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Categories: Food Stands, Seafood [Edit]
Neighborhood: Fisherman's Wharf"This place is GREAT! The location, the food and the restaurant - AMAZING! I had the crab cakes here for lunch and it was by far the best…" read more »
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When I come to SF this is the first place I go! When I have friends from out of town or out of state I always bring them here.
Ive always been a huge fan of the clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and SF really is the best place to get one. Ive tried a tons of restaurants in SF but I stick to the stands in the wharf.
I always get a cup of crab, a clam chowder bread bowl and a cup of lobster, shrimp and octopus. My daughter who is 6 loves to get a large cup of crab meat when we go. I love seafood and love the freshness, quality and taste of these stands. the cups range from $4 - $9 depending on what you order.
Trying to find a place to sit can sometimes be a bit of a hassle. Seagulls are an issue here :-) Sometime I walk down to where the sea lions are to eat and watch the sea lions sleep and play king of the pier.
I recommend this place over the Fisherman's Wharf restaurant on the pier. They are too pricey. You'll get better food with the stands.
Me and my husband swung by Nicks after a long tour of Alcatraz. We each got a sourdough breadbowl filled to the brim with clam chowder.
Mmmmm.
I mean, I was really hungry so a tire would have tasted good at that point, but I really enjoyed the chowder/breadbowl combo. The bread was soft, fluffy and crusty, and the chowder was creamy and delicious. I suppose the chowder could have had a few more clams in it, but it was still good. I would go back, for sure.
We stopped by Nick's for a chowder bowl and a couple freshly steamed crabs. Compared to the restaurants nearby, the crabs were half the price (though still expensive) at over $10/lb. Two crabs and a bread bowl came out to about $40 but we were pretty stuffed by the end of it.
The chowder could have had more clam in it but it was otherwise satisfyingly true to my childhood memories. The drawn butter was a highlight of the night. squirt one of those lemons in there and the sweet crab meat tastes so much sweeter.
crab sidewalk stands all sell the same items and for the same prices. I couldn't figure out if they're from the same business. It's still worth it to give anyone of the spots a try in SF.
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!
On our recent trip to SF, we first walked a few blocks from our hotel to Pier 39. Immediately after seeing all the Bubba Gump Shrimp, Joe's Crab Shack and Hard Rock Cafe paraphernalia, I whined to my boyfriend......this is not what I remember! Where are the deliciously dirty food stands that sell heaps of fried food and clam chowder while yelling at you to get out of the way? Where is the big Boudin building? Where are the overpriced restaurants serving the exact same food they sell at the stands for three times the price? I don't wanna eat a Bubba Gump Shrimp turkey wrap or whatever it is they sell there. His answer to me was "ohhhhhhhh you wanna go to fisherman's wharf, but you said pier 39, dummy". Oops. So we walked over to the wharf on a gorgeous sunny day in San Francisco.
When we got there I got exactly what I wanted, delicious fried food, tasty clam chowder, and a healthy dose of tourism all for less than ten dollars! They have every kind of seafood; crab(cracked for you), fried shrimp and clams, calamari, oysters, shrimp cocktail, all kinds of seafood salads(that looked awesome by the way), and of course warm and tasty and homey clam chowder chock full of clams! The only thing I think is noticeably absent is fried scallops. We had some delicious lightly fried calamari with tangy homemade cocktail sauce, of course some clam chowder, and our friends got fish and chips! The fish pieces were seriously bigger than some of their faces! Crazy.
If you visit San Francisco you must come here, it's a freaking obligation. Shoot, I would eat here all the time even if I lived here, you can't beat unbelievably fresh and cheap seafood, my personal heaven.
We didn't actually dine here, but on the way past, the wrangler (valet?) asked how my day was. When I offered him an enthused "FANTASTIC!!" He complimented me on my shoes.
He was cute and it pretty much made my day. That's all. Keep employing cuties who compliment cuties. WIN!
Clam Chowder in a sourdough bowl is a MUST in San Fransisco and Fisherman's Wharf. Very awesome!!!
Do not come here if you're claustrophobic, or if you don't enjoy someone else breathing down your back for some fresh seafood! =)
It's almost always crowded, but I love how everything's so much cheaper and local. The chowder here is so much better than the restaurants out on Pier 39, and you get to see all the locals' personalities as they help you out...
This place is wack!!!! I'm sorry I experience way better!!! This didnt even make me say pretty good, it made me say ummm this is it? EVERYONE THERE CRAB IS CACA!!!! its just steam crab! thats it, no flavor whats soo ever! only flavor u get is from the butter they provide you! Soo wack and I'm soo disappointed like a parent to there kids!
There clam chowder aint even that good! I go to San Pedro and Long Beach pier and get all my seafood, and thats what you called bomb ass sea food! i honestly dont know how people can say there seafood is good at fisherman wharf! All there fried food taste like frozen fried food!
I will never go back, only if my friends wanted to go and chill but I wouldn't eat!
I'm just being real! Hate it or Love it!
This place is way too over-hyped... Clam chowder was a "meh" at best, the highlight of the soup was actually the sourdough bowl made by Boudin (surely, I cannot credit them for the bread they didn't bake). The soup was lacking quality ingredients, and you could barely taste the clams. I've had better clam chowder at SF Soup Company.
The big crab was slightly more exciting, but they were just boiled crab you could get from anywhere else.
I've made better clam chowder myself. I figure most people go to fulfill their Fisherman's Wharf fantasy: sunny day, wind in your hair, bustling crowd at the stands, hot chowder and Boudin bread! ....Mostly, I try to avoid that area of town, but my friend wanted the 'San Francisco experience.' Now having done that, I can adamantly protest returning in the near future. However, I might reconsider if the soup was more flavorful..but I doubt it.
You MUST go to the Fisherman's Wharf sidewalk stands!!!! Only thing about it is WHERE THE HECK DO YOU STOP AND FINALLY GRAB SOME GRUB??? It is funny though. We saw this guy throwing crabs into boiling hot water, tons of tourists, great singers, and this one guy who apparently was counting us??? "One, two, three, oh FOOOUUURRR beautiful girls please come into my restaurant. We have good lunch specials, etc" hahaha super sweet. We were like uhhhhhh. We're going to just share some clam chowder in a bread bowl from a stand. We're broke dude. :D Ok we didn't say that. Definitely fun!
fresh, delectable, and note worthy! everytime i go to fisherman's wharf, i always make it point to get some clam chowder in a bread bowl, youll also see so many people chowing down on all kinds of seafood you can think of! the crabs are always HUGE in SF!! so its worth eating your fill of crab legs!!! just watch out for the birds waiting for you to share your chowder!!
So many choices to choose fresh seafood from, but we ended up getting a crab chowder bread bowl from Nick's. This was my first time eating crab chowder, since normally I stick with the clam chowdah, and it was yellow! From corn? Crab guts? Not sure. There was more chowder than anything, and I would've preferred some more potatoes and crab. In fact, I'm not sure I even tasted crab! All the bread bowls go for about the same price around here, and this one cost $6.02 with tax. Noting special, but a great area to grab a quick bite to eat and go about the rest of your day.
I love this place! Good and pretty cheap! It's fun just sitting there on stools stuffing your face while others keep walking by and staring at your food.
Just try it. Then hop on over to that museum and wander around for bit.
Yummy and cheap, the authentic Fisherman's wharf experience.
I love going there and taking my friends from out of town there.
It's not super cheap, but definitely cheaper than the over-priced pier for the same food.
I always get oysters and crab cocktails, sometimes I share a crab with friends if there's more of us. I have tried the lobster it's pretty good too.
It's fun to eat on ur feet once in a while =)
One of my favorite things to do in the city is act like a tourist and head down to Fisherman's Wharf to eat and chill.
I usually get some combination of fried calamari, clam chowder, fresh crab, or shrimp cocktail. I'll go to whichever stand looks most appealing that day, sometimes I'll even mix it up and go to 2 or 3 different ones! You can be a brown bagger and even grab a plastic Anchor Steam to go(made in SF). Love it! I then head acroos the street and search for a spot that isn't covered in poo. Yes, you will be dodging pigeons your whole meal, but it's worth it. Just don't feed them or they'll never leave you alone. It's endless entertainment. There is always some street performer there playing music and setting the ambiance for a truly great seafood experience. After you can walk over to Peir 39 and check out the sea lions. It's a great date idea too.
For tourists and locals alike, this is true San Francisco at its BEST!!
First off, I'm not from around here! I'm a tourist and I wear my fat ass fanny packs around like king of the jungle. I take pictures of the sea lions on the rocks! I'll take the boat to Alcatraz! I'll FEED THE SEAGULLS! And even worse, I'll narc on all the people at Height Ashbury for smoking weed! Hahaha! F U San Francisco! Weirdo city of freaks and homos!
And then...SF fought back. Fought back in the way of their sidewalk clam chowder bowl. I don't trust ANYONE in SF because they all are there trying to rip you off! They see me as a pigeon and walking dollar sign. I'm the guy who pretends to ignore those weird robotic entertainers so i don't have to get hustled into paying him money!
So why did you give me diarreah? Huh? Is it because I called you all those names? SF may have invented the modern sourdough bread but Disneyland perfected it at New Orleans square.
Here's a choice, a clean cut Disney cast member serving you a warm bread bowl of chowdah, or some toothless carny hick snorting and spitting inside the giant boiling pot while the who place smells like hobo ass?
But I'm a tourist! I'm scared to venture outside the wharf because of all the gangs and hate crime violence. SF is a dirty dirty city so I stay near Ghirardelli square and must live on ice cream sundaes and ass cannon inducing side walk clam chowder bowls. =( I want to go back to orange county now!
Typical tourist trap establishment. Clam chowder out of can poured in hard bread bowl. Sea gulls can't even break the bread bowl. Overpriced and not impressed. I should have know better. Just wanted to show the girls what not to do next time.
The first time I was in SF in 2001, I enjoyed the clam chowder and fried shrimp. I thought these street vendors were a daily street fair. How exciting.
Last month I returned and I wished I had an extra pair of hands, these sidewalk stands deserve four thumbs down. The clam chowder I had was barely edible (thick oatmeal). It makes me realize that I'd rather be in NY buying a hot dog sitting in boiled water from a cart.
This place is tied with NYC Times Square in terms of worthless crap for tourists to buy.
IFHTP 3+
I went to the first stand right off the street and ordered a clam chowder bowl... where'd all the chowder go? I swear I only took a few spoonfuls and the chowder was gone! After I ate all the chowder I looked at the hole that they dig and its tiny, so disappointing. I was hoping to get my clam chowder fix but it didn't happen. I'm not much of a sourdough fan but I tried to eat some anyways because I was still hungry.
The chowder isn't even all that great, I kind of prefer the one out of the can actually. Maybe next time I'll venture further down the line of vendors.
On our last day in SF, we stopped by the sidewalk stands to get some food. Chowder for breakfast was awesome and we sat down right there by the sidewalk. I didn't know the crab sandwich would be served cold. I hated it! but the chowder was good. and cheap. I was being a tourist.
Across from where we sat was a homeless guy asking for money. I offered my crab sandwich but he declined. I guess he knows better than to eat that crappy thing.
Every now and then I like to play tourist on a nice day. Grab a cup of the combo(shrimp & crab) and a cup of calamari, and sometimes a bowl of chowder to warm me up, then find a spot to watch the Bush Man scare the crap out of people.
Complete your day with treats from the Ghiradelli shop or Kara's Cupcakes and warm yourself up with some Irish coffee from Buena Vista Cafe.
I don't get the hype. There are huge seagulls EVERYWHERE, atop parked cars, flying, everywhere! Every time they flew by, my boyfriend would get nervous they would crap on him. Oh, and they also attacked my friend 'cause she was eating calamari.
I don't love seafood enough to come back. Go to Boudin's!
I wish they gave more clam chowder in the sourdough bread bowl but nonetheless, this was on my list of touristy things to do!
Ordered from the corner stand since it seemed to be most popular and plunked down with my bowl of chowder and oyster crackers. We polished it off pretty quickly though for $5.50.
Next time I'll try the fish and chips and shrimp!
I love how "sidewalk stands" has become a reviewable location! Because I love this street! Not only can you get the best seafood cocktail here, but the infamous Clam Chowder in a Bread bowl.
Order each of those and go sit by the statue in the sun to make it the best meal you'll ever have. Just sit eat and watch the funny tourist pay homeless people who have signs that say "Why Lie It's For Beer". But I will warn you there are hundreds of people who crowd onto this street waiting for crab legs, clams, calamari, and anything else from the home of Tritan.
And if you have extra time, check out "bush man" (no not an impersonator of President Bush) but a guy who hides behind a bush and scares people for fun! Stand across the street from where he is because it is Fun-Ny to watch!
If that's not what you're in the mood for then it's a walk away from everything else like Ghiradelli Square, The Trollys and tons o tourists stops.
Enjoy!
Hmmm...this place alternates back and forth for me. Let's see...
Seeing people at fisherman's wharf unpacking crab from boxes marked "from Mexico" and pulling cocktail shrimps out of the frozen bags that are on sale at Safeway: -5 Stars
Fresh oysters shucked for you with lots of lemon wedges and cocktail sauce: +3
After buying a dungeness crab, they charge you an arm and a leg and then reheat one that's already been dead and cooked: -3 Stars
Clam chowder in a bread bowl: +4 Stars
Shady people trying to pull you into their restaurants while you walk by with a "psst...you, yeah you, come in here..." Yeah, don't touch me stranger! Hrrmph: -2 Stars
Ambiance - aka fishy smell, dirty streets, shiny people, and weird characters that panhandle: +2 Stars
The bushman: -1 Star
- 2 stars.
If I did my math wrong, that's because I'm a bad Asian. STFU.
Stay away from the deep fried rigamaroo! I shared the crab cake and calamari and chips with my bf. We ended up like two sleepy, bloated GAFs: greasy ass Filipinos! I was going to get the crab sandwich but it looked like a giant snowball of crab and mayo.
I did it and I'll never do it again.
I love seafood buy the really strong smell of the bay made me nauseous.
This place is good for out of towners and locals to get their seafood fix. I know I do!! With a whole bunch of crab stands serving you crab (duh!), oysters, shrimp, calamari, clam chowder... what's not to like!! You even get to see them made right in front of you. They're pretty quick especially with cracking the crab... they go the extra mile by smacking the legs so the shell comes loose. Nothing great like fresh seafood.. MMMMMMMMMMMMM GOOD!
I'm not sure what more there is to write about Fisherman's Wharf, as it is world famous. It's a wonderful place to eat, chat, people-watch, and walk around. I would love to be able to, one day, try all the restaurants here. It amazes me that the clam chowder could taste so different from one place to another!
It smells.
However thats not whats bad XD
This stuff is really expencive, but its around a tourist attraction so i guess thats reasonable, but since this crap is so expencive why be cheap with it? I orderd some garlic fries, the woman filled it up, then took like half of it off! By the time i got the fries after about a 5min wait their was only like 15 of them for me and my bf to share.
He also got some crab sandwitch and little sup of shrimp, not worth the 27$
Next time ill go have my super fatty vegi burger from burger king right accross the street XD lol
Home away from home. I'd pick a bread bowl of fresh clam chowder over pussy all damn day. Calamari trumps a DSL blowjob. Sooooooo fucking good. I like getting a freshly caught crab and watching the guy whack it in the face with a wooden stick. Then I eat it. It makes me happy.
The homeless bushman is now a San Francisco institution, in case you weren't aware.
I love this place. Something so timeless about it.
I did the tourist thing and went to Fisherman's Wharf. In this instance, though, I enjoyed being "the tourist". How could I pass up fresh, sweet CRAB? I wasn't going to miss out on this treat.
The first time I went here, I tried a crab sandwich. Ohhhh yeah, it was delicious. Came back a few years later and got the same damn sandwich. It was THAT good. Yes, Fisherman's Wharf is crowded, but it's worth it. There's nothing like eating fresh crab on the pier.
7.19.08: Did we picked a good one or what? This was my first time at fisherman's wharf and eating crab is the thing to do there. As my friends and I walked from stand to stand my mouth was watering.
We finally stop at one stand. It was cleaned and the crab was fresh. An old man behind the counter helped us. Just looking at him cracked and rip everything apart so quickly was pretty interesting.
The clam chowder in the bread bowl is no joke at all here. I've been to several places before and usually the bread is not good and the soup is salty or just weird tasting.
This time we picked the perfect stand. No 9 Fisherman's Wharf. ! I don't remember exactly what the name of the place is but its on the corner away from the stores closer to the pier.
I can just imagine it now. The juices, the meat just the flavor itself. After this trip I couldn't stop thinking about crab. I had crab of dreams everyday. Since then I still haven't ate crab yet. I want some...
Memories of childhood are always over exaggerated, whether it is for good or bad.
I have memories of this area having picnic tables around the stands and the soup being really good. But maybe we just ate at a restaurant that had outside seating. Anyway, trying to relieve this memory just left me wildly disappointed. There are only two reasons I can imagine coming to Fishermans Wharf/Pier 39 out of my own volition - clam chowder bread bowl and the sealions. Now it looks like there is only one reason now.... Le sigh.
Their fish n chips is a SF Favorite hands down! Love the garlic....it's sooooooooooooo good!
Since I was a little girl, ancient times ago, I would come to San Francisco almost once every year. And every single damn time I would come this my parents, we would have to go through Fisherman's Wharf. Every damn time we would walk through the chowder and crab stands and NEVER buy anything. All those years I longed for the piles of red shells and greasy fried goodness. I wanted the voluptuous bread bowls of chowder.
Well, about 9 years I came here with my husband and got a chowder bread bowl. Not what I thought it would be.
Came back last month on a girls weekend. I finally got the seafood. I went nuts. Because, now I can. I got a lobster, shrimp cocktail and calamari.
Not what I thought it would be.
After all these years, I was disappointed. My lobster was precooked and reheated. I had canned cocktail sauce and my calamari was rubbery and greasy. What was I hoping for? I wanted to love this. I longed for it for some many years. I spent $37 to eat at a food stand.
Now, I can say that I've done it.
I would go to San Francisco about once a year. This would be one of my favorite place/attraction to go and hang out. It will always be jam pack with tourists.
Their clam chowder is to die for (recommend to try in the mornings). Also the crabs that they have. You know it's fresh of the boat. right then. I recommend you get your food and enjoy a beer while sitting on the curb chatting with your friends and Trying to dodge those seagull's flying around you cause they might drop a load. Also, watch the street performance too. There's always something crazy going on like those crazy silver robots dudes.
I don't ever recall having to wrestle with a platoon of people to get to fisherman's wharf. Then to have to knock someone out for a little side of crab! ...c'mon. Then you get charged extra for ordering the same thing but in a restaurant! What is up with this place? What happened to it? It has become this knock off over priced tourist site!
I was not happy with the atmosphere. When I was about 12 it wasn't like this. I didn't enjoy it.
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