Restaurant Reviews

My bro-in-law and his wife and kid live in the East Bay. His wife's parents were in town paying a visit and they all wanted to meet in SF for some dinner. So, it's August, Saturday night, dinner time...where would be a good place to meet, park, pick a restaurant and grab a quick meal?
How about Fisherman's Wharf?
Hmm, let's see--crowded, no parking, hour-long wait for dinner, touristy (non-authentic) restaurants plus, (PLUS!!) we had an 18 month-old child with us.
Hey, I didn't pick the area.
So, to make a long story short(er) I hopped on Muni and met the rest of the group at Rainforest Cafe for dinner. The wait was 90 minutes. This didn't work for me, nor for anyone else. We fanned out, cellphones at the ready, and started to check in with all of the other restaurants in the area. It didn't look too promising.

Suddenly, from out of the blue, my phone rang...it was Mrs. notjoey, and she found a place that could seat us asap! Nick's Lighthouse, right on the actual wharf.
It's a small, square dining room, with low ceilings, plenty of nautical jetsam and flotsam hanging from the walls, old crusty waiters (except for our server) uncomfortable booths, and views of old fishing boats bobbing in the bay. I'll bet the place hasn't changed much since the 50's.
There were 8 of us and we were able to get a table after only waiting 10 minutes.

The wife and I had been there a couple of times recently and found that their crab caesar salads were really quite good. We took a friend there and had a great lunch, so we figured that we would find something worthwhile to eat.

After a servicable lobster bisque, I shared some mussels that were wonderful. Plump, soft and smelling like the (clean) ocean, they were served in a white wine, tomato parsley sauce that went great with the crusty sourdough bread that was brought to the table. I was starting to like this place a bit more now. You see, to a local SF-er, Fisherman's Wharf is where you take out-of-towners for some "Ye Olde SF Dining" not where you go for good dinner. We end up there a couple of times a year, usually with guests, and if you pay attention, you can get a pretty good deal.

I ordered the "Lazy Man's" Cioppino for my entree. It's a seafood stew of shrimp, crab, scallops, mussels, clams, and fish in a tomato-sherry broth that was pleasantly mild and didn't overpower the seafood at all. It's "lazy" because they take all of the shells off for you. No crab claws to crack, clam and mussel shells are not in your bowl, giving you more room for the seafood...you get the idea. Your shirt will be happy. It's great for a date or a business dinner.
There were 3 kinds of shrimp in the bowl: rock shrimp, small bay shrimp, and prawn-like big boys with the tails still on.
There was so much food I "literally" couldn't eat it all. (some day I'll write about the misuse/overuse of the word "literally"...it's like a virus)

All of us were quite satisfied with our entrees. Plus...PLUS, the service was quite good. As a former restaurant guy, I'm quite familiar with the "tourist trap syndrome" that is quite pervasive in this type of restaurant. As a server, you think you'll never see these people again, and the best way to make $$$ is to turn and burn your tables as fast as you can. Volume, volume, volume! There's really no reason to go out of your way and provide exceptional service (except for the fact that you might CARE ABOUT YOUR WORK AND TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO!!!)
So, needless to say, we had pretty good service. My iced tea was filled regularly, the extra plates removed in a timely fashion, and the small child was served first (a must)...all of the small things that you only notice when they're not being done.

So, to sum it all up...
Fisherman's Wharf--we all have to go there sometimes
Nick's Lighthouse--you could do a lot worse, and you may even try it without your guests.