Pier Market Stand

The native bf said that we had to get seafood at Pier 39. That it is a tourist classic and that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. But everything that had seafood was either too pricey for us ($ 10 – 20 per dish), too sketchy (2 – 3 Unilocal stars and «bathroom alert!!»), or a chain (Bubba’s…).
And then we found this gem.
We were going to go into the dine-​in as a last ditch effort until we saw their outside stand. Most expensive thing on the menu was the clam chowder bowl for $ 8. The front counter guy washed his hands after every time he opened the door between the front and the grill. Small line.
The wait time for our food was puzzling. It felt like a long time, especially the time between the person before us’s order and our order. idk. I think it was 10 – 15 min.
I got the clam chowder bread bowl and Bf got a crab sandwich and apple cider. Total bill was around $ 17. He was so hungry by then that he wolfed it. We had planned to eat by the seals (one of his faves of the city) but he was too hungry so we ate on a bench right outside.
Every bite of the clam chowder had clams. It was thick, creamy, warm, and with the sourdough bread omg. The bf had crappy clam chowder on the first day I flew in and didn’t feel in the mood for it. At first. He took a spoonful while I tried his sandwich (real crab! not the imitation stuff you tend to eat in Hawaii) and said that this was true SF clam chowder. He’s had better but for this price and our horrible luck lately (Monterey’s was tourist trap-​y), it was definitely worth it.
I ended up eating ²⁄₃ of the bowl itself. The meal lasted us until dinner. So worth the $ 20

Had a great affordable lunch at the stand, great alternative to going into the restaurant. The bannock sandwiches are awesome. Nice cold filling on a fried biscuit like roll, perfect for a hot day out at Pier 39. The crab and shrimp bannock comes with lemon and cocktail sauce on the side, which make the sandwich taste even more refreshing and delightful. There is no seating but the area it is in has several benches (unshaded) where you can sit and eat. There is a long line but it can go quite quickly, especially if you order cold food. If your meal if half hot half cold, you can be waiting a while for the second half of your order. All in all a nice not to expensive spot on the pier.

The Chowder bowl was awesome. Great midday snack. Only sad part was not a lot of seating area for take out window. But was an awesome selection of finger food.

The best Clam Chowder Bowl ever!!! My boyfriend and I love this place. Great service, quality food, awesome experience! Highly recommend it

One of the best chowders at the pier! Sure — you can be touristy and go to Boudin Bakery… but their portions are small and I feel like they kind of force you to get the bread bowl. The little stands at Fisherman’s Grotto are great as well, but this has to be my favorite place to get chowder. Only $ 6.95 for a big bowl of chowder. The chunks of clam in there are huge! The boyfriend, who is from Boston and knows his chowder, always wants to come here when we go to the city. And that in itself should say enough.

Am Pier ist naturgemäß so einiges Los. Eher touristisch, aber für einmal durchschlendern schon schön. Hier gibt’s Souvenirs — wirklich aller Art — Cafés, Restaurants, Hotdog-​Buden inkl. Seemöwen-​Gekreische. An Samstagen gibt’s hier auch einen tollen Farmers Market. Von hier aus lassen sich super Touren organisieren zB über die Golden Gate Bridge nach Sausalito mit dem Rad und der Fähre zurück. Trotz Tourimassen definitiv ein Must-​go in San Francisco!

This place was really busy this weekend and it was mid afternoon! They have a great location on Pier 39.
We ordered the clam strips, salmon burger, and the fish and chips. ALL were tasty. You can see them grilling up your food in the window.
We had a bit of a wait for our food but it was worth it! Great place to grab a bite while your walking around, there are also park benches across from the stand.

Awesome good! Rough finding a place to actually eat it! Birds everywhere… Ready to attack and bomb on people!

Pier Market Stand used to be my favorite place to get calamari. Now, the important thing about why I am currently in search of a new place to get calamari at Fisherman’s Wharf is not just because the quality of the calamari has taken the turn for the worse, it’s because of the inadequate staff as well.
Before I remembered how I used to salivate just merely glancing, NOT smelling, but just glancing at the orders being carried out. However, my last experience (sometime around the first week of Jan.) the calamari was not quite as fresh or tasty as I had remembered.
In addition, my order of 1 calamari was number 31. There were two other ladies behind me, one who ordered 2 orders of calamari and the other lady who ordered calamari plus clam chowder. Now the expected wait was to be around 10 – 15 minutes.
15 minutes later, one order of calamari comes out, no one but the two ladies and myself were left. It’s around 4:40 pm so it’s no longer a «peak hour.» The guy never calls my number. Then 2 more orders of calamari comes out. I eye at the first order suspiciously, and he calls 32. The lady behind me with the two orders of calamari (32) takes her order. There’s still one order of calamari, just sitting, getting colder and colder and colder as the SF wind dances around Pier 39.
I finally can’t take it anymore so I walk up and ask, «excuse me sir, is that my order ?»
He replies, «what did you order?»
I show him my receipt, and he checks the orders his coworker scribbled. He looks at me and says, «sorry, but we never took down your order.»
!@#%$^$&?
But I obviously see that the kitchen had prepared it. I mean it’s not too difficult to see that that first order of calamari that was sitting in the cold forever was mine and the two that came out after was the one for the lady behind me.
Anyway, he still refuses to give me that order of calamari and told number #33 that her chowder was coming. The lady was nice enough and looks at me sympathetically and says to the guy «She was here before me, give that order to her.» The guy STILL didn’t want to. The lady repeats herself and the guy hesitantly gives me my order. Thank you dear friend!
Bottom line is that I think the staff needs to get their numbers straight and just have better service in general. Having a not-​so-​great attitude on top of poor service just doesn’t really cut it.

The service is somewhat quick depending on what you order. While my friend and I got our clam chowders immediately — the crab cake and the calamari took a while. But hey, deep fried things take a while so we weren’t ones to complain about the 5 minute wait. The clam chowder was very tasty and the crab cake was delicious. My BF had the calamari and fries and while I only sampled a bit, it was quite good. This is a great place to grab something quick, on the go.

Pier Market Stand is located in Pier 39. I had the crab cake. It was packed with crab as opposed to being made mostly of starch. It was delicious.

Very good food. 2 of us got the clam chowder bowls and 2 of us got the pulled pork sandwiches. All 4 of us loved the food. Service was really quick and waiters were friendly. It was a little pricey, but what do you expect on the pier in SF?
If you are out shopping and looking for a place with good food to stop and have some lunch, I would definitely recommend it.

I tried the clam chowder in a bread bowl for roughly $ 7.50 total. Service was extremely quick — I got my food about a minute after ordering (probably because all they have to do is ladle pre-​cooked clam chowder into a bread bowl), though my friend who got calamari & fries had a wait quite a while.
Clam chowder was creamy and not too salty; had a couple pieces of clam, but I felt there could have been more chowder in general. The bread bowl was good as well, though I still prefer Boudin’s bread bowls (of course!) Overall, decent but not amazing clam chowder.
I tried a calamari ring and it was pretty good. However, I think the calamari rings and all of the crab cakes, salmon burgers, etc. are overpriced. But I guess most of the food on Pier 39 is overpriced…
This is pretty much a take-​out stand — no seating! So, make sure you’re dressed warmly because you’re probably going to be sitting out in the freezing wind on the benches, with your clam chowder getting cold faster than you can eat it.

3.5 stars. They’re super busy, but they get the food out quickly. Got their fried halibut and chips and crab cake. The fried halibut was soooooo good. Crispy and tender without being overly oily.

Awesome chowder and sweet n sour calamari.

More like a 3.5.
Updated preface/​background: I used to eat more than average in terms of quantity (I’ve eaten 2 Chipotle Burritos in one sitting) but now I am more focused on quality and am always looking for a great deal (read: value). And my ratings don’t really take service into account, although if it is a terrible experience, I’ll make that known.
Simple review: I went to the stand and ordered the clam chowder small cup around 4pm for I think around $ 3 or $ 4 (I was already full, but wanted to try their chowder). It was good — tasty, not too salty, and not underflavored. For the price, not much was there (it was about 2.5 oz), but I would probably come back if I were ever in the area and wanted a safe choice in that area, since most things in the Pier 39 area are overpriced already.

Crab and shrimp on a bannock all day, everyday.
That fry break is pretty damn amazing. Super crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The seafood mix compliments it quite well.
Their other food is OK. Regular bread and butter stuff you find at seafood spots: fried calamari, shrimp and chips, chowder, etc.
Definitely check out that bannock bread and a nice bowl of chowder when you get here. Hits the spot quite nicely.

Fast take out, ordered a clam chowder bowl and ate it next to the tulips :) Yummy chowder with bacon but bowl was kind of stale… so i just munched on a side of it…
7.50 i believe including tax.

Good oysters on half shell.
Yummy calamari.
Salty clam chowder but still good.
Verdict:
— Will return

Ah yes. Pier Market Stand. For some reason, this has become my go-​to place whenever I am on Pier 39. To be honest, every bowl of clam chowder that I’ve ever had in San Francisco has been pretty good with very little variation in quality. I guess the reason I keep coming back here is purely familiarity. Their chowder is good and I know I can get a quick Sourdough Bread Bowl of it from their outside counter. Take that chowder over to any of the pier’s seating areas and enjoy the view.
On my second visit to Pier Market Stand, I was on my way to Alcatraz and just wanted something I could eat on the go. I decided on the Salmon on Bannock sandwich. The salmon was delicious. I am just not a fan of the bread. I’ve never heard of bannock before, so I’m not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to be. I’ll stick to the chowder next time (or maybe a sandwich on a different type of bread).

There is definitely a difference between going into the restaurant and grabbing your food at the outside stand of the Pier Market. It’s cheaper and quicker in most cases. I always stop by here for chowder bowls and crab cakes when I’m at the pier. The chowder is mellow but flavorful and creamy and the bread is always soft and fresh. The crab cakes are great but I wish they were a little bit bigger. Otherwise the quality of both the cakes and the chowder bowls is wonderful! Next time I’m gonna try the Salmon Burger… keep hearing good things about it.