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Yes way! At it's best, it's tender but has a bit of a resilient abalone-like chew. Its sweet, a little briny, and mild and takes to many different kinds of flavors.

The suction cups are also a little crunchy for some textural interest XD

I like it in sushi, its also very nice grilled over charcoal. Also its great in cioppino or gumbo. In some seafood markets you can get the itty bitty ones that are much more tender. Just throw them whole into your soup!

I couldn't tell you why its not on restaurant menus more, maybe the chefs assume the clientele isn't up for octopus, yet.

Oops forgot,
The texture can be a bit like squid but not as chewy, and it has a very mild flavor like squid. If you were to puree it and make cakes with it you could use any good crab cake recipe. This would also make it less rubbery. If you desire the chewy experience, deep fry it in Drake's mix and serve it with a sauce of your liking. I agree wtih fuuchan in that it takes to many flavors. I don't know if I could compare it to abalone though. I have only eaten abalone one time, recently, while on vacation in Monterey CA.
I ordered it from an appetizer menu without first looking at the price. When the server brought it out, he said "enjoy, it's a delicasy" Holy crap the stuff is expensive. 32 dollars for a cake about the size of a silver dollar. I don't remember exactly what it tasted like (I was in shock after looking back at the menu after the "delicasy" comment) but I did like it.

I have had calimari and octopus quite a few times. When it's cooked right, it's tender, juicy and tasty. I only get this when I go to the coast...San Francisco, or my favorite place...Monterey. You can't get better seafood then on the coast Here in the valley, it is tough chewy, slimy and fishy...Gross!

Way! A couple of years ago, at a friend's wedding in Honolulu, I was treated to fresh octopus. The beast had literally been caught that morning, and the bride's mother showed me how to "de-beak" (removing a vicious-looking mouth and teeth!) and dress the octopus. It was huge! The whole octopus was thrown onto the grill, right after the hamburgers and sausages! :D

The texture was very much like abalone, or thick calamari steaks, and I found the flavor very mild, which lent itself well to the charcoal grill. It had a "fresh-from-the-sea" essence, which was wonderful.

I would definitely eat it again!

Nope. Nothing with suckers for me thanks.

Both. I can't eat the sucker things. They creep me out and, texturally, I hate them. So for the suckers - no way. But for the rest of the thing, definitely way. It's tender, chewy, mild. I've never made it so have no awesome recipes to impart, but I've had it as sushi, and I've had it grilled and dressed w/olive oil and garlic and OMG it was good. It's one of those foods that I enjoy, but don't exactly seek out.

NO Way.....tryed it in Spain just couldn't get over the texture thing..

Way. Steamed w/o any seasoning, there's nothing incredibly discernable one would taste to dislike.

I've had it at Japanese (topping on sushi, grilled, with scallops), Greek (smoked, grilled, and served w/ olive oil), Korean (fried in gochujang and in kimchi jjigae), and Italian (school lunch as cioppino - w/ scallops, crab, mussels, and shrimp) style.

I've noticed the eww-ness factor is that it's...octopus, and next, the texture as has been described above. When I tell someone I've eaten octopus and get that "eww" reaction, I always ask them if they've ever had it. 9/10 have never had it but can't get over that it's octopus (same with squid and eel). 1/10 complain abt the texture.

I think it's the demand and what part of the country that dictates the "delicacy" (price). I've noticed that it's readily available in large Greek, Asian, Puerto Rican, and Italian populations, so it's pretty cheap in those areas so it's not treated as a delicacy. Of course, going to a pricey restaurant = $$$.

In Hawaii, you can find them raw at any old grocery store cheap. In Cleveland, I have to go to certain communities to get them fairly inexpensively at chain grocery stores. CLE has a large pockets of Greeks, Italians, and Puerto Ricans. All fishmongers carry octopus here.

If you'd like to try it for the first time, I think the safest way is in cioppino or as kimchi jjigae or nakji bokum (in gochujang), only because it's not the headliner where you're left with an entire dish uneaten because of its existence. It may be hard to fish them all out in a jjigae though. Grilled, smoked octopus at Greek restaurants as an appetizer is my favorite preparation.

Once, I opened up the refrigerator of my home as a tiny girl to see a large jar with an intact purple octopus floating in it, like a lab specimen. My father, who never cooked, but grew up on octopus in Greece as a child had brought it home from the fish market. My mouth hung open, still filled with the fried clams that had been the purpose of his journey.

My mother had no idea how to cook it and there it sat, floating, its sad little suction cups pressed against the glass for a long, long time.

So, no, unless I purchase as a salt water aquarium at some point!

I highly recommend TAKOYAKI!

Second the recommendation for takoyaki. Best eaten fresh and hot. :)

Way. Grilled and seasoned with lemon and butter. Or as an ingredient in cioppino.

@Alm25: Lidia's in Pittsburgh also makes a great cioppino with octopus. Delicious.

@Alm25: Ah. Just learned that I ate zuppe di pesce and not cioppino at Lidia's. Checked the menu and looked up the difference . . . which is that cioppino originated in San Francisco and usually has fish that are native to the Pacific. They're similar, though. Whatever, right? We love the octopus.

So Way....Boiled, then while still warm coated with olive oil, lemon juice and maybe a little dried oregano. Toss with diced celery, carrot, red onion - LUNCH (and real low carbs).

Totally way. Grilled tentacles brushed with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon--divine!

Way! Octopus is delicious. Its almost like squid...but not as chewy. The little whole ones are the best, I think. Try them out in a soup or in a tomato sauce over some pasta; you'll love it!

@buffy...Merced...glad to meet someone 'close by'.

For me NO WAY- it's a texture thing.

@Cassaendra- Did you ever have dried octopus chips in Japan? My BF keeps talking about eating this when he was a kid and spent 2 years in Tokyo (in the 1950's).

This is for the BF because he has had a craving for octopus for weeks now and we had to find a place that served it to rid his craving. We found a brand new Greek restaurant but was served as a appetizer not as an entree.

@hmw0029: Haha - I think it was actually a combo of reasons that still make me weak in the knees when I think about takoyaki and extended to okonomiyaki. I was in a car for several hours riding around the island (Okinawa) siteseeing en route to a picnic and hoarded the whole box to myself while my cousin's son was staring at me; gorged on the sauce; and the onset of an illness (y'know, it really could have been bad takoyaki) that left me with the runs for 2 whole weeks.

@pjracz10: Yes! I love octopus, squid, and shrimp chips!! My husband doesn't like the smell of those chips, as well as squid, cuttlefish, and octopus jerky, so I don't get to eat them very often. :P