SUMMATION: Open-air wooden shack with 8 long, large freezers. Fresh fishes-of-the-day had not…read morefrozen yet. A good variety of fishes, shrimp, octopus, and lobsters, but most were frozen. Good quality and reasonable prices. Nice wall paintings of fishes. Only Spanish is spoken.
NAME: Pescaderia Paola
MY RATING: Excellent
SIZE: ~15 x 30 ft. room and ~15 x 20 ft. room
TITLE: "Fresh Seafood" [Yelp, my review #283, 19 December 2014]
TELEPHONE: (787) 834-1358
WEB PAGE: http://www.lapulguilla.com/pescaderiapaola
E-MAIL: karenyrichard2003@yahoo.com
OWNER: cell phone (787) 210-1583
LOCALITY: 5178 PR-64, Bario Mani, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00680
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 18°14'47.3"N, 67°10'28.0"W
DIFFICULTY LOCATING: easy
DIRECTIONS: This shop is on the northern edge of Mayagüez near the coast. From the north on PR-2, pass the airport turn off on the left and turn right onto PR-64 to the west at the next traffic light. From the south, pass the entrance to the Western Plaza on your left and take a left onto PR-64 at the next traffic light. Continue on this road until it makes a big turn to the south (left). In the middle of this turn you will see their shack and sign on the left side of the road. There is a median; therefore, you must do a U-turn at the next opening.
PARKING: There are 1 or 2 parking places on the cement in front.
OCCASION: We wanted fresh fish for a party and they had chillo (Queen Snapper [A]). They did not have chapin (trunkfish [B]) or Capitán (Hogfish [C]), but have them sometimes.
AIR CONDITIONED: open air without screens
HOURS OF OPERATION: 7 am-5 pm Monday-Saturday, 7 am-3 pm Sunday
TYPE: Fresh and frozen local seafood.
LAYOUT: Open-air wooden shack with ~15 x 30 ft. room and ~15 x 20 ft. room containing 8 long, large freezers.
DÉCOR: Nice fish figures on walls.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
CUSTOMERS:
(I) You will need to know the local names of fishes (http://caribbeanfmc.com/reports-sci-docs/FISH%20COMMON%20NAMES.pdf) and at least rudimentary Spanish.
(II) You can call ahead to see what they have fresh and frozen.
MANAGER/OWNER:
The laws concerning the responsibility of the retailers of seafood in Puerto Rico are about to change [1].
ENVIROMENTAL: We commented about some of the species for sale [2]. I will not say which ones. The operator said that was the responsibility of the fishermen, not the retailers [1].
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Many laws concerning local seafood are apparently about to change and may place more responsibility on the retailers.
[2] In purchasing any seafood these days you must know the local conditions and local species to be aware what may be potentially dangerous, endangered, good, or bad. What they were selling was really none of our business; caveat emptor.
SPECIES LIST
[A] "Chillo" just means "snapper," but these were Vermilion Snapper, Rhomboplites aurorubens, is a good food fish found in moderately deep (40-100 m usually) waters.
[B] Trunkfish is our favorite fish. It has a delicate flavor and semi-firm, white flesh. These fishes must be prepared carefully as they have a very toxic skin.
[C] Hogfish, Lachnolamias maximus, is large, firm, white-fleshed, and delicious. Often called "Hog Snapper," but it is a wrasse. It is seldom caught by hook-and-line or trap, but usually speared.
