Each year we meet up with DAvid's cousins who live in Sacramento; they come down to SF for lunch and always choose to go to Scoma's, a touristy place, way overpriced, but always good. The seafood - you can still get abalone, but for a very steep price - is wonderful and we all generally stay with that. I had a crab stuffed ravioli, a large portion, in a butter sauce. One cousin had the Crab Louis, a huge salad that even he could hardly finish. David and one cousin had the snapper, which was delicious; David took half back to our place for a supper! The service is old-world, with Italian spoken by all. Each main course is around $30!

Lunch on the waterfront is was a far cry from our lunch the day before in New Chinatown. To start, Chinatown cost $20 for three, the waterfront was $53. The waterfront places are more elegant than an authentic local dim sum parlor, and the former feed tourists, the later locals. Like all the kitsch around Fisherman's Wharf, Scoma’s exterior looked like a New England clapboard. sea captain's house. Inside was attractive, a long narrow building with a bar on one side and long narrow dinning rooms with an almost decent view of the city and coast. Bright and cheerful, the table were set with fresh flowers, white linen, and the usual eating tools. Service was prompt, made no mistakes, and friendly. As we had been walking all morning on an unusually hot day, we were thirsty. The staff managed pretty well to keep our water glasses full.

We lived in Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay, for 20 years, and came to like crab cake sandwiches as one of our favorite lunches. There is a a rivalry between the coasts over which crab is best tasting, the west coast's Dungenes or the Eastern Blue crab, so, there was no question about what we would order– Dungenes Crab cake sandwiches for lunch for a taste off. The crab cake was very good but it was so different from the classic Maryland crab cake that they defy comparisons. It would be like asking which is better, a sirloin steak or a veal shank? One can have a preference, but that isn't the same as saying one is better than the other. Our preference is for the Maryland style crab cake, and it has more to do with the the preparation rather than with the type of crab (and, at our favorite crab cake restaurant at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, a crab cake sandwich is $4 less than at Scoma's).

The crab cake sandwiches came with very good fries, and it made a filling lunch. In short, it’s expensive, but if you must eat at the tourist trap that is the San Francisco waterfront, Scoma’s is good, safe bet, but be prepared to wait in season and pay top prices.

Scoma’s has an extensive menu, including four variations of San Francisco's most famous dish, Crab Louis; 13 pasta dishes, most with seafood; 12 shellfish; 10 items called "house favorites– Cioppino, Calamari, surf & turf, shrimp, and scallops; four steaks; 11 fish; and eight sandwiches– tuna, crab, shrimp, burgers, and steak. Prices start at $10 for soup or salad and go to $57 for lobster tail. Figure $12-20 for a sandwich, and about $30 for an entree.

There is also a three course prix fixe lunch menu (until 3:30pm) for $23 that includes choice of clam chowder or salad, choice of five entrees, and the chef’s desert of the day.

We loved our dining experience here. Its rustic decor but the fish are very fresh, it has great views over the wharf area, and the service is pretty good as well.

After an afternoon tracking round Fisherman's Wharf - It's a pleasant way to spend an evening dining here.

Scoma's is on Fisherman's wharf. The menu was extensive and the food was fresh. The decor could use a serious update as it is still trapped in 1962, but the service was very good. I had the lobster newburg. It was good, but not the super fresh, pulled right from the water after you order quality I am used to at home in FL. The sauce was the overwhelming flavor, not the lobster. I thought the restaurant was a good value, but I would choose to try another San Fran spot before I would go here again.

We dined on a Friday night, arriving at Scoma's a little before 7pm, and were the eighth party on the waiting list. The wait was about 20 minutes, which was not bad, as it gave us time to shoot some sunset pictures, wharf-side.

I suggest, though, that one call ahead for reservations to avoid wait time.

Luck was definitely on our side, as not only was our table by the windows, but we had Hero, the Armenian waiter (as he proudly told us to describe him), serve us! Hero is definitely a treat all his own, aside from Scoma's treats!

My husband had the Dungeness Crab Cakes Dinner, while I opted to be more adventuresome and try the Lazy Man Cioppino.

The crab cakes (3 pieces) were just as we liked them – moist.

The Lazy Man Cioppino is a concoction of fish, clams, shrimps, scallops, prawns, and crab meat combined with a tomato-based thick broth that reminded us very much of Italian pasta sauces. Garlic bread comes as its side. This dish is good enough to serve two. (BTW, their menu also lists the same dish as Cioppino Alla Pescatore, with one slight DIFFERENCE - the crab comes with its shell. Thus, the name LAZY MAN Cioppino has the luxury of the crabmeat already taken out so you don’t have to wrestle with the crab's thick shell.)

 

Both dishes are definite MUSTS!

The perfect ending to such sumptuous food would be to walk the wide wood gangway just outside. As Hero told us, not to do so would be like being invited to a buffet without eating.

And to that, we say, "Amen."