Crab House at Pier 39

awesome crab huge plates lots of food good price you will fill up on everything so be ready to eat more

The first thing that caught my eye was the new look of the restaurant. I've been here many times and was always under impression that it was too dark inside. Now with the walls repainted in marble-white, the whole setting looks more pleasant and inviting. And don't forget about the views! My table was right by the window, overlooking the Blue and Gold Fleet boats. Oyster shooter worked magically to awake my appetite. First I've ordered bruschetta and fried artichokes and both were great. Bruschetta, in fact, with juicy ripe tomatoes and fresh basil complimented by a dash of garlic and olive oil was the best I've had! I knew that Crab House restaurant is famous for the roasted garlic Dungeness crab, but on a lazy and sunny Friday afternoon I couldn't force myself to do the cracking. So I got myself a crab enchilada and a side of garlic fries. Garlic Enchilada was the star of the show! I was impressed by the freshness of the crab meat rolled into soft tortillas. Chili-tomato puree on top had just perfect amount of heat. Service was very polite and accommodating. It was very busy on Friday lunch and everybody was willing to help each other. I was a bit in rush myself, but my waiter, Chris, ensured that everything - cocktails, food and a check - would come out promptly. Although I live in San Francisco, sometimes I like to go to Fisherman's Wharf to feel myself as a tourist. After this visit, Crab House made the list of my top food spots to visit. more

Well, for the ""last supper"" of our trip in San Francisco we wanted to have a nice romantic dinner overlooking the pier. The place looked nice and quaint like what we were looking for. We were greeted by our waiter, which the poor guy lacked personality and struggled with communicating. We asked if they served bread and he said that they did if we asked for it. He gave us two stale little loaves that you could barely break apart let alone cut through it. Okay, I guess we just didnt get the lucky batch. We ordered crab cakes for appetizer and for $15 there were two small (size of a post-it note) and overdone. We ordered our dinner and I ordered the $35 filet with shrimp and my boyfriend ordered the the $20 crab fetticini. While we waited for our dinner our drinks were empty and the waiter was no where to be found for the whole time we waited. A party of 8-10 people were seated near by and were SO obnoxious. It was just after the superbowl and they were still in party mode. There goes the nice ambiance. The poor waiter was not even near capable to address that issue. So we didn't even bother to complain. Pros: Nice view Cons: you definitely don't get what you pay for. more

The food was excellent and if you asked to be seated by the window and have a reservation, they will happily accomodate. The drinks and food are pricey, but that's too be expected. It was still a great experience although the service was kind of lousy. It took the waiter quite a while to take our order. The upside is that they have computer ordering systems, so the order goes in while the waitstaff is standing in front of you. Pros: Good food, drinks, Cons: Slow service more

Here's another spot me & my bf-Jayson have passed by many many times, & now we can finally say we've eaten @ the Crab House @ Pier 39 SF =) Went here for Father's Day dinner (this past June '09) for his pops as did a lot of other folks. LOCATION: We drove into the Pier 39 Parking Garage & found parking on the 3rd floor. Luckily we did not have to make round trips in garage, as Pier 39 itself had a very nice crowd of people out visiting w/ a sunny yet cool day in SF. Saw a few U.S. Navy Sailors on the Embarcadero sportin' their clean whites...no it's not Fleet Week, that's in Oct, but a ship had docked so we had some service men & women visiting us for a bit. Yeeeh, I'm a very proud U.S. Navy ""bratt""! RESTAURANT: Since we parked on 3rd floor of garage, walked over the ramp to the 2nd level of Pier 39, where the Crab House is located. Had RSVP for 5:30pm for party of 4, got there 6pm, waited like 5min to be seated @ ""their"" version for a party of 4, & then waited another 10min to be re-seated @ a larger table for party of 6 (thanks to Hostess Onya for taking care of us w/ seating). Moms & I are like 5'4"" (mind you we're hippy too), while bf & dad are like 5'8"" & 5'10""...I've said in my own prev reviews, we really need our ""elbow space"" so just a heads up...food is good, but table area just seems small. Not handicapp friendly at all (I'm being honest) nor heavy/big-people friendly..I'm shootin' ya straight! SERVICE: Our waiter Vito was being kept quite busy w/ our table & others, as it was a packed place on a Sunday evening. We got our bread, order of chowder, & cocktails, but no water. Timing from the moment we placed our drink order (H2O & cocktails), took about 10min for water to arrive @ our table. I'm not sure who to blame, but dag nab it, that didn't make much sense to us. Other than wait for water, service was good...able to flag down any employee speed walking by to ask for something & got the assistance. Again, tight/small place for the amount of patrons they want to cater so service is to feed u quickly, get you in & out, & move move move through the walkways btw tables. DRINKS: We ordered Mojitos, all w/o the Mint...yes, w/o the mint. It just gets in our way. BF had Pineapple, I had Cuban Blue, & dad had Baja. The mojitos were pretty good. Speaking from a ""light weight"", Cuban Blue was enough & plenty alcohol...now speaking for dad (who's main drink is Tangueray or some gin straight on ice) it was aiight. Mojitos come recommended though. FOOD: Pops had Bowl of Crab Chowder while the rest of us had the Cup; pretty hearty w/ more veggies than expected, but still good. Pops had Lobster Thermidor at which he said it seemed they just put a slab of cheese on the lobster vs a sauce compared to his tastings of Lobster Thermidor elsewhere; moms had Salmon while bf-Jayson & I shared Combo Mussels, Shrimp, & Crab. Mussels were easy to de-shell, but shrimp..well, so much work for so little meat. The buttery dipping sauce was good tho! Final tab was $160 & some change. Interesting, the bill came out w/ the 15% gratuity calculated (NOT added to bill) for us just in case we wanted to know...wow wasn't that nice, here I thought that was done only for a party of 6+. U learn sumthin' new everyday. Honestly speaking, would we come back...likely noooot anytime soon, & if so, keep it just as a 2-some dinning experience..if larger than party of 2, recommend just go to Crockett's Dead Fish Pros: Crab house restaurant along Pier 39 Cons: Small dinning tables give little elbow space more

My husband and I went about 8pm on a Monday night and had to wait about thirty minutes for a table. Our waitress was pleasant, but we only saw her when she took our orders and then brought the check. Kitchen staff served our food. We ordered crab cakes for an appetizer and the 3lbs of crab that you share. The crab cakes were $15, and we got two. Not two big ones, two little crab cakes less than the diameter of a baseball. They were good, but no way were they worth $7.50 each. The crab was also good, about on par with Red Lobster. Had it been less expensive, we would have been impressed, but not at $60. I would recommend saving some bread to dip in the garlic butter residue once you're done with the crab, that was amazing. more

I heard a lot about this place. I wanted try it out since i'm a big crab lover. Me and my friends went there to celebrate one of our friends birthday. We had to wait about 15 minutes to get seated to even though we had a reservations but our sever was very kind, fun and friendly at the same time. We kind of mentioned that we had to wait about 20 minutes to get seated with a reservation, he said he was sorry that it happened that way. He was very kind. Oh, he was very cute as well :) ! So, four friends we gave all the choice to our server. First, the mussels and shrimp roasted on sizzinling iron skillet came out. It was amazing. Then he got us ready to rumble with the crab. He bibbed us which was fun, then we got our crab on the table. It was roasted with their secret garlic sauce. As a side dish he brought us garlic noodles and garlic fries. Everything we had was amazing. Especially our server Rafet(i think thats what was his name)...Usually when you ask your server they will tell or bring you the most expensive things on the menu but he brought us perfect amount of everything that thay know for. So, I highly recommend this place and the server. Pros: Service Cons: Seating more

My boyfriend took me here for an anniversary. He made reservations and we were seated promptly. We had a friendly, courteous server. She got our order right (electronic PDA). We had crab chowder, Mozzarella Garlic bread (a must-try) it was great. For dinner we had 3lbs of crab (for two to share) and it was the best I'd ever tasted. They cook the crab in a garlic butter sauce, that had me licking my fingers (which I am not big on). For dessert our favorite was the strawberry cheesecake. It was drizzled with mango sauce that was orgasmically good. Pros: Service is good, the food is phenomenal Cons: It was really busy on a Saturday night. more

Food is delicious and so are the drinks, not very romantic but fun and nice waiters. I recommend a crab ceasar or an order of the whole crab. Great view too :) more

First off, don't do like I did and order a 1/2 crab. You are definitely going to want more after you taste the sizzling garlic and butter soaked crustacean! I kept trying to sneak pieces off my friend's plate. Next time it's a whole crab, plenty of french bread to soak up the garlic butter and a pint or two. more

The Crab House signature dish is Dungeness crab smothered in garlic and butter that arrives on a sizzling plate. Yes, it is greasy, but it is very flavorful and different from what is offered at other places. It isn't for everyone but it is pretty darn tasty to me. Pricing may seem a little high but it is on par with other places in the area. Didn't have the garlic bread, but the garlic fries and the shrimp salad were both excellent. Not much of a wine list, but I was happy wit the microbrews to wash down all of the calories. Pros: tasty crab, fair prices, best garlic fries Cons: small bathrooms more

This was our first trip to Fisherman's Warfe. After walking about 1 hour to Pier 39, all we wanted was some fresh crab. So we saw Crab House and thought we would try it out. First of all, there is one toilet stall in the restroom, so hope for no lines! We were seated in about 6 minutes without a reservation during Labor Day weekend, so that was good. There is a water pitcher on each table, so you always have cold water. We ordered the dungeoness crab dish for 2 to share = 3lbs for $50. We didn't realize that sides didn't come with that price, so we order garlic bread for $6 as an appetizer and a bowl of garlic noodles to share for $8. I had water and my boyfriend had 1 beer. First they brought the garlic bread out: 1 slice of bread, cut in half. That's what you get for $6. First disappointment. About 10 minutes later they bring out a black sizzling skillet of crab, which we immediately noticed were hairy and covered in barnacles. It also did not appear to be 3 pounds worth of crab. And then $8 for a small bowl of egg noodles with an oily garlic tasting sauce on them. The crab was overcooked and brown inside, not sweet and white like good crab should be. Their ""amazing secret recipe"" garlic butter is not amazing. Your crab basically sits in a mess of oil. And good luck getting your waiter's attention to ask for more napkins. Oh, but they do give you a plastic bib to wear! (If you dare!) After all these disappointments and not exactly a full stomach, our bill totaled almost $75! I would suggest staying away from this place and finding yourself a Red Lobster! At least there your $50 crab order for 2 consists of Alaskan king crab, side salads, cheddar-bay biscuits, and garlic mashed potatoes! Plus the crab is sweet, tender, WHITE, and not hairy and covered in barnacles! STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SPEND AT LEAST $70 FOR AN AWFUL MEAL! We will never go back here. Pros: Seated in 6 minutes, constant supply of water... Cons: Awful food, awful service, and dinner for 2 = $70+!!! more

I liked this place, I took my bestfriend and goddaughter who were visiting and they loved it. If you plan to go on friday or saturday make a reservation (especially if you have very little patience like the man who rudely yelled at the host when I got a table before him because I had a reservation and he didn't lol), we had just about everything, mussels, crab, lobster, fried artichokes, and the filet mignon, the mojitos are good if you are a drinker. It is not the most fancy place (though not easy on the wallet) but it is cozy and small and you can talk loud. Pros: service, host :0), waiters A+ Cons: parking more

I had read good reviews of this place and saw it was featured on the food network. I was disappointed in the service, atmosphere and the food. I may have had high expectations, but they didn't even partically live up to them. Not recommended, the crab was only ok. more

I read reviews here before going, but I still went though some reviews were negative. The first impression wasn't that good as the waiter at the door wasn't very nice and bit sarcastic about showing up without reservation, yet now I think he just meant to be funny. Took about 15 minutes to get a table, not their fault, they had a very big group, about 30 people, occupying half the restaurant. The food came quickly and was very delicious, the crab was exceptionally big and tasty, the garlic fries were amazing and the pasta was very good. The waitress that was serving us was amazingly good, like no other in this town so far (only 3 weeks). The portions are adequate if you order any dish and a side order, I got half a crab and fries and it was more than enough. I would go again for sure. Pros: Delicious food, Excellent service, Nice view Cons: Bit pricey more

I am not sure what the other reviewer was talking about - I went there just once but it was so tasty! The server was attentive and helpful when ordering. We had the bruschetta to start. My husband - not a huge seafood fan - had the chicken pasta with penne and he said it was great. I had the 1/2 crab with baked veggies and was in heaven! It was messy of course but worth it! The veggies - a mix of yellow squash, eggplant, zucchini and onion, roasted with sesame oil - with sourdough bread were the perfect compliments to the crab. The garlicly seasoning was so unique and was awesome! Do not miss this place! Pros: Service, View Cons: Pricey more

Last week I made an online reservation for the Crab House at Pier 39. I could not have been more disappointed. The bread was cold and hard, like the staff. We had to flag down the waitress for refills and for the check. When we did get her attention, there was always an attitude of ""I don't have time for you"" and it wasn't even busy for a Friday night. The ""Killer Crab"" was way overcooked, dry, and the shell cracked like an egg. The ""Beautiful view"" was of the Blue and Gold Fleet Dock. To top it off, we were never offered a parking validation and spent $18 when we could have spent $6. For a city restaurant, the Crab House is bad!! Pros: Bad, Worse, Fireplace in bar Cons: Staff, Crab, Staff more

My sister and I just wandered past this place (they have open window to walkway and the smells... butter and garlic!) and decided right away to eat there. Of course, we had to have the crab and it was the best. Very messy but they give you bibs and hand wash. I would go back again. Pros: crabs!, great, fast service Cons: small ladies bathroom more

I was in SF for a weekend and went to Fisherman's Wharf. I've read about this restaurant on the web so we went there for lunch. It was fun to eat with our fingers. The garlic crabs and mussels were great, but a bit messy. The restaurant was quite small so there weren't as many tables. Overall it was a wonderful experience in the bay. Pros: good food Cons: too crowded, expensive more

I'm a Native San Franciscan and came here for the first time for a friend's birthday. The atmosphere with the nautical theme and crabs on the wall was fun. I got the $20 deal that came with a salad, crab enchilada, and chocolate mousse. The enchilanda was delicious. One of my friends ordered the crab chowder which was good too. The cocktail drinks were okay. This isn't a fancy place, but if you're looking for good food and a cozy restaurant in the Pier 39 area and you like crab, try out the Crab House. Pros: Good value, Atmosphere more