If you were to imagine San Francisco\u2019s most Yelped restaurant, you might think of a bustling Union Square outpost of a global chain like the Cheesecake Factory. Or perhaps, if you were less cynical, you might think of something affordable and inextricably linked to SF, like a burrito joint. Either way, you\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s most popular restaurant \u2014 using its more than 13,000 Yelp reviews, more than any other restaurant in the entire Bay Area, as a gauge\u00a0\u2014 is located in Fisherman\u2019s Wharf. It\u2019s not part of a corporate chain run by a faceless CEO. Rather, its stewards are third-generation San Franciscans whose grandfather built Pier 39 in 1978. It\u2019s been around for about 20 years, a blip in time compared with other restaurants\u00a0in that neighborhood, yet it serves memorable clam chowder and crab risotto all the same.<\/p>\n
But what really stands out about the Fog Harbor Fish House is the view. There simply isn\u2019t a bad table in the house. No matter where you\u2019re sitting in this cavernous\u00a0Pier 39 restaurant, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island and the bay are yours to take in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Fog Harbor Fish House has views of the bay and Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, shown on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
The Fog Harbor Fish House in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
A view of the Fog Harbor Fish House at Pier 39 in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s company, Simco Restaurants, operates Fog Harbor and five others on the pier: Wipeout Bar and Grill, Pier Market Seafood Restaurant, Eagle Cafe, Crab House and Biscoff Coffee Corner. Together, they see a million guests annually, with Fog Harbor Fish House accounting for 400,000 of them, according to Simco CEO Ryan Simmons, who took over after his father, Scooter Simmons, retired a few years ago. Surprisingly, they\u2019re not all out-of-towners. According to Ryan, a little more than half of Fog Harbor diners live in the Bay Area\u2019s nine counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The dining room is busy on a Thursday afternoon at the Fog Harbor Fish House in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would be shocked at how many repeat guests we have,\u201d Ryan told\u00a0SFGATE, referring to locals who come five to seven times a year, usually with a guest in town. \u201cOne of the challenges that we deal with is the perception that we\u2019re a tourist trap restaurant, but we care so much about the quality of the product and the service and experience that we deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n
That might be why the majority of those Yelp reviews \u2014 a staggering count exceeding 11,000 \u2014 give the restaurant four and five stars. Simco Chief Operating Officer Bob Partrite, who has been with the company for 31 years, stresses consistency in everything they do, from greeting customers and providing table service to how food looks on the plate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clockwise from left: Garlic-roasted whole Dungeness crab, Caesar salad and house-made desserts from the Fog Harbor Fish House in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
Top to bottom: Garlic-roasted whole Dungeness crab, Caesar salad and house-made desserts from the Fog Harbor Fish House in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I go to a restaurant, I tend to order the same stinkin\u2019 thing, and I want it to be the same every time I go,\u201d said Partrite, who trained at the California Culinary Academy and started his Simco journey as the chef at the Pier Market Seafood Restaurant in 1995.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
He reads and responds to every Yelp review, calling the platform his \u201cbaby\u201d for the past 15 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew we were neck and neck with Brenda\u2019s for some time,\u201d Partrite said, referring to the No. 2 most Yelped restaurant in the Bay Area. \u201cAnything that\u2019s in there, a service-related issue or a dish, I cut it and paste it and send it to the management team. We\u2019ll go back and try to diagnose exactly what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan and his sister Nicki Asonye, Simco\u2019s vice president of marketing and finance, grew up in the business. They have known many of the longtime Pier 39 business operators\u00a0\u2014 and employees like Partrite\u00a0\u2014 their entire lives. Both started working in the restaurants when they turned 13. Ryan\u2019s earliest jobs were wiping down tables and chasing away pigeons. Nicki started out filing papers in the office, then graduated to hostess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FILE: Scooter and Ryan Simmons at Pier 39 in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Nicki Asonye<\/p>\n
FILE: Simco Restaurants\u2019 director of marketing Nicki Asonye, right, with her grandfather Warren Simmons, who developed Pier 39 in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Nicki Asonye<\/p>\n
Both worked their way up. Now, the siblings are in their 40s and have children of their own. Ryan\u2019s 7-year-old has a serious Dungeness crab habit; Nicki\u2019s kids can\u2019t visit their mom without riding the carousel or saying hi to the\u00a0sea lions.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Quintessential SF seafood<\/p>\n
In addition to its stellar views, Fog Harbor is known for its early adoption of sustainability. According to\u00a0Partrite, the restaurants combined purchase approximately 100 tons of seafood a year, so it behooved them early on to figure out a way to source that protects the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything on the menu is a yellow list or green list item,\u201d\u00a0Partrite said, referring to the traffic-light color system designed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium\u2019s Seafood Watch program. They buy petrale sole, rock cod, clams, scallops, oysters and mussels from A. LaRocca Seafood on Pier 45. The crab comes from\u00a0TwoXSea, also on the pier.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
On a recent Thursday, my colleague and I stopped in for lunch, eager to try the Bay Area\u2019s most reviewed restaurant and take advantage of the fogless late September weather. We tucked into a table by the large windows overlooking the 150-foot-tall\u00a0SkyStar Wheel. Just on the other side of the glass, tugboats made their way into narrow slips while, in the distance, a gaggle of sailboats appeared to be racing across the bay. By 1 p.m., there were only a few empty tables in the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A server attends to diners at the Fog Harbor Fish House in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is actually slow for us,\u201d our server Carlos Silva shared when he approached our table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Silva, who is in his 10th year with Fog Harbor, had the kind of vibe I appreciate among waitstaff: knowledgeable and unrushed, with the right amount of confidence. He told us that he\u2019s tasted all the cioppino in the area and vowed that theirs is the best in the city, tied only with Sotto Mare. So, of course, we ordered it along with some other recommendations, including the swordfish, a cup of chowder and the dish they sell more of than anything \u2014 scallop and crab risotto.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to say Fog Harbor\u2019s clam chowder ($9.50, cup; $11.50, bowl) is the best because I\u2019m not an avid or regular consumer of chowder. I often avoid it for fear of a pasty, unappetizing texture. But I was surprised at just how smooth and creamy this chowder was\u00a0\u2014 the result of a gluten-free roux, I learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use rice flour,\u201d\u00a0Partrite told me later. \u201cWe started playing around with it a few years ago because so many people were requesting gluten-free chowder. And it works.\u201d This one, served appropriately hot with toothsome clam and perfectly cooked potato, was just right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cioppino at the Fog Harbor Fish House in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
The\u00a0cioppino ($42), by contrast, was a bit thin for me. However, the generous amount of seafood in this dish\u00a0\u2014 from the large mound of fresh crab to the baby scallops, clams, mussels, white fish and plucky shrimp\u00a0\u2014 made up for it. A bargain for sharing, in my opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The favorite of the table, however, was the risotto ($41). The toothsome short-grain rice dish arrived in a shallow pool of\u00a0beurre blanc, so don\u2019t order it if you like a drier risotto. There is a lot of crab hidden inside the rice, which is dotted with basil pesto and roasted cherry tomatoes for acidity and served with four jumbo scallops that were prepared by someone with a\u00a0Ph.D. in searing. They were perfect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re looking for something lighter, order the grilled swordfish ($37). Swordfish is risky; when overcooked, it quickly becomes tough and rubbery. But this one came out flaky and delicious over a bed of roasted peppers, red onions, zucchini and fingerling potatoes with chimichurri sauce and pesto aioli.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Swordfish\u00a0topped with\u00a0pesto aioli at the Fog Harbor Fish House in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
Long before Yelp<\/p>\n
Before it was Fog Harbor Fish House, the space was home to Chic\u2019s Place Seafood Grill and Bar, a longtime Pier 39 fixture known for casual dining. In 2001, Simco Restaurants purchased the restaurant and continued operating it as Chic\u2019s until they decided the only way to achieve the \u201cquintessential SF waterfront restaurant\u201d they envisioned was to renovate the interior, removing the grand columns and expanding the dining room. Fog Harbor Fish House had its first day of business in 2007.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cWe opened up the entrance, made big windows and really catered it toward that view,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Fog Harbor Fish House has views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, shown on Sept. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lizzy Myers\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
It was something that their charismatic grandfather,\u00a0Warren Simmons, stressed: Fisherman\u2019s Wharf was a singular place meant to be shared. Warren grew up in San Francisco, peddling newspapers at the age of 9. He worked as a Pan American pilot from 1950 to 1970 and founded the Mexican restaurant chain\u00a0Chevys with his son, Scooter, and daughter-in-law, Nancy, in 1986. They sold it in 1993.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he will likely be remembered most for his tenacity in building Pier 39, which he spent five years developing into a thriving shopping and restaurant district. It opened Oct. 4, 1978, on schedule\u00a0\u2014 a feat for any developer.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a push-all-the-chips-into-the-middle-of-the-table kind of guy, and you can see it with Pier 39, he was not going to be denied,\u201d Ryan said of \u201cGramps.\u201d \u201cHe had a bet with Dianne Feinstein that if he pulled it off in time, she would show up in a bikini.\u201d And she did (though it was actually a more modest bathing suit).\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FILE: Warren Simmons, left, and Diane Feinstein on the opening day of Pier 39 in San Francisco in 1978.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Nicki Asonye<\/p>\n
The iconic photo of\u00a0Feinstein, who at the time was the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, hangs in the restaurant. She was sworn in as the mayor of San Francisco in December later that year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ryan and\u00a0Nicki never had the pleasure of working with their grandfather, but Partrite did.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a great man to work for\u00a0\u2014 meticulous, and a true visionary,\u201d he said. \u201cExpectations were always high, but that\u2019s exactly what made you better. He was the kind of leader you don\u2019t forget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fog Harbor Fish House, Pier 39, San Francisco. Open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-9\u00a0p.m., Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you were to imagine San Francisco\u2019s most Yelped restaurant, you might think of a bustling Union Square outpost of a global chain like the Cheesecake Factory. Or perhaps, if you were less cynical, you might think of something affordable and inextricably linked to SF, like a burrito joint. Either way, you\u2019d be wrong. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7,8,693],"class_list":["post-31568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-restaurants","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurants","tag-sfgfood"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117325843860919706","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}