$13.00 bucks for a kids' toasted cheese sandwich and fri??????
Jacques Theron (Nickelson)
Not sure if this is where the locals hang out but for us tourist is was a great experience. The food was good, service was on par and the decor and surrounding view was brilliant...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Jacques “Nickelson” Theron
Not sure if this is where the locals hang out but for us tourist is was a great experience. The food was good, service was on par and the decor and surrounding view was brilliant...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Supermom Layton
Not the same place more of a cafe
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
Al Sh
Try the halibut. A little bit expensive for but it is ok.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
C.Adriana C. S.
When I was 3 my dad took me here every month and ever since then i didn’t go. Yesterday I went and nothing changed in 9 years. The clam chowder in the bread bowl tasted the same and it brought a wave of nostalgia. I ate 2 bowls of it and I was satisfied. I will say it was very expensive but it’s good to go once a month
Kid-friendliness: It has a kids menu and it is all good food and it seams to be cheep
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cangrejo A la Plancha
Miriam Zaga
Very bad cesar salad to much souse cant eat it the shrimp coctel is just shimps with a lemon no sauce no nothing dont
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Friendly Notary
Stop by here and try the fresh seafood, get something to share so you can enjoy other tastes nearby. This is historical place and it's right in the heart of the Fisherman's Warf in SF.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
nola chavez
Had a fabulous meal there in late August when we took family and friends. The crab was absolutely delicious and my husband's pasta with clams was a big hit too. We want to return just the two of us. Hope it doesn't close down. A real gem at fisherman's wharf that I first remember visiting in the 60s!! Had to beg our waiter to set up a table for 6 by the window, but other than that the service was good. Atmosphere was OK when we finally got to the dining area, but it could definitely use an update. Just go there for the food and you won't be disappointed.
With so many great restaurants closing in the City, we were so pleased to still have the Grotto still open and serving the best food ever. The restaurant was full of happy customers. We will definitely plan to visit there again the next time we are in San Francisco.
Delfina Q
Our server Jaime was amazing! She was friendly, thorough, quick and professional. Food was delicious!
Randy Perrone
Service is terrible: took long to get our order taken. Our food took extremely long to come out we almost just left. Other people that came in after us got their food first. We never got our bread even tho some other tables had bread.Food quality was disgusting. We didn’t even eat it all and left the rest without taking it with us. The mixed drinks were small and tasted watered down.Price was expensive for the only good quality being the view out the window.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 1
Gw Combs
Great food! Slow service. Took 20 minutes to get my check.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Fish
Chad Turina
I can't believe that I have to post this review. It's upsetting for me and my family. We have been dining at The Grotto for years, pre and recently post pandemic. I have to say that it has been a complete 180° turn for The Grotto. I give them props for staying open and surviving the pandemic, unlike other establishments (Alioto's), but man, the cost of surviving sure does show. Everything from the food to the service to the restaurant itself shows the signs of struggle. No longer do you get greeted by an attractive host at the top of the staircase, no, they make you wait outside on the curb now for a server to take you up and seat you. You can't walk in and up the steps like you used to!! Then they insist on taking around through what I can only describe as a dirty, dingy storage room on the ground floor so that you can use the elevator. I don't need the damn elevator, let me walk up the main staircase!! And the restrooms, don't get me started on that. What used to be a bright and shiny and fresh smelling place that looked like it just had a fresh coat of paint and new sinks and faucets installed that morning, now looks no better than a subway or BART restroom.As for the service, I can't be more disappointed. It took almost ten minutes for our server to even greet us once we sat down. Then another ten for him to bring us our bread and water. At that point we ordered, apps and entrées and main drinks. Another 10 passed before we got our drinks. Another 5 to 10 and finally apps. Another 20(!!!!????!!!) passed and finally our entrées. Now I understand that they are probably short staffed, but man, c'mon. I saw more than one server there, but apparently they all decided to take thier break at the same time and leave the one guy to fend for himself. Not good, not good at all.The food............man oh man. Prices went way up, quality and quantity went WAAAAAAAAAAY down. The clam chowder, which IMO, was some of the best SF has to offer, wasn't even really clam chowder!!! Don't get me wrong, you could tell it was scratch made, but that sure as hell was NOT clam chowder. It didn't have that TASTE, if you know what I mean. It didn't taste seafoody, it didn't have that richness or the little bits of sand you get when you get that good, fresh, REAL chowder. I don't know WHAT that junk was, but it wasn't clam chowder. It was more akin to a clam and potato stew. My favorite entree, which I believe was called the fisherman's platter, consisting of battered and fried seafood, no longer exists on the menu. Why? No idea. It's not like they don't have the ingredients because they serve other dishes consisting of those items. It's not like they can't fry anything because they have chicken nuggets/tenders on the menu for kids. Anyway, I got the fish and chips. Literally, it is a fish, one piece, ONE, and chips. And to say it was a fish is being overly generous. It should say on the menu "batter and chips". My wife got her usual whole crab, nothing to say there, as it is pretty hard, darn near impossible to mess that up. But I'm sure The Grotto will find a way too, other than charging what they claim is "Market Price". Last I checked, ONE crab does NOT cost $60. Not at Ranch 99 at least. I can get two, almost three LIVE crabs from Ranch 99 for $60 and go home and boil them myself. My kids got the nuggets of the kids menu, and I'm still not sure they were actually chicken. Overcooked and cooked in what tasted like month old, oil. All in all, The Grotto should change its name to The Dive. Because that's what they did. DIVE. And hard. Sad to say, but we will not be dining here anymore. Such a shame. It was our go to restaurant whenever we went to SF. Not anymore.
One of the best Fish & Chips I’ve had in
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
$13.00 bucks for a kids' toasted cheese sandwich and fri??????
Not sure if this is where the locals hang out but for us tourist is was a great experience. The food was good, service was on par and the decor and surrounding view was brilliant...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Not sure if this is where the locals hang out but for us tourist is was a great experience. The food was good, service was on par and the decor and surrounding view was brilliant...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Not the same place more of a cafe
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
Try the halibut. A little bit expensive for but it is ok.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
When I was 3 my dad took me here every month and ever since then i didn’t go. Yesterday I went and nothing changed in 9 years. The clam chowder in the bread bowl tasted the same and it brought a wave of nostalgia. I ate 2 bowls of it and I was satisfied. I will say it was very expensive but it’s good to go once a month
Kid-friendliness: It has a kids menu and it is all good food and it seams to be cheep
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cangrejo A la Plancha
Very bad cesar salad to much souse cant eat it the shrimp coctel is just shimps with a lemon no sauce no nothing dont
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Stop by here and try the fresh seafood, get something to share so you can enjoy other tastes nearby. This is historical place and it's right in the heart of the Fisherman's Warf in SF.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Had a fabulous meal there in late August when we took family and friends. The crab was absolutely delicious and my husband's pasta with clams was a big hit too. We want to return just the two of us. Hope it doesn't close down. A real gem at fisherman's wharf that I first remember visiting in the 60s!! Had to beg our waiter to set up a table for 6 by the window, but other than that the service was good. Atmosphere was OK when we finally got to the dining area, but it could definitely use an update. Just go there for the food and you won't be disappointed.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
With so many great restaurants closing in the City, we were so pleased to still have the Grotto still open and serving the best food ever. The restaurant was full of happy customers. We will definitely plan to visit there again the next time we are in San Francisco.
Our server Jaime was amazing! She was friendly, thorough, quick and professional. Food was delicious!
Service is terrible: took long to get our order taken. Our food took extremely long to come out we almost just left. Other people that came in after us got their food first. We never got our bread even tho some other tables had bread.Food quality was disgusting. We didn’t even eat it all and left the rest without taking it with us. The mixed drinks were small and tasted watered down.Price was expensive for the only good quality being the view out the window.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 1
Great food! Slow service. Took 20 minutes to get my check.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Fish
I can't believe that I have to post this review. It's upsetting for me and my family. We have been dining at The Grotto for years, pre and recently post pandemic. I have to say that it has been a complete 180° turn for The Grotto. I give them props for staying open and surviving the pandemic, unlike other establishments (Alioto's), but man, the cost of surviving sure does show. Everything from the food to the service to the restaurant itself shows the signs of struggle. No longer do you get greeted by an attractive host at the top of the staircase, no, they make you wait outside on the curb now for a server to take you up and seat you. You can't walk in and up the steps like you used to!! Then they insist on taking around through what I can only describe as a dirty, dingy storage room on the ground floor so that you can use the elevator. I don't need the damn elevator, let me walk up the main staircase!! And the restrooms, don't get me started on that. What used to be a bright and shiny and fresh smelling place that looked like it just had a fresh coat of paint and new sinks and faucets installed that morning, now looks no better than a subway or BART restroom.As for the service, I can't be more disappointed. It took almost ten minutes for our server to even greet us once we sat down. Then another ten for him to bring us our bread and water. At that point we ordered, apps and entrées and main drinks. Another 10 passed before we got our drinks. Another 5 to 10 and finally apps. Another 20(!!!!????!!!) passed and finally our entrées. Now I understand that they are probably short staffed, but man, c'mon. I saw more than one server there, but apparently they all decided to take thier break at the same time and leave the one guy to fend for himself. Not good, not good at all.The food............man oh man. Prices went way up, quality and quantity went WAAAAAAAAAAY down. The clam chowder, which IMO, was some of the best SF has to offer, wasn't even really clam chowder!!! Don't get me wrong, you could tell it was scratch made, but that sure as hell was NOT clam chowder. It didn't have that TASTE, if you know what I mean. It didn't taste seafoody, it didn't have that richness or the little bits of sand you get when you get that good, fresh, REAL chowder. I don't know WHAT that junk was, but it wasn't clam chowder. It was more akin to a clam and potato stew. My favorite entree, which I believe was called the fisherman's platter, consisting of battered and fried seafood, no longer exists on the menu. Why? No idea. It's not like they don't have the ingredients because they serve other dishes consisting of those items. It's not like they can't fry anything because they have chicken nuggets/tenders on the menu for kids. Anyway, I got the fish and chips. Literally, it is a fish, one piece, ONE, and chips. And to say it was a fish is being overly generous. It should say on the menu "batter and chips". My wife got her usual whole crab, nothing to say there, as it is pretty hard, darn near impossible to mess that up. But I'm sure The Grotto will find a way too, other than charging what they claim is "Market Price". Last I checked, ONE crab does NOT cost $60. Not at Ranch 99 at least. I can get two, almost three LIVE crabs from Ranch 99 for $60 and go home and boil them myself. My kids got the nuggets of the kids menu, and I'm still not sure they were actually chicken. Overcooked and cooked in what tasted like month old, oil. All in all, The Grotto should change its name to The Dive. Because that's what they did. DIVE. And hard. Sad to say, but we will not be dining here anymore. Such a shame. It was our go to restaurant whenever we went to SF. Not anymore.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Fish
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