Fisherman’s Wharf Chowder and Crab Sidewalk Stands

Nothing better than a sourdough bread bowl of Chowder in the morning. The Shrimp Roll was also flavorful and filling. Not a bad way to start the day.
All the stands sell similar items from chowder, rolls to crabs and their prices are pretty much aligned.
For street side hawkers, great flavors, good portions and fast service.
If driving, there’s a large triangular parking lot across the street with validation from some of the nearby shops. I paid in advance with SpotHero. $ 12 for 3hrs. Cheaper than paying on site.

Fresh crab and clam chowder.

Every time when I’m at Fisherman’s Wharf, I have to get a cup/​bowl of clam chowder from Stand #2! So delicious!

Popular spot for many tourists. Looks perfect and so much to choice. Must do in San Francisco.

I get really really excited about food. I mean really excited and when the husbo and I came upon «chowder row» I was like a kid at Christmas. I already ate and didn’t care and wanted all the seafood!!!
We ended up at Nick’s lighthouse, standing up at the stand, outside, chowing down on two whole steamed dungeness crabs, ½ pound of shrimp, chowda, and sourdough… oh — and a Styrofoam glass of wine for $ 40. One of the best meals we had while vacationing.

Amazing clam chowder bread bowls! A must when you visit San Francisco

If you love fried seafood and chowder bowls, this is the place to come!
You have so many vendor choices to pick from. They all have basically the same menu and their food tastes the same. Pricing is also pretty much the same.
Grab some food, eat by the Fisherman’s Wharf sign, and people watch!

[3.5 stars]
Went to the stand in front of Nick’s Lighthouse restaurant. Ordered one clam chowder bowl and one lobster bisque bowl. Clam chowder was pretty good. Lots of clam bits in it and was very flavorful. Lobster bisque was a complete miss though. Tasted like tomato soup and had absolutely no lobster bits in there at all! Not even one tiny piece :(loved the bread bowl! The bread bowl was soft and definitely fresh and made eating the bowl after I was done with the soup super easy! Much better than the bread bowls at boudin down the street.
Tip: most people wait and line up on the outside to order. If you want to skip that line, I would recommend going to the inside walkway to order. Most of the stand have two or more people working anyways. So if walk along the inside, one of the workers will notice you for sure and help you with your order

First timer
Seafood was awesome ! Got crabmeat cocktail with shrimp– very fresh
Boudin sourdough bread– loved this bread here it’s pretty amazing. Cheese jalapeño roll:)
Overall there are a lot of shops here and a lot of food to check out. Even an arcade full of old but fun games .
There’s an enormous boat /​cruise ship by the dock as well
Overall very lively and new for tourists as I am LOL

I ordered the shrimp roll since the lobster and crab roll was $ 20. The shrimp roll was only $ 9. I think it probably was just as good.
The bread was amazing! I should have asked where they got their bread from because it was so toasty and fresh.
The shrimp filling was good too. Definitely got your money worth.
Next time you come to fishermans wharf invest in a seafood roll. Maybe even next time I’ll try the crab and lobster. It all seemed so fresh!

My grandfather took me there as a kid, so I had to take my own kids. Two fish vendors yelling insults to the other about whose fish is best is part of the authentic charm. It is a riot of activity sights, sounds and smells. I like the fish bowl. I like the shrimp. I am not a fan of crab because I prefer my food dead before it is cooked. My kids who are now adults ask to go there whenever we are in the area. Love this place. Also a must for photographers. Lot of things to see.

When you’re in San Francisco you have to try the food at the wharf! All the stands you see curb side will eat your heart out! If you’re from Arizona like I am, you won’t understand fresh seafood until you go to the bay. If it’s not fresh clam chowder you’re into then try the fish n chips or the lobster roll. The prices vary from a bread bowl being $ 10 to $ 20 for the lobster roll. I got the fresh fish and calamari chips for $ 11

Stay away from here, these chowder stands are a joke, the food here are pre-​made and stale. I don’t go to SF much but the last time I took a trip here, the quality of food was much better. I ordered calamari with fries for about $ 9 and a small cup of chowder for $ 5.50.
calamari with fries was just straight nasty:
* only less than a dozen tiny pieces of calamari — cold and batter was dried up
* fries are stale and cold, could not even eat it
* I threw the entire serving away after eating one piece of calamari and fries
clam chowder was tiny 8 oz for almost $ 6:
* tiny cup of chowder tasted very watery
Not worth the time and money, just eat at Boudin the price is cheaper and taste is way better at Boudin. Most of these stands makes their food and just let it sit there for hours on out, and still serve them to customer, this is just WRONG. I will never return to these stands ever again!

Lo mejor es el ambiente de mercado buena comida, ves lo que te vas a comer el Clam Shouder especial… poco costoso!

Tourist trap! The «clam chowder» is potato soup and the sea food does not feel fresh at all. Skip this whole location and go to real seafood restaurants.

Not a fan at all. My crab roll had shell pieces in it, which is incredibly off putting. It’s nice in theory but I don’t know that I’d actually trust the seafood from most of these places, seems like an easy place to get food poisoning, doesn’t seem like there is a lot of attention to cleanliness. I would rather go to a legitimate restaurant personally.
I didn’t even finish the crab roll, portions were big but it just wasn’t very good.

Don’t let the display and hollering fool you, expensive and did not taste fresh at all, the mayo was too over powering the crab meat and the bun was rubbery… these stands are a tourist trap which obviously fooled me and be careful of those big birds that sweep in and try to take your food… these are some bad ass gangsta thug birds so I advised you to eat under the tents and not out in the open

Had the California chowder here. Bang-​awesome flavor. Hot and emitting flavors of cream and cilantro. Wafting in steam, served in bread bowl!
Rebel Reviewer says: 4 stars.

Eh… It was ok because we were hungry, but if you have the chance to go somewhere else, go! Don’t waste your time here.
1. It’s packed
2. There’re seagulls and pigeons everywhere, lots of poop on the ground, disgusting!!! One pigeon even came inside the restaurant to eat the crumbs of the floor and no one scared it away.
3. We are the fried calamari and shrimp, lots of breading because the actual meat was very small, so they just fill it with bread crumbs.
4. French fries were soggy and tasted old.

My favorite place to get fresh crab. You have to also get clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl to go with it.
Make sure to order for here, not to go. To go is a cold cut up crab.

Some of the best seafood in the bay. Not allot of space to sit and eat, but if you don’t mind standing you can enjoy delicious seafood here. Came with about 5 family members and we had a seafood feast. 2 Clam chowder bread bowls, 2 shrimp cocktails, shrimp and crab sandwich, calamari, and 3 whole crabs

Very nice place to have seafood. You can eat outside or go into the restaurants. All food is very good, I recommend the All Chowder on bread bowl.

This place is a tourist trap, go somewhere else. I should have known better… But I was so hungry!
The lobster roll and clam chowder together were $ 24. The lobster roll is the biggest joke of a lobster roll that I have ever seen, Look at the photo. The clam chowder was tasteless and boring, i’ve had way better chowder in Colorado!
I would recommend avoiding eating anywhere in this area as a whole.

You must try San Francisco clam chowder in the bread bowl. It is great and the bread is better than anywhere in States. Other choices are sandwiches with shrimps or crab and fried seafood. It’s crowdy and loud but you want to be there!

Fisherman’s wharf is a cutesy touristy place! So many food stands to choose from! It all comes down to you and what you’re craving for. People usually get the typical clam chowder in a bread bowl lol which is what my friends got. They love the clam chowder in a bread bowl! I would’ve gotten that too but my teeth was too sore to chew on bread so I opted for the 16oz clam chowder in a cup. The clam chowder was creamy and tasted way better than the canned ones. You can tell the difference between good clam chowder and okay canned clam chowder. I also tried my friend’s fried salmon and it tasted really moist and soft. Overall I thought the food was pretty good, it didn’t really wow or blow my mind away. It’s a nice place to tour around and get your seafood on :)

Came here for early lunch to see the hype!
–Took the caltrain from san antonio and then took an über from the at&t park to fisherman’s wharf
Tried:
+Street style clam chowder and calamari! Bombdiggity! The bread is so filling we split this with 3 people and was full!
Wanted to try more but was too full! no worries go play somewhere else like the tours (alcatraz is $ 30), bread factory (gotta eat there for admission to be free or else its $ 3, but nbd), or take pictures around!
–You’re either hustled or they dgaf about you because they make so much business there! The proportions are huge so don’t worry
–Con: no seating sadly! but in the asian crew joint, they do have a stand that you can use if you buy food there (I did because it seems like they had best calamari)
–Con: smellayyyy but what do you expect! its FISHerman WHARF
–If you’re coming from home bring: sanitizer, spare napkins/​tissues, and wetnaps! because no one provides forks! (well maybe but they are so stingy! haha)
Have fun!

This sidewalk stand is really hard to miss. I’ve been here a few times and there’s always lines with crowds of people hanging around the stands. The chowder stands consists of three or four establishments serving up some seafood street style.
Here’s what I had…
* Couldn’t resist trying out some street style clam chowder and calamari.
Here’s what I liked…
* It’s a fun place to visit to get a quick bowl of chowder.
* The chowder was good, but not great.
* The crowds of people add to the energy of the environment.
* The people serving up the food are hilarious. Their smart-​ass attitude made me laugh :-)
Here’s what I didn’t like…
* Parking was difficult.
* The calamari wasn’t soggy and not crunchy.
* There’s no place to eat. You just have to eat while standing up.
This is all part of the touristy thing to do if you’re in the area. When I first walked up to the stands I was wondering, why is there a crowd of people? The huge crowd made me think, there must be something good, otherwise why would there be a crowd, right?
After standing in the long line and spending thirty-​something on two bowls of soup and calamari I have to convince myself it was good :-) ha ha ha…
Bottom line…
* It’s something fun to try different things when visiting the area.

This is the place!
My girlfriend and I visited Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, USA only four months ago and she FELL IN LOVE with the Clam Chowder here. My Mum and her both agree that this place sells the best-​tasting Clam Chowder!
Licking her lips as I clicked through the 283 photos on here, we both could not help ourselves from remembering the good feeling of being in this place. We still remember the people dancing in time to some cool live music blaring out nearby.
We will come back to Fisherman’s Wharf next time we can afford it! :)

Crowed, messy and expensive.
Fried calamari was good but the clam chowder was really thick and filled with potatoes. I even saw the guy trying to stuff as much potatoes chunks as he can while filling the bowl and pouring out the chowders. Very disappointed

Even though it’s a tourist trap and I’m sure you could get better seafood somewhere else, I LOVE having one whole area designated to get any seafood meal your heart desires… The huz and I tried a lobster roll and while I wasn’t a fan of the roll, I was a fan of the lobster filling… All in all this place is a fun, lively tourist trap that is a fun experience for anyone to be had…

I enjoyed the fried calamari and clam chowder in the sourdough bread bowl. Portions are big enough to share between two people.
Would I come back? Maybe if i was in the area.
Not amazing, just good enough.

This place is a Gateway Drug.
Oh sure… A lot of my fellow City-​zens would argue that this is a lame tourist trap. Heck, I worked less than two blocks away for my first 9 months and ate here a grand total of Zero times. Fried, Fries and Expensive. Tourists. If there are Tourists there, it can’t be cool. Wait a second — I thought this place was awesome when I was a Tourist.
Truth be told, this is a unique little stretch of shops — with Seafood Cocktails, Sandwiches, Fried Goodies, Chowder (or Chow-​dah) in Bread Bowls, and, of course, Crabs! (not Carbs, Crabs!!!)
If you’re smart, do a lap and do some people watching. Check out which stand has what. The eye-​test is pretty accurate, and you should be able to see which stands are better than others. You can visually identify fresh. (BTW — Take a gander, I love the photos I posted for this) Feel free to ask the question: «Why should I get your Crab?» …I mean, everyone has Crabs, right?
It’s an experience to check off your Bucket List. For what it’s worth, every time I bring an out-​of-​towner here they put it high on their list of favorite places they saw. If you are a Local and haven’t been in a while, bear in mind that it can be fun to play tourist. This is like having a State Fair on the Wharfs right in our backyard, every day.

I avoid Fisherman’s Wharf like the plague. It’s touristy and the food is overpriced. However, since my mom was in town from Japan, I swallowed my pride as a San Francisco resident and went to Fisherman’s Wharf to get some seafood. People say you can get better seafood elsewhere in the city but I thought my experience here was fantastic and the seafood we got was amazing.
My mom and I got a large crab and four ½ shell oysters. The crab was steamed and cracked so it was easy to eat. They served the crab to us whole, which I think is pretty rare and cool. I’m sure you don’t get that often in sit-​down restaurants. The price was relatively priced as well. Our crab was $ 18, and our oysters were $ 7. They also had a condiment stand where you can get plastic silverware, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, etc.
The seafood at the stand was good and what amazed me was the service was good too. I tipped the guy working there and he was extremely nice and asked us if we wanted horseradish with our oysters, which doesn’t usually come with it (I think). He gave us extra crab legs too and cleaned our plates for us. I’m thinking they don’t get many tips because a lot of tourists aren’t used to tipping. So here’s a tip: If you want good service, tip! No pun intended :)
Another reviewer said doing something touristy isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I agree with that comment 100%! I will definitely be coming back to get some great seafood here.

Mi amigas/amigos…mui, mui delicioso! My friends… very, very delicious!