This is part of my 72 Hours in San Francisco food and travel guide. Read the full series for every stop on the trip.
I hate lines.
I am from New York. I will skip a restaurant entirely before standing in a line. I do not care how good the food is.
Sotto Mare at 552 Green Street in North Beach required three separate attempts before we got in.
Three.
I am telling you this so you understand the level of recommendation I am about to give. And I would do it again without hesitation.
The Space
Memorabilia covering every wall. A bar stretching what feels like sixty feet across with every seat occupied. Paper towels on the tables. Nobody pretending to be somewhere fancy. Everybody eating.
The staff is clean, knowledgeable, quick, and completely on point. Get a reservation. Call ahead. We tried walking in twice and I respect the lesson.
The Shooters
West Coast oyster shooters at $3.50 each and East Coast shooters at $4.50 for three.
No, you are not going to get drunk off oyster shooters. Yes, you should order five or six of them anyway.
The Oysters
All delicious. Incredibly fresh. The brine hit exactly where it needed to.
The Octopus Salad
Fresh, clean, perfectly executed. The octopus was tender without being overdone.
The Best Damn Crab Cioppino – $54.95
This is the dish.
One bowl, serves three people, loaded with everything you want from a proper cioppino. Mussels. Clams. Crab. Pasta. Rich broth that tastes like someone spent actual time building it.
I grabbed a beer to go alongside it.
At $54.95 for a bowl that fed three people this is one of the best value dishes I had on the entire trip.
Final Verdict
Sotto Mare is the best meal of the entire San Francisco trip.
Not close.
House of Prime Rib at number two. Mustard Grill at number three. Sotto Mare at number one and not moving.
Get the reservation. Get the shooters. Get the cioppino.
As always, what do I know? I am just a fat guy from Brooklyn trying to survive the week, one martini at a time.
Looking for more NYC restaurant reviews? Check out my Best Steakhouses in NYC, Best Burgers in NYC, and Best Restaurants in NYC lists.