Chow Lists

• 1. Nettie's Crab Shack

  2032 Union Street, San Francisco, CA 94123

  Tasty, very good bun with very good butter, good lobster meat. But, no mayonaise, which is not right in my book. I want the mayo. Served with delicious homemade potato chips and pickled vegetable. Very very pricey. (April 2009)

• 2. Palo Alto Creamery Downtown

  566 Emerson St, Palo Alto, CA

  Served only on Fridays at lunch. It was good, solid, plenty of mayonaise, but a little too mashed up, not enough chunks of meat. And the bun was a little overbuttered. I went with my 96 year old grandmother, who happily devoured hers, and then later lamented that she didn't like it at all. (January 2009)

• 3. Yankee Pier

  286 Magnolia Avenue, Larkspur, CA 94939

• 4. Woodhouse Fish Company

  1914 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA

• 5. Old Port Lobster Shack

  851 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, CA 94063

  The winner so far. I expected a homey, probably too homey, little joint somewhere in the dense part of redwood city, instead found this place in a nondescript strip mall/office park on veteran's blvd. Not charming from the outside, but pretty great and characterful on the inside. You order at the counter, then sit at picnic tables our outside, and they bring the food to you. It's cheerful, festive and clean. The place serves all types of fish, lobsters whole, lobster roles, steamers, mussels, fish sandwiches, etc, as well as bbq, and they have a good kids menu. Also, several beers on tap, wine on tap (!) and by the bottle. Prices were ok as these things go- $18 for the lobster roll. Which was damn good. Big chunks of meat, good ratio of mayonaise. I thought it needed a little more tang but they provided lemon wedges for that. Served on the traditional split roll, pretty tasty, but probably the weak spot. i wanted it to be softer, more luscious and more heavily buttered. But all in all, solid, good value, great ambiance. I'll be back. Also, i went here with my grandmother (97), mother (68) and daughter (3) and it was suitable for all of them, which is saying something. (July 2009)

• 6. Anchor & Hope

  83 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

  I had such high high hopes for this one- it's only 1 block from my office, I've been before and loved the setting, they have great bar for solo diners, the room is very airy, the service is great, and everything i've had there has been top notch. And so, i guess was this lobster roll. Except, not what i look for in a lobster roll-they used a spice that overwhelmed the flavor of the lobster. I thought it was nutmeg, but i just did a google search and turned up a recipe attributed to them that calls for old bay seasoning. So maybe that's it? I have a tin of it at home, i shall check. Anyways, it was delicious, but might as well have been chicken or any other inexpensive vehicle for spices. For my $24, I want it to taste like lobster. All that said the bun was great, tasty, well toasted and buttered, they used mayo, and the meat was chunky and tender. And, the Acme bread and sweet butter it comes with were great, as were the coleslaw and salad. But the quest continues... (May 2009)

• 7. Willi's Seafood & Raw Bar

  403 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, CA 95448

  I wanted to love this one, because it had been so so long since i had one, but no. No mayo, just butter, and way way way too much butter. Didn't think such a thing was possible, but alas it was. (December 2008)

• 8. Sam's Chowder House

  4210 Cabrillo Hwy, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

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• 9. Sea Salt

  2512 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94702

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• 10. Waterbar

  399 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA

• 11. Cafe Maritime

  2417 Lombard Street, San Francisco, CA 94123

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