Pompei’s Grotto

This is a pretty good place. The fish and chips were pretty good. Actually, the fries were exceptional. It’s such a huge thing for the fish and chips, it typically comes down to the chips. But the flat pieces of fish were good. If you like your fish with tons of batter, you might want to check some place else.
My wife had a nice pasta dish that again was good. The clam chowder wasn’t too creamy, which is good for me. But can somebody find me some good Manhattan clam chowder?
I was torn on what to give this joint. It was good. There is no doubt about it. If you stumble into this joint, you’ll have a good meal. It’s just that, I probably won’t ever eat here again. Not because it was bad, but more for the fact that nothing stood out as exceptional. I don’t mean that as a slight. I don’t imagine this place is a local’s haunt, so there’s that.
So, yeah. I’m not sure this is useful. You’ll have a good meal and that’s about it. But sometimes isn’t that the point?

We were strolling down the wharf path on a Sunday night, looking for a place that offers a decent meal with happy hour deals. Pompei looked like every other Seafood joint on the block but they did not have someone hard-​selling their restaurant in the front, which is usually such a turn-​off for me. We were seated on the patio, which was very busy, but the inside of the restaurant looked a little dead (it’s Fisherman’s Wharf afterall).
We order almost everything on the happy hour menu ($ 5 – 7.5) except for the calamari:
— buffalo wings: no surprise, comme ci comme ca
— mussels: the mussels were tiny and not very fresh, but the garlic butter parsley sauce was excellent with bread!
— fried shrimps: tasted like pre-​frozen shrimps but tasted pretty good with the tartar sauce
— fish tacos: really meh…
— garlic parmesan fried: crispy, and very flavourful! Liked this menu the most
We also ordered the fisherman’s stew ($ 26) (tomato broth with mussels, shrimps, calamari, fish with a side of sourdough toast). I’d give this a 7/​10, they didn’t cheap out on the seafood, but the broth was a little too tangy, and did not absorb the flavour of the seafood well enough. The portion was huge though! We were stuffed by the end.
The ambiance was great but food wasn’t too exceptional. Service was excellent!

Perfectly located on San Francisco Bay, two blocks away from The Argonaut Hotel. Delightful service, delicious appetizers, an abundant assortment of wines, bargain happy hour specials and all offered in a very cozy atmosphere. I recommend to everyone!

I won’t return. Their signature Bloody Mary was $ 16.00 but didn’t have any flavor. The kitchen failed to put all of the food on our plate and when we asked about the missing fish, the wait staff didn’t seem to know what came on the plate or what to do. One waitress listened to our question then proceeded to help other guests without assisting us. The wedge salad had so much dressing it was inedible. I couldn’t even taste the lettuce. Luckily the manager was very reasonable and comped part of our meal for the troubles.

Their Mussels are excellent! Although the portion is small, They are in the best I’ve had category. Their bruschetta is also good, but small portions for the happy hour menu. Seems to be a theme in the HH food menu. All in all, not a bad place to grab a beer and a bite in the tourist trap of the wharf.

Food was OK and service was very slow. Not somewhere I would go again. The owner was very nice and had a table ready for us when we called ahead.

Food was good. Service was fast. Waiter was very friendly, but did not seem knowledgable about the menu. Seemed to cater more to the tourists. I had the salmon filet with veggies, my mom had the large fried shrimp with fries and liked it, they made a grilled cheese especially for my daughter. Overall good lunch.

Don’t try to eat here if you have your kids with you, the host won’t even sit you! His first comment when we walked in: That’s too many kids, sorry we don’t have tables” !?! Really? In San Francisco? So disappointed, the ambience wasn’t that great anyway!

This place was absolutely disgusting! The whole experience was a huge disappointment.
We went in and the host and all staff were in the bar area watching a basketball game and shouting at the TV. We didn’t know what to do so just waited until a random person just seated us. Our waiter was terrible. He kept forgetting our drinks so when we asked he said he’d bring it after he took our order. We finally ordered and got our drinks but they were never refilled. I had the Sea Bass and my other party had a caesar salad because the menu was not appealing. The Sea Bass had to be cut with a knife… seriously…like WTF?! Never have I ever needed a knife to cut fish. The potatoes were so hard and seemed several days old and microwaved. The carrots were not done and seemed microwaved as well. Finally we tried to get our check. It took so long, we finally got up and were going to walk out the door. Then the waiter finally runs up and tells me he’ll bring it to me. I said no and followed him to the card machine. I’m not sure what the staff was doing in the kitchen but I did not trust them alone with my credit card or anything else. Horrible experience and a tourist trap. Take the extra time and spend the extra money at another quality restaurant.
There were some people across the restaurant I overheard complaining about the place too. They said they had been going there for 15 years but something did not feel right with the place. Their waitress mentioned that there was new ownership or something. One of the draws was that this restaurant states it has been family owned since 1940 something. This place is an absolute fraud, spend your money elsewhere.

We regretted eating here. The service was subpar. The food wasn’t that good and our bill was enormous. We do not mind paying for a good meal… But this was just a meal. The mixed drinks were pretty awful. For lunch for two (and two drinks) our meal was $ 90.00+ after tip.
Walk a little more toward the water and there are much better places to eat… We discovered a few other places in fisherman’s wharf they were either less expensive and just as good, or same price and way better.

The food here was really good, but the service is really really slow.
The patio looks onto the «main drag» and you can see some interesting characters and cars on a Saturday night.

I do think their food is good. Loved my dish. The scallops were really good and buttery and the potatoes were my favorite. They were like MOJO style, crispy on the skin and soft in the inside. Love love love. Food was quick and customer service was friendly. My only issue was my drink and the portion size verses price. I love ordering cocktail drinks in all places but I really felt ripped off for mine. It was not worth the $ 9 for this tiny champagne size glass. I could have gotten a bigger glass elsewhere for sure for $ 9. And for $ 17+ for a scallops dish was ok at most places. But when my dish arrive, I felt my food lacked alot of space on my plate. So I guess it is pricier and not worth the price if that’s all I am going to get.

Horrible horrible all around. Got seated right away and the lady that sat us and the server kept looking at us from the distance almost if they weren’t sure if we were gonna take a bite at them. After the server got the guts to come up to us she quickly try to rushed us to ordered. Upon asking her for the selection of drinks she only offered us alcoholic beverages when she clearly saw us with our 8 month baby. When I asked her for her non alcoholic beverages she looked at us with this crazy look like if I’m asking her to marry her daughter lol. Again quickly gave us only 3 options she said, «umm coke? Apple juice, pineapple juice? WTF?
The food was horrible. I was surprised how quickly they brought it to us but only because its obviously frozen food. A quick bask in the fryer and boom got a $ 16.95 dollar meal. (I ordered the seafood sampler)
My wife got the Caesar salad. Salad hardly tossed with the dressing. Better of with a McDonald salad seriously.
Aside from that I heard some employees and their drama. Something about the greeter not seating the people correctly and the servers upset. One of the servers walking around with some ridiculously big sades like he’s Stevie Wonder not professional at all.
My server Lina a young girl with an accent was nice after she found out we don’t bite.
On a good note the coca cola tasted great!

The hostess was very accommodating and quickly prepped a table for large party of eight. After that was meh.
I’m a huge fan of oysters and unfortunately the raw dozen oysters were awful. They were not served on ice, not sure if that’s a San Francisco thing, had one plump oyster and the remaining were shriveled up and warm. Even found a dead pea crab. Skip the crazy price tag and find another restaurant that serves $ 1 oysters. They would probably taste better.
The crab cioppino was ok, the sour dough bread was cold. Overall extremely overpriced for mediocre food.

Service is horrible here. We were greeted by the host which she seemed nice at first then while eating she starts hurrying a server. Who does that in front front of customers who are eating. She’s right behind him giving him a lecture
The host also took our shade down since we were outside for other convenience instead of asking if we were okay with it
Our server which name was deidra seemed like she was new. Wasn’t great with the menu. She seemed more attentive to others. Doesn’t let us know what comes exactly I our plate asked for a bread bowl and got extremely rude.
So much for a family owned restaurant. I would not ever think of coming here again.
They should train there staff better

Looking for a quick spot on Fisherman’s Wharf to grab a drink and some grub. We saw a sign for happy hour, so we couldn’t resist.
Decent prices on mixed drinks and beers on draft. Food was unimpressive and bland. There wasn’t anything too memorable about this restaurant, but it does the trick if you have low expectations and feeling thirsty.

After day of walking around the Fisherman’s Wharf area we decided to grab a quick bite to eat and chose Pompei Grotto.
The staff was very friendly. We got there in time for happy hour which included $ 5 and $ 5 snacks… Just what we needed.
Pompei is right in the heart of things and offers outdoor dining as well as indoor and bar area.
While the full menu looks really great and had decent prices, we opted for the happy hour menu… It hit the spot!
Definitely stop in for a bite and make a couple new friends!

Late in posting this but interesting to read all the reviews since we were there.
Reviews are like people. Everyone is different.
We had come to San Fran from Oregon in June, 2014 for medical reasons.
We ate at one of the classy Pier 39 restaurants the day before (owned by a famous San Fran. family) and was absolutely disgusted with the service, the price, and over rated food. View of Golden Gate and Alcatraz nice but not very edible. Next day, tried Pompei. No view but what a difference. These places were a late lunch for us so seating not much of a problem.
Pompei’s Grotto is the place for linquini and clams. I died for it. My wife had the sea bass and was absolutely in love with it and she’s a really picky sea bass person.
The good Italian wine with the great sourdough bread and butter was another hit.
Seeing the pictures on the wall near the bar area was neat as I had been coming to Fisherman’s Wharf with my parents since I was a kid. (I’m 69 at the time of this writing.)
Some people didn’t like this place or its food. Take it in stride as the City is a tourist mecca and places cater to that. But don’t go to Alioto’s unless you are rich and don’t care about the level of service.

3pm-6:30pm starts a decent happy hour. $ 4 house wines and well cocktails are always welcome in my book.
I also really liked how clean and creamy my clam chowder was. Big chunks of clam, not over loaded with veggies. I was actually a huge fan of how the chowder was done here. It was not on the HH menu, but a cup was under $ 6 so I was satisfied with that price.
The HH menu had $ 5 calamari, fried shrimps, and something else fried that didn’t look too appealing to me. $ 3 for garlic parmesan fries (which we had) were pretty good. $ 3 for Bruschetta and something else… The absence of recalling the whole HH menu indicates that I wasn’t overly impressed, nor did I dislike anything on it.
I the only food I had that had me excited was the clam chowder.
Overall, I like the history and quaintness of this place and you can never go wrong with $ 4 wine (right?).

II don’t know why I keep giving these restaurants on Jackson chance after chance because I’m always disappointed. My daughter is a picky eater so fish is out, which limits her options so we generally stick with Italian.
The service was horrible. We waited forever to place our order, when we were done and ready for dessert we waited to long and then when we were ready for our bill it again took much longer than necessary.
We ordered:
Scallops: zero flavor, greasy, over cooked veggies and they were cold. Boo
Lasagna: basic, nothing special and again it was not hot.
San Francisco has an amazing amount of restaurants that are to die for. I will not waste my money on this tourist trap crap again.
*this review was for a visit a few months ago that I started writing a review for but lost interest and dragged my feet to finish. Yes … it was that underwhelming. This is a shameful example to unsuspecting tourists thinking this is «great SF food». Yuck!