Sand Dollar Restaurant

Stopped in here for lunch while showing my family in from Georgia around the Bay Area. We all grew up on the coast and have had seafood for as long as I can remember. So of course we went for the clam chowder, crab cakes and so on and I must say, the clam chowder was the best I have ever had, period. Even better than some I've tried in New England. And after talking with one of the owners, Sam, he informed me that he used some ideas for his chowder from there, which is why its so good. The crab cakes were also amazing, but the white sauce covering them was a bit much for me, so with a simple slide with my fork, it was out of the way and on to my stomach. Highly recommend the bowl of chowder though, I had to go for seconds & thirds of it. Overall the staff were very friendly and knowledgeable and the owner and his brother the Chef were very welcoming. Definitely a must place to eat when you find your way on that side of the Golden Gate!!

Blah, over priced tourist trap.

Sadly, it seems like they do what lots of beach town restaurants do....uphold mediocre standards because they know most of their business won't be back anyways.

We prepared to have a really nice meal, just based on the prices and menu selection. I ordered the club sandwich. My fries were COLD and the sandwich was something I could make at home. Nothing special.

My partner got the fish and chips. Burnt fries, and overcooked fish.

Clam chowder was certainly decent, but nothing terribly special or different than anywhere else. Could have been chunkier

Our waitress seemed to hate us. Really, she was........just wow. The other staff seemed nice enough, and the bartender made me wish I would have just sat at the bar.

As every other table got served bread, we got none. Had to ask for waters.

The restaurant was....very average inside. Things were not kept up, it's very cramped, not terribly clean or nice. I've been in nicer Chili's.

For a $60+ tab, it was hugely disappointing. For future trips we'll be trying the Parkside Cafe or just bringing our own food.

Ok so here we go.  The place across the street (Breakers Cafe) was busy, so we decided on the Sand Dollar.  We were their first customers of the day 7/15/13.  We stood around for a couple of minutes waiting to be approached by staff. 2-4 minutes went by when the waitress saw us, the hostess ignored us.  We were sat, about 10 minutes went by (the hostess left and then came back with a brown bag and her and the waitress sat in the back and started to eat lunch from the bag).  The waitress came and took our order.  We ordered a bowl of clam chowder, 6 oysters on the 1/2 shell and a wedge salad.  If you want bacon on a wedge salad it cost extra.  We sat for about 20 minutes and one other table had come in and was sat next to us. A third table was sat at a 4-top and the hostess seemed a bit miffed as she told the couple they could only sit at the 4-top if it was not busy if it got busy they would need to move or leave.  Our waitress then berated the bartender for speaking Spanish to her.  She said "speak English I can not understand what the hell you are saying". this was said loud and in the dining room yes only 3 tables at this time but very inappropriate.

Our lunch came and the wedge salad was very good, I had paid extra to get the bacon.  The oysters were a bit dry but had no fishy flavor.  I asked but was never told what kind of oyster was being served.  The clam chowder was cold, after finally getting the hostess's attention she got the waitress and the clam chowder was reheated and returned to the table we asked if bread would be served with the soup and salad.  The waitress said not normally, she would see if there was any "day old bread" that she could serve.   The chowder was good not great, the "day old bread was very good"

While I believe  the Sand Dollar may have some very good up days we hit a very very low day.  This day the owner / manager should have been there, so they could deal with wait staff attitude. The food was good so this rating is all about inappropriate service and staff attitudes.