Sam’s Chowder Mobile

I went to a wedding last week that was catered by Sam’s Chowder Mobile. There were two menu options, so the roommate and I got one of each.
*Lobster clambake: one whole fresh maine lobster per person, with clams, mussels, corn on the cob, red potatoes and savory sausage, served with side of watermelon and coleslaw
The lobster clambake was laid out like a buffet. The roommate chose this one, so he basically got a little bit of everything. The food was good, but since he waited for me to get my food, his plate got cold. The butter for the lobster hardened before we even got the chance to eat anything!
Sam’s chowder mobile:
*Sam’s lobster roll: maine lobster, warmed butter, toasted bun
*Baja style taco: with cabbage, chipotle crème fraîche and pineapple salsa in a warm corn tortilla, fried fish
*New england clam chowder: little neck clams, yukon gold potatoes, smoked bacon, cream
*Fish ‘n chips: deep fried, crispy pollack, old bay fries, 2 piece
*Spicy popcorn shrimp: served with housemade cocktail sauce
*Lobster taco (2)
*Spicy shrimp taco
I chose the chowder mobile. They basically offered everything they normally have on their menu minus a couple of items. And it was unlimited. Unfortunately, since there was only one truck, there was a super long line. It took me about 45 mins to get food. Since I stood in line so long, I just got one of everything except the vegetarian tacos. My favorite item was the fish and chips. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. And hot which was a nice break from all the lukewarm and cold food we had.
I’ve been to their restaurant and enjoyed their food. As a food truck, I’m sure their food is good as well. But for catering weddings, I don’t think one truck is enough. You shouldn’t have to wait almost an hour for your dinner. If you’re considering them for your wedding, maybe ask for two food trucks along with the lobster bake.

The regular lobster roll costs $ 18 which is comparable to OPLS price but it was nowhere near tasting as good as OPLS. The lobster meat was bland and tasted frozen, the bun was stale and overly toasted to the point that it crumpled on my first bite. The only good thing was the coleslaw that it came with the roll. I don’t like coleslaw and their coleslaw probably the best I had in my life.
The chowder was lukewarm and watery.
Sigh, totally not worth $ 24 for the roll and soup. Not recommended.

We get food trucks that park near my work at Moffett Towers Club. Sam’s was there and I decided to order the Crab Cake Special lunch meal, with Cajun seasoned fries, coleslaw, Remoulade sauce and lemon wedge. ~13
The best part was the single crab cake, it was round and about the size of a racketball. It was deep fried and had a very nicely crispy breaded shell and inside was absolutely delicious crab meat I think it was Snow crab, no other fillers such as bread, but there was a white sauce that the crab meat was in. Dipping it in the Remoulade it was very tasty and satisfying. Fries and slaw were just okay, I’ve enjoyed better. I sprinkled the Malt Vinegar in the fries and was also dipping them in the Remoulade too.
Next time, I’ll probably try their Lobster sub sandwich that I saw ~17 or ~11 for a half and the clam chowder ~6.

Just not that great. I got the lobster roll: rubbery lobster chunks on a soggy piece of white bread that could all fit in the palm of my hand. Oh, and it was over $ 11.
Maybe their chowder is better, but I doubt it.

Sampled a Shortie Lobster Roll and a New England Clam Chowder. Glad to see an option for a more affordable lobster roll, despite it being a half sandwich. Even happier to see it filled with plentiful lobster meat, mainly claw meat. Served with a cole slaw and on a nice bread roll.
New England Clam Chowder also hit the spot. Filled with clams, potato and even a piece of a piece of oregano or two.
Sam’s Chowder Mobile nicely accepts credit cards, including American Express.

Service is meh. Can’t hear me because their truck is so high up. I had to put my hands around my mouth and yell just so he would properly hear and understand my order.
Out of chowder during lunch visit.

Our office in Sunnyvale has a number of food trucks visit the campus during the week and I’ve tried Sam’s a couple of times now.
I’ve tried both the crab cake and the fish and chips. Thoughts on both we that they were a bit pricey for based on the food quality. I will stay away from the Chowder Mobile going forward.

Decided to try this since it’s easier than making the trek to Half Moon Bay. Lobster roll was good, but nothing special IMO. For the price of $ 17+, I’d rather invest that into a whole lobster and pig out at home. I also had the clam chowder which was mediocre, but then again, not sure if that’s how «authentic» New England style clam chowder is supposed to taste.
Overall experience was not too impressive. Would I try again? Probably not.

So, our work place gets a different food truck each day for lunch, and the Chowder Mobile has come a few times. Many of the trucks are very expensive, try to be trendy but have so-​so food despite, and give very little food. This truck, now that I’ve had it a few times, I feel knowledgeable enough to give it a proper rating… among the various dishes I’ve tried I remember most:
1. Lobster Roll: cashier asked me what size I wanted… well, alright, guess I’ll splurge and get the «large.» I forgot the exact price. Somewhere around $ 16? Something like that. Maybe more. Anyway, when they gave me I was like WTF, it was around the length of my hand (I wear medium gloves), and maybe 1.5″ thick. Yeah. Hate to see what a normal/​small looks like. Alright, so it tasted really good – the bun was soaked in butter too and toasted. Lobster tasted like it should. BUT, come on, ~$ 16 for a snack just as filling as a snack-​size Cheetos??? Just on taste maybe ⁸⁄₁₀. But given the crazy price and the fact that this was supposed to be a LARGE, lunch portion, can’t give more than ⁴⁄₁₀ for this.
2. Clam Chowder: portion was more normal on this one. Was decent tasting. But what do you know, the soup was kinda clear looking, like a soup with a corn starch thickener. Something not cream. Very little cream in it. I dunno, what the deal is, cost-​cutting? But this is not the rich creamy soup you expect from a truck called CHOWDER MOBILE. seriously? any canned clam chowder from the store is better than this. And then given the price… $ 6? Something like that. I forgot. Screw that. ²⁄₁₀.
Sorry, this is one of the MUST PASS trucks that come to our campus. I’d give 1.5 /​5. But I can’t. Rounding up on this one just cause it tastes alright, but just is the hugest ripoff ever, AND they can’t morally name themselves «CHOWDER MOBILE» if their chowder isn’t chowder, RIGHT? If they cut prices by 50%, I’d give it a 3.5÷5. The price kills it.
Will NOT come back.
#truck #sandwich

The truck stopped at the netgear building around 1130 and the line was already huge. If you want to skip the line you either have to come early or late like 130pm but be careful cause they might run out of stuff. By the time we ordered, they had run out of prawns and clam chowder.
Food:
Shorty lobster roll ($ 11) — I enjoyed this roll the most. The bread is toasted n kinda tasted like a garlic bread. If you get it, eat it there cause it can get a lil soggy just chilling in the box. The full sized lobster roll is 18 bux but honestly the shorty is enough and it allows you to try other things on the menu.
Spicy popcorn shrimp ($ 8.75) — You get a crap ton of shrimp but i guess its expected as ur payin nearly 9 bux. I felt the shrimp was good as well as the texture. It was perfectly crisp. While I wouldnt say this dish was anything really special, it was def well made.
Clam Chowder– This was my least favorite dish. I enjoyed the contents of the chowder but the texture was very watery. I prefer the chowder to be more chunky so I wouldnt recommend this at all.
Overall while i enjoyed most of the items they had, i wouldnt say any one of them was really special cept maybe the lobster roll. Everything was well made but a tad bit pricey. I def feel everything coulda been a dollar or two less. Id say this is a truck to try but not try again.

I experienced Sam’s for the first time at a recent Off the Grid evening. I heard many good things from friends and others about the lobster roll.
The lobster roll WAS quite good, although I’m by no means an expert. The lobster was tasty and buttered and the bun it came in was toasted but not burnt. Unfortunately, I don’t often eat lobster rolls so I leave it to others to decide whether Sam’s version is just «good,» «very good,» «excellent,» or «best ever.»
I do have a reference point for the key lime pie though. Sam’s pie was excellent. It tasted like real key limes, which have a distinctive sweet-​yet-​tart flavor. Most other places just use regular limes, or worse, lemons. Sam’s is the real deal. Add a nice topping of whipped cream and a crumbly graham cracker crust and you’ve got a definite dessert winner!

I had these guys a few days ago, I only had one item but I was not impressed. I feel that food trucks will typically have their menu as being pretty delicious no matter what you got, but this wasn’t the case with Sam’s Chowder Mobile.
I ordered the Lobster Roll shortie size. I have to say I was really unimpressed. The bread had a nice buttery slightly crispy taste to it which was good but the lobster was very bland. There was not very much taste to the lobster and maybe tasted a little dry. It definitely needed some kind of a sauce or butter or something to make the dish worth the cost.
I would have ordered another item from the truck if the first time would have been more tasteful so instead I went to the next truck. I would be will to try them again for the chowder but that is not going to be a priority since it seems like the food at other trucks seem more delicious. Maybe next time.

Pretty tasty lobster tacos! Was surprised how much I liked my order.
I like the special sauce that they use and appreciate the fact that they don’t oversaturate the tacos so they don’t get too soggy.
They use actual lobster AND you can actually see the lobster pieces which I think justifies the steep price tag– $ 11.75 for 2 soft lobster tacos. Actually wanted it to be crispy taco shells rather than soft taco but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
My only complaints are there’s not much room for customization. The menu is pretty limited & honestly, 2 soft tacos wouldn’t really fill me on a hungry day.
My friends who got the lobster roll REALLY enjoyed their sandwich. Apparently the bread tasted mildly sweet and resembled that of brioche. Definitely going to try that next time :)
Worth a try & worth even a second try.

every time I have tried to eat from this truck they run out of the damn chowder! WTF? seriously get your shit together and bring more FOOD each time.
i’ve never even tried the chowder yet because they run out. so disappointing.

So I saw these at Off The Grid: Serramonte Center a week ago, but too late. I’d already eaten my feelings in the form of a Señor Sisig burrito. So I put a pin in it; and said… next time.
Next time I saw the «Lobsta Truck» and thought I’d give THAT lobster roll a try first, since they theoretically specialize in such items. It was blah.
So FINALLY I got the original that I was eye-****ing two weeks ago. The Sam’s Chowder Mobile’s Lobster Roll.
And it was… decent. I mean, they were a lot better than the Lobsta Truck. But still, it was very… uh… mild-​mannered. I tasted the lobster. The grilled bread was fine. But it was just not amazing, and for almost $ 20 for something size of a hot dog, I kinda want amazing.
My problem is that my FIRST Lobster roll was at Son of a Gun in LA. Seriously gourmet. So good I attempted to replicate it… and did pretty well. Lots of garlic, lots of sriracha, lots of flavor, lots of pizzazz. Which is a word I don’t use lightly.
Son of a Gun: 10
My attempt: 8.5
Sam’s Chowder Mobile: 5
The Lobsta Truck: 2

For a nice meal off a food truck, this is as good as it gets!
First of all, I got a lobster shortie $ 10.73 + a clam chowder $ $ 5.02 for total of $ 17.25 after $ 1.50 sales tax. I ate it and was extremely happy and decided to get another regular lobster roll for later.
The regular lobster roll is almost the same size as the shortie, albeit with slight more lobster meat and that costed me $ 16.21 + $ 1.54 tax = $ 17.75 total.
I just loved the fact that there were large chunks of lobster meat without hardly any other filler. The chowder is a bit different — less creamy but full of flavor with chunks of bacon.
Can’t complain. My meal was delectable!

Stumbled upon this food truck while walking around the block to subway and decided to give it a try. Only one thing caught my eye, the lobster roll! So i ordered a regular lobster roll for $ 18, which is a bit pricey… but hey if its good then I will happily pay the price for a good lobster roll.
The roll was slightly toasted, but very thick and dry. The lobster meat was lightly tossed in butter, but for the most part very bland. I mean it was tasty lobster meat, I just wished they seasoned it a little better. I was also disappointed that my lobster meat was all claw and no tail meat, for paying premium price I would expect to get chunks of the tail meat. The bun was thick and there wasn’t enough lobster meat so half the time i was eating a lot of bread with a tiny portion of meat… dissapointed!
I might be back to sample the chowder or po boy, but definitely wont be paying $ 18 for a bland lobster roll that’s got too much bread and not enough lobster.

July 10 2013
I have been tracking their food truck locations religiously for the past 2 months. Sadly, our schedules have never been in sync. Imagine my elated joy when they were at PacBio parking lot (Menlo park), just as I was driving from Sunnyvale to San Mateo!!! Of course, I had to make a pit stop and try out their infamous lobster roll (my sisters are constantly raving about it!)
I ordered 2 lobster rolls (one for mommy dearest, one for piggy me!) and a side of Old Bay Seasoned fries.
I requested some lemons to spritz on my lobster roll (they were very accommodating.)
Okay — fries were good. Probably could’ve been more crisper but weren’t all bad. I never thought to use Old bay seasoning on it, but that was pretty tasty and goes well with the lobster.
As for the Lobster Roll — I bit into it and thought man, i’d leave my hubby for this! (umm that was a joke I would never leave him, but dayum this roll is just so dayum good!!) I did squeeze a lemons onto it as a personal preference. The combination of tangy lemon juice and buttery bread with the massive lobster meat was MIND BLOWING. Literally, I had to pick up pieces of my mind from the floor and table after it exploded.
The meat was so generously STUFFED into the roll that it was falling out, but I didn’t mind one bit coz I scooped up every fallen piece and lovingly placed them into my mouth where I hoped they would make babies, producing more lobster mind-​plosions for me.
My mother loved her lobster roll as well and even after I told her the price of it, she said she’d pay that any day of the week for that amount of flavourful meat. She even went on to say, that it was cheaper than buying her own lobsters to cook, de-​shell and eat!
Note: As I was eating this at a coffee shop, waiting to see my sister, a customer saw this gargantuan beauty of a meal and asked me where I got it because it just looked so good… yup, its a pretty sexy meal.
Also, the unique slaw on the side — very tasty as well! Perfect accompaniment to the lobster roll.
I seriously cannot wait to sync up with Sam’s ChowerMobile again… Hopefully soon!

I’ve had Sam’s chowder and lobster roll before at the Oakland Eat Real Festival, so I didn’t bother trying either of those again. I remember really loving the rich chowder, but not being super impressed by the lobster roll — it was much too bland for my taste.
This time around, I tried the fish taco and the calamari, as well as my friend’s shrimp po’boy. The fish taco didn’t impress — the battered fish was dry and flavorless. I would have preferred a well-​seasoned and/​or grilled alternative instead. The only redeeming factor was the pineapple salsa/​garnish.
With the po’boys, you get the biggest bang for your buck. My friend’s shrimp po’boy was HUGE and also came with a side of Sam’s Old Bay fries. The battered shrimp tasted fine solo, but was much better sandwiched between a huge dollop of the ‘special sauce’, some lettuce, and a piece of the heavily buttered bun.
Of the three things that I tried this time, the calamari was my favorite. My only piece of constructive criticism is that the batter to calamari ratio could be significantly lower. Honestly, the calamari pieces were small enough to be comedic.
Overall, a solid three stars.

I only had their lobster sandwich (because I heard their chowder wasn’t very good).
It was delicious, albeit pricey. Huge beautiful chunks of lobster on a roll that was buttered and toasted — yum. I like the mix of celery — great texture and a light refreshing flavor. Comes with a side of slaw which was ok.