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  • Franciscan Crab Restaurant

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Franciscan Crab Restaurant
Franciscan Crab Restaurant

Franciscan Crab Restaurant Details

  • Dining Style: Casual Dining
  • Website: http://www.franciscancrabrestaurant.com
  • Email: comments@franciscancrabrestaurant.com
  • Phone: (415) 362-7733
  • Hours of Operation: Daily 11:30 am - 10:00 pm
  • Payment Options: Diners Club, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, Visa
  • Cuisine: Seafood
  • Executive Chef: J.C. Becerra
  • Dress Code: Smart Casual
  • Accepts Walk-Ins: Yes
  • Additional Details: Banquet/Private Rooms, Bar Dining, Bar/Lounge, Beer, Cafe, Full Bar, Non-Smoking Restaurant, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Personal wines welcome, Personal wines welcome (corkage fee applies), Private Room, View, Wheelchair Access, Wine
  • Private Party Facilities: Semi-private dining with seating from 28 - 58 people. Banquet menus available.
  • Private Party Contact: Vinny Kim (415) 362-7733

Getting there

  • Cross Street: Taylor
  • Public Transit: Muni: F-Line
  • Parking: Public Lot
  • Parking Details: Public Lot in front of the restaurant.
    Two hours free parking with validation.
A word from Franciscan Crab Restaurant
"Hands down the best food you'll find on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf" proclaimed Sunset Magazine. An extensive renovation has revitalized the Franciscan Crab Restaurant, a Fisherman's Wharf institution since 1957. White tiled walls, beautiful marble bar and twenty foot windows overlook the… bay and Alcatraz. Terraced dining affords views from every table: hand blown glass shades and chandeliers dazzle, black and white photos of celebrity patrons adorn the stairs and walls. Continued
Foodspotting photos
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Diner Reviews
  • "The only negative thing I can say is it is so overpriced. The food was good (not exceptional) - the service was good and the atmosphere was neat and fun with a great view. It was the biggest check I think I've ever seen and all I could say was it's for tourists. Not a place locals go. Which explains why it was empty on a Thursday night"
    Dined on 3/6/2014
  • "The Franciscan is one of the most enduring of the many restaurants on Fisherman's Wharf. The quality of the food, the excellent service, and the great view all combine to make it a special place for a special event. Kudos to the ownership for maintaining and growing the reputation of this great San Francisco Landmark."
    Dined on 3/8/2014
  • "A very nice place. Food was good but extremely over priced. Great location! Staff was extremely friendly and efficient. A nice night but just way over priced."
    Dined on 3/8/2014
  • "Unique seafood menu. The crab enchiladas were outstanding. Great view. Service was outstanding."
    Dined on 3/5/2014
  • "The atmosphere was grand, the wait staff was attentive, the food was memorable. Had a case of sticker shock when the bill arrived but it really is a meal I'll remember. It is a great special occasion place. The staff was so intent on clearing things from our table as we finished they started taking things we really we're ready to give up. But I hate to gripe about such a small thing that I could have prevented. They were just trying extra hard and who can fault someone for that. I would recommend the place to a friend but would warn them to bring an extra $100.00 bill."
    Dined on 3/7/2014
  • "I love the franciscan ....I odnt need to say anymore....."
    Dined on 2/21/2014
  • "We had a wonderful time. The view was definitely the first noticeable asset of this restaurant. Second was the service - excellent from start to finish. We receive excellent attention and prompt service. The food was delicious and all of us were please with our meals. I'd come back in a heart beat. It seems this building and restaurant have a lot of history and this was part of the restaurant's intrigue along with the architecture and interior design. A "must see" and "must eat at" when in SF and at the Wharf. Thank you!"
    Dined on 3/4/2014
  • "My husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. Carlos was attentive and made the dining experience special for us. The food was delicious, we both had seafood (of course) -the bottle of cabernet was great! We would definetly go back again and would recommend the restaurant to friends!"
    Dined on 2/28/2014
  • "Wish I could include the photo I took of the massive crab delivered to the table. Service was great. View was great. Overall experience was wonderful."
    Dined on 2/26/2014
  • "Bit more of a tourist restaurant than we were looking for. Overall our dinner was fine, but based on Yelp reviews we expected a bit nicer restaurant, food and service. Good spot to stop if your touring the Fisherman’s Warf for the day, but I wouldn't recommend it as a destination restaurant."
    Dined on 2/22/2014
  • "Chose to go here for dinner for the view of the bay. At night the lights inside reflect off the windows and the outside is dark, making the giant window we were looking at basically a mirror rather than the view we were hoping for."
    Dined on 2/22/2014
  • "This restaurant has gone through a lot of changes since it first opened in 1957. Currently it appears as a stylish noveau art deco eatery with a decent size seafood menu. There are a number of signature style dishes that feature a garlic based secret sauce. My wife loved her halibut done in a lemon caper sauce. I enjoyed the oven poached olive oil infused salmon with a spoonful of the garlic sauce on its top. Service was prompt. The noise level was fairly high but we were there on a Friday at 7 to 9PM so it was not completely unexpected. I would recommend this restaurant to tourists and locals because the food is good and the location cannot be be beat."
    Dined on 2/21/2014
  • "Skip all of the tourist traps like Fishermen's Grotto & Alioto's - This place blows the competition out of the water. The ambience, food and friendly/attentive service are all on par to create an exceptional water-front dining experience. The pasta dishes shine as do all of the fresh seafood selections."
    Dined on 2/20/2014
  • "The views are amazing and the service is great. Big booths help to make for a romantic moment or a nice ladies night out. The bar scene is rather vibrant. Retro pics of celebrities galore add a little something special to the ambiance. The food is always tasty, but I must admit that it's beginning to have more of a commercial/chain feel. We ordered calamari, which had a ketchup based sauce and not a true marinara. We also had clam chowder and crab bisque which everyone seemed to enjoy. For a main course, we ordered the salmon and a combination seafood pasta. Both were tasty but didn't necessarily qualify as a party for our tastebuds. Dessert was ice cream sundaes and a chocolate mousse cake. Kind of hard to go wrong with those."
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "Service was extremely slow and the restaurant was empty. This is certainly more of a diner place over lunch."
    Dined on 2/17/2014
  • "The best thing about the Franciscan is their service and the scenery. I really enjoyed the service our waiter provided. It felt like I was at a friends house for a meal. Unfortunately, the food and pricing was lack luster. Now I'm not saying I shoulda known better, but damn it, it's a tourist trap. I have no problem paying for a good meal, but with their pricing, I expected better food. Other than that, come here for the experience of eating at the wharf, a must do when visiting our great city."
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "We chose this restaurant for our Valentine's Day dinner while visiting San Francisco. Although we made reservations in advance we were seated in a glass front table below the bar. It was extremely loud and there was a lot of traffic from the wait staff in this area, Other walk-in dinners were seated in more desirable areas. The crab and shrimp skillet was delicious! You can also order it will muscles as well. Our waitress was friendly and helpful. I would recommend this restaurant but I would be very specific about location when requesting a table. Part of what makes this restaurant so inviting is the view of the bay. This is also reflected in the prices so make sure you get what you are paying for!"
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "Come here all the time but will reevaluate in the future. Service was so awful. Waited 10 minutes for server, 20 min. For drinks had to get our own utensils since crab was delivered and we waited a while crab was served whole without being cut up like normal and our server could care less. Food was so so this time. Maybe time to find a new place for crab. So sorry about this since we were considering throwing a party here."
    Dined on 2/15/2014
  • "We had a great time spending our special Valentine's Day dinner here. The service was great and the food was amazing. We took our time and savored the experience. Thank you for making our day special."
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "We did like our dinner but when ordering the server uses an iPad and once you say what you want, one cannot tweak it because once he types on the iPad the chef has the order. So no changes... Like remembering to say Oh and May I have the dressing on the side is saying it too late. The restaurant was busy and so when we needed more cocktail sauce for our calamari we finally pulled at another waiter to help us. The basa fish in our fish and chips was so very delicious but the fries were soft and sitting like they had been there awhile on our plate. The restaurant employees had good intentions we believe but were just too busy."
    Dined on 2/15/2014
  • "Great place great food Need more food to appeal to those who prefer lighter fair"
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "Our visit was on Valentine's Day so maybe busier than usual, but we reserved the day before for 7pm and our party of 5 not seated until 7:45. Maybe there were not many tables large enough to accommodate this group size - most seemed to be tables of 4. Our drinks arrived with a long delay with the food following shortly thereafter. We ordered oysters, but they were served without shellfish forks which we had to ask for. One of our party ordered crab cakes which were served without any sauce whatsoever - a bit dry. Another of our party had crab and pasta with some big crab claws that were not cracked and no tools brought to the table until we asked for them. However, everyone enjoyed their meal and I found it to be excellent."
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "This is a beautiful restaurant with very good food. But it is not fine dinning, 1 in 5 tables had hoddies. To best experience this place dress very very casually, think outdoor BBQ and you will be fine. The Dungeness was awesome and don't miss the $45 full bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne!!! Also don't ask for aioli or anything else but tarter sauce for the calamari...just a warning."
    Dined on 3/11/2013
  • "While dining at the Franciscan I enjoyed crab legs, mussels, and shrimp. I also ordered and devoured a petit filet. The meal was delicious. However, I did leave there hungry even after spending over $100.00 for this meal. Great food but to expensive for what you get."
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "Great view of Alcatraz with the best tasting crab ever. Better to make a reservation. Enjoy it all. We talk about it all the time"
    Dined on 5/12/2013
  • "The grilled seafood platter is my favorite! Must try!"
    Dined on 2/10/2014
  • "My wife and I always enjoy the mussels. The crab has always been fresh. Be prepared to get your hands covered with excellent mussel and crab juice! The drinks are solid. The service has always been top notch Oliver C Thank you!!! PS Bathroom was clean!"
    Dined on 2/8/2014
  • "Nice restaurant on the pier. Great crabs and seafood. Fancy waiters. No good view at night though. Anyway it's worth visiting again and again."
    Dined on 1/21/2014
  • "Generally speaking a nice restaurant to eat at. Nice views, well trained staff. Excellent ambience."
    Dined on 1/29/2014
  • "Took some out of town guests here for their first time in SF and seafood munchies. We also celebrated a special birthday for one of the guests. The menu was diverse, loved the receipes in there as well. Can't name all the dishes we ordered, but my crab enchiladas were the bomb!. Not to spicy, plenty of crab. The salads were plentiful and filling as well. Thank you for the special dessert for our birthday girl as well. The pre-fix menu is really the way to go to keep cost done, but a few add on wasn't bad."
    Dined on 1/18/2014
  • "Visited Franciscan Crab on our vacation to SF. The restaurant has an "old Hollywood" feel with red booths and old photos of celebrities on the walls, but is not old or dingy at all. High ceilings and tons of windows looking out over the bay. Service was prompt and friendly. We ordered the "Lotsa Crab", which is Dungeness crab for 2 people. It was great for us, as we have never eaten crab before. They gave us 3+ pounds of legs and claws which was cooked in their secret garlic sauce--awesome. Servers came by with lots of moist towels for our messy hands. They had Alaskan Amber on tap, which we love. Overall a wonderful SF dining experience, a great intro to crab eating, and we felt like kids digging in with our hands. Loved it!"
    Dined on 1/30/2014
  • "Took visitors from Japan, everyone loved the food. Good service too."
    Dined on 1/28/2014
  • "A wonderful restaurant with fantastic views of the Bay & waterfront. So many varieties of crab dishes & good Fix Prix combo for under $30. Great bread, too. Also 2 hrs validated pkg in nearby lot."
    Dined on 1/27/2014
  • "The view of Alcatraz and the Bay on a clear day is why it's worth going here! The food is also really good. You definitely pay for the view, but I say it's worth it!"
    Dined on 1/25/2014
  • "What a find! We got last minute reservations for dinner and our group of 6 couldn't have been happier! We loved the the drinks, appetizers, soups and of course all the wonderful crab dishes! This restaurant is a must when in San Francisco,"
    Dined on 1/23/2014
  • "This place is a step-up from the usual restaurants on the Embarcadero. All seats seem to have a nice view of the water and it doesn't feel crowded or too open. Ask for the red booth for 2. The Sea Bass was super fresh, moist and beautifully seasoned. There was a nice mixture of veggies, although the serving was a bit scanty. Did feel a rushed like in typical tourists' restaurants, where the waiter totally cleaned-up before we left the table. We were there less than 45 minutes."
    Dined on 1/18/2014
  • "Yes its touristy, but the crab is fab! Make an advanced reservation and go. I also had garlic potatos and a salad, they were good too."
    Dined on 1/18/2014
  • "Mussel, Shrimp, Crab skillet combo at $39 was wonderful! House Merlot at $29.95 a good deal. View was spectacular! Seating is very fun - lots of options to be near windows, above in a booth or table looking out the window - huge place. As this was off season it was not overly crowded, I can only imagine how chaotic this would be in season."
    Dined on 1/17/2014
  • "Very nice restaurant, food & service were excellent. We showed up early, and were seated before our actual reservation time (per our request). Restaurant gave us an abundant amount of seafood in our orders. We were very happy with the entire experience."
    Dined on 1/11/2014
  • "My Sea Bass was the tastiest dinner I have had in several years anywhere. Really Outstanding! Great view. Great Service. Just a wonderful dining experience. We'll be back!!"
    Dined on 1/4/2014
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