Seal Rock Inn Restaurant’s Second Act: Reopened and Reimagined
By Erin DeMarois
The Outer Richmond has always had its fog-soaked icons – the Cliff House, Ocean Beach, the bones of Sutro Baths. But ask longtime neighbors where they actually ate breakfast with their parents, or dragged visiting cousins before going to the Zoo, and one name comes up with the affection of an old drinking buddy: Seal Rock Inn Restaurant.
After going dark in 2020, the dining room on Point Lobos Avenue flipped its lights back on earlier this year. Leading the charge is legendary chef Alfred Schilling, a man whose résumé sounds more like pulp fiction than fine dining.
The Chef, the Myth, the Chocolate King
In the 1990s, Alfred Schilling was San Francisco’s self-proclaimed “Chocolate King,” running a confection shop on Market Street that lured crowds for truffles and Sunday brunch. Before that, he cooked for four U.S. presidents, slung plates at Maxim’s in Paris, taught at Cordon Bleu USA, and somehow squeezed in a side career chasing gorillas in the Congo and tracking Siberian tigers in Russia. (Chefs, apparently, have hobbies beyond knives.)
Now in his 70s, Schilling is still sprinting. He gutted Seal Rock’s dining room and rebuilt it with black-and-white tile, stained glass and bronze goddesses watching over the pancakes. One dining room, nicknamed the Terrace, opens up to Lands End, with string lights dangling like a backyard party.
He wove French flair into the diner’s script: cassoulet, roasted lamb, pork sausage dotted with coriander and sourdough boules stamped with a theatrical “S.” But even with the polish, it hasn’t lost its easygoing vibe.
Photo by Erin DeMarois.
Stories in the Walls
Food aside, this place is steeped in history – you might just find yourself sharing the room with a celebrity, an author, a journalist, or a neighborhood regular. Author and “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thompson once holed up in the corner suite with the best ocean view while writing his book “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.” As he wrote:
“… but I have a powerful aversion to working in offices, and when I didn’t show up for three or four days, they decided to do the only logical thing: move the office out here to the Seal Rock Inn.”
– Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail,” 1972.
Robin Williams could be found in the booths, and for decades Outer Richmond families and locals sought refuge at Seal Rock because it felt more “real” than some of the City’s more dedicated tourism areas.
The hotel upstairs is its own character – think fireplaces, ocean views and a retro vibe that feels like stumbling into a San Francisco timeline where Twitter never happened. The same family has owned the inn since 1959. The restaurant has been leased over the years, but always orbited the same gravitational pull: community.
The Comeback
January’s reopening wasn’t a whisper. It was a roar. Four hundred people showed up on day one, pressing their faces to the windows before doors opened at 8 a.m., and San Franciscans have been lining up ever since.
Locals swear by the chicken and waffles, the chèvre omelet and the bottomless coffee you sip while staring at a horizon so fogged over it feels like you’re waiting for a stage curtain to lift.
While breakfast and lunch have fueled the comeback, Seal Rock’s new dinner service shows off Schilling’s French pedigree. The entrée list features Mussel Mariniere with fries, Coq au Vin with fettuccine, Duck Cassoulet with smoked pork and kielbasa, Poached Salmon with hollandaise and vegetables, and a hefty Prime New York Steak Frites topped with garlic butter.
Appetizers lean classic bistro: onion soup, escargot with garlic butter, chicken liver pâté with jalapeño jam, shrimp cocktail and a cheese plate with apricot chutney. There are hearty salads like Niçoise and Shrimp Louie, and a compact burger menu that includes a Le Burger American with fried shallots and Monterey Jack.
Dessert keeps the focus decidedly French – crème brûlée, profiteroles with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce, and a caramelized apple tart. Even the French toast, offered at night, gets gussied up with Vermont maple syrup or vanilla cream anglaise.
To drink, there’s a short but thoughtful list of beer and wine, drawing from both Napa and France, a nod to Seal Rock’s blend of Bay Area roots and French re-imagination.
Hours
Breakfast and Lunch: Monday–Sunday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Dinner: Thursday-Sunday, 4-8 p.m. (last seating at 8 p.m.)
More Than a Restaurant
Seal Rock Inn’s secret sauce isn’t beurre blanc – it’s nostalgia. The way it feels both temporary and eternal, built for travelers but belonging to locals. Few businesses can claim that contradiction, and fewer still can hold onto it for decades.
But there it is, on an instantly recognizable foggy corner of the neighborhood. The Pacific at its feet. Sutro Heights Park looming behind.
How lucky are local residents to have this historic scrapbook living and breathing yet again – and how lucky are the travelers who stay within its walls to be introduced to San Francisco in such a quintessentially Richmond way.
Learn more about the Seal Rock Inn Restaurant here: https://www.sealrockrestaurantsf.com.
Erin DeMarois is a Richmond District resident and writer who draws on her hospitality background and journalism degree to cover the neighborhood’s culinary culture.
Dining and Cooking