don’t like the fact that your pork is being fed pork byproducts, or simply take pleasure in preparing the often neglected parts of animals, you might want to go elsewhere to find your proteins.
On the other hand, if you are a middle-​of-​the-​road Rochesterian who likes a good value and eats mostly sirloin and pork chops, you’ll most likely love this place.

Apparently Palmer’s used to be a wholesale purveyor of fish for the restaurants in the area. I wouldn’t know anything about that. I am only concerned with things that affect me directly, because let’s face it, the world essentially revolves around me.
What I do know is that nowadays, Palmer’s is a huge, high-​ceilinged market where you can buy any sort of meat, fish or poultry you’d like. All the employees are friendly, and know what they are talking about. We bought ourselves some ribs, and they were freaking delicious.
On the right side of the market, they also have a restaurant where they cook up all the wonderful items they sell… fish, steaks and more. You can choose from several different preparations, sauces, starters and sides (see photos). I appreciate this service, because in addition to being a very big deal, I am also quite lazy, and largely useless.
Don’t act like you’re not impressed.