From marble-topped oyster counters to Bay-facing dining rooms on The Embarcadero, SF has seafood at every register. Swan Oyster Depot has been running cash-only lunch since before anyone thought to Yelp it. Billingsgate sources directly from Bay Area fisheries. Sotto Mare is the cioppino place.
Nob Hill + Chinatown · 1517 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
Twenty stools at a marble counter, cash only, no reservations, a San Francisco institution that's been serving seafood the same way since 1912. The menu stays deliberately simple: raw oysters, clam chowder, shrimp cockt…
Castro · 579 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114, USA
Anchor Oyster Bar has kept the same marble-topped counter, the same linoleum floors, and the same cioppino recipe since 1977, which is how you wind up atop the city's Legacy Business list. The cioppino is the draw: a Si…
North Beach · 552 Green St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
A galley-shaped room in North Beach where every table eventually orders the Best Damn Crab Cioppino, a bib-worthy bowl of Dungeness crab, clams, mussels, scallops, and shrimp in tomato broth that easily feeds two. The c…
North Beach · 318 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
A mural-lined dining room with white tablecloths serving San Francisco seafood classics alongside Italian-leaning pastas. The Wok Crab (whole cracked crab sautéed with ginger, scallions, and soy) is the signature order,…
Noe Valley · 3859 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94114, USA
A counter-service seafood market and café on 24th Street, Billingsgate sources directly from Bay Area boats and sells the day's catch alongside lunch. The Maine lobster salad on griddled brioche is the move, the chowder…
Financial District · 399 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
A glass-wrapped restaurant on The Embarcadero with Bay Bridge views from every seat and the West Coast's most expansive rotating oyster selection. Six or more varieties daily, running from Tomales Bay Olympias to Rhode …