Cafe 8

So my friends and I made a random trip to SF and decided to hang out around the wharf and it was time to eat. We walked around and looked at the menus of the restaurants and decided that this was the most reasonably priced and there was no wait.
From what I remember the service was prompt and we were seated at an outside table. I ordered a cup of clam chowder and a basket of calamari (See pictures). The clam chowder was the right thickness with a great flavor and the calamari was crispy.
As for the ambiance, I did not like sitting outside because of the sea gulls crawling around right beside the patio area and the restaurant was just ordinary. Nothing spectacular that makes it stand out.
Overall, I’m not sure if I would go back here because there are other restaurants around the area that provides the same quality of food for equal or lower price.

The bread bowl clam chowder was good but after 5 mins it was super cold. The worker left the chowder’s cap off for too long.
I had the crab cocktail that was really good. It was tastey but it was really small. I would recommend trying a different stand.

Came back to the bay for Thanksgiving break and was craving some good ‘ol SF clam chowder. My mom and I decided to play tourist at Pier 39 for the day and stopped by this place to get my clam chowder fix. Overall, the food was decent and the service was fast and very friendly. My mom got the fisherman’s platter. it was a little too greasy and way too overpriced. I was shocked by how small this platter was. BUT I enjoyed my clam chowder. so 3 stars, that’s all I can say really.

Slow service, lazy waiters, meh food. I found the 12 dollar vegetarian sandwich was a waste of my money. The fries were like mc donalds fries. Cold bread!!! How is my butter supposed to melt good sir? Clam Chowder? More like Clam Failure! Also! What kind of place doesn’t have a bathroom!

Not bad for the price. Was visiting the City last month and hit up the Warf and saw a grip of people grubbing on clam chowder bread bowls. I waited until the next day to get back to FW and decided to grab a bowl of that clam chowder soup because I couldn’t stop thinking of clam chowder, clam chowder and crab crab crab! Plus mami’s tummy was growling and the cold rain didn’t help the situation. The weather isn’t anything new to you Bay area folks eh?! :)
It wasn’t packed inside. It was small. Cozy. Food arrived in a good amount of time. I didn’t pay too much attention to the surroundings because I was hella hungry! My stomach was saying, «Feed Me… Biatch!» What else could I do, except serve my tummy.
Anyways, I ordered a side salad, crab legs and of course the clam chowder soup in a bread bowl!!! Muy delicioso! Shet man, it so filled the void of my hunger and damn those crab legs were bomb dipped in lots and lots of butter!
Yes ma’am I was a happy camper when we left!!! Moral of this story, is there one. haa! But for reals, it doesn’t have to be super fancy and cost an arm, a leg and a foot to eat some good tasting food!

Out of all the clam chowder bread bowl places, we picked this one. We wanted to sit down at a table plus, it’s 3 hours free with validation (on Taylor St., it’s valet) and this is one of the restaurants that offers this. Our first time at Fisherman’s Wharf and they did not disappoint. The servers were attentive. We arrived at 11am on a Friday and sat out on the patio. Be prepared to be annoyed with the servers who are trying to lure people into the restaurant by constantly announcing they have an indoor and outdoor eating area and lunch specials. But it fills up quick during the week during lunch time, so that soon doesn’t become a problem. We ordered the French Fries (which needed salt & pepper but were delicious), Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread Bowl DELICIOUSSSSSSSSS, Spaghetti with Bay Shrimp. Everything was delicious and the server was attentive. I would eat here again!

After contemplating which one of the adjoining restaurants to eat from, we finally chose this place. The winning argument – free 3 hour validation with purchase. Although all the near-​by eateries validate, we decided on this one.
We were given any choice of table and service and attitude was really casual. They had a decent lunch special menu, though selection was limited. We ordered the fish and chips ($ 10.95), the spaghetti and mussels marinara ($ 12.50), and the Fisherman’s Wharf appetizer platter ($ 15.95). They gave us 3 rolls (one for each of us). The rolls were cold, not «baked and cooled» cold, but like they were refrigerated. They were fresh though, upon slicing the roll. Perhaps they put their bread near the icebox or some stupid reason like that. The bread was good, but the crust is thick, so be prepared to do a lot of chewing. Their clam chowder had plenty of fresh clams, but was too watery for my taste. In fact, it wasn’t creamy at all – more like a clam broth thickened up with a little flour.
The fish and chips were alright, nothing to complain about, yet nothing to rave about. The spaghetti was thin and some of them were soggy. The spaghetti and mussels were pretty good and they gave you a ton of mussels (which I happen to laaaaa-​ove!). The Fisherman’s Wharf Platter consisted of fried calamari, fried octopus, fried shrimp, fried oysters, and fried scallops. This appetizer was a huge rip-​off. Half of the order consisted of those fries I warned you about, which I felt was a filler to mak the platter look fuller. There were only 2 small oysters, 2 teeny scallops, and 2 dried shrimp. The rest of the order were filled with calamari. I was disappointed in the batter, which was moist and fell off the seafood. The dipping sauces that came with the order, however, were delish.
The service was alright, the food was in the OK-​Good area. Would I come here again? Probably not. I might just stroll over to S&L’s (Sabella LaTorre) and enjoy their great meals, though it seems some Unilocalers might disagree with me!
Final Verdict: Their food is fresh, there’s no debate. The soggy fried food will leave grease on your plate. Forgo the fried goods as they’re nothing you’ll miss, order the pasta and you’ll experience taste bud bliss!

Fisherman’s Wharf is a great nostalgic place.
The atmosphere is busy, but charming.
The food at Café Eight was probably the worst meal I have ever had. The only worse thing was the service.
The fish was mushy, the salad swimming in water and dressing. The mac and cheese for my child was tasteless.
The waiter forgot several selections, didn’t bring food in a timely manner, ie. one entrée came with the soup, the other entrée didn’t come at all.
I would recommend buying a meal from McDonalds across the street before I would recommend this place.
How sad that the waiter could have cared less, and his attitude showed this.

Beats going to Sabella & La Torre! (see Sabella & La Torre review)
After a poor experience at Sabella & La Torre (a few doors down from Café Eight)…
Café Eight provided us: Better service, Food reasonably priced for tourist area, More spacious and I enjoyed the food.

Got sucked into this place because all the restaurants around it were full. Because it was late for lunch and we were hungry, we went to this place. Anyway, the place is expensive for what they give you, and the food were not good at all– at least what we ordered– clam chowder and salad, also oyster. The chowder tasted like they just opened one of the can soups and warmed it up. SERIOUSLY! it was awful. And, in the menu, they said that if you are splitting the food, they charged you more. We were like WHAT?! So, we did anyway without them knowing. Who cares?! besides, the service was very slow and intolerable anyway! I would NEVER come here again!

Wow, there are lots of bad reviews on here. Anyhow, after having clam chowder and shrimp cocktail at the Sabelle & La Torre crab stand, I was still hungry. The boyfriend and I walked around looking for somewhere with decent prices since we weren’t trying to spend a lot of money. And both of us were dressed really casuel so we didn’t want to go into anywhere too nice. After looking around, the Café Eight menu was the only one that appealed to us — price wise.
For our late lunch, I had a shrimp w/​white wine sauce pasta for $ 10. My boyfriend had fish tacos and garlic bread. Our bill came out to $ 20, which was what we were looking to spend.
I thought the food was good — small portions, but satisfied my craving for some pasta. It was also nice because they had outdoor seating and it was a rather nice day. Our server was also very nice — almost too nice, but I guess that’s not a bad thing. Overall, food was good, nice outdoor atmosphere, and good service. This place is good if you’re looking for something on the more inexpensive side and a more casual meal. However, not really a good place for a nice dinner out or a date or something.

This review is based on one specific meal I and a companion ate last Friday night. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs and she ordered spaghetti with clams. We both thoroughly enjoyed these dishes, and felt the price was quite reasonable. We also ordered a half crab, and it was pretty good. The melted butter that came with it was not so great, but the lemons were fine and was the perfect compliment to the crab. The bread that came with the dinner was good as well. I think overall the experiece was quite satisfying and worth the money, better than some of the other restaurants in the immediate area.

This was a lovely experience but costly. It’s expected though because of the location and it’s target costumers. The chowder bread bowls were awesome and the dungeon crabs were great. I never seen my girlfriend gobbo crab up so quickly before lol.

Me and my boyfriend chose this place to try clam chowder and crab. It was small dining area. we ordered two bread clam chowder and half a crab. ~THEY CHARGE $ 3.50 FOR SPLITTING~ They gave us one bib? ARe we suppose to share it? we didn’t use it but took it home to put the bib on our dog!~ crab was DELicious, with a dap of butter and lemon. hMM… we got our fingers dirty. bathrOOm? nope? waiteress bought us a warm water with lemon for our hands. yip old fashion style. come here again? probably not! must try other seafood places!!!