Joe’s Prime Rib and Seafood

A charming place in the most random part of the city. I’ve lived in the area all my life and have never noticed it before, mainly because it’s between the Silver and Excelsior area where everything else is at. It also isn’t very eye-​catching.
It’s Chinese-​owned, and according to waiter waiter, this second restaurant to exist, the first being Joe’s Fish Grotto. Now, it’s seafood, meat and pastas (as well as the bar). The waiter recommended their prime rib. All meat dishes come with either soup (Manhattan clam chowder or NY clam chowder) or salad and a side of either vegetables, garlic fried rice (and the diced garlic was crispy!), fries or potatoes. Not a bad deal at all. The prime rib was very fresh (as the waiter claimed) and tender. Lamb chops came in pieces of three.
Not many people seem to come here as I was the only one here on a Friday night. I can imagine why — $ 20 for a full meal, which includes tax and tip, is a lot for the low to middle income families living in the area. It’s no wonder they’re about to have another change of ownership. So, try this place soon before it’s too late.
JONASAPPROVED!

Having read the Unilocal reviews which told me this restaurant is either really good or really bad, I decided to check out this neighborhood restaurant on my own. I’ll agree with several of the previous reviewers that the menu is indeed a bit pricey.
The menu is quite busy though with lots of selections to choose from … seafood salads, seafood either grilled, broiled or fried, steaks, shellfish or pasta. I decided to go with the prime rib and a side of fries. A choice of soup (Boston or Manhattan clam chowder) or the house special Shrimp Louie salad accompanies your dinner selection. I chose the salad, and I’m glad I did because it was outstanding. Fresh baby shrimp piled high on a bed of iceberg lettuce with a lemon wedge and house dressing to the side — this was a great start to the meal. The sourdough French bread was ridiculously chewy and I would have probably preferred it more had it been warmed or toasted. It came with hard, refrigerated cubes of butter. Excuse me, can I have a chisel with my butter?
The prime rib arrived and it was a generous cut of meat sprinkled with a bit of ground fresh parsley and served au jus with a mound of lightly-​salted fries on the side. I ordered the prime rib medium and the color was perfect. The meat was very tender and flavorful without any additional seasoning. I enjoyed this cut of meat very much and the dinner left me incredibly stuffed.
The waitress, Angel, told me it was okay for me to sit awhile to let my food settle. I did so while taking glances of NBA playoffs action on the big flat panel television facing the bar. While I don’t walk along Mission Street too often, whenever I do so again in the future I won’t hesitate to stop in and stuff myself silly again.

Can’t believe this place has received 5 star reviews. Apparently this place used to be good. It’s not anymore.
It still has some vestigial old-​timey charm (awesome retro wallpaper and vintage wood paneling) but the food and service are not up to par. The «specials» were obviously not often updated (they were laminated, and they weren’t serving several of them). We went here for crab after looking over the menu (which featured several crab dishes), but were told they didn’t have any. Coulda told us that when you seated us!
Then after further perusing the menu my wife ordered swordfish, only to be told they didn’t have that either! Again, coulda told us that when you told us you didn’t have crab!
She finally settled on the fried scallops and I ordered the «cajun pasta prawn.»
We started with a bowl of the clam chowder which was actually quite good. We had to ask for crackers to go with it though. The sourdough bread was also fresh and delicious.
My wife’s scallops came out pretty good. Kind of a small portion for the price but cooked to perfection (not too greasy, not tough) with some tasty (extremely garlicky) pasta on the side.
I was served a prawn linguini with zucchini, garlic, and oil. Looked alright, but it wasn’t what I had ordered so I asked our server if this was the cajun prawn pasta I had ordered. They had gotten it mixed up, so they took it back and after a long wait brought out the proper dish. Due to the length of the wait I assumed they had made it from scratch but after closer inspection I believe they doctored the previous dish, or at least re-​used the shrimp. This resulted in the shrimp being chewy and over-​cooked. One of the shrimp was also partially black… I don’t know if it was bad but it certainly didn’t look very appetizing, so I didn’t eat it.
The cream sauce with peppers and onions wasn’t bad but it wasn’t remotely «cajun.» The linguini tasted fresh though and at this point I was just glad to have some food in front of me.
In short, the food wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t good enough to make me want to come back. The fries and broccoli that we saw other people get with their meals were clearly frozen, and the salads looked pretty bare. To their credit, they did end up giving us the soup for free (which wasn’t really that big of a deal because my wife’s meal came with soup anyway, so it amounted to about 2 $ off of a 40 $ meal).
They did have a fine selection of beer on tap (Anchor, Fat Tire, and 4 others). No more full bar, just wine and beer.
Maybe we just caught this place on an off night, but the quality of the food that we ordered and saw other order just wasn’t even close to justifying the high prices and bad service.
3 stars for the food (barely), 1 for the service (or lack thereof).

We came here tonight for Valentine’s Day, wanting to be able to walk to dinner and try somewhere new in the neighborhood. As we entered, we noticed the specials board out front was half Chinese, half English. Weird, since I thought this was an Italian joint. They were pretty crowded but we got a booth right away. The ambiance here is wicked awesome, classic 1950’s fish wallpaper and cheesy wall hangings. But for some weird reason, they have a great selection of beers but no bud-​light. That may not be important to most people, but it is to me. If your going to carry cheap beer, carry the king of beers.
So I had my heart set on crab. There were about 8 or 9 crab dishes on the menu, including on the specials list. Well, they didn’t have any crab. So I asked for a few minutes. Then I ordered swordfish, also a special. Well, no swordfish. So i scanned the menu with the waitress over my shoulder and ordered fried scallops. I then had to choose between broccoli or pasta. For 15 bucks I should freakin get both, but I chose the pasta. Food came and even though I was feeling negative on the whole experience, I was surprised on the dish. My scallops were cooked perfectly, not greasy or over fried and very tender. The pasta was great with enough garlic on it to make me appreciate that my valentine sitting across from me was also my husband, cause there would have been no making out if it was a first date.
So the Italian owned Joe’s fish grotto is no more, I feel. The spirit that made this place so special is gone. Even though my food was good, I’m giving them 2 stars for the sadness I felt from seeing another great eatery lost in the fog of San Francisco.

UPDATE — 11/​15/​2007:
Sadness prevails in the Excelsior. Joe’s has closed. The far trendier Sushi Raw has taken its place. I’ve just tried it, and it’s good:
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ORIGINAL REVIEW — 2÷09÷2007:
OHHHH, LUCY, I’M HOME…
Man, it really feels like you came out of Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine and landed in an episode of «I Love Lucy» in 1953. Everything about the décor seems to have come out of an issue of Colliers when Eisenhower was President and we were all worried about the Russkies — naugahyde booths squeezed on one side and a big wooden bar on the other. A very ebullient hostess named Angel greets you from the bar, and she hands you a menu full of meat and seafood items that would have been a hit with the country club set back then… well, except for maybe the prices.
But they seem to be fair given the amount of food they serve — an $ 18.50 Prime Rib or a $ 14.50 New York Steak. I went for their daily special, the Lamb Shank which was somewhere in between. It was slightly overcooked but still pretty tasty since I am one for meat falling off the bone. It came with garlic fried rice and a few florets of grilled broccoli. I have to say the best part of the meal was the Shrimp Louis Salad that came upfront — very fresh with a soupçon of great dressing. I have to say the seafood I saw, especially the crab, looks inviting and worth a return visit.
It wasn’t crowded — just a few regulars at the bar. I believe a Chinese family runs the place since everyone was speaking Cantonese at the bar, but the food was most definitely corn-​belt America. It’s funny how many retro-​style eateries there are in the Outer Mission with Chick N Coop and Joe’s Cable Car Burgers in the working-​class Excelsior neighborhood, too. They aren’t the kitschy Mel’s Diner-​level places but real places that have not been updated at all. We need them to remember the good ol’ days when the doughboys were back from the war and needed a hearty meat-​and-​potatoes meal.
FOOD — 4 stars… hearty, post-​WWII meals though you need to save up your ration stamps because it’s a tad pricey
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… naugahyde comes from what animal?
SERVICE — 4 stars… just let Angel know what you want
TOTAL — 4 stars…’cause we need our protein to beat those Russkies to the moon

Joe’s Fish Grotto has changed hands and is now Joe’s Prime Rib and Seafood. Although it lost a lot of seafood regulars, I’m about to give them a cause to come swarming back!
Our meal started out with the house salad. At first glance, it didn’t look dissimilar to many a house salad we’ve had before: mainly chopped up butter lettuce, radicchio and julienned carrots. When the gracious host offered a choice of dressings, I opted for the Louis dressing, not knowing what it was. After mixing my saladness together I was surprised with what hit my mouth. The lettuce was not plasticky and bagged at all, but freshly chopped that afternoon! The Louis dressing was akin to a tart Thousand Island, but more like an Asian dressing I’ve had at Japanese sushi houses more than once. And, get this, they made the buttery, crunchy croutons as well. So, so good. I could have eaten a bowl of just croutons!
My New York Steak came just as I had ordered it… Medium Rare. Not Rare, not Medium Well. The meat was tender and just salty and peppery enough to not need steak sauce or other condiments. It came with green beans that looked (and tasted) as though they had been plucked from a garden that morning. Sauteed in butter and salt, they were crunchy and naturally sweet.
I’d have to say though, that the star of the meal was the starch I ordered with my steak: the Garlic Rice. Oh it won’t say it on the menu, but when you order rice (yes, RICE!) with your steak, order it Garlic. You won’t know what hit your palate. You could never believe rice to be so flavorful and satisfying.
Overall, dining here was a delightful experience. I will make this my comfort food go-​to from now on. 3 stars for the food. 1 more for the service and 1 more for the lovely host, Angel Tang!

a pleasant surprise in a cruddy part of town ! no offense to anybody but I hate this area, it’s a little too frickin urban for my taste. but anyhoo. Joe’s has the freshest bestest fish and seafood ever. I started with the crab cakes (so good, flaky fresh buttery crab) and had the filet of sole for an entrée (delectable, tender, divine). the man’s shrimp cocktail was bursting with yummilicious flavor and his scallops were the cat’s meow. libations? they have a cute little well-​stocked bar and they pour some stiff ones. 3 of them and I was happy happy happy as a clam ! venture to the Outer Mission or whatever this neighborhood is called and enjoy a fab seafood meal