Crabhouse Seaside Dampa

Very unique place for someone who's visiting the Philippines, or even a local. It is definitely worth visiting for the experience. Basically the first step is walk through the market, choose a vender, select and purchase your fresh seafood. Second you select one of many restaurants in the market to cook up your purchase. My suggestion would be to walk through the entire market to see what looks appetizing and ask what the prices are. Also as you walk through, people from the local restaurants will show a menu of how they prepare dishes and the price by weight on cooking your seafood selections. Google reviews for the restaurants located in the market can be helpful. Choose the restaurant, or take it home to prepare yourself. Finally enjoy! There are so many varieties of fish, shrimp, lobster, scallops, crab etc, to name them all. Just mention to the eager vendors and restaurateurs that you're just looking, don't feel pressured to make a purchase and enjoy the experience. At the end you will have indulged in some of the most delectable seafood ever.

Haggle as much as you can in the market. Make sure you get a good restaurant, usually the ones with lots of people inside. The bill can really rack up if you're not careful, so double-check your bill.. don't get overwhelmed by the people who try to get your attention, be ready for them. They'll try to convince you to choose them or their restau or store, ask questions, and check their menu. Obviously, if you ask if their food is good, they'll say yes. Look around, check what you want to buy, haggle, and just enjoy the experience. The seafood is fresh. Just make sure you're getting what you paid for (weight wise). Good luck. Tip: If you're a foreigner, bring a local who knows how to haggle.

Prices are very reasonable. Friendly people. Very fresh seafoods. We had our “paluto” at Sharmila Ihaw-Ihaw. People are very accomodating. Only comment thier hand soap is diluted with water that is why it is not forming any foam. I hope this will be improved and there were flies.

Returned to Dampa for a seafood feast craving. Always satisfies my longing for freshly cooked dishes. Despite being a bit on the pricey side, the dining area tends to get swamp and while not super clean, it still holds its charm. However, the quality of the seafood keeps me coming back for more.

So how it works with most these places is you buy what you want from the fish market. Then you choose a restaurant to cook it how you want. I found there to be good value with the fish market but less so with the restaurants. Paid about 1000 peso for 2 people with them cooking our seafood, a bowl of plain rice and 2-3 fruits drinks. They cooked half a kilo of prawns and half a kilo of squid.