Dungeness crab is the sweet, brown-meat Pacific crab the city eats from mid-November to June, served steamed and cracked at Swan Oyster Depot, Tadich Grill and the Wharf.
The Dungeness fishery, named for a tiny harbour on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, opened commercially in San Francisco in the 1850s. Crab Louis salad emerged at Solari's Grill near Union Square in the early 1900s. The modern season is set by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and usually opens the second week of November, with delays for low meat or marine biotoxins (most recently 2015 and 2020). Swan Oyster Depot on Polk Street, opened 1912, is the cracked-crab benchmark; Sotto Mare runs cioppino with it through winter.
4 editor picks for Dungeness crab in San Francisco, ranked by editorial score. All San Francisco signature dishes · Dungeness crab across every city.
Swan Oyster Depot ★ 4.7
lower-pac-heights · 1517 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco is a Polk Street counter that has served cold-house Dungeness, oysters and clam chowder since 1912 in 18 stools.
Sotto Mare ★ 4.5
north-beach · 552 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
Sotto Mare in San Francisco is the North Beach Italian seafood room that does the city's best cioppino, a 12-table room that takes a few reservations.
Anchor Oyster Bar ★ 4.5
castro-noe-valley · 579 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
Anchor Oyster Bar in San Francisco is a 22-seat Castro counter that has served Dungeness, cioppino and clam chowder the same way since 1977.
Tadich Grill ★ 4.3
embarcadero · 240 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
Tadich Grill in San Francisco is California's oldest continuously running restaurant, opened in 1849 in the Financial District, still grilling over mesquite.