Alioto's

I dined at Alioto's tonight and the waiter Albert R.., an Asian who said he was Dutch by origin, altered the final signed debit card bill to increase his tip without my knowledge by almost $15. This is in spite of the fact that my Mom and I dined at this restaurant last week and left the same waiter over a 20% tip. I am contacting my bank, business bureau, restaurant, and will never dine here again. A distasteful experience leaving a bad fishy taste in my mouth.

Posted 01/18/09

I'm not sure where all the bad reviews are coming from. We walked in early on a beautiful Sunday evening without reservations. It wasn't crowded when we arrived, but it was packed when we left. We were given a table by the windows with a spectacular view of the fishing fleet and the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge, which got interrupted by the even more spectaular rolling in of the fog. The wait staff was nothing if not professional. Not rushed in the least, but very attentive. The salads were crisp and fresh, and the cioppino, fish stew, and calamari were excellent. The stews were steaming hot, and the broths were worth mopping dry with the warm fresh bread offered. I can't say I had the highest expectations going in, but I thought it was excellent. The wine list has a Wine Spectator award level, and rightfully so. It covers everything you need without having 1000 selections, and is reasonably priced. What's not to like? Good food, good service, great view, reasonable prices. I'm baffled by the negativity. Maybe I caught them on a good day...

Posted 04/17/08

MARCH 22 SATURDAY- ATTRACTED BY LUNCH SPECIAL 11AM-4PM- RIPPOFF - has about 12 items on
lunch special-ordered salmon- paper thin- salmon steak with mash potatoes- thats it- $12, wife ordered
shrimp scampi- 4 med shrimp- rice- thats it- $11- rippoff- both had ice tea- med glass- waiter said u get
a second free glass only--- ordered blowl of clam chower- $9 it was thin and did not taste that good
view was good-could see golden gate bridge-- overpriced other dinner fish items start @ $25-28 for fish
ripp off-- should have just ate on the street with the street vendors- ya 3 generations- well this last generation does not take pride in there food- - i don't mind paying $12-16 for lunch- for a smaller portion
of good fish- terrible-place-- did have good service was friendly- - couldn't wait to get back to chicago to write this- cannot believe they are on the famous fishermens wharf- to bad black eye to the area

Posted 03/23/08

If you want seafood, there is no comparison. Excellent and professional waitstaff, fresh wonderful fish dinners. Calamari steak is the best!

Pros: amiable professional waitstaff, fresh wonderful dishes

Posted 01/09/08

I cannot believe how poor the food quality was. For a restaurant where prices avergage about $25 per entree, I expect a lot more. Worst of all - our server tried to pass off a small plate filled with canned salad shrimp as a shrimp cocktail! I think he was trying to pull one over on our table, which included several non-English speaking people. When confronted by me, the waiter said the customer should have instead asked for a "prawn" cocktail. When he brought over the "prawn" cocktail, it was a few pieces of old, shriveled-up shrimp. What a joke! After dinner, we confronted the manager about this and he at first agreed with us. After speaking with the waiter; however, he then said we were wrong. That a "California" shrimp cocktail is different than a shrimp cocktail back East (where I am from). What a bunch of B.S.! To think that anyone would pay upwards of $15 for a can of salad shrimp is ridiculous. These people are simply sleazy restaurateurs trying to take advantage of people.

Awful, unacceptable.

Pros: Decent clam chowder

Cons: Poor Service, Decietful Staff, Poor Food Quality, Expensive

Posted 11/30/07

Aug 17, 2007 lovely dinner for two. We knew this was an old faithful sort of place, and they sure did deliver. I am a huge seafood lover, East Coast girl, and great cook in my own right. Our table overlooked the marina area, so we had a nice sunset view. Our waiter was beyond wonderful. The perfect balace of advice, knowledge, style, personality and yet invisible. Great teamwork with other dining room staff as well. They finely coordinated opening all of the blinds of all of the windows so as to optimize the sunset view. Bartender makes a great Negroni - yummy if you are familiar. Nicely paced service so as to not feel rushed in and out- even though they were quite busy. Food not only tasted very good but high marks for presentation. Take time to read the captions on all of the photos chronicling the development of the restaurant. Very nice wine list to accompany any dinner selection. A very nice dinner and evening.

Posted 09/02/07

We just returned from a fabulous San Francisco- Fisherman's Wharf vacation, enjoying among other things, an abundance of seafood. We made a list of places to eat before we got there and were very disappointed in Alioto's. Let's start with the service; once seated our server visited us only to try and rush us to order, then once toward the end of our meal, and finally to bring our check. I ordered the Sauteed Crab legs, only to be told by our waiter that I had to give him a second choice as he didn't know if they had any left. I was as surprised by this as anyone as it is in the middle of Crab season, a week day, 3:00 in the afternoon, and there are rows of crab shacks outside the restraunt. Our server made a suggestion for my second choice rather than checking first or giving me time to search the menu, but was told it contained crab, just out of the shell. I don't remember the exact name of the dish, but it it contained 4 large fairly good prawns (a little overcooked-rubbery), 4 very rubbery and gritty scallops, and 4 very small (less than an inch in length) pieces of crab meat. Needless to say I was very disappointed with what I ended up with. My son had a rather small portion of fish and chips, and my husband the seafood canneloni, which he said was ok, but not fabulous for the price tag. If you choose to dine here expect to pay ALOT, salads and sides are a la carte. The only redeeming thing was the view. If you don't care how much you spend for mediocre food and poor service, then go for the view, otherwise save your money and go to one of the smaller places on the Wharf like "Sabella - La Torre".

Pros: the view in incredible

Cons: Service, food quality and quantity

Posted 04/06/07

Do not go to Alioto's unless you desire painfully slow, impersonal service. Our party of 5 adults and 3 kids arrived on St. Patrick's day to a half-full restaurant. The greeting and seating was prompt, but it was downhill from there. We were only given 5 waters, nothing for the kids. We had to go and steal waters off other tables. When our waitress finally arrived after 10 minutes, we all ordered the lunch special: bread bowls with clam chowder and a side salad...nothing more. 30 minutes later, our food had still not arrived. I finally asked the hostess to check on our order. Our food finally arrived five minutes later but not until two other tables (that arrived and ordered 15 minutes after we did...and ordered the same items) had been served their food. To make things worse, there were only about 5 spoonfuls of chower in the bowl because the bread bowl had not been scooped out. The salads were warm and limp.

Sadly, we were not the only table with poor service. I watched as three other tables around us experience the same lackluster service. As a former chef and waiter, I found Alioto's service absolutely unacceptable. As a paying customer, the experience was deplorable. For a meal that should have taken no more than 10 minutes (max!) to get out of the kitchen, we waited nearly 40 minutes. Sad.

Positive Comment: The restaurant was very clean, seating prompt, and a good view of the boat dock. Not much of a harbor view. The chowder, all 5 spoonfuls, was very good.

Pros: Very Clean. Good Chowder.

Cons: Slow service. How slow? It took nearly 40 minutes to get a bread bowl of chowder!

Posted 03/25/07

Went on my own for an early lunch before catching my plane (which I missed :-( ) and was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely Italian and famliy -run the place felt. Went there specifically because I wanted fish for lunch, and the food wasn't the best I've had, but didn't disappoint either. I had the grilled SeaBass with veg, a little expensive I thought, but there were lots of cheaper options. They were fast, attentive and very friendly. When I asked for directions to where I wanted to go next, they couldn't have been more helpful. Its a bit touristy out the front, but if you look at the old black and white photos on the wall as you go up the stairs, you realised the place has real history, and somehow that made eating there a litte more special.

Pros: View to Golden Gate Bridge, great service

Cons: Food not bad, but was expecting a little better.

Posted 03/08/07

We arrived in San Francisco for our honeymoon and your restaurant came recommended. Our waiter did not address us immediately and rushed the whole interaction. He spent very little time with us. As far as the meal; we feel strongly that we couldve gotten a comparable meal at a Red Lobster, which is absolutely not what we typically eat. I ordered a scallop, shrimp, and rice medley that wasnt even hot when it arrived. The presentation was uninspiring. Beyond that, the flavor was simply standard. My wifes meal was the same; very average. To add insult to the meal, when I asked for manager and explained the situation, he made excuses for the waiter stating that he was one of the best and had been there quite a long time. The meal was not worth $91 and the waiter was not tipped at all.

Pros: view, location

Cons: service, food, price

Posted 12/12/05

skrew the fact that the cioppino wasn't right. the fish stew tastes nasty like it's dry, when i tasted the fish and mussles. the steak that i ordered was rare but instead i got medium well. the appetizers of the calimari was hard and there was a piece of paper in it with like the nutritional facts. the clam chowder was watering and not much clams in it, not much flavor.

Cons: horrible service

Posted 09/07/05

If you want to eat at the Wharf, this is the only place. But the prices are high and the fresh seafood prepared with a heavy hand - overcooked, and improperly made sauces. Lunch is the only time to go - great view and lunch specials that won't break your pocket book, quite.

Pros: view, wine selection

Posted 11/05/04

Several Complaints: Service was terrible, Our waiter was uncongenial. My wife asked for her ahi cooked thouroughly she was told No, they do not serve the dish that way. We had to track down our waiter through other restaurant staff. We only got one cocktail, (we were never given the opportunity to order another). Food was disappointing considering the price. about the only thing pleasant was the view.

Pros: View

Cons: Service, Food

Posted 01/01/04

I hate to leave negative comment, however, I must leave a comment that the restaurant isn't a good place for those who looking for good service and nice food.

The restaurant has fairly nice view and setting however, the service isn't great at all.... and the food is very poor. My girlfriend found foil from butter on the bottom of bread dish and the coffee tasted old, too. Waiter wasn't paying much attention to the customers that we kept calling them. We were serprise the service and the food since it looks very nice inside the restaurant.
I would rather go somewhere else....

Pros: view

Cons: Service, quality of the food

Posted 11/29/03

As a San Franciscan, I would warn others away from Alioto's. It's not terrible--you can do far worse at Fisherman's Wharf (and I have). But it's only so-so when compared with all of SF's other wonderful restaurants. The other good reviews of this restaurant seem to be from tourists who have an inflated view of Fisherman's Wharf's importance and worth. In my opinion, the restaurant's view is only okay (a few fishing/tourist boats and Scoma's on another pier--doesn't exactly take your breath away), the ambience would get better if people didn't bring their screaming babies, and I thought my little neighborhood place (Yabbie's) for seafood was *so* much better (even though it didn't even rank in Citysearch's "Best Seafood" list. If you're from SF, you already know better than to eat at FW; if you're a tourist, do yourself a favor and buy a Zagat!

Pros: Not terrible, Service is friendly

Cons: Food only average, People bring babies, Bar too small

Posted 09/22/03

My fiancee and I went into Alioto's starving for lots of seafood, and we got it! My pasta frutta di mare was delicious, with tons of shrimp, calamari, bits of fish, clams, etc... a huge portion. My fiancee's stuffed fish was very filling. The menu is varied and offers probably too many choices! It was hard for me to decide. Very attentive service, a bit stuffy, but very prompt. Pricey, but you get good portions and very relaxed ambiance.

Pros: Big portions, lots of menu choices, good food!

Cons: expensive, not for casual meal

Posted 06/01/03

Typical Fishermans Wharf resturant - go down town where the locals eat. View of bay and GG Bridge great. Service was so-so, waiters cater to the regulars which made me feal small. The food was over priced but tastey. Tables and chairs were old. Nothing special.

Pros: View

Cons: Expensive, typical

Posted 04/12/03

I took my daughters (late teens) to lunch here, having remembered this place from my childhood. I wasn't disappointed and the my daughters were totaly impressed. I had the set lunch and the kids some kind of fish dish (they hate fish but they liked this). The waiter was perfect and everything was well prepared and served. I even had an Anchor Steam Beer.

Pros: Good view

Posted 01/06/03

Went to Alioto's, best meal i ever had. Went with parents and brother (I was 16, my bro was 14). Excellent view, got to see sunset over bay, excellent service (Waiter beats all of Chicago's best ive seen), humorous waiter, EXCELLENT FOOD, and somewhat affordable. It was fun to see the salad/desert man prep, and the waiter was old and showed he learned with age. He went through great legnths to make our eating wonderful. Had caesar salad, veal, and desert, and it was all excellent.

Pros: Food, Service, View

Posted 11/12/02

We wanted to take some friend from out of town for a nice dinner. We went Alioto's.. I will never take anyone else there again..Our meal was terrible..25 dollars for a piece of fish..no vegies, no salad..just a piece of fish on a plate.
Some of us ordered Crab and that was $34 Why?
The service was so so . The only thing worth seeing was the view..

Posted 10/31/02

Beautiful view of the docks and bay. Convenient if you don't know where to go on F.W. The Ahi dish I had was good. Menu is normal seafood type faire with Pasta dishes (yawn). Our waiter seemed hurried and borderline rude with the little service he did provide. We had to wave him down to order drinks and he never checked on us. Dinner for two figure on dropping $100+

Pros: View, Location

Cons: Lack of Service, Price

Posted 06/28/02