Salito's Crab House & Prime Rib — Restaurant in Sausalito

Brought here on a surprise trip by a friend, I passed this place by for years, without knowing what was going on inside. What is going on inside:

Absolutely gorgeous view of the Tiburon harbor Bay if that's what it is called and Sausalito on the water, and a beautiful outdoor setting with some highly effective space heaters, with both indoor and outdoor areas.

I was reminded of the Dead Fish Restaurant in Crockett, which is a little funkier and more old world than this place, with each of them having their own forte and special charm.

I opened up my night as usual with a Bloody Mary, and understand, a decent Bloody Mary, is essential to seafood dining for me. On a 1 to 10 I would give the Bloody Mary a 6 and 1/2 bordering on seven, since it tasted made from a fresh mix, and was a little tangier than it was salty which is something I appreciate.

Our opening course was the crab chowder in a bread bowl, reminiscent of the clam chowder in a sourdough bowl served in more than one spot in fisherman's wharf in San Francisco. Sadly, this crab chowder did not impress, didn't have any tang or deep flavor to it, and was kind of watery. The bread also was lacking and that it wasn't sourdough and didn't have any particular qualities.

The shrimp platter however more than made up for any misgivings I might have had, with delicious perfectly cooked shrimp in the shell on an iron platter, with a perfect amount of seasoning and garlic, and a small dipping bowl of butter, Parmesan, lemon zest, and salt. It was actually better than the shrimp I had at the Dead Fish, but that might have been due to the fact that I don't particularly like herbs on baked or fried food, and I think that the Dead Fish, had Rosemary or thyme or something like that on it.

Our next course was the seafood cioppino pasta, with perfectly cooked freshly made pasta, in a sauce that had a perfect balance of acidity, unctuous depth, and fresh flavors.

For dessert we ordered both the salted caramel and cheesecake, and the chocolate temptation, which are both first rate desserts.

The staff was super friendly and on top of it, and I can't wait to come back to this place for more. Thank you Joe, for...

I’ve had great experiences at this place. They’re not the same anymore. I see new people and working there.

After dining, I asked the waitress Meagan to charge $100 on my debit card and the rest of the bill will be paid in cash. I handed her $100 bill she came back with change that was $90 and she gave me the bill that she totally Charged the ent bill on our debit card . I asked her what did she do because I only told her to put 100 on the debit card she put the entire purchase on the debit and came back and gave me $90 and I asked her where was my other $10 which would make 100$ She said I swear I counted that money back to you. It was $100. I gave you 520s. I had to call the manager. He had to check the cameras as he said he had to fix the whole situation. I noticed the whole time we were dining he was micromanaging the lady that was waiting on my table he was pointing at her as to guide her to the tables that he saw looking up that needed help .

I told him he don’t have to ever worry about me coming back to that place. He said Megan is one of the most requested waitress that he have which is a lie. I saw him micromanage her the entire night I was dining The other tables were disgruntled as I looked at their expressions on their face. It took her a very long time to type in our order on her little pad. She must be new. I checked the reviews. I did not see any compliments for her.. The manager Jeremy came back and gave me my $10 that she took from me. I ended up going outside about five minutes later. He comes out and says here’s the other $10 bill it was on the table. ….B.S.

I’m done with that place. Thanks for ruining my entire evening. By the way, Megan said she gave me 5- 20’s Jeremy the manger came out with the a t 10 dollar bill to the parking lot And said here’s the $10 bill was...

Mixed bag. Terrible service, we wanted to get second drinks and no one ever came around for 30 min, so we gave up. They also took our plates after the appetizer and never brought any dish after, it took a while to flag down anyone to bring another one, in the meantime I ate my crab in the shelling bowl. And at the end, we were brought the wrong bill, it took a bit to flag down the waiter, and he only replied 'I'll get another one' before we could even explain it was the wrong check, so we were left to wonder for ten minutes whether he would be bringing us the same wrong check again. He was strangely silent every time he took our order or brought the check, at no point did he say anything besides confirm our order. He was also silent when he gave us the correct bill and after he brought the paid bill to sign. Never seen that at any other restaurants.

The food itself was good, though overpriced. The box tomato salad was absolutely terrific, but my husband's garlic noodles with sundried tomatoes and crab was $30+, and had no sundried tomatoes when it actually arrived (my husband loves sundried tomatoes and would ordered something else if he had known they weren't actually serving them in this dish). The dish was small, and extremely salty, my husband had trouble finishing it. My order was a pound plus of crab for $38, and I question if what I was served was a pound (see picture). It was very delicious though.

Last was the salted caramel crunch vanilla cake, which was brought out with a dirty spoon that had a cold piece of crab on it, yuck. The cake was extremely rich, heavy, and salty, not very sweet, and I did not like it. However, my husband said he loved it and could have had more.

All things considered, we won't be coming here again, there are lots of restaurants we've had better experiences at...