Sam's Chowder House

09/21/2008 Posted by anesejatina

Service is sweet and so are their sides and entrees. The sweet corn and string beans are absolutely amazing sides and I know I'm in love with their clam chowder. We adore this perfectly placed restaurant in Half Moon Bay... It's a small southward drive coming from Pacifica and unquestionably worthwhile ride to dine at this magnificent establishment. They get romantic points for dinner ambiance too!

07/12/2008 Posted by CoastalLover

This place was a HUGE dissapointment! Tried it out July of last year during a trip to the area and it was by far the worst place we've ever been to - seriously!! The hostess was rude and could barely make contact with us because she was too busy chatting up another worker that appeared to be on break.... We were seated fairly quickly but then forgotten for well over 20 minutes. No water, no waiter, not even a glance from another waiter that was servicing an adjacent table. We had to hail someone for service. Then when the waiter did finally come over, he was rude and unhelpful. The chowder was watery and horrible AND we still had no utensils to eat with by the time the food arrived - we had to fetch our own from the outside waiters station. To add insult to injury, the place is highly overpriced! We can not figure out how this place is still in business.... I agree with earlier posts, the only postive postings for this restaraunt must have been made by employees or owners. Don't waste your time or money here! We also ate at the The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company - by far the superior dining choice for this type atmosphere and out of this world Chowder!

Pros: Location

Cons: Everything Else....

05/18/2008 Posted by hkeck

I love this place. Been there four times...twice for dinner and twice for lunch. The first time was soon after they opened and you you see they needed work to smooth things out. But my last three visits were great! Food is fresh, well cooked seafood. Not what you expect from an ocean front restaurant...far better. The service was casual but good, especially considering how busy this place was. Chowder was outstanding, lobster roll over the top, my husband had the escolar and it was fabulous. The red chowder is also great, although a little spicy. Fantastic ocean views. Highly recommend this place.

Pros: ocean views; outdoor ocean front dining; parking available

Cons: very busy restaurant, sometimes the wait is too long

04/27/2008 Posted by hdwhoa

Worst Clam Chowder in the entire universe. If you mix it 50/50 with tabasco it will tast like tabasco. Tabasco tastes good. Who in their right mind rated this place before me. I ran home to find somewhere to bash this place. Overpriced, terrible food but i have to admit the service is great. They even screwed up a gin & tonic. Wow, Let's see, everyone at our table barely made it out alive. The Calimari was the best meal because it did not have taste. How do you make clam chowder without milk cream or clams? It was clear. My guess is the prior 19 reviews to mine were employees and owners of this joint. A place using chowder in their name and being the worst chowder is an absolute joke. Save your money and go to McDonalds for a Mcfish sandwich at least it will taste like McDonalds grease.

Pros: service

Cons: food is terrible, very terrible

04/23/2008 Posted by wyogirl

After reading the visitor guide my friend and I went to Sam's last weekend. The banner on the outside of the building touting the lobster roll as one of the top 5 sandwiches in America sounded promising. Give me a break. For $20 you get an ordinary "hot dog bun" with some lobster and butter on it. What a disappointment! Boring and bland. We also ordered the salmon burger which was much better. The coleslaw tasted like onions not cabbage. The calimari appetizer was very good. We were not pleased at all with the overall experience that came with a $74 price tag. It was the worst meal we had on our visit. Go to Mezza Luna if you would like great service, great food, a view and lovely atmoshpere. Forget the lobster roll. It's a cruel joke.

Pros: View

Cons: Very expensive for what you get.

02/14/2008 Posted by MelanieHadden

Have give it Three Trys, Your out. We are a local so we have tried this restaurant on Local Night Two Times. First time Oysters made us sick just had appetizers they weren't bad. Chowder was good. The rest of the food was bland and boring. I realize they are always packed so they probably don't care. But, this place is not good. Go to Cafe Gibraltars if you want a fantastic meal.

Pros: View

Cons: Staff kind of rude. Food is not good.

10/27/2007 Posted by lovethecoast

I just got back from Sam's Chowder House. Another great experience. I had 6 kumamota oysters and a lobster roll. I'm in heaven. Everytime I go to Sams I tell myself I'm going to try something else but I just love the lobster roll. I did try the hallibut with corn and truffle butter the other night. That was to die for. So good. I'm a creature of habit though and the lobster roll is my favorite. I like the fact that it has no mayo but just a little bit of butter -- yum!!!! The outside if really nice to as they have these cool heat lamps that look like palm trees and I love sitting in the chairs outside, drinking my beer and watching the harbor. It's a great place to go, the food is excellent and I'm always treated nice. I highly recommend it.

Pros: Food is great -- view is killer!!!!

Cons: can't think of any

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

09/24/2007 Posted by oldmanhamburger

Sam's Lobster Roll was touted as one of the best in the nation? Pleeeeeeease! Sam's is a nice enough place right on the ocean. It sits next to a small man-made harbor and a not unpleasant place to have a meal. The wait staff was very nice. Service was good as well. No complaints on those points. The Lobster Roll? Although not prepared badly it was virtually flavorless. The roll itself was OK. The size of the roll, lobster all included was not very big considering you pay $19.50 for it some potato chips and some equally nondescript cole slaw (maybe 6 forks full). I live in San Jose and my girlfriend and I traveled there because my girlfriend was all excited about the place. What are you going to do? I'm not saying Sam's is a bad place, but this recent today show piece claiming the lobster roll at Sam's was one of the top five in the nation is beyond ridiculous. In other words, go ahead an go, but think twice about spending 20 bones on the roll.

09/11/2007 Posted by mandyf

Just ate here for the first time on Friday with a group of friends. We had a fantastic lunch. Didn't hurt that the weather was warm and sunny, so we got to eat outside on the patio. Actually, even it's it foggy and cool out there, it looked like they had enough heaters to keep the patio pretty toasty. We were seated right away by the hostess and water and bread appeared quickly. I don't remember out server's name, but she was professional and very friendly. We had come picky eaters in our group and she was great about giving completely explanations of some of the dishes and handling lots of "on the side" requests. 2 of us ordered the lobster rolls, one ordered the tuna poki appetizer and a bowl of the chowder, and the other had the crab louie. I have to say, that Sam's has one of the best lobster rolls I have ever had. None of that heavy mayo lobster salad - this was pure chunks of lobster in what tasted like seasoned butter and some celery for crunch. The bread was grilled just the right amount so the whole thing would hold together when you picked it up. It tasted like it had just come out of the shell (which it probably did since I noticed a whole tank of lobsters when we walked in the door). This is what a lobster roll should be! My friend loved her tuna poki - said it was nicely spiced, and said the chowder (red version) was also very good. The crab louie also got rave reviews - lots of big pieces of crab. We ended up hanging out there for a while (girls afternoon out!) and eventually ordered dessert. We got one tiramisu to split, but it was so good that we had to order a second. I highly recommend this place. The food was great, service friendly, it has a nice kick-back vibe (ok, maybe our bottle of wine helped out) and beautiful views. Enjoy!

Pros: fresh seafood, beautiful view, fun atmosphere

Cons: parking on a warm weekend

08/22/2007 Posted by amyinvac

This was our 1st visit to the restaurant. The food was good, service was great, cocktails wonderful. However the middle of the night after eating here I became incredibly ill. Doubled over in sharp stomache pains, vomitting & extremely loose stools. We had oysters, mussles & clams. So doesn't really narrow it down, being as it was all shellfish.

Pros: Great view, friendly staff.

Cons: Not sure about the food...