Top 5 Italian Restaurants In Fisherman’s Wharf – No.4 – Pompei’s Grotto – 94133 – US
Top 5 Italian Restaurants In Fisherman’s Wharf – No.4 – Pompei’s Grotto – 94133 – US
(between Jones St & Leavenworth St)
San Francisco, CA 94133
Neighborhoods: Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach/Telegraph Hill
(415) 776-9265
- Health Score:
- 92 out of 100
- Hours:
- Mon-Sun 11 am – 10 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
- $$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- About Pompei’s Grotto
- Pompei’s Grotto is a casual, family-friendly dining option on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The restaurant specializes in fresh local seafood and Italian cuisine, including vegetarian and special dietary options. We feature homemade sauces and soups cooked from scratch using high quality, local ingredients (many from recipes handed down over generations). We are open for lunch and dinner 363 days a year (closed Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day), serving dinner all day and lunch until 4 p.m. daily. In addition to our regular menus, we offer seasonal specials daily.
Our History
Pompei’s Grotto opened on February 1, 1946. Proprietors Frank and Marian Pompei started with a small location which included just one counter, six stools, and five tables. They served only seafood cocktails, cracked crab, spaghetti, and sandwiches. From that humble beginning the restaurant expanded three times.
The history of the Pompei family has always been associated with the sea and fishing. The family hails from San Benedetto d’Ancona in Italy, a seaport community on the Adriatic Coast famed for its beautiful beaches and fishing industry.
In 1913, Frank’s father Mario, at the age of 16, arrived in San Francisco, determined to make his mark in the new world, and found employment as a boss fisherman on a trawler. During the next 30 years as a fisherman, he made annual trips of three to four months long to fish for salmon in Alaska. He traveled there first by sail ship, then by steamship, and finally he was among the first of the Pacific fisherman to get to the region by plane for the salmon season. For many years after he hung up his sailing cap he could be found running the crabstand in front of the restaurant.
Frank, like his father, had a deep passion for the sea and a love for the old Wharf. As a boy, he fished with his dad and worked after school selling clams, crabs, and seafood cocktails from crabstands and fish depots. When the war ended, he and his wife Marian opened the small breakfast and lunch restaurant on the Wharf where he grew up working with his father. Like his father and many others, he helped develop Fisherman’s Wharf into one of the most colorful and pleasant places for any tourist or native to go for lunch or dinner.
We are delighted to have many original customers and their families still visit us, including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of our first patrons, and we still have staff from the “early days.” Loyal customers from around the world return and greet us every time they come back to San Francisco.
The Pompei family is still keeping it in the family. Stop by to say hi to Frank’s daughter Nancy, who runs the whole place, and son-in-law Gayne, who, after cooking for more than forty years, still puts in an occasional guest appearance. Daughter Amy can sometimes be found in the office and her husband Vincenzo pretty much runs most of the day to day business, including cooking his Sicilian specialties. And their kids Vincenzo Junior and Frankie fill in hosting and waiting tables when school schedules allow. Their son Tom can be found cooking most nights, and his wife Keri greets customers in the front of the house most of those. If you can’t find one of us on site, a rare occasion, ask for one of the many cousins and relatives filling in who will take great care of you. It’s truly a hands-on family affair.
Menu for Pompei’s Grotto
Appetizers
Seafood Cocktails
Dungeness Crabmeat 14.95 Large Shrimp 14.95 Bay Shrimp 9.95 Each 2.50 Seafood Sampler
A combination of calamari, popcorn shrimp, and white cod, lightly battered and fried
- 12.95
- 11.95
- 11.95
- 14.50
Steamed Mussels
Fresh, whole mussels in the shell steamed with white wine, butter and garlic
- 11.95
Bruschetta
Fresh tomatoes marinated in basil, garlic and olive oil served over toasted sourdough bread
With Dungeness Crabm… 7.95 5.50 Baby Cakes
Two appetizer sized dungeness crab cakes
- 13.50
Chicken Tenders
Strips of chicken breast, battered and frie
- 8.95
Soups & Salads
Boudin Sourdough Bre… 9.75 Boston Or Manhattan … 6.75 Hearts Of Romaine
Hearts of romaine lettuce, crumbled gorgonzola, and walnuts in a balsamic vinaigrette
- 7.95
7.95 With Bay Shrimp 9.95 With Dungeness Crabm… 12.95 With Dungeness Crab 10.95 With Bay Shrimp 7.95 5.95 Seafood Salads
Traditional seafood louie. dungeness crabmeat or bay shrimp on a bed of romaine with tomatoes, sliced avocado and hard boiled egg. served with homemade louie dressing
Combination 24.95 Dungeness Crabmeat 24.95 Bay Shrimp 17.50 Pasta
Francescos Misto
Fresh mussels, clams, scallops, calamari, and jumbo shrimp over fettuccini with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil in a tomato cream sauce
- 19.95
Pompeis Marinara
Dungeness crabmeat and bay shrimp tossed with linguini in our homemade tomato sauce
- 17.95
Linguini & Clams
Fresh whole clams with linguini in a garlic butter and white wine sauce
- 15.95
Spaghetti & Meat Sauce
- 13.95
Spaghetti All Aglio E Olio
Sliced garlic browned in extra virgin olive oil and tossed with spaghetti
- 12.95
Eggplant Parmigiana
Served with linguini in a tomato sauce
- 14.95
Fettuccine Al Pesto
Fettuccine in a creamy pesto sauce
- 13.95
- 12.95
Fettuccine Alfredo
With Crabmeat 18.95 With Bay Shrimp 15.95 13.95 Fettuccine Gamberetti
Fettuccini in a cream sauce tossed with rock shrimp, fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil
- 15.95
Pasta Angelina
Angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, and olive oil
- 12.95
Risotto Ai Funghi
Arborio rice sauteed in saffron with roasted shallots and portobello mushrooms
With Rock Shrimp 16.95 With Chicken 15.95 13.95 Linguini & Tomato Sauce
- 11.95
Fish & Shellfish
Filet Of Sole
Fresh local petrale sole, served grilled with potato and fresh vegetables. also available fisherman’s style or in a lemon-butter garlic sauce
- 18.95
AND MORE….
