Kaz Matsune
- May 11, 2021
- 3 min read

Where can you find fish when making sushi at home? (2023 Update)

Updated: Jan 5

January 5, 2023 UPDATE:

Here are some new additions to the list of online sites that offer sushi grade fish.

Nevada

Sierra Meat and Seafood, Reno

Southern California

Catalina Offshore Products, San Diego

Massachusetts

Wulf's Fish, Boston

Online

Sushify

Buy fresh fish online? Does that sound crazy to you?

If so, think about what many people said about buying any products online like Amazon some twenty years ago. Many felt uncomfortable entering their credit card information because they felt "not secure" about the online transaction.

Enter the world of ordering fresh fish online - post-COVID lockdown (in the US), 2021.

Thanks to the advancement in logistics and freezing technologies (hello flash fast freezer!), fish for sushi is becoming more and more available to the places where it was unavailable.

Many wholesale fish companies started to sell fish online in the past year after the lockdown. This was due to the sales decrease from restaurants and catering companies closing (temporarily or permanently).

This was bad news for the fish sellers, but to you, this is great news because now you can purchase the fresh fish that was available only to the restaurants.

Since "where can I get sushi fish?" is the top question the participants ask during our in-person and online sushi-making class. I decided to put together a list of supermarkets and fish companies to purchase sushi fish.

About Sushi Grade (or Sashimi Grade)

The first thing is to look for the word "Sashimi" or "Sushi Grade" on the label.

There is no "official" term for Sushi Grade and Sashimi Grade fish as far as FDA is concerned. If you hear someone saying Sushi Grade, it simply means, "suitable for raw consumption."

You've probably seen "Salmon" at the supermarket like Whole Foods or Costco. Since they don't have the word "Sashimi" or "Sushi Grade," those are for cooked consumption. Make sure the label says "Sushi Grade Salmon" or "Sashimi Salmon."

If you are not sure, ask the person who sells the fish if it is sushi grade.

(Hamachi Sashimi, from Marukai Supermarket, Cupertino, CA)

Here is a list of fish sellers and supermarkets you can purchase ingredients

Ranch 99

(photo from Wikimedia)

99 Ranch has 53 stores (as of January 2020), primarily in California, with other stores in Nevada, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia. The company also started offering shopping via its website in 2014 (from wikiWikipediapedia.)

If you go there, you can find most ingredients for Asian food including sushi ana Japanese.

Mitsuwa

A Japanese supermarket chain in America, with locations in California, Illinois, Texas, Hawaii and New Jersey. Their fish selection is great for those who want to make sushi at home.