I thought it would be a good idea to give this restaurant its own topic, since folks have been posting comments about Sam’s Chowder House in the Montara Bistro topic.

We had lunch at Sam’s the other day and really enjoyed it. The food, presentation, and the setting were great.  The service was fine.  It’s expensive for lunch, but not outrageous, and you get what you pay for.

Thanks for you comments Barry about Chowder House. Wife & i also didn’t have any problems the one time we went. Want to go again but all the negative comments are putting me off. Will let the site know if i go & what happened. Have out of town people coming & they are inlanders so like to sit where they can see the ocean. Hate it when i find a resturant that i like & it goes downhill or have a bad experiance. Hope tourist’s keep Chowder house alive & they get their act together.

Keep the rest of us posted. The only reason I plan on going back is to tell the manager of my last experience. I was actually eating there weekly since it did seem to improve but not after last week (details in my other post.) I just have to keep reminding myself it’s NOT CETRELLA’s!!

What will keep this place alive is the one-time tourists that pass through and eat there once.

I’ll stick to others that I have found predictably delicious…Meza Luna and that great new sushi place - Shiki. No bad attitudes or long waits at Shiki (I think that is what it is called.)

Would love more recommendations…

-GraceAnn

I’m glad these topics on local resturants have come up. There was an article in the sfgate today about on-line resturant guides and 2 resources were mentioned, yelp and curbed. However, they pretty much only cover San Francisco as far as I can tell.
It would be nice to have something like that for the coastside. Perhaps we can have an open resturant topic and put all posts about resturants in an easy to find place. There are resturants I see in my local traveling but have never tried because I don’t know anything about them and I tend to stick with the resturants I know and like such as Barbs and The Brewing Company. I did get brave and tried the new sushi place out and enjoyed it very much.
Having worked in San Jose for awhile, I would love to see a really good Vietnamese resturant open on the coastside.
The food is tasty, inexpensive and healthy, I’m sure that would be a successful coastside business.

I like Jack Sutton’s idea of having a place to discuss local restaurants.  Many in the area are very good, and yet there are some I know nothing about (Chateau des Fleurs, for example.  I don’t know anyone who has eaten there, and I’ve never seen any people coming in or out of it.)

I have eaten at Sam’s about 4 times, and have found service and quality to be inconsistent.  More often than not, I have been happy with both.  Still, I wish I could rave about the place.

Like Jack, I would love to see a good Vietnamese restaurant on the Coastside.  I lived in San Jose for several years, and tasty Vietnamese food provided some of the few fond memories I have of that city.  There is a place called Muoi’s (not sure of the spelling) in Pacifica, but although the people there are wonderful, the food was just okay.

I have eaten at that little Chateau place. I wouldn’t go that far to call it a “French” restaurant, but they do have decent dishes, good service, and reasonable prices and the place is almost always empty. I think the same owners own Spanishtown next door and that place has also been very good. I do tend to forget about them for some odd reason. But both have been predictably decent. No view or anything, but not bad.

I think we’ll stick to Tres Amigos tonight. I am not in the mood for surprises or a bad meal.

-GraceAnn

Sam’s Chowder House -Worst Cole Slaw on the Coast.
  It tastes nasty. Like it went sour…but it is that way every time. I mentioned it to the waitress and she said lots of people dislike it. I told her they should let the chef know….but she was reluctant to pass on the information. I always feel like giving honest feedback is helpful. Maybe the chef has an ego problem, but most people can improve by constructive criticism. The next time I went there I ordered the Lobster roll, and said I would like something instead of the Cole slaw, and the waiter also agreed that he could relate, and brought me a substitute side offering.

-Cid Young

Ate at the Chowder House last night with out of town friends. Didn’t have any problems with the food or service. Asked to please reserve a window table so my friends could view our wonderful foggy night ocean & they did. We sat @ bar first for clams, oysters, & shrimp, crab cocktails & it was great.The lady behind the bar was nice, friendly & gave good service. None of us had any complaints about the food, Sea Bass, Fish stew & scallops. Had key lime pie but typical women didnt want any dessert [they say they are on diet ha] but they wound up eating half of my pie they loved it, next time making them get their own!
The service of our waitress was friendly & fairly quick [they were busy for a Sunday night.] So this proves you never know till you go. Out of town friends liked Chowder House too told them about problems people sent in on Talkabout but at least last night we didnt have any.
It was an enjoyable dinner with good friends. Hope it stays that way.
Sam

For what it’s worth, we’ve been to Sam’s twice now and had a very good experience both times.

A forum to discuss local eating places would be great. New catagory Barry? This made me think back to 1969 & the restaurant’s my wife & i liked. The Shorebird we kept going back to than it went downhill & finally out of business, Dans we liked also now gone, & horror of horrors The Moss Beach Distillery [when the floor was tilted & ready to slide into the ocean] till it went downhill, my out of town friends wont even go there anymore [a friend from Hawaii & a lady @ the YMCA i know ranted against it.] Now notice in HMB paper that it’s for sale. Spanishtown has always been good for us, i think it keeps the French place next door alive wife & friend ate @ the French place & wont go back.  Joes Of HMB gives you your moneys worth love their rack of lamb. Ate two times @ Chowder House & no problems keeping my finger’s crossed it stays thataway! Hate it when i like a eating joint & it goes bad. Don’t even like to recommend a place on the coast for fear my friends have a bad experience.

Went to Sam’s Chowder House for the first time on the most beautiful sunny day recently. Ate outside. Had a wonderful lunch (crab louie) and view - fantastic.  Because I enjoyed it so much, I took my husband there for lunch the next day—fog had rolled in, it was cool, so we sat inside.  Had chowder and fried calamari and we both loved it.  Had great service both times.  We would go back in a heartbeat—and will.  I really like it, and would recommend it.  And, I’m going to get my own slice of key lime pie next time! Rebecca Newlin

Rebecca, Glad you had a good experience @ the Chowder house. And nice to know other wife’s rip off half their husbands dessert. [“am on a diet dont want any dessert just have a bite of yours, yeah like half”] Wife’s been ripping off & gobbling my dessert’s for over 40 years i think thats only reason she keeps me around.

So I gave Sam’s another chance…again. My mother is here from the east coast and it was such a beautiful day and I really wanted to take her out for a meal with a view.

When I walked in, I told the hostess that I’d like to be seated at a table where I would have decent service since the last time was so horrible. Thank goodness, she listened. Not that the service corrolates with the food, but this time the service was perfect (meaning we received everything we ordered in a timely fashion) the food was great and so were the desserts. Everything was perfect.

I am guessing a bad wait person will ruin it. I will always remind them that I am in need of a table with a good waiter. The manager also came over and we discussed my last bad experience. He knows me from another visit where I ranted about my first time there. He was nice enough to make up for that last bad meal so I am again feeling pretty good about Sam’s.

I also hope that with the owner selling his part of Cetrella’s and spending more time at Sam’s that it stays consistently better.

-GraceAnn

We went back to the Chowder House recently.  The first time, about three weeks after it opened, the food was pretty dismal and the service was reminiscent of a Three Stooges episode. 

The second time, a week or so ago, the service was great and the food was really, really good.  We had very big, fresh crab cakes, the lobster pot pie and the tuna poke.  We’ll definitely be back soon.  It would be nice to go on a warm evening and have a drink (or two) out on the patio.

Mike

Went to Sams Chowder house Sunday 5/27 place was packed. Went with out of towners had a great dinner our wait person lady was Molly she was great, 2nd time she waited on us & even remembered me from last time we were there. Asked for & got a window seat. Only complaint i have is sat @ bar & had their raw clam oyster plate, 2 clams, 2 oysters & 2 shrimp for $13.00 seems a bit costly especially since i inhaled them in 2 seconds.. But remember im thinking back to NY Little Italy[in the 50s] where i grew up before leaving for USMC where you got a dozen clams on 1/2 shell for a few bucks & a container of scungili to take home. 3rd visit to Sams & still like it.  & thanks Molly for being so nice. Also bartender that night was great.
Sam

Yeah, can’t forget some of the “real” experiences I had with raw mollusks and crustaceans—in New Orleans, not NYC.  A dozen shrimp with sauce or a half dozen oysters for next to no money.  Delicious, but the dysentery was the truly unforgettable part. Still and all, not the worst—at least I didn’t get cholera.

Carl May

Went to Sam’s for the first time earlier this week.  The food was good, but the VALUE was poor.

A friend of mine and I went to Sam’s and started off with the Crab Cake appetizer.  While it was very tasty, we were both taken aback by the size of the crab cake itself (only about 3” in diameter) and you only got one patty for $11.50.

For our entrees, we ordered the Shrimp Scampi and the Shrimp Salad.  Both were good, but again the portions were underwhelming.  The salad sported 4 smallish shrimp (20-30 count / pound size) with a handful of spinach for $15.95.

I would liken the size to what I normally expect as a side salad accompanying an entree.

The scampi was more reasonably sized, but still on the small size for $19.95.

So while the food and ambiance were fine, I don’t think I’ll be returning anytime soon.