Now San Francisco is thriving with seafood restaurants everywhere, and you can always find fresh oysters and seafood just about anywhere. And they’re all pretty good to the same degree. But where is the BEST place? With the BEST oysters? Like literally, the #1 oysters in SF?! After eating almost literally everywhere and with the backup of Yelp and other search engines and word by mouth from the locals, I have concluded that Swan Oyster Depot has the #1 oysters in the San Francisco Bay area 🙂 And the best seafood.
Sadly, I don’t have pictures of the front of the place or the overflowing sidewalks of people lined up. There will always be a long line. Expect to wait about 2-3 hours depending on what time of the day you come! There is never, never NOT a line! At the front of the restaurant, there is a huge assortment of fresh seafood beyond the glass mirrors that is so amusing to inspect and look at while you wait for your seats. Heaping platters of raw and live uni, crab, oysters, etc. UGH why do I not have a picture of it! But you guys can look it up on Yelp and their website to see 😀
Inside, it is just a long narrow hallway with a bar table and small, uncomfortable seats (10-12 seats). Everyone goes in and out quick. Go in, order, eat, and leave. Not much of a place for socializing and long talks (Pro: line moves fast because people eat fast. I think they have uncomfortable seats on purpose to keep us from enjoying ourselves and taking our time? :D). But fresh seafood. Quality is definitely there! All the worker men are so nice and amiable. Decor is more old school and traditional and gives off an antique feel (a lot of picture frames on the wall). But you get the old fashion sailor feel while you eat!
From my observations, there are always a lot of tourists that come here and they try almost everything on the menu! However, the regulars that live here love to order the traditional oysters, fresh sea urchin, and salad?! The seafood salad with heaping loads of fresh real crab on top is crazy! I want to try next time!
This is the bar table. As you can see, there is a lot going on in here. But check out that big slide of smoked salmon waiting to be sliced for me to eat! Haha. All seating is at a bar with you facing them. It is so fun and amusing to watch them shuck oysters or prepare a seafood cocktail while you wait for yours! And because it is such close corridors, everyone is friendly and chatty with each other! The workers are very friendly 🙂 A lot of conversations amongst everyone in here! <3
1/2 dozen raw oysters (Blue Point, Olympia, Eastern oysters) and 1/2 dozen raw clams (Little Necks, Cherry Stone, Boston clams) – These were amazingly good. Each one was so fresh, so clean, and chilled to the perfect temperature. All of them just melt in your mouth like delicious chilled raindrops! Texture is amazing! For those of you who love raw oysters, I guarantee you’ll also love raw clams! They’re more soft and gentle to chew. I actually like them more than oysters!
Combination Seafood Cocktail (oysters, clams, crab, and shrimp) – Yummy! The cocktail looks small, but it’s very misleading. It deceptively holds a lot of seafood in it! Everything is cleaned very well (no dirt or stones). The crab is so fresh and peeled off for you perfectly from the shells so that they are still in their “whole” pieces. The cocktail sauce is perfect! LOVEEEE IT! <3
Half Cracked Crab (served with bread & butter, choice of cocktail sauce, louie sauce or mayonnaise) – So good! Not the big snow crab legs, but actual big crabs that they crack for you! You can watch them crack it right in front of you. This makes it so much easier to open up and eat the delicious meat that is in the inside!! Very refreshing! All sauces are good, but i personally like the cocktail sauce!
Smoked Trout (served with salad, bread, and butter) – A bit disappointing! The smoked trout is a bit tough and hard to chew on (kind of makes me think it is a trout jerky). The smoked salmon is perfect (and comes with the smoked trout)! it was so amusing to watch them slice thin slices of smoked salmon in front of us! I wouldn’t order the trout again though. The side salad was diced gem lettuce with fresh, raw shrimp on top! DUDEE. Next time I am definitely getting their salad just to show you guys how crazy it looks!
If you want FRESH and CLEAN seafood, quality is right here at this doorstep! Although this is a huge tourist attraction spot, the locals still come and make up the bulk of the crowd. But most importantly, all the men that work in there are SO FRIENDLY and cordial and nice! They enjoy their job and seeing their customers leave happy! So what more can you ask for with #1 oysters and fresh, clean seafood, AND top notch quality service. NOTE: This place is expensive. BUT you get what you pay for! Good money going into good quality fresh seafood is always worth it to me 🙂
