Sam’s Chowder House

Great service from the hostess and our waiter. They made our visit a very pleasant experience. Get the Oysters Rockefeller! They were served very hot and were absolutely delicious. Our lobster roll and shrimp wrap were good solid dishes. Old Bay fries were hot and very tasty! Key lime pie was delicious as well, very good meringue! Will come back soon!

This place has happy hour from 3 to 7 pm. Yay! My party went here to start my birthday celebration. We ordered rosarita, dark and stormy, sun kiss, and sideways sidecar. The drinks were great and we didn’t wait long for them. All drinks came out at the same time. We also had oysters, polenta fries and spicy calamari. We ordered more drinks before heading out.

I came here for a solid, albeit pricey, lunch. But hey, what do you expect? It’s seafood. My friend had really hyped it out ahead of time so perhaps my expectations were too high, but it turns out he had a really great experience at the Half Moon Bay location and felt that this location wasn’t nearly as good.
I ordered the lobster roll and I’ll admit that I’ve never had one before, so I don’t know what the standard is. I was pretty darn impressed though. I didn’t have any issues with the quality of the bread, but I would’ve liked it to be a little firmer. My roll was stuffed with large chunks of lobster that I believe was lightly sauced, but the sweetness of the lobster still came through. It came with coleslaw and chips, neither of what I was really a fan of. My friends ordered the fish tacos and the crab cake sandwich. I don’t think any of them were that impressed with their food, but no major complaints either.
Overall, it was a nice place to eat lunch, but there are better places on University Ave.

This was the first time visiting the Palo Alto restaurant. I was very disappointed, as well as the other 5 guests in our party. Our family really enjoys the restaurant in Half Moon Bay. We have a delightful time and always bring out of town guest there.
At the Palo Alto restaurant serve was friendly, but very slow. We had our appetizers before our drink order arrived. The restaurant wasn’t overly busy. Very cute decorated. I love how the restaurant windows open to bring the outside into the dining area.
We started with the 2 oyster samplers which were excellent. Very fresh… But sorry to say the meal went downhill from there…
Their Manhattan Clam Chowder was so spicy you could not eat it, so spicy you could not enjoy the other flavors the soup had to offer. Next ordered was a $ 12 beet salad that came with brown blemishes on the lettuce and avocado slices. Thank goodness the beets were good! Lastly, was their lobster roll! WOW, what a disappointment. This lobster roll came with chopped up lobster pieces and tossed on to a burnt roll, that’s it, and for $ 26.50. At that price I could have ordered a whole lobster with clarified butter. Clearly, kitchen staff is not examining dishes before serving it…
I will return to Half Moon Bay, I know there I will get better service and food!

Awesome spot. I was in town for business and came in from a request we got from a local. They had some live smooth jazz playing, and we just caught the tail end of their happy hour. I had the steamed crab, it was incredible. Worth every penny, it’s finger-​licking-​good-​eating!

Ok, I lived in New England before. But with this price and its name, I expected something higher quality. We ordered mostly seafood, I have to say they were well below OK. Steamed lobster was not fresh and even smelled. Oyster is not fresh. Even cherry clam which I think it was pretty generic food, it was still not fresh. And when I say it’s not ‘fresh’, I meant you could tell right away that they have been kept for a long time and doesn’t need much of the experience to be able to tell. Price is quite high but it’s in Palo Alto, I didn’t expect the same price as in New England. The only reason I still give 2 stars because of their service is still very good.
Will never come back again.

I was at Sam’s last night & ordered the lobster roll… Was really disappointed. The bread was crumbly… Not toasted & buttered on the outside. The lobster was dry. In all, the sandwich tasted old. This was the priciest lobster roll I’ve had (and trust me, I’ve had a vast number throughout California). This sandwich was $ 26. Very high for such poor quality.
My Mom ordered the beet salad which had maybe three ingredients, avocado, onion & beets. So not worth $ 11.
My Dad ordered the seafood stew & the waitress assured him it wasn’t spicy. Was definitely spicy… He ended up sending it back.
I think the only thing worth ordering are the oysters & beer.
Wine is incredibly overpriced. Bottles go for almost double the price.
Overall, I won’t go back. I’ll go to Lobster Shack in RWC & know what I’m getting when I order.

Worst meal ever !! Where do I start? We came here because we like their half moon bay place — BIG mistake! Should have trust the review and the empty restaurant.
— clam chowder was tasteless and salty
— steamed clam was salty and didn’t taste fresh
— fish and chips were burned and bitter
— lobster roll was dry !!! Not juicy — not sweet — you can’t screw this up — this is what you are famous for !!!
On top of that now my husband has been in the bathroom for the rest of day ! Food poisoning– so not right !
Service was Blah
Run far away from this place !!!

Not the best fish joint I’ve been too. But not too bad either. The lobster sandwiches we got we’re fine but I wish had had fries with them and not potato chips. Also for a fish joint no Fish and Chips on the menu, whats up with that? Being Palo Alto its also pricy. On the plus side service was fairly swift.

Been here a few times.
There are not many seafood restaurants in the bay area which offer wide selection on the menu like Sam’s Chowder House does. Plus they also have daily special menu on the wall. Like most of the people, our first encounter with Sam’s chowder was in Half Moon bay. I like how they don’t use too much heavy cream in their clam chowder so you can taste the flavor of clams. It’s creamy but not creamery, which is good. When we are nearby and in a hurry, we always stop in to get a pint of chowder to go. Other than that. most of the food we have had in the restaurant were not superb. I mean the seafood were fresh, but the taste, portion size and service don’t really worth the price. Three stars if it wasn’t for the chowder.
Overall, we will come back when craving for seafood.

4 stars mostly for the portions and the happy hour! Overall though, service was great and food was good.
Happy hour is M-​F from 3 – 7 PM. Biggest deal is $ 1 for oysters. Keep in mind that happy hour only applies at the bar! There are a couple small tables that are still part of the bar in the corner though.
Ordered:
–12 oysters
–steamed Manila clams
–bowl of clam chowder
All the seafood was fresh and portions are big. Our total was $ 45, which I think was worth it for 2.
Will be back for happy hour oysters! Such worth!

My sister and I stopped in for lunch today. We ordered the clam chowder and a Caesar salad with baby shrimp. Marco our waiter wasn’t happy with the amount of shrimp in our salads, so he made them take it back and put more shrimp. He was a very good waiter and kept coming over to make sure everything was okay. Delicious lunch

Cons: Service was okay. It took awhile for the server to take our orders or even bring drinks. She kept forgetting things and brought items we didn’t even ask for. The food here is pretty expensive albeit it’s on University Ave. in Palo Alto. I ordered the shrimp scampi and a lot of my shrimp still had their legs attached to it… Meaning whoever is prepping food needs to pay more attention. It was overcooked and the noodles were tossed in way too much oil. Not much taste to it. I’ve had better. Also tried the New England clam chowder. It was okay. My friends thought it lacked salt and pepper. I agree that I’ve had better chowder elsewhere.
Pros: portions are large.
I don’t know if this place will last on University Ave.

I sat at the bar at the end of April (on the hunt for a nice Mother’s Day dining place) and ordered the lobster roll. Before it came, another party at the bar raved about the clam chowder so I decided to order a cup. It was good but not the best I’ve had. I prefer not to have bacon. Their clam chowder is cooked with smoked bacon.
This was my first lobster roll and it was really good. It was a good sized portion. I wasn’t crazy about the bread roll b/​c it was a little sweet for my taste. It came with kettle chips and coleslaw.
Before tip, the total came to a little more than $ 45 for one person with the two items and just water. My calculations didn’t seem right to me so I left the restaurant a little unsettled. I didn’t catch that I was charged twice for the cup of clam chowder at $ 7.95 each until later.
I called the next day to inquire about the total on my receipt. The gentleman who answered the phone said that the bartender made a mistake and charged me twice for the cup of clam chowder. He was kind enough to give me a credit for both of them. THAT’s great customer service right there. If he hadn’t done that, I would not have ever considered going back there.

Really good lobster roll. Perfect blend of legit lobster and butter on a great bun.
The chowder is too skim and light for my taste. I prefer it thicker, but others do love it.

This review is for their happy hour (Monday-​Friday, 3PM-​7PM).
½ off drinks for happy hour @ the bar! Such a great deal and there’s also a good variety to choose from. I tried a specialty cocktail with cucumber (don’t remember the name of this one, but it was on the sweeter side) & the Rosarita on the rocks. Both were delicious and packed a good punch!
Food options were limited and just ok. The calamari was light and crispy, but it was a bit oily towards the bottom (comes with tartar sauce and a cocktail sauce). Pass on the polenta fries — the sweet tomato jam it comes with isn’t the tastiest pairing.
Overall, would definitely return for happy hour drinks!

It’s really hard to find a good lobster roll where I’m from and so one of the things that stuck out to us on this menu was the lobster roll. This spot was recommended by a friend on my trip out west to NorCal. I was hoping this would be better than the ones in the A. For one, we are right by the coastline. Two, even though it’s not Boston, SF and NorCal have a slightly better reputation on the food scene compared to Atlanta. I ordered the lobster roll served with cole slaw and subbed a salad for the potato chips. In addition, I ordered poke for the table
— — -
Poke
PROS
–definitely shareable, served with warm tortilla chips for dipping
–well seasoned, not bland
–not super oily even though it is tossed with a good amount of sesame oil
CONS
–pooling of the soy-​ponzu sauce: this made some of the bottom pieces a little bit more salty –and/​or savory than the top pieces.
— — –
Lobster Roll
PROS
–fantastic quantity of lobster: I think an entire lobster was used for this one roll.
–hot buttery roll with thick slices of bread
–buttery meat: not cold salad style — I prefer this better than its mayo-​dressed sibling
–not overly salty
CONS
–none
— — —
Man this totally hit the spot. I would definitely come back for this. Props to S for the recommendation and to driving us out here as well to San Jose for dinner that day. Definitely enjoyed having a «local» take us out for the eats! Parking is not easy but there is a lot behind the restaurant that has two-​hour parking.

Great seafood! Get the clams in wine sauce and clam chowder. They were so good! The Lobster spaghetti was good too. Service was good too. Happy hour until 7 at the bar area!

Compared to the Half Moon Bay location this place is sub par. The clam chowder was okay but I did bite down on something crunchy… maybe a wad of sand from the clams? Idk… I didn’t eat the rest.
My friend ordered the popcorn shrimp and it tasted… odd. It wasn’t crispy enough. We both enjoyed the fries and the lovely sparkling water is always a plus.
The service was pretty great, he was very on top of it… too bad the food was such a disgrace.
Overall, maybe not again at this location although it looks like they have a great happy hour!

We had never been to this location, but had been to the Half Moon Bay one.
Everything was A-​OK. Service, food. Best thing was the chowder. It was here that you get the most bank for the buck. We couldn’t finish the bowl and took the remainder home, where it was the major portion of our dinner.
Fish tacos, we had two orders, one breaded, one grilled. These were good, but our standard are the fish tacos at the Old Pro, which they didn’t match. But, they didn’t disappoint either.

Not impressed, a couple of the menu items our party wanted to select weren’t available. Waitress was not pleasant nor helpful.
Lobster sandwich wasn’t what it was chalked up to be, chowder was just okay — a little watery.

I haven’t had a lobster sandwich this good since I was in New Orleans. This place was great! Fantastic service and atmosphere would highly recommend to friends and everyone!

Brought my boyfriend in because he had never tried the Lobster Roll before and I had a mad craving. I’ve only eaten at the food truck before but will definitely be frequenting this location as well. Wait staff is very nice and the restaurant has a cool vibe. Cole slaw and fries that came with the Lobster Roll were great too!!!

I’ve been to the Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay many times and I enjoyed dinning there; when I saw they have one in Palo Alto, I was very excited and wanted to give it a try.
My husband and I got a table outside because we had our puppy with us; the hostess was nice and friendly, even offered a water bowl for my puppy. However, we’ve Waited at our table for a good 13min, staring inside the restaurant, no one has came to offer us anything. A «gentleman» in black shirt came out and gave us a plate of bread, said «there you go» then quickly walked away; I immediately shouted «can we have some water please?» right before he «flew» back into the restaurant — He looked at me, pointed inside the restaurant, and went back in; I was confused and not sure what he was trying to tell me at all.
After another 6min passed with silent; my husband got really upset, so we just stood up and left.

Sam’s seems displaced on the corner of University in downtown Palo Alto where the quality of food is better than mediocre. The ambience is also congruent. The best thing going for them is the $ 1 fresh oysters during happy hour which lasts to 7pm on weekdays and 12 — 5 Saturday.
The service my gf and I received at the bar was good. I was disappointed to learn wine is not part of happy hour. Well drinks only folks! They do have some refreshing libations at least. The popcorn shrimp and fried calamari got soggy quick while we took our time chatting away. They were quite flavorless anyways without cocktail or tartar sauce. I’ve had better at Popeye’s and KFC. The clam chowder was decent, but nothing to rave about. The best dish was was the roasted sea salt Brussel sprouts. They had a nice brown toast to them with sea salt. Only bacon could make this better.
I’d come back just for the Happy Hour oysters.

The Fried Calamari:
Really good. It was fresh and lightly fried. I think that the freshness really made the light batter okay. Usually if something were to come out fried I’d expect it to be just that but in this case it worked out nicely.
The Ahi Tuna Melt:
I originally couldn’t quite decide on what I wanted. I picked this because it seemed like a good second to the famous lobster roll and fair in price. The waitress helped solidify my order and boy was it good! Hands down the best tuna melt thus far. It was filled with flavor and you could really taste the freshness of the seafood, but being in CA I wouldn’t expect less. Everything in the melt was really complimenting. This I would definitely order again without hesitation.
New England Clam Chowder:
Being the typical girlfriend I had to take a couple spoonfuls of the man’s chowder. I personally like creamy chowders but I have to say I don’t fault Sam on it. It’s taste was great regardless and I do have to give them a point because they explained their clam chowder on the menu so it’s easy to understand what you’re going to get. Flour isn’t all that great for you anyways which is what adds the creamy texture to most chowders. Absolutely reasonably priced for a large bowl.

We went to this place for dinner yesterday, because I’m a huge fan of lobster rolls. The restaurant was quite empty the whole time between 5:30 — 6:30 pm.
We ordered a bowl of New England Clam Chowder for starter, fishermen’s stew and Sam’s lobster’s roll for entrees. As a person who had tons of clam chowders and lobster rolls in Boston, I have to say, neither clam chowder nor lobster roll was close to good, even compared to a small and cheap seafood restaurant in Boston. Clam Chowder was just mediocre, and a good thing for it was a bowl of chowder was very large. But lobster roll was quite not tasty.
The worst thing was, the lobster was too soft (not chewy), so we doubted that the lobster was not fresh, maybe just frozen lobster. Maybe the lobster was just fresh but overcooked, I never know, but the truth is, it was far from the standard expectation for a good lobster roll.
In a word, dining here was not a satisfiable experience. In addition, it is not cheap.

I try this place today for lunch and I ordered the soup and salad combo.
for the salad I tried the salmon Cobb salad and for the soup I tried the shrimp and crab gumbo. Both of which were OK but nothing to write home about. The gumbo lot so full flavor and I hate that they used baby shrimp.
As an appetizer we ordered the fried calamari which is pretty good. Although the food was OK I’m not sure that I’ll return because I had higher expectations.

I’m always on a hunt for a good Happy Hour spot. I’ve frequented quite a few in Palo Alto these past almost two years. It was my first time at Sam’s Chowder House for Happy Hour. I have been here once almost 1.5 years ago for lunch with my co-​workers. We got some clam chowder and it was alright. Nothing too spectacular. I had a higher expectation since it was called Sam’s Chowder House. Prices were high so nothing appealed to us to ever come back for lunch again.
However, my boyfriend and his friend seem to really love coming here after work for some drinks and snacks. This time, just a random Tuesday, my boyfriend and I decided to come here to get some drinks and wait out the traffic before heading home. We got there around 6PM and the bar was pretty much filled. Happy Hour (3PM-​7PM Weekdays) I am told is only at the Bar. We sat down and ordered beer first with one waitress and food with another waiter. Something in common with the wait staff here is that they had to ask us several times what we ordered since they didn’t write it down. The waitress asked our beer order 3 times and 4^th time, when she brought it to us, she didn’t remember where it went. We think she might be new. Besides that, they were friendly and pleasant.
For Happy Hour, drinks are ½ off and certain food are discounted per the Bar Menu. Also, oysters are $ 1 each. We ordered the Spicy Crispy Calamari, 15 Oysters, Crispy Polenta Fries, and Shrimp Ceviche. I really enjoyed the calamari and considering it was $ 7, there was a good amount of it. The oysters were fresh and delicious. The ceviche was a bit lackluster though.
Overall, I think it was a nice spot for Happy Hour, but I think I have been to better. What really draws me in for Happy Hour is the food and I think the food here was just okay. I am open to giving their Happy Hour another try in the future though.

Very disappointed with my Fish&Chips meal.
1. The cod tasted like it was frozen
2. Their was no seasoning on the fish whatsoever, very bland
3. The coleslaw was overpowering by a unfresh onion flavor
4.the French fries were over cooked and hard.
NEVER GO HERE AGAIN. IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME
SKIP THIS PLACE

So glad they came to downtown PA! It’s one of those chains I love! Consistent quality, and reasonable prices with those portions. I’ve always found great service. And I like the design of this space as it helps control the noise distribution, so even when it’s a full house you can hear your neighbor!

New England chowder was indeed pretty good.
Lobster roll was yummy too.
We also had both the Copping & Paella and they were both just meh…

Drove home from Paly feeling like a hero– surprise chowder for the family??!- an hour and a half later… Presented my bounty with a flourish, just to find I WAS ROBBED! One was just over half full (if you take into account the containers are slightly conical? it was maybe, actually only half full? If ya wanna get ‘scientific’. I’d rather just measure it and move on. So I did: 28 oz. — Should be around 44. Saw a pic on here of someone else’s. I’m gyped. Fits 48, but that’s just dangerous! Chowder grenade!
Whatever. My wife and daughters ate it, I had a taste. I thought the flavor was good, medium on bacon, I don’t need it to be heavy-​roux /​pasty, I like large chunks of clam, prefer red potato that aren’t cooked to mush, but ok. No ‘ivar’s acres’ in Seattle. Next time I’ll go Cooks.

Went on Sunday after Thanksgiving. Got seated right away. Start you with bread, good but cold. Service is great! Seafood Stew, clam chowder (huge bowl for $ 11), crab cakes and feta shrimp appetizer thing … All tasty (except slaw with crab cake, a little weird seasoning to it). A little pricey for but it’s seafood, it’s Palo Alto… whatcha gonna do?
FYI — Stew missing crab due to issue with Dungeness crab in California

Arrived 12 noon on Sunday few weeks back. What gave me a suprised is there were no waiting needed.
Ordered the signature Sam’s Lobster Roll ($ 24.5) and it did not disappointed me. Lobster was fresh and the unique sweet flavour retained.
We ending up spent 2 hours there. Waiter is very nice and I had not run out of water. Restaurant environment is good and there is no rush to pay the bill. Overall, the only thing is that the menu is a bit pricy — but u shall notice this before your visit t given their menu is online to public. With the quality of food and time you can spend there, I“d recommend for small party (2 — 4) catch up.

This place is more like 3.4 stars… customer service is good, the food is decent/​okay, but not all that great in my opinion.
Came here with some of my coworkers just to chill and have drinks after work… reservations are recommended, and when you do make reservations, they advise for you to have your entire party present before they can seat you… AND, they don’t seat you early… I made a reservation for like 5:30 or something… it was 5:15, and the person working as front-​of-​the-​house said it was too early to check in… we’re like okay, whatever… let’s just walk around downtown for a bit…
Anyway, I was kind of skeptical about this place at first, especially having read some of the reviews/​complaints from fellow Unilocalers about the gritty clam chowder and subpar calamari…
We must have gone on a good day or something cuz that calamari was really good…
Some of us ordered beers, and some of us ordered cocktails… the cocktail I had was a bit strong for me… I barely had a few sips, and I could already feel my head starting to throb… didn’t want to push it
Our Entrees:
–One of my friends and I had the seafood paella… it was a special that night or something. I can’t eat lobster or crab, and nothing on the menu really got my attention until our server mentioned the paella. I don’t recall ever having paella, but I wanted to give it a try anyway. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it tasted pretty good… I did pull aside all the bell peppers and baby scallops, but that’s just me though… I don’t like either one hahaha…
–One of my other coworkers tried the bowl of clam chowder, and she liked it very much… btw, when I say bowl, I mean a big ass bowl… it’s twice as big as your face lol…
–Another coworker had the lobster spaghetti – he said this was just okay, nothing special
–Someone else ordered the pumpkin dumplings entrée, this was another one of their specials that night… my friend loved her dish… I tried a piece of it, and it tasted fine, but I personally think it’s too sweet of a dish to have as an entrée.
Oh, before I forget, one of the main reasons why we went here on a Tuesday night was b/​c locals get 20% off their bill… luckily one of us is from this area, so we were able to get that discount.

I wanted clam chowda and this was the only place in PA I could think of. There was a litto band playing which was cute but we got ushered to the back so we didnt get that ambiance. I got the bowl of clam chowder and the lobster roll. The bowl was hugeee and it was more soupy than thick. I liked it though. The lobster roll is what is super famous here because of the super buttered roll that got to my heart. Man loads of butter doesnt do good things to my body. The lobster pieces were good too but I wouldnt order this again.

Came to Sam’s for the happy hour, $ 1 Oysters, oh yeah…2 dozen please. Yummy. Had the oysters Rockefella, good flavor. Ceviche was wayyyy acidic that made the dish really acidic. Ambiance is bar like, lots of TV screens happy hour hounds. Prices are good for happy hour. They have an array of offerings from grill to sea.

This review is only for their Happy Hour bar bites. I ain’t impressed with Sam’s…
Calamari is just really bad, it doesn’t taste like the typical calamari you would get in a seafood restaurant. Flavorless and bland, too much breaded.
Ceviche is so sad too, shrimp tasted old and not fresh, and the flavor was mostly lemon juice.
I came here excited for their $ 1 oysters, but I am not a big fan of fishy, smelly oyster like what they served us. I ate 8 and I couldn’t take it anymore, no matter how much lemon and tabasco I put, it’s just too fishy to me.
Service was good though, nothing to complain bout that. Sorry but I will not come back.

Let’s first start off with, service was great. I’m definitely a fan of seafood and you know it’s chow time when you walk into a restaurant that has good beer on tap and some crab deviled eggs.
We were immediately greeted when we walked in, it took a bit to get seated because we had two infants with us, but it was because they were setting up for a bit of a large party.
I had the chowder and halibut. I must of got fooled because the chowder on the photos looked much better than it tasted. It was pretty watery and I was hoping for some bacon bits… lol that’s just MY thought of chowder.
My main course was halibut. It was a rather large size that sat on black mushroom rice. The fish was definitely meaty, but it was over cooked and dry. The rice was undercooked and overpowered by the lemon zing. I still ate most of my meal, because I would hate to waste expensive food. My three stars, I guess I was expecting more.
Kumomoto oysters were of course delish, but a whooping $ 3 each. I did enjoy my beer on tap, grunion I think it was called.
Don’t think it will be my go to when I come back, but a decent spot if you can’t choose a restaurant.