Tarantino’s Restaurant

Ambiance is delightful. Clam chowder is excellent and view wonderful. The service was good and attentive. Wine and clam chowder in the afternoon is alway wonderful.

They are very expensive, but pretty on target for all the restaurants in San Francisco
the specials are pretty good deals especially if you are in the mood for the dungeness crab. We have always came here for the dungeness crab specials so I can only review the dungeness crab which is very good. We have also eaten outside at the stand which is also good.

Had the nicest lunch here! We had a table upstairs overlooking the boats. Ordered calamari and chowder in bread bowl to share. They were both delicious. I ordered the crab cakes for lunch and they were amazing. Our waitress is a sweet, friendly, gal from Ireland who has been working there for over 20 years.
We are in town (from LA) for our son’s birthday. This restaurant was a great reprieve from a long touristy day in this city. Highly recommend.

I go to the Crab Stands more than most. I work very close by. This review is going to be strictly based on the Stand experience. If you walk around the 7 vendors on this strip, you can see some variation in recipes and in freshness.
I will admit, Tarantino’s is a visual paradox. On he Wharf side, it is a beautiful dockside restaurant with a much shallower footprint than Nick’s, Sabella and La Torre, Alito’s, et al… On the Stand side, it is not the prettiest of the bunch. Visually I’m not a fan of the Crab/​Shrimp-​salad on a piece of lettuce over sourdough. The Calamari sometimes looks really good.
Here’s what’s good: Chowder. And, I’ll tell you, this is my favorite Clam Chowder from the stands. And, it’s right next to the best and most convenient spot to eat chowder. Here are the details:
1. This is sort of around the corner from the main-​strip of the Crab Stands at the end of Taylor Street. So, it feels a little different.
2. It is right next to the «Official» spot that is considered Fisherman’s Wharf, which in my mind is Jones to Taylor, right along the water, looking out towards the boats.
3. They have three unique Crab Stand dining features which set it apart, One, street side tables on Jefferson. Two, a little deck area right by the Fishing/​Charter Boats. (BTW — I think I had a drink down here with a future Gilligan) Three, and most impressively, you can take outside food inside if you buy it from their stand. They have a whole area set up. I almost hate to tell people it’s here, because it will get busy.
4. The area I mentioned above is facing an amazing view of fishing boats. And believe me, this part of town is as pretty as anywhere on a clear night at sunset.
BTW — As of 1.5.16, I have not been upstairs to eat or drink at the bar. But, I did see that the bar has some Warriors adornments. I wouldn’t have expected a bar with a sports-​vibe in a dining room right here. Intriguing…

First visit to the wharf in over 20 years and I made a tourist mistake… I ate at a restaurant and not the «market».
When you crave seafood and you want fresh this seems like a decent place at first. It’s more formal than most places and the prices are about equal in the area. But what’s wrong? I ate inside and not at the stand.
First the upstairs dining area has almost a convention or wedding setting to it. Just large open area that seems it is better suited to be rented out for special occasions.
Next was the food… Now this was not all bad. The chowder was good. Not the best I have ever had but it was a solid 6.5 out of 10. For the main course I ordered the seafood fettuccini with baby shrimp and baby scallops. Some of the scallops were over cooked to the point of ruining their texture. The white sauce was bland and relied more on the seafood to give it flavor.
Wife ordered the mushroom and shrimp pasta that she enjoyed but could not finish. I complained to her that it had way to much mushroom kick to it but she liked it. So if you love mushrooms that is the plate for you.
My youngest got the fried seafood platter. And wow… This was not chips sized. Huge basket of food. Though she only got one scallop and prawn it was huge among of calamari and fish.
I know in the future I will not eat in the restaurant again… Unless for a wedding. But I will be visiting the stand for some chowder and crabs

The poor rating is due to a few things.
First and for most: my daughter and I made reservations to have dinner at Taratinos for Christmas. I used Unilocal to search places that were open in the area (on Christmas). I received a confirmation email few days before and day of the reservation, I even received a text message. We make the 1 hour drive, get parking that was $ 36 but was promised it would be validated by the restaurant and headed to the wharf to find that Taratinos was closed! Long story short, was not exactly easy or convenient to attempt to find another spot open, on Christmas, without reservations.
This really put a damper on the what’s supposed to be an exciting day.
I was not going to Unilocal,I was just going to bring it to the attention management via email so that this didn’t happen to someone else. And so I did 3 days and ago and have yet to even receive a response from them or an apology.
Unilocalers: there are hundreds of restaurants in the city, skip this place.

Brett B’s review hits the nail on the head: If you want to have a good meal here it is really simple.
Dine outside on the sidewalk and order the clam chowder in a french bread bowl.
If you do this you wlll have a nice meal.
Maybe a side of fries but even those are pretty meh.

Seated with a nice view in a no more than ¹⁄₃ full restaurant. Waited and waited for someone to at least come over and offer water or drinks. Plenty of people standing around refused to acknowledge my obvious attention. Finally stood up to get attention and after a few minutes a waiter arrived. No apology just said «we are busy». We walked out. Would never go back if they even paid me.

I didnt eat inside the restaurant, I only grabbed something to go at the shack. I ordered clam chowder bread bowl and calamari.
Before I review their food, you must know that in this area, there are other gazilion places selling the typical bread bowls and seafood galore. This one is one of the ones I go to the most because it’s considered ‘cheap’ (for tourists at least) and decent quality.
Their bread bowl $ 8 is good, they’re generous on the amount of potatos, clams and bacons they put in it, but often time they serve the soup hardly warm. And that sucks because it’s best when its still hot.
Whereas the calamari $ 9-​$ 10, was alright. It’s rubbery, so I’m assuming they didnt cook it properly, but i give props to them for the quantity they provide for that price.
Cheers!

We arrived and were promptly seated… we had requested outdoor seating so not sure where that was because I sure didn’t see it but at least we were seated with a window seat… nice view! The only drawback was that it was pretty hot in there, not sure if it was the window but I’m thinking it was just the restaurant itself. I recall seeing a lady fanning herself and she was sitting at the upper level away from the window.
We started with the garlic bread for an appetizer… probably one of the best garlic breads I’ve ever had!
I read the reviews on how great the Clam Chowder Bread Bowl was but was really disappointed that they only serve that during lunch hours… I was really looking forward to it. The waitress did bring some extra sourdough bread but still not the same thing… The chowder was thick and tasty… most excellent!
My wife had the beef ravioli’s and said it was one of the best tasting ravioli’s she’s had in a long time.
Our service was right on, never had an empty glass but also wasn’t pushy… I’m definitely putting it on my list of places to revisit.

tl;dr
This place is definitely worth going to if you want a reasonably priced, nice, sit down dinner with a view. It’s romantic and cute. However, the service isn’t the best.
Long Review:
I was visiting Fisherman’s Wharf with my fiancé, and this place came up as something that could fit our budget.
Things were a bit weird, at first. We were looking at a menu downstairs before deciding whether or not to go upstairs to a table, and some dude in all black started talking to us. We couldn’t hear anything he was saying, and he was just… weird and rude when we tried to tell him that we couldn’t hear him. We eventually just ignored him and went upstairs. Turns out he works there as a waiter! Additionally, he was the only waiter that didn’t have his shirt tucked in and had stains on his shirt. Just saying. Hope he shapes up or gets let go.
After we were seated (by a different, nicer waiter), things got a lot better. We got a table by the big windows looking out onto the water, and the view was lovely. Each table also had flowers in little white vases, which was a nice touch.
I ordered half of a Dungeness crab, and my fiancé ordered the Sopa di Pesce. I think that literally means «fish soup». My crab came with a small cup of clam chowder, and it was SO TASTY! It was so good that my fiancé immediately ordered a cup for himself! I only wish that for $ 8, they’d give you a bigger cup, but oh well. It would probably be better to pay a couple dollars more for a bread bowl if you want to get full off of this chowder.
The crab was very, very, very delicious, but smaller than I thought. The waiter wasn’t helpful in letting me know how big my food would be when I asked before ordering, so I went with the half when I should have gotten a whole crab. Get a whole crab. DO IT – unless you eat like a bird.
My fiancé’s Sopa di Pesce was enormous, though. He is a big eater, but he couldn’t finish it on his own. I highly recommend it. It’s essentially fish and clams in marinara sauce, but god is it DELICIOUS! They’re also REALLY gratuitous with the salmon in this soup. Perfect for a salmon lover like me! :)
At this point, the service started to suffer. The waiter didn’t really come around to refill our water for a good hour. The reason we hung around so long was due to our dessert – which took a while to bring out – and the fact that they took forever to bring us a check. We shared a key lime pie that was heavenly, but after getting so full, both of us just wanted to leave. It took the servers at least 30 minutes to get us our check, and I really wasn’t a fan of that. This was especially disappointing, given the fact that the restaurant was fairly empty. I would be more understanding if the place was busy.
While I am a fan of the food and the gorgeous view, the service here needs some improvement. However, it was an overall great experience! I would come back again.

When going into a sit down restaurant that looks a little classy you have some expectations. Although the sign of seeing less than half the tables filled I should have known.
Going to the wharf, it’s almost always customary to order a clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. So that’s what I got. The taste was bland and when I got a chunk of clam, it tasted fishy (meaning not fresh).
I would not go back to this restaurant nor do I recommend going here.

Gorgeous view right on the water.
We went in specifically for the oysters at $ 2.00. Tasted like they were 25 cents/​piece. They were not completely shucked and tasted dirty. I know it is reaching the season that oysters start going downhill, but I had blue point the very next night that were fantastic.
The food deserves one star, but I am giving this place 2 for the amazing view.

Great cioppino.
Tarantino’s is one of the many classic Italian seafood restaurants at Fisherman’s Wharf. All of these restaurants walk the fine line between classic and tourist trap. One in doubt, stick to the basics. The San Francisco dish cioppino is great here. Awesome flavor, loaded with tons of seafood (including crab and tons of bay scallops), and accompanied by a very delicious sourdough garlic bread. Have no doubt, this is the dish to order here.
I also tried the seafood platter which was good. Props to the service for allowing us to change the tilapia for cod. It was a great choice. The garlicky vegetables on the side were surprisingly tasty. Their clam chowder is not bad either.
The one disappointing dish was the pan-​fried scallops. It just was not right. They didn’t have a nice sear, were somewhat gummy, and the sauce did not help. We should have stuck with the basics. Props to the restaurant for taking them off our bill once we pointed out that the dish was disappointing (especially when compared to the other great dishes).
Service was good and the cioppino was great. I would definitely come back.

We split an order (1 lb) of the dungeness crab from the To-​Go window for lunch while visiting SF and the food was delicious!
We didn’t go inside but simply ate our food sitting on one of the cute little bistro tables on the street and it was great!
Staff was friendly and the restrooms were clean, so for our touristy experience we’re satisfied!

Este restaurante engana quem passa por ele. Apresenta uma fachada sem graça e aparentemente, mostra que esta vazio. Mas quando você se arrisca a entrar, pedem que suba ao segundo andar, se depara com um salão enorme, bem decorado, com uma vista maravilhosa para a Baia de São Francisco. O atendimento e perfeito e a comida, maravilhosa. O preço e muito bom, comparado a qualidade e quantidade do que lhe e servido. Vale a pena!!!

There are two kinds of people in this world: those that treat the sourdough bread bowl as a mere vestibule for the clam chowder and those that give the bowl the reverence it deserves by slurping down the chowder and then stuffing the soup-​soaked bread hunks in their maws while showering their neighbors with chowder flecks. I don’t trust people who refuse to even at least give the task of consuming the bowl a good old college try. The bread is honestly the best part. Whenever I see a waiter carrying back uneaten bowls from the table, a part of me always feels the same way that I do when leaving the pound — I want to give all the bread, I mean, dogs, a loving home.
Anyway, the clam chowder here is excellent, made even more so by the healthy view of the Bush man terrorizing people down below. Tarantino’s is one of the many restaurants dotting Fisherman’s wharf, where a waiter parked outside tries to beckon in the stray tourist that had managed to escape the black hole of Boudin’s sourdough crocodile. I didn’t love the heck out of my bay shrimp and avocado salad but it was my fault for ordering a salad at a seafood restaurant.
Also … I was with a dear family friend who I knew would create the world’s largest scene if I paid for the meal, so I did that sneaky thing by trying to give my credit card to the waitress while he was in the bathroom. Only our waitress was nowhere to be found, so I flagged down the server who had pulled us in from the street. I saw him point out my table to the newly reappeared waitress, who rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. It’s 90 – 10 that when a customer wants to speak to you, it’s not good. But there’s that 10% chance that I just want to pay for the order now. She hurried over, all sunshine and rainbows, and I turned back to my bread bowl.
And all was right in the world but I think I’ll try Boudin’s next.

Went here a couple times already and every time I have been here the service is great.
Waiters always filling up my water cup, always checks up on my table. One waiter in particular always filled up my tater sauce for my fish n’ chips dish plate I got since I always finished the sauce so fast!
Nice place to dine as well. Semi-​formal, I have been here in jeans during the afternoon. Nice ambiance, nice view, pretty good food. Bread is crispy when served as appetizer which I personally like.
Would come here again

Came here with long time special friend of mine and this was my first time here. I didn’t know this restaurant existed so I didn’t know what to expect. This restaurant is located near pier 39 and it if you sit in the right areas of the restaurant, you can get some pretty amazing views. The place has two floors and I recommend sitting on the top floor if you can.
When we arrived, there was hardly anyone here. The place had some sort of fancy feel to it, cloth covered tables, cloth napkins, somewhat of a fancy set up, and comfy chairs. The place was quiet and the sunshine came in nicely lighting up the place. The staff here were really nice and we were seating quickly and water brought to us promptly.
We both ordered pasta dishes as the rest of the dishes had some sort of seafood in it, which we weren’t a fan of. The food was quickly made and we enjoyed our food. The bread and oil was always very yummy. Overall, the experience here was quite nice, the food was great, decent price and the staff was nice. They even validate parking if you park across the street from the restaurant and they even validate if you at at the surrounding restaurants.
Definitely check this place out if you haven’t! You won’t be disappointed! Also the bathrooms here, are probably the most cleanest that I have seen in a city restaurant!

We stopped here for lunch while on vacation in San Francisco. Being so near to the bay, we were excited to get some fresh, local seafood.
When we first got the restaurant, we realized that we needed to walk up the stairs to access the main restaurant. There is a to-​go restaurant located just outside and the bottom level is available for seating.
We were quoted a 30 minute wait time, even though the restaurant was not full, so we settled down at the bar to wait.
Once we were seated, we decided to order off the lunch menu. I ordered the fish and chips and my husband ordered the clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. The food was ok, but really nothing to rave about.
Our table overlooked the bay, which was cool. It was a little warm being near the window with the sun shining, but they had sunshades which was great.
The service was awful. Our drinks were never refilled and you could tell that they just didn’t have enough people working — hence the open restaurant.
We were disappointed in this experience and expected more from a restaurant located on fisherman’s wharf.

My boyfriend and I were looking for a nice place to eat in Fisherman’s Wharf. After looking at the menu posted outside of the restaurant, I noticed they had crab cakes (my favorite!), so we decided to give this place a try. We were seated next to the large picture windows, which had a nice view of the boats in the marina. The restaurant was quiet and dimly-​lit with a classy, romantic atmosphere.
Service:
Our server was polite and attentive. He made himself available, yet did not seem intrusive at all.
Food:
— Crab Cakes — Served with remoulade, mango salsa, potatoes, and vegetables. The mango salsa was slightly sweet and fruity. It was a nice change of pace, since crab cakes are usually only served with savory sauces. I liked that they still gave a cup of remoulade, in case you prefer the more traditional sauce to compliment the crab cakes. The crab cakes themselves were not bad. The crab was finely shredded with some breading.
— Crab Sandwich — On Italian country bread. This was more of a crab salad sandwich, which I wish I would have known before ordering it. They used quite a bit of mayo to get that crab salad consistency. The sandwich is served with French fries. Definitely pricey for what you are getting.