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    Sam's Chowder Mobile

    3.6 (162 reviews)
    ModerateSeafood, Food Trucks
    Closed 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

    Sam's Chowder Mobile Photos

    SAM'S CHOWDER MOBILE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for kids
    Outdoor seating

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    Lobster roll
    Bianca G.

    I looked up the spot when I was visiting the Academy of sciences. Of course I came to Yelp. And let me tell you this spa is literally so freaking good. We got the lobster roll since we had ordered some tacos from the spot next to it to try it. However, the spot 100% beat the taco spot. The lobster roll was fresh and it was packed with lobster. I feel like a lot of places just don't give you any lobster or lobster rolls or it's generally not that good. This spot lives up to its hype. It is literally so good. The bread is buttery. The lobster is fresh and well seasoned. Service was kind of quick I mean we went to the food truck so it was just kind of an order and then you pick up your plate. They do have this food spot though like right by the academy of sciences, so it was really nice area with a really nice scenery. I will 100% be back and try this spot if I am ever around town again.

    Lobster catering
    Steph K.

    Sam's provided a great mobile catering experience with selections of lobster, seafood, shrimp, clams, mussels boil was delicious. Andouille sausage and coleslaw yummy! Watermelon and lemon slices served. Highly recommend for catering. Friendly on-time service.

    Lobster roll
    Nick C.

    One of the rare food trucks in the Bay area that doesn't serve up the kind of slop that one might eat in a fever dream. Lobster rolls have gorgeously buttered bread, are generously portioned with sweet-tasting fresh lobster, with a lovely light dressing that doesn't overwhelm. Coleslaw is good. Old bay fries are lovely. If only it weren't so expensive...

    Front to back: clam chowder, fries, lobster roll, fried calamari
    Hannah C.

    I'd be happy following this food truck around because the food is just that good! Sam's Chowder Mobile seems unassuming from the outside - it's a simple red truck. However, the seafood is fresh, and the portions are generous. The service was really speedy despite the long line. I got a variety of dishes to try. Sam's Famous Lobster Roll is well-known for good reason. The buttery roll is heaped with loads of lobster. Every single bite is packed with butter, bread, and delicious lobster meat. The roll comes with a side of cole slaw, a fresh contrast to the rich lobster. The New England Clam Chowder is creamy and delicious - the chowder contains clams, potatoes, and bacon in every scoop. The Fried Calamari is beautifully crispy and comes with a good selection of sauces. Lastly, the fries are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I really consider Sam's to have some of the best seafood in the Bay. I'm looking forward to my next visit!

    Avivi W.

    I stopped by try their lobster roll and clam chowder and it was not so great... The lobster roll somehow it tastes like medicine and I'm not sure why?? The clam chowder was alright but it mostly consisted of celery and potatoes with minimal clams in it.

    Fish and chips and chowder in the park
    Jordon B.

    A much needed respite after a great exhibit at the De Young museum. It was a bit pricy, but the food was excellent. We had the clam chowder and fish and chips. The chowder was the perfect consistency, not too thick, with plenty of tender clams and potato chunks. The fish and chips were delicious ( fish needed a little salt) but the coating was crispy and not greasy, and the fish flaked beautifully. Fries were nicely seasoned. A good lunch stop!

    Spicy popcorn shrimp
    Jenna C.

    This truck comes by San Francisco General Hospital during lunch sometimes. I usually order the fish and chips which seem very fresh, crispy, and tasty. Today I ventured out and tried the spicy popcorn shrimp, and I was a little disappointed. The spice they put on the crispy shrimp was sprinkled on at the end and not well mixed. This makes the shrimp soggy with the pieces that were sprinkled with the hot sauce. The other pieces were pretty bland tasting. Although the shrimp is very plump and fresh, next time, I will go back to my old order of the two piece, fish and chips. This truck is pretty pricey but at least all the seafood is fresh

    Lobster roll with butter
    Lynn F.

    This review is solely about the magnificent lobster roll drenched in butter, on a slightly elevated hotdog bun. I like the competing as well, but Sam's is more generous with the lobster meat. Usually a claw or two in there. Food slathered in butter? Yes, please. So why the side of slaw slathered in mayo? No thank you. Yeah, I'm a picky eater. Further proof: I know the truck says chowder, but I'm a strict Manhattan tomato base fan, so I'm not having it. I'm sure it's good. Three cheers for the lobster roll! Every time they're in Levi Plaza I'll be there.

    Crab cake
    Mary Ann B.

    My fave item from this truck is the crab cake. Sam's crab cakes are all crab and minimal filler. I love that because I hate when crab cakes are mostly fillers. Items that are shareable for the price are the shrimp popcorn and calamari. The shrimp and fish tacos are huge. Unfortunately my fish tacos were bland as hell. The clam chowder is good and great on cold days.

    2 Piece Fish & Chips
    Eric H.

    An amazing food truck that stops by Levi's Plaza every so often. They have the best Fish & Chips I've ever had. Very large pieces of fish and the fries are seasoned well. Their clam chowder is also pretty decent.

    lobster roll
    Rona C.

    My partner and I went to Sam's chowder mobile because we got hungry and to our surprise, a very tasty lobster roll! The roll is PACKED with lobster and the bun is toasted perfectly with a generous amount of butter. We only visited 2x, but if it was closer to home, we would definitely go more often :) Maybe next time we can try the chowder!

    The Chowder mobile by DeYoung Museum entrance!
    Joanna T.

    Sam's Chowder is fantastic! I have been down to their restaurant down the coast of Highway 1 on my way to Half Moon Bay. For Sam's to have a chowder mobile come up to the City is Awesome! They sell their classic New England clam chowder, fried local calamari, po'boys with choice of bay shrimp, chicken or kielbasa, Old Bay fries ($5), and more! Super easy to order at the window. Use a card and poof it's done (except you do have to sign the screen). The food is so heart warming! The cashier was sweet when I explained that I put my bag down on a bench, took the box of calamari out and then a gust of wind blew the bag to the ground. The Chowder was spilt and my mask were messed up :( Amazingly, after I shared this tale of woe, he gave me another cup of chowder! Definitely tip the truck staff! Another delicious meal from Sam's Chowder in Golden Gate Park!

    Menu 2020
    Ann T.

    Just before COVID founds Sam's at Treasure Island on a very windy day. We had to hold onto our food boats to avoid having them fly away, the seagulls were having a feast! With all that we had some great seafood and an amazing view of the bay! Lobster was fresh and a good portion size, clam chowder warm and hearty and French fries had a Cajun type seasoning . With all the French bread I ate, whatever the babes didn't eat of the fries went literally to the birds!

    Regular lobster roll

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    13 years ago

    The shrimp po boy was AMAZEBALLS. The chowder and fish taco, not so much.

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    8 years ago

    The best darn French fries I've ever had. The fish with the chips was great also. Crab cake had so much crab in it.

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    11 years ago

    Go here for lunch. Recommend getting: shrimp po' boy. best deal for the price.

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    13 years ago

    It was really good until 20 min later everyone who had a lobster roll passed out from the dump of MSG

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    9 years ago

    best food on a truck unexpected loved it planing to go back soon

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    14 years ago

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    14 years ago

    such good chowder and shrimp po boy. Met them at Scare Grove this year and it was awesome. highly recommend.

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    Page 4 of 5

    Ask the Community - Sam's Chowder Mobile

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    Hog Island Oyster

    Hog Island Oyster

    4.4
    (7.7k reviews)
    1.1 mi
    $$

    Killer fresh seafood! We generally come here if we're in town visiting the city. The ferry building…read moreis a cool spot to walk around and take in views of the Bay Bridge. So, try to grab a table outside. Service is always superb here - staff is very attentive. You can't go wrong w anything. Char grilled oysters (split 50/50 between jalepeño and chipotle bourbon) are a must. They come out piping hot and are massive. My wife ordered the mussels which she loves and I opted for shrimp and chips. Big meaty shrimp and well seasoned / cooked fries. If you're nearby, this is a must.

    Second time at Hog Island & this visit was certainly not as good as the last…read more Food: 5/5 - always, highly recommend the grilled oysters as an appetizer and then we had the steamers with pasta + the seafood stew. Both were fantastic. Ambiance: 3/5 - ambiance is just okay. It's right on the water so a nice view from the outdoor seating but nothing particularly outstanding about the restaurant itself in terms of decor or architecture. Service: 1.5/5 - huge miss. For the prices on this menu, I would expect service to be a lot better. We waited in line to be sat (no waiting list, just an old school line) and it took only 10 minutes or so to be sat but it was very bizarre, we were a party of 2 ready to be sat & she took the couple behind us and sat them first. No particular reasoning given. The host seemed to really not care about much. From there, service was odd. Our server didn't introduce herself and just asked us what we wanted. Again, not a necessity but you would think for somewhere you're paying $30+ per plate, service would be a bit better. An oyster holder was delivered to our table after we had already finished oysters. Glass was broken near our table and hastily swept up. Bussers were dropping silverware right next to our table. Again, just wasn't great ambiance or service. The food is good but there are other good restaurants in San Francisco. I would really only come here again with low service expectations.

    Photos
    Inside 05-2026
    Inside 05-2026
    Seafood Stew
    Seafood Stew
    Raw Oyster Bar Mix: a selection of the above oysters | $26 (6pcs)

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    Raw Oyster Bar Mix: a selection of the above oysters | $26 (6pcs)
    Sotto Mare

    Sotto Mare

    4.3
    (5.9k reviews)
    1.5 mi
    $$$
    Outdoor seating
    Family-owned & operated

    Amazing cioppino and amazing scallops. They cook all the seafood perfectly. Lemon butter caper…read moresauce on everything Service is old school and great. The restaurant has great decor - you can feel it's been open and they've been perfecting their craft for decades.

    I'm a hospitality specialist that works in SFO and some customers of mine recommended this place. I…read moregoogled them, took one look at the cioppino and it was official: I KNEW what I wanted for my birthday. I talked about going to this place for weeks. Finally the day was upon us. I had called ahead to check on the foot traffic and to determine the best time to get there. As they open at 11:30, after speaking with someone over the phone the week before, my wife and I determined the best time to get there was 12:30pm, they don't take reservations for parties of 2. We arrived, saw they already had a wait but were on the list by 12:30pm. We were told the wait would be 30 minutes. No problem. We received the buzzer from them and walked around the block and ended up two restaurants down the street around 12:50pm. At 1:09pm, the buzzer still hadn't gone off and my wife, who went in initially to put us on the list, went back in to check on the status of our table. At the host stand, she heard the manager tell a woman who clearly didn't have a reservation she would be sat in 3 minutes. After hearing that, my wife showed the manager the buzzer we had been given and asked, "So how much longer for us?" The manager replied "It may be another 10 minutes." We then watched them scramble to clear a table and immediately give the table to the woman who had arrived after us. Upon this disappointment we decided to leave because if they can't get something simple like seating guests respectfully right, I can only imagine what else they'll screw up. People don't remember what you do... They remember how you made them feel. As a hospitality professional, not only was this experience totally unavoidable but it left me feeling disrespected and not valued - as a customer; as a person. In being honest, I have to mention that, oddly enough, as I looked around during this disappointment I noticed that everyone seated and being rapidly seated were of one particular ethnic group. Everyone waiting was part of various minority groups which made this incident even more sickening - reinforcing our decision to not only choose to spend our money somewhere else on that day, but to never spend any money there... EVER. I was extremely excited to visit this place and to be shown this kind of treatment further proves that there are still some places that don't want minority dollars so much they simply don't care how they treat you. And unfortunately for them, I'm certainly sharing this experience with as many visitors to the city as I can letting them know "There a MANY fine places to eat in the city... but I'll tell you where NOT to go - unless you feel like being treated like a second-class citizen." Please check in with your personal values before choosing to support this place. Sotto Mare... you all really need to invest in some cultural sensitivity training. It's 2026. Highly disappointed.

    Photos
    Scallop saute
    Scallop saute
    Crecked Crab
    Crecked Crab
    Steamed clams and mussels is really fresh. And the portion is big!

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    Steamed clams and mussels is really fresh. And the portion is big!
    Seafood Station

    Seafood Station

    4.6
    (250 reviews)
    3.0 mi
    $$

    Seafood Station! This a family owned and run business and they are really sweet and offer GREAT…read morequality seafood. This is a clean small place with 8 tables and few bar tops. I ordered the baja tacos to-go. They come with two fried fish tacos and a side salad. Ok the side salad has a simple but delicious vinegrette! This order was also so big I could've shared with another person. You would think two tacos and a small side salad is enough for one person but the tacos were HUGE! The service was great and attentive but most importantly they have FRESH & QUALITY seafood! They have salads, pastas, seafood boils, sandwiches and a decent kids menu. A must try if you are in the Bernal Heights area!

    Let me start by saying my wife has eaten here many times and really likes the food..and the many…read morereturning customers while we were there the other day is a very good sign. I had steamed mussels with fries. There were not enough mussels because they were huge and the sauce was more a broth and not at all flavorful enough. I usually love sopping up every last drop of the juice. But the really disappointing aspect of our dinner was the service. There were 3 people behind the service station. All of them need a training course on how to pay attention to paying customers. Instead they were all engrossed in private conversation with each other or with one particular customer. And one of the staff was simply intimidating, and very very loud. I suspected his behavior may have been chemically induced. Our waitress was very sweet, cheerful and helpful when we could catch her attention. But as I said a 15 minute training exercise each evening before starting work would work wonders. Like look around each customer every time you are not doing anything. And the more senior staff member was just uninterested and perhaps a little grumpy. So the food was blah, more flavor in the broth would help, and ok but at today's prices a "dinner out" has to be about more than just the food.

    Photos
    Seafood Station
    1lbs Snow crab leg and 1lbs Crawfish, Cajun flavor
    1lbs Snow crab leg and 1lbs Crawfish, Cajun flavor
    Cioppino was delicious!!

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    Cioppino was delicious!!
    Woodhouse Fish

    Woodhouse Fish

    4.1
    (2.9k reviews)
    2.1 mi
    $$

    Excellent food! I got a cup of New England Clam Chowder as well as an order of the Salmon Tacos…read more Everything tasted super flavorful and fresh. Staff was amazing and attentive even during a very BUSY Saturday 4th of July weekend. Did I mention this was also during the Fillmore Jazz Fest?? They only take "reservations" within an hour or so once your full party arrives. The place is sort of small, so not the best place for a party of 8 or more. Thankfully, we were just a party of 4. Would love to come back whenever I'm in the area. Yum! :-)

    WHEN: Wed @11:45am…read more PARKING: Paid Metered Parking. A bit tricky since it's a busy area, but we managed to find one! Hung out around Hayes Valley with plans on checking out Japantown, sis and I got hungry and stumbled upon this spot. It wasn't too busy so we were seated right away! The decor inside was quite lovely and cute, too! Here's what we shared: LOBSTER ROLL - $29 (3oz) Chilled with Mayo, Celery & Chives OR Hot w/Butter. This also comes in 6oz for $57 but the smaller option is plenty! We chose the Hot w/Butter, so it looks like order a naked lobster on a roll, and it was quite good. We even asked for a side of melted butter which made it so much better! The roll was buttery, crisp and warm, and we both enjoyed it! BAJA STYLE FISH TACOS (3) - $22 Crispy Battered Cod with Cabbage, Chipotle Aioli, Pico de Gallo and Avocado. You have the option of ordering 2 tacos for $18, but I figured for just $4 more you get another one to take home! These tacos are quite hefty and filling, so one was enough for the each of us! These tacos battered Cod was light and airy, like tempura, and I asked for extra aioli on the side. This was so good! I'm so glad I ordered this!

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Lobster Roll
    Lobster Roll
    Lobster Roll

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    Lobster Roll
    Waterbar

    Waterbar

    3.8
    (4.2k reviews)
    0.8 mi
    $$$

    Waiter Stefan is the best! He is friendly, warm, personable, knows every dish and takes care of…read moreevery detail! Always makes our lunch extra enjoyable! We live near by, just a few blocks from Waterbar, and this is our Go-To restaurant for seafood and The Bay Bridge View! The Oysters, prawns, fishes are all super fresh, and prepared to Par! Choices of wine is plenty and Stefan always suggests the best to pair with our food! We went there yesterday celebrating my husband high school friend's anniversary and birthday! They offer a new prefix lunch now and that's what the girls got, birthday boy had Fish & Chip, and my old boy had Grilled Halibut. The prefix had 3 courses, mixed salad, grilled squid, and raspberry shortcake. We also had a dozen of their daily oyster and Acme sourdough bread. And the girls had white wine while boys had beers. Just delicious and perfect! Thanks Stefan and Happy Birthday! (6/7)

    The infamous Waterbar, as if it needs another review…read more I came here a few months ago with friends, and it reminded me why this place is always so popular. The view of the Bay Bridge never gets old and is worth the visit on its own. The oysters were fresh and delicious, the cocktails were well-made (and generously poured), and every other dish we ordered was just as good. The ambiance is beautiful, and the service was attentive throughout our meal.

    Photos
    Indoor bar area
    Indoor bar area
    Happy Hour oysters
    Happy Hour oysters
    Oysters daily

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    Oysters daily

    Sam's Chowder Mobile - seafood - Updated July 2026

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