Scoma's Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

We've been to Scoma's twice now, once in November 2024 (my bf, myself, and our friend) and again in July 2025 (just my bf and I). Both times, we really enjoyed our food and the service was great, too. The atmosphere couldn't be better; it's right near the water with nice views, and they have ample seating, both indoor and outdoor options. They also have free valet parking if you're dining at the restaurant; you just pull up right in front of the restaurant and someone will offer to park it for you. That was a lovely bonus not to have to struggle to find parking in the nearby busy area. I'm primarily going to address our first visit, because I wrote down my thoughts at the time and remember it better.

My boyfriend, our friend, and I went to SF the weekend of 11/1/2024, and we stayed near Fisherman's Wharf. We wanted to go to the wharf and get some seafood for a late lunch. My bf wanted oysters, I wanted scallops, and our friend wanted crab. By chance, we found Scoma's, which had all of the above on the menu, and decided to check it out.

We were seated immediately! We would have been willing to wait, but we didn't have to. The host politely showed us the outside seating before we decided to sit inside instead. Our server (Kim) promptly arrived at the table to offer us drinks; he brought us water when we said we needed more time to decide. I ordered the Cabernet Sauvignon (Martin Ray 2022), my bf ordered Sauvignon Blanc (Dry Creek Vineyards 2022), and his friend ordered a cocktail (I forget which, maybe the La Banana?). Off of the drinks were brought out very quickly while we continued to browse the menu; all of our drinks were wonderful. They also serve you bread with butter while you wait; the bread was nice and fresh, and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

For appetizers, we ordered Oysters on the Half Shell (half dozen), and the Dungeness Crab Cocktail. These were also served quickly. Kim informed us that there were 3 varieties of oysters on the plate (2 of each variety). I don't remember the names of the varieties, but they were all good. The cocktail sauce and horseradish that come with the Oysters both had great flavor. The Dungeness Crab Cocktail was great, too.

For my entree, I got the Wild Gulf Shrimp & Scallops a la Gannon, which came served with mixed grains and root vegetables. It was great, and the scallops were perfectly cooked. My bf got the Pasta Diplomatica, and even though I was very happy with my order, his was so good that I kind of wished I had gotten the pasta, too. Our friend ordered the Beer Battered Fish ’N’ Chips and those were great too. All of the seafood tasted nice and fresh.

We were too full for dessert (both times, in November 2024 and in July 2025), but we did get after-dinner cocktails. My bf had the Espresso Martini, which is a favorite of his when it's made well, which Scoma's does! I forget what I and our friend ordered for our drinks in 2024.

In July 2025, I ordered a Scoma’s Famous Bloody Mary before starting our meal. It wasn't the best Bloody Mary I've ever had, but it was pretty good. My bf just had their iced tea, which was good, too. We started with the Oysters on the Half Shell again; our server that time didn't explain the different varieties like our server in 2024 had, but they were still very good. This time around, I ordered the Pacific Snapper, which is served with "wild mushroom spätzle [and] green garlic Meyer lemon butter"; it was also served with some greens which seemed to be pea shoots. The snapper was great, cooked perfectly, and the wild mushrooms, pea shoots, and green garlic Meyer lemon butter had great flavor. The spätzle itself tasted a little bit burnt, but overall was okay. My bf ordered the Pasta Diplomatica again; it wasn't quite as good as the previous time he'd ordered it - specifically the sauce, I think - but it was still very good. Again, all of the seafood was fresh and excellent quality.

We will certainly go back any time we are in the...

It had been over six months since I had had a meal at a restaurant or made a reservation. With the sun shining, the idea of enjoying a cold crab salad overlooking the water appealed to me. Plus it's a nice image thinking of Al Scoma creating a family business 50+ years ago and having a pier named after him. Could such a story unfold for a scrappy go-getter these days?

We were a few minutes early for our lunch reservation, so we took the time to enjoy the view of the water and the mosaic ode to the city outside. Definitely easy to appreciate on a warm day. A few minutes later, we were seated at a picnic style table and received sourdough bread and whipped butter, and glasses of ice water.

Unfortunately, one of the glasses had remnants of red lipstick on it. We brought it to our server's attention, and later on, he replaced our water. Without a word, he took the glass and walked away. I couldn't help thinking it would have been nice if he had shown some sign of remorse. I understand that dishwashers can leave behind residue, but given these especially germaphobic times, a little sign of concern for the patrons from the staff goes a long way.

$13 Crab Bisque Bowl: This orange bowl had a creamy tomato flavor with chunks of crab meat, topped with chives and cracked pepper.

$21 Scoma's Dungeness Crab Cake: A pair of lightly battered and fried crab medallions were served with a small portion of arugula salad on the side and some creamy dipping salad. The crab was still chunky, which was definitely a plus, because that definitely beats crab cakes with pulverized crab mush.

$47 Scoma's Crab Louis Salad "Classic" 1/2 lb: I knew the Crab Louis was going to be a large portion, even with the smaller "Classic" sized portion, but when I saw the plate set down in front of me, I knew we would have leftovers. The pile of crab meat sat on top of shredded lettuce, decked out with juicy heirloom tomatoes, cucumber slices, a boiled egg, bell peppers, carrots, olives, lemon wedges, and a ramekin overflowing with Louis dressing. It was cool and refreshing, not to mention the crab and the accoutrements were sweet and satisfying. My only complaint was I would have preferred if the carrot were peeled, because the outer layers looked a touch hairy. I happily packed up the leftovers and looked forward to digging into it for my next meal. Our server joked that we did a good effort, but ate too much of the salad, haha.

I thoroughly enjoyed the food, and I probably would have enjoyed it even more if I had the opportunity to witness seeing the 'Pier to Plate' process unfold. I would rate my experience a 7/10, and would be more of a solid 4/5 had it not been for the dirty glasses. I wish I could say that I will save myself the money and make my own Crab Louis, but I sure do appreciate someone else shelling...

I am very upset after my experience at Scomas yesterday. The parking attendant, host, manager, and bus boys we're all phenomenal and our table was PERFECT! But our server made us all feel awful. Like we were second rate citizens not even worth his time. We were there Sunday June 8th at 1PM.

I came for the experience of Scomas on the water. To experience the professional, and exceptional wait staff, which is half the fun at Scomas. Everyone has been there for so long that they are just dialed in.

Our server was so incredibly abrupt with us. He wasn't even cordial. He didn't do anything past the absolute bare minimum for my table. He practically threw our plates at us, and was in and out so quick that we couldn't even get our requests in. He made us all feel like we weren't good enough to be there it was very uncomfortable. We asked for a split salad and he didn't make sure to split it for us, we got the shrimp lui salad and it didn't have a boiled egg, or olives on it like it had before. He didn't even bother to come check in and get us extra plates so we could split our salads. We asked for Avocados and he make sure to repeat that it was a $4.00 charge, the way he said it implied that he didn't think we could afford to be there. At that point I was just about to tell him to shove the whole thing up his a$$. We wanted to try the clam chowder, so we got a bowl to share amongst family. He didn't bother to make sure we all had spoons. It felt like he was doing everything in his power to low key aggravate our table.

We had an issue with the Pasta that my aunt ordered, but the manager came over and took care of us and treated us all like princesses and made sure everything was perfect. His level of service was exceptional, and on the second round he actually asked my aunt if she wanted parmesan on her pasta. This is the service I was looking for and expected from a place like Scomas!

We were upset all day because of this experience. We drove all the way from Cloverdale for a day in the city. I chose Scomas because Scomas is supposed to be exceptional all the way around. Maybe the server's dog died that day or something, because he sure as hell didn't want anything to do with us "Peons" .

We ended the day at The Trident in Sausalito where we received exceptional service and exceptional food from start to finish from wait staff who genuinely cared about their customers. That saved the day for us and we ended everything on a positive note.

I won't be back for food. Maybe pass through for a cocktail but that's about it, and that's all I'll be ...