Just tried their crawfish boil outside for the first time. Got 2 LBS. With sausage. Pasta and potato. Flavor was very bland. Do not recommend their outside boil at all. Sadly.....Will not be back. read more

The lady operating this little shop was fun to talk to and there was a good assortment of decent bait to purchase. There's also some very basic groceries items, seafood and meats for sale. And if you like fun tanks and tees to wear check that part of the store too. read more

Buddy's Seafood & Bait - Fresh on ice Fish - Seafood Markets Near Me - Matagorda, Texas

Seafood is always fresh and of good quality. Fresh caught is a real thing here! Whenever I'm in the area, I always stop in.

Fresh seafood is what you are looking for?? Buddy's Seafood has it ! I purchased shrimp, for a shrimp boil. They had three different sizes to choose from and will remove their heads and devein if that is what you want. There were several other items they had for sale that looked good, but shrimp is all I needed. You can't get it much fresher than Buddy's!! When in Matagorda, give them a try. read more

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There was a woman who welcomed us nicely in the beginning when we first entered. We weren't from around the area. I wanted just just pound bait. I guess I didn't get enough bait for her liking or I didn't look a certain way? (I don't know and don't care) She placed the bait in the bag and just had a rude demeanor and took the next customer, leaving the bait open and untied. I didn't even know we were done. THE WOMAN HERE IS RUDE. I'll take my business somewhere else. Their selection wasn't great either. I saw many others around the area. read more

Food is pretty good and very fresh Service is amazing and answers everything you need The thing about the ambiance is that well it smell because of the bait but otherwise it's awesome read more

Stopped in to see what Matagorda had to offer. Location closer to the beach. I think their other location is up north? WoW! They had a Variety of Awesome seafood. From shrimp to fish to Blue crab AND everything in between! Yes including Soft-Shell Blue Crab OMG!! We bought the crab-stuffed jalapenos, Blue crab, Soft-shell Blue crab. Bought some zatarains breading and Boom Ya Gotta Dang Good meal! Their shrimp looked amazing too. 3 different sizes. Would LOVE to return to this pace but were ack in Galveston and flying back home soon. You will Not be disappointed stopping in here. Thank You for offering us your fine selection of Quality Fresh seafood! read more

Very nice guy! I fish a lot... the bait was really nice and fresh! Definitely will be back to this spot!

Have stopped here a couple of times after not so successful fishing trips. The stuffed flounder is amazing & the shrimp are very nice size. Picked up a bag of jalapeño hush puppies today. Will try them on the Air Fryer. read more

I stopped in today to buy 16 lbs of shrimp, they had heads on shrimp I asked if the sales women if they could dehead the shrimp for me and put into four four pound bags. The sales women looked so put out and there were no other customers in the shop. Expect rude when you go to this business read more

Bought 8lbs of shrimp for a group gathering and the shrimp was mushy and old! Seemed more like bait shrimp than fresh seafood. Also purchased the jalapeño poppers that were supposed to have crab meat in the stuffing. Nothing! Just cream cheese. $26 bucks for 12 poppers and no crab in them! The shrimp though was awful! Shocked they get way with calling this fresh! Disappointing! read more

They cheat you, but the fish is fresh. I have been here several times for the fresh shrimp, which I love, however they weigh the shrimp first with heads on, charge you, then remove the heads and throw them away after they charge you for them. Don't cheat your customers!! read more

Matagorda Beach is a fantastic place to unwind and enjoy nature about as unperturbed as it gets in any place that provides actual shelter, running water, climate control and mosquito fortification. And if you're a good fisherman, you'll probably catch your dinner on any given night you're there. But if you're like me, and under limit redfish and over limit bonnetheads are your bounty, then Buddy's is a diamond in the rough. Forget the bait part. They sell it, but they don't sell live bait. I don't know why they don't rebrand and change the "Bait" part of the name. They are adamant that they don't sell live bait as soon as you walk in. That's great, because we were there for food, not bait (shrimp overlap aside). And about those shrimp... Fully HALF the price of Gulf shrimp in Austin, and probably double the size. We were there a couple of weeks after season opened and their 6-8 shrimp were more like 4-6. HUGE. We opted for their middle size, which are fresh caught by just a half-dozen or so local shrimpers stationed on the lower Colorado River and that spout in and out of the river each day with shrimp as fresh as you'll get anywhere off the boat itself. They were great. Easy to peel, easy to cook, amazing to eat. But the spotless and tidy Buddy's went beyond that. They also had a small but impressive collection of fresh Gulf fish, including Black Drum, Flounder and Red Snapper. We opted for the Snapper (coin flip over the Flounder) and were not disappointed. The bottom line for those with slack lines, is that Buddy's quality is on par with any seafood provider joint here in hometown Austin, even if selection is more limited. You know that by virtue of at least three hours (and much more with the shrimp) the seafood is fresher. On top of all this, the help there (which I failed to ask the name of) was extremely knowledgeable, incredibly kind (even in the face of nap-deprived children) and took pride in his work. You can get basic spices, marinades, fixins and frozen seafood there as well. If you're a seafood snob and aren't sure about appearances and naming, fear not, as a long-time fishianado (had to) and spouse of someone that grew up on fresh caught Florida saltwater fare, I can wholeheartedly recommend this place. It is a rare joint in Matagorda that goes above and beyond. read more

This is a great place to get table shrimp ! He has the freshest seafood great service and very nice people we stop here every time we come to Matagorda read more

We stopped here and bought some fresh shrimp and summer sausage. Nice , helpful folks work here. The shrimp was fresh and delicious. The sausage was excellent too. Highly recommend read more

Our last stop before hitting the beach. Clean bathrooms and friendly staff. Always an assortment of seafood, but honestly, I buy my seafood at a grocery store at home so I can't attest to quality. One of our beach buddies buys shrimp every time we there during season. My purchase every trip? A cinnamon lollipop. Those are the perfect treat on the way home from the beach. read more

Service is great and they always have what we need fresh and in stock! Will definitely continue to get our business on our future trips to Matagorda. read more

We just returned from our first visit to Matagorda and were looking forward to buying fresh seafood. Buddys' was the place for that, according to all the information we had been given. When we went into Buddy's and asked for fresh shrimp and crabs, the unpleasantly indifferent salesperson(?) informed us that the only shrimp available this time of year were frozen and crabs could not be caught at this time of year. He told us that he was not sure when the shrimp were caught--maybe 2012, maybe 2011. We pointed out that all the signs inside and outside the store as well as all internet ads promised fresh shrimp. He agreed, even saying that he himself wrote them, even though there were no fresh shrimp, nor had there been earlier. Of course, we did not purchase anything, leaving with very negative feeling about Buddy's and their business practices. read more

Pleased with the service and the fresh shrimp! Our request to take the heads off was even honored! I have a hard time eating something with the face still on it! We'll be back! Matagorda is a hidden treasure. read more

Figured we would give the place a shot. What a disappointment. Although very clean, the quality of the shrimp and fish was below par. We could smell the odor of rotten fish outside. The overflowing trash can near the front door did not help very much. The shrimp we were shown (by a very rude female salesperson) was black and green colored-not fresh at all even though all their signs say "Fresh off the boat". The other salesperson (a long haired man with no teeth) showed us imported fish fillets, the Chinese lettering on the packages made it clear this was not local catch. A total bust for us. We will stick to Kroger or HEB for our seafood. Don't waste your time, they are selling to tourists who have more money than common sense. read more

We recently bought 6 pounds of large head on shrimp for this place. The guy said they were just caught and fresh. He lied, when we got home and cleaned the shrimp, we immediately noticed a strong iodine smell. We decided to boile them anyway and sure enough, the taste of iodine was over powering. My wife, who has a much better sense of smell than me, also noticed a bleach odor. This is a common method used to preserve rotting shrimp. Buyers beware. read more