Taking the crown as one of my tastiest SF seafood meals thus far, my meal at the small, locally owned Anchor Oyster Bar was one for the crab books. Our evening started out with a nice hour-long wait. It was a Saturday night and we knew we weren’t going out – what else did we have to do? We stopped by the restaurant and wrote our name on the whiteboard just outside the doorway, and then proceeded to explore the Castro and dip in and out of the raunchy, and extremly-raunchy shops that littered the main drag and its offshoots.

We timed our walk pretty well as when we came back, it had been 45 minutes and we only had to wait roughly 20 minutes more. The wait is understandably long as the tiny restaurant boasts no more than 5 tables and a few bar seats. I was particularly lucky this evening and ended up with one of the best tables in the house – I would not have been happy if I had waited as long as we did to get seated at the bar. Take caution and either plan to go with 4 people so you’re guaranteed a table, or be mentally ready to sit at the bar.*

We started off our meal with a selection of oysters – they were offering 3 selections today and we tried one of each. Over the past year I’ve begun liking oysters and as an oyster newbie, these were about as tasty as you can get. Our waiter was extremely friendly and helpful with good suggestions of what to get. Although the cioppino looked and smelled absolutely delicious, my hankering for crab got the best of me, and my friend and I split the whole cracked Dungeness crab (available seasonally) in the garlic, lemon sauce (although plain is offered as well).

  

The sauce was perfection – slightly spicy, warm, lemony and garlicy, this dipping sauce was all I could ask for as a perfect complementary base for the crab. It was perfect for bread dipping in between crab bites as well. The crab itself was moist, and juicy, and knowing it was sustainably caught made it even better! The crab comes with choice of clam chowder and salad before, so we got one of both for the table. Although a little on the ‘crab overload’ with the chowder, the soup was one of the most delicious chowders I’ve tasted and the salad was a great addition to the meal to help fill that vegetable gap.

All in all this meal gave the quintessential setting to a fun, seafood meal. Perhaps the best part? The price tag was very reasonable for the quality of the seafood (it’s sustainably fished!), and amount of food. Point of this review? If you feel like crab, go here.

*(Out of the 6 tables, only 2 are for two people).

4/5 stars.